It seems the things worth keeping are often the hardest to hold…
KAI
I had two things in life that mattered. My mother and my music.
Mama was taken from me too soon, and now music is all I have left. It’s the thing that’s pushed me right out of backwoods Georgia into Los Angeles, where the line between fantasy and reality shimmers and blurs. I’m finally making my way, making my mark. I can’t … making my mark. I can’t afford to fall for one of music’s brightest stars. Not now. Music is all I have left, and I’m holding on tight with both hands. I won’t let go, not even for Rhyson Gray.
RHYSON
I had one thing in my life that mattered – music. The only constant, it’s taken me to heights most people only dream about; a gift dropped in my lap at birth. I thought it was enough. I thought it was everything until I met Kai. Now she’s all I think about, like a song I can’t get out of my head. If I have to chase her, if I have to give up everything – I will. And once she’s mine, I won’t let go.
more
This was the book that started my love affair with every magical word Ms. Ryan writes. This story is aptly titled. It’s a love affair that requires so much of these characters. Especially Kai. I admire her determination to make it on her own. To put her dreams first, and understood her even when I wished she would make a different choice. This book, this couple, this series and the world it spawned are the reasons I read romance. Do yourself a favor and start it today.
read edit
Format Kindle Edition edit
Status
February 20, 2016 – Finished Reading 3 Show more
Review Kai has been trying to pick up the pieces of her broken heart since her mother died. She’s trying to live her dream. Its hard to live the dream when you are struggling to pay your bills and under a black cloud of depression. If only she could see the light through the clouds…
Rhyson Gray is gorgeous. He is a rock star. And his light is brighter than the sun. Kai doesn’t want any part of his light. She is determined to make it on her own, her own way. But Kai doesn’t realize Rhyson is even more determined. He needs to get to know this little spitfire. He needs to see why she’s different. He needs HER.
Kai won’t back down and neither will Rhys, so who wins? Friends or more? More or nothing? How do you make a decision that will change everything in your life without knowing the outcome? Faith.
Is Kai willing to put faith into a relationship she fears? Fears eat us a live and tear us apart…
My Soul to Keep is a story about two broken people trying to avoid the connection they have for something one considers lass than and the other considers more. They hide themselves from most people but can’t really hide from each other. I really enjoyed the story but was bummed when I realized it ended. Don’t worry book 2, Down to My Soul comes out in March 2016.
I better get my answers then!
Every time I read a book by Kennedy Ryan I know I’m about to go deep into a very beautiful journey, where I’m not sure where is headed but I’m also sure that I’m going to find the light at the end of the story..
My soul to keep was not the exception, it took me a while to pick up this series as I read first the Grip series and meet all these wonderful characters over there but now I’m here starting this amazing journey with this amazing characters and story.
in My soul to keep we get to meet Kai and Rhyson. Kai is trying to make her dreams come true, she is a wonderful dancer with an amazing voice.. people in her town knew she was gifted. Her own mother kept telling her she was going to be very famous one day and now Kai is fighting for that.. not only she is working multiple jobs so she can finally make her dreams come true.. but she is also fighting with people judging her and making the wrong assumptions about her intentions and integrity.. her fears are also not helping her that much.. something happened when she was just a kid that made her afraid to become attached to someone, or to depend on someone.. but time and life will show her that not everybody is the same.. and not everybody wants to take her independence away..
“She’s like the eye of the storm. Chaos all around, but right here, in her arms, at the center, peace.”
Rhyson is a very talented man, people call him a genius, he was playing the piano since he was only three, his talents come from the classical music, but life and circumstances have made him run away from “this life” or better say his family life, making him more secluded and more privet, more reserved about everything.. he has finally made his way in life apart from the claws and bad choices of his parents now he is a very famous and successful musician and producer trying to find new talents for prodigy his own record company.. but soon Rhyson will be challenged, his entire world will feel like that security no longer excist.. when a beautiful dancer shows her true colors around his life, he no longer will want to be alone..
