Nia and Jade!!!!!! This book packs HEAVY! These two have so much history, and the slow burn is PROOF. These two have so much history and the things they have gone through, together and against the world gave me the feels, I was so emotional. I liked it, wish it was not such a slow burn.

Thank you to SMP Romance for the advanced reader copy. These opinions are my own.

Wow! I am again blown away by the depth of Rachel Runya Katz's writing.

I do want to start by saying this is a challenging topic. The book focuses on three best friends from childhood, Michal, Nia, and Jade. But Michal died of cancer three years ago. In the present, Nia and Jade take a road trip with Jade's twin brother, Jonah.

The book digs into some tough aspects. The grief for all three and how they process it and how it is acknowledged or not by others is a huge theme.

And their road trip is similarly heavy hitting. It's a Southern Jewish history trip, and they look at the legacies of racism, slavery, and the civil rights movement. The author's note encouraged me to learn more about aspects of history that certainly were not covered in my schools.

But the book also incorporated other aspects that created a lovely story and romance. This book shows just how deep the bonds of friendship can go. And I appreciated all of the different types of love we see on the page. The gender and sexuality representation were beautifully incorporated. The steamy scenes were lovely. And the romance felt so deep and nuanced.

This is one I recommend for when you're in the mood to go deep.

CW: cancer, grief, death of a friend

4.5 stars rounded up

A gentle slow burn friends to lovers road trip novel that takes on grief, racism and antisemitism as well as homophobia in a way that never feels too much. Nia and Jade, along with Michal, were BFFs until Michal died and things imploded. Now, though, they're on a Southern Jewish heritage road trip along with Jade's brother Jonah. All three have unresolved issues about Michal, and there's a longing that hangs over Nia and Jade. This has lovely characters and thoughtful plotting but it's the storytelling that amps it up. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. A very good read.

This story, while having lighthearted moments, does have a pretty serious setting and purpose for the story. I think the author noted them appropriately in a warning page, and that is something I appreciated as a mood reader. There's parts of history mentioned that can be a bit uncomfortable in grappling with what has happened in the past. However, it is still important to recognize and hopefully past wrongs can be corrected in an appropriate way. This is a complex story, with multiple relationships, and to me it really emphasized how messy life can be. The characters struggle with the loss of their friend that connected them, and that is really the background for the whole book. It illustrates how imperfect relationships can be and that there's a choice to right your wrongs, apologize, and work towards being better. It talks about accountability, all without a "holier-than-thou" attitude. This book is absolutely worth a read, but important to also be gentle with yourself based on the author notes.

This just didn’t work for me at all.

We’re thrown straight in with these characters in a way that made me feel like I was missing something, like I was reading a sequel and didn’t have all the pieces.

The changing POV in the middle of chapters with no warning was something I found really jarring while reading, too.

I felt no real chemistry between our main characters. I love a slow burn but this didn’t focus enough on the relationship for me.

A road trip to fulfill a promise to a friend who has passed away, uncovers secrets among three friends.

I’m going to start with the road trip itself because I learned so much. United States history is not pretty and Rachel Runya Katz does not shy away from it. The trio are on a Jewish History tour of historic sites in Georgia and North Carolina. History can be painful and it is here. Never mind, the automatic assumptions of what people think races look like and that everyone experiences culture in the same way. The characters feel the pain of the past as if the ghosting intersectionality has burst from their own bones. How the history they think they know and what they see is jarring and can still scar. I just loved this whole part of the book, not for the pain caused but for the history I didn’t know.

The other major storyline is about friendship. The friendship between three women and a male twin sibling. I wrote it this way purposefully because of how Jonah feels amidst this group and the secrets that come out. Katz moves back and forth from the past to the present to bring more context to experiences. It works and doesn’t feel awkward.

Amidst all of the drama, there is a romance. Unrequited love can be debilitating and affect how you react to situations. This is the case with both Nia and Jade. The chemistry is there, but honesty is not. More drama (chuckle).

This is a heavy read. It’s about the loss of a close friend and lover and how no one has moved on. Get some cookies or whatever comfort food you need and get ready to sink into history, both personal and historical.

Whenever You're Ready largely takes place largely over and emotionally wrought road trip Jade and Nia planned with their deceased best friend, Michal. The addition of Jade’s twin brother (and Michal’s ex) Jonah, adds complications, and the addition of the twins’ dog Luna, adds delight. This was between a 3 and a 4 star read for me, rounding up because I think this tackles some important topics.

Fantastically written sapphic romance.
Super slow burn, complicated friends to lovers when the other friend always knew, and filled with so much grief. Love and sadness and friendship at its center, this is a great read.

