⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
📖: This Could Be Us
✍🏻: Kennedy Ryan

🧠 autism rep
👩 Afro-Latina mom
👨 Single-dad

Thank you, @netgalley and @kennedyryan1, for giving me an eARC copy in exchange for my honest review.

I appreciate Kennedy Ryan’s attack on how she discussed autism spectrum disorder. As a family member who has someone close to me who has ASD, this book is much appreciated. Thank you so much for discussing this important topic in your book.

I loved how Kennedy portrayed that ASD can look different for everyone. She showcased what Dr. Stephen Shore once said, “When you meet one person with Autism, you’ve met one person with Autism.” Not because one has the diagnosis of ASD, it means that everyone can experience the same thing. ASD can affect individuals differently. She showed the readers how meltdowns can form and what are the things that can help. I also can relate when restaurants kick you out because the child with you is “disturbing others.” It is frustrating, but at the same time, I wish that people would be more educated about ASD in general.

I loved Soledad’s strength to fight for what she knows is right for her three daughters. She will do whatever it takes to give her daughters the life they deserve. I also love her courage to shield her children from all the pain they are going through.

I also liked how self-love can bring you so many things in life. We need to learn how to love ourselves first before we can give other people the love they need/deserve. Learning to love ourselves can be challenging in times of crisis, especially when trauma is present. But taking your time and not rushing the process is the only way to do it.

I love everything about this book. I cannot wait for Hendrix’s story!

This Could Be Us

3.25 ⭐️

This book has so much packed into it; parents’ sacrifices, meaningful friendships, main character growth.

This Could Be Us starts out with a lot of drama as Soledad finds out her husband has embezzled $6M from his company. As a stay at home mom, Soledad becomes an influencer to support her daughters. The very person who revealed all this to her family might be the one she needs!

I really enjoyed the family dynamics both with Judah and his boys and Soledad and her girls. Some parts of this were a little too cheesy and felt like a strange mix with the seriousness of the rest of the book.

Thanks to @netgalley for this ARC!

Kennedy Ryan is a master of her craft. This is such an affirming, powerful story. It’s a romance but it’s so much more than that, it’s a story about love: self love, parental love, romantic love. The romance is secondary to Soledad’s beautiful journey of self discovery and I adored everything about this book!!

HUGE thanks to Forever Books and NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review. This one made me squeal when I got it and I was saving it for a rainy day when I could really savor it and boy did it deliver.

Thank you netgalley and forever Publishing for the e-arc. Not sure how ut this is the absolute best kennedy ryan boo, yet and I have read much of her I credible history. I love a taboo romance and love that pur fmc fou d her happiness and thriving. No better revenge.

Suggest giving it a try

the way this book has me in a chokehold😭 i LOVE this series and i didn’t think it could get better but it did. i adore soledad—she has to be one of my favourite romance fmc of all time. i cannot wait for hendrix’s story!! i have no doubt it’s gonna be just as amazing (if not more, but let’s be honest—judah IS the standard).

This Could Be Us was my first book by Kennedy Ryan and although it wasn’t exactly what I was expecting, it was still pretty good. It definitely leaned more towards women’s fiction than romance, which I think is partially what threw me off. The marketing/buzz I’d seen around it had led me to think it would be far heavier on the romance aspect.

Soledad Barnes has her life blown up when her husband’s money embezzlement scheme comes to light. Caught unawares, she’s suddenly responsible for providing for her three daughters while handling the divorce for her husband, getting back into the workforce, and her undeniable attraction to Judah Cross. Judah Cross - the same man that discovered her husband’s wrongdoing and turned him over to the authorities.

I did like a lot of this story. It was super interesting to see Soledad deal with the fallout of her ex going to jail and figuring out her next steps. There was some nice representation for mental health with Judah’s twin boys both being autistic too. I just felt like there was too much that wasn’t flushed out enough. The romance felt too insta-love to be believable, for one. I didn’t really feel the chemistry between the two leads because of it. There wasn’t really enough of Soledad’s daughters coming to grips with what happened and their mom’s relationship with Judah either. We’re just kinda told they’ve gotten over it but it isn’t shown well so it’s, again, not really believable. And while I definitely understood Soledad’s need to make it on her own, her quest for self-reliance came off a little preachy for my taste.

Overall, I’m glad I read it at the very least to become familiar with Kennedy Ryan’s style and understand the hype, but I probably won’t be reading this particular book by her again. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the eARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

There is a lot to love about this book, but unfortunately it fell a bit flat for me. I loved that the protagonists were both parents, and rediscovering themselves. The friendships, particularly between the sisters, was adorable. I absolutely adored the autistic representation, and how thoughtfully it was handled. But, I couldn't get past the influencer plotline -- it took me out of the flow of the story to be inundated with TikTok and social media references constantly. The other sticking point for me was how the love interest referred to the FMC's body. FMC is a "curvy" woman, but at one point the love interest says something to the effect that her body can't be "modest" because of her curves. I can tell that it was meant to show how attracted the love interest was, but it felt like a bizarre fetishization of curves and bigger women's bodies, and it left a bad taste in my mouth. Overall, I can tell that Ryan is a talented author, but this wasn't the book for me.

