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.

CW: grief, loss of pregnancy, stillbirth, depression

Yasmen and Josiah are divorced, but their children and trauma tie them together. As each tries to deal with their own grief and move forward, their love for each other continues to come to the surface, even with everything that keeps them apart.

This BOOK. It had me weepy, smiling and grateful. It was filled with so many big and important feelings, and my heart is so full after reading it.

Besides how well emotional aspects of this story were executed, I’m increasingly thankful for its representation of depression, loss and therapy. Seeing characters in session on the page is such an important step in decreasing the stigma of therapy. Lots of beautiful moments came through!

Following a couple with so much history was incredible- in every moment they are on page together, Yas and Josiah’s love for each other is still evident. I also loved that the kids are a significant part of this too - as a child of divorce myself, I found the betrayal that Deja felt towards her mother was so devastatingly relatable.

I was so blown away by this book, and am looking forward to checking out Kennedy Ryan’s backlist now!!

Loved this novel. It put me through the wringer with all the anyway and emotions I cycled through. The two layers of grief, the depression, parenting. Give me more.

I enjoyed that this second chance novel was more than between the two protagonists, but took into account how their children would feel if their parents got back together after being divorced for over a year. How their business night be effected by their relationship. That as much as their reminded romance was brought upon by passion, they did think things through.

Loved how to show their son that it was okay to go seek mental help, Josiah also went to see his own therapist. Finding one that worked for him (because it might be a while before you find a match). How this allowed better communication between him and Yasmen, which eventually led to them repairing their relationship.

Absolutely loved

Holy cow, Kennedy Ryan knows how to write a romance. Before I Let Go is the first book I’ve read of hers but I now have 3 others lined up and ready to go.

Yasmen and Josiah have endured a lot as a couple and now that they are divorced, they are trying to remain friendly and raise their children. But the deep love they had doesn’t just go away.

Their romance is heartbreaking and very real. I spent the book feeling like they were meant for each other but not always sure that was what was best for each of them.

There is a lot of subject matter that might be a trigger for some so please be sure to check out the trigger warnings before diving in. But know if you decide to dive in that Before I Let Go will take you on an emotional rollercoaster that is well worth it.

Review from November'22. Didn't realize that I didn't link my review on NG. :'3
Before I Let Go deserves all the stars in the universe. This book will forever be a part of my favorites shelf. I don't think I'll ever get over the love that Yas and Josiah share among them.

I knew the plot of Before I Let Go would break me after reading the first chapter. Kennedy Ryan's writing style oh my God. She made me feel all sorts of feelings ~ the good kind, the emotional kind and the "crying till I feel better " kind. Honestly though, what did Kennedy Ryan put into this book? She explored the themes of seperation, co-parenting, grief and second-chance romance so perfectly! All of the sub-plots were so perfectly balanced out. But the spotlight shone on Yas and Josiah's journey towards healing and finding their way back to each other, during moments when all hope seemed lost.

Before I Let go is a book of acceptance and never letting go of hope. I cannot recommend this book enough! Cannot wait for the second installment in the series omg 😭

Absolutely beautiful. I loved the author's writing style and was completely taken by this story. I can't wait to visit this world again and get the other stories!!

My one "complaint" - be careful with how school counselors and therapists are described. I'm not up to date on all the states, but in my state school counselors legally cannot provide on going therapy.

I was already expecting to love this book going in, and I was not disappointed! First I have to mention how good Kennedy Ryan’s writing is. She always handles extremely difficult topics with such thought and care, it’s truly amazing to read.

This book should be the blue print for all second chance romances. The tension, the angst, and the chemistry between Yasmen and Josiah was all there from the start, and I couldn’t get enough. I loved getting to see pieces of the past interwoven with the present day story to give you a full picture of how Yasmen and Josiah ended up where they are. This book was an emotional rollercoaster and reading about them dealing with so much heartbreak and tragedy, while navigating their grief was truly painful to read, yet so beautifully written. I loved all the positive therapy talk, and following along with each characters therapy journey. Although it was a rocky road, Yas & Si put in the work to heal not only for themselves, but also their kids, and ultimately found their way back to each other<3

And Yasmen’s besties!! Soledad and Hendrix were a high point in this story for me! Hendrix had me laughing anytime she was in a scene. I loved the how supportive they all were of each other, and I can’t wait until we get their individual books:)

I absolutely loved this book. It was raw, emotional, second chance romance of a divorced couple where love wasn't enough to keep their relationship going initially and they split up. Now they have grown from the past and want to find their way back to each other.
This is not a rom-com. This is real, painful, there are death of loved ones, mental illness, divorce, and so much more. Read the trigger warnings because there are a lot of them so proceed with caution. Highly recommend and cannot wait to read more from this author.

I have read other works by Kennedy Ryan, but I absolutely loved this one. It tackled such heavy topics in a beautiful story of two people trying to find their way back to each other after suffering loss and tragedy. This did not disappoint.

I did not realize this was a first in a series and I'm here for it. I'm stoked to see what comes next.

An emotional and difficult story that felt so real. I loved that the MCs communicated which is so hard to find in romance. This is the type of second chance romance I love, sometimes it's the wrong time but it doesn't mean there is any less love there. The main thing I love about this story is the representation, there isn't much African American romance in the romance genre. Thank you to Forever and NetGalley for the eARC. This in no way impacts my rating.

Where to start with this book! I was completely engrossed in this raw, heartbreaking and beautiful story. I was drawn in by the characters and empathized with their situation and their hard choices. This is a second chance romance between Yasmen and Josiah after their marriage has imploded following two overwhelming tragedies. This book was well researched and encompasses many issues such as grief, a stillbirth, depression, therapy etc. I thought all of issues facing this couple were written with respect and fairness to both characters.
Check this one out if you want to read an amazing family story dealing with real life issues in an authentic manner.