I. LOVED. THIS. BOOK.

I am a huge Sophie Cousens fan and was so delighted to get access to this ARC! This story was told in different timelines and loved how Sophie tied all of the pieces in! I enjoyed reading about all of the characters and was emotionally invested in all of them! This book kept me guessing and it was amazing!


Thank you to NetGalley, Sophie Cousens, and Putnam books for the opportunity to read an e-book ARC!

I was lucky enough to win a digital ARC of BEFORE I DO by Sophie Cousens from a Shelf Awareness giveaway. Have a safe and happy summer, and thanks for the early look!

Audrey, is a 30-something Londoner who, through many twists and turns in life, has found herself questioning every choice and her important relationships on her wedding day and asking “What if?” She has a wonderful, supportive fiancé but things really get stirred up when a man from her past turns up as a surprise wedding guest.
This book starts out with a great attention grabber - Audrey has just exited the church during the middle of the wedding and something terrible has happened, but we don’t know what. Then we back up and have to find out what happened. This book has multiple time lines and jumps around a lot. Over all I felt like it works really well and the chapters are arranged to reveal events in Audrey’s life that give insight to her feelings and actions.
Over all, I was surprised at the turn of events in this book and in the last few chapters I was really curious how this would end. Without giving away and spoilers, this did not turn out how I expected it to! I love how much Audrey’s character grows and finds herself, which is not something you often get in a romcom(ish) book. This may look like one book from the outside, but its much more nuanced and rich while still having laugh-out-loud moments.
I received this book as an advance review copy from Net Galley, all opinions are my own.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4851523282

This was a super cute romance. I liked how I found myself rooting for different characters as the story developed.

Thank you to NetGalley, Sophie Cousens, Penguin Group Putnam and G.P. Putnam’s Sons for providing this e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I don’t recall ever reading a Sophie Cousens book prior to this one, but she now has me looking to read more of her books! Her rom com was more than I ever could have expected from a rom com. All the in depth details that I always crave were there. I wasn’t left wondering what if. She kept surprising me the entire time I was reading her book. I loved it. I cannot wait to reread it, and I also cannot wait to read more of Sophie Cousens!

This review will be posted to my Goodreads and Amazon accounts immediately and to my instagram account @ginganinja333 on October 11, 2022.

There are so many things I both liked and disliked about this book!

The beginning draws you right in and I appreciated the different glimpses in time, exploring Audrey’s various relationships. The love story between her and her true love (no spoilers) was phenomenally written.

However, I found many of the characters to be extremely unlikeable. Audrey goes through many different traumas, especially in her youth, but the book doesn’t truly offer her the space to heal from them. She comes off instead like a flighty, uncaring, and selfish person. Her relationship with her mom only adds to the drama, Josh comes off as a pompous jerk, and Fred seems slightly unstable and pushy. I did love Audrey’s relationships with Clara, Hillary, and Paul, plus Granny Parker wins as my favorite character.

This book fell victim to all the tropes that are overused in romance novels of late:
-Cheating Scandals
-Miscommunication/Lack of Communication
-MC wondering how much better their life would be if they’d made different choices and agonizing over them the entire book before realizing they already have what they’ve always wanted/needed.

I really liked both of Sophie Cousen’s other novels, but unfortunately this one missed the mark for me.

Thank you NetGalley and Penguin Group/Putnam Books for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

I was a little nervous to dive back into another romance after taking a hiatus after some disappointing reads. I used to read exclusively romances before I burnt out, but this novel was exactly what I was looking for and made me excited to start reading more romance!

I was drawn in immediately from the prologue setting the scene with the female main character Audrey having what I would describe as the worst wedding weekend in history. I LOVE angst in my romance reads and between the love triangle and Audrey’s character development and backstory, I was totally hooked. It was a romance without being overly-romancy, if you know what I mean.

Thank you NetGalley and Putnam Books for the ARC!

This has all the fun, sweet elements I wanted in a book, so cute! I’d definitely recommend it to my family and friends.

On the eve of her wedding Audrey’s “what if” guy shows up at her rehearsal dinner and it throws her for a loop.
The story proceeds to go back and forth between the present day timeline and significant memories from
her past. Who is the right guy for Audrey and will she end up walking down the aisle?
Sophie Cousens does a splendid job with alternating the timelines. It was easy to follow along and I loved watching the different personal relationships build over Audrey’s lifetime leading to present day. Her friends were a hoot, her and her mothers story was an emotional ride, and the romance was sweet. The book pulled me in quick and I was really happy with how she wrapped it all up.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for sending me a copy. All opinions expressed are my own.

