Kennedy MF Ryan! This woman's pen is insane and I am so fortunate to have had an advanced copy of this one. I thought Before I Let Go was a masterpiece and somehow Kennedy Ryan was able to do it all again with Soledad's story. Without giving any spoilers away, I can say that Ryan thoughtfully navigates the topic of self-love. It is so easy for women to be complacent in their relationships, but once those relationships end how can one find themselves again without closing themselves off to others completely. Ryan also handles the topic of autism with such care that I believe families affected will appreciate. I can definitively say this will be one of the best (romance) books of 2024. Most importantly, I am excited for Hendrix's story in 2025!

Kennedy Ryan had done it again. Every book of hers I have read has been such an experience. Her characters are complex and she puts them in these incredibly complex situations leading her to have such strong main characters. What I loved about this was that while yes it was a romance, it truly focused on Soledad and her journey. Soledad was all about reclaiming and loving herself and I think that was the main romance in the story, with Judah coming second. On that note, Judah is the epitome of a green flag. All he wanted was her to continue her journey of self love and hope that eventually they could be together.

There was such a big family component in this and it did not disappoint. Judah and Soledad both have incredibly complex family situations and priorities and I adored seeing them put their kids first. Everyone was so mature and there was no unnecessary drama to add to the plot. Judah and Tremaine have the best coparenting relationship which was so refreshing because all they want is to make sure their kids are taken care of and the other is happy.

I adore that both this book and Before I Let Go are more Women’s fiction with a subplot of romance because Kennedy Ryan takes so much time and care to flush out her characters. She builds them up to be strong and confident after experiencing the worst thing imaginable. Yes, I adored the romance of Judah and Soledad, but I really adored the romance of Soledad and her journey.

I didn't go into this book expecting to love it as much as I loved Before I Let Go. That book holds a special place in my heart, and I didn't see how Kennedy Ryan could top it. But after reading This Could Be Us, I am unsure why I ever doubted her. The love story between Soledad and Judah is breathtaking, but in some ways, their story feels like the icing on the cake. What I love about both books in this series is the love story between friends. Kennedy Ryan could teach a master class on writing friendship. We got more scenes with Hendrix in this book, and those chapters, plus those with Yasmeen, warmed my heart as much as the chapters between Judah and Soledad. We also got multiple scenes with her sisters, and the way they poured into Soledad during her toughest moments was so comforting I felt like they were speaking to me. I almost cried more than once. I finally cried while reading the later scenes between Soledad and her daughters. A theme of this book was Mother's being a whole person, not just caretakers or wives, and the way Soledad upheld that and how her daughters supported her had me crying tears of joy because I was happy for this fictional character. Lastly, while many of Kennedy Ryan's books deal with heavy topics, this one included, I always appreciate that she doesn't leave the readers in despair for too long. So, if you're a mood reader and you read the first book and are unsure if you can stand Soledad going through it. Don't worry; This Could Be Us is not a book that will have you sitting in the darkness. It is a healing book.

I'm coming at this from the perspective that I have read every single one of Kennedy's books and recommend ALL OF THEM. I love her storytelling like none other.
This Could Be Us is no exception to that. HOWEVER, I am left surprised at how different this love story is compared to her previous works. It makes sense and I appreciate it but just know at the end of the day it's different.
The story is based around the main character, Soledad, rebuilding herself after the explosion of her marriage. She's know the sole caregiver to her 3 girls. It's less about finding the one but more about BEING the one. I enjoyed this book and definitely recommend.

After Before I Let Go, I was already dying to read Soledad's story, and still it far exceeded my expectations. This one felt a bit personal to me as I have also gone through a divorce, sworn to go at it alone, and found love anyway. I loved watching Soledad work through these pieces of her journey, and I appreciated that Judah's story and perspective felt just as rich and lived in. This series is so strong for its portrayal of the friendships between the women, and also, in this instance, I loved the incorporation of Soledad's sisters. The portrayal of community healing was so well done. And while this book can teach so much on healing and self love, it is a beautiful story in its own right and does not come off as preachy. I just loved this, and it broke what had been a pretty strong reading slump. (Also, I absolutely NEED Olive and Lola's story, please!)