“He was a flare of light that illuminated everything around me and showed me just how dull my existence had become.”
The love between Rhyson and Kai is very beautiful and deep.. their chemistry was an instant crash whenever they were around each other, especially the first time.. it was intense.. You can feel how Rhyson really becomes possessive and protective of Kai as soon as he starts to feel Kai and see all that beauty.. we also see how Kai is fighting all these feeling, her fears are keeping her away of feeling and completely lose herself and let herself go … but at the same time, we also see how she wants to be protected and loved by the only man who has the power to lower those walls of fear.
“She has no idea how much power she has over me. I’m the famous one. The rich one. The one who has nothing left to prove, but she holds every card. Especially the ones with hearts.”
There’re so many other great characters in My soul to keep that make this story so great. We get to see Bristol and Grip two wonderful characters that you can find now in the Grip series.. but there’re also other characters around Rhys and Kai trying to sabotage their relationship but at the same time bringing so much to their story..
Rhyson and Kai love story resumed in one sentence: “And there, with only our hearts as witnesses, our bodies make a vow that our souls will keep.”
This is the beginning of a great series, I’m so glad I found my way to My soul to keep, I can’t wait to dive deeper into Down To My Soul and finally see what happens with Rhys and Kai.
I can’t get enough of Kennedy’s word so in love with her work!!
My Soul to Keep by the incredibly talented and outstanding author Kennedy Ryan is the first book in her Soul Series.
I was captivated from page one and I can´t express how much I love the characters. The writing is excellent and the story is wonderful.
I connected very easily with the characters.
My Soul to Keep is beautifully thought out, beautifully told and beautifully written. I wish I could give more than 5 stars.
This book was SOOO good! I loved every minute of it and once it was done…I NEEDED more! This is defiantly a fun, fluffy read that is also gut-wrenching. I would have to say that this may be my favorite NA book. I know! I have not felt this way about a NA book since I read Beautiful Disaster, but after examining both books, I think this one takes the cake.
Ryan’s writing in this book is excellent. It was easy to understand, but also was full of beautiful quotes. I also loved that this book alternates between the points-of-view of our two main characters. It really gave readers insight into the histories and development of the characters. I have found that books written this way are becoming my favorite. It is nice being able to read from both male and female perspectives because it makes the story feel more well-rounded.
I really enjoyed the plot of this book. I have never read a rock star romance before, but this one has defiantly started a new obsession for me. I did feel like this book was full of angsty drama, but I loved it. I found it super addictive and really entertaining. I thought the story was full of twists and turns that I was not expecting.
The characters in this book are amazing! I really liked Kai because she was very relatable, however, sometimes I wish she would have been more confident. I also thought there was instances where her decisions were foolish and she could have saved herself some heart-ache if she would have just told the truth. I absolutely, positively LOVED Rhyson. If you like Travis from Beautiful Disaster, then you will love Rhyson too. They were very similar, but I think that I liked Rhyson a little bit more. I also liked that both characters had complex back stories that just added to their development. The supporting characters were great too and I hope to learn more about them in the sequel.
The romance in this book is so good. I liked that this book did not have any insta-romance. Rhyson and Kai started as friends and then their romance bloomed from there. This romance is very angsty..so be warned. I will have to say that Rhyson is the protective type, and the majority of the time it came off as sweet, but there was one instance in which he appeared psychotic. I wouldn’t categorize this as a unhealthy relationship, but I thought I would warn readers that there is some instances of extreme behavior.
Overall, I would defiantly recommend this book! It was AMAZING! I have already bought the sequel and am planning on reading it soon. Unfortunately, this is going to be a duology with a novella. I wish that there was going to be more, but I also look forward from reading something else from Ryan. Please pick this book up if it sounds like something you might enjoy, you won’t regret it!
I was a few chapters into Grip before I checked to find out if Rhyson’s story was written. Since it was, I abandoned Grip to catch up. My Soul to Keep was so beautiful. I loved the way they developed a friendship first. It allowed them to let their guards down and get to know each other. Kai is so strong and independent, yet vulnerable and stubborn. The latter got a bit irritating. But it went along with her trust issues. Those were understandable, but still frustrating. I adored Rhyson though. The patience he gives Kai is so sexy. Not to mention the dirty talk. He has his own trust issues, which I knew from Flow. He also has this dark side that was surprising. Bristol was awful. I loved her in Flow and I hope reading this series doesn’t ruin her for me when I get back to Grip. The audiobook was read with dual narration which is my favorite. But be warned, this book ends with a cliffhanger. It’s unnecessary because there’s no way I wouldn’t read as much as I could about this couple.
Kai and Rhyson meet in one of his Uncle Grady’s music rooms where Rhy is playing. Kai is absolutely stunned, but she’s barely breathing just then so she can’t even explain the feeling.
Rhy knows that Kai is the only girl he wants for the rest of forever, but he had no real role models growing up so he keeps screwing things up over and over.
Finally Kai has had enough, she’s jumping on the chance to do the job she loves, and screw Rhyson Grey if he thinks she’s giving him another chance after his last bid to control her life!
A strong, sweet novel with a cast of characters that have been hurt through loss and a need for control their entire lives. Rhyson believes he’s doing the best for Kai by controlling all the avenues he can, not understanding that the last step may have shoved him off an edge he won’t recover from. A 4 star treat for sure!
This is a slow-burn friends to loves story. I’m not even done reading it yet and still giving it 5 stars because it’s that good.
There’s a mistletoe app. SWOONING!
LOVE RHYSON AND KAI!!!
After reading The Grip Series, I knew I had to go back and read The Soul Series, for Rhyson’s and Kai’s story….And I’m so glad I did….MY SOUL TO KEEP is a great start to this series….I love the characters, the story, and even though this book ends on a big cliffhanger, it’s so obvious that Rhyson and Kai are meant to be together…Kennedy Ryan is a writing genius, and I’m moving on to book 2….
Normally I give books with cliffhangers a stern talking to and a harsh rating. But…I just can’t with this one. It’s too good. So, I guess I’m adding it to my exceptions list.
Plot overview: Aspiring singer/dancer Kai meets musical superstar/prodigy Rhyson. Slow burn, friends-to-lovers romance and sexy angst ensue.
I’m just gonna dive in with all the stuff I loved:
1. Kennedy Ryan has a totally unique and almost poetic writing style. Everything flows so beautifully. There’s really no other way to describe it other than “flow.” When you read her stuff, you’ll get it.
2. I love that Kai isn’t a young white lady. I’ve been saying forever that we need more diversity in romance. I also loved it that race wasn’t an obstacle in the story for Kai and Rhyson to overcome.
3. Rhyson isn’t a typical manwhore/drugged out muscian. Yes, I’m sure there were groupies. But there weren’t lengthy descriptions of what the hero did with said groupies. (I HATE it when that happens in romance) And once Rhyson met Kai, he was pretty much done for and other women weren’t even a consideration.
4. I liked Kai’s determination to fail or succeed on her own. She could’ve taken the easy way out many, many times (in fact, I would’ve if I was her—like, way early on) but she didn’t. She was more than willing—happy, even—to pay her dues.
5. I do love a good slow-burn romance, and this one was SUPER slow. But it was a good kind of super slow, because while there weren’t sexy times early on, there was still plenty of smokin’ hot chemistry between these two characters to enjoy. It was all kinds of sexy.
6. When the sexy times do eventually happen, they’re burn-your-house-down hot.
A couple of things that are normally deal breakers for me that I was able to overlook because of how good the writing was in this book:
1. Rhyson does some stupid things in the name of protecting Kai. She’s new to the biz, and he’s been around the block, so he can see around corners that she can’t. All the stupid stuff he does comes from a good place, but if you’re annoyed by protective heroes, Rhyson might not be your cuppa.