Kennedy Ryan once again wields the biggest emotions like a master. If you like your warm and cozy feelings smashed up with angst and drama (yes please!) this is the book for you!

I swear, Kennedy Ryan couldn't write a bad book if she tried. This Could Be Us brings us back to our favorite trio of women in Skyland, this time spotlighting Soledad! And oof, is she going through it. This is a story of love in so many forms, and I love the way Ryan writes about it. From close friendships to neighborly love to finding trust and security in oneself, there are so many facets of love that are covered.

There were so many little details that were effortlessly woven throughout that I appreciated too. The autism representation was excellently done, and Judah and his sons are written with such care. Soledad's Puerto Rican heritage and the comfort/power that came from her ancestry was beautiful. At the heart of this romance is also the love shared between women. From best friends to sisters to daughters, there's an overwhelming amount of love shown between all of them and we need that in more contemporary fiction!

SPOILERS INCLUDED:
I was sent this book as an ARC in exchange for a review. Thank you, Net Galley. I will say that I absolutely adored this story! This story follows Judah (a single father of twins) and Soledad, a mother of three girls who finds herself newly divorced amid a scandal involving her then husband. This story, although marketed as a romance, is not hat I consider a romance novel. It is a fiction story with a romance plot. It has plenty of plot and storyline. Yes, there is “spice”, but the story does not center around it-which I appreciate. It is a good old-fashioned love story in which a character who needs (and deserves) to be saved, gets that. I am not speaking of a “savior” story with a male here to do this, Ryan Kennedy allows her main character to develop as a person and mother, which ultimately, she saves herself by building herself up. We love a “rising from ashes” story and Ms. Kennedy gave it to us! I believe that this story was a five-star read. If you are on the fence on whether you should read it or not, I beg you to read it.

KR is an autobuy author simply because she takes the time to develop her characters and walk you through all of their emotions. The characters in this novel are compelling and the love story is palpable.

I was excited to be back in Skyland after enjoying the first book of this series. This was a fantastic book, but the romance did feel a little rushed. The author shares at the beginning of the book that her son has has autism, and that she interviewed families and parents who have people with autism in their family. She also described how there is such a wide spectrum and various levels of autisim, as well as some debates about vocabulary and descriptions of poeple with autism.

I think she did a wonderful job of representing different ends of the spectrum in her writing, but I can't comment beyond my experience as an educator. But I think writing an own voices story really made the story more real and touching. I really enjoyed Soladad as a character, and enjoyed who she falls in love with too. I just felt as if the end was very rushed and that they needed more time to develop together.

I need to go back and read more of her old books because I love how she blends serious topics with humor, silly references, and great banter. Also the steamy scenes are always on point.

I had high expectations after I utterly fell in love with the first Skyland book and This Could Be Us didn't disappoint!
Emotional and fulfilling and so beautifully written ❤️
Kennedy Ryan is such a good storyteller and her characters are so real and easy to connect with.

Rated 4.5 Stars

This Could Be Us was phenomenal. It was one of my most highly anticipated releases and eagerly awaited releases and I can happily say it did not disappoint. It kept me fully engaged and invested from the very beginning and kept my attention throughout. It was smart, sexy, funny, sweet, swoony and a whole host of other things. I loved the friendships and sisterhood. Soledad's journey was unexpected but in the best of ways. It was not easy but it was rewarding. I loved going on this journey of discovery with her, watching her come into her own, take back herself, be bold and brave and face adversity with grace. I loved her. I loved this book so hard. One of my fave parts was watching her fall in love with Judah Cross!!! I thought I was ready but nothing could have prepared me for this man. On one hand I want to list all his attributes of which there are many and on the other I want you to discover him for yourself the way I did. I will say this prepare yourselves, he's swoony and so so dreamy sigh worthy. I loved him. This is one of my fave books and I highly recommend it.

Kennedy Ryan sure knows how to write a book. This had me like 😭😍😂☺️🥵 I simultaneously flew through this book and tried to slow down to savor the writing. THIS COULD BE US follows Soledad, one of the supporting characters in BEFORE I LET GO.

To be honest, this book is not heavy on the romance (although there is plenty of chemistry and spice). The first half to the book really focuses on Soledad finding herself and recovering after a divorce. And as much as this is a romance book between Soledad and Judah, it’s also about the love between Soledad and the women in her life (including her best friends, sisters and daughters). It made me appreciate all the strong female relationships in my life 🥰

If you like romances that are emotional and deep, this one is for you.

