STILL is the conclusion of Grip & Bristol’s emotional journey. You must read FLOW, the prequel, and GRIP, book 1 before beginning STILL “Take everything you’ve ever thought about follow-up books and discard it. Even deeper than what came before, STILL is a love letter to soul-deep commitment. I adored Flow and Grip, but Kennedy took it to a whole new level with STILL. Prepare to be blown … adored Flow and Grip, but Kennedy took it to a whole new level with STILL. Prepare to be blown away.” – Ella Fox, USA Today Bestselling Author
I’ll be there.
Through thick and thin.
Ride or die.
You can count on me.
The promises people make.
The vows we take.
Assumptions of the heart.
Emotion tells us how we feel, but life…life has a way of plunging us in boiling water, burning away our illusions, testing our faith, trying our convictions.
Love floating is a butterfly, but love tested is an anchor.
For Grip and Bristol,
Love started at the top of the world
On a Ferris wheel under the stars
But when that love is tested, will they fly or fall?
more
REVIEW: Why? How? How can I limit the stars on this one….?
“Emotion tells you about love, but hard times prove it.”
That opening quote is probably the most perfect quote for this book, for this series. First and foremost, this has to be one of my most highlighted books I have ever read. And now comes my admission: I CRIED. Ok? I know!! I get to add another book to my very short list of books I’ve openly cried at while reading. Tearing up….that’s a big step, but actually crying is usually an impossible feat. This story was masterfully choreographed and beautifully written. I love that Kennedy was able to infuse witty commentary, giggle worthy moments, and a love that was destined to be, all within the confines of a book that discussed the very real subjects that this one did. Her words have always touched me, but this one was on a whole new level. I’ve read and enjoyed every single one of her books, but this series is my favorite of hers. Sorry Rhys and Kai!!
I have always said a book should be effortless to read, and the writing should just flow. I’ve never had to reread passages, or try to figure out what’s going on with Kennedy’s writing. She has a very natural ability to her storytelling and she oozes sexiness with her words and descriptions. Her stories infiltrate your mind as well as your heart. Grip and Bristol’s love crosses every social, political, racial, anything, bias out there, and she did it with respect and responsibility. Their love motivates them. Their love comforts them. Their love nurtures them. Their love propels them.
“I have to ask myself when I come home, do I want someone who completely understands the struggle? Or someone who completely understands me? Someone I can’t wait to come home to, someone who makes me laugh on the hardest days of my life? Every single decision isn’t filtered through my race. Love isn’t.”
And yes, it’s done with LOVE. Love is the number one factor behind this entire story, and rightfully so. Her characters were rich in depth, morals, and values. The magnitude of their love is unparalleled to any love I’ve ever read. EVER. This story was an emotional gut punch from beginning to end, and the depth of their love was tested on all fronts. It was amazing. It was deep. It was powerful. I won’t forget this love.
“I’m as sure of her as I am that every single night the moon will show up, the stars will shine down, and hours later, the sun will rise again.”
This isn’t the kind of book you rush through. It’s the kind of book you feel from the beginning to the end. The kind you can put down and mull over. The kind you can daydream about and sigh over, and then pick it back up and start at it again. It’s such a moving experience. While I would love to say it’s Grip and Bristol’s love that moved me beyond explanation, I would be lying if I didn’t outright just say it was because of Kennedy’s writing. This was an eye opening book, but it was the most amazing love story. Having said that, one thing I know without a shadow of a doubt is that Grip is the MAN. He treats his woman with dignity and respect, he gives her the love she deserves and commands, and he isn’t afraid to show it. He is out loud and proud of his love for Bristol. The one who single handedly owns his heart. He is the man.
“I don’t know if it’s mine or if it’s hers, but this moment, this perfect glass-blown moment where our bodies unite and our souls intersect, this moment belongs to us.”
I wish I could say “it goes without saying”, and I’m not sure I can, but writing a sequel, not even a required one, but a new conclusion to a finished story that raced through the book world on a high because of the necessary discussion, Kennedy did it again. She is nothing short of brilliant with her words. I’m sure that has to be a daunting task to pick up and try to make this one just as good, if not better than the first, and she did just that. She really did. She gave us, her loyal readers, another amazing experience. A moving experience. A love like Grip and Bristol’s is a once in a lifetime love…and we got to experience it again.
I don’t like ‘in your face politics’. I don’t like to be force fed opinions. I like when they are respectfully delivered and socially responsible with our current climate. I like the way Kennedy delivered this one. She was a voice of reason in a tumultuous territory that can read ‘either/or’, but not always ‘and’. She included everything and everyone. I may be uneducated in many ways, but I do know how I felt while reading this one, and I felt empowered and understood the discussion at hand. Kennedy did this all while delivering an incredible love story….with precision and class.
Kennedy is going to ruin me for the next few books I have to read, I just know it!! I want to hate her and love her all in the same breath. If 5 stars are a reflection of greatness, this deserves the galaxy. Kennedy, YOU are what makes the book world IT for me. The depth your words give. The feelings your stories evoke. Their love is the definition of perfection, and you just redefined it.
