Thank you to the publisher and NetGalleyfor this eARC.


Whenever You’re Ready is a beautiful and emotional love story. It dives into many topics such as grief, religion, discrimination, and friendship.

I loved the road trip setting, it was unique and fun. I also enjoyed the rich Jewish history along with wonderful representation. I’ve been looking for a sapphic romance for awhile too.

I took off a star for the confusion of the timelines and characters at times and a bit of a slow start.

Overall I would recommend!

Took me a little bit to get into this book (at least partly to do with my own schedule and not the book). I found some of it confusing due to the two timelines and some of the information withheld until near the end but.... all those annoying caveats aside, this book is really interesting, though provoking, and very well-written.

Highly recommend

WHENEVER YOU’RE READY by Rachel Runya Katz is a beautiful story about grief, love, and friendship

What I admired about this book was how much the author empathized the importance of friendship can have on a person that I feel sometimes gets forgotten in today’s society. The support that friendship can bring someone to help them to get through the day. The friendship scenes of Jade, Nia, and Jonah were so sweet and tender

There was so much depth and complexity to the characters that made them feel so real and human. They were amazing.

I also loved the important topics discussed in this book, they were so thought provoking such as gender, masculinity, racism, and therapy and the impact it can have on a person

The romance in this book was done incredibly, it felt real, raw, and relatable. The connection between the characters felt organic and never forced. You could feel the emotions they had for each other. I loved that we got to see the flashback scenes during the times they were separated from each other as well as the pain they felt from the separation. They brought each other so much joy, support and comfort. It was beautiful to see.

Overall, this was a beautiful story

This book dives deep into the complexities of friendship and challenges how society often undervalues it compared to romantic relationships. It's refreshingly queer and emphasizes the importance of creating meaningful spaces for oneself. Rachel Runya Katz skillfully navigates themes of grief, race, and romance, offering a unique take that breaks away from typical tropes. Unlike many romances, the story avoids clichés and instead explores genuine emotional conflicts that drive the characters forward.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the eARC.

Whenever you're ready is such a bittersweet, beautiful, and at times funny sapphic romance. The story follows two women who are inseperable since losing their best friend to cancer. The story is a heartwarming friends-to-lovers slow burn that also richly dives into Jewish culture and history in the south. The book manages to handle heavy topics like grief, antisemitism, racism and hatred while still weaving a hopeful lovestory.

Thanks to NetGalley and the author for providing an ARC of this book.

This is the second book I've read by Rachel Runya Katz. It also has Jewish main characters, but this time we get more Jewish history courtesy of the author's own travels.

Read this book if you like any/all of the following:
* well-developed non-white characters
* slow-burn romance
* queer main characters
* one-bed trope
* learning about religious history
* yelling at fictional characters because things would be fine if they just communicated

I definitely want to read the published version of this book. It was a little disjointed in the beginning as I tried to understand the relationship between all of the main characters (Nia, Jade, Jonah, and Michal) and the sequence of events from their past leading to the present. However, it was worth the read for me.

I love this book so much. I love it in a way where I saved it for myself and savored it bit by bit as I read. It's just absolutely breathtakingly gorgeous, and the way that it deals with grief feels necessary and real to me at a time in my life when I needed it. Nia and Jade, and her twin brother Jonah, are mourning the loss of their friend, Michal, who died much too young, while going on a Jewish history roadtrip their dead friend insisted on. Everything about this book is beautiful and heart-wrenching self discovery: the history of Judaism, including its intersection with the horrors of American slavery, the rediscovery of family and community on both a large level with a trip to significant synagogues and on a smaller level with the interaction between Jade and Jonah, who sort of grapple with different types of grief: Michal was Jade's best friend from childhood, but had been dating Jonah for a little under a year, and their family prioritizes his grief, thinking it is greater, which drives a rift between the twins. But the main event here is the tension between Nia and Jade, part of the friendship trio, who have obviously been in love with each other, something Nia knows, something Michal knew, and something Jade is not quite ready to know at the beginning. Their slow burn rediscovery of each other is epic, though, and I burn for it, honestly. There are so many beautiful and tender bits to this book, but I guess I'm too thirsty because I cannot get the line "I wish I'd brought my strap" out of my head; that MOMENT was just absolute sweet fire. Thank you so much Rachel Runya Katz, Macmillan, and netgalley for an eARC of this in exchange for my honest review.