More on this book:
😭emotional romance
❤️‍🩹heartbreak and drama
🌶️spice
🧠autism rep
🙎🏿‍♂️ultimate book boyfriend

Kennedy Ryan delivers a beautiful story about resilience, sisterhood and love. We first get a glimpse of Soledad Barnes in the first novel in the series, Before I Let Go. Soledad finds herself at a crossroads in her her marriage and then her life implodes. Left to pick up the pieces of her broken home, she finds her strength in the bond and love for her daughters, her sisterhood with the her blood and chosen sisters, and a wonderful man whom she knows it's wrong to love. She goes on a journey to find herself again and see if she can trust another man with her heart.

I loved this story and can't wait for the third!

The book was a page-turner that I could not put down! The follow up to Before I Let Go truly pulls at your heartstrings as we dive in to Soledad’s story. I plan to reread it on the release date when I receive the physical copy. I can’t wait to see what Kennedy Ryan does next with this series! This book is a 5/5 that I will highly recommend.

This Could be Us by Kennedy Ryan is definitely one to read. Soledad is a strong character who was able to rediscover who she was and learn to love herself again after her husband’s betrayal. While it took a lot of hard work and certainly some suffering, she was able to build a life for herself and her daughters that provided for them in a unique way. The amount of emotion that the author was able to convey and their ability to write such complex themes that draws in the reader is nothing short of incredible.

Thank you to Forever (Grand Central Publishing), NetGalley and the author for an eARC of this book, in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely adored this book! Kennedy Ryan always writes the most emotional and thought-provoking romances, and this book was no exception, Soledad’s story is fraught with pain and angst, and her journey to loving not only Judah but herself in all its facets, was long yet beautiful. She is so strong and incredibly resilient in the face of all the obstacles her ex-husband threw in her way, and watching her resolve to be the best mother and best version of herself despite it all was truly something to behold. She and Judah got off on the wrong foot, with him being the root cause for why her husband’s white-collar crimes were found out, but their path from tension-filled enemies to tentative friends and finally, to lovers had my stomach in knots. the odds were stacked against them, but they had enough faith and dedication to see it through. I love their love. I also adore both their kids—they’re incredible, hilarious, and so resilient. The cast of side-characters were phenomenal. From Yasmen and Josiah from book one, to Judah’s ex-partner, they all added brevity, depth, and proof that soul-deep friendships can heal anything to this story. All in all, this was another stellar read from Kennedy Ryan. It was emotional, banter-filled, spicy (oh, so spicy), and a testament to the heart-searing, brain chemistry-altering kind of love we all need in our lives. Thank you so much to NetGalley for giving me the chance to read this early! 💖

Last year I read Before I Let Go (one of my favorite reads) and that's where I met Yasmen, Soledad, and Hendrix. When I found out that there was going to be a story following each friend I was anxious for them to be written and released. Even in Soledad's introduction in the first book of the Skyland Series I was mad on her behalf for how she was being treated. She was described as this radiant, sweet, beautiful person (inside and out) but her kindness was obviously being taken for granted by her husband. I knew when her story came that I was going to dislike him but I wasn't aware of just how much I was going to dislike him.

It was already hinted in Before I Let Go that there was suspicion of Soledad's husband (I don't even want to say his name) being unfaithful (so, no spoiler there) but I wasn't expecting all the extra. Although, maybe I should have. This is Kennedy Ryan we are talking about. Before she gives a HEA she's definitely going to make you work for it and put your emotions through the wringer. It just seemed like there was back to back to back blows for Soledad. When I got my hopes up and thought things were looking up I got knocked back down. It's a dance that Kennedy likes to play with my nerves and at this point I volunteer for it because I know what I'm getting myself into. It should be no surprise that this is a slow burn that has you anxious for the moment the two MCs will put you out of your misery and be a thing.

For me, Soledad's character was even better than the glimpse that was given of her in book 1. As previously mentioned, she was smart, funny, and determined to provide a good life for her children. I really enjoyed her character development throughout the book. She went from being a background character in her own life to absolutely shining and being a confident main character. Of course Yasmen and Hendrix were there to support her (and provide much needed comic relief in some situations). I definitely know the importance of solid chosen sisters and Yasmen and Hendrix are top tier. And they were such a great support for her when her biological sisters couldn't be there for her in person.

Judah was imperfect perfection. From his first scene with his ex to his first scene with Soledad to the way he respected Soledad wanting to take her time and become her own woman before considering starting a relationship with someone else...he pretty much did and said all the right things. Although Soledad was the main focus of the book Judah was still someone that I wanted to see get a HEA because he was such a great guy.

This will absolutely go on this list of books I plan to reread.