ARC, 400 pages
Release Date: November 15, 2022
Published by: Forever
Read from: October 13-November 14, 2022
Skyland, #1
Source: Publisher (I received a physical ARC of this book from the Publisher in exchange for a just and honest review. This did nothing to influence my review.)
TW: Divorce, Stillbirth, Depression, Suicidal Ideation
For Readers Interested In: Contemporary, Second Chance Love, One Bed, Women’s Fiction, Mental Health Rep, Racial/Ethnic Diversity, Realistic Fiction, Adult“Real, raw, magnificent—Before I Let Go is the beautiful angst I love to read.” —Colleen Hoover, #1 New York Times bestselling author
Their love was supposed to last forever. But when life delivered blow after devastating blow, Yasmen and Josiah Wade found that love alone couldn’t solve or save everything.
It couldn’t save their marriage.
Yasmen wasn’t prepared for how her life fell apart, but she’s is finally starting to find joy again. She and Josiah have found a new rhythm, co-parenting their two kids and running a thriving business together. Yet like magnets, they’re always drawn back to each other, and now they’re beginning to wonder if they’re truly ready to let go of everything they once had.
Soon, one stolen kiss leads to another…and then more. It’s hot. It’s illicit. It’s all good—until old wounds reopen. Is it too late for them to find forever? Or could they even be better, the second time around?
Award-winning and bestselling “powerhouse” author Kennedy Ryan is at her absolute best in this compelling, scorching novel about hope and healing, and what it truly means to love for a lifetime (USA Today).
Book of the Month Club selection
Women’s Health Best Books of the Year
*MY THOUGHTS*
Hold on because this one is going to be a doozie lol I have so many thoughts on this and I don’t want to miss anything lol Also, keep in mind that this was my first Kennedy Ryan book, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. But once I got into it, I couldn’t stop.
Ok so starting with the things I loved and couldn’t stop thinking about. I LOVED that this book showed a BLACK woman who spoke out about her depression and was proud of her therapy. In our culture a lot of times people say things like “you just need to go to church more.” Or “everybody gets a little sad sometimes.” It’s always trivialized, very much like Josiah treats it in the beginning. And coming from someone who lived through it, it’s not a great thing to experience. So when I read the part where she acknowledged her hurt and took some time to do something about it, I was over-joyed. Mental Health in the Black community is a stigma and it was nice to see someone not treat it like burden. And when the whole family went in, I have to say, I was openly weeping because I was happy for them.
I also liked the romance. Listen, there is nothing more I love than friends to lovers romance. But this was so different, but it still felt like a friends to lovers romance. If that makes any sense lol They were exes yes, and they started out mad at each other all the time, but they never hated each other. They were still just hurt. And hurt is not the same as enemy. But watching their relationship transform and the feelings they had for each other morph and change, was incredible. It was so funny seeing the way they were trying so hard to convince themselves that things were over between the two of them. Going along with this, I also loved the way we had both POVs. It’s one thing to see the romance unfold in front of our eyes, but it’s another thing entirely to experience it with them. I think any book that has romance in it needs a dual POV narrative lol I can’t say enough, seeing the way they fell back in love and the way they healed in real time would not have hit as hard as it did without doing this in dual POV.
Speaking of emotions…. This book will hit you in the feels! I felt some of everything in this book. I laughed, I cried, I swooned, I had to fan myself from the spice, (because yes, there is spice), and I got mad too. (Because Josiah, you are lucky Yas didn’t cuss you and her out when she found y’all in her living room. Because chileeeeeeee! You would have gotten some words from me about THAT.) This book will put you through the ringer! So I advise you, be mindful of where you read this at lol Because I have some footage that didn’t make it to my Reading vlog of me sobbing while I was getting a pedicure. (I read the part about the her tripping at the restaurant while I was at the nail shop. I will never forgive you Kennedy Ryan lol) This book WILL break you, but Ryan also gives you the tools to put yourself back together as well. She won’t just leave you out there like that.
The only complaints I had was that it was a little long for my taste? I think some of it could have been shaved off. 400 pages of a contemporary is just a lot for me. But even still, Kennedy Ryan’s writing style was amazing, so I didn’t feel like it was overwhelming at all. It just could have been cut a little shorter in my opinion. That’s nothing major, so I wouldn’t dock anything from it either.
The other complaint I had was that it was marketed as a romance. This is definitely women’s fiction that has a strong romantic element to it. It says on the back that it’s women’s fiction. I just wish we would stop doing this. I don’t like saying it’s something it’s not. What if someone else would end up disappointed by that? It didn’t make me any difference because I like both genres, but not everyone is me. And I would hate for them to give her a terrible rating because it wasn’t what they were expecting. (Because let’s face it, they would because Kennedy Ryan is a Black woman.)
I have never loved a book so much that I kept my pre-order after the publisher gifted me a copy. I wanted to make sure that Kennedy still gets her coins from me for her pre-order sales. And I thought, what better way than to give back to my followers than to make sure someone who couldn’t get or couldn’t afford, a copy right away gets one?! Be on the lookout, I’ll be doing a giveaway soon! This book wrecked me, and now I want to see it wreck someone else lol
Overall, I give this
