This was a miss for me. Dual timelines are great if done well, but this one was all over the place to me. Audrey was a weak character with a poor attitude, especially about herself and her life. Playing victim all the time got old fast.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Before I Do

⭐️⭐️⭐️

If you’re a fan of dual timelines and the love triangle trope, check this book out. There’s a slight bit of second chance love in there as well!

This story centers a lot around Audrey’s journey in both life and love. Her history with not just another guy but her mother as well show her becoming who she is by the end of the book.

Some parts were a little too drawn out and I almost didn’t know which guy I was rooting for at times. I liked who she ended up with but didn’t leave me feeling the same love for the genre I usually feel.

Sophie’s writing is captivating. She had me on page one and I was unable to put this book down. It was an easy and fast read for me. This is my first book from this author. It’s safe to say I’ll be getting all of her books.

Thank you Netgalley for my ARC.

I loved this book. The story really sucked me in from the beginning and I was eager to find out what happened in it. I liked the back and forth timeline and the love triangle. I thought the characters were all relatable and the story had a nice balance of comedy and seriousness to it.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. I haven’t read a Sophie Cousens book I didn’t love. She’s an auto buy for me. This book is just wonderful. I loved every second of this and read it with the biggest smile. There’s a little roller coaster of what if she marries the wrong guy but I was so ok with it.

Multi-Verse & Multi-Timeline integration? Seamless.

Facing our What-Ifs on a pivotal moment of our lives? Shocking.

Reading how Audrey has grown from her past to current was amazing character development. I think the multi-timelines with this really helped us see how Audrey grew and how her mom, Josh, and Fred fit into her life and their meaning behind their timeline entrances.

This book was full of emotions, rollercoaster of rooting for one, and then not rooting for that person at all. Then rooting for the imperfectly, perfect, relationship. It was easy to read and kept me up many nights to finish the book sooner rather than later. The switching of the timelines was done so well that I never felt lost or had to go back and re-read to “catch up.”

Before I Do was such a great read. I’m a big fan of Sophie Cousens and this book did not disappoint. The book takes place on the day of Audrey’s wedding with multiple timelines. A person from her past brings up many insecurities and makes her doubt if she’s on the right track. This book was funny but also tackled some deep emotional issues and how the past can impact the way we see the world and ourselves. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.

It's tough for me to explain a lot of how I felt about this book without spoilers so I'll keep this one short and sweet. It wasn't until about 60% through the book that I realized that I REALLY enjoyed the plot. I for sure thought this was going to go one way but then it didn't and that made me enjoy it even more. This book skips around in timeline and I enjoyed only getting glimpses of situations and not really seeing the full picture until the end.

Forget about the romance and go into this book focusing on the main idea that I think is... It's always easy to fantasize about what ifs but that's just it... those are fantasies.

I highly recommend this book and do your best to go in absolutely blind (except for synopsis!)

Before I Do was such a refreshing read. This is my first Sophie Cousens read and she did not disappoint. It’s a romance, but so much more. It dives into the complex dynamic between mothers and their daughters and the question of soul mates and parallel dimensions. Do they exist? Is it possible we have more than one ideal person out there?

Audrey seems like a typical nervous bride on the surface but underneath her game day makeup and fake smile, you can sense the panic rising. That panic comes to a head when the “one who got away” shows up at her rehearsal dinner. That would be enough to shake anyone, but her wedding ends up being a chaotic event. Every time something goes wrong, Audrey doubts her decision to marry even more.

Audrey is such a relatable character and Cousens does a wonderful job of building her relationships with the people around her. I could sense her connection to each person and it made me even more eager to find out how her story ended.

While I loved the concept for this book, I didn't really care for any of the characters portrayed in it.

The main character is a wounded, meandering soul who doesn't know who or what she wants out of life. And she has good reasons for her issues. It wasn't until she almost lost the one good thing in her life that she finally worked on herself enough to get her act together.

But that's the problem... She is portrayed almost as a victim the whole time, unable to commit or stick with any plan. She's not the type of woman one might aspire to be.

I do enjoy the author's writing style, but as others have mentioned here, the shuffled timeline was almost too much at times. So, overall, this book didn't do it for me.

Thank you to Sophie Cousins, Penguin and NetGalley for an advance review copy.

I started the book with hopes that this would be a light, entertaining contemporary romance. Unfortunately, I got a little more than I expected. I wasn’t sure what to make of the book because there were so many names of people, and there was the current timeline, the recent past, and the past before that. I usually enjoy alternating timelines, but all of the jumping around confused me. In addition, the book went from romance to family drama to women’s fiction. Despite all this, the book picked up after the halfway point. However, it did get better, and I was able to get full resolution with the story; I am pleased with the ending.

