Before I Let Go takes us into the lives of Yasmen and Josiah, a couple that built a business and family together, while deeply and passionately in love, and when we first meet them that has all imploded. They’ve been divorced for two years while still business partners and co-parents.

I don’t want to give too much away with spoilers because the way Kennedy unfolds the story is wonderful. The pacing is good, the internal monologues are just enough to give you a sense of character and what’s going through their minds without getting bogged down.

There are great lessons in this book and it addresses depression, therapy, self-forgiveness, forgiveness for several examples. There are lovely examples of supportive friendships, the healing powers of legacy, what family means and of course, how love binds.

Yasmen has two best friends, Hendrix and Soledad, and I am hoping we get their stories in future books!

Kennedy Ryan knows how to write a second chance love story full of real-life issues and it’s beautiful, poignant with a satisfying ending!

CW’s for death, grief, miscarriage, depression

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

#BeforeILetGo #KennedyRyan #ReadForeverPub #NetGalley #Romance #Bookstagram #ReadingRomance

You will never be disappointed with a book from Kennedy Ryan. Her books are so good, so we’ll written and so emotional. There is a realness, a rawness to this story that you will feel in your core.
Marriage, separation, love.
Yasmen and Josiah loved, divorced, had a business and lost each other but their bond was still there.
Yasmen had losses felt deep inside causing her marriage to fail. Seeing Josiah date makes her crack a bit more. Josiah didn’t want this. He tries to move on but feelings still exist.
It’s an emotional read about love, second chances and healing.
A wonderful story from Kennedy Ryan that you won’t want to miss!

**Thank you to Forever (Grand Central Publishing) for the ARC**

Yasmen and Josiah are ex-spouses that once had it all. After a series of catastrophic losses they decide divorce is the best option moving forward, but how does that look when you share children and a successful business together?

Kennedy Ryan brings us into Yasmen and Josiah's world seamlessly. From following Yasmen's journey through working on her depression and healing, Josiah's realization that he doesn't handle grief as well as he believed, to grappling with trying to raise their children in this new normal and peeling back the layers of past trauma's that never truly healed.

I laughed, cried, swooned, and sighed throughout this book. So many times I had to stop reading to jot down a quote. Kennedy's pen game will always leave me in awe.

"Grief is a grind. It is the work of breathing and walking 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 its not even there. But all you can do is stand there and stare."


I came away from this book feeling lighter and happier. This is more than a second chance romance, it's also a redemption story. Redemption of oneself, even when you feel like you may have lost that part of you forever. It's a love story, a story about forgiveness, family, friendship, and the power of recognizing when a part of you is hurt and broken that reaching out for help on fixing it should never feel shameful.

Thank you Kennedy for this phenomenal novel. I never stop being amazed by your masterful way with words.

I LOVE second-chance romance and this did not disappoint. The two main characters have been THROUGH it and I was rooting for them to find their happily ever after. The early reviews are great- 4.78 on about 500 reviews on GoodReads and this cover is gorgeous. Kennedy Ryan knows how to write fully realized characters and steamy love stories!

Kennedy Ryan never misses!! This book was such a magnificent story of love, hardship, and grief. The characters felt so three dimensional and you felt everything along with them as if they were your best friends. You laughed and cried with them. You got emotional and felt every emotion that they were. This really was a beautiful story about how love can overcome and that soulmates and once in a lifetime love do exist. This book will stick with me for a long time and will be in my Top Books of 2022 list!

Yasmen & Josiah's story was captivating from beginging to end! I adored their struggle, their growth and their vulnerability through the entire book. The details of Before I Let Go resonated with me as more than any other Kennedy Ryan book. I was so pleased to see her write a love story about a couple who tried and failed. There aren't enough second chance romances out there that involve divorced grown adults who've seen some things and barely made it out on the other side, together. I loved her perspective on their love and bond. I thought Ryan handled some extremely sensetive content with grace and grit. As an author, she's never afraid to dive into the difficult situations. Grief, loss, heartbreak.

