This book played with my emotions and I am here for it!
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There is so much to love about this book. The own voices representation. A second chance romance with a mature couple. A look at how relationships can break down over time even if the love doesn’t diminish completely. The challenges of raising kids as a divorced couple, and trying to keep it friendly. Then the challenges of trying to figure out what to do when a spark reignites. And bravery to start again….with all your imperfections.
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I’ve never read Kennedy Ryan before and their writing blew me away. It is full of angst with pockets of utter Black joy and I loved those moments.
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As someone who has been married for almost 25 years, many aspects felt real, relatable, and written for me.
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Out Tuesday, and I highly recommend but know there are some triggers - divorce, stillbirth, depression, and suicide is mentioned. I want to thank @readforeverpub for the e-ARC, I can’t stop thinking about this story.

If I could only use one word to describe this book it would be...life-changing. Truly, I don't see how a person could read this incredible book that Kennedy has blessed us with and not feel changed by it. This is a love story between two successful Black business owners, Yasmen and Josiah, and while I loved their love and felt that they were soulmates, the real love story was between Yasmen and herself.

She and Josiah suffered so much loss and Yasmen lost herself along the way. She fell into a depression so consuming that she couldn't find her way out and the only way she had a fighting chance in doing so was to let go of the man she loved most.
"Losing our marriage hurt in a way I can't even describe to you, but losing the other battle? For myself? That would have been fatal."

I was in awe of Yasmen's journey. To have the frame of mind to know you need to give up on something/someone you love in order to save yourself while still pushing forward and being the best mom you can be is a battle that not every woman wins.

This story is real and raw and it hurts but it also heals. It's not all darkness, there are definitely stars in the sky. Hendrix and Soledad are amazing characters and genuine friends who stand by Yasmen's side. I felt like I was in my own therapy sessions when Dr. Abrams and Dr. Musa would pop up and it was soothing.

This story is nothing short of magical.

Perfection. Utter perfection. Kennedy Ryan can take two broken people and make them whole again in a beautiful character redemption arc. I laughed, I cried, and I believed so hard in Josiah and Yasmen. This book has everything: a divorced couple trying to navigate through coparenting and also being coworkers, dating after divorce, the teenage years, depression, death of family members, loss of a child, an amazing friend group, having feelings for your ex, and jealousy post divorce. From the very beginning I knew this book was going to break me, but in the best of ways. It is impossible not to feel for the loss Josiah and Yasmen have been through. Both MCs are likable and I just found myself rooting for them, even when it seemed to be impossible. A true second chance romance, you can’t help but know this pair is meant to be together and are true soulmates in every sense of the word. Yet even soulmates have struggles and I appreciated the large role that therapy played for many of the characters. Therapy is normalized (especially for Josiah) and helps each person it touches work through their struggles, feelings, and frustrations with the divorce that has broken the family apart. Sometimes a romance can get carried away in the fantasy aspect, but the conversations and moments between Yasmen and Josiah felt so real and so authentic to the story that I never doubted I would still arrive at a “Happy Ever After”, even through some of the dark places. The “one bed” trope ise a nice nod to traditional romance, and the bedroom scenes are top notch. The past experiences and memories between Si and Yasmen make the spice top notch. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who believes that self reflection and hard work can mend a broken heart, and that love can be a powerful thing when two people are working towards it. This was possibly the best book I have read all year and am thankful to Forever and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

5⭐
R because Kennedy knows how to bring the heat!

Was there a perfect 100 read of 2022 than this? No, I think not. This book was absolute perfection. Kennedy Ryan is a national treasure and must be protected at all costs.

This book just had everything. Yasmen and Josiah felt so real and their emotions were so raw throughout this book as they explored what it meant to raise kids and run a business together after a divorce when they're still attracted to each other. And what was so beautiful was to see how these two worked on themselves and owned their issues in therapy, with their kids and to each other rather than just assuming they could fix each other.

Every word of this book felt so true and heartfelt. It was a reflection on life, love, loss in this way that was beautiful but also messy and just felt so true to life. I love these characters. I am obsessed with them. I want them to be happy and THANK GOODNESS this is series so we have hope to see more of their happiness in the future. Absolutely one of the best romances of the year and it is just as good as everyone has been saying. Every romance reader needs to read it!!!

