No one hits the emotional gut punches quite like Kennedy Ryan, She is an absolute master and her stories and characters live with me always.

I got to read this early through Net Galley and I am so happy I did. This is my first Kennedy Ryan book that I’ve read (even though I have one of her books on my physical TBR 😅) and it could not have been a better first book for me to read of hers.

I’m a social worker so reading the information at the beginning of the book about the Author’s journey with Autism and her son really hooked me from the beginning. I work with Autistic children and it was a part of the book that I was really connected and really loved seeing the intricacies of “Austin Child” verses “Child with Autism” that is often debated. I felt like the author truly explained these aspects perfectly not only from her own experience but from her research meeting with different families. She specifically mentions in her author’s note that if you’ve met one child with autism you’ve met one child with autism, they are all different. I think having the twins both have autism but presenting differently was very impactful.

The romance aspect was amazing, you truly wanted Soledad to meet her person who was going to care for her as she should be treated. There was angst and longing while showing both characters having super open communication. Judah was the perfect MMC, all he cared about was making her comfortable while she navigated this new life she was creating for herself. He never pushed to hard but always let her know that he was there and he wanted her. It was beautiful and I’m so happy I got to read it. 5 ⭐️’s

Kennedy Ryan is becoming an autobuy author for me! Her ability to write such real and vulnerable characters is unmatched in my opinion. She pulls on the heart strings, but makes sure you are healed (mostly) by the end. Not as good as Before I Let Go, but definitely close!

Fantastic steamy romance with real life elements and a neurodivergent hero. This story is about a betrayed woman trying to balance her responsibilities with her needs and desires and the patient neurodivergent man who loves her. I loved the descriptions of the real world issues that they dealt with and the strong social and family dynamics these two depended on. They felt aspirational. This was a great read and these people will live on in my head long after I've forgotten the name of the book.

This book was so amazing. It was my first by Kennedy Ryan, but it definitely won't be my last! I loved the characters, and the relationships were very complex, as were the characters. I loved Soledad and Judah, and the found family (and real family) in this was really great too!

While this book dealt with some heavy themes, the author wrote them very well. I loved watching Soledad find herself and be happy with herself. She was such a strong and likable main character; it was so easy to root for her in her self-discovery journey.

I thought this book would have some more romance in it than it really did; the romance felt more like a subplot, and this definitely felt more like women's fiction than romance, but I thoroughly enjoyed it!

Overall, I would 100% recommend this book :)

This book was amazing and I think everyone and their mother need to read it. Do your self a favor and order it bc it’s AMAZING and Kennedy Ryan didn’t come to play. Judah and Soledad are amazing and I can’t wait. For everyone to read it bc OMG… Judah is just amazing. Where can I get one?
Also the topics that were discussed here, they were treated with amazing respect and compassion. Miss Kennedy always doings gods work. I love her and her books

Absolutely beautiful, heartbreaking, empowering!

I honestly didn’t think I would like this better than I did Before I Let Go, but here I am loving it!

I adored Soledad and her girls. I love the strong female friendship Sol had. That is the kind of rare lifetime friendship many so long to have. She is such a strong and empowering FMC.

Then there is Judah. Umm, can someone sign me up for a Judah because I’m pretty sure he is my new book boyfriend! That man knows what he is doing all aspects IFYKYK. I love how he truly listens and is so attentive. I absolutely adored his boys.

I love how well the author did portraying characters with autism. I love how she had such a diverse ethnicities throughout the story. I feel the author truly took her time understanding all the many aspects of hard topics or health issues in life and handled them very well.

Can I also just say I love how co parenting was portrayed in this story and I truly wish that in life it was more like that. I truly appreciated that two grown people can set aside any indifferences and just adult together and be there for their children. Kudos to the author on that !

A favorite quote though I had many is “I've learned that revealing yourself to your partner should bring healing, not harm. That a true intimate relationship is a safe place with no facades. “

Phenomenal book. Highly recommend.
PUB Date 03/05/24

I look forward to Hendrix’s story next.

Thank you Netgalley and Forever Publishing for my e-arc.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC of This Could Be Us. Wow, what a great book by Kennedy Ryan. I loved how real the characters were, how they talked, and their relationships with each other. I was especially grateful for the accurate portrayal of the autistic children, showing how there is a wide spectrum and not all are the same. I am the mom to an autistic teenager, and I have been in similar situations as Judah and Tremaine. It was very accurate and I am much appreciative. The book is also a bit steamy! Great job! 5/5 stars (And thank you Abby Jimenez for recommending this book!)

