Kennedy Ryan’s This Could Be Us (2024) is the stirring second installment in her Skyland series, bookended by Before I Let Go (2022) and the upcoming Can’t Get Enough (2025). Each book stands on its own while collectively exploring different facets of love, grief, and the complexity of Black and multicultural lives in contemporary America.
While Before I Let Go introduced us to Yasmen and Josiah’s emotionally raw journey toward reconciliation, This Could Be Us dives into Soledad Barnes’ life as she picks up the shards of a betrayal that nearly wrecks her. This is not just a love story—it’s a narrative about rebuilding, reevaluating, and rediscovering one’s worth when everything stable crumbles.
Storyline: When the Blueprint for Happiness Breaks
Soledad Barnes thought she had done everything right. She married well, built a stable home for her daughters, and curated a life of order, elegance, and control. But that illusion of perfection shatters when her husband Edward is exposed for an elaborate financial fraud. In the aftermath, Soledad isn’t just mourning a marriage—she’s reeling from public humiliation, financial instability, and a complete loss of identity.
Enter Judah Cross, the forensic accountant assigned to investigate Edward’s crimes. From the beginning, Judah is the man she should avoid—professionally, emotionally, and ethically. But as he becomes a steady, unexpected presence in her life, their connection deepens into something neither of them anticipated.
Their story is not a whirlwind romance. It’s deliberate, introspective, and cautious. Ryan takes her time building their relationship—not on attraction alone, but on shared experiences of parenting, trauma, and healing. What unfolds is an exquisite narrative of how two broken people can become whole again, not despite their scars, but because of them.
Main Characters: Quiet Strength Meets Earnest Empathy
Soledad Barnes
Soledad is one of Kennedy Ryan’s most dimensional characters to date. She embodies the contradiction of being both the fixer and the broken.
- Maternal Strength: As a mother of three girls, Soledad’s fierce protectiveness never eclipses her vulnerability. Her inner life is complex, layered with doubts, hopes, and reluctant longing.
- Emotional Realism: Her grief isn’t glamorized or rushed. Instead, Ryan gives her room to process betrayal, fear, and even moments of regression.
- Cultural Identity: Soledad’s Puerto Rican heritage is portrayed with dignity and subtlety, adding texture to her personal evolution without being her defining trait.
Judah Cross
Judah is refreshingly nontraditional as a romantic lead.
- Moral Integrity: As someone investigating her ex-husband’s fraud, he walks a tightrope between duty and desire.
- Single Fatherhood: Judah is raising twin boys, one of whom is autistic and nonverbal. His parenting—gentle, patient, attuned—offers one of the book’s most profound emotional layers.
- Emotional Intelligence: He listens more than he speaks, and when he does speak, his words carry weight. He’s not trying to rescue Soledad—he’s offering her space to rediscover herself.
Their chemistry simmers quietly. It isn’t fueled by impulse but by emotional intimacy, shared values, and mutual healing. Ryan avoids tropes and instead gives us a relationship that feels lived-in and earned.
Themes: Trauma, Motherhood, Neurodivergence, and Empowerment
1. Rebuilding After Betrayal
At its core, This Could Be Us is about reconstruction—not just of life and finances, but of identity. Soledad is not a woman waiting to be rescued. She’s the one laying brick by brick to build a new life for herself and her daughters.
2. Parenting Neurodiverse Children
Aaron, Judah’s autistic son, becomes a beacon in Soledad’s journey. Their bond is poignant, organic, and never exploitative. Ryan’s portrayal of autism—likely drawn from personal experience—honors the challenges and joys without reducing Aaron to a lesson or a trope.
3. Self-Partnership and Therapy
One of the novel’s most refreshing arcs is Soledad’s embrace of therapy and “self-partnering.” Rather than falling headfirst into a new romance, she seeks clarity, strength, and wholeness within herself.
4. Love That Honors Healing
Judah doesn’t force Soledad to be ready. He allows space, supports from a distance, and never tries to override her boundaries. This is romance as partnership, not possession.
Kennedy Ryan’s Writing: Emotional Precision with Purpose
Kennedy Ryan’s writing is neither ornate nor sparse—it’s exact. Her ability to distill emotional truths into sharp, evocative prose is a signature strength. She writes not just what her characters say, but what they mean, and the silences between words speak just as loudly.
- Authentic Dialogue: Conversations carry history, context, and subtle power dynamics.
- Scene Construction: From quiet kitchen talks to pivotal therapy moments, each scene moves the story and characters forward.
- Inner Monologue: Soledad’s interiority is so rich, readers may feel as if they’re living inside her thoughts—raw, hopeful, spiraling, and triumphant.
Standout Moments in the Narrative
- Judah at the School Meeting: A moment of emotional clarity where his protective instincts over Soledad and Aaron collide.
- Soledad’s Confrontation with Edward: A defining scene of self-respect and empowerment that doesn’t rely on melodrama.
- Dance Studio Scene with Aaron: Quiet, joyful, deeply moving—a testament to how healing can come from the smallest acts.
- Final Proposal of Possibility: Judah never demands a future. He merely invites Soledad to imagine it, in one of the most powerful emotional climaxes of the book.
Where the Story Slows
Even the strongest narratives have cracks. While This Could Be Us is largely masterful, a few elements could be refined:
- Repetitive Reflection: Soledad’s internal monologues occasionally loop in circles, slowing the pacing around the midpoint.
- Workplace Conflict for Judah: His ethical conflict regarding the investigation, though important, fades rather than culminates meaningfully.
- Limited External Plot Progression: The focus is almost entirely internal and emotional, which may not appeal to readers looking for more plot-driven arcs.
However, these minor pacing concerns do not detract from the book’s overall emotional impact.
Series Continuity and Anticipation
Following Before I Let Go, which painted a poignant picture of grief and rekindled love, This Could Be Us deepens the emotional landscape by focusing on reinvention and permission. Permission to rest. Permission to trust. Permission to be unfinished and still worthy of love.
With Can’t Get Enough on the horizon, Kennedy Ryan continues to craft a universe where adult love is layered, sometimes messy, but always intentional. Skyland is less a setting and more a sanctuary—a space where love evolves at its own pace.
Ideal Readers and Literary Siblings
This book will resonate with:
- Readers of women’s fiction with romantic arcs
- Fans of Tia Williams, Chloe Liese, and Kennedy Ryan’s own Hoops or All the King’s Men series
- Those seeking authentic disability and neurodivergence representation
- Readers who value emotional maturity, found family, and realistic romantic pacing
Books with a similar feel:
- Seven Days in June by Tia Williams
- The Candid Life of Meena Dave by Namrata Patel
- Before I Let Go by Kennedy Ryan (essential reading for continuity and deeper character arcs)
Closing Thoughts
This Could Be Us is a love story that doesn’t rush, doesn’t perform, and doesn’t pretend. It allows space for grief, celebrates emotional growth, and dares to ask what comes after the fallout. Kennedy Ryan doesn’t just write romance—she writes restoration.
With characters who feel as real as family, prose that lingers long after the last page, and themes that challenge as much as they comfort, This Could Be Us proves once again why Ryan is at the top of her genre.
This is a book for anyone who has ever had to start over and wondered if joy could find them again.