Before I Let Go

Best-selling author Kennedy Ryan’s 2022 novel, Before I Let Go, marked her return to traditional publishing after years of self-publishing success. The book begins after her protagonists, Yasmen and Josiah Wade, have finalized their divorce in the wake of devastating losses: first, Josiah’s aunt, and then their baby, who was stillborn. It’s only now, after two years and a lot of therapy, that Yasmen’s found a way to successfully co-parent their two other children and run a restaurant with her repressed ex, who still carries a torch for her. But when Yasmen discovers that Josiah is dating again, she wonders if she made a huge mistake calling it quits. To find out whether it’s really worth giving their marriage another try, she starts sleeping with him. It’s hot and heavy, thanks to Ryan’s fiery descriptions. But Ryan, who won Romance Writers of America RITA Award in 2019, becoming the first Black writer to do so, is more focused on how Yasmen and Josiah are feeling outside the bedroom, giving them the space to speak openly about their grief, self-doubt, and mental health. (Ryan was diagnosed with depression while writing the novel, which helped inspire her characters’ journeys.) But Yasmen and Josiah’s deep conversations often lead them to having the same old fights that open up the same old wounds. Before I Let Go takes readers on an emotional rollercoaster as it questions whether second-chance romances are really possible.

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