Print List Price:	$19.99
Kindle Price:	$14.99 Save $5.00 (25%)
Sold by:	Penguin Random House Publisher Services Price set by seller.

Promotions apply when you purchase

Read with our free app

You've subscribed to ! We will preorder your items within 24 hours of when they become available. When new books are released, we'll charge your default payment method for the lowest price available during the pre-order period.

Update your device or payment method, cancel individual pre-orders or your subscription at
Your Memberships & Subscriptions

There was an error. We were unable to process your subscription due to an error. Please refresh and try again.

Follow the author

Amy Watson

+ Follow

More books from this author

Closer to Okay Kindle Edition

by Amy Watson (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

4.3 23 ratings

See all formats and editions

Weaving culinary delights with an honest, appraising look at how we deal with the world when it becomes too much, Closer to Okay is the comfort food we all need in these, well, crazy times.

Kyle Davies is doing fine. She has her routine, after all, ingrained in her from years of working as a baker: wake up, make breakfast, prep the dough, make lunch, work the dough, make dinner, bake dessert, go to bed. Wash, rinse, repeat. It's a good routine. Comforting. Almost enough to help her forget the scars on her wrist, still healing from when she slit it a few weeks ago; that she lost her job at the bakery when she checked herself in as an inpatient at Hope House; then signed away all decisions about her life, medical care, and wellbeing to Dr. Booth (who may or may not be a hack). So, yeah, Kyle's doing just fine.

Except that a new item's been added to her daily to-do list recently: stare out her window at the coffee shop (named, well...The Coffee Shop) across the street, and its hot owner, Jackson. It's healthy to have eye candy when you're locked in the psych ward, right? Something low risk to keep yourself distracted. So when Dr. Booth allows Kyle to leave the facility--two hours a day to go wherever she wants--she decides to up the stakes a little more. Why not visit? Why not see what Jackson's like in person?

Turns out that Jackson's a jerk with a heart of gold, a deadly combination that Kyle finds herself drawn to more than she should be. (Aren't we all?) At a time when Dr. Booth delivers near-constant warnings about the dangers of romantic entanglements, Kyle is pulled further and further into Jackson's orbit. At first, the feeling of being truly taken care of is bliss, like floating on a wave. But at a time when Kyle is barely managing her own problems, she finds herself suddenly thrown into the deep end of someone else's. Dr. Booth may have been right after all: falling in love may be the thing that sends Kyle into a backslide she might never be able to crawl out of. Is Jackson too much for her to handle? Does love come at the cost of sanity?

Editorial Reviews

Review

Praise for Closer to Okay:
“If you, like me, are a sucker for vivid characters that pop off the page—characters you’d love to hang out with in real life—Closer To Okay is for you. Kyle is as charming, lovable, and talented as she is broken, and her hero as swoon-worthy as he is enigmatic. Amy Watson invites us inside the experience of depression and shows us the hope that we all would like to find there. No neat and tidy endings here; Watson leaves all the messy frayed edges intact . . . but shows us the beauty, too. And we are better for it.”
—Kathleen Basi, author of A Song for the Road

“A feast for the senses, as well as a sweet story of healing, Closer to Okay will tickle your tastebuds and touch your heart in equal measure.”
—Brianne Moore, author of A Bright Young Thing

About the Author

Amy Watson is the author of Closer to Okay. A native of Little Rock, Arkansas, she is a wife, a mother to two boys, and a full-time office manager. In her spare time, she enjoys reading, baking, knitting, and watching football.

Katherine Littrell is a Sydney-based audiobook narrator who studied English literature at Bryn Mawr College. She has lived in the United States and the U.K. but is glad to be back home in Australia, where she enjoys knitting, making furniture, and talking out loud to herself in small spaces.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B08VRHZVV9
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Alcove Press (October 11, 2022)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ October 11, 2022
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 1400 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 304 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #926,545 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #1,993 in Friendship Fiction (Kindle Store)
- #7,876 in Women's Friendship Fiction
- #15,907 in Contemporary Women's Fiction

Customer Reviews:
4.3 23 ratings

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Videos

Help others learn more about this product by uploading a video!

Upload your video

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.

Amy Watson

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Amy Watson is a native of Little Rock, Arkansas. A wife, a mother to two boys, and a full-time office manager. In her spare time, she enjoys reading, baking, knitting, and watching football.

Customer reviews

4.3 out of 5

23 global ratings

1 star

0%

How customer reviews and ratings work

Reviews with images

See all photos

Sort reviews by

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

littlerockbaker

Mental Health Representation, finally!

Reviewed in the United States on July 3, 2023

Verified Purchase

This book will stick with me for a while. The main character lives in a mental health facility at the beginning of the book, and the plot is mostly focused on her story. The other patients in the facility with her are bath funny and heartbreaking, sometimes simultaneously. I personally appreciate that the books shows the ups and downs of depression and not one or the other. Worth reading!

Helpful

Amber Garabrandt

This is a very real feeling portrayal into severe depression, and trying to help yourself.