As someone who's struggled with mental health issues as an adult, I found this book to be not only realistic but also insightful. The topic of mental health issues was written with such authenticity and care. The battle that Yasmen faced with her depression, stemming from extreme grief and loss was so raw and real. I loved that numerous members of the family were encouraged to seek therapy and truly found value in it, even the sceptical ones! Thank you for bringing this to light, Kennedy, and showing that even those who appear to have it all together... don't.

Before I Let Go was a phenonminal story. The ups and downs made the entire read hard to put down. I loved the growth that the main characters went through. I loved that Yasmen had sisters by choice who were always there for her. I loved the tight family unit that the Wades were, despite them being co-parents. There just aren't books written like this one.

Amazing beautiful book of love and lose…. “Only a one letter difference”… Thank you Kennedy Ryan for writing the realness in life. Yasmen and Josiah are broken form life and apart but connected in so many ways. Their kids are the priority.
I loved the layers of friendships and relationships, the need sometimes for counseling, how you don’t need to do life alone. How life is hard, but being honest with yourself and forgiving yourself is part of healing!!
A perfect way to happily ever after is not always easy!

Thank you Netgalley for the advanced reading copy! This book is bonkers good, but tread lightly friends, there are some intense content warnings. In the end, the emotional journey of this story was worth it for me. I cried, loved all the characters, and read some really moving words - so truly a win for me as a reader. Yasmen and Josiah have been divorced about two years at the beginning of this book, after multiple tragic family losses. But though they’re divorced, they’re co-parenting and running a business, and their lives intersect in many ways. Their attraction and mutual respect are still there, can they get over their hurt from their past to reconcile? This is my fourth Kennedy Ryan book, and in my opinion her best. She’s at the height of her craft with this book, with really relatable characters with great depth. This book is a great and thoughtful love story, but it’s also about self love and the importance of mental health and therapy. I have never read a book that was as nuanced about overcoming grief and trauma as this book, and in my opinion, this book was the perfect blend of being beautifully written, while also showcasing how grief and love moves over time. This is a phenomenal, insightful, and sexy book, but again, it’s not an easy read, it’s tackling a lot of very difficult and complicated themes. I highly, highly recommend this book to fans of second chance contemporary romance, black love, Kennedy Ryan, and angsty, beautiful love stories.

❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️ Five star review 🚨

I know I said I wasn’t doing star ratings in my reviews anymore but this powerful, amazing, soul crushing book I just finished is an exception because I need to scream from the roof tops how much I loved it.

Loss, broken hearts, second chance romance, self love and growth, therapy, healing, patience and doing the damn work were just a few words to describe this masterpiece.

I was emotionally damaged, and invested- ugly crying at the 33%. My heart continued to break and hope for this couple and this family and slowly but surely my broken heart was mended and I wanted to hug my kindle so hard.

The details, prose, character development and can I just say JOSIAH is where book husbands need to be molded from. The spice scenes were just chef’s kiss ( no pun intended)

I loved the sprinkles of NoDa in my hometown Charlotte and can’t wait to meet up with @bookish.fit.nurse_jess in Atlanta.

I had no idea how much I’d need an emotional support buddy reader for this and @shegabsaboutbooks fit the bill perfectly!

This book comes out on November 15 but I will be pre ordering it asap to re read and annotate.

Thank you @netgalley and @readforeverpub and @kennedyryan1 for my e-arc. Do we get Hendrix or Soledad’s pov in a book 2 or 3?!

This story falls in my top 5 fave books of the year- maybe all time and I will never look at wheels the same. IYKYK

Before I Let Go by Kennedy Ryan 🌿

This is a story about a couple, Yasmen and Josiah, and how their happily ever after was derailed following a tragic event. While their marriage felt like it was over, they make sure to continue to focus on their children and business together as partners. Now, two years later, they are starting to heal and sparks begin to fly between them again. Is it too late for them to get their happily ever after?