What happens when a divorced couple have an unexpected second-chance romance? When life dealt so many blows to a couple's life, their marriage may not be strong enough to survive them. This is what happened to this book's couple. The couple are amicably co-parenting their two kids and spending lots of time together due to their thriving business. Yet their attraction to each other remains strong and as they renew their romance, all the troubles that had led to their divorce appears again. Will their romance survive, or will it perish in this second chance of love?

This is the first book in the Skyland series by Kennedy Ryan. It features a mature couple who got a second chance at love. This book dealt a lot with mental health and how seeking help is so important for one's wellness. I enjoyed how open the story is about mental health, and how the road to being better requires time, effort, and support. I enjoyed the heroine's growth, but it would have been better if the hero's growth has more details added to it for me to feel like his change is as exemplary as the heroine's own. There were also a few secondary characters that needed some more growth in my eyes, but I hope that future books in the series would show those changes. Overall, it's an interesting read and I look forward to reading more of the Skyland series in the future.

**Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the review copy. All opinions and thoughts in the review are my own.**

OMG I loved this book so much. The characters and the plot was so realistic and relatable I was hooked and couldn't put this book down. Josiah and Yasmen were such an amazing couple both with their own layers and depth and I loved that the author gave us such a poignant story about marriage, love and second chances. The story was raw, angsty, emotional, and heart breaking and will give you all the feels while taking you on an intense rollercoaster ride. Kennedy Ryan has never written a book I did love and this was no exception. As with all her books, I keep saying it was my favorite and then she gives us another masterpiece to surpass her previous one and that is was this was....a masterpiece.
This phenomenal page turner was an engrossing, gripping tale and a definite must read. I would highly recommend it to lovers of second chance romance.

Thank you NetGalley and Forever for the ARC

Kennedy Ryan knows how to write raw, real, aching romance. This is a second chance romance featuring a divorced couple that have been through devastating losses (CW includes stillbirth at 36 weeks). It’s not an easy read, but the deep love and attraction between Yasmen and Josiah made the pain worth it.

My heart broke for them and what they went through, and it was satisfying to read the story of them coming together again. They each come to some significant realizations during the book, and their individual growth was really well done. I also really loved their two kids, and how the parent-child relationships were written.

This is a book that reinforces the truth that people grieve in different ways, and that underscores the importance and major impact that therapy can have in a person’s life.

All the stars in the sky couldn’t compare to the remarkable beauty of this story. From the flashbacks to the "Grief is a grind. It is the work of breathing and waking and rising and moving through a world that feels emptier."

All the stars in the sky couldn’t compare to the remarkable beauty of this story. From the flashbacks to the present, I was deeply entranced by Josiah and Yasmen. They worked hard and loved hard until it became earth shatteringly impossible. Kennedy Ryan’s portrayal of depression and the trenches in which one can get stuck in was raw and real. The losses coupled with their heartbreaking divorce affected all of them in different ways. Not only does this story show the emotions of Josiah and Yasmen, but also their children Deja and Kassim and how everything affected all four of them. I felt the devastation, but I also felt the love.

My favorite quotes:

"But I want to stand with you when it rains, when the wind comes. When it’s hard and the odds are stacked against us."

"I’ve learned that life isn’t about taking what you deserve, it’s about getting all you can while you can because it’s short."

I received an advance copy of this book at my request and voluntarily left this review.

“After how we’d loved each other, the way we hurt each other was destroying us.”

In true Kennedy Ryan fashion, Before I Let Go is an immersive, beautifully crafted story about characters written so well—so real—that they leap off of the page and settle into your soul.

Yasmen and Josiah Wade thought that their love was the kind that would last forever, but extreme loss and trauma caused a rift too wide to bridge. Two years after their divorce, they’ve found a new normal, co-parenting and running a business together. But, despite the separation, they always seem to pull each other back in. Is there enough of a connection to give their love a second chance, or is it time for them both to finally let go?

Firstly, I will say that this book grabbed me by the throat and did not ease the pressure until I read the epilogue. Yasmen and Josiah go through the ringer, and you’re there every step of the way. There were moments when my heart felt like it was breaking, and moments where I laughed out loud. Ryan builds a community of characters that all add depth and breadth to the story, and oft times, some much-needed levity.

Ryan is masterful at her craft; her prose has a unique lyrical quality to it that will have you constantly highlighting passages as you read. I’m typically not this effusive in my reviews, but this book was EVERYTHING. Probably my top read of the year, by a long shot. Add in that gorgeous cover, and I am all the way sold.