I thoroughly enjoyed the complexities and exploration into the lives of Jade, Nia & Jonah all because of Michal's letter requesting they take the southern Jewish history road trip they had planned before her passing.

3.75 stars

This sophomore effort from Katz is a worthy follow-up to a stellar debut.

Nia, Jade, and Michal are great friends, but sadly, as readers learn immediately, Michal passes away far too young, leaving Nia and Jade without her physical presence but very much with her influence all around them. This becomes increasingly apparent not only through present day memories and vivid flashbacks but also through creative means of showing her two pals that they, in fact, belong together romantically, too.

Katz has a real knack for weaving in identity exploration seamlessly through even romances, and this book features a number of great examples. While the romance is not as compelling here as in the first book, this makes sense. After all, these characters are not only grappling with their changing relationship; they're still grieving, and they are also trying to make sense of their various complicated connections to Jade's twin brother, among other issues. At times, I felt a bit overwhelmed by the characters' seemingly constant processing, but again, this isn't just a traditional romance. The choice does fit the circumstances.

I enjoyed the representation and overall flow of this one, and Katz maintains a place on my instant to-read list. I'm looking forward to the next one already.

This was such a beautiful slow burn romance. Nia and Jade are two best friends who have not seen each other in three years after an explosive fight after their best friend died. When one of them opens a birthday letter from their deceased friend encouraging them to go on the road trip they planned before she passed, they feel compelled to reach out and try to bridge the gulf between them. That starts a Southern Jewish road trip with two quasi best friends and one of their twin brothers. As they go on this trip Nia and Jade are forced to confront racism, antisemitism, and to feel their grief, all while fighting the feelings they have always secretly harbored for their best friend. This was such a beautiful story about finding your person and dealing with life after loss. I received an ARC, and this is my honest review.

Poignant and emotional, this is much more of an exploration of friendship and the kinds of love that will never fade away than it is a romcom, or even really a romance between Nia and Jade. Michal is such a big part of both Nia and Jade's lives that it feels absolutely right that we hear so much from her in the book, and her voice is often where most of the humor comes from. She is the catalyst and impetus for so much of what happens and so important in both Jade and Nia finally getting together.

In that way, a lot of the romance between Jade and Nia feels inevitable, that their romance is more clearing the air and working through the things holding them back than falling in love, and so many of those issues interrupt any sexual aspect to the tension between them. It makes their coming together feel like putting the last puzzle piece into place, more of a soft, obvious thing than a dramatic declaration.I enjoyed it a lot.

I also really enjoyed the relationship between Jade and Jonah, though a lot of their tension and falling out felt kind of abrupt after being told that they were so close and the only ones each other had. The explanations of pressures and grief and the way different relationship grieve felt really well done.

The road trip part was some of the weakest to me; I love a good road trip story, so I was very excited, and while I loved learning so much about Southern Jewish history, some of it felt like taking an aside for exposition and explanation rather than fitting more smoothly into the trip, though the way it fed into the bi-racial identities and bi-racial jewishness as well as the difference in traditions was really interesting for watch the characters work through.

I will admit I didn't like how choppy a lot of the PoV switching felt. Switching between Jade and Nia, past and present, often left me scrambling to figure out when we were and whose head we were in, re-reading some paragraphs three times (when we flashed back during a flashback, that was often the hardest). Other than that, I really enjoyed this.

4.5 ⭐️
I picked up this book primarily because I am always on the hunt for new-to-me authors. I don't read book descriptions, so I had no idea what the book was about. It ended up being such a heartfelt, emotional story that delved into the messiness that is the human experience. It also explored the intersectionality between race, gender, sexuality, and religion and encompassed a love story about family, friends, and romantic partners. And it was expertly done. I would say I spent a solid 20% of the book with tears streaming down my face, both sad and happy. This was just a really beautiful story, and I highly recommend it.💖

This is such a beautiful slow burn romance and absolutely a new favourite for me. There is such a complexity of feelings going on for all the characters who are grieving the loss of their best friend, dealing with big career changes in the background, reconciling with each other after a long passed argument, and mending familial relationships suffering from different grieving processes - all that while discovering more about Jewish history on a road trip. I love the way that I got to learn more about Jewish history as a reader alongside the characters in a way that was so seamlessly integrated into the rest of the plot.

Nia, Jade, and Jonah (Jade's twin brother) all feel like very real people with nuanced emotions and actions - they don't always make the right decisions and they don't always have the best communication, but they very clearly care so much for each other. I actually loved having Jonah on the roadtrip with Nia and Jade because his relationship to both of them was just as important as the romantic relationship going on.

Will definitely be picking up this author again! Thank you to Netgalley and St Martin's Press for the eARC!

