I am a massive fan of Sophie Cousens and this book did not disappoint! Her books tell the kinds of stories that stick with you and make you think about choices you've made in your own life. Before I Do tells the story of Audrey and what happens in her life in various timelines all leading up to her wedding and after. It explores her complex relationship with her mother (and her mother's relationship with men), as well as a chance encounter with 'Photo Booth Guy' that leads her to question her decision of who she should be with. I loved the storytelling in multiple timelines and how each decision we make in life can affect the path we take. This is a very easy read that will hook you from the start - be prepared to read this in one sitting. Highly recommend!

It took me awhile to get into this one but it ended up being better than I had expected. This was very cute and light hearted. I would recommend this to anyone who's looking for a light, quick, fun read

Thank you netgalley for the ARC In exchange for an honest review.

This is the story of Audrey before and after her should be wedding. When someone shows up unexpectedly before her wedding, it has her questioning if she is marrying the right guy. I love a back and forth timeline and this one had me hooked since the beginning! This is my second Sophie cousens book, and I really enjoyed it!

I was a big fan of “This Time Next Year” by Cousens so I was really excited to read an ARC of her new book… and it didn’t disappoint. This book jumps between timelines allowing you to get a full picture of the main character’s relationships. Everyone has what ifs in their life, but what if your what if person came back into your life right before your wedding to someone else? I found this book to be a very realistic romance, showing how we grow and change as people. It also raises the question of do we have just one soulmate? And what is the love required to sustain a strong relationship? This book definitely made me think about what love truly is and how it can change throughout our lives.

Audrey is about to marry Josh, but when a face from the past appears, she starts to question whether or not he is the one for her. The book is written using multiple timelines that will not only explain the importance of the person from the past, but also why Audrey is beginning to question whether marriage and forever are for her.

I don't usually like books that have multiple timelines. I prefer events to be told in chronological order. However, Sophie Cousens uses these timelines to slowly reveal details of the story that allow it to keep moving along but still keep you guessing. It is not a mystery novel, but there were still details that I didn't know until they were revealed and then all of a sudden something that was happening in the present made sense.

The characters in this book were so colorful! Audrey's friends were so awesome. Her mother was searching for love but never finding it with the one she was with. I always liked Josh's character. I would have grabbed him right away, baggy jeans and all. I know that Sophie wasn't there yet and I loved how Cousens wrote the development of their relationship, but darn it, he was a keeper from the start.

That wedding was a hot mess from the beginning! Kudos to Cousens for making it entertaining yet anxiety-inducing as well to those of us who always look for things to go wrong. I would have shut the whole thing down at the bats!

Put this book on your list to read! You will be glad you did.

Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for this advanced copy! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I've enjoyed Sophie Cousens in the past, so I was excited to read this one. Similar to Just Haven't Met You Yet, I liked the writing and the side characters.

The story focuses on Audrey who is marrying Josh as the story starts. The story jumps back to when Audrey met Fred, a guy she was immediately drawn to, then doesn't see for years. Audrey and Josh's wedding is going very wrong and Fred shows up as Josh's sister's date, leaving Audrey to wonder if marrying Josh is the right more.

I appreciated how the story unfolded, but I felt really anxious reading this because of the love triangle. Ultimately, I was pleased with the outcome. I didn't fall in love with any of the main characters, but I still enjoyed this book.

Thank you NetGalley and Putnam for an ARC of Before I Do in exchange for my honest thoughts and opinions.

Meet Audrey. An indecisive, messy, go with the flow, and constantly switching careers kinda girl. She loves the stars and falls for musicians.

Meet Josh. Organized, handsome, smart, and has his life together. He’s falling for Audrey, but she doesn’t remember his name.

Meet Fred. The full-of-life, spontaneous guy she fell for years ago. She still
keeps his picture in her wallet.

Fast-forward years later, Josh and Audrey are tying the knot, when suddenly Fred shows back up! And a series of other mishaps happen. Is it fate telling her it’s not meant to be? Or to be with Fred?

This book was cute! I wish that it didn’t go so heavy on the miscommunication or really, lack thereof communication. But I really thought it was sweet and lighthearted. With a fun group of side characters.

3.75 ⭐️‘s (rounded to 4)

Thank you @netgalley for the #arc! I really enjoyed "Before I Do" 💍

Audrey gets cold feet before her wedding when someone from her past - her "what if" - shows up at the wedding as a plus one. This book takes you on all the emotional ups and downs with Audrey & Josh. I really liked it & the ending made me so happy! 💖

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

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Sophie Cousens has absolutely become an auto buy author for me. This is the story of Audrey and Josh's wedding. We know something has gone very wrong but we don't know what. Through chapters alternating between the past and the present, the picture fills in.

Overall I really liked this book. Both the main characters and the supporting cast were people I enjoyed and were rooting for. I liked how the book. was structured, and how we learned more about each characters as the story progressed. I kept going back and forth on how I wanted this story to end, and overall was very satisfied with how it turned out. I can't wait for more books from Cousens!

This book has lots of heart, hope, and humor, making it a book I simply couldn’t put down.

This book follows Audrey through a tumultuous wedding. Starting on the night before her wedding, she receives a series of “bad omens”. Coinciding with these omens is her “what if” guy, Fred, making a surprise appearance at her rehearsal dinner. Audrey must decide which pathway to take and what goes into love and marriage. Through a series of flashbacks, you get glimpses of how Audrey’s past experiences and relationships shape her present and future.

Sophie Cousens does a spectacular job pulling you into Audrey’s world and gives depth to her journey. I loved how Cousens seamlessly wrote each of the timelines and believe that they add a nice richness to Audrey’s development. I also appreciated the storyline that drew on her relationship with her mom, which felt real and complex.

This book will have you at the edge of your seat; you won’t want to stop. You’ll feel all the highs and lows, but it was a wonderful ride. Highly recommend!

Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Randomhouse for the advanced e-book copy.

Thank you to Netgalley and Putnam for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for my review.

Cousens' books are a go to comfort read for me. They just give off the warmest feelings inside and I saw stars when I got approved for Before I Do.

𝘿𝙤 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙗𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙚𝙫𝙚 𝙞𝙣 𝙨𝙤𝙪𝙡 𝙢𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙨?

Audrey is marrying Josh. He's the calm to her choas, the organization to her clutter and he's just a downright nice solid perfect guy who treats her right. Josh wasn't the type of guy Audