Book review of Before I Let Go by Kennedy Ryan

Love is difficult. And when trauma is added to the combination, the accomplice you love can wrestle to be the accomplice you want.

Kennedy Ryan’s newest modern romance, Before I Let Go, is devoted to the “strong girls . . . hustlers . . . [and] superwomen,” all of which could possibly be used to explain heroine Yasmen Wade. Yasmen constructed a charmed and idyllic life with Josiah, her faculty sweetheart-turned-husband. Partners in life and in enterprise, the 2 ran a profitable restaurant collectively. But their happiness got here to a screeching halt when their third baby was stillborn, which was solely the beginning of a sequence of heartbreaks. In the emotional aftermath, Yasmen’s grief turned paralyzing. She sought psychological well being counseling, however Josiah was unwilling to hunt remedy along with her. Yasmen needed to battle the darkness alone, which created a rift between her and her husband. Rather than taking refuge in one another, as “Team Wade” had completed for practically 20 years, they divorced. However, their hearts by no means really let go.

This is a narrative of resilience, redemption and second possibilities; it’s heavy however hopeful. With meticulously detailed prose, Ryan creates characters who’re deeply relatable, so compelling and lushly drawn that they really feel like previous mates. Yasmen and Josiah’s story serves as a reminder that the most effective issues in life are value combating for, and {that a} profitable relationship requires greater than merely loving one another. Before I Let Go is an ode to supporting the emotional wants of your accomplice and studying to be mild with your self.