I received an ARC copy of this from the author via Social Butterfly PR in exchange for an honest review

Summary
Kimba and Ezra have been best friends since birth. The grew up together. Had their first kiss together. But one tragic night, Ezra's family moves away and they are torn from each others lives.
20 years later they finally come face to face again.
They've both grown - "Finer. Fiercer. Smarter."
And Ezra is very much taken.
But the chemistry between them is stronger than ever and they're determined to never lose each other again.

Overview
➸ POV: 1st Person Multi-POV. This is broken into 3 parts: Prologue: 2 years ago, Part 1: Childhood, Part 2: Present

➸ Kimba "Tru" Allen: 37, Youngest of 3 siblings, Political consultant and owner of own firm, Strong, Independent, and Driven, Stutter

➸ Ezra Stern: 37, Biracial, Jewish, Father to Noah, Teacher and Founder of YLA - a free private school for disadvantaged children in Atlanta GA

➸ Content Warnings: Death of a parent, Racism, Sexism, Bullying, Cheating, Infertility/Difficulties conceiving

My Thoughts
Wow. It is truly a travesty that it has taken me so long to read one of Kennedy Ryan's books. Thank goodness she has a massive backlist because I will be binging the entire thing asap.

There were so many amazing aspects to this book

First of all, the representation in the book was out of this world. This dives into the intricacies of being a person of color for so many angles - being biracial, in mixed relationships, in the south, in a work environment, as a woman vs a man. And Kennedy Ryan handled all of it with so much ease. This book was an absolutely beautiful blend of cultures.

Kimba is damn queen for sure. She is the perfect example of a strong, independent female heroine without making her feel like a caricature of the personality or wholly unlikeable. She was flawed and complex and so inspiring. I loved watching her go after what she wanted head-on regardless of the obstacles in front of her. One of my new favorite female characters of all time.

The chemistry and relationship between Kimba and Ezra was electric. I had all the butterflies every time these two interacted. Their relationship felt legitimately high stakes and it made their scenes together even more impactful. The tension between them was palpable from the very beginning! And those steamy scenes.... *fans self*

My only minor complaint about this was the very end. This is a romance novel so obviously this ends in a HEA but some might still consider this a minor spoiler, so I will mark it as such. I'm not a fan of romances ending in proposals when the characters have only been together a couple weeks... it feels so unrealistic and pandering to me. I would have preferred a simple declaration to give their relationship a try. I understand they had an intense past, but they only knew each other for 2ish weeks as adults and were then apart for over a year. Who gets married after 2 weeks?! Despite my issue with the HEA however, this book was definitely still an amazing read!

I connected so much to these characters and Kennedy Ryan made them feel so alive. These characters felt like they could walk right off the page. This book was full of angst and drama but it also had such a hopeful message.

Overall, this was a knockout romance full of badass, diverse characters, strong relationships, meaningful messages, and romance that gave me all the butterflies. I cannot wait to read more of Kennedy Ryan's books! I foresee a new favorite romance author in my future