I love how so many things happened in the book. I could not keep myself from the book because it was so good

Really enjoyed the way the author put the timelines together, and I was in suspense about who the protag would end up with. Very engaging.

This is another heartwarming romantic comedy by Sophie Cousens who has become an auto buy author for me. You first meet the main character, Audrey, as she is stumbling out of the church barefoot and in shock still dressed in her wedding gown. The opening scene sets up what quickly becomes a page-turner of a book as you are drawn into the story of Audrey’s romance with Josh, who is the opposite of Audrey in almost every way, and her chance encounter with Fred, whom Audrey is afraid may be her soulmate. With bad omens abound playing on Audrey’s fears that the universe may be sending her a sign, the author does a good job exploring the events that shaped Audrey and her relationship with Josh. Told through three different time periods, the book explains how Audrey got to the altar with some lingering doubts as she tries to answer the age old question, do opposites really attract or should you look for the one who perfectly reflects you? With well-developed characters and excellent writing, this story will have you rooting for Audrey as she navigates the chaos to make her decision. While having its roots as a romantic comedy, this story also explores some deeper relationship issues between Audrey and her mother, her father, and step-fathers which show the importance of familial relationships and how they shape you later in life. Overall, this is a story that any fans of romantic comedies will thoroughly enjoy!

Thank you NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for the chance to read the electronic ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is an incredibly well-crafted book! I thought Sophie Cousens did an excellent job shifting between the timelines while telling a cohesive story. I agree with others that Audrey became a bit annoying, but I think that was kind of necessary for her journey as a character; it highlights her growth. I'll admit that at first I was wondering which guy the story was going to skew towards! I feel like I've been there with thinking "what if" when it comes to directions my life could have taken so I really empathized with Audrey in that sense. However, I liked the story and enjoyed reading it!

I loved what Sophie Cousens did with mixing the classic trope with the more common one. there are so many times you meet someone for the first time but the encounter seems mundane but later on has greater significance. I only gave it 4 stars because I didn't like her time in Ibiza, it felt a little forced and too far fetched, especially since a falling dead bat seemed plausible.

This book pulls you in almost immediately as Audrey (Amy) navigates her wedding day, or not wedding day. Untangling her relationships with herself, her mother, previous stepfathers and almost stepfathers and her what if soul mate Fred she goes on a journey in only hours to truly choose if she’ll say I do. Josh her fiancé better known as James or bad jeans Josh has loved Audrey through so many things taking their life together slowly and calculated. However come wedding day he’s ready to say I do to the woman who came in and made his life better, until Fred arrives at their wedding and things get off plan. A beautiful love story truly capturing how in the end you choose your own destiny and then get to nourish it. A must read again by Sophie Cousens.

BEFORE I DO tells the story of Audrey, a twenty-something astronomy-lover, who starts to question whether she should marry her fiancé on the eve of her wedding after a man from her past shows up unexpectedly at her rehearsal dinner. The story of this mystery man unfolds through flashbacks of 6 years ago. There are also flashbacks to when Audrey met and fell in love with Josh, for fiancé, creating three timelines to follow.

BEFORE I DO was an all right read for me but I found it hard to connect to the characters and found Audrey in particular very immature. I see this as more of a coming of age story and less of a rom-com; maybe that’s where some of my disappointment comes in because it wasn’t what I was expecting. After reading a few books by Sophie Cousens, I’ve decided that her books aren’t for me. That being said, I know a lot of others enjoyed this and think it has an audience with fans of British romance.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I really loved this book. I was rooting Audrey on throughout the “bad omens” on her wedding day to her ultimate decision of who she should spend the rest of her life with. I enjoyed the back and forth timeline between the present on and around her wedding day and the past stories of how she met her fiancé and how she met her first romance. I may have cried at the end - I just got so into the love story and of course, I love my happily ever afters. Another great book by Sophie Cousens!

DNF at 38 percent. I really wanted to like this book, but I just couldn't. The main character drove me crazy. I can't stand characters who lie to their partners/fiancés. Just not my cup of tea. Sophie Cousens is a fantastic writer, so this book still gets 2.5 stars.

Enjoyable wedding rom com. The pace of three different time periods, especially the two in the past being so close together, felt slightly confusing at times but it’s fairly easy to catch back onto each story line as it unfolds to show a piece of the main character. Th main character is lovely and like-able, her realistic relationships with family and friends is great and you’re rooting for her throughout. I think the ending would have been perfect with the last line of the last chapter. The epilogue was not necessary and moved this book from a 4 to a 3.

This book was cute. It took me a couple chapters to really start to get invested, but once I was it was a really enjoyable read!