This Could Be Us is a novel that explores how Soledad Barnes, who we first met in Kennedy Ryan’s Before I Let Go, rediscovers who she is and redefines what happiness looks like after her world implodes. The main reason for the implosion? Edward—her toxic, vile, villain of a husband. Luckily, as Soledad adapts to her new reality, she’s anchored by relationships with her young daughters, her best friends, her sisters and Judah Cross, whose role in Soledad’s life starts off complicated but evolves into something more. But the most significant relationship in this novel is the relationship Soledad develops with herself.

Judah and his ex-wife’s introduction to the novel followed by Soledad and her husband’s introduction was so beautifully done because of the very sharp contrast in partnerships. I loved one partnership from the jump and immediately despised the other. Those different foundations play a significant role in how Soledad and Judah connect with one another.

Parenting is also huge part of this novel. It was a pleasure to read how fiercely Soledad loved and supported her girls and how fiercely Judah and Tremaine loved and supported their boys. In some ways, this novel felt like a love letter to those parents who fight for their kids to have the best childhood possible.

With great care and respect, the author focuses on autism (e.g., the spectrum; behavioral challenges and successes; reactions to medications), being a parent of autistic children, and being a parent of autistic Black children. There was also focus on how children of divorcing parents may react to that change and how parenting in that scenario is not without challenges.

Highlighted throughout the novel are the different forms of love we can experience and how they all weave together to shape who we are: self-love, romantic love, platonic love, parental love, etc. But ultimately, this novel was about Soledad blossoming into an empowered and confident version of herself and learning it’s never too late to fall in love with yourself.

Thank you so much to Netgalley for this arc.

this book was so good. Soledad is one of my fav characters ever; she’s resilient, strong minded, funny, smart and such a great mother to her three daughters. I love how this book explored her becoming the best version of herself and overcoming adversity when her world crumbles.
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Judah is such an amazing MMC. He’s so smart, sexy, awkward, and a great father. I love how patient, understanding and kind he was to everyone, especially Soledad and her family. loved how he and his ex wife did co-parenting and how everyone felt safe and a part of the process of their kids autism journey.
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loved the representation of family and friendship. Yasmen and Hendrix were the best friends ever, helped her emotionally, mentally and economically. Lola and Nayili were the best sister trio along with Soledad to help and support trough her journey. Overall, this book has so many themes that have add depth and rawness to this entire story.
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Actual rating: 4.75⭐️🩷

I received this book from NetGalley for an honest review.

Im a hornet. I can love. And I can sting.

Kennedy Ryan I have no words to describe just how amazing you are.

This book reached my soul. All the characters in this book was simply amazing(never Edward). Soledad goes through it as a parent and as a woman. Trying to navigate parenting & also trying to find yourself again is a true struggle. We get to go through this journey with Soledad, I laughed, I cried, I felt angry on her behalf.

Judah is the type of man we all wish we had. A great parent, partner, & coparent. The way he showed up for his kids and ex wife was nothing short of amazing. His twin boys are on the spectrum & navigating that was hard.

You also get to see how important a support system is. Sometimes you need help to navigate this crazy thing called life. This book touched on that in such a beautiful way.

My first book by Ryan and I enjoyed it. The writing and dialogue was paced in a great way. I liked the characters and learning about them. It was a bit slow in the middle but I got through it! Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

Thank you to NetGalley and Kennedy Ryan for this ARC! I really enjoyed reading Soledad’s story and appreciated the inclusion of bell hooks’ all about love-a book I just recently read for myself. Like most of Ryan’s female protagonists, Soledad was very relatable and her relationship with Judah was both refreshing and inspiring. Can’t wait for Hendrix’s story!

This book is a love letter to all women who stay home and do so many things for their family that often go unappreciated. As a daughter of a mom who is very much just like Sol, it was a reminder of how much love and work goes into everything that they do. Sol's perseverance to get her and her girls out of such a tough situation was honestly awe inspiring.

