Before I Let Go is told from the perspectives of a divorced couple, Yasmen and Josiah Wade. The Wades were sadly handed back-to-back tragedies that ultimately caused their marriage to crumble. Though divorced, they co-parent their two children and continue to run a thriving restaurant in Atlanta.

This story is so beautifully written. Each character is layered and you travel through their journeys of love, grief, stress, and healing. I appreciated how responsibly mental health and therapy was deployed in this book.

Kennedy Ryan talks about her own personal struggle with depression in the acknowledgments, which helped me understand why Yasmen's experience felt so real.

Will this book make you laugh? Yes. Will it make you cry? Probably. Will you want some good Southern food? Definitely!

I'm so glad I was given the opportunity to read an advanced copy via NetGalley.
I also plan to purchase this for my bookshelf.

Content warnings: depression, stillbirth and suicidal ideation.

What can you say about a book this sweet, enduring love story. The growth exemplified through the characters!!! From the Josiah to Kassim they all grew. I’m honestly lost for words on how good this book is.

Kennedy Ryan has a way of making you feel these characters like that’s your “auntie nem.” The passion shared been Yas and Si, you feel it from the point of when the characters are introduced. This was my first Kennedy Ryan book and it will not be my last. I felt it all.

She brought up so many issues from mental health to the challenges of being in love and staying it. I loved it from beginning to end, I couldn’t put this book down!! The sad moments were complimented by the funny moments within the story.

This book made me reflect on people I had lost and how I felt about it currently. What memories I had with them and it didn’t make me sad, it made me happy no matter the circumstances of how they were lost because I loved them while they were here. Kennedy wrote the truth about love and how it is hard to fight for what you know want. How sometimes all we need is communication to fix what was left unsaid.

This book will hold your attention from start to finish. I loved the positive Black father role model Josiah was and I appreciate that Kennedy gave me that because for a while I read books with horrible Black fathers, talk about representation!!

This book gave me the romance I desire and exes to lovers may as well be my new favorite trope because the way Ms. Kennedy breaks down the trials and tribulations with that is *chef’s kiss*.

To add, even though Byrd was gone it felt like she was very much apart of the story and I felt a connection with her as I did with most the characters. I wanted to taste her food!! Also, my favorite bonnet of Dejas was the Halloween one. I love an author who includes loving dogs into the narrative and speaks on the best superhero created, Spiderman.

P.S. Bron is the GOAT.

I would read this book over and over again because it’s a book that needs to be on every romance lovers shelf.

Thank you to NetGalley and ReadForever Pub for the E-ARC. I enjoyed every sentence read.

“Maybe we took what we had before for granted, didn’t know it was fragile because we were fragile in ways that had never been tested.”

GAH this book was just so stinking good. Kennedy Ryan absolutely never fails to draw me in to the point where I cannot put her books down. They are filled with so much heart and love and such hard fought HEAs. Before I Let Go was one of my anticipated fall 2022 reads and it definitely delivered.

Yasmen and Josiah used to be partners in life, love, and business until a series of unspeakable losses set them on a course to divorce. Now two years - as well as appropriate medication and therapy - later, they’re both trying to move on while coparenting and running their successful Atlanta restaurant.

This is a really beautiful second chance romance. Yasmen and Josiah are “grown folks” as Kennedy said on her Instagram page, with teenage kids. The book treats depression and anxiety with so much care with every member of their family seeing a therapist and overcoming some baggage with therapy. Both Yasmen and Josiah have overcome a lot and grown individually which makes the reconciliation so well earned. I loved the dual POVs and the selected flashback chapters which brought a lot of depth to the story.

Content warnings: Josiah and Yasmen lost their third baby to a stillbirth after a traumatic accident, so readers for whom these themes are triggering should take good care. Yasmen recounts her suicidal ideations at one point and her therapist also recounts in detail a documentary about folks who died by suicide on the Golden Gate Bridge.