Thoughts


Aaahh I have been sitting on this review because I have been trying to find the words to do it justice. Because this book grips 😉 you from the introduction about her worries about writing characters who are/have autistic/autism because it is personal for her. 


Then you get into this story of a woman who has devoted her life to her kids and her husband. And she loves it. She enjoys taking care of her home and kids. She is proud of what she has accomplished. But to see her with a man who takes advantage of her breaks your heart and also makes you angry. Because first chapter I was ready to fight him for her! 


So you are taken on this journey of a woman who is trying to rebuild her confidence and recover from an abusive relationship that she hadn't even realized until it became too obvious to ignore. 


And what you get is this beautiful story of self-empowerment and community. Of learning to listen to our own needs and wants. Of finding love that doesn't hurt. 


I don't think I did it justice. So pre-order it or pick it up in March. And if you haven't already, read the first in the series Before I Let Go.


Thanks to Netgalley for this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

I LOVED this book. What an absolutely beautiful exploration of grief, blended families, autism, growing up biracial, coping with betrayal, partnered love and attraction, and self love. Kennedy Ryan's writing is just so stunning and this book is no different. I loved learning about Soledad and her family, and Judah was just... WOW. So hot lol. One thing I was not expecting in this book was the drama and oh boy was it dramatic. All of the junk going on with Edward pissed me off so much, so much so that I almost rounded down to 4 stars just because of how angry I was at him... which I guess is the point. Witnessing Soledad's growth and the support of her friends in the aftermath of Edward's stupid decisions was incredible. By the end of this book I truly felt like I knew these families and their community in Skyland. There are just so many aspects of this book I'm left thinking about beyond the romantic relationship, like the autism rep, Soledad's online community and all of her videos, wondering what happened with Amber, etc. I cannot wait for Hendrix's book in 2025 and I hope that I get approved for an ARC of that book too so I can read it early and have even more time to ponder its amazingness, like I'm doing with This Could Be Us. I will absolutely be reading and recommending this book nonstop to anyone and everyone over the next few months until its release. Thank you SO much for the ARC and thank you Kennedy Ryan for writing this beautiful story.

I love that Kennedy Ryan writes books for ADULTS. I don’t mean that as in adult content (although there is a lot of that too), but more that her writing and her characters are so mature. They’re characters in their 40s who are honest and communicate with each other, but despite that, it’s never boring and it’s full of drama.

This is without a doubt one of my most anticipated releases of 2024, and I’m so happy to say that it completely delivered and exceeded my expectations.

I think what struck me the most about this book is how long it takes to get to the romance, and how much I didn’t mind that. I absolutely loved Sol and Judah together and how deep and romantic their connection was. More than that though, I loved that this book was really about Sol and a love letter to single women and single parents. At the end of the day, it truly is a romance, but it’s also a book about self love, sacrifice, divorce, and hard work.

I also cannot say enough about how Kennedy Ryan wrote about Adam and Aaron's autism. She wrote with such care and from such a personal place based on her own experience with her son, and the chapters about Judah and his sons were the ones that made me cry more than anything else in this book.

Sol was everything I wanted her to be and more, and I cannot wait for Hendrix’s book. Thank you Forever Pub and Netgalley for making this available for us early!

This tale will stick with me for years to come. The strength and fortitude of Soledad and Judah is addicting. I loved the inclusion of autistic teens and the care Kennedy took. It was simultaneously eye opening and validating. I know many friends who can relate with Tremaine and Judah's journey. Several other subplots and characters built the story. Not a word felt extraneous. Beautiful through and through.

P.S. I'd like to follow Soledad on Instagram. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

I read Before I Let Go earlier this year, and I was so excited to be able to read Soledad's story, and I absolutely loved this one. While This Could Be Us is about the romance between Soledad and Judah, that relationship is actually secondary to the relationship Soledad is trying to build with herself after a massive betrayal from her husband, Edward. This is also a story about the relationships women build with their mothers, daughters, sisters, and friends to hold them up when they need it. Soledad is on a journey of self discovery and learning self love, while trying to support her three daughters alone. I loved Soledad as a character, and I liked that we saw more of Hendrix in this one, as I also look forward to her book.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of This Could Be Us in exchange for my honest review.

This was a beautiful story about finding yourself and what makes you happy. This was the second book in the Skyland series and followed Soledad, but we also got to hang out with characters from the first book. This book had all the things that make you feel all the emotions. It was a great read. Thank you to NetGalley for the arc.

