Review of You’ll Be Fine by Jen Michalski

This was pretty good. The story was different than I expected –that is until I saw it better explained in the reviews- but I still enjoyed it. I like when a book can surprise me a bit as long as it’s not too different from what I want to read. This is a new author for me and I was impressed with her writing. Her writing felt comfortable and I will keep an eye out for more stories by her.

Just to make clear, this is not really a romance. I don’t even think I will put the romance tag on this and I’m pretty lenient with my tags. The main character spends time with other women, but to me, it was more comfort than romance. Anyway, this story is in what I would consider a contemporary drama category, with a surprisingly light sprinkling of comedy. This book deals with some tough subjects, so I was surprised to experience some of the lighter and even funnier moments. They ended up being some of the moments that stuck most with me the most so I thought it was a nice overall mix.

I was very impressed with the characters. This is a really good group of characters and even if you don’t like them all, or they drive you a bit nuts, they were all well written. Our main character, Alex, is a mess. After the death of her mother, she is finally realizing what a mess her life is but she doesn’t know how to fix it. Alex, will drive you nuts at times as a reader, but it still doesn’t stop you from rooting for her during her journey. For me, her Aunt Johanna, a trans woman, absolutely stole the show. Many of the warm and even funny moments revolved around her so most of her scenes were my favorite.

I have to talk about the f-word, FLASHBACKS. I think everyone knows by now how much I hate them but shocker… I didn’t mind them at all in this book! In fact, I thought they actually added to the story. There might have been a couple I would have edited out, and one or two transitions that were not the clearest, but this is an example of using flashbacks the right way. This is the way to use flashbacks to advance the story and make it a more enriching experience, not just an easy way to add some background. Well done Michalski.

This book had a different feel but in a good way. The writing was well done and I was drawn into the book easily. I would definitely recommend this to readers looking for a contemporary drama type of story or for people looking for something different than the usual sapphic romance. Michalski, has won me over with this one and I would absolutely read her again. 3.75 Stars.

A copy was given to me for a review.