Thanks to Forever and NetGalley for the gifted copy. All opinions are my own.

Just wow! Kennedy Ryan always writes such powerful stories you feel deep within your soul.

My goodness, this story is so filled with emotion. It is so real and so raw, and you feel everything! My stomach was in knots throughout this story. I hurt, I cried, I hoped, and I rooted for two these two beautiful souls that went through so much.

This story is tough. My stomach was nauseous, and I had a lump in my throat so many times. I was a nervous, anxious mess. The family struggles, relationship struggles, trust struggles, the grief. It’s that realness that is so relatable that tears at your heart strings. Kennedy Ryan writes with such passion that you feel it all! The sting of your kids lashing out, the deep shattering torment of loss, a love so poignant you feel it in every interaction.

A heartfelt, soul shattering story of healing, second chances, hope, and love. Absolutely beautiful!

Kennedy Ryan is a master storyteller who undertsands how to weave angst, heart, and steam into one rollercoaster experience. With this book, the realness of heartbreak laid bare was hard for me to get into because it was so real, but the journey back was worth it. If the subject matter is troubling to you, I would recommend reading with a group, buddy, or a bibliotherapist: Ryan's writing sucks you in, but please take care. In sum, this is a recommended read for those interested in an emotional journey.

This book was truthfully an emotional rollercoaster. A very well written story, but very heavy. Please check content warnings before reading.

Any book that deals with life after divorce is going to have it's challenges both for the divorced couple and for each of them as they move on. This story tackles those challenges and then some.

It was hard to read about all the things that precipitated their divorce and the heavy depression that Yasmen suffers. It is always hard to read about that topic and combining it with a divorce was even harder. I loved Yas' commitment to getting better though and how positively this book portrays therapy.

I felt like Josiah's character growth was really good even though I hated him multiple times throughout the book. In the end I felt like he mostly redeemed himself.

This book had some other really good qualities in dealing with children in their school experiences. I really liked how the book ended for their daughter. I'm glad they listened to her needs and desires for her education.

I received an advanced copy of this book through NetGalley. This is my honest review.

I don’t even know where to begin with this.

I RAN to Netgalley when I saw the post circulating that it was available to Read Now. I was already prepared to purchase it and I’m STILL going to purchase it. Before I Let Go was pure gold.

On the outside, Yasmen & Josiah are managing being coparents, business partners and ex husband/wife with ease. But what lies between them is hurt, grief and unquestioned answers. They have to navigate all that they’ve gone through while parenting two children and running a successful business.

I appreciated this story. I cried. I felt seen.

Yasmen’s grief was so raw. It jumped through the pages and comforted me. Because so many of her feelings, I felt before. I loved the focus on mental health. Especially mental health in the Black community. It felt good to not just read some clean cut romance. It was realistic, relatable.

I wanted to stop reading because their pain felt like my pain but I didn’t stop because I wanted to make sure the Wades were good.

I usually struggle with books when kids are thrown into it. Most of the time, kids feel like a random thought in books. But Kennedy Ryan captured Deja & Kassim beautifully. They weren’t lost in the story but rather added necessary value to it. As a parent but also a parent who coparents, I enjoyed that aspect.

Before I Let Go comes out November 15th and Ima need yall to give this the love it deserves.

Kennedy Ryan won me over with Reel but this one here?! She has a fan FOR LIFE 🤗

I’m calling it - Before I Let Go is my book of the year.

I’m not sure I have the words to do any justice telling you how amazing this book is. It’s just that good. I can’t think of any other book I have felt this deep in my soul.

There are parts that absolutely tore my heart in two. There are points I bawled (I rarely cry reading). There were points I was filled with joy. Every single character is this story I was invested in and was just trying to do their best.

I don’t want to spoil anything, so I will leave it at this. If you are a big CoHo fan, this book is for you. Even if you’re not, this book is for you. It’s so, so good and again reinforces why I tell everyone to read Kennedy Ryan’s books. Chefs kiss!

