This Could Be Us is the latest release by Kennedy Ryan in her Skyland series and I’m here to share ALL my feelings about this incredible book. Check out my full book review below to see if this is a romance worth reading (hint: it is!).
*Disclosure: This post may include affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
This Could Be Us
by Kennedy Ryan
Category: Contemporary Romance
Tags: Love After Cheated On, Forbidden Romance, Single Parent, Mental Health, Sisterhood
Series: Skyland
Published March 2024
Amazon | Goodreads
Rating: ★★★★★
Book Boyfriend: ★★★★★
This Could Be Us Summary:
Soledad Barnes is a domestic goddess who’s always had her life all planned out. But none of her varied talents can save her when her life implodes from the ultimate betrayal.
Picking up the pieces and caring for her daughters, Soledad rediscovers herself. But then an unlikely man enters the picture—the forbidden one, the one she shouldn’t want but can’t seem to resist only she’s not sure that she can risk her heart and trust in love again.
This Could Be Us: My Review
This is a must-read for any woman who ever needed to hear, “You are Enough,” and to know that a period of self-partnering may be just what the doctor ordered.
I already fell in love with Soledad after reading Ryan’s 2022 release, Before I Let Go, and could not wait to get her story which is why it landed on my list of most anticipated romance books of 2024 and it did not disappoint.
I love reading Kennedy Ryan’s books because she packs so much into it that it’s really more than just a romance. Don’t get me wrong, I read them for the central love story and happily ever after but I always leave her books feeling as if I’ve either learned something new, had my perspective changed or was just given MORE.
This Could Be Us is a book about rising up from the ashes, reminding yourself that you can stand on your own two feet, and demonstrating that parenting is the greatest act of selfless love and yet a bit of self-centered love is necessary too. It’s a book about sisterhood and family and finding your person. It’s all of this and I loved it.
Soladad is a 41-year-old woman who’s been married to Edward for sixteen years who is a homemaker, or in her case a real domestic goddess, raising their three daughters. Just one scene with Edward and his nasty comment about his wife’s body was enough for me to see that this dude was a bad guy.
Soladad recognized that her marriage was not what it once was but she was completely blindsided when her husband commits the ultimate betrayal in not just one but in multiple ways.
From that moment on we get to see Soladad on a journey of recovery and discovery. Forced to now provide for herself and her three girls, we see her succeed as an influencer. Someone who takes her passions and what she’s good at and makes those talents work for her.
She pushes back on those who don’t believe being a homemaker is a “job” or that a “normal job outside the home” is the only way to get it done. Thank you Kennedy for pressing this point.
Women who stay at home and raise the children are some of the hardest workers I know as well as those who juggle both home and outside work responsibilities.
I loved watching Soladad’s journey of re-finding the trust she has in herself and recognizing an amazing man when she sees one when he proves over and over that he is and not like her scheming, rotten ex-husband.
Though this was about Soladad’s heartbreak and journey back to love, I fully fell for Judah. He is a man who walks the walk and talks the talk.
He is a present father who is there for his two twins who have autism. He is an amazing co-parent with his ex-wife. He is a man who fell first and hard but did not want to get in the way of Soladad’s journey and yet showed her his support is so many small and meaningful ways.
I will say she is quite lucky how quickly Soladad made it as an influencer and able to pay her mortgage, private school tuition and activities fees but we’ll go with it.
I especially love that the sisterhood I first fell in love with in Before I Let Go continued in this book with Hendrix and Yasmen supporting Sol in every way they could. Hendrix was the real focus because Kennedy is setting us up for her book which should be next and I am here for it!
This book has it all – great writing, amazing storytelling, beautiful characters, and a depiction of life with all the highs and lows that accompany it. I highly recommend it!
*Thank you to Netgalley for the advanced reader copy. All opinions are my own.