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jenguerrero's review against another edition
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
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
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Pregnancy, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Grief, Infertility, and Death of parent
kelly_e's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
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
4.75
Title: Before I Let Go
Author: Kennedy Ryan
Series: Skyland #1
Genre: Romance
Rating: 4.75
Pub Date: November 15, 2022
T H R E E • W O R D S
Riveting • Raw • Beautiful
📖 S Y N O P S I S
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?
💭 T H O U G H T S
Before I Let Go was my first venture into Kennedy Ryan's repertoire and I picked it up at the beginning of 2024 simply because I desperately wanted to read my ARC of book two in the series, which was releasing in February. What a pleasant surprise this one was!
I absolutely loved this second chance at love story!
It is so much more than a romance and it's filled with such deep and raw emotion. Yasmen and Josiah are both complex and such fully developed characters. Getting both of their POVs allowed for an in-depth look at how each handled the same event in completely different ways. There is so much power in this aspect of the storytelling, because it showcases how one event can affect people entirely differently based on a number of intrinsic and extrinsic factors.
Their ability to put aside their differences and continue to run a business together and co-parent their children is incredibly beautiful and mature. Not only does Kennedy Ryan focus on the romantic
relationship, she also demonstrates relationships of friendship, parenting, and maybe most importantly, the relationship with self, with such integrity. Don't get me wrong their passion and chemistry lifted right off of the page, but I loved that it was so much more than that.
The secondary characters were also fantastic and it made me really look forward to continuing on with books in this series. Again the bond between Yasmen and her friends felt so organic, supportive and life-giving. I want more of that in my books.
Before I Let You Go was an absolute gem! The characters and the relationships are one I won't forget and it was easy to immediately jump into This Could Be Us as soon as I finished. While I await another installment, I look forward to exploring more of her backlist.
📚 R E A D • I F • Y O U • L I K E
• steamy romance
• the second chance trope
• romance with depth
⚠️ CW: grief, death, child death, miscarriage, pregnancy, infertility, medical trauma, death of parent, mental illness, depression, sexual content, divorce, suicidal thoughts, cursing, panic attacks/disorders, car accident, injury/injury detail, dementia
o
🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S
"You have no idea what it takes to get out of bed most morning, but I do it. Everything hurts, but I keep doing it."
"Grief looks different for everyone. You saw her as falling apart and me as strong, when maybe she was doing something I wasn't able to do."
"'I told her it wasn't that I wanted to take my life,' she says. ' But that I didn't want to live it. I'd wake-up disappointed that I wasn't still asleep and think, Oh, my god, I have to do this again. I have to be here again. The only that got me our of bed was knowing I had to take care of my children, even though I had no desire to even take care of me. All day I had to remind myself of how much they would miss me if I was gone. Of what I would miss if I wasn't here, even though here was the last place I wanted to be for a long time. I ached every moment of every day.'"
Author: Kennedy Ryan
Series: Skyland #1
Genre: Romance
Rating: 4.75
Pub Date: November 15, 2022
T H R E E • W O R D S
Riveting • Raw • Beautiful
📖 S Y N O P S I S
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?
💭 T H O U G H T S
Before I Let Go was my first venture into Kennedy Ryan's repertoire and I picked it up at the beginning of 2024 simply because I desperately wanted to read my ARC of book two in the series, which was releasing in February. What a pleasant surprise this one was!
I absolutely loved this second chance at love story!
It is so much more than a romance and it's filled with such deep and raw emotion. Yasmen and Josiah are both complex and such fully developed characters. Getting both of their POVs allowed for an in-depth look at how each handled the same event in completely different ways. There is so much power in this aspect of the storytelling, because it showcases how one event can affect people entirely differently based on a number of intrinsic and extrinsic factors.
Their ability to put aside their differences and continue to run a business together and co-parent their children is incredibly beautiful and mature. Not only does Kennedy Ryan focus on the romantic
relationship, she also demonstrates relationships of friendship, parenting, and maybe most importantly, the relationship with self, with such integrity. Don't get me wrong their passion and chemistry lifted right off of the page, but I loved that it was so much more than that.
The secondary characters were also fantastic and it made me really look forward to continuing on with books in this series. Again the bond between Yasmen and her friends felt so organic, supportive and life-giving. I want more of that in my books.
Before I Let You Go was an absolute gem! The characters and the relationships are one I won't forget and it was easy to immediately jump into This Could Be Us as soon as I finished. While I await another installment, I look forward to exploring more of her backlist.
📚 R E A D • I F • Y O U • L I K E
• steamy romance
• the second chance trope
• romance with depth
⚠️ CW: grief, death, child death, miscarriage, pregnancy, infertility, medical trauma, death of parent, mental illness, depression, sexual content, divorce, suicidal thoughts, cursing, panic attacks/disorders, car accident, injury/injury detail, dementia
o
🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S
"You have no idea what it takes to get out of bed most morning, but I do it. Everything hurts, but I keep doing it."
