Flap summary:
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?
You ever have that author that when you read their books you know you are getting more than just a story, more than surface stuff, that the layers are going to be compounded and deeply enriching? Kennedy Ryan is that writer for me. She doesn’t just tell a story surface level, she sinks deep, skin deep right through to the soul of you. She pulls you in and you have to settle in it. The narrative is simple but the layers are so richly fleshed out. There is history within the story, there is complexity in the characters, there is life, real life embedded in the narrative. We, the readers, can relate and you get the feeling that she is teaching you as well as telling you a love story. Kennedy Ryan is a masterful writer, a craft woman who takes storytelling to the next level and beyond, and she absolutely delivers. All the damn time.
We are not worthy.
This Could Be Us is the second book in the Skyland Series. If you have not read book 1; Before I Let Go, please do yourself a favour and go ready because it is required reading on an emotional level if anything. I reviewed it here… Book 2 is the story of Soledad Charles, formerly Barnes. We met Edward in Yasmen’s book, Before I Let Go and even then he was a born bastard, and we just knew that Edward was trifling fuckboy and man oh man! does he whip up a trifle like never before here. We don’t waste time getting to the crux of the story because Edward is in the cross hairs of forensic accountant; Judah Cross. A MAN! A KING. I LOVE JUDAH!!
Judah is the forensic accountant looking into Edward’s shenanigans in CalPot because he simply does not trust the guy, he didn’t like him before he even met him, but Judah has Edward’s number down to a science. He doesn’t like Edward about as much as we, the readers, do not like Edward, and immediately we are on side with him; this is how Kennedy wins our affection for Judah; we are united in our feelings. Judah is the one who catches Edward out on his elaborate embezzlement scheme. But it is more than that; he knows Edward is not a good man, at his core he is a nasty piece of work who never wanted his wife to live a life outside his shadow and he sees right through his act.
Soledad is the woman who has to rediscover herself and realise her worth without her husband. The man who lies to her, cheats on her and fathers a baby! UGH I HATE HIM SO MUCH. Much more than I hated Vashti… oh she makes a cameo here. Her and that struggle salmon and those damn ribs. Anyways back to the story- Judah is a father of two boys, with autism and he has been amicably divorced from his wife Tremaine for four years, these two have the best divorced relationship ever, they are friends and show up for their sons in every way possible and impossible. If only life could imitate art we’d be a much happier place.
Tremaine and Judah parent their sons beautifully whilst being friends and being in each other’s lives. Tremaine is re-married now to Kent who also co-parents the boys with her and Judah, and makes space for the boys in his life.
What Kennedy Ryan does here is gives us a soft place to land because life outside of the home, the world is largely chaotic so she cuddles us within, gently parenting two boys on different ends of their life’s journey with autism. Adam and Aaron are on different ends of the spectrum, their development vastly different so there is a sense that Ryan, herself a mother to an autistic son, is helping the wider world understand life from the inside even if its only a peek. This is what Ryan does best, embed these real life situations in these stories because they are so real and so pertinent to us as humans. It helps us see, by looking with care, listening with care and recognising each other’s humanity. With care. Ryan writes with such care.
Soledad is trying to get on with life without Edward, who is behind bars because of his crimes; she has three daughters to raise and a home to keep, and she works hard to give her children a stable home life despite their fathers’ troubles. And in comes Judah Cross, the man who put her husband in prison, the man who comes to her aid when the shit hits the fan, the man whom her daughters may never warm to. In the midst of all this chaos, this man is the one who shows up for her because without even speaking to her, on first sight, he is gone for her. And he shows up for her, slowly, that simmering love that goes way beyond skin deep, he renders the soul helpless against it because he doesn’t push, he doesn’t shove, he lets her guide him into her life. It is not only Soledad, it is her daughters too, who cannot like the man who put their father in jail and disrupted their perfect lives, and the shadow of her husband’s guilt. It is not only Judah, he comes with his twin sons and his amicable divorce and the fact that he put her husband in jail. They have to muddle through that, but Soledad also has to get to know herself outside of a union she has been in for twenty years, outside of the only man she has ever been intimate with, the one she has second guessed herself, and put her own life on hold, for. She has to get to know the true brilliance of herself on her own terms and Judah gets that.
This story is beautiful and kind, and funny. It shows the brilliance of female bonds, of friendships, and sisterhood. When women show up for each other we can do incredible things together. This book is chicken soup for the soul. Dare to dream your wildest and dare even more to live it.