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.

Thanks to NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for an ecopy of Before I Let Go.

Yasmen and Josiah, although no longer married, are still connected by both their children and their restaurant. But is there a chance for them to have another shot at love? Before I Let Go was my first Kennedy Ryan book, but definitely won’t be the last. She has a way of really letting the reader feel the emotions of the characters, who are all going through issues readers can relate to. The author’s note in the beginning with trigger warnings is something all authors should include in their books.

Sou Driving, Full, Art, Impactful, Wondrous in every single layer..

This is a book of the year novel!!

What do you do when you have a #bookhangover but you don’t want to be released from it?!!!

@kennedyryan1 my all Mocha Girl Book club, (My Sistahs Bookclub)(@hardylovestoreadallthetime @nikkeyreads @booknerdfam @athomewithterri @literaryhalaldiva ) meets this Sunday to talk about this gem and We can’t wait!!

You put our souls on fire with this one Sis!!

Ever single one of us loved loved this gem!!

Peepssss This gem drops in Nov!! Preorder asap so you can read it and you can get in my DMs because baybbbeeeeeeee

Thank you so much @readforeverpub for my gifted copy of this #arc!

Plus, I appreciate you all and Kennedy for putting up with all my DMs buuhahhaa because this one had me oowweeee lol

"Before I Let Go" is a deeply emotional and captivating romance novel written by Kennedy Ryan. This heartfelt story explores the power of love, forgiveness, and second chances, leaving readers immersed in a world of complex relationships and intense emotions. Ryan's writing is beautifully expressive, drawing readers in with its lyrical prose and heartfelt storytelling.

I would recommend to all!

I'm convinced Kennedy Ryan can do no wrong. This was an absolutely beautiful, heart wrenching story about second chances, not just at love but at finding one's self in that love and outside of it. I cried so much reading this and I can't recommend it enough.

Yasmen and Josiah hoped they had a love that would sustain them through every trial, but they found that love alone wasn’t enough. Now divorced, their lives are starting to get back on track. But as they are drawn back to each other time and again, they start to wonder if it’s too late for a second chance at a life together. This one packs an emotional punch.

this book. it was a rollercoaster of emotions from the beginning. you really find yourself wanting to read more about these characters and getting super invested into their story. I love it from the beginning. highly recommend if you want an emotional read!

This is my first Kennedy Ryan book, and let me just say - I get it. I get all the hype. I get all the praise. Frankly, it's probably underselling her, and I loved Before I Let Go so much. This will definitely not be my last Kennedy Ryan novel, that's for sure.

Going into Before I Let Go, I wasn't sure if I was really the right audience for it - not married, not divorced, no kids. But I can understand big emotion, everything you thought you had falling apart, and big love, so I thought I'd give it a go. and friends, I am so, so glad I did. This book was...everything. It had the big emotions, it was steamy and sizzling, and the chemistry between Yasmen and Josiah could probably have burned the literal pages of the book if physics worked that way. I was immediately taken into Yasmen and her character - strong because she's strong, but strong too because she has survived. Uncertain because she was forced to be strong. Filled with love and fierce protection for her children, because she is a mom to 1 more than she has in the car. Even though I have very little shared experience to Yasmen, there were parts that made my throat close and eyes tear up because I felt her emotion so much, and it made me think of so many things in my life that reflected similar emotions if not in situtions.

I have recommended this book to no less than 5 friends and purchased it as gifts for at least 3 more. If mine and all the other reviews haven't been clear enough: read this book. Just read it.

Before I Let Go by @kennedyryan1
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⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
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I couldn’t go any longer without talking about this book.
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Holy moly a whole new level of romance for me!!!! Following the journey of Yasmen and Josiah had me feeling every single emotion imaginable. I was happy, sad, frustrated, anxious, heartbroken, hopeful, and everything in between.
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This isn’t your average second-chance romance. This was a beautiful, ballad of tragedy tearing soulmates apart and the journey of personal healing having the ability to patch up the holes.
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The positive talk around mental health and therapy was absolutely incredible.
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Yasmen’s found family of her friends was beautiful. I know without my friends I wouldn’t survive.
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All in all the books will leave you HUNGRY but also in your feels!
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Thank you to @netgalley for granting my wishlist choice for this book ✨
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I need a copy for my shelves now 🥹

There aren't enough words to express how much I loved this book. All the hype that you see online is absolutely true. This novel is about love, family, loss, grief, depression, etc. It shows emotion so brilliantly and thoughtfully; more than any other book I have ever read.
The story is a second chance romance between a couple that were married but recently divorced after several losses in their lives. They are trying to navigate the space between divorce, parenthood, and owning a successful business. The characters are original and dynamic. Ryan did a brilliant job writing this narrative. The story is so beautifully told that there were times when I cried because the feelings were so accurate and real.
One of the reasons I enjoyed it so much is because I could see myself in the character of Yasmen. Like me, she's a black woman who has experienced divorce, who is also dealing with being a single parent and a professional woman who has experienced the death of someone close to her.
While the book is about so much more than romance, I will say that the chemistry between Yasmen and Josiah is so intense throughout the book, the reader will end up swooning. You can tell how much they love one another, but have also had so many difficulties throughout their marriage and their divorce.
Their complex journey takes twists and turns throughout the novel, but they always show love and respect for one another. I won't spoil the ending, but it's such a wonderful story and these two characters seem to be soulmates. This book is incredible and I'm enthusiastically recommending this novel to all readers.