Sophie Cousens has swiftly become one of my favorite romance authors! Before I Do is a charming and cinematic rom com with wonderful characters. It follows Audrey on the eve of her wedding to kind, successful Josh. She runs into Fred, the man she fell in love with six years prior but disappeared. It combines some elements of Before Sunrise (spontaneous love and longing) and Amelie (photo booths and a chance encounter), which I really enjoyed. The story skips around in time and we learn about Audrey's past family and romantic relationships. The plot wasn't super surprising, but very well crafted. I listened to the audiobook which was perfectly narrated by Emma Sidi. I really enjoyed this adorable, funny novel.

Thank you Penguin Random House Audio and Putnam Books for providing this audiobook and ebook ARC.

Sophie Cousens’ dual timeline novel Before I Do; is the story of Audrey and Josh who are about to be married tomorrow - and Fred - possibly Audrey’s “one that got away.”

The days before the wedding bring some odd signs that maybe the wedding shouldn’t happen - like bats falling in the church, and then Fred showing up as Josh’s sisters date. This all leads Audrey to start wondering if Josh is really her true love.

The story answers questions, and should leave the readers happy. This wasn’t my favorite of Cousens novels, but I will surely keep on reading!

Okay so this book COMPLETELY caught me off guard. I didn't read the synopsis, so when I started reading and realized what it was about, my first thought was "oh no." It went in a completely different direction and I LOVED IT!!! The ending was absolute perfection!

Before I Do was SUCH a treat of a book. From the first page I was hooked. Audrey was such a relatable character, a flawed but lovable human who struggles with her identity. Despite this, she finds a wonderful man who loves her, after being with many horrible men following a traumatizing experience. The day before the wedding she comes face to face with a person from the past, her great “what if”. Someone she believed was her soulmate. With alternating timelines, you get sucked into Audrey’s life leading up to the wedding. This story makes you realize that oftentimes, the things that seemed so magical in the past, aren’t always what they are cracked up to be. What matters at the end of the day is what is in front of you, and what and who you want to bring into the future. I absolutely adored this story. Just wait until you meet Granny Parker, the true riot of the story.

I loved reading this book! Sophie has a great way of giving readers romance with depth. I felt deeply for the characters, and found them relatable

On the eve of her wedding, everything starts to go terribly wrong for Audrey. At the top of the list is the dreamy man she had the most incredible day with 6 years ago showing up as her future sister-in-law's date. This throws Audrey into a complete tailspin and she questions whether fate is trying to intervene to stop her wedding. To figure out what she really wants, Audrey will have to confront her past traumas before she can move forward.

I loved this sweet story. Sophie Cousens has such a beautiful way of describing the fears that come with trusting fate or trusting your own choices. I also loved the structure of this book is told with multiple timelines so that the full picture of how we got to the present becomes clear. I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a funny, sweet romance that makes you think about the role that fate plays in our lives.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for the ARC of this book.

This book had potential but fell flat for me. The main character, Audrey, is set to marry Josh until the man she met once shows up as someone’s date. I genuinely felt bad for Josh in this story and disliked Audrey a lot. She thought very highly of herself despite not having many great qualities.

I just love her books. I devour them every time. This was like her others, a fun and lighthearted romcom you can easily get lost in and escape the real world for a bit.

I kept waiting to see what insane thing would happen next to keep this wedding between Audrey and Josh from happening. It was super entertaining!

I think the thing I loved most with this book is that I continuously switched who I wanted Audrey to be with in the long run. Was it Josh, this sweet lovable man who is steady and reliable? Or Fred, the guy she had a fateful and electric meeting with years prior, but has thought about often over the years? Both seemed like great options and my heart couldn’t decide…until almost the end, and I knew who I wanted her with 💜

I recommend this if you are a romcom lover, or have enjoyed her previous novels!

Thank you to @netgalley and @putnambooks for the arc in exchange for my honest review!

The prologue starts this book off with a bang, immediately hooking you into what is going on in the main character, Audrey's, life. She's having a bit of a crisis wondering if she is making the nest decision of who to marry on her wedding day. Lots of catastrophes occur, and a reappearance of '"the one who may have gotten away" makes the choice all that much tougher for her. This is such a great story that will have you guessing what Audrey was going to do right up to the end.

I really loved reading this book. This was a very uniquely written romance, almost starting at the end, and slowly revealing the beginning.

I’ve read everything Sophie Cousens has written, and I gotta say, she just keeps raising the bar with each one.

