I absolutely loved this book! I am a new fan of Kennedy Ryan. This is a second chance romance book between a couple that has been divorced. This is way more than just a romance book though, it deals with some heavy topics! I loved the jealousy and the tension between these two people as they navigate through finding themselves! Look up trigger warnings before reading.

this book was so beautiful and heart wrenching; I loved it and recommend for everyone to read. Kennedy Ryan does not disappoint with her beautiful and engaging writing.

As I catch up with my reviews after months of being ill and hospitalized, I finally get to review this second-chance romance. As my last read by the author was the outstanding Reel, I was super excited to get the opportunity to read this early. One thing for certain, and two things were sure; her pen continues to produce 5-star work. Being divorced and feeling hurt and grief does not impact how they parent their kids. That alone endeared me to these characters from the start. Once their story expands and comes to life in the pages, I knew I would be in for a journey through words describing this relationship. Kennedy Ryan can claim the title of a wordsmith as this novel brought out ALL the emotions as I sped through the chapters. I appreciated how this was an honest and raw exploration of what a relationship goes through when faced with adversity. As I finish this review, I eagerly anticipate the next story in the Skyland series to hit the market.

Thank you to Kennedy Ryan and Netgalley for an early copy in exchange for an honest review

Before I Let Go by Kennedy Ryan is absolutely going to be in my top five books I read this year, I can just feel it. I just know. This book is painful and beautiful and a masterpiece. I had seen Tiktoks about Kennedy Ryan's books before reading this one, and so she was on my radar. I should have listened. Now I want to read her entire backlist. Before I Let Go is a second chance romance about Yasmen and Josiah Wade - a separated couple who own a restaurant together. The two are trying their best to coparent. Josiah has moved out, but still is in the neighborhood. Yasmen is still at the house with two of her children. She's also having a tough time with her daughter. We see that Yasmen has been through deep grief - losing Josiah's grandmother and having a stillbirth within a short amount of time. These are the things that her marriage cannot survive. Still, as we see, there's this undeniable chemistry between Yasmen and Josiah.

There is so much to love about this book. It has such a positive portrayal of behavioral healthcare. I love that going to therapy is portrayed in this book and that it is portrayed as a good thing. It also takes on the stigma of Black men going to therapy and challenges that. Well, Josiah was resistant at first but agrees, for the sake of his son. This book explores how to heal relationships - including that between Yasmen and her daughter. I loved Yasmen's friendships and hope her two best friends end up with their own books. Before I Let Go also has EXCELLENT romantic scenes. I could not have picked up a better book and am excited I have this whole big backlist to read from Kennedy Ryan.

Overall: 5/5
Spice level: 3/5
Tropes, second chance, divorced couple

CW: stillbirth, death of loved ones, depression and thoughts of death

Let me first say that Kennedy Ryan never disappears. She will being you an important plot and the right amount of spice for that plot.

That being said, raised was my first book with a divorced couple. Yaamen and Josiah still yearned for one another 2 Yeats after the divorce neither REALLY wanted. Sometimes life just happens unexpectedly.

Mountains of pain and trauma can affect our decision making. This was what happened with Yasmen after what she experienced.

Without giving too much away, I just want to say I loved these characters so much. Their connection, the stolen moments they shared before reuniting, their friends and remaining family, and the way they even co-parented.

I also appreciated how much this story brought forth the importance of mental health and seeking help, as well as how it can be difficult to take that first step to healing. Especially when there is still such a stigma around it.

The chemistry between Josiah and Yasmen is soul-deep. Ryan explores their early years when things were hot and heavy but their reu ioj is a slow burn. That burn isn't any less scorching though.

Lastly, make sure to check your triggers because the path to happiness in this story is filled with a lot of pain.

Before I Let Go is a beautiful story of finding your way back home.

This book hit all the marks for me. I loved how the author explored the themes of loss, mental health, family, marriage and parenting. The characters are so developed that you feel all the feelings that they are as you read. Your heart breaks with them and leaps for joy during the good times. Kennedy Ryan is a talented writer and I look forward to reading the next in the series!

WOW I really enjoyed this story about second chances. Divorce and trying to move on, loss of an unborn child and healing. This was a wonderful story that I would highly recommend. Definitely would love to read more from this author.
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Kennedy Ryan writes masterpieces! Before I Let Go was everything I needed and so much more!

This book took me on an unforgettable journey, I cried at some scenes, but in others I had a big smile in my face. Yasmen and Josiah are truly the definition of a “second chance” and man, the way I loved Josiah.

When all comes to shove, Yasmen and Josiah come to realize that all the need is each other.

Okay, this is Kennedy Ryan, whose books I have loved, but this one was very much not for me. This is a second chance romance, and those are really either a love or a hate for me, depending on what happens in the story. Initially the couple was married but because of events that have happened, they are now divorced but are still working together.

