Before I Let Go by Kennedy Ryan

Their love was supposed to last forever. But when life delivered blow after devastating blow, Yasmen and Josiah Wade found that love alone couldn’t solve or save everything.

It couldn’t save their marriage.

Yasmen wasn’t prepared for how her life fell apart, but she is 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.

Soon, one stolen kiss leads to another…and then more. It's hot. It's illicit. It's all good—until old wounds reopen. Is it too late for them to find forever? Or could they even be better, the second time around?

TW: trauma, loss of a child/still birth, divorce, depression, grief, mental health, therapy, and suicidal ideation are all discussed.

My Verdict

Before I Let Go features Yasmine and Josiah This contemporary romance novel explores divorce, co-parenting, small business life, mental health representation, struggle, and hope. The author addresses some heavy subjects in here: grief, death of a loved one, child death, mental illness to name a few. Overall, I liked this one. This one falls firmly in the second chance romance trope. For me, that means that the main characters were a little bit older than 20-somethings. This was refreshing, for a change. I liked both characters, felt empathy for them, and I was truly pulling for them to get back together. One of the other aspects I liked about the novel was Yasmine and her best friends. It was refreshing for the main character to have best friends that she met in the last couple of years after her divorce.

The book was okay for me, but nothing exceptional. I know romance novels are supposed to be predictable, but I guess I was just missing depth in this one. Like I said, I didn't not like it; I just didn't love it either. I give this one 3 stars.