roschelle's review against another edition
emotional
sad
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? Yes
4.0
I tore through this book in less than a day after staying up until 3am to read it. It’s a slow burn and it’s juicy, but it has real character growth in it too. Love the recipes in the back of the book!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Sexual content, Miscarriage, Death of parent, and Death
mimie_dk's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
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? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical trauma, Sexual content, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, and Death
maggieparedesauthor's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
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? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Miscarriage, Grief, Infidelity, Sexual content, Cursing, Child death, and Mental illness
emmreadsbooks's review against another edition
emotional
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? No
5.0
Sheer and utter devastation. That's how I feel right now after finishing this book, and somehow I'm wishing that I'd read it sooner? This story heavily features death, divorce, and depression yet is able to also focus on hope and honesty. Yasmen and Josiah's love story is hard to read at times, but they show such growth as characters throughout. Kennedy Ryan focuses on the stigma around therapy for Black men, the tragic grief that comes with losing a child, and the feeling of fighting for yourself against waves of depression. It's painful and tender, and I need the next story in the Skyland Series 10 minutes ago, thank you.
*Thank you to Forever and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest review*
*Thank you to Forever and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest review*
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Child death, Medical content, Grief, Injury/injury detail, and Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Death and Death of parent
Minor: Car accident
tdae35's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Death
d0505's review
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
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? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Grief, and Child death
cassiealexandra's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
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
3.75
After enduring some tragic losses a few years ago, Yasmen and Josiah have now been divorced for two years, are co-parenting their two children, and have somehow remained business partners with a thriving restaurant. They're making life work and moving on, or are they? Yasmen is finally feeling like herself again and begins to wonder if she's really ready to let Josiah go. Can they find their way back to each other?
This was a tough one for me. I don't think I'm giving much away when I tell you this couple experienced a 36-week stillbirth shortly after the loss of Josiah's mother figure, his aunt Byrd. I had a 21-week stillbirth 4 months before losing my mother-in-law, so this book hit a little close to home for me.
I loved the description of the characters’ emotions and grief, while simultaneously hating how nail on the head these were for me. I wept several times while reading. The emphasis on mental health for the main characters and their kids is something I don't see nearly enough, so I appreciated that. I loved the support Yasmen got from her friends, Hendrix and Soledad (I'm thinking more books are to come with these ladies). I admit it's my own personal hangup, but I had trouble with Yasmen and Josiah dating other people at the beginning of this title even though they were divorced and had every reason to move on. Overall, this was a great read, but very triggering for me. Even after 5 years, I'm not sure I was quite ready for this. Would recommend though! Oh and there's recipes at the end! I'm going to try baking that limoncello cake; it sounds delicious.
This was a tough one for me. I don't think I'm giving much away when I tell you this couple experienced a 36-week stillbirth shortly after the loss of Josiah's mother figure, his aunt Byrd. I had a 21-week stillbirth 4 months before losing my mother-in-law, so this book hit a little close to home for me.
I loved the description of the characters’ emotions and grief, while simultaneously hating how nail on the head these were for me. I wept several times while reading. The emphasis on mental health for the main characters and their kids is something I don't see nearly enough, so I appreciated that. I loved the support Yasmen got from her friends, Hendrix and Soledad (I'm thinking more books are to come with these ladies). I admit it's my own personal hangup, but I had trouble with Yasmen and Josiah dating other people at the beginning of this title even though they were divorced and had every reason to move on. Overall, this was a great read, but very triggering for me. Even after 5 years, I'm not sure I was quite ready for this. Would recommend though! Oh and there's recipes at the end! I'm going to try baking that limoncello cake; it sounds delicious.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death of parent, and Sexual content
churrosmom's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
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
4.5
This is a heavy, heavy romance novel, bordering fiction rather than romance. Trigger warnings listed below. Yasmen and Josiah are divorced, coparenting, and running a business together. Their marriage fell apart after they lost Josiah's aunt and son (stillbirth after an accident) in short succession. Yasmen fell into a deep depression and Josiah wasn't supportive of her. The story takes place two years later, after Yasmen has healed and they keep being drawn towards each other.