This book is quite unusual in that every chapter is in a different time, before and after, the main event, which is the disastrous wedding of the hero and the heroine. I loved the way Cousens executes this multi-timeline approach. The story is mainly from the heroine's POV and is set in England. She is someone who flitted about different majors (courses) at university and finally dropped out. She does odd jobs here and there to scrape together a living. While she feels stuck several years behind her friends who have steady jobs, house mortgages, marriages, etc., i.e., the usual trappings of life of people in their twenties and thirties, she is not very motivated to try to change her life. She is suffering from trauma and that leads her to live a risky, careless life. The hero is sweet, kind, responsible, loving, and upstanding. Just the best, and he loves her unconditionally. I did not like the heroine's attitude to life and how she simply takes from everyone around her, including her fiance. He does all the work, and yet he is shown to be grateful to her just for her presence in his life. The author tries to give her a character update towards the end of the book, but it was too little, too late for me.

Review will be published on Cogitations & Meditations later this month at http://keirasoleore.blogspot.com.

“[If] you’re going to commit to anything in this life, shouldn’t it be love?”

I absolutely LOVED this novel! Before I Do by Sophie Cousens checked all the boxes: love, comedy, friendships, relationships, destiny, what-ifs and more! In this opposites-attract, what-can-go-wrong-will-go-wrong romance, Audrey is a dreamer and Josh is well grounded. (Literally! One loves stars and the other plants trees!) But when Fred, aka Photo Booth Boy, who Audrey spent one day with six years ago and has dreamed about ever since is brought to her wedding by Josh’s sister, Audrey starts second guessing everything! Moreover, when their wedding day turns into an actual disaster – are these signs of fate intervening?

Cousens’ wittiness and humor bleeds through the pages and her characters are so easy to relate to and fall in love with. You will find yourself rooting for Team Audrey and Josh, and wishing you had a friend like Hillary in your corner.

Just because we are given a second chance at something, doesn’t mean we have to take it or that it’s the right move – but Audrey has her head in the clouds and has her mother that has been married five times as her role model. Even though Audrey’s thinking can be a tad too much at times, she is vulnerable and trying not to make any more (perceived) mistakes in her life.

I loved some of the quotes through-out the novel: “Love might be easy, but relationships can be hard,” and that “we are simply atoms of stardust.” The discussions on soulmates and destiny really give you something to ponder when you are reading this, and I had to pause and reread some paragraphs again because the outlook of some of the characters was so refreshing. I admit – I went back and forth between who I wanted Audrey to choose, and I completely believe in “signs” as well!

This will be novel I go out and buy to lend out to all of my friends that MUST read this book! I can definitely see this turning into a movie – though the back-and-forth timelines may be a little hard to navigate on film. I give this 4.8 stars (0.2 from perfect because with how many things went wrong for poor Audrey and Josh in this novel – it did get to the point of unrealistic, even if it was hysterical).

If you like romantic comedies, then this book is for you! Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC; all opinions are my own!

Just remember: All the “great love stories end in a dance routine.” And this one included a glitter cannon!

Hours before Audrey’s wedding bad signs keep happening and then her fiancé, Josh, sister shows up and her wedding date is Audrey’s “what if” guy from many years ago. Is this a sign she is marrying the wrong guy?

The chapters are told from different points of view – right before and after Audrey’s wedding, her whirlwind with Fred, and finally meeting and dating Josh. They Cousens wrote really gives the reader a full scope of Audrey character development and why she made the choices she did.

I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it, it makes one think about fate/timing/moments in our life who have made us into who we are today.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House for gifting me this ARC for my honest review.

“You know me…” she said with an evasive smile.
“I don’t actually.” He paused, then tilted his head to one side. “Though, whenever we meet, I think how much I’d like to.”

If you decide to read Before I Do for romance then you'll get a little. What you will get a lot of is our main character, Audrey, struggling with the questions of of destiny versus conscious choice on her wedding day-- not exactly the most opportune time to begin questioning all your life choices.

Before I Do jumps back and forth in time. The present timeline is Audrey's bad omen-filled wedding day to Josh (dead bats, near-death by strangulation, an old flame turning up). The wedding is messy. And the past timeline is all the events that have led up to the wedding day, all the choices she made going back six years. Audrey as a character is flawed-- a bit selfish, flighty, and disorganized. Audrey has also had some unprocessed trauma and mother issues which leads her to doubt and second-guess the meaning of love.

