Review: This Could Be Us

Kennedy Ryan’s been on my radar for awhile but, like many authors, it’s taken some time to finally read her books. So many books, so little time, am I right? When Before I Let Go, the first in Ryan’s Skyland series, came out in 2022, I told myself I’d read it. Fast forward to the month before This Could Be Us is released and I finally got around to diving into Yasmen’s story. I loved it. I immediately picked up Soledad’s book - and I loved it too.

Here’s the book’s description:

Soledad Barnes has her life all planned out. Because, of course, she does. She plans everything. She designs everything. She fixes everything. She’s a domestic goddess who's never met a party she couldn't host or a charge she couldn't lead. The one with all the answers and the perfect vinaigrette for that summer salad. But none of her varied talents can save her when catastrophe strikes, and the life she built with the man who was supposed to be her forever, goes poof in a cloud of betrayal and disillusion.
But there is no time to pout or sulk, or even grieve the life she lost. She's too busy keeping a roof over her daughters' heads and food on the table. And in the process of saving them all, Soledad rediscovers herself. From the ashes of a life burned to the ground, something bold and new can rise.
But then an unlikely man enters the picture—the forbidden one, the one she shouldn't want but can't seem to resist. She's lost it all before and refuses to repeat her mistakes. Can she trust him? Can she trust herself?
After all she's lost . . .and found . . .can she be brave enough to make room for what could be?

I’m running a romance book club at the library I work at right now so I’m finding myself thinking about romances, why we love them, and what makes them romances vs any other kind of story, a whole lot more than I have before. After reading the first two Skyland books, I wondered, are these romance novels? There’s a Happily Ever After/For Now, absolutely, but that HEA doesn’t seem to be the main purpose of the story. Unless you’re thinking about the HEA the main characters have with themselves. I love the love stories in these books, but I was really there for the women and their process of learning to love themselves more than I was for them loving the men in their lives. Does it matter if I think it’s a romance or not? No. But we all know marketing matters and I’m always curious about how books are marketed.

I, like seemingly everyone in Soledad’s life, did not like her husband. But even I wouldn’t have guessed what went down. It was WILD and I could have felt like I was watching a movie (complete with a giant bowl of popcorn as I watched the chaos) but for the fact that I cared about Soledad and her girls so damn much. I hated what was happening to them which is partly due to the characters Ryan created and how she wrote them. (And partly because I'm not a monster and only monsters wouldn't feel moved by the situation they're in.)

I do, however, have some questions about some of Soledad’s choices but given I’m 1. Not a mother and 2. Haven’t been in her situation, I’m not here to judge. But I’m bringing it up because these thoughts pulled me out of the story Ryan created when I shouldn’t have been. I’ll continue being vague about what actually happened, but you can know that Soledad is left without (much) money so she has to try to land on her feet during a shitstorm while also earning money to look after her three daughters. While I can understand that she wanted to keep their lives as consistent as possible, I couldn’t understand why that meant she had to continue living in the same, giant, expensive house or pay for expensive gymnastic lessons and so on. Sorry, kids, sometimes life sucks and you don’t get to do all the things you used to. I just kept thinking that it would have been so much more financially responsible to sell the house instead of spending a ton of money on it when she was in such a precarious position.

I love the feeling of community I got with the first two Skyland books. I loved being a part of that group of friends and family. I enjoyed spending time with them and wanted only the best for every single person I met while reading (apart from Soledad’s no-good husband and his racist mother). That love I have makes it even harder that now I have to wait for Hendrix’s book after bingeing the first two!

This Could Be Us was a fantastic read and I loved being part of the world Kennedy Ryan has created with her Skyland series. You’ll have all the feelings while reading this one so keep the wine, and maybe the box of tissues, at hand while you read. I think you’re going to love it too!

*An egalley of this novel was provided by the Canadian distributor, HBG Canada, via NetGalley in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*