diff --git a/src/client.rs b/src/client.rs
index 5a3825d..5d90b09 100644
--- a/src/client.rs
+++ b/src/client.rs
@@ -594,6 +594,31 @@ async fn client_connect<E: ClientExt, Connector: ClientConnector>(
     client: &mut E,
 ) -> Result<Option<Socket>, Error> {
     for i in 1.. {
+        // handle incoming user messages
+        // - It is important to do this at least once after a disconnect so users can guarantee that messages are not
+        //   sent 'across' a reconnect cycle. They can achieve that, in combination with this step, by manually
+        //   preventing messages from being sent to to_socket_receiver between on_disconnect/on_close and on_connect.
+        loop {
+            let in_message = to_socket_receiver.try_recv();
+            match in_message {
+                Ok(inmessage) => match &inmessage.message {
+                    Some(Message::Close(frame)) => {
+                        tracing::debug!(?frame, "client closed itself while connecting");
+                        return Ok(None);
+                    }
+                    _ => {
+                        tracing::warn!("client is connecting, discarding message from user");
+                        continue;
+                    }
+                },
+                Err(async_channel::TryRecvError::Empty) => break,
+                Err(async_channel::TryRecvError::Closed) => {
+                    tracing::warn!("client is dead, aborting connection attempts");
+                    return Err(Error::from("client died while trying to connect"));
+                }
+            }
+        }
+
         // connection attempt
         tracing::info!("connecting attempt no: {}...", i);
         let result = client_connector.connect(config).await;
@@ -630,32 +655,8 @@ async fn client_connect<E: ClientExt, Connector: ClientConnector>(
             )));
         }
 
-        // Discard messages until either the connect interval passes, the socket receiver disconnects, or
-        // the user sends a close message.
-        let sleep = sleep(config.reconnect_interval).fuse();
-        futures::pin_mut!(sleep);
-        loop {
-            futures::select! {
-                _ = sleep => break,
-                res = to_socket_receiver.recv().fuse() => {
-                    let Ok(inmessage) = res else {
-                        tracing::warn!("client is dead, aborting connection attempts");
-                        return Err(Error::from("client died while trying to connect"));
-                    };
-                    match &inmessage.message
-                    {
-                        Some(Message::Close(frame)) => {
-                            tracing::debug!(?frame, "client closed itself while connecting");
-                            return Ok(None);
-                        }
-                        _ => {
-                            tracing::warn!("client is connecting, discarding message from user");
-                            continue;
-                        }
-                    }
-                },
-            }
-        }
+        // wait for the connect interval
+        sleep(config.reconnect_interval).await;
     }
 
     Err(Error::from("client failed to connect"))