I really liked Before I Do, although it's not my favorite Sophie Cousens' novel. I liked that it wasn't a typical romance. Marketed as a love triangle, it's really about woman who needs to take charge of her own destiny and take ownership of her setbacks.

It took a minute to get into this book. At least every chapter swings back and forth in time, sometimes a chapter had two different times in it, (like 1 year ago and then today), Before I caught onto the cadence of the book, I got a reading whiplash for two starts. Once I got into the the book and understood the different timings, I enjoyed the storyline. Audrey and Josh are soon to be married. During the book, we read about her past and experiences that make her love the way she does, and in turn, what makes her fearful of love.

Thank you to NetGalley, Penguin Group Putnam, and Sophie Cousens for allowing me to read this book in advance.

5/5 ⭐️

I freakin’ looove @sophie_cousens & this book!! It tackles a very real, human experience: the what-if. As someone who’s often second guessed myself because of what-ifs, I’ve learned to live by the phrase “a bird in the hand is worth more than two in the bush.” And this book. Y’all. It truly dives in to the conflicting thoughts that happen when confronted with situations from our past, “bad omens,” and possible second chances.

Plus as someone who’s planning my own wedding, I felt the main character Audrey’s stress and can understand how easily it is to reconsider all your life decisions when everyone is giving their opinions about it.

Also, as someone who’s tried a few different career paths, I loved Audrey’s professional growth and how she was supported while figuring it out. It mirrors my own life, which happened a lot & I mention quite a few similarities in this review.

I want to spoil the ending so bad because I have so many thoughts and want to talk all about it BUT I won’t. Just know when I tell y’all I was rooting for the way it ended 🙏🏻 mmm I’m so happy about it.

Please DM me when y’all read it so I can chat about this one! I’ve never had so many “wow this chick has so many of the same thoughts I’ve felt” moments in a book. And now I’m searching out a Greek vacation too. Because my life is now influenced by this book. Or my life is just so similar that it feels influenced. Idk but I know I love it.

Thanks to NetGalley & G.P. Putnam’s Sons for the ARC. This review is 100% honest & my own. Pub date: 11 October 2022. Go out and buyyyyyy it! Preorder it!

Before I Do is my first book by author Sophie Cousens.

It's Audrey's wedding day, but things aren't going to plan, not least because 'the one that got away' has come as her future sister-in-law's date to the wedding. Told in flashbacks and rolling forwards from the wedding rehearsal, Audrey has to decide whether she wants to marry solid dependable Josh or take a chance on Fred, a man she had one date with six years earlier.

I like this book okay. I'm not sure what was missing, but it felt like something was. I didn't love it or hate it.

before I do by sophie cousens!!📖💒💕
★★★★

the plot:
imagine the one that got away, lost to time and circumstance, shows up again in your life - but he’s a plus one at your rehearsal dinner aka it is the night before your wedding to someone else. sos!

the story starts with audrey, running out of the chapel on the day of her wedding. as we go back and forth in time, we learn more of why and all about the emotional baggage carried by audrey from different shaping times of her life. we learn about fred, her “what if” guy; but we also learn about josh, her fiancé. the past is revealed parallel to us getting closer and closer to the wedding and wondering what will happen. it’s an emotional rollercoaster and a PERFECT romantic comedy.

my thoughts:
I LOVE THIS BOOK.🥰😭🫶🏻 it is truly a quintessential rom com. I felt like I was watching a movie as I read. in fact, please consider this my formal petition for the world to make this into a movie! it reminded me of a few things: runaway bride, one day in december, and bridget jones diary - aka some of the very best things.

at the halfway point, I was so torn on who I wanted audrey to end up with…the love triangle was MASTERFULLY done which added a lot to the story.

I loved the glimpses into different times and I appreciated the short chapters - I felt like it never dragged, and I was more curious how it all fit together than anything else.

all in all - I squealed, I laughed, I cried!!!! I felt all the things and I loved it.

thank you @netgalley for the advanced copy of this book. it was a dream of mine when I started this account to get a copy of a book I was looking forward to reading, before it was released so this really was a dream come true🥰🥰🥰

& thank you sophie! you get rom coms and I love you for that. this time next year was one of the first books that got me into reading again in 2020, so thank you two times.🤍🤍

I was invested in this story from the beginning. The falling in love. The questioning and doubting. The happy ever after! It is so relatable! Can't wait to read more by Sophie