It’s another edition of Ali’s Book Club! Today, Wednesday host Ali Muldrow spends the hour with Leesa Cross-Smith to discuss her latest novel, This Close to Okay, which explores topics like mental health and the importance of human connection through the story of two strangers who spend a healing weekend together.

Leesa Cross-Smith is a writer based in Kentucky. She is the author of the short story collections Every Kiss a War (Mojave River Press, 2014) and So We Can Glow (Grand Central Publishing, 2020) along with two novels, Whiskey & Ribbons (Hub City Press, 2018) and This Close to Okay (Grand Central Publishing, 2021).