Yasmen lost her baby and Josiah’s aunt who was like a second mother to her. She got depressed. She failed herself and marriage. After lots of therapy and learning coping mechanisms, she’s stronger but when she realizes her ex husband Josiah starts dating with their restaurant chief, she feels the deep pain, starting to question herself and the reasons behind why she cannot move on with her life just like he did. You were so strong when they died. You held everything together,” she says, her young features, so like her mother’s, hardening. “And Mom just fell apart. Blew everything up.”

I’m missing that full 5 stars just due to how long the book is and how, in my opinion, chapters could have been condensed or taken out completely. Still, I don’t think those reasons hindered my reading experience. Second Chance Romance is one of my favorite kind of stories to read. My own parents re-married after being divorced for just 18 months. While their reasons for divorce were not the same as for Yas and Josiah, it has made me very compassionate towards this type of story because I KNOW it can happen, I've watched it.

But I can understand where each one of them was coming from. Kennedy showed their pain and their struggles and the way each of them dealt with grief in the most perfect realistic way and I loved her more for that. Their fights, their love, their feelings, it was all so real and true. The whole thing was just killing me. Where do I even begin. This book was full of emotions and had me in tears part of the time. I felt the pain that Yas went through which only made me connect with her even more as a character. You see her grow and fight through her emotions.

Josiah still loves his wife. Even though he starts dating with another woman, he still trying to heal from their tragic breakup. After being dumbed by Yasmen, he barely learns to trust someone to open his heart. As he sees Yasmen also starts dating with another man, he realizes he still has feelings for her. this man. i was hurting just as much for him as i was for yasmen. just a whole lot of hurt going on for their whole family omg. it makes me wonder how many couples go through/are going through all they went through, right now. i think that’s what made me cry a lot too is knowing that this book is a fictional book, but it isn’t a fictional story. the character development between both yasmen and josiah individually and as a whole was🤌🏼absolutely amazing. Award-winning and bestselling “powerhouse” author Kennedy Ryan is at her absolute best in this compelling, scorching novel about hope and healing, and what it truly means to love for a lifetime ( USA Today). It's a second-chance romance with grown folks: a passionate couple who fell apart due to tragedy and, as one of the MCs puts it, incompatible grieving.Devastating, thought provoking, and so hopeful, this deeply romantic second-chance love story brought out all my emotions. This book is stunningly beautiful' FARAH HERON and i think i’m most grateful for time, which doesn’t always heal all wounds, but teaches us how to be happy again even with our scars.” I love kissing her. Always have. Not as a prelude to sex. Not with her. Just the act of tasting, touching her lips, loving her one stroke and one breath at a time.” Kennedy Ryan’s latest contemporary romance, Before I Let Go, is dedicated to the “strong girls . . . hustlers . . . [and] superwomen,” all of which could be used to describe heroine Yasmen Wade. Yasmen built a charmed and idyllic life with Josiah, her college sweetheart-turned-husband. Partners in life and in business, the two ran a successful restaurant together. But their happiness came to a screeching halt when their third child was stillborn, which was only the start of a series of heartbreaks. In the emotional aftermath, Yasmen’s grief became paralyzing. She sought mental health counseling, but Josiah was unwilling to seek therapy with her. Yasmen had to battle the darkness alone, which created a rift between her and her husband. Rather than taking refuge in each other, as “Team Wade” had done for nearly two decades, they divorced. However, their hearts never truly let go.

Award-winning and bestselling ‘powerhouse’ author Kennedy Ryan is at her absolute best in this compelling, scorching novel about hope and healing, and what it truly means to love for a lifetime ( USA Today). I think I’m most grateful for time, which doesn’t always heal all wounds, but teaches us how to be happy again even with our scars.” There's a lot to prepare yourselves for before diving into this – lots of intense grief and depression discussions, as well as the main characters having relationships with other people (Josiah has a girlfriend at the beggining of the book and Yasmen also goes on dates with another guy), and other stuff that might be triggering. But I do want to point out that their love never once faltered, and that their issues had a lot more to do with the different ways they processed loss than with how they felt about each other.Yasmen was IMO an unlikable character. Her whoa is me ways throughout this read was another annoying factor FOR ME. Yes, she lost a child but she wasn't the only one in the relationship that experienced lost. AND yes, I understand that she carried the child and had to go through a still birth delivery so yes I understand her process of loss would be different than Josiah's BUT he lost a child too AND his aunt in close proximity. So why Yasmen walked around this book the way she did irritated my soul. Her accusing the man of not being there for her fully WHEN she would not allow him to be was...something. Considering the challenges I've been facing in my own life recently, I definitely thought this book might be too much for me at the moment. I was very pleasantly surprised to discover that there was so much hope and romance and forgiveness and overall positivity in this story, which just made my heart happy and allowed me to enjoy the journey. Real, raw, magnificent— Before I Let Go is the beautiful angst I love to read.” — Colleen Hoover, #1 New York Times bestselling author