"Grief looks different for everyone. You saw her as falling apart and me as strong, when maybe she was doing something I wasn't able to do."
"'I told her it wasn't that I wanted to take my life,' she says. ' But that I didn't want to live it. I'd wake-up disappointed that I wasn't still asleep and think, Oh, my god, I have to do this again. I have to be here again. The only that got me our of bed was knowing I had to take care of my children, even though I had no desire to even take care of me. All day I had to remind myself of how much they would miss me if I was gone. Of what I would miss if I wasn't here, even though here was the last place I wanted to be for a long time. I ached every moment of every day.'"
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infertility, Grief, Child death, Pregnancy, Death, Miscarriage, Medical trauma, Mental illness, and Sexual content
Moderate: Death of parent, Suicidal thoughts, and Panic attacks/disorders
Minor: Cursing, Car accident, Injury/Injury detail, and Dementia
depression, divorcebookishpixie's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
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
Graphic: Miscarriage, Death of parent, Child death, Grief, Pregnancy, Suicidal thoughts, Medical trauma, and Mental illness
allysonw_'s review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
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
I have never cried as much as I have while reading this book. Like I sobbed and that doesn’t happen often when I read despite me being a pretty emotional person As someone who has gone through depression and certain types of ideation I was amazed at how detailed Ryan was in describing what it felt like. For example there’s a certain part in the book where Yasmen describes what her day to day felt like at one point. She says “I’d wake up disappointed that I wasn’t still asleep and think, Oh, my God. I have to do this again. I have to be here again.” This is just one of many parts of the book that really hit the nail on the head of what it’s like to really be in a deep pit and feel like there’s no way out. What I love about this book is how layered it is and how it doesn’t hold back in digging into the ugly parts of life. Yasmen and Josiah are imperfect people who went through unimaginable tragedy, and I think showing the conflict in their relationship early on and leaning into the awkward parts of their life as a divorced couple helped to showcase so well the nuances of being in love and illustrate what they had to go through to come back together. This is a book that I know I’ll be re-reading for years. Ms Kennedy Ryan, you hit this one out the park.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Grief, Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Child death, and Death
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders and Suicidal thoughts
meaghanisreading's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
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
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Miscarriage, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Pregnancy, Medical trauma, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail
clareasday's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
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? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Medical trauma, Child death, and Death
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Death of parent and Car accident
ktdakotareads's review against another edition
emotional
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? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical content, Miscarriage, Medical trauma, Child death, Death, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Blood and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Dementia
gabichatslit's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
- 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
5.0
Where does the love go?? Nowhere. The love stays.
My first Kennedy Ryan read and I am forever changed. This is my favorite read of the year. This book was amazing. It was emotional and sad and funny and loving and real and raw. Yas and Josiah, and all their friends and family felt so real. And I absolutely love them and reading their love story. I have never giggled and blushed and kicked my feet and screamed and cried as much as I did reading this book. I don’t remember the last time I read a 300+ book in one day. Like any free moment I had, I was picking this book up. I’m about to go listen to the audiobook while I cook breakfast rn just because I’m not ready to leave these characters and Skyland. I’m so excited for Sol’s story, March can’t come quick enough lol and I’m glad I preordered my copy the other day (before I had even started the book mind you lol)
Ryan is easily one of my favorite authors. She has this way with words that I can’t even put into words. It’s just beautiful and tender and I’m just so glad I picked this book up. I’ll have more thoughts later. But yeah, my number 1 of 2023 for sure.
My first Kennedy Ryan read and I am forever changed. This is my favorite read of the year. This book was amazing. It was emotional and sad and funny and loving and real and raw. Yas and Josiah, and all their friends and family felt so real. And I absolutely love them and reading their love story. I have never giggled and blushed and kicked my feet and screamed and cried as much as I did reading this book. I don’t remember the last time I read a 300+ book in one day. Like any free moment I had, I was picking this book up. I’m about to go listen to the audiobook while I cook breakfast rn just because I’m not ready to leave these characters and Skyland. I’m so excited for Sol’s story, March can’t come quick enough lol and I’m glad I preordered my copy the other day (before I had even started the book mind you lol)
Ryan is easily one of my favorite authors. She has this way with words that I can’t even put into words. It’s just beautiful and tender and I’m just so glad I picked this book up. I’ll have more thoughts later. But yeah, my number 1 of 2023 for sure.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Sexual content, and Suicidal thoughts
readingismyluvlanguage's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Medical trauma, Death, Mental illness, Miscarriage, and Child death
thewairimu's review against another edition
emotional
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
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
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Child death, Death, and Mental illness
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, and Miscarriage
Minor: Car accident, Death of parent, Infidelity, and Suicidal thoughts