A review by justprerna
Still by Kennedy Ryan

5.0

I loved this even more than the first one. Kennedy Ryan loves to write stories which prove that it’s a constant work in progress to maintain relationships. Grip and Bristol’s requires consistent work.

They have so much to work through:
their own personal issues
the jealousy, distance and insecurity that comes with pursuing a relationship in the public spotlight
how society sees race and class - which disallows a black rapper on the rise from a poor neighbourhood interested in Pablo Neruda and racial activism and a career focused white woman from old money and as much family prestige as family dysfunction to be together
tragedy and pain that most couples would buckle under

Some of my lasting impressions:
- I live for the chemistry between Grip and Bristol.
- even more than their physical relationship, I was sold on how they make sure to feed their relationship with nurturing care, honesty, support for each other’s careers and dreams. They’ve grown so much as people individually, and a couple. All the relationship sabotaging that they did in the previous book is rectified by both of them trying so diligently to do what’s necessary to maintain their relationship. They aren’t kids playing at love anymore. So much time as passed, they’re finally acting like the adults they are.
- I loved the interactions Bristol has with Grip’s family and his community. I appreciated the closeness she’s has now achieved with his mother after they both endured Grip’s arrest and Bristol’s self-destroying attempt to debase herself to free him. Even though she didn’t have to go through with it because these women figured out how to leverage power to free Grip by blackmailing Parker, the respect Grip’s mom had for Bristol has now turned into love, and it is so heartwarming to see. The evolution of Grip’s mom hating Bristol because she’s not black to loving her because she loves her son, does not feel forced on by cliche, and does not detract from the larger theme that black men betray black women by falling for white women.
- Despite Grip’s mom overcoming her racial bias, Grip’s cousin Jade provides the other perspective. Grip wants to bridge the gap between the police and the black community. Jade’s importance in this story cannot be overlooked. She was molested by a policeman exerting power over a young black girl who had none, and in front of Grip, who also had no power. She is queer and loud about it. She doesn’t sell out and hates cheap trope rap. She wants change as bad as Grip, but is jaded by her experiences and begrudges him his methods. She believes he is betraying black women by being with a white woman and sticks to her guns throughout. The respect and empathy that she feels for Bristol in the end feels earned, even as she still feels like black women deserve more.
- I loved everything in New York. Grip going to NYU to study under his racial activism Sherpa was predestined. The introduction of Dr. Israel Hammond was so necessary. Grip wants to make actual change in his community. He wants to address the pains black people endure and wants to make it better. Some people may think his views on bringing more black people into the police and allowing the police grace within the black community is not enough, and gives the police grace while black people suffer still. We needed a voice like Iz’s. He is incisive in his commentary on race in America and is staid in his perspective. He fills in the gaps in the dialogue that would have definitely been there if this was just a romance novel between a black man and white woman and nothing else. The fact that we suddenly see that Iz himself is a victim of the virus he writes about is a perfect touch. Grip has to keep defending his relationship with a white woman, even as he goes about his activist work, and to see that his mentor himself believes that Grip has internalized racism and is only with Bristol because he believes that is the ultimate fuck you to the white man and the pinnacle of ‘making it’ as a black man, is a betrayal he couldn’t see coming, but what I love is that they explore that perspective too.
- Esther. I love Esther. I love esther’s house. I love that Grip and Bristol love esther’s house. I love that they lived some of their best moments there. I cried when Esther called Grip and told him her husband had finally died. “Eat. Drink. Dance. Love. It’s all better under the stars! Welcome! Take care of our home and don’t waste one moment. – Esther”
- Grip and Bristol’s pregnancy and loss. I can’t even articulate the pain these chapters brought me. Their happiness first when they find out, their anguish when they realize she won’t live for more than a few hours if she were to be delivered, their decision to deliver anyway, the whole 9 months - the baby shower - knowing they were going to have to say goodbye, the delivery itself, holding her, seeing her, naming her, caressing her open skull, losing her, the depression and recovery after, Grip saving Bristol. All of it.
- Iz coming to Grip and Bristol’s wedding and while not denouncing his belief that black men see white women as a symbol of making it in a white man’s world, pronouncing his belief that Grip and Bristol are different. So necessary for Grip.