“You don’t love me anymore?”
” I can’t find it. I can’t find us. It’s buried under all this pain.”
“It’s not buried. I don’t have to look for it. I don’t want a divorce. I love you, Yas, and you love me.”

As far as second-chance romances go, the divorced/reconciliation theme is one of our favourites. There’s something so achingly painful, and sad in these stories, yet at the same time, we’re filled with eternal optimism for the couple concerned. We live and breathe their pain, their love, and their sorrow, all whilst eagerly awaiting that moment when they (hopefully) reconcile.

In Before I Let Go, Kennedy Ryan has encompassed everything we love in this trope. Yasmen and Josiah Wade’s journey is as agonising as it is beautiful. As hopeful as it is hopeless, and it’s told with such honesty and emotion, you can’t help but take this story of story of love, hope, and healing to your heart.

‘There is only one letter of difference between love and loss, and somewhere along the way, for me they became synonymous.”

Josiah and Yasmen had the world at their feet, love in their hearts, and future ambitions when they were attending college together. Both were on the same page, their life could only prosper and become the dream they so desperately wanted it to be until it wasn’t.

‘I wondered if this—-finding someone you can laugh with when everything hurts—-was the stuff happily ever afters were made of.’

It’s three years since a series of gut-wrenching losses left Josiah and Yasmen’s marriage in tatters. They’re divorced and at the stage when they are starting to think about moving on, yet there is unresolved hurt they have never dealt with, and a simmering love that still burns within their hearts.

‘How do you breathe when the person you thought you’d cherish forever looks at you the way Yasmen looks at me right now because you’ve hurt them so much?’

Caught in the middle are their children thirteen-year-old Deja who seems resentful of her mother, clashing at every opportunity, and ten-year-old Kassim, who is very much like his dad in tramping down his thoughts and feelings.

With their children’s interests at the forefront of their future decisions, as well as being co-owners of their very successful restaurant Grits, in their affluent suburb of Downtown Skyland, Josiah and Yasmen’s lives are still very much intertwined, yet simmering beneath is a mountain of unsaid words, unshed feelings and a heartful of hurt.

“No one in my whole life has ever hurt me like you did.”

In Before I Let Go, Kennedy Ryan beautifully explores the complexity of loving a person, whilst feeling so much hurt and loss, and she doesn’t hold back in probing the situations that prove so difficult to approach and discuss. Eliciting heartfelt emotion during moments that had profound effects on both Josiah and Yasmen, and in return, us as readers. A truly thought-provoking second-chance love story.

‘She’s changing, aging, but to me, only getting better. Like God looked at her, and said, you think she looks good now? I’m just getting started.’

Intense. Thought provoking second chance romance that pulls no punches. The mastery in the character development is sublime. You feel every nerve; every hitch in voice; every emotion. Amazing read and job well done.

"Grief is a grind. It is the work of breathing and waking and rising and moving through a world that feels emptier. A gaping hole has been torn into your existence, and everyone around you just walks right past it like it's not even there".

TW: loss of a loved one

Let me start by saying that this book found me in a very trying season. I recently lost my job, therefore not only losing my income but losing my health insurance (v. needed because I have regular meds) as well.
Little did I know that these wouldn't be the hardest losses - in the midst of this, a very dear friend of mine also passed away.

When I tell you guys that life is unpredictable - PLEASE know that I mean it.

This book....truly touched my heart in its darkest parts. The journey between Josiah and Yasmen was the most beautiful agony I've ever experienced. The way that you can truly go from being on the top of the world one moment to struggling to even exist in this world in the next is something I believe entirely too many people relate to. Before I Let Go did something for me that was beautiful, raw, and unexpected. It showed me that heartache can exist amongst healing. - that grief and forgiveness can coexist.

I cannot imagine going from having your soulmate to experiencing a stranger - because what do you do when the person that once felt like home moves out and leaves a vacancy in your heart?

To Josiah and Yasmen, thank you for existing. Thank you for showing love among loss. Thank you for being human and thank you for being flawed.

And to anyone reading this, please remember that even when everything seems dark, you are very much not alone.

This is not an easy book to read, even though it has a lighthearted vibe. Yasmin and Josiah fell in love, got married, started a business, and had two kids. But a series of heartbreaking losses led to a divide and the couple is now divorced. But what that the right decision?

I loved the characters, especially Yasmin’s friends. There’s lots of light banter but dark topics do creep up.

