Before I Let Go

The romance genre has two fundamental aspects at its core: First, whatever the plot, it must be concerned with a connection between two characters. Second, the ending must be happy and assure the reader that all is well in the relationship and the immediate world of the characters. These happy endings often involve marriage and children, with epilogues (casually known as “the babylogue”) often featuring pregnancy. In Before I Let Go, Ryan both subverts and follows genre convention, using tropes to assure the reader that she understands the ways her work departs from expectations but will nevertheless fulfill them. The work opens in Yasmen and Josiah’s past, with the passionate proposal and acceptance that often marks the ending of contemporary romance novels, such as Jasmine Guillory’s The Wedding Date.

Chapter 1 brings the reader into Yasmen and Josiah’s present, where the two have indeed married and had children, but are now divorced. Yasmen’s revelation that the two still work together, and subsequent discomfort and jealousy of Vashti, helps orient the reader by introducing another key trope: the troubled marriage, which will eventually lead to reconciliation. Ryan establishes Yasmen’s lingering feelings early on to establish that at the core of the novel is reconnection after trauma and loss, rather than the beginning of a relationship between people who do not know one another. This kind of reconciliation is somewhat unusual for the genre, but it appears in some novels, such as Sarah MacLean’s The Day of the Duchess, another romance novel featuring reconciliation after child loss. MacLean, like Ryan, uses flashbacks to show the couple’s past relationship. Ryan uses the trope of a marriage in trouble to address her deeper theme of the value of therapy: Josiah’s failure to address his grief and Yasmen’s struggle to address her own mental health are key to their divorce. Honest reckoning with these issues becomes central to their eventual new partnership.

Ryan uses the “only one bed” trope of on Yasmen and Josiah’s Charlotte trip to introduce more sexual and romantic tension and assure genre readers that the stage is being set for further intimacy. This trope is common in both historical and contemporary romance. Recent examples in contemporary romance include Rachel Lynn Solomon’s The Ex Talk and Mia Sosa’s The Worst Best Man. This trope relies on forced proximity, often during travel, that requires characters to talk with one another in ways they might otherwise avoid.

Secret relationships are another common element in romance novels. In Yasmen and Josiah’s case, their secrecy is to protect their children, rather than to hide from families or to avoid public scrutiny. Secret liaisons feature in Jasmine Guillory’s The Wedding Party, the third entry in the Wedding Date series, among many others. The resolution to secret relationships often forces characters to confront the depths of their feelings and their desire for a more durable and open attachment. In Yasmen and Josiah’s case, Deja’s discovery of their relationship requires Yasmen to confront her daughter’s emotions about the divorce and Yasmen’s role in it. The repair of their mother-daughter bond allows Yasmen to focus on her desires for her future with Josiah and is thus key to the novel’s resolution.