A huge thank you to Netgalley and Forever for the opportunity to read this book. The review expresses my own personal opinions.

Before I Let Go by Kennedy Ryan

First in a new series but stands alone. Romance/Women’s Fiction/Divorce Fiction.

Before I Let Go was supplied by Net Galley for an honest review.

Let me start by saying that Before I Let Go by Kennedy Ryan will end up on my all-time favorites list. There was a one-day window to get the ARC of this book and I grabbed it because the cover is absolutely gorgeous and Kennedy Ryan has wowed me in the past. I didn’t read the blurb. I had no idea it would parallel my life so much and force me to make some much-needed changes.

“Depression,” she goes on, “is a liar. If it will tell you no one loves you, that you’re not good enough, that you’re a burden or, in the most extreme cases, better off dead, then it can certainly convince you that you’re better off without the man you love, and that, ultimately, he’s better off without you.”

Yasmin and Josiah were the perfect couple living a charmed life in the Atlanta suburbs. You were able to feel the love and sensuality they brought to the story, until one tragedy after another hit and they both handled their grief differently. Yasmin finally insisted on a divorce over Josiah’s objections.

They still had two kids, a restaurant business together, and they live 2 blocks apart. And they were still secretly very much attracted to each other and very much in love. But they had to move on, didn’t they?

Yasmin has spent the last two years in therapy. She has an amazing friend group. She is healed and whole again. But Josiah holds everything in and doesn’t believe in therapy. Until his son is having problems and he promises to go to set a good example for him.

My ex-husband is bi-polar and won’t go to therapy. We were married for 29 years, many of them happy, but I had filed for divorce twice before. We divorced right before the pandemic, but because of our kids we were in the same bubble and kind of clung to each other—now he is still coming over every Saturday night. We also went through a very similar loss, so Before I Let Go hits me in some very personal ways. It also pushed me to seek out a therapist for myself.

“And I think I’m most grateful for time, which doesn’t always heal all wounds, but teaches us how to be happy again even with our scars.”

Likes:
•A book about mature adults.
•The absolutely gorgeous cover.
•The 100% REAL characters.
•It made me cry so much but they were good tears.
•One of the most relatable books I have read.
•Made me finally reach out for a therapist for myself. This book was actually therapy.
•Written so beautifully yet so real and raw.
•Yas’s friend group.
•They are both great parents.
•The sex scenes were totally HOT but beautiful at the same time.
•The therapy was normalized and on the page.
•No silly plot devices or fake angst.

Dislikes:
•Only one small thing: there was a beautiful, touching scene with their daughter, Deja, and I felt like it was a missed opportunity to discuss mental illness with her.

The Down & Dirty:
Before I Let Go by Kennedy Ryan is mature, emotional, so sexy, and so raw. It deals with family, love, kids, divorce, loss, healing, therapy, friendship and so much more. I couldn’t stop reading, yet I wanted to slow down so it wouldn’t end. It’s been a really long time since a book made me feel like this. It made me think and reevaluate a lot in my life and convinced me to seek therapy for myself. But beyond that, Before I let Go is an unputdownable story that you can’t help but love. This will not only top my best of 2022 list, but my all-time favorite list as well. As soon as the audible releases, I will be grabbing it for a re-read that way.

Rating: 5++++ Stars, 4 Heat

A second chance romance for the ages. Their family life is such a fun addition. So often I read SCR that is two people who dated and then separated. To see a full family with business and intertwined lives struggle with the reality of separation was refreshing. I highly recommend this book!

I finished this book weeks ago and I’m still processing. It’s soooooooo ridiculously amazing! You absolutely have to pick this book up. Kennedy Ryan, thank you so much for giving us phenomenal stories and characters with so much depth!

I love Kennedy Ryan, but this book was 100% not for me. Second chance romance is my least favorite trope. Especially divorced second chance! This is like asking me to revisit every awkward moment in my life. I was deeply uncomfortable reading this book. The first half is a visceral portrayal of the grief, stress, and struggle this family is experiencing. I think it's a testament to the author that I was so deeply impacted. It's very realistic, but not an enjoyable read for me which I recognize is a me thing, not a book thing.