Fans of well-crafted angst, fantastic writing, and a unique spin second-chance romance will absolutely devour this book. I cannot wait to see if Ryan expands this universe even more.

Thank you to Forever and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This author had me anxiously anticipating this story with the title alone. It hinted of a story I knew would take me on an emotional ride I wouldn’t forget.
In general, this read surpassed all my expectations!
Yasmen and Josiah is an emotional story that elegantly portrays the complicated dynamics couples face when they realize that love is not enough.
Flawlessly written, it was well paced and the characters were so well developed it added to the emotional component of the story.
Smart, insightful and thought provoking, this author dared to create a story where the couple is faced with serious and delicate issues forcing them to make some tough decisions. Brutally raw and realistic, Jasmen and Josiah struggle with the push and pull of what they thought they could have to what they do have.
Are second chances always possible?
Read this story and decide for yourself!

Wow - this book tore my heart apart and put it back together no less than 10 times. I cried, I laughed, I hoped and ached with this family. Kennedy Ryan is a master writer and this story was devastatingly beautiful.
Thank you to Forever-Grand Central Published for the advanced copy of this via netgalley.

This is a beautifully written novel about loss, healing, grief, and second-chances. Anyone who’s been knocked down by hard times and had to fight their way back up again will feel a connection to these characters.

Yasmen and Josiah broke up after many years of marriage following an an incredible tragedy that struck their family. They each have their own journeys through therapy and healing in order to find their way back together again. I am amazed by Kennedy Ryan’s ability to write depression and grief in such a powerful way, and there were scenes in this book that were so heartbreaking, raw, and real that I found myself tearing up as I read them. This is an emotionally gripping novel full of hope, resiliency, love, and family. It is an easy 5-stars, and an auto-recommend, and one of the best books I read this year.

Thank you Netgalley and Forever for an arc of the newest gem from Kennedy Ryan.

Before I Let Got is an amazing second chance romance between now divorce couple Yasmen and Josiah. They divorced two years ago after some big loses, but share not only two children but a restaurant that they had dreams of expanding once upon a time. This book had some fabulous reputation of mental health especially desperation and therapy. It differently has some triggers that I will at the end of this review that people need to keep in mind, Kennedy Ryan delivered anther amazing, emotional, heart wrenching, entertaining, sizzling, romantic hopeful book that I could go on and on about how it made me feel. She also keeps giving us stories that are hard to talk about but need to be talked and written about.

Yasmen and Josiah romance you knew was going to be emotional journey from the start. I loved the realistic journey they took and worked thru. Even the journeys their children had to go thru felt realistic. Yasmen and Josiah sizzled together and you could fell even though both are trying to move on the love was still present but the hurt was also something that needed to be worked thru, The Wade family to me was half of heart of this book, The friendship between Yasmen, Soledad and Hendrix was the other half of the heart of this book. I read some great friendships in books but for me these three took the cake l they where entertaining, funny, emotional and I just wish we could have the other two women books already. I can’t say enough about the great job Kennedy Ryan did with the issues of depression, mental health, and how she tackled therapy in this book. She hit so many points when it comes to these issues. The topic of grief as well had something tackled very well in this.

Some other high points in this book for me was the character writing. I don’t think I ever appreciated Kennedy Ryan’s character writing until I read this book. Minus a couple of exceptions I wanted to hear almost ever characters story, I wanted to know more about Soledad, Hendrix, Mark, Vashti, etc stories. I even could read the children stories. I just loved the character writing in this. Loved the communication in this between characters. Yes Josiah and Yasmen do have some miscommunication but some of that is because issues they had to work thru, But other than that I felt communication was a high point in this. I loved the relationship parents had with children in this. It felt realistic. I could go on and on about this book and Kennedy Ryan as an author.

Giving Before I Let Go five big stars. Amazing book that all should pick up.

Content warning depression, grief, mental health, loss of parents/care givers/loved ones, loss of child/stillbirth, divorce, divorce from child perceived, parent dealing with Alzheimers (side characters), thoughts of suicide..

Every time I pick up a Kennedy Ryan book I always have this "oooh this will be fun" kind of feeling and then she snatches my soul from my body. This was amazing and honestly it's fulfilling a need of a second change already married that I haven't really read before. I support Yas wholeheartedly and although I'm usually really big fans of Kennedy's heros, Josiah was harder for me. I'm glad he got there though, and I really appreciated that he was down bad for Yas throughout.