2. The cliffie. Holy hell, is it a cliffie. But thankfully, the other 2 books in the triology are out now. Both are also in Kindle Unlimited.
So, despite the cliffie from hell, I would heartily recommend this book to anyone who loves angsty, slow-burn, super-sensual rockstar romances. Or, you know, anyone who just enjoys the crap out of great writing.
Romance Rehab book blog: book recommendations, author services, and general badassery: http://www.romancerehab.com/
Great series.
This book is just as much about the music as their relationship. Kai is both an amazing dancer and singer determined to make it on her own. She constantly refuses the help of Rhyson to make things easier for her and wants to know that when she does breakout in the industry it will be on her own talents and not who she’s knows. But for Rhyson, it is hard for him to let Kai do it on her own because he wants to protect and help her. A lot times I think he wants to help her from being taken advantage of, but Kair leaps at the chance whenever anyone shows interest doing business with her. This causes a lot of tension between Kai and Rhyson. Yet, there is no denying how much they each care for one another and making they are there support the other through a lot of the difficult times that arise.
My Soul to Keep is a good book. I thought it was ok because there were things that really annoyed me about this book. Bristol, Rhyson’s sister being a big one too.
This was one of the first indie published books I read that showed me what hidden gems lurked in the sea of Indie Authors. I love this book. These characters own my heart
Omg! “My Soul To Keep” is a mesmerizing contemporary romance that could be right up there with other well-known, seasoned, bestselling authors like Nicholas Sparks among others! … From the first page to the last I did not want to stop reading, and then I didn’t want it to end either! That should tell you how fantastic this story is & how well-defined the characters are! … Even if you’re not sure whether you’re going to like the H/h or not, their journeys will tug at your heartstrings… When you’re not yelling at one of them for being a dumbass, you’ll be cheering them on! Even the secondary characters are awesome, and I was pleasantly surprised by the fresh and different story-line… So get ready for an emotional roller-coaster ride with plausible drama, like sadness then laughter and most important of all, love. Even tho I volunteered to read this, it was without any outside influences & these are my own opinions. I honestly recommend this to all mature fans of fiction and look forward to reading more from Ms. Ryan.
“Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take.”
If you know me from anywhere, Insta, Goodreads, my blog, you must know how much I loved and breathed the Grip Series. If not, you can find my reviews here, here and here! But yeah, the Grip series were the first books and only books, up until this point, I had read by Kennedy Ryan, and oh my man.. how I loved them. Her writing is absolutely perfect, I swear she’s so poetic and she writes so beautifully, and besides that, her content MATTERS! I seriously fell in love with her writing and talent for story telling! She writes masterpieces! I have not heard of a single person who has read the books and not fallen completely madly in love with them. It’s impossible not to! I’ve said this before and I’ll keep saying it, these books were the best thing I’ve read this year and ever! And she also become one of my favorite writers. I cannot stress enough how much I loved these books!
So of course I had to read her other works, and it’s obvious I had to start with this series, since Rhys and Kai appear on the Grip Series, and I first fell in love with him there.
Just like while I was reading Flow, I got hooked from the very first pages and I seriously did not want to put this book down, even though I had to 🙁
Kai and Rhys had me so invested in their story, it was unreal. Their story was so cute and beautiful, I know it’s not over, there’s two books left, but from reading the Grip series first, I already know how their story ends. That in no way affects my curiosity and excitement to learn how they got together and all the hardships they had to go through and all the sweet perfect moments between them, because there are a lot of those *heart eyes*.
I highlighted so many moments, whole paragraphs, sometimes even almost a whole page. Kennedy is just good like that! I swear that I had never fallen in love with someone’s writing like I did with hers. If I could, I would make every single person out there read her books, even the none romance lovers, because these books are so much more than just a love story. They tell so much about the world we live in.
