Their love was supposed to last forever. But when life delivered blow after devastating blow, Yasmen and Josiah Wade found that love had its limits . . it couldn’t save their marriage.
Yasmen wasn’t prepared for how her life fell apart, but she’s finally starting to find joy again. She and Josiah have found a new rhythm: co-parenting their two kids and running a thriving business together. Yet, like magnets, they’re always drawn back to each other, and now they’re beginning to wonder if they’re truly ready to let go of everything they once had.
One stolen kiss leads to another . . . and then more. It’s hot. It’s illicit. It’s good – until it starts to hurt again. As old wounds reopen, Yasmen and Josiah wonder if it is too late for them to find forever.
Or could they be even better, the second time around?
Title : Before I Let Go
Author : Kennedy Ryan
Format : eARC / eBook (overdrive)
Page Count : 401
Genre : Contemporary Romance
Publisher : Piatkus / Forever
Release Date : November 15, 2022
Reviewer : Micky / Hollis
Rating : ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ / ★ ★ .5
Micky’s 5 star review
Headlines:
Crazy investment
Feelings on overdrive
Married couple, second chances
First I just need to start off with the how stunning this cover is. This is hands down my favourite romance cover of the year. Now to the delectable inside…
Before I Let Go gave me the kind of heart on the page feelings I got from Ryan’s Grip series. In fact there was a slight similarity in one of the themes but it felt completely fresh in this story. This author has the unusual talent of being able to write romance amongst the worst kind hurt and still bring such palpable chemistry that you’re getting all warm under the collar.
Grief is a grind. It is the work of breathing and waking and rising and moving through a world that feels emptier.
I adore second chances done well and this second chance for Yasmen and Josiah was all consuming. The place these two started in and the journey they took was utterly mesmerising with angst and frustration, then possibility. I have to mention how I adored how Kennedy Ryan wrote Yasmen’s body, a normal woman’s body, appreciatively, sexily and that confidence oozed down the page to me the reader. Pretty powerful stuff! I also found Josiah to be such a man surpassing the average contemporary romance lead that he’s unforgettable.
I lived for this book over the couple of days I read it, it dominated my thoughts and had I not been distracted by family, I could have happily read from front to back. This book is one I’ll re-read, enjoy living the hurt and the triumphs. I remain a huge fan of this author’s talent.
There is only one letter of difference between love and lose, and somewhere along the way, for me they became synonymous.
There are content warnings and these are rightly in the opening pages, as they be raw issues for some.
Thank you to Piatkus books for the eARC.
Hollis’ 2.5 stars review
Ahem, sorry, just slipping this in under the radar for another #ChalkAndCheese moment because sadly I do not share my buddy’s effusive feelings. Though I can totally see why she had them.
I’m glad I finally read this one (though it took me ages to get through) but I’m bummed to be a bit of an outlier over it. I just didn’t love this the way I expected to — and certainly not the way everyone else did.
The dialogue around grief was well done, and this is also very therapy-positive, but honestly that’s as invested as I ever got. I didn’t fall for these characters, I only felt for their circumstances and their losses, and in that respect only really for Yasmen’s. Josiah was a character I struggled with from the outset and even as he came to terms with things, opened up, it never changed my feelings for him. In some respect, I think having his own POV actually made things worse as opposed to better for the telling of this story.
I am happy for their HEA but this one isn’t going to stick with me.
A Take from Two Cities 