I openly admit I have ‘performance anxiety’ when it comes to my review. I feel sad knowing that I’ll never ever be able to fully explain the magnitude of the impact that this book had on me and my emotions, and my review will never live up to the justice she has done for such a deep topic. But I rest easy knowing that I have read it. I have felt it. I have loved it. I have shared it. I hope you will too.
“Dwell in possibility.”
~BEE
First off, if i could I’d give this 10 stars instead of 5 bevause it was so epic of an ending to one of my favorite series!!! GRIP was amazing itself and then Kennedy went and gave us STILL and man this book is beyond amazing its gripping, emotional and so much love in it. Coming from a interracial relationship especially one where im married to a black man. Still spoke to me so much as a white woman being married into a black family. I understood Bristol 100%. There was no confusion as to what she was going through because that’s how my life has been the past almost 10 years. Kennedy hit the nail on the head for me. I can never thank her enough for writing a book on a topic such as this! She did so well getting everything across in the book. The humor and banter between the characters in the book was so comical. i laughed my butt off and was reminded of my husband and I ‘s humor and relationship reading this. There were times in this book where i was gutted by the emotional turmoil the characters went through. My heart ached for them so bad. I was sobbing with them through their pain. And then i was sobbing happy tears in parts. But then there are times that i had anger and wish to take it out on a character or throw my kindle. The little touches Kennedy put in to connect every little bit of Bristol and Grip made it the best. Im not sure there will be another book to top Still this year. Ive have never hightlighted so much in a book. Thank you kennedy for writing all of the words and finishing Bristol and Grip’s story. I’m forever grateful. #Stillsquad #gripstol
This is the conclusion to Bristol and Grip’s story and WOW what an ending!!! This book gutted me. This was such an emotionally packed book. Bristol thought after she had Grip she had everything and nothing could rock them but life has a way of happening. As they start their lives together without the shadow of their past hanging over them, life happens. This story was so amazing and I couldn’t put it down. Kennedy Ryan has shown me why I love reading her books, she puts so much heart in her stories. I loved reading Kai and Rhyson’s story but Bristol and Grip’s was grittier and it hits the reader harder. Their love is never ending and they are each other’s ride or die. This is a book I will read over and over again.
“Our hearts can do the impossible
Do you believe?
Then fly, my love! Soar!
My pretty bird, fly with me and cry no more.”
Okay, so I’m not sure I even have the words to express how much this story moved me. Not only did they deal with issues surrounding the color of their skin, they also had to deal with SO MUCH MORE. Grip & Bristol are absolutely in the running for one of my favorite couples … ever.
So, Grip & Bristol’s story ended in Grip with the couple seemingly on their way to happiness. Of course, with Grip’s success & the opposition from some based on their skin colors, I knew SOMETHING was bound to happen. As we delve into Still, the couple is faced with almost every opposition a couple can face, and damn if they don’t face it with some sophistication. I loved seeing each of their responses to criticisms! This is the first series I’ve read with a biracial couple that truly faced such clear blockades with their family, colleagues, and friends. It was a breath of fresh air to not only see this addressed, but to see it addressed in a way I wish EVERYONE feeling these feelings could muster.
“I’ve never felt this lost,” he confesses, his broad shoulders shrugging helplessly. “You said I want to fix you. In some ways you’re right, but not to make it easier for me. I’d do anything to stop you pain, but I can’t seem to find the solution. I only know that if we’re together, there is one… I just need to know at the end, we’ll still have each other.”
“I blink, swiping uselessly at my own tears. I’ve been looking for the light, and it’s been right here the whole time.”
There was a moment, or two, when I believed these two wouldn’t make it. I’m not telling you ANYTHING, but let’s just say that this situation has slaughtered SO MANY relationships (and with good reason). The pain they were feeling was something so far beyond devastating, that I cried for almost every page reading it and STILL have a broken heart for their pain. I know this is something that so many face, and I make no presumption to begin to understand how this impacts a life, changes a heart, and completely flips the script. I don’t have enough words for the beauty that Kendall Ryan created from this masterpiece.
This series gives us so much to think about, so much to feel, and a beauty I don’t have the talent to describe. Read it. Share it. Seriously, your heart may break, but it will thank you for the beauty
It’s been more than a week since I finished Still and I was just so in awe of the beauty and magic of this book that I had to take some time to be able to put my thoughts down. I knew Kennedy would knock it out the park with this book but in no way did I ever think she would outdo the first book. I am not a spoiler girl but you must read this book. Bristol and Grip’s love story is something people only imagine, its epic and a story I am so glad I know.
I dived, head first into STILL because I knew Grip and Bristol. I. Knew.Their. Love. I knew how hard they fought to get to each other and how hard they would fight to protect that love. I needed to know where their love would lead them. So, STILL was an automatic 1-click book for me.