The star of this book is the depth of its portrayal of the main character, Yasmen's depression and grief. This is probably the most realistic depiction of therapy that I have ever read in a novel. As someone who has been in therapy for almost 7 years and has had a number of therapists, I think that the main character's struggles with depression are so accurate in that it is hard for her to find a therapist who is a good fit, and it takes a combination of medication and long-term therapy with the right therapist to heal. So many books I've read have a magical therapist where the character goes to therapy twice and everything is resolved, and that is not the case here. It's also so realistic that unfortunately her family (husband and daughter) do not understand her depression and blame her for their family falling apart, and it takes themselves going to therapy to understand. I also like that we see the husband, Josiah, perspective on therapy and depression evolve (shoutout to the feelings wheel!!).
I do feel like the romance takes a back seat in this story, for better or for worse. After reading other reviews it does make me realize that we don't actually see much of the couple's love and growth together besides their sexual attraction. There is some minor drama with other characters Yasmen and Josiah date but they were set aside really easily.
Trigger warnings: Depression/mental health, suicidal ideation, death (of parents, parental figures), stillbirth, explicit sexual content.
**Disclaimer: Received an eARC from the publisher on Netgalley.
The star of this book is the depth of its portrayal of the main character, Yasmen's depression and grief. This is probably the most realistic depiction of therapy that I have ever read in a novel. As someone who has been in therapy for almost 7 years and has had a number of therapists, I think that the main character's struggles with depression are so accurate in that it is hard for her to find a therapist who is a good fit, and it takes a combination of medication and long-term therapy with the right therapist to heal. So many books I've read have a magical therapist where the character goes to therapy twice and everything is resolved, and that is not the case here. It's also so realistic that unfortunately her family (husband and daughter) do not understand her depression and blame her for their family falling apart, and it takes themselves going to therapy to understand. I also like that we see the husband, Josiah, perspective on therapy and depression evolve (shoutout to the feelings wheel!!).
I do feel like the romance takes a back seat in this story, for better or for worse. After reading other reviews it does make me realize that we don't actually see much of the couple's love and growth together besides their sexual attraction. There is some minor drama with other characters Yasmen and Josiah date but they were set aside really easily.
Trigger warnings: Depression/mental health, suicidal ideation, death (of parents, parental figures), stillbirth, explicit sexual content.
**Disclaimer: Received an eARC from the publisher on Netgalley.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, Ableism, Child death, Miscarriage, Grief, and Death
Moderate: Injury/injury detail and Medical trauma
Minor: Car accident, Alcohol, and Cursing
amandalorianxo's review against another edition
emotional
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
3.5
I enjoyed this book and I can definitely see the vast improvement in Kennedy Ryan’s writing from her earlier days as well as the inclusion of a trigger / content warning. I liked Josiah and Yas separately as characters but I didn’t fully understand what made them worth being together. It seemed every other time they were around each other, neither of them could stop feeling aroused. I get it, it’s a romance novel but ….? Is that why they were together for so long because the sex was good? What about their personalities, what specifically did they do to connect & continue their connection ? I loved the therapy inclusion and it was nice seeing characters acknowledge mental health and talking to a therapist. Deja needed to fix her attitude but Kasim has my heart.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Grief
Minor: Child death and Death
triple_m's review against another edition
emotional
inspiring
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? It's complicated
5.0
It’s hard to put into words how beautiful this book is. Yasmin and Josiah are both such likable, mature, and real characters. They both make their fair share of mistakes and hurt one another but I understand why they acted the way they did.
Kennedy Ryan took such great care into this writing this story and wrote of the traumatic events with such grace.
This book is an absolute must read.
Kennedy Ryan took such great care into this writing this story and wrote of the traumatic events with such grace.
This book is an absolute must read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Sexual content, Child death, Death of parent, and Grief