I absolutely loved this book. The author writes the most beautiful stories. Soledad is perfection - I want to be her when I grow up. LOL What a wonderful story about self-discovery and true friendships. Fantastique!

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

Whew.. I was recently introduced to Ms. Ryan through my book club and she has quickly become one of my favorite authors. This book was so beautifully written and pulled on all my heart strings! I cannot wait until the next book in this series

WOW! I knew this book was going to be a journey for me but never in a million years would I have thought I would read a book so healing to my soul. KENNEDY DID HER THINGGGGGG!

Starting off, I know this is a romance book and our focus should be on the MMC and FMC but can we talk about the friendships in this book?!??!?! I have never been so jealous of a friend group until now. Even the closeness with her sisters. I love Soledad with everything I have and have loved her since reading Before I Let Go, but this book really intensified that. What a beautifully written character with an even more beautiful self love journey. As someone that has always been my own biggest enemy, I needed this book to show me what it means to truly love yourself after you've been lost. Let me also say, the pop culture references WORKED in this one. A lot of authors throw those into books like they have a checklist they need to complete but she put them in there and I didn't even notice half the time because it made sense for them to be in there. THAT'S HOW YOU DO IT!

Next, FUCK EDWARD.

Sorry. Am I allowed to curse??

Who cares, fuck edward.

Judah is a king. I don't want to say too much about him because I feel like everyone should be able to be as surprised and instantly in love as I was but just know, he does EVERY THING RIGHT. Also, the way he is with his sons and his ex wife. Heavy on the ex-wife. Because yes, how a man treats his mom is one thing, but how he treats his ex wife or any ex for that matter is another. Especially the way he talks about her. It was green flags all around.

Lastly, that authors note. I cannot write a review of this book without pointing out that this book made me cry before even starting it. Kennedy's journey being reflected in this book was so powerful and her amazing representation of having autistic children helped me learn so many different things I never knew. Especially the significance in "autistic person" versus "person with autism". I have been trained to address people before their diagnosis during my masters education in counseling but reading the authors note and getting that other perspective was exactly what I needed.

Thank you, Kennedy for this book. You have once again broken my heart and mended it, all at once.

Soledad Barnes, a meticulous planner and domestic goddess, faces her life unraveling when disaster strikes, destroying the perfect existence she had with her husband, Edward. Amidst the struggle to sustain her family and herself, Soledad rediscovers her identity and confronts the possibility of new love, questioning whether she can trust again after such significant betrayal.

This Could Be Us is the second book in the Skyland series and is interconnected to Before I Let Go. I highly recommend reading Before I Let Go first so the reader can connect with the supporting characters even more and also see the difference in Soledad from Before I Let Go to This Could Be Us.

I absolutely loved Before I Let Go so I was excited for Soledad’s story in This Could Be Us. This beautiful story is woven with themes of self love, healing, motherhood, and forbidden love. Wow what an incredible story! Soledad was portrayed as such a fascinating female main character, transitioning from a lonely stay-at-home mom with the ‘perfect’ life to embarking on a journey of self-discovery. Judah, a complex male main character, offers a compelling look into parenting children on different parts of the autism spectrum, shedding light on challenges I hadn’t fully grasped before. The refreshing portrayal of Judah’s co-parenting contrasts starkly with Soledad’s situation, adding depth to the narrative. To avoid spoilers, I’ll just say that the book explores really heavy subject matter so take a look at StoryGraph for the content warnings and take care while reading. The story focuses mainly focuses on Soledad’s journey of self love and healing while the romance is an extremely slow burn enhancing the story rather than dominating it. The author skillfully integrates the subplot of Yasmen and Hendrix’s friendship, underscoring the significance of adult friendships. I appreciated that everyone was very mature in the book and focused on situations that were very realistic. Now I can’t wait for our girl, Hendrix, to get her story!

As always, Kennedy Ryan writes characters that leap out of the page! I loved everything about this story, even the parts that hurt because they were worth it. Thank you Kennedy Ryan for writing this beautiful, beautiful story.

Coming off of an amazing book such as Before I Let You Go, I didn't expect that This Could Be Us would match its level. But boy am I glad I was wrong. This Could Be Us brought real relationship struggle and working through how to come to terms with a betrayal that Soledad went through. Kennedy kicked butt and more in this tale because it made me feel feelings and made me reflect on myself as well.