Wowwwweeeee…….

I am SO fond of this book. Big, big fan here!!!!
It made me cry, over and over, and completely turned me inside out.
Whenever You’re Ready is a beautiful book filled with grief, laughter, intersectional Southern Jewish history lessons, architecture, communication and miscommunication, real flawed humanity and their repair (the apologies are 10/10 PERFECT). It shows the immense loss of a best friend, emphasizes deep platonic love, and demonstrates the very human things we do when grieving (both pre-emptively and after loss). I love Nia and Jade and Jonah - all such great characters with depth and flaws and tenderness. The author speaks of gender, masculinity, multiracial life and history, anti-Black racism, and antisemitism in a top-tier way.
The tension is an out-of-this-world slow-burn; and the spice is delicious! I looooove Jade and Nia’s love and story. Looking for hot multiracial stemme lesbian potter/bisexual therapist vibes?? Read Whenever You’re Ready: a love letter to friendship and therapy.
/ARC - THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!!! What a gift!!!!

3.5 ⭐️ rounded up. As the three old friends embark on a journey of Jewish American history, they find it hard to deal with not only the hard facts of history, but their personal relationships and grievances. Jade and Jonah have a strained relationship. Jade and Nia have complicated feelings. But Michal knows this trip is exactly what they need.

It took me awhile to really get into this but once I did, I had to grab the tissues. Grief will always be a tough topic and Katz did an amazing job at showcasing how everyone handles it differently and in their own time.

I loved all the characters even down to the dog, Luna. The story is told from Jade and Nia’s POV which was confusing at first because of the formatting but once I got past that I really enjoyed their friends-to-lovers romance. The romance did seem more background to everything else, but I didn’t mind it too much because the story and the character development was good.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Publishing Group for this ARC!

wow this had me feeling all of the emotions! this was so beautifully written and was filled with lovely romantic moments and amazingly crafted characters that learn and grow throughout the story! I loved this!

Whenever you're ready was a great read that explored grief, friendship, and romance. I really enjoyed the journey we go on with the characters and how heartfelt the roadtrip itself felt. It felt like a story about finding yourself, reconnecting with loved ones, and processing grief.

It's a slow burn sapphic romance but it was also much more than that. Rachel also touches on racism and antisemitism in a way that is engaging and yet gentle. I really appreciated the different points of views even in third person.

This book follows two childhood best friends, Jade and Nia, that reconnect on a road trip three years after their best friend, Michal, died of cancer. This reconnection also includes Jonah, Jade’s twin brother and Michal’s then-boyfriend. The road trip brings up uncomfortable truths and realities regarding identity, grief, friendship, and family that the group must grapple with. In the middle of it all, there is the unspoken tension and desire between Nia and Jade, which is yet another matter left to be confronted.

There’s a lot of things to love about this book. I really appreciated the road trip aspect to this book. I thought that the description of the settings worked well to ground the reader in the book, and it makes you feel like you’re visiting these places with Nia, Jade, and Jonah. I also loved that these places were infused with real Jewish history because I learned a lot that I didn’t know before, and I thought it was cool that I could read a romance novel and learn something along the way, too.

I really adored the slow burn romance between Jade and Nia. I feel like that’s something we don’t get a lot of in romance novels these days, so it was a great addition, and I thought it was very well done! There’s also Black, Jewish, and queer representation in this book, and I thoroughly appreciated that. I haven’t read many books with Jewish characters or representation, so it was super refreshing to come across it again. I believe so much of the representation in this book will mean a lot to many people, as the queer representation meant so much to me.

However, even with all that being said, I thought this book had quite a slow start. You’re kind of thrown into this setting and this road trip when there’s still many things left unexplained, and it makes it difficult to connect to the emotional center and reason behind the trip in the first place. I also found Nia and Jade’s characters to be hard to connect to. I found that the switching points of views made it hard to differentiate Nia and Jade’s characters from one another, as well as their motivations and emotions, which makes it difficult to truly understand these characters at their core.