👍
+I LOVED the messaging in the book about soul mates, romance, fate… It aligned so perfectly with my personal views, and it isn’t one you usually find in romance books. It felt like a fresh take for the genre and so real.
+ I really enjoyed the way the author wove together the story with the main story going in one line with various flashbacks in every other chapter, slowly revealing her past, her relationships, and how we ended up where we are today. In the author’s note she mentions that it was “a jigsaw puzzle to write” and I totally see that. It also made me think about the bias in memory, how if we focus on just one aspect, it can completely change our perspective.
+ There’s a love triangle in this book, and while I kinda did pick sides (then flip flopped) I don’t think I fully landed on if I wanted the wedding to happen for most of the book. And the author did a great job in slowly having us the reader be on the “right” side, revealing things as the main character herself realizes them.
+ Other things to love: some great side characters that you’ll care about enough to wish them a happy ending too, main character with panic attacks handled well, super cheesy big romantic gestures, lots of astronomy nuggets, a main character that doesn’t have all her shit together, some hilarious bad omens.

More in comments!

Overall rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5 rounded up to 5

Thank you so much to Penguin Group Putnam and NetGalley for the eARC!

Cute story, but it didn’t captivate me. It was a lot of back and forth with no real storyline for the first 80%.

This book is cute but has a lot of jumping around between timelines so I’m glad I read it and didn’t listen to as audiobook. It somewhat got old by the end with the plot but it was pretty good.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me a copy to honestly review.

Thank you to the publisher for the gifted copy.

What a cute book! This was a quick and easy read that was exactly what I needed for the month following all of my spooky reads. Almost everyone has a "what if" person or situation in their lives, and the night before her wedding, Audrey is confronted with hers. Does she go ahead with her wedding to Josh, or does she call it off in favor of finding out if her "what if" should be her "I do"?

The dual timeline between the hours before and after the wedding, and Audrey's past explaining her one day relationship with Fred worked well to explain the backstory. At first I was kind of conflicted in how I felt, but the more I read, the more I was glad that Audrey made the decision she did.

I think one of my favorite parts was Granny Parker and her bad omens - they had me laughing!

Somewhat predictable, but still a cute and fun read.

In Before I Do, Sophie Cousens explores the question, what makes a relationship worth fighting for? When Audrey unexpectedly runs into Fred, the man she felt fate tied her to, the day before her wedding to Josh - she has to figure out what it is she really wants.

From page 1, the characters were popping off the page. It was a heart wrenching story about mistakes and missed opportunities - and how maybe those are the moments we learn from the most. The jumping between timelines was fun and interesting, but there were so many times to. Keep track of that it was a bit disjointed and hard to read straight through. That doesn’t mean it sucker punched my heart any less, though, and I would do it again.

*Endless thanks to Netgalley, Penguin Group Putnam/G. P. Putnam’s Sons, and Sophie Cousens for this ARC!

Oh, I love a good story told over multiple timelines, and this book was no exception! This was a simple and charming love story that surprised me as it went along. I found myself both inspired by the underlying messages and intrigued as I truly didn’t know how this one was going to end.

The characters were interesting, quirky, and relatable. The unique timeline kept my attention and kept me guessing and the ending was satisfying and thought provoking at the same time. This was a definite five star read for me and I highly recommend adding it to your list.

Thank you to Putnam Books and NetGalley for my gifted review copy.

I have really enjoyed Sophie's past two books and was so excited to read her newest.

This is not the cute rom com that I thought it would be based on the cover but it's such a unique and special story. Told in multiple timelines, you really see the full gamut of Audrey's life. The story starts on her wedding day and it brings you to everything that happens up to this day and after. We go on a journey of Audrey's life, starting with her rocky childhood with her mother, and one magical day she has with Fred, who turns out to be her "what if" and "the one that got away" person.

This is a sweet, charming, and at times, chaotic story. It's not your traditional love story but more Audrey's journey and some personal trauma she experiences growing up. I felt quite empathetic towards her past but frustrated with her present day choices. The ending wrapped up pretty quickly and the reasoning for who she chooses didn't quite land fully for me but I still enjoyed this story and seeing Audrey's growth.

Thank you Netgalley and PENGUIN GROUP Putnam for the ARC of 'Before I Do' in exchange for an honest review.

This was such a sweet story of how hanging on to “what if” can have a ripple effect in your life. So much of what held Audrey back was how she viewed her past. I loved being able to watch her grow and realize she and her relationships were more than what she let herself believe. I realize that’s a little cryptic - but I’d hate to spoil it for you.

Let me just say this, if you’re looking for a love story full of crazy and sweet moments - this is for you.

Thank you #NetGalley for #ARC of Before I Do by Sophie Cousens. I really enjoyed the pace and back and forth of the storytelling. I felt Audrey and Josh’s relationship and yet the uncertainty of Fred.

Sophie Cousens never disappoints. Her method of storytelling is captivating, thought provoking, and fun. I've not read a bad book from her yet and Before I Do is no exception. Great characters and a fantastic story about revisiting "the one who got away" a page turning good time with all the feels

I am not typically a love triangle kind of girl, but this one might just have converted me. This is the book for all the women who dream of finding their person through the all elusive meet cute. Counsens wrote this book with tangible and relatable characters, engaging multiple timelines, and a next level depth to your typical rom com. Delightful through and through, and you’ll find yourself as torn as the main character is between her choices. A sweet and lighthearted read.