I am also really happy that Kennedy is getting the mainstream recognition that she truly deserves. We love to see it and I hope that the world takes this book and runs with it,

I cannot tell you how much I love this book! It is BEYOND my brain to share how much I want Yasmen as a friend in real life. How much I identify with her parenting struggles of a tween. Her losing the baby. This will absolutely be in my top 5 books of the year, if not the #1!

My most anticipated book of the year is releasing tomorrow and I am here to tell you it is AMAZING 👏🏾 🙌🏿 💙🧡💙🧡

All the stars for this beautiful, emotional, gut-wrenching, poignant, sexy, heartfelt book Before I Let Go. ⭐⭐ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Kennedy Ryan is one of my favorite romance authors. I always know that reading one of her books will take me on an emotional journey but also a feeling of connection. She writes the love stories of people with real life issues such as depression, grief and loss. Before I Let Go is no exception.

The protagonists Yasmen and Josiah are navigating there lives post divorce with two children. They own a successful restaurant together and share custody of their children. There is a lot of hurt, grief and anger between them but there is also still lots of love, sexual chemistry and tension that is palatable.

I was so in awe of the growth of Yasmen and Josiah in their personal journeys to find healing from grief and unimaginable loss. I was also flustered with the heat of a "hotlanta" sun with their smexy scenes together 🥵

Before I Let Go has everything you want in a romance novel and more. You may cry reading it but you will also rejoice in the power of love to heal and reconnect two people who are destined to never let go of each other.

Thank you @readforeverpub for both my ARC and finished copies. Before I Let Go releases November 15, 2022.

I loved everything about this book. I had to take my time with it because this author did an amazing job of making you feel every emotion possible in this story. These characters are so well fleshed out and the story captures you from the first few pages. The tension between these characters is unmatched and their story is raw, honest and makes you want to take your time and just enjoy every second of this book. I would recommend this story in a heartbeat to anyone. Amazing story telling.

OOOOF. This one hurt. A lot. Kennedy is an author I know and love and I knew she would not let me down, but she would take me on an amazingly emotional journey to get to where we had to go.
Yasmen and Josiah were broken. After devastating losses too close together, they just couldn't come back from the overwhelming grief and stay strong for each other, for thier kids. Now, two years later, here they are, running their restaurant, co-parenting, trying to make the best out of their situation. Yasmen has been to therapy, she has gotten her life back on track, and even though she is the one who initiated the divorce, she still can't help but hold out hope for everything working out in the end.
Josiah wants to move on, he knew that Yasmen was it for him, but if she doesn't want him, then he has to find happiness for himself, possibly with someone else. While I didn't love this aspect of the book, I do understand it and why it was put in, because it is real life. Yasmen wants to be cool with this, she knows she can't go back, she hurt Josiah so badly that even her daughter blames her for not being strong enough.
I couldn't help but feel for her, for all of her work to be better to be overlooked by the ones closest to her. Her strength was the bravest thing about her. The therapy aspect that was brought into this story was so real and it was so relatable. We hear about therapy and yet there is still a stigma about it for so many people. The strongest of us seek help from others, not the weakest.
The love and longing that jumped off the page, both ways between these two was enough to start a fire. I am tearing up just thinking about it. I love this trope because of the hope it brings. The hope that not just one person fights for the marriage, but they both do, they both fight to get back to each other because they know that person is their end, and their beginning and everything in between. Such a beautiful story about family and fighting your way back.
Thank you to Kennedy Ryan, Netgalley and Forever for an early copy.

This is a beautifully written book that is heartbreaking and yet gives you hope at the same time. Yasmin and Josiah have created a thriving business and a family together. Unfortunately love was not enough and they broke up. We find them at the stage where they are coparenting their children and running the business together in a constructive way.

It seems as if they are going to get a second chance together but it’s not an easy road. Kennedy Ryan manages to write a second chance romance that both breaks your heart and puts it together at the same time. Both characters are written with such nuance and as you go through the different stages of their relationship, you see all of the feelings and emotions that are coursing through the characters.

This is such a must read book. It shows you romance but with feelings throughout the book. I cannot recommend this book enough for everyone to read.

WE LOVE A BOOK WITH MENTAL HEALTH REP!! Kennedy Ryan does it again!! The pining in this second chance romance was off the charts!! I wasn’t prepared for how emotional this book was!! The grief depicted in this book was handled in with so much care, which i appreciated so much. It was heartfelt!! I felt their love in my bones!! 10/10!! A+!!