Judah also had me in awe in the way that he took care of his boys. It definitely made me emotional to read about how much he loved them and the lengths that he would go for them. I really appreciated the care that Kennedy Ryan took in writing autistic characters and I'm so glad we got the author's note at the beginning to provide some context.

By all accounts, this should have been a 5 star read for me - I mean, Kennedy Ryan's writing was incredible in this, the plot gripped me from the start, and I absolutely loved our two main characters as individuals, but all of it together didn't really work for me. While I thought Judah was a swoon worthy love interest, I didn't particularly buy the chemistry between him and Sol. And even though I was initially invested with the plot, it got a little slow for me and it felt like a drag to finish this book.

Overall, I loved many individual things about this, but as a whole, it was missing something. I'd still recommend it though cause this could be a me thing!

Thank you to NetGalley for making this ARC instantly available during a short window!

Another good read by Kennedy Ryan!

At first I did not understand why we opened up with Judah’s divorce but the relationship dynamic between Judah and Tremaine was so important to establish early for the story. What a mature relationship!

There were so many character relationships to digest—soledad’s relationship with her girls, friends, sisters, and Judah. I loved that the author allowed Sol to find herself along with easing into “something” with Judah.

All in all, the story was solid and I enjoyed it.

I love me some Kennedy Ryan but this scraped a 3⭐️ from me. It paled in comparison to its predecessor.

Thank-you so much to Netgalley for the ARC. I have a lot to say about this.

The start was so promising, the first 30% gripping, the drama was popping OFF, I couldn’t put my kindle down, you had to pry the god damn thing out of my hands.

I applaud Kennedy Ryan on her ability and dedication to write about the non-conventional, this book is well researched and I loved that about it.

But from 40% onwards boredom slowly trickles in, and I skim read the last 30% 🙃

The drama well and truly backdoor shuffled 💀 along with the climax because there wasn’t one. if you’d have told me this at the start I’d have laughed at you. I hate to say it but Part 1 and part 2 feel like completely different books 😩

The conflict between 40% and 60%, the main thing keeping Soledad and Judah apart is her decision to ‘self-partner’. She doesn’t want to date following her divorce, it’s too soon, she wants to stand on her own two feet, readjust to this new life she’s building for herself. Firstly, her divorce was 9 MONTHS AGO at the beginning of part 2 🙃 so therefore secondly, it’s not a good enough reason for them to not be together.
Especially given by her own admittance, Soledad had clocked out of the marriage a long time ago but stayed for her daughters and fear of change.

The situation with Edward was RIGHT THERE, her daughters feelings about Judah was RIGHT THERE, that should have been the main source of conflict but it wasn’t, it was cast aside to make way for the theme around loving yourself as a woman, standing on your own two feet, finding your passion and ambition without a man at your side. But it made for a boring read 🫤

Soledad should have been fighting her feelings toward Judah because of what happened with her husband, Judahs involvement with it and what it could do to her family, not because she’s listening to Pussycat Dolls, I Don’t Need a Man all day long.

There were so many redundant scenes that contributed little to the plot. If Soledad wasn’t FaceTiming her sisters, she was FaceTiming her friends. Or Judah was FaceTiming his mum 😴

I also felt like there was zero development to their relationship. They meet once, 9 months on they meet again. They don’t date, just have two fleeting encounters, have sex twice and then exchange I love you’s 🙃🙃🙃 they’d known each other for a while but they don’t KNOW each other. How’s he saying he loves her 😂😂😂 behave.

And Judah was beige for me. Apart from being physically attracted to him, I don’t get it 🙃 he wasn’t brimming with personality, in fact his personality was as apparent as the climax. Because where was that? There wasn’t one!!

The most interesting character was Edward, gotta say it 🤣🤣🤣 and Inez!!!