Reviewed in the United States on October 11, 2022

This book was a very honest portrayal of someone who is trying to get their mental health back together. Kyle has anxiety and depression. Like so many of us, she thinks she can just…. handle it… until one day she can’t. After a suicide attempt, she finds herself under the care of Dr. Booth at Hope House. It comes with its own routine- she makes meals for everyone, has therapy, spends time with her friend (and fellow inpatient) Joey. I understand why we needed to change so much about her life- and there were parts I agreed with; but there were parts where I think it went too far. Dr. Booth seemed almost vindictive at times, pushing his patients too far. His choice of jobs, for example, gave me pause. Why allow a pastry chef to work at a fast-paced restaurant without being allowed to bake or even make the dough? But that’s neither here nor there… For me, this book brought to life the struggles of depression, of actually accepting that we need help and making a plan to get better. In that way, I loved the book. I feel like there was a lot of real growth with Kyle, she wasn’t instantaneously “cured” and the white knight with a bad attitude didn’t miraculously save her… she took steps to make her life better, taking the dr’s advice into account but not letting anyone control her. I loved that. It was honest, believable and above all it felt real.

I will say that the pacing was all over the place. For the first half of the book, we move very slowly, bogged down as we are with Kyle’s mental health and routine. This is important and completely necessary, but it’s hard to get through. I had to take frequent breaks. Then there’s her interaction with Jackson- going from incredibly awkward, to sweet, to cute, to heartbreaking in what felt like a second’s time. I want more of this. I also want more time with Joey. The last chapters flew by, far too quickly for my liking. Is it wrong to want way more happy moments after the pain? I actually wouldn’t mind a companion book- maybe with more from Jackson’s side, or showing what they are up to together? That said, the story did have a fulfilling conclusion- I didn’t feel like there were a lot of loose ends or anything like that. For me, this was a four star book.

⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.
On the adult content, there is drinking and language. Some aspects of the story, including discussion of suicide, may be hard for some readers. There was some very light sexual content as well, but nothing I wouldn’t give to a teenager. I wouldn’t actually place any age recommendations on this one, though it was obviously written with an adult crowd in mind.

2 people found this helpful

Helpful

Rachel Burks

Compelling look at recovering from depression

Reviewed in the United States on January 8, 2023

Verified Purchase

I enjoyed reading Closer to Okay and was surprised at how much I was drawn to the main character, Kyle. It is still unusual, even in this day and age, to read frank, real depictions about what it is like to suffer from depression. I appreciated that this story was a snapshot in the life of a young woman who is learning to understand and accept her illness, and shows the everyday life of what it is like to overcome it. There is no easy answer, and Closer to Okay gives us a glimpse of the way in which the possibilities exist to take it day by day, through a compelling character.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

bette9182

Check the TW

Reviewed in the United States on April 13, 2023

I was hooked on this book in the beginning. I loved the care and understanding put into Kyle's depression and journey. I truly felt that the author had a deep connection with this character. I remember falling in love with Kyle when she was describing the coffee shop and watching the milk change the color of the espresso. It was such a beautiful scene. However, the book lost some of its strength for me where the relationship portions were. I didn't believe their love story and connection, and it felt as if we didn't have enough time with these characters together to truly feel them fall in love. I believe this book would have been stronger with Kyle on her own navigating depression and her life without the addition of Jackson.

Helpful

kathy

love this book about mental health

Reviewed in the United States on October 25, 2022

this cover really peaked my interest and after reading this book, the cover makes a lot of sense.

kyle, the main character, is in a facility to help her with her mental health. she is really lucky to know that baking is her outlet. she has the privilege to go outside for 2 hours and when she finally decides to go out, she goes across the street to a coffee shop where she meets jackson.

a sweet relationship sparks between them and he is constantly there for kyle, even through the tough times. every relationship has its ups and downs and you can definitely relate to theirs. you so desperately want kyle to get better and you want their relationship to work where they are a part of each other’s lives.

this book does state the reasons as to why kyle is mentally unwell. i do wish they dove a little more into her recovery as it is a lot of hard work to manage life.

i also want to say that i really love the flow of this book. it made me really look forward to reading this book and also rooting for kyle.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

CLICKS by Madison

Hard reading, but good reading.

Reviewed in the United States on October 31, 2022

Closer to Okay.

This is a book where "enjoy" doesn't seem like the correct word to use to describe it. But some other words come to mind...meaningful, thought-provoking, emotional. Highly recommended for when you need to FEEL your feelings.

We do things sometimes, we FEEL things too much sometimes. Closer to Okay is an example of that.
How do you start to live again when a short time ago, you didn't want to live? How do you move forward when all you feel is stuck? In this book, you look outside and you literally take one step at a time toward your new life. Is it easy? NO. Do you get to do whatever you want to? NO. But, you take what you can and you start to live again.

And, then you are Closer to Okay.

Buy for others

Buying and sending eBooks to others

Follow the author

Image Unavailable

Closer to Okay Kindle Edition

Customers who bought this item also bought

Editorial Reviews

Review

About the Author

Product details

Videos

About the author

Amy Watson

Customer reviews

Reviews with images

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.