Although I had my issues with this novel, I still think it’s a promising addition to Katz’s work. It has emotional weight, a narrative study on grief, and a beautiful story about friendship, family, and love. I would definitely recommend giving it a shot.

This book was a hard read for me. Not because it wasn't good, it is sad but it also is a well written book. Check trigger warnings before reading because the topic may be heavy for some people.

This book is not just good, it is necessary. I don't think I have the words to explain how powerful and important it is, and how impactful it was on me. At a time when the Jewish experience is being ignored and minimized, relegated only to one type of Jewish identity, to see a complex view of it - a conversation between our diverse traditions and recognition of the complicated reality of being Jewish and Southern. To see Sephardi Jews on the page, and mixed Jews, and Jews of Color - to see all those things that make us who we are as a People - the representation was everything to me.
And then there is the romance. Nia and Jade are so perfect for each other, and their friendship is so precious. It was such beautiful torture to read and hope and never be quite sure that they will summon up the courage to risk it for the possibility of more.

This story touched on a little bit of everything. It was happy but also sad. And incredibly important.

this is a book about friendship, grief, history and also the angst of being in love with your best friend for most of your life and now it’s been three years since you saw each other. AWESOME!

generally i don’t go for books with sad themes or grief, i prefer my escapism on the lighter side but this was so so well done. i liked the chapters going back in time showing nia, jade and michal’s friendship as it grew were so lovely to read - even after michal’s diagnosis i loved those chapters and the three girls’ friendship. those chapters really helped to understand how they were feeling in the present.

plus, going back to the current time and being with nia, jade and jonah as they took the trip they were meant to take with michal was sad and lovely and also more informative than i previously expected (not a bad thing at all).

to be honest i basically always love books with really strong friendships, they make me happy. plus the intense gay pining and rachel runya katz was on to an immediate banger.

I had to sit with this book a little before I wrote my review. I went into it thinking it was going to be cute but sad sapphic story. While it was that it was also so much more. There was family friendship and history. I enjoyed both fmc. It was nice having a stemme represented in the story. I do wish there was a little more romance in the story. It did feel like an extremely slow burn. Overall I think it was a 3.5 but I rounded up to a 4.

I absolutely loved "Whenever You’re Ready" by Rachel Runya Katz! This book dives deep into the friendship between Jade and Nia, who reconnect after losing their close friend Michal. It handles heavy topics like grief, antisemitism, and racism in America while weaving in a slow-burn sapphic romance. The writing is touching and captures the intensity of their bond beautifully. The road trip through Southern Jewish history adds a rich backdrop to their emotional journey. This novel is a heartfelt tribute to lasting friendships and the courage to embrace love. Five stars! Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

If you liked this book, you should definitely check out Katz's debut, "Thank You For Sharing."

I really wanted to like this but I just didn’t. I didn’t find the characters interesting. The friendship and grief storyline was relatable

My heart. I absolutely loved this book. Rachel Runya Katz truly shines in exploring the unique experience of being a mixed-race Jew in America. She captured this beautifully in her debut novel, "Thank You For Sharing," and she delves into it once more here, along with a profound exploration of grief.

This book is not only a meditation on the enduring power of grief and the complex history of race relations between Black and Jewish communities in America but also a romance. However, it defies all typical romance tropes. It's kind of, but not quite, a second-chance romance. It's sort of, but not exactly, friends-to-lovers. It's a romance that feels like found family, where two people who are destined to be together actually find their way to each other.

Unlike many contemporary romances, there's a unique twist to the usual third-act miscommunication. Instead of a simple misunderstanding, there's an explosive moment—a secret revealed in anger that threatens to derail everything. Yet, our two female main characters move past it swiftly. The third act break occurs because one of the leads knows exactly what she wants and refuses to compromise her boundaries.

In summary, I adored this book. It can be a bit heavy at times (the premise and trigger warnings are clear in the summary), but it's beautifully written and a wonderful tribute to the enduring power of childhood female friendships. Five stars. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.