an emotional journey of unconditional love, loss, and holding onto hope even when life would make it so so easy to just give up.
kareem and lee lee’s love story is raw and deep. their love was not picture perfect but it was a strong and true. learning about kareem’s struggles with relationships, trust, and impermanence due to his upbringing will make your heart ache for him. after lee lee’s accident, the way he describes his pain will rip your heart completely out. how will this man move forward? how would anyone in this situation?
kareem’s story is a reminder that the human experience can be both completely unique yet also quite universal at the same time. you may find yourself reading his thoughts and words and saying “i’ve been there, too” or you may find yourself saying “this is so far from where i’ve been”. either way, you’ll come away feeling like you’ve just sat for an hours long lunch with kareem. he’s shared his innermost thoughts and feelings with you and you’ll pull him in for a very tight hug before parting ways.
his words on love will stay with you for years to come.

thank you to simon element for providing this book for review consideration via netgalley. all opinions are my own.

This is an inspiring love story about growth, commitment, family, and resilience. The author beautifully narrates the journey of Kareem and Lee Lee, two young souls from different backgrounds who find love. Despite overwhelming sadness and loss, the characters strive to move forward. Though hope seems distant, the story is a testament to the power of love. It captures a range of feelings, from hope to heartache, filled with beautiful, uplifting moments that resonate with me.

Thank you so much to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher giving me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review (special thanks to the team at Simon and Schuster for reaching out to me about reading this book. I don't know that I would have found it otherwise and I'm so grateful I got to read this early). It is due to be published February 4, 2025.

This was an incredibly moving, heartbreaking, and beautiful memoir. When You're Ready tells the story of Kareem and Lee Lee's wonderful relationship and all the ways it has changed since they first met at the barn and bonded over a shared love of horses. It really is a fairy tale romance at first. Kareem was from one of the most impoverished parts of Philly and learned to ride horses through a work to ride program at a local barn. Lee Lee was a legacy equestrian who grew up riding and was from a completely different world. They fell in love and thought they had their whole future ahead of them, until Lee Lee is in a riding accident and it changes their lives forever.

This is such an incredible story and I know I'll be thinking about Kareem and Lee Lee's story for a long time. Kareem has a beautiful way of writing that is really poignant and simplistic but never flat or boring. He also wasn't afraid to be brutally honest, even when that meant he had to share his worst mistakes on the page. Kareem is such a strong person that has been through so much in his life and I am beyond grateful that he was able to share his story with us. And that he was able to share Lee Lee's as well. It was so easy to fall in love with Lee Lee just like Kareem did. She is an incredibly inspiring woman and I'm so grateful to have gotten the chance to get to know her, even just through the pages of this book. There are some really lovely photos included in the book too that made the experience that much better.

I would highly recommend that if you are a memoir person or are thinking about trying memoirs, that you pick this one up!

This was a love story that truly moved me. The love story between Kareem and Lee Lee is a story of young love and the obstacles that they faced. Although they came from two different worlds, their love of horses, he a polo player, and she and equestrian. It was when Lee Lee had an accident that their life as they knew it, and their plans for the future was interrupted. As Kareem stood by her side he experienced grief for what Lee Lee was expriencing, and the future that had been derailed. Kareem put in the work via therapy to equip himself with the tools needed to work thru and work with all that he was experiencing.

Although this was my first time reading anything by Kareem Rosser, I must say I look forward to reading his other works. I would like to thank Netgalley and the publisher for blessing with the opportunity to read this memoir.

Thanks to NetGalley for an e-ARC of this amazing book. The love story between Kareem Rosser and Lee Lee Jones is deep and powerful; what they each go through is unflinchingly and honestly shared. I appreciated the different forms of love that the reader is privileged to witness: love of family, romantic love, love of self, and a love strong enough to let go. My heart ached for these two young people while also being in awe of their strength and resilience.

This book was not what I expected based on the title or the blurb. It is a coming of age story of adversity, first love, moving on after grief, and a realistic look at mental illness. I enjoyed that, but it is not the book I was sold or expecting.

Ok this seems like a nit picky odd thing but it is not: the book cover is not doing the book any justice. When I looked Kareem Rosser up and realized this man was *fine* I was like, ok some of this story makes way more sense. Why are you not using that to sell this book? The front photo feels very dated and doesn't do a good job of showing either person. I just really thing this book would do better if you replaced the photo or changed it for a design.

