This novel was beautifully written. It gives a wonderful portrayal of what it is like to grieve. It also shows a wonderful example of the close friend group that so many of us wish that we could have.

This was my first Kennedy Ryan book and I wasn’t disappointed at all. Seeing Yasmen and Josiah find their way back to each other was such a wonderful thing to witness. I cried (so many times) and cried (the same amount) so much from Before I Let Go. I immediately wanted to reread and experience their love story over again.

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

Before I Let Go by Kennedy Ryan delivered an emotional sucker punch straight in the feels. This book might be the realist, second chance romance I have ever had the pleasure of reading. Before I Let Go pulled on every last fiber of my heartstrings as a mother and wife. I've loved Kennedy's books in the past and went in with high hopes. I didn't expect THIS BOOK! Before I Let Go is on my Best of 2022 list.

This was a gorgeous romance that took a look at a complex marriage, it’s after effects from divorce and second chances.⁣
⁣
Love can be messy and this book does a great job showing this. Yasmin and Josiah loved each other dearly, but when a heartbreaking experience occurs, they are unable to continue with their marriage. ⁣
⁣
They now co-parent their kids and also own a restaurant together. When Josiah takes a step towards moving on with another woman, Yasmin begins to realize her feelings towards Josiah aren’t settled. Perhaps his aren’t either. ⁣
⁣
This takes a look at mental health and how it affects a marriage. Given that a lot of people in the world have some sort of mental health disorder, this is a fairly common thing to come up in a marriage. Many romances don’t address this. Kennedy Ryan did a magnificent job of showing a person struggle with depression and how it affects those around them. ⁣
⁣
This book has some heartbreaking moments, but overall it’s a beautiful and complex love story that should be lauded. It made me so happy to see them happy again!⁣
⁣
Thank you to @readforeverpub for the @netgalley copy of this book.

Oh I can see now why the hype on this one was so big! A fabulous read! Thanks to the publisher and netgalley for this copy for read and review

There’s a reason why this book went viral. Kennedy Ryan writes books that suck you in and break your heart. Will be diving into the backlist. So good!

I am amazed by this book! The grace Mrs. Ryan used to write these characters had me in awe of such talent. She didn’t shy away from any of it. Josiah and Yasmen were very relatable. Parents trying to pull off life. Looking back on it, you see where you’ve gone wrong. Knowing you need help is half the battle. I absolutely enjoyed the hope that this book offered!

Having never read anything of Kennedy Ryan's, I was eager to give this a try – especially after hearing rave reviews from everyone. And while this wasn't the perfect romance for me, I thoroughly enjoyed it and particularly loved the second change marriage storyline. So often romance characters are in their 20s and it was nice to read a story about a couple in their 30s who had been through some things and were working on themselves. And there was plenty of steam – FYI for those who like that, and for those who might want to skip those parts, I definitely recommend this to all romance readers and will be picking up more of Ryan's books.

This is a wonderful emotional roller coaster from beginning to end! At times it is incredibly heavy, and at others hilarious, and full of joy. I highly recommend it to those looking for a deeper, heavier romance.

Before I Let Go by Kennedy Ryan will break you and heal you ??
It had been a while since I read a story that shook me to the core. I alternated between free-flowing tears and audible sobs through more than half of this book. Before I Let Go is a great story for anybody with unresolved grief and open to some cathartic relief.


(Some spoilers in the description ahead.)
Told from dual points of view, Before I Let Go is the story of the demise of Yasmen and Josiah’s marriage. Their love story was the stuff fairytales are made of, but after they suffer the loss of Josiah’s aunt, followed closely by the stillbirth of their third child, they broke at the seams.

The way they each processed grief made them fundamentally incompatible. Yasmen embraced her feelings of loss and sadness and refused to let them go. Keeping herself together and being there for her kids was all she could do. Josiah, who at a young age had suffered the loss of both his parents in a car accident, was used to repressing his feelings and moving on, which caused Yasmen to deeply resent him. While Yasmen fell into a deep depression, Josiah channeled all his grief into saving their family restaurant.

A few years after the events that led to their divorce and after doing the work to process her grief, Yasmen is present and invested in recovering as much of her old life as she can. Josiah is ready to try to move on with the restaurant’s new chef. For different reasons, neither are open to rekindling their relationship. However, the love and attraction are still there, and neither can deny it. Will they choose the path that could bring them back together?

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.

Before I Let Go, Kennedy Ryan
Kennedy Ryan’s words are unforgettable
Reading Before I Let Go was intense and beautiful. Kennedy Ryan blew me away with how perfectly she assigned words to feelings that sometimes feel indescribable. Even if you haven’t experienced the specific situations described in the book, grief is pretty universal, and I expect all readers will connect with this story. It’s impossible to read this book and not walk away from it a little changed.

This book was a well-earned 5-star read for me, and I can definitely see myself returning to this story and these characters. It was so interesting seeing 2 people in such different stages of healing and self-awareness try to make it work. Both characters had to learn how to trust the other again in their new and vulnerable state. Second-chance romances are interesting because you have two people who are learning to love a new iteration of a person they know intimately; the old-them is constantly at war with the new-them, and it was fascinating to see Ryan tackle this concept with Yasmen and Josiah. Speaking of our brooding and hard-headed father of the hour, Josiah takes so long to begin to learn how to heal and express his emotions, but it’s so worth it when he finally makes a breakthrough. There were times where I seriously frustrated with him and his blatant rejection of emotional availability, and I was waiting for this to be addressed, and I’m glad it was.