I am not one to give up on a book, I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve DNF’d a book, I’m stubborn and will power through just to finish. I wanted so badly to just DNF this book. I really couldn’t stand the ex-husband at all. Dude… Josiah, I wanted to just punch him in his junk or choke him or something equally physical. I realize that both Josiah and Yasmen had suffered a tragic loss, but he really did nothing at all to help his wife. He seemed to get so frustrated with her also, when she was still struggling with it all. I just could not connect with him at all and he just left a bad taste in my mouth, for various reasons throughout the book.

Yasmen I also had a hard time connecting with. The things she put up with in regards to Josiah, and the backtalk she took from her own daughter, nope, that just didn’t work for me. I understand their daughter has been through these traumas as well, but she was a 13 year old talking and acting like she’s 18 or something.

Perhaps if we had been given more of their background when they were still married, or even leading up to the marriage, I could have formed some type of connection. But there just wasn’t enough of the “before” to do that, so I found I didn’t care one way or the other if these two people found a way back to each other.

I just really struggled. Kennedy’s writing is always amazing and on point, but man this one just evoked all the wrong kinds of emotion from me, I am very sorry to say. But not every book is going to gel with every reader. It won’t stop me from reading whatever else Kennedy writes. She’s a superstar!

This is the first in a new series called Skyland, and you'll absolutely need a box of tissues as you read because this second-chance romance will have you weeping at a lot of different points throughout.

Yasmin and Josiah have been each other’s person from day one. They’ve always said they’ll ride for each other until the wheels fall off. When two devastating deaths happen close together, they start to fall apart and their marriage doesn’t survive. They get a divorce but are trying to make it work as co-parents and co-owners of their restaurant Grits. A couple of years after their divorce, they’re both attempting to date other people, and finally starting to heal after their terrible loss, but they keep getting drawn back to each other.

I don’t want to give too much away about the story, but this is such a deep and rich book about relationships, motherhood, family, grief and loss, mental health, love, and female friendships. I cried so much, and it was just phenomenal (the story, not the crying). So if it’s not on your TBR yet, you need to rectify that ASAP.

Before I Let Go - Kennedy Ryan

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

Overall, I liked this one. There was a lot I loved, but there were also a few things that I didn’t like that kept this from being a 4 or 5 star read.

What I loved:
* This book explores some heavy topics very very well. The author really handled this subject matter with the utmost care. There is also a strong emphasis on mental health and going to therapy, which I really appreciated.
* Yasmen and Josiah are amazing parents and I loved seeing them navigate coparenting and owning a restaurant together.
* I absolutely loved the female friendships in this book. Yasmen, Hendrix, and Soledad together were the BEST.

What didn’t work for me:
* This was too slow-paced for me which in turn made it feel too long.
* I desperately needed more flashbacks to Yasmen and Josiah’s relationship before their divorce. Not being able to see what they were like at their best made it difficult to buy into their second chance romance in the present.
* It felt like most of the longing Yas and Si had for each other was purely physical. I wish there had been some more depth here.

While this wasn’t a complete win for me, I am still very glad I read it and do still recommend it!

Heartbreaking and real. This was such a raw story on grief, child loss, loss of love yet had the joy of a second chance romance blended with learning to self-love and forgive. My heart bled many times during this, my soul cried for the grief felt in all parties. Although I wanted a different ending, I appreciated how the author recognized different ways of expanding families and I love when children themselves get second chances through adoption/foster.

A top book of the year?? Ahhhh YES 👏🏻

I couldn’t get enough of this book, & these characters! I was so invested in their stories, & more than once someone caught me crying as I read 😭💕

This book blew any expectations out of the water! It was gut wrenching, emotional, & at times left you feeling just as hopeless as the characters ❤️ but even through all the incredibly tough topics, the concepts of friendship, love, & family shone through.

I loved reading from both Yasmin & Josiah’s POV!! It was so perfectly done! The mindset of both of them was so important in order to fully grasp everything. And they both had me rooting for them 💗💗💗

The mental health representation throughout was spot on! I loved the positivity around therapy, & how it demonstrated the amount of work it can take to improve yourself.

I could go on & on! This book will stick with me for a long time 💕 I cannot recommend it enough!!!

Overall verdict: A beautifully written story involving love, loss, finding, & fighting for yourself ❤️

Thank you @netgalley & @readforeverpub for the eArc!

Kennedy Ryan has yet again, given us another stunner! A beautiful, raw, passionate, pearl clutching, stunner in Before I Let Go. This book & all its characters have left me in a chokehold since I devoured it days ago. Still all in my feelings!

My takeaways..... is that grief and grieving is hard. It's hard, it complicated, it does not work with anyones timetable, it takes work that sometimes not even love can fix. I love how Yas gave herself the chance to recognize that her healing and recovery are primary & necessary, not for the kids, not for Si but for her!

Black love is powerful man...there's a soul deep connection between Yas and Si in this book that will capture your heart & bend it. A connection that will want you to reach into the pages and either hug them or shake the life out of them.

Therapy works...we have Dr. Musa and Dr. Abrams here to thank for it. Black men have historically avoided therapy because its a sign of weakness and we need to do more in our communities to change that misconception.