Another thing is that this book will make you laugh out loud so many times. There are so many deep moments, and beautiful emotional ones but then there are also so many moments of laughter to decompress, and the beautiful thing is that is exactly how Kai and Rhys are with each other. They are each other’s safe haven, they share their secrets with each other whenever they need to just talk about what is bothering them but they also know when one another needs that moment to let out the stress and stop thinking about the bad in their lives.
I don’t know what to say about Kai and Rhys other than I just loved them, almost as much as I loved Gripstol. And if you loved those two, you’ll for sure loved Rai too! I cannot wait to continue reading their story.
The story of Rhyson and Kai is an emotional one. Love seeing how they learn to make their way together. Will Rhy be able to control his overbearing need for control or will he finally push Kai away?
4.5 Sweet Stars ~ I really enjoyed this book, Kennedy wrote amazing characters that pulled you into their world and made you feel with them. I loved the friendship Kai developed with Rhys, I loved the friendship she had with San and the protectiveness she had from Rhyson’s uncle Grady. The story flowed very well and held my interest from the very beginning.
I knew I was going to have a hard time waiting for the next book before I even started reading….
Wow. I am not really sure where to even start with this review. I am struggling to choose words that will adequately capture what I think of this book. To take the author’s own words this book has “written a song on my heart tonight, and I’m afraid the ink’s indelible.” As an avid reader I encounter books that make me feel all kinds of things. It is rare for me to love a book as much as I love this one. This book made me feel all kinds of things – love, anger, hope, despair, happiness, sorrow, lost and found. Kennedy Ryan has a true gift with words. She has woven a beautiful love story with fibers from all the basic facets of life, colored with all the strongest human emotions. She created a work of art through her characters and plot that will etch its way into your heart and soul. It is a book that I will read over again just so I can revisit these feelings. I highly recommend this book. It is well worth the investment of money, your time, your laughter, your tears and the piece of your heart that it will take when you are done.
I want to scream that I absolutely enjoyed this. I freaken loved the build up, the characters, the patient burn and the way it ends WHAT?!?!?! I’m soo jumping right into book 2.
When you finish reading a book you were hesitant to read and end up loving it!!!!
FYI: hesitation ONLY cause I read the GRIP series before I read this and GRIP series follows this series. #ReadOutOfOrder oops!
BUT Kennedy Ryan is an amazing author that makes me fall in love with her words all the time.
It Does Not Matter That I Read Out Of Order.
A friend’s to lover story that is filled with beautiful imagery, poetic words and deep emotional ties. Kennedy Ryan is a new author to me that totally overwhelmed me with love, anger, happiness, and sorrow. This story is All That and So Much More.
Rhyson Gray and Kai Pearson meet by coincidence or as I like to believe by fate a fate that brought these two souls together. Rhy is a famous rock star that started out as a piano prodigy. His life looks amazing to the outside world but he’s had to go through a lot in his 28 years of life. When he locks eyes with Kai Pearson, they both feel each other down to their souls. Kai isn’t interested in a love connection even though she knows there is something special about Rhy. Kai is an aspiring singer/dancer who has talent but has to make her way. Kai decides that the only thing she can offer Rhy is friendship and so their journey begins as friends. A friendship where they talk, they have fun, they share their fears and hopes and where their friendship finally becomes love.
But their journey isn’t easy or simple; it has struggles and pain as well as love and sadness. There are times when you want to shake Kai but her past is one that shapes her and makes her timid. Rhy is wonderful and full of believing in Kai but sometimes being too sure of yourself can be bad. Their journey of friendship and love is one of awakening and truth.
I must to say that the writing of Kennedy Ryan is extraordinary. She creates magical beauty. Her words dig deep into your soul and make you laugh, make you smile, make you cry and make you feel beyond measure.