BEFORE I LET GO has incredible writing; it’s heartfelt, complex, dynamic, and funny. I’ve highlighted several passages and lines that made my soul thing, and I’m itching for the Soledad’s story. I loved Yasmen's friendship with Hendrix and Soledad; it was robust, funny, and had a strong sense of well-earned sisterhood that can only be found between Black women. I also appreciated Yasmen’s therapist reminding her (and us, as readers) that healing is cyclical and that Depression is a trickster. The work Ryan did to show how far Yasmen had come since her divorcing Josiah and the work she was continuing to do was well-researched and heartfelt.

There aren't enough words in the English language to express how much I loved this story. The characters had a lot of depth. Themes including child loss, suicidal thoughts, divorce, friendship, death, and therapy were well-expanded upon; they were easy to understand. I felt so many different things while reading this book. More tears were shed. I admire the authors' sensitivity when talking about difficult pregnancies, the value of counseling in the Black community. Childhood trauma has a significant impact on adult life. What a lovely conclusion.

Incredible. Incredible. Incredible. This is my first Kennedy Ryan. It will definitely not be my last. Powerful heartbreaking story.

I still feel this book in my soul. I didn’t want to put it down. It was beautiful and heartbreaking and beautiful again. It was real and relatable. This was my first book by Kennedy Ryan and I immediately purchased more after this. She addressed mental health, therapy and how grief can affect people differently. While many topics were touched on it didn’t feel like too much. The moments that felt so real required me to take a moment but I returned to see how will this love story end. I remained interested throughout. Once it was over I still could have read more.

I really liked this book a lot. For the one simple reason , it felt real.
This is about a couple who both made mistakes, and went through pain.
Kennedy Ryan did a great job of bringing this book to life, I felt like this
could be a couple next door.
Thanks Netgalley and Kennedy Ryan for this ARC.

This book hit me right in the feels. I loved the two main characters, and the way grief and loss is handled is beautiful. I'm excited to read more of this series.

I’m embarrassed to admit this is the first Kennedy Ryan book I’ve read, but you can bet it won’t be the last. I am already shopping her backlist. Her writing is flawless and the characters are so vivid I felt like I was a part of their world. I’m a sucker for a good second chance romance and this book was the most heart wrenching one I’ve ever read. The conflict felt so real and the HEA is so earned. I could not put it down. Easily one of the best books I've read this year. If you love books that tear your heart apart in the best way imaginable, be sure and pick this up.

Before I Let Go is a beautiful second chance romance that tackles some particularly heavy subject matter with a lot of care. Yasmen and Josiah start the book divorced but co-parenting while running a restaurant together. Throughout the book, we slowly see the story of their divorce unfold (content warning for stillbirth). The discussion around mental health, therapy, grief, how different people cope, it’s all incredibly well done. I loved how realistic this conflict felt and the journey to resolution. An incredible book!

Kennedy Ryan is one of the most powerful writers I have ever had the pleasure of reading. Ever since reading the Grip series many years ago, she has been cemented as one of my favorite authors of all time. This beautifully crafted second-chance romance made me bawl like a baby. So lovely and wonderful I can't wait for the next book in the Skyland series!


I go into great detail about everything that I loved about Before I Let Go in my vlog. See the link below.
https://youtu.be/DeL-t0PqFLI

Like the magazine column, this is a story of a marriage under pressure. The first thing we learn is how Josiah met Yasmen and fell immediately and hopelessly in love. So, I thought, of course this couple will survive-until I read about the repeated blows of loss they had to withstand.

Josiah and Yasmen are the beautiful, successful couple everyone admires. Despite being divorced for a few years, they continue to work as a team. They have two healthy children, a thriving business and close, supportive friends. But the first several chapters slowly reveal that life has not been kind to them. We never know how we will react to loss until it arrives, and unfortunately, both Yasmen and Josiah have dramatically different ways to face the sudden changes in their lives. Yasmen, crippled by emotion, can't go on until her demons are faced and handled. Josiah, a self professed "fixer", buries the pain and plows through life with little joy or connection. The paths to coping become a wedge that drives them to separate households, but not apart. They see one another almost daily, and their attraction to one another never lessens as time passes.

So, can this marriage survive? Kennedy Ryan respectively takes us through the characters struggles while maintaining that sexual tension that won't allow them to totally abandon each other. This book is not an easy or light romance. Yasmen's depression is all too real for me, as I have spent a lifetime dealing with depression and anxiety. At times, I had to put the book down and take a break, but I couldn't stay away long.

For me, the story spent too much time in therapy, and not enough time in the love they shared. Josiah's development warmed my heart, since it took me decades to convince my spouse to seek therapy. But, I wanted to hear more about Yasmen's girlfriends, Soledad and Hendrix, two strong accomplished women in their own right. And, what about her daughter Day? She sounds like a badass in the making.