nursestern's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
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
5.0
This is a beautifully written story about forgiveness and finding yourself again. The characters are relatable and deep, the spice level is certainly there. I enjoyed this story from start to finish.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Death, and Miscarriage
Moderate: Mental illness and Suicidal thoughts
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
sleepybunnyreading's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
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
4.25
“Here’s to sex that cracks our backs, adventures that snatch our edges and friends that stick like you glue”
This book had me in all the feels, honestly it was such a pleasant experience. Although daunting because of its size I truly did love the characters and dynamics and troubles within this book. I could truly find myself relating and understanding Yasmins struggles throughout the book as well was gaming a new level of understanding with the dual POV.
This book had me in all the feels, honestly it was such a pleasant experience. Although daunting because of its size I truly did love the characters and dynamics and troubles within this book. I could truly find myself relating and understanding Yasmins struggles throughout the book as well was gaming a new level of understanding with the dual POV.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Death, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, and Death of parent
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Car accident
jankyjax's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
slow-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
I really enjoyed this book.
The story was very genuine and honest while talking about taboo topics like depression, loss and trauma.
I really felt myself imagining the pain Josiah and Yasmen experienced through the author’s descriptions and story telling.
The only reason I’m not giving this boon 5 stars is because there were several points where the author seemed to over explain and over describe things that I just didn’t feel were necessary. This book could have been about 50 pages less and still get all the main key points in.
The story was very genuine and honest while talking about taboo topics like depression, loss and trauma.
I really felt myself imagining the pain Josiah and Yasmen experienced through the author’s descriptions and story telling.
The only reason I’m not giving this boon 5 stars is because there were several points where the author seemed to over explain and over describe things that I just didn’t feel were necessary. This book could have been about 50 pages less and still get all the main key points in.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Miscarriage, Death, and Mental illness
librabby's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Grief, Death, Child death, and Mental illness
ladytipreads's review against another edition
emotional
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? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Grief, and Death
bookishmillennial's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
disclaimer if you’ve read other reviews by me and are noticing a pattern: You’re correct that I don’t really give starred reviews because I don’t like leaving them. Most often, I will only leave them if I vehemently despised a book.
I enjoy most books for what they are, & I extract lessons from them all. Everyone’s reading experiences are subjective, so I hope my reviews provide enough information to let you know if a book is for you or not, regardless if I add stars or not.
Find me on Instagram: @bookish.millennial or tiktok: @bookishmillennial
Premise:
I enjoy most books for what they are, & I extract lessons from them all. Everyone’s reading experiences are subjective, so I hope my reviews provide enough information to let you know if a book is for you or not, regardless if I add stars or not.
Find me on Instagram: @bookish.millennial or tiktok: @bookishmillennial
Premise:
- contemporary romance set in the Skyland neighborhood near Atlanta, Georgia
- dual first-person POV of main characters
- first in a series of standalone romances
- It’s been two years since Yasmen (Yas) and Josiah (Si) got divorced, but they are still co-parents to their two kids (13-year-old Deja and 10-year-old Kassim), and they only live a few streets away from each other
- Si begins to date their head chef, Vashti, prompting surprisingly uncomfortable feelings from Yas, and she investigates this pain
- They reckon with their past losses and traumas, and what led to their divorce, as well as present-day feelings of love and longing that they simply cannot let go of
- The book explores SO much: grief, anxiety, depression, fears of death, therapy, friendship, and rectifying mistakes
- steam: around 3/5 - garage scene was iconic
- cw: a stillbirth, loss of loved one (past/off-page), grief, depression, and passive suicidal ideation (no attempt).
Thoughts:
Every book I’ve read by Kennedy has been an absolute hit. I am not a genre or literary expert by any means, but I would say that this is literary fiction & it should be considered a romance/lit fic classic! Again, not an expert, but in my humble opinion, I think she masterfully weaves in &has characters explore such universal themes of grief, loss, love, parenthood, hope, mental health, &so much more.
Something that truly stood out to me in this book was the discussion of and attitudes towards talk therapy, especially when it came to Si and their 10-year-old son, Kassim. While mental health services may not be accessible to everyone, even in the instances when they are, there is a real stigma —especially for men— around actually engaging in therapy. I thought the way Si felt about therapy was relatable, because I’ve absolutely heard all of those sentiments before!
The fraught mother/daughter relationship between Yas & 13-year-old Deja was rough because I felt sympathy for both of their situations. Yas has to confront her worst fears —the fears her depression tries to manipulate her into believing— and it’s a heart wrenching journey.
I’d be remiss to skip over our fam favorite side characters, Hendrix and Soledad! Their dynamic with Yas was absolute perfection— I am jealous of this group of friends; they are hilarious, caring, &make space for each other to be brave! I have friends like this, but I’ve never had a group of friends like this within close physical proximity of me where we spend a lot of time together like this trio does. Besides that, Kennedy set up their future love stories well because I’m fully invested in being along for the ride of their HEAs!!!!
As far as the romance, I adored Si & Yas’ journeys back to each other. It felt real because they simply didn’t know how they would react to trauma until it happened, & they were the wrong people for each other at that time. I love stories where no one is the villain, & everyone is just human, trying their best, with their current capacity. This was a tender story full of longing & most importantly, a path back to hope.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Grief, and Mental illness
Moderate: Miscarriage 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
greatexpectations77's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
sad
slow-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
3.25
This felt really long to me (It maybe could have even been two books?) - more of telling instead of showing. Like it takes me out of the character's head when the author is telling me every bit of what they're thinking and doesn't let me think for myself "wow, this must be really rewarding/tough/interesting/jarring for them." Some solid sexy scenes though, if you're in the mood.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Grief, Infertility, Miscarriage, Mental illness, and Sexual content
Moderate: Death, Death of parent, Suicidal thoughts, and Pregnancy
Minor: Abandonment, Abortion, Alcohol, Blood, and Medical content
bookwxrmvictoria's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
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
4.75
This is such a touching, emotional, beautiful, raw and real romance that draws you in. However, please, CHECK TRIGGER WARNINGS BEFORE READING. I put the authors note below.
Spoiler
Before I Let Go is a story of joy, healing, and recovery. Consequently it is also a story, at least in part, about loss. When we meet Yasmen and Josiah, they are emerging from the most difficult season of their lives and embarking on a time of joy. With that said, there is some reflection on past difficulties, including: a stillbirth, loss of loved one(past/off page), discussion of complicated grief, depression, and passive suicide ideation (no attempt). Please know these topics were approached with the utmost care and in consultation with those for whom this was a lived up experience and with several counselors/therapists. They were kind enough to beta read for me; so I hope I achieved my goal when writing, which is to edify and do no harm.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief and Sexual content
Moderate: Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Death, and Pregnancy
Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Death of parent