A review by fatime
This Could Be Us by Kennedy Ryan

emotional informative slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.75

I didn’t like this as much as I liked ‘before I let go’. That’s probably one of my favourite contemporary romances. This could be us, however, dragged on for too long. I wasn’t particularly fond of the theme of ‘self-love’. Yes it’s essential you love yourself but not at the expense of another person who is in love with you. (Yes we had our happy-ending but still..) To me that’s selfish. One should always think about the impact on the other people. From a teen or a person in their early twenties, it’s somewhat understandable but not from a woman in her 40s. Although she’s lived in a fairly sheltered life.. 

I think Kennedy tried to tackle many different things but because of it the romance has suffered. Yes, it’s expected from her to explore different themes but I think this time the balance wasn’t right. I wanted more Sol and Judah. 

I appreciated that the protagonists were older though. As ever, she’s very good at writing supportive female characters and the friendships were strong in this one, too. The romance scenes were emotional and the built up was there. Still this novel didn’t work for me that much.. I’ll still continue with the series as, in general, I really enjoy the author’s writing.