This book details some of the most authentically written scenes about therapy in action that I've read, dare I say, across both fiction and nonfiction genres. I genuinely find this story powerful enough to change lives to those who are open minded.

I love how we saw how the divorce and transitions affected the children. Often times their needs are overlooked in the midst of adult crisis and I think Deja showed us that well. Was she bratty and needed some good old fashioned discipline? Yes, yes she did. But Deja was also coping the best her teenage mind knew how to.

This is more than just a romance book, its the realistic look at a family in crisis. A look at how trauma is complex enough to shutter the mind & body, how time seems irrelevant to what this family is going through & how they will get through it but growth, its growth that will prevail. More than anything, this book is about forgiving yourself for not knowing what you didnt know until you had to learn it.

I have been reading and loving Kennedy Ryan’s books for years and Before I Let Go did not disappoint. The emotion and chemistry was perfect. There is something so refreshing about reading a love story between characters who are older than their 20s. This second chance pulled at my heartstrings and I cannot wait for Kennedy’s next book!

Amazing book by Kennedy Ryan, Before I let You Go, is not another super drama story on the contrary this book is all about hope, happiness, and second chances and this is exactly what I love, I didn't need a book with tons of drama to make it great and amazing just two people loving each other trying to fix the mistakes they made and meeting each other in between to finally be together.

Yasmen had a terrible experience one or two years ago that made her feel like she couldn't continue with her life the way she was having it at that moment, even if that meant not seeing the feelings of her daughter and husband, she needed a break and the easiest way was to move in another direction.

Josiah was blindsided by this outcome of events, he really wasn't expecting this change, not to lose the love of his life and also someone he loves so much. but life has a funny way to show how someone is hurting even if that meant hurting everybody around you in the mean times.

Yasmen and Josiah were best friends, partners, and husband and wife until a heartbreaking episode separate them feeling like there wasn't a return from this pain. they continue working together, they have a very successful restaurant that is striving and is very famous on that side of the world, they continue being friends, but Josiah is seeing someone new and that will test Yasmen's emotions and feelings over and over again.

Yasmen is also trying to rebuild her love life, Josiah is not a fan of this and is having also a hard time making amend to his feelings and controlling himself around Yasmen's new life.

Life has changed so much and now Yasmen and Josiah are facing their feelings no matter how much they try to hide them, life will show them that they belonged together no matter what life has thrown at them or whom are they see or what are their plans, they belonged together no matter how much they tried to act and behave otherwise.

I really enjoy so much this story, the relationship between Yasmen and Josiah was very mature, and I thank Kennedy for this, we don't need always a hero who is all macho or a very dramatic heroine, we do enjoy these types of refreshing couples that show life and love doesn't have to be a soap opera drama all the time.

What a refreshing couple and story, their friends, and the people around them were always very supportive and kind.

This was a great book and story, something to enjoy and share, I really enjoy it.

Thank you, NetGalley and Forever (Grand Central Publishing), for the advanced copy of Before I Let You Go in exchange for my honest review.

This was painfully beautiful and I love the way the author dealt with such heavy topics, like death, grief, and divorce. The romance was strong and compelling, but most importantly, this book had great mental health representation. I liked how instrumental therapy was in helping the characters work through their issues.

Kennedy Ryan does it again!

Before I Let Go is a second chance romance that tells the story of Yasmen and Josiah, a divorced couple who are not only coparents but business partners. This is a story about love, marriage, loss, grief, and above all things healing. Ryan does a wonderful job at portraying the gritty and very real circumstances life can throw at you. With a dual POV we get to see the anatomy of the breakdown of a marriage but also the lengths to which both Yasmen and Josiah individually worked on healing from trauma. It was very refreshing to see such an open and honest conversation about therapy on page and how it can be handled in the family setting. Ryan also introduces us to a cast of characters to further flesh out the Skyland world and I am already looking forward to the next installment.

4 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

eARC provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

Believe the hype! This book was EVERYTHING! Kennedy Ryan takes us on a rollercoaster of emotions with this steamy and love-filled second chance romance.

Broken apart by loss, Josiah and Yasmen exist in each other’s orbit, co-parenting their two children and running a successful restaurant together, but the union they once had is over. Or is it?

Ryan truly has a way of writing that makes you care about her characters and become emotionally invested. And this story is no exception. As soon as you start this book, you are immediately invested in Josiah and Yasmen’s story. As they deal with life after divorce—new relationships, mental health, grief, co-parenting, etc., they must also contend with their lingering feelings for each other and what that means for their future.

This is a 5-star read!

Thank you @readforeverpub for allowing me to read Before I Let Go by Kennedy Ryan early.


Before I Let Go covers some heavy topics so please check content warnings. Major discussions of pregnancy loss, divorce, grief, and depression.
But on top of all that was a really beautiful second chance romance based around two people who share so much together and just needed to work on themselves before being together again. I really liked Yasmen and Josiah and thought their story was lovely. Such a nice change to not only have older main characters but two with history and pain and love in between them and holding them together.