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ; this book was so beautiful! It was real and heart-wrenching, and tackles healing in such a powerful and honest way. Second chance romances are my absolute favorite too! I don’t want to give away too much about the story, but trust me, read it ❤️

Also, this cover 😍😍

Thank you @readforeverpub & @netgalley for the early copy! Before I Let Go comes out November 15! ✨

First of all, I want to say that I am absolutely in love with Kennedy Ryan's writing style and story telling ethics. Before I Let Go pulls you in from the very beginning. I can relate the being a mother and going through a nasty separation when it comes to relationships. The characters are very detailed and well thought out. I hope that there is a sequel to this book because BABYYYYYYY.....This book is everything. I am so very grateful to have received an ARC copy of Before I Let Go. Because of this I am most definitely pre-ordering the physical copy ASAP! Also, I am definitely planning on re-reading this because how could you not?? Every thing about this story makes me want to keep motivated and keep going no matter what life may throw at me. Thank you for writing this book. This is definitely a life changer for me!

CW for stillbirth, depression/grief. A second-chance romance for "grown-ups:" Yasmen and Josiah fall apart after heart-breaking tragedy, and Yasmen suffers from PPD/complicated grief. Elegant prose and beautiful and tender characterizations spin out a deeply complicated relationship; I loved watching both of them heal and turn towards each other again, sparked by their continuing attraction. They their problems-- they definitely acknowledge that those wounds won't ever heal-- but they both deeply understand how much they've changed and still commit to each other and their family.

Kennedy Ryan= immediately yes! I knew the book was gonna cause me some emotional damage, but I was so here for it! Amazingly written, I loved the characters!

4.5 stars rounded up to 5

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of this book. I honestly have been psyching myself up to read this book for weeks. I’ve only heard amazing things about Kennedy Ryan but I know her books can be quite emotional and I wanted to be ready for that.
This book is unlike any other romance book I’ve ever read. I really enjoyed the journey of seeing the entire family as they lived with the grief and I think Kennedy did a great job of balancing that with the romance between the two main characters.

Check CW before reading.

This was such a beautiful story, one that will stay with me long after I finished it. In this story Yasmin and Josiah, a divorced couple are working their way through co-parenting their children and running their restaurant together. It has been two years since the divorce, but their is so much tension, desire, and unspoken words still between them. What I loved most about this book was how “real” it was. The emotions, the dialogue, the heart wrenching situations and moments these characters found themselves in were so raw and realistic. I felt like I was right there with these characters rooting for them, and crying with them. I loved how mental health, depression, and therapy were highlighted and openly discussed in this story. What a beautiful story about love and loss, and trying to come back after tragedy strikes. This was my first book by Kennedy Ryan, but it will not be my last. I received an ARC and this is my honest review.

Before I let go

Thank you to Forever and Net Galley for the opportunity to read this ebook in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this Book. I literally stayed up all night to finish it. I could not stop. It took me through so many emotions. This is only the second book I’ve read from Kennedy Ryan and now I have to try to read her whole catalog.

Before I let go is about Yasmeen and Josiah Wade. They are a divorced couple who co-parent their two children and run a restaurant.

The book talks about what led up to their marriage failing and the stress and emotions both Si and Yasmeen went through after a great loss. Kennedy Ryan touches on mental health issues and therapy which is kinda taboo in the black community.

When one kiss turns into another, then another the profound love Si and Yasmeen have for one another is evident. Then the passion between them keeps you engaged in this book.

It’s just one emotion after another. I felt everything reading this book. Kennedy Ryan definitely has me as a fan from now on. Just wow.

Wow, this book was raw and heavy but good. It is a second chance romance, Divorced couple Yasmen and Josiah experienced a great loss and they processed the grief differently. They were incompatible in their grief. While Yasmen got stuck in the pain and battled with depression, Josiah had to stay in motion, give himself to their business to avoid the pain. And they didn't talk about any of it at the time. 2 years after their divorce they are co parenting their kids and getting along. They are still pretty much in love but would not admit that to the other person or to themselves. Josiah is heartbroken because Yasmin is the one who initiated their separation. Yasmin is doing better with the help of therapy. Then Josiah starts dating again and Yasmen is forced to face with her feelings toward him.