This book is a beautiful and heartbreaking story of redemptive love that is so real, it practically leaves the page.

This was my first Kennedy Ryan book and oh man, does this book have all the feels.

Yasmen and Josiah were married with two kids when their life came crumbling apart. Both of them handled their grief differently, but worse, they handled it separately which drove a wedge between them. Now divorced, Josiah lives just a short walk from Yasmen and their two kids and is intimately involved in their lives and the business they share together. While they aren't married any longer, the attraction and pull towards each other is still there. Small moments of giving into the attraction, leads to more and more before they are forced to evaluate their past, how the feel in the present, and what they want for the future.

It is so completely fitting that Colleen Hoover is the one who blurbed this book on the cover because the only author who has ever emotionally wrecked me like this book did was Colleen. This book is an emotional rollercoaster but I could not put it down. What's the saying? It hurt so good? ha ha.

These characters are memorizing. The whole family and their friend circles are written in such an authentic and real way that I felt like I knew these people and was invested in what happened to them. Despite the fact that my hear broke for them all a million times over I wanted to keep reading and sacrificed sleep to do it.

I will most definitely be going back through Ryan's back list after having read this one. This is a beautiful and poignant story about loss and grief and how everyone experiences things differently.

**I would STRONGLY encourage you to read the CW before diving into this one. There are some very heavy topics that could be triggering for some readers.**

Thank you to Forever and NetGalley for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Their love was supposed to last forever. But when life delivered blow after devastating blow, Yasmen and Josiah Wade found that love alone couldn’t solve or save everything.

It couldn’t save their marriage.

Yasmen wasn’t prepared for how her life fell apart. Yasmen and Josiah have found a new rhythm, co-parenting their two kids and running a thriving business together.

Soon, one stolen kiss leads to another…and then more. This book is raw, beautiful, spice, realistic and shows second chances Can change everything. This book took me a while to process my emotions from how riveting it was. If you love Kennedy Ryan this is a new side to her writings. It was beautifully done and deserves a 10 out of 10.

“Healing and Reconciliation”

🧡 Mental health is crucial to survival. Free your mind and live your best life. 🧡

I am usually 50/50 about reading second chance romance. I tend to be drawn more to all the “firsts” of a developing relationship. But Kennedy Ryan’s Before I Let Go is not your ordinary second chance romance. It is an extraordinary example of a second chance at life after tragedy.

BILG is told from the dual POV of divorced couple Yasmen and Josiah Wade. Their family was dealt back-to-back blows and the relationship shattered. But through the collapse, they were able to co-parent their two children and continue to run their thriving restaurant business.

Through a moving narrative of the present and the past, we learn what led to the destruction of the Wade family. This couple had a passion that burned as bright as a thousand suns and unbearable grief turned it into ash. The love between Yasmen and Josiah is apparent from start to finish. It is in the way they think, the way they move, the way they speak. It’s in their eyes. The pining in this book is off the chain. I swear I never wanted two people to get back together so bad. They are both so vibrant in all of their Black beauty. Yasmen keeps it thick and fit with a fro that just won’t quit. Josiah walks around in all of his Denzel glory, dropping jaws wherever he goes. And let me tell you… homie can put it down! The love scenes are phat with fire! I love the way he thinks about Yasmen. For him, she is a queen on her throne and a fine wine that only gets better with time. They are a match made in Black heaven and it so divine to see their likeness in this book. And this book cover! I love it with my whole heart! Ms. Ryan, I praise you in the name of Black Jesus. Hallelujah and Amen!