It’s a great romance, although sometimes I wished it was a bit faster paced

First, I’d like to thank @kennedyryan1 and @readforeverpub for the ARC of this beautiful book! I mean this cover alone is 5⭐️ - 😍

But this book? THIS book is REAL! Raw and honest in a way that was both refreshing and bittersweet.

What drew me in was the fact that this was a book about an already married couple, and it’s not all roses and perfection.

It’s a marriage that has ups and downs, grief, loss, depression, mental health challenges, and two people who are navigating it all, as individuals and as a couple.

I loved the learning, the growth, and the honesty in this one. A must read if you’re looking for a book with a lot of heartbreak but also, a lot of heart, period!

✨”I was no walk in the park, Merry.” “Who wants to walk in the park? I think that man would run wild with you.”✨
.

I knew this would make me cry because it's Kennedy Ryan plus my favourite tropes in the whole world but OWWW THIS HURT. I cried more then once.. full sobs.. I truly love these characters so much and felt that soulmate connection right away. I loved the kids, the depression rep, the growth of Yas and Si. I just am obsessed with this. So happy to finally have another 5 star this year.

Before I Let Go is one of my favourite reads of 2022. The central characters are so well-developed, and the writing so eloquent it was an absolute joy to read. The fact that this is the first book in the author’s Skyland series has me elated.

This is the love story of Yasmen and Josiah. The story is told from alternating points of view from each of them. Through the author’s words, the reader can feel the intensity of their relationship. A love that was supposed to be forever is forever changed after tragic events ended the marriage two years before.

That is not to say the two no longer feel love for one another. The attraction between these two is palpable. Although they may live in separate residences, they share a family and a business that binds them together.

The story is also one of loss and grief and how each of us processes these things differently. I felt the depths of despair in the words on the page – it is not surprising to me that the author has a history of depression. It is also a story of seeking professional help after a loss as we often fail to process our grief. I love that this story emphasizes the importance of doing so.

There is an infant death in this story so those of you who have difficulty reading about this may choose not to read this book. Otherwise, I highly recommend this book to those that enjoy Women’s Fiction and Romance.

I received a DRC of this book from the publisher but the thoughts and opinions expressed here are my own.

This e-arc was provided in return for an honest review!

I am an absolute believer in Kennedy Ryan's work and this book did not shy away from the standard that her writing represents in the contemporary romance genre. 5 Epic Stars!!!

Before I let Go was something special and you can feel and experience it off the pages as you read this book!

How is chemistry, love and connection so palpable off the pages with just words? (That's Kennedy's work for you 🙌🏿).
Cornered by depression and drowning in grief Yasmeen Wade made a decision that was meant to save herself which given the circumstances was a powerful survival move that still cost her.
What depression and grief meant for pain, darkness, division, hopelessness, regret and shame -- love, therapy, friendship, community and family turned it around with purpose and destiny for Yasmeen and Josiah!
*
The fear of reconciliation was alive and well in this story but Kennedy beautifully wrote that a second chance was feeling the fear and doing it anyways. A second chance was rediscovery, renewed trust and a stronger purposeful partnership based on co-creating. A second chance was an opportunity at rebirth. A second chance was in fact healing.
*
REFLECTIONS: Sometimes the fear of holding again what we thought we lost is the most devastating feeling, yet reaching again with hope, love and trust can be the most rewarding. Don't allow your pride, pain and trauma to prevent you from the life you were meant to have.
*
This book showed us how beautiful second chances are. It was about hope, joy and love.
*
💔Divorced Couple
👨‍👩‍👧‍👧Co-parents
🥗Business partner
💚Mental health rep/Therapy
🤲🏿Second chance

Happy Reading! This is one contemporary romance you do not want to miss this year!

This is the first Kennedy Ryan book I have read and OH MY GOODNESS did she immediately become an auto buy author for me. I can not find the words to properly describe the emotions this read stirred in my, the true love and passion for each other was palpable. It has been a while since I have read a romance with such emotion and devotion. The way the story wrapped up was beautiful and I can absolutely understand why this book is getting the traction it does, I will be purchasing a copy for myself and some loved ones. Highly recommend.

Devastatingly beautiful. This was my first book by Kennedy Ryan, and I am grateful for an ARC. This story was so beautiful and raw, I cried and I laughed- I felt the characters rage and love and grief. This book was incredibly well written, and I will definitely be checking out more of this authors work.

Till the wheels fall off
5/5
Such a beautiful story on second chances and finding yourselves. Second chance love stories are my favorite they have such a special place in my heart <3 This book was perfect it wrecked me but also had me squealing!!!