There are many reasons I liked this book.
1. The children were written so realistically. Their teenage daughter Deja''s attitude towards her mom, the parents responsible from the split on Deja's eyes, and the 10yo Kassim's innocence were so on point.
2. This book does a great job promoting therapy. Josiah's initial reluctance to seeing a therapist turns into a need. which surprises even himself. Also the reason he starts therapy is to support his son and to be a role model to him. Josiah gets all the brownie points for that one.
3. The changing family dynamic after divorce was also written so well.
4. The second half was the true second chance romance part of the book, This couple still had the passion and chemistry but they had to have their real heart to heart before they move on. Josiah's therapy sessions certainly helped but Yasmen's perpective and mental health were also different than what they were 2 years prior. There is so much healing in this book. Yasmen and Josiah are healing individually and then as a couple
5. The pieces about Yasmin's battle with depression felt so authentic. After reading the acknowledgements it was clear Kennedy Ryan wrote from experience.

It was a mature story not because of a few bedroom scenes in the second half of the story. It dealt with grief and depression with a daft hand, The dialog was so good. My only minor complain is the use of f-ing as an action. I would have preferred to replace those with having sex.

5 ‘Till the wheels fall off’ stars

Kennedy Ryan’s books always do it for me. I’ve been so looking forward to reading this book. I mean, Kennedy is writing a book about “grown folks” who get a second chance romance after having “marriage in trouble” trope? Yes please!

Si and Yas are goals. Their love is so big you can’t describe it with words. They’re freakin soulmates. They had everything, the perfect family, the business they built, and the love they share. But then tragedy hits hard and they weren’t strong enough to fight for what they had and they decided to get a divorce that shattered their life.

“I will love you until I die. We said till death do us apart.”
“Death is tearing us apart.” Her laugh is bitter and short. “We assumed it would have to be our deaths that ended this. Turns out it was theirs.”
“We said vows.”
“Those are words, not walls. They don’t defend. They don’t enforce. They don’t protect us from life. From pain. From how things change. And I don’t want to stay in this just because we said we would. I need to stop hurting, and being with you? It hurts now.”


First of all, that divorce scene killed me!!!! It was so freakin emotional it brought tears to my eyes and it was just so freakin realistic and devastating that I found myself screaming at them to please stop you guys are making a wrong decision.

But I can understand where each one of them was coming from. Kennedy showed their pain and their struggles and the way each of them dealt with grief in the most perfect realistic way and I loved her more for that. Their fights, their love, their feelings, it was all so real and true. The whole thing was just killing me.

Huge Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for providing this copy.

WOW! Kennedy Ryan knows how to write a truly emotional story. The push and pull of the Josiah and Yasmen was pulling on my heartstrings as they were dealing with some very serious issues. I had to take my take with this one -- this wasn't a book that you just run through. It was heavy at times but the author dealt with it all so well throughout the story. It touched on so many different, yet real like scenarios. This would be a great book for a book club as there is a lot to unpack! A more detailed review will be posted on IG.

This was a really good book! It had me hooked from the moment that I started reading. I literally could not move, at times, until I got to the end of the chapter or the next three chapters.

I loved the approach to the story with the two different perspectives. I felt like the relationship’s dynamic between the couple was better understood because of this. Focusing on the importance of mental health and the personal journey to happiness were key to the success of this book in my mind. I love how Kennedy Ryan chose to hold no punches when it came to the reality of the struggles that the characters faced and the resolutions to their conflict were perfect, in my opinion. It was such a riveting book, full of emotion that took me to places of deep inquisition, within myself, during my reading. I cherish the effort put into making this book great. I would easily give this book as a gift, recommend it, and even reread it. It has made it to one of my favorite books of all time.

I received this book as an ARC from the publisher and these are my honest opinions.