Reviews with content warning for Infidelity - This Could Be Us

Reviews tagging 'Infidelity'

This Could Be Us by Kennedy Ryan

80 reviews

kerrygetsliterary's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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shannahtan's review

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hopeful inspiring reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

This book heavily centers friendship like the first one, which I absolutely love.

Soledad leans on Yasmen and Hendrix when her husband 🚮, Edward, gets arrested for embezzlement. Hendrix even gives her $10,000 to help pay for Sol’s kids’ tuitions. She also is supported by her two sisters, Lola and Nayeli. They’re not in the same state and busy with their life things (moving to Austin to start a bookstore; 6 kids). Lola comes to visit and meets Hendrix, which is also a beautiful scene.

I only recently learned what a cinnamon roll hero is, and I’m pretty sure Judah Cross is that. The most supportive dad to Aaron and Adam who are autistic.

He falls first & is absolutely in love with Sol. He supports her “dating herself” goal.

Plenty of spicy scenes.

There were definitely cheesy parts. I didn’t drop a star because I think it’s fair to wax poetic when

you were married, your partner embezzled from their company without you knowing, they also cheated on you, had a baby with that person, and went to prison.

To find love and to trust someone after that is a big thing.

She also had to start her own business as a content creator to support her 3 children.

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cassiealexandra's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful tense

4.75

I read Kennedy Ryan’s first book in the Skyland set last January, and whew, I was not ready. Before I Let Go’s story about a divorced couple who experienced a stillbirth and the death of a mother figure finding their way back to one another hit me in exactly all the wrong places after having experienced my own stillbirth and loss of a mother-in-law. It was also far more open-door and explicit than is my taste. Because of all this, I knew that the book was good but was not necessarily for “me” at that time. I almost didn’t pick this one up, but for the recommendation of a friend (who is not always the biggest romance lover) who adored this. Her high praise for the emotional depth, the look at autism, the family dynamics, and Soledad’s journey to loving herself was well-deserved and this book now has my high praise as well. I connected quite a bit with Soledad’s desire to know herself and to accept and love who she currently is and is becoming. Her journey was not without thought and care for the people around her. She is compassionate and giving to everyone in her life; her daughters, their friends, her sisters, and her best friends (Yasmen from Skyland 1 and Hendrix). Soledad is self-reflective without being selfish and that brought so much beauty to this story. All this without even mentioning the romance. I loved Judah’s character, the healthy co-parenting of his twin autistic boys with his ex-wife, and his respect for every one of Soledad’s boundaries. My only troubles with this one were 1. There was a small amount of what I’d consider “info-dumping” about autism in the opening chapters. It was slightly more tell than show. 2. Ryan loves her open door scenes. This is a major positive for many readers, I’m sure, but for me, I could have done with less. Neither of those considerations bring my rating down though.

The bottom line: This was a beautiful story of a woman learning to trust herself again after a horrible divorce, deepening family relationships and friendships, and finding love along the way.

— NOTES —
Genres: romance
POV: first-person, dual
Content: divorce, infidelity, autism, cancer, grief, loss of family members
Romance: 3-4 explicit open-door scenes

— MY RATING CONSIDERATIONS —
(all out of 5)
Pace: 5
Enjoyment: 4.5
Craft: 4.5
Gut: 5
Total: 4.75

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louisekf's review

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emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

This Could Be Us is a story of resilience. It follows Soledad through a massive betrayal by her husband, as she learns to support herself and her three daughters. She has a great support network, as she works through this life-changing situation: two fabulous long-time friends, Yasmen and Hendricks;, her two sisters; and even her daughters, who also need to come to terms with their father’s behavior.

Soledad’s husband had been acting oddly for a while, and eventually the truth came out, upending her life. She was happy being a stay-at-home mother, hosting parties, shuttling her three daughters to school and activities, etc. Now she has to figure out how to support herself and her daughters, how to keep their roof over their heads.

At the same time, she has to learn to love herself. Her husband’s betrayal has also upended how she thought about herself! She finds a book in her recently deceased mother’s things, called All About Love by bell hooks (a real book that was published in 1999). This turns out to be a resource that Soledad turns to over and over again on her journey to self-reliance.

The characters are great. They are strong women who come from a variety of backgrounds (Soledad, for example, has Puerto Rican and black heritage). Each daughter has her own personality and reaction to their new situation. Judah, who eventually becomes Soledad’s new love interest, has two sons on the autism spectrum and has a wonderful relationship with his ex-wife. I learned so much about autism by reading about Aaron and Adam. There was one particularly affecting scene at a store, when Aaron had a breakdown over a coveted item that was sold out.

I really loved the book, but the repetition about self-partnering and self-love became a bit tiresome. The whole influencer thing was interesting. Chapters are told from either Soledad’s point of view or Judah’s.

Be aware that there are several very explicit spicy scenes and frank conversation about s*x among the three women friends.

This is the second in a series that looks to be at least three books. It’s helpful but not necessary to read the first one before this: Before I Let Go, which follows Yasmen.

I was surprised and delighted to find some recipes at the end of the book but was a bit disappointed that it didn’t include Soledad’s “viral” vinaigrette.

Thank you to NetGalley and Forever for the opportunity to read a review copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

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stephrand's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny informative inspiring tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

If you enjoyed Before I Let Go, you’ll enjoy this just as much! It’s dramatic, entertaining, spicy, emotional and everything in between. Loved all of the different storylines that came up including learning more about ASD, infidelity, family drama, embezzlement and more. Both Soledad and Jonah’s kids were such great characters. Looking forward to Skyland #3 next year!

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mollywill's review against another edition

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emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

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sydapel's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Knowing what to expect from Kennedy Ryan's books is paramount to feeling connected to them, which I learned from experience after reading the first in the series. These are slow burn, heavily focused on the heroine's personal journey with herself rather than with her love interest and Ryan nails the satisfying, affirming character arc while still managing to make the spicy scenes red hot. More Emily Henry girlies should be reading her books, often the development is handled better and the men feel more dynamic.

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rachellbc's review against another edition

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funny inspiring lighthearted slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

The first half or so was really good but slow. I feel there isn’t enough relationship building to Judah & Soledad’s relationship. Judah seems to just be sexually obsessed with her and it’s weird he masturbates to thoughts of her after basically just meeting. Some parts where there could’ve been a meaningful convo between the two, his character seems to just dive into sex with her. I don’t know how many times I had to read him describe her curves, her curls, and her jasmine scent. I liked the inclusion of autism, stay at home dad, and influencer career. But I can’t help but feel their relationship was based off of just sex and the whole wishy washy FWB trope. I hated how he legit knew everything about her and she wasn’t ever creeped out, just made jokes about him stalking her *tehe so funny you show up around and know my schedule and watch all my content*!!! I don’t know- maybe just too much spice for me and not enough romance substance. ALSO something grossed me out was her not wearing underwear in HER DAUGHTERS SWEATPANTS before having sex!!! I’m a germaphobe so if I were that daughter and I somehow knew, you can keep those pants mama. Overall, not a terrible book but I just expected more and could’ve done with a whole lot less of the repetitive “I’m an independent girl boss” and spice themes.

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rdebner's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

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author2223's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

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