"Whenever You're Ready" by Rachel Runya Katz is a beautifully crafted tale that delicately weaves together the themes of love, loss, and the intricate dance between friendship and romance. The novel's emotional depth is palpable, with Katz taking readers on a journey that feels both intimate and universal.

Nia and Jade's relationship is the heart of the story, and it's refreshing to see a sapphic romance where the tension isn't just in the will-they-won't-they dynamic but in the exploration of their shared history and unresolved feelings. The road trip serves as a perfect backdrop, symbolizing both a physical and emotional journey that the characters must undertake. Each stop on the trip is a step closer to healing, a chance for Nia and Jade to confront their past and consider a future that could be more than either of them imagined.

Katz does an excellent job of balancing humor and heartache, making the reader laugh one moment and then pause to reflect the next. The presence of Michal, even in her absence, looms large over the narrative, adding a layer of poignancy that makes the characters' struggles and triumphs all the more relatable. The inclusion of Jonah, Michal's boyfriend and Jade's twin, adds another layer of complexity to the story, highlighting the different ways people cope with grief and the lingering effects it can have on relationships.

The slow-burn romance between Nia and Jade is electrifying, with every glance and touch charged with years of unspoken feelings. Katz's portrayal of their connection is tender and real, making the reader root for them to overcome their fears and take the leap towards something more.

"Whenever You're Ready" is more than just a romance; it's a story about the courage to face your past, the power of friendship, and the beauty of taking risks for love. Katz has written a novel that resonates deeply, leaving a lasting impression long after the last page is turned.

This was an incredible story of two lifelong friends who were always more than that to each other!

On a Summer road trip that their friend who recently passed away wanted them to take they share the emotional journey of their past, what they have each lost and what they each stand to gain (mixed in with a bit of angst of course).

Mia & Jade had such an incredible story and I really enjoyed reading this book and learning about southern Jewish history while they were on their roadtrip. Throughout the tough days they had at museums they had to determine if their deep love for each other was worth risking….

Rachel Runya Katz is writing books that are unlike anything else that is being published at the moment and if you are not reading them, you are missing out on beautiful, tender, and heart wrenchingly honest intersectional love stories. This is a story about grief and love and heritage and family and how all of those forces are jumbled up inside one person and how they affect the choices for one's future. It's fucking gorgeous and one of the best books I've read this year.

I appreciate the way that Katz seamlessly integrates Jewish southern history into the story in a way that allows the reader to learn a MASSIVE amount of information while on the journey of reconciliation between three friends whose connection was irrevocably changed by the loss of their friend (previous to the beginning of the book). You have friendship to lovers reconciliation in addition to a sibling reconciliation that is so realistic that it is almost difficult to read at times. I also appreciate the way in which Katz normalizes the queerness of these characters in addition to the casual use of cannabis and the ways that millennial friendships are broken and repaired a variety of times throughout their lives. The changing nature of friendship and family is a major theme of this book, in addition to the ways in which Jewish culture and the Jewish religion is experienced by a variety of different groups of people, not only in the present day.

Thanks Netgalley for allowing me to read this book. Nia and Jade have been friends for years. They have drifted apart but are going on a pilgrimage together. I liked this book.

Grief is such a complicated animal. When it’s wrapped around friendships and crushes and losing someone so young, it can be too much.
I loved these complicated characters who have been surviving since they lost the center of their wheel.
It’s not an easy story. It’s heart wrenching and difficult and so complicated.

This is my first book by Katz and I am a fan. I love a road trip romance so that's what drew me in (besides the gorgous cover obv) but I loved pretty much everything about this. It's not a rom-com, which I know some people think when they see the animated covers, but I do like the author's description of a rom-traum-com. There were parts that made me laugh- Michel was really funny and I love a doggy mishap- and parts that made me want to cry, but I really loved all of it.

Compared to Rachel Runya Katz’s debut, this sophomore novel fell a bit flat to me. I loved everything she was trying to do in this book - grief over a best friend, the way grief shapes your life, biracial/jews of color, antisemitism and racism, and complex relationships. I admit I don’t know much about southern Judaism roots and actually despite how diverse my temple was growing up, I never met any black Jews. The author’s note is not to be missed when reading this book and I’m curious to do some of my own research from what I learned in this novel.

The actual romance fell flat for me, I just didn’t connect with the slow burn/not actually unrequited love and I think a lot of that had to do with the very jumpy POVs throughout the entire book. I could almost never tell if it was Jade or Nia’s POV and that threw me for a loop. The third person POV is not my favorite and I recall saying the same in my review of her first book. But that mixed with the unclear character switch really made me have a bumpy reading experience. I also think the text messages were missing quotes or formatted weirdly in the ARC and I had to reread some passages a few times to make sense.

I think this rom-traum-com may have worked better as a women’s fiction novel rather than romance.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.