Personal Note:

When I read this story, I felt that it was my story down to a science (Minus the Henry tragedy, but a disaster just as traumatic) Only difference is we were already married by 20 and had four children by the time we were 29 and 30. By the time I was 43, we were divorced after being married for 23 years, but we had been together since we were 14 and 15. For the first ten years, I was absolutely depressed and never knew it; I guess it was PPD. Then it was further depression after that. So, this book truly resonates with me on so many levels. There was therapy, but there was never a second chance.

Intro:

Ryan took off from the starting line and left everyone in the dust.

She did not even bother to stop and grab her cup of water at the mile marker; she just kept flying by.

WHEW!

No stopping and collecting two hundred; she is just in it to win it.

And by all things holy, she's downright "NAILED" it!

Ryan's "Before I let Go" is a MUST-read for 2022-2023; you will want to get a Hardcover and savor it


Let us begin:


Josiah and Yasmen had a love like you only see in "fairy tales," a love you only "dream" about, a love you only "wish" you had. The two met while in college and have been inseparable ever since.

They were the "IT" couple, the perfect family, the perfect house, and the ideal two children, Kassim, 10, and Deja, 13.

The two had a thriving soul food restaurant in Atlanta called "Grits.," They even have the perfect friends; life for Josiah and Yasmen is everything…." UNITL IT ISN'T!"

Tragedy strikes the young couple and upheaves their entire family.

Nothing is the way it belongs or the way it was.

Yasmen and Josiah are constantly fighting, ugly words are slung back and forth, and hurtful things are said to each other.

The children are in the middle, and no one thinks about them then, but everyone is hurting.

Josiah is dealing with his grief the way he thinks he should, shutting out the world and not saying a thing.

Yasmen is dealing with her grief the way she knows how and not wanting to be there anymore, just wanting to lay in her bed and blend in with the covers.

Until one day, she decides she wants a divorce; she cannot take the memory of things lost.

2 Years Later:


Josiah and Yasmen are Coparenting; they are trying to be friends, he is dating someone else, and she is "trying to date."

The kids are happier because their dad lives two streets over from them and sees them daily.

Yasmen is seeing a therapist and asks Josiah if he has been; Joshiah tells Yasmen that he has no interest in going; because a therapist cannot help him.

But, like most men, he does not need to pay someone to talk to when he has his boys to speak to.

Josiah and Yasmen must go on a business trip to look at a new locale for a potential expansion of their restaurant.

When they get there, they end up sleeping with each other, and sparks shoot off like fireworks.

When they get home, Kassim tells Josiah about how when he goes to therapy; it makes him feel much happier.

Josiah feels like a fool because here, his 10-year-old son is teaching him about something he should be instructing his son on.

Josiah makes an appointment with Dr. Masua, and boy is it "GUT WRENCHING" (That is all I am going to say about that)

The entire Dr. to Dr. POV part was so gut-wrenching it will have you bawling your little heart out. OMG. (Try not to think of yourself if you do not want to cry.)

And this is where I will have to leave you, my dearest readers. I have already given away way too much.

So now you will have to find out where the pieces go and come up with the middle and the end because I have left out a whole lot more to this story.

So, STOP! (Did you "HONESTLY" think I was going to "TELL" you the whole story?)


Ending:

Ryan brings the "MOST impressively, realistic, normalization of Mental Health Treatment to a novel in years."

The way the detailed therapy sessions were, gave a thought-provoking excursion into the subconscious.

Ryan's lyrical prose was "BREATHTAKINGLY BEAUTIFUL," At no time did her writing style become incomprehensible; she maintained her decisiveness and precision without any unnecessary flourishes.

Her word-building is Stellar and Motivative.

This Novel resonated!

This novel "SPOKE ON ITS OWN ACCORD...."

Ryan basks in a glowing light, and her novel turns all darkness into pure sunshine.

I think I can honestly speak for others when I say Ryan "SPOKE" for every person who suffers from Mental Health Illnesses," Whether it be from Post-Partum Depression, PTSD, MDD, AD, etc.
One hundred stars if I could give it!

YOU ARE THE BEST OF 2022

KUDOS TO YOU!

SO, BLESSED TO HAVE READ THIS EARLY RELEASE!

Thank you, NetGalley/Kennedy Ryan/Forever Grand Central Publishing Forever/ For this Phenomenal eARC for my honest review. My opnions are of my own volition.