BUT, sometimes that surface beauty can’t compete with the ugly underneath. Life can be a real killjoy. Mental health is a central theme of BILG and it is executed spectacularly. We see what happens when the mind rules without reason and when the heart beats without rhythm. The exhibition of the pressures of being with someone during tragedy is so real in this book. It’s raw and it’s gritty. Ms. Ryan so potently captured that feeling of drowning when you can’t even help yourself, much less deal with someone else’s grief. It calls your character into question and self-doubt is something we all can relate to.

The stigma of mental illness in the Black community and among men is also prevalent in the story. Josiah is a prime example. This man was so hardheaded. I was all up in my feelings, wanting him to open up to heal up. Therapy is not a disease. Mental Illness is. BILG addresses that and the difficulties that sometimes come with getting help. Do you need therapy? Is your therapist the right fit? Is medication necessary? What other forms of help are there?

“And sometimes I don’t handle harder well.”

This quote resonated so much with me. Yasmen is so strong. To be able to seek help and let go of someone she loves because he doesn’t want to do the same requires courage and the strength of a warrior. Chapter 13 will rip you to shreds! We also see her continued battle to own up to her mistakes, how she handled the task of facing the consequences of her actions or inactions while drowning in the depths of despair, and the little moments of happy that exist amid the pain.

Before I Let Go is the balm to my tortured soul. I could go on and on about how much this book is my jam. But I’ll wrap it up by saying BILG is the BOOK OF THE YEAR. It’s got heart, heat, hurt, and healing. It is must read, don’t miss, reread, book bliss.
I received an ARC via NetGalley for an honest review.

Read if you’re down with:
*Second Chance
*Black Love
*Mental Health
*Pining
*That Juicy Good-Good
*Profoundly Rare Storytelling

This destroyed me in the best possible way. Yasmen and Josiah are done, moving on and trying to put themselves back together. You see how they fell apart, how they're coping and learning, and then they so carefully start to explore what they've missed... listen, this is one of those books that I just can't go into detail about because it would spoil it. But I cried while reading it, I cried while telling other people about it - I highly, highly recommend it but have the tissues ready!

Thoughts also shared in "Read in 2022" highlight on my Instagram.

This book is beautifully written, heartbreaking and hopeful. Each character stirred an emotional response, each situations hit home. This is what second chance romances are all about. I was enthralled with Josiah and Yasmen and found myself longing for them to get it together. Highly recommend for anyone looking for a relatable raw and all encompassing novel full of love and heartbreak. And yes a little steamy chemistry.

Before I Let Go is another fantastic story by Kennedy Ryan that not only tells the passionate love story of Yasmen and Josiah but highlights one woman's incredible journey in finding herself after experiencing a profound trauma in her life. I loved the writing, raw emotions and how I was obsessed from the very first page. I loved this story so much! It was nothing short of magnificent!

Let's be real: Kennedy Ryan knows how to write books that will put your heart and soul through the wringer. But even more so, Ryan writes with such powerful and raw emotion that eventually heals you and makes you stronger. I loved every word of Josiah and Yasmen's journey back to one another. It was real, raw and emotional. This story will surely embed itself into your heart and memories and stay with you forever. Bravo! 5 stars! ~Ratula 

** I would like to thank Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book for an honest review **

How gorgeous is this cover and why have I not read any Kennedy Ryan books before?! 😍 Oh and look who gave accolades on the cover of the book!
“Raw, Real, Magnificent!” - Colleen Hoover

Before I Let Go is an emotional and entertaining second chance romance between two divorcees. The writing is so smooth, it flowed seamlessly. I could not put it down! The main characters were loveable including the two teenage children even with their teenage attitudes. Kennedy Ryan did such a great job making the story realistic and believable.

There’s a little bit of everything in this novel including:
✔️best friends
✔️mouthwatering food
✔️a family tragedy
✔️grief
✔️divorce
✔️humor
✔️second chance romance

Well done @kennedyryan1 👏🏻

It appears that this is the first book in the Skyland series. I will definitely be following up with the next book! 🥰

Thank you to @grandcentralpub and @netgalley for this eARC in exchange for an honest review.