Kareem’s story is so powerful. It is gut-wrenching, vulnerable, and took me places I did not expect. Kareem is from Bottom—a disadvantaged neighborhood in West Philly. He grew up in what he deemed a broken family. He did not have a relationship with his father, mother was addicted to drugs, older brothers incarcerated. Kareem’s way out? Work to Ride—a program just outside of Philly. Take care of the horses, stables, farm, and then you get to learn to ride horses and get warm meals. Kareem became a skilled polo player. His story entails so much more if that is not interesting enough. He fell in love with a privileged white horse eventer. She has a near-lethal riding accident. It rocks both their worlds. Kareem shares all of his inner thoughts, feelings, and series of events that follows. I was enthralled the entire time. I thank NetGalley and Simon Element for this eArc. It is something I may not have picked up otherwise, but I really enjoyed this.

This memoir bills itself as a love story, but don’t let that fool you into thinking it's *just* a love story. I came for the Philly connection and stayed for Rosser’s ability to put his heart and his story on the page. Rosser begins life in a loving family, but they struggle. Life in West Philly makes love feel dangerous. He falls madly in love with a girl from a very different background, but just as they’re starting their adult life together she suffers a traumatic brain injury in a terrible accident. While romantic love makes the cover of this book and Rosser’s dedication to his girlfriend drives much of his story, I appreciated all the other love stories just as much: Rosser’s love for his family, his neighborhood in West Philly, the friends who are there for him in the darkest times, and finally, the love he learns to nurture for himself. I couldn’t put this book down and I can see it being adapted into a tearjerker of a movie.

OMG, Where do I begin. This was an amazing love story that was wrapped in growing up, commitment, family and survival. The author did an incredible job in telling the story of love between Kareem and Lee Lee. To young people from different worlds but find love in each other. Then tragedy hits and what was isn’t anymore and may never be again. How do you move forward when the heart is to overcome with sadness and loss that you are stuck in a place where you can’t feel, breathe or hope. I felt everything written in this story, every hope expressed and every emotion realized. This book is filled with so many beautiful and heart wrenching moments. The release date of February 2025 is a perfect month to share this love story. Thanks NetGalley and Simon Element for the ARC.

Pretty early on I knew there was something familiar about this book and then I realized it was by the same author as Crossing the Line. It’s not being marketed as a sequel, and it can stand on its own, but if you read Crossing the Line it is definitely a continuation of the author’s young life. And just like in his prior book there is a lot to tell. It’s a moving story that is told well.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an early release in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This beautiful memoir is the story of Kareem and Lee Lee, two Philadelphia teenagers from different worlds who met through equestrian training. Kareem who grew up in a world of crime and drugs was accepted into the Work to Ride program. Lee Lee, from a wealthy household, completed her riding at the same facility. The memoir follows the two through their blooming relationship through their college days and continues after Lee Lee suffers a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) after being thrown off a horse. The memoir continues with Kareem's story of how he adjusted, as a young man in his twenties, to manage a new job and caring for the young woman he loves. Readers will have so much to talk about after reading this sensitive, memorable memoir that deserves national attention by readers everywhere.

This is a story of two young people from opposite worlds who fall in love and look ahead to living happily ever after only to be tested beyond their worst nightmare when a devastating accident flips their world upside down. It is an emotional story of recovery, courage, commitment, and self-examination. Finally, It is a story of love and all the beautiful and complicated ways it shapes the lives of these characters.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced reader copy (ARC) in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC. I truly appreciate the chance to read this book. It's important to note that this book is scheduled for publication on February 4, 2025. I was deeply moved by this love story and couldn't help but reflect on how young Kareem and Lee Lee were. Young love holds a special kind of magic. My heart goes out to both Kareem and Lee Lee, as the course of their love story was altered by Lee Lee's accident. The photographs included in the book were incredibly touching, capturing Lee Lee's beauty just as Kareem described. I admired Kareem's commitment to therapy and found wisdom in his therapist's advice to "start leaving 10 minutes early". While Kareem stood by Lee Lee's side, he also deserved to live his own life. It was a lot for someone so young to endure. BRACE YOURSELF FOR SOME SPOILERS, MY BAD! I get deeply emotional when I think about how unpredictable life can be. The moment when Lee Lee is holding Kareem's daughter, unable to speak much but simply whispering "Baby," is profoundly poignant. It prompts me to consider the potential they had for raising a child together and experiencing countless joyful moments. That specific moment profoundly impacts me, as it feels like their entire life together flashes before my eyes like a movie reel."When You're Ready" is a story brimming with love, hope, healing, and the courage to move forward in life, knowing that it's perfectly okay to do so. The writing style of this book brought to mind "The Color of Water" by James McBride, one of my all-time favorites. I'm grateful for the opportunity to read this ARC and eagerly anticipate the release next February. It's such a beautiful time to launch this book, especially with Valentine's Day around the corner – the perfect occasion to immerse oneself in a new love story.

A brave book. I enjoyed Kareem's story. It left me with much to think about. You never know when your life can change. It can happen in an instant. The writing is descriptive and in-depth. Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC. Five stars.