That being said, I immersed myself in the body of words that Kennedy Ryan skillfully chose to tell the remainder of Grip and Bristol’s story. The words flowed over my skin and seeped into my soul. They drenched me and carressed me, stripping me bare. I felt like a skinny dipper trying to navigate a lake of raw emotion that was almost too viscous and deep to get through. The anticipation and joy with which I entered my reading experience quickly changed to trepidation, outright fear, and despair until I was able to kick my way to the surface, landing on the peaceful shore. I emerged, teary-eyed, feeling heated and exhausted from my swim. I was relieved and happy to have read STILL. The goosebumps on my skin were real and a byproduct of the euphoria I felt from swimming in the very real and intense love that is #Gripstol.
Kennedy Ryan is a poet, a philosopher, a philanthropist, and an artist with a social conscience. She is an archeologist who excavates the long-buried emotions of reader’s souls.
STILL is an experience that requires one to run the gamut of feelings. It requires one to think and challenge life-long perceptions. It is real, relevant, and essential reading. STILL is a modern classic.
Grip is a series of books that has impacted my thought process and my soul. I will lovingly reread these books treasuring every second I spend between the pages.
(Cannot be read as a standalone)
Still is a must read. I went into this thinking that the storyline was going to be predictable. Well… this went into a completely different direction than what I originally thought it was going to be.
This is an amazing read. A romantic story that hits the heart in all the right places. It involves today’s issues and struggles, but it also highlights hope and love.
Kennedy Ryan does it again. Her words and lyrics are pure poetry. I can’t get enough of this woman.
“An artist’s duty, as far as I’m concerned, is to reflect the times”
I’ve known it since I read my first Kennedy Ryan book, but Still just solidifies it…Kennedy Ryan is an artist. I know she wasn’t referencing herself when she chose this quote, but I’m appropriating it for her. She’s absolutely brilliant and I am in awe of her. Her words are poetry and beauty and they hold me captive.
Still, while still continuing to delve further into racial issues and issues of inequality that were in the forefront of Grip, is truly a love story. It’s a love story between a man and a woman who know no bounds when it comes to their love. The love Bristol and Grip share is real, it’s astounding, it’s a once-in-a-lifetime kind of love. And in Still, Ms. Ryan will have you feeling and reeling and reveling in their love.
To steal a phrase from Bristol- “…I don’t even have language…” to give this book, this series, justice. I didn’t know I needed this book. That my heart and my soul needed it. But I did. They did. And Still gave me everything I didn’t know I was looking for. It gave me true love that can handle anything thrown its way. It gave me true love that can stare down adversity and smack it in its face, both figuratively and literally. It gave me true love that can handle heartache and heartbreak and come out even stronger on the other side.
Because these are two people who “love without walls.”
Always.
Evermore.
Even after.
Still.
I’ve finished my journey with Grip and Bristol. I’ve never before felt so invested in two fictional people than I was with these two, through Flow and Grip, and now Still. I feel blessed to have “met” Grip and Bristol.
Life was not easy for either of them, and yet their capacity to love was endless. Love for each other, a brother, a cousin, a mother, and more. They are so real; so perfectly human and fragile and damaged and good. Grip and Bristol became real to me and I felt as though they were my friends. But they are far better than me. They want to change the world, and not from the sidelines. Their energy and drive is boundless.
I don’t want to retell their story. I want you to discover these two beautiful souls for yourself. Step into their lives and feel everything they do. Live life for a while with them. Feel what the author intended, because theirs is no ordinary love story. It’s a life story. It’s a love that is beautiful, hard earned and truly tested. I felt as though these two characters touched me and I hope it is the same for you.
Grip and Bristol stayed with me after reading Grip. After reading Still, I feel lost and wrecked and yet healed. Some books are unforgettable and Still is one of those books for me. There are not enough stars to give this book its due. It is my favorite of 2017.
Thank you Kennedy Ryan for sharing these wonderful people with us, for opening our minds to the injustices that occur everyday and to those who want to make a difference, to the joys, sadness, heartache, hope and all-consuming love that can be found in a relationship, and for sharing so much of yourself in each book of the Grip series.
I’m not sure what to say about Still that hasn’t already been said. I was definitely a little worried going into this book, since Kennedy Ryan knocked it out of the park with Grip. My worries quickly evaporated as I remembered why I loved Grip and Bristol’s story so much to begin with. Kennedy definitely knows how to hit all the feels!
Grip and Bristol’s journey is one we all can learn from. This couple had a solid foundation from the get-go and after years of fighting against what they wanted, they finally fought for what they needed…EACH OTHER! That being said, it was that foundation that held them together through some of the hardest tests life could throw at them.
This book was powerful, beautiful, emotional, but most of all it was moving! Grip and Bristol’s unwavering love is one we should all strive for. The way these two protect each other and what they stand for, the way they pick each other up when they are down, the way they forgive is admirable!
Kennedy Ryan should be proud of the words she wrote. They are some of the greatest words I have ever had the pleasure of reading and I am simply honored to have been part of this journey!
I will love this series, these characters, and this author “Always. Evermore. Even After. Still.”
This book was – everything! I laughed, I cried, I felt enlightened. These characters were so real to me! Additionally, I felt my eyes opened to a new world view, one I hadn’t really considered in the past. I highly recommend this series – read the books in order: Flow (free), Grip, then Still.