This book is a masterpiece, as warm as it is funny and uplifting. Kennedy Ryan is a student of research, not just on the surface but she goes into a deep dive of a subject, a community and the nuance to write a compelling and fulfilling story. She taps into the subconscious like no other I have read in a long time. She awakens a sense of realisation in a person whether we need to know it or not. It makes us aware of the wider world outside of the narrative. It feels odd that a romance novel be so compelling and emotive but at the end of the day that is what romance does; move one to think and be and feel...
This book is a rally cry for the working mother, the stay at home mother, the woman who is not a mother but nutures the children around her in a particular way. It is an ode to friendship and the deeper nuances of friendships. It is an ode to how we see ourselves in our friends and family. It is an ode to self and love and community. What a book. What a gem of a book.
20/10 would recommend.

I absolutely adored this book!

This was a great follow-up to Before I Let Go. I loved being able to experience more of the Skyland crew while also getting to see it from a whole different perspective and light than I did in Yasmen and Josiah’s story.

Of course, Mrs. Kennedy Ryan raised the bar with Judah Cross. I could not get enough of him and the way he loved Soledad and his boys.

An easy five-stars for me. I can’t wait to read Hendrix’s story.

Thank you NetGalley & Grand Central Publishing for giving me early access to This Could Be Us in exchange for an honest review!

This was an amazing follow up to Before I Let Go! Learning more about Sol and recalling some of the aspects of her character from the previous story was exciting.

I knew very little about autism before reading this book. I was certainly educated throughout and am walking away astounded and appreciative. The about of care both parents showed the children was heartwarming and insightful.

The culture and food explored were extremely insightful. I’m hoping the final book will include the vinaigrette recipe because I was waiting for it on every page…

Ready for Hen’s story now!

This Could Be Us was a great book! I read Don’t Let Go earlier this year and fell in love with Kennedy’s writing style and the overall woman empowerment theme in her books. I’ve been waiting for Soledad’s story the last few months and let me say this does not disappoint. First, this story is juicy and messy in all the best ways. The absolute betrayal Soledad experiences is wild, but her comeback is so inspiring. Her relationship with her sisters reminds me of my own relationship with my sister & my cousins. As a Hispanic woman, it’s not often that I see a lot of my heritage in the books I read so it was great to connect with Soledad in that way. I also love her friendship with Yasmin and Hendrix; they are a hilariously perfect trio who balance each other so well. Although this is obviously a romance book, there was an overall theme of sisterhood, friendship, and self-love which literally made me cry!! One moment in particular that really got to me was when Soledad read her mom’s diary and what she wrote about being in love with herself had me in tears at 1am lol. Switching gears to Soledad’s love interest, Judah is truly the definition of a perfect boyfriend lol. I loved him from the start and his relationships with his sons & his dedication to support them was so sweet. I’m glad that Kennedy included characters with autism on different ends of the spectrum. I think that sometimes people have a specific view of what they think autism looks like, and I think she did a really wonderful job showing how every child/adult is different. And of course, Judah and Soledad were the perfect match. The slow burn was worth the wait!! Their chemistry was intense from the start, and they really were such positive influences for each other. I really can’t say enough positive things about This Could Be Us. This wonderful book comes out next March and everyone should read it!!!!!!

Very enjoyable read! It was lovely seeing how Sol navigated learning to love and trust herself again. I love that Judah was patient yet very upfront with Sol about his expectations for their future. Story was well written, especially the co-parenting relationship between Tremaine & Judah and how they prioritized their boys above everything. I can’t wait to read Hen’s story in 2025!!

4.5 Stars!

This was such a fantastic book, empowered women, supporting friendships, the disability rep (autism) was really well done.

The spice was perfect.

It was like soul food.

Speaking of food many of the recipes mentioned are in the back of the book!!

There were a few moments I didn't particularly like Judah's comments, but it was also very realistic in life and how Sol navigated it all was really great!

I absolutely love this book. I love how Soledad felt like her life was over but overcame every obstacle that came her way. She created a new life for her and her daughters. I also love the fact that she fell in love with herself and put herself first. A lot if times us moms can out everything first and neglect ourselves. Because of this book I’m going to start a self loving journey. I feel as though it’s important for my kids to see. This book in my opinion is a 5 star ⭐️. I can’t wait until I can get my physical copy.