#KennedyRyan is the best

#Forever

#GrandCentralPublishing/forever

I cannot praise this book enough. I read it in one day. Josiah and Yas have a connection and chemistry that pulls you in. You become committed to knowing if they survive the storm. I loved all of the characters, especially Hendrix. The focus on mental health and how people have to individually navigate it for themselves and their relationships won me over. I will be advocating hardcore for this book!

Beautiful, complicated story of loss, depression and navigating the fallout afterward.
As with every story Kennedy Ryan writes, the characters are rich and complicated and each must fight so hard for the love they want.
This book is not an easy read with all the personal loss and complexity post-divorce with 2 kids. The divorce might've been the fallout of post-baby loss depression and neither h/H emotionally mature enough to handle themselves and each other.
Wonder HEA. Highly recommend not missing this read.

I absolutely adore romances like these. Watching two people who clearly love each other find it difficult to show that can be daunting, but one of my favourite authors of all time managed to write one of the most beautifully written stories to exist. I was so happy reading this and hope everyone else planning on reading this feel just as connected to the characters as much as I was..

Kennedy Ryan does it again. Gut-wrenching and realistic in its depiction of grief, depression, masking, healing. Character-driven with not much in the way of plot but you get so invested in this relationship that it really doesn't take away from the story. I love that Ryan is able to sell this soul connection where you just know these people are meant to be together. Thats this book.

This book was a continuous heartbreak, but the journey of them finding their way back to each was absolutely beautiful and worth it. It was hard to put this book down, but when I had to, it was all I could think about. It consumed my heart and soul and I loved every second of the destruction it did to me.

I adore marriage reconciliation romances. Josiah and Yasmen have gone through the ringer. I cried for them. I hoped for them. I felt lots of things for them.

It was such an emotional read. Kennedy does such an amazing job at detailing depression and loss and grief. I loved that therapy was a huge part of healing.

I loved this book.

If you were to see my kindle, you would see a dozen Kennedy Ryan books I have purchased over the years. Why, oh why, is this actually the first one I've ever read? Her writing is absolutely magnificent. Smooth, flowing, prose-like even while writing about something as difficult as loss. So many different losses. When a tragic loss occurs, they say it will either make a couple stronger or break them apart. What happens when several losses occur? When people have different ways of coping with the losses? When it eventually tears you apart? While you may eventually learn to live with all this, do you always struggle with what comes next? Yasmen and Josiah have faced so much pain and while living separate lives may seem like the best and only option, there are many other issues that need to be faced. Will they have a second chance at love? I found myself rooting for these two and hoping they could find their HEA. Kennedy's descriptions of pain, and love lost have seared themselves into my soul.

"How do people do this? When the rug is pulled out from under the life they thought they would have forever, how do they pretend it’s not seismic? That the roof hasn’t fallen in and they’re trapped under a concrete beam?"

This book, like others of Ryan’s books that I’ve read, was romantic, sentimental, and full of compelling characters and storylines.

Ryan is the master of pulling on heartstrings in a way that feels authentic and earned, rather than traumatizing or schmaltzy. Rather than trying to traumatize her characters it truly feels like she’s trying to heal them.

"𝘓𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘣𝘺 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘐’𝘮 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘴. 𝘛𝘰 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘦𝘳𝘤𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘺𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵’𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘦𝘯𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩."

A second chance romance done right. Definitely worth the five stars.

Yasmen and Josiah Wade are that couple - made for each other, the one most likely to stay together until the end - until life threw several curveballs and they fell apart.

Told with incredibly moving writing, we follow their journey on dealing with their grief, juggling their business and family, and finding their way back to each other.

It was raw and heartfelt. I felt every emotion - the pain, guilt, shame, longing, tension, love. I was even teary-eyed 20% in. *CW* Kennedy Ryan wasn't afraid to delve into difficult topics like depression, divorce, stillbirth, and complicated grief in this one - and in such a sensitive and masterful way.

But the thing I loved most about this book was the hope that was evident in every page. Our couple went through some very difficult situations but Yasmen and Josiah worked hard to find their joy - amidst all of the pain in their past.

There was no villain, just life and circumstances no one has control over. And that makes it all the more relatable and real.

For anyone who has ever struggled with mental health problems, this is a book that encourages you to reach out and ask for help, because you never know what you will find if you do just that.

Bonus points for the positive way therapy was talked about, including all the stigma surrounding it.

Thank you to NetGalley, Forever / Grand Central Publishing and Kennedy Ryan for a chance to read this in advance in exchange for my honest opinion.

This book is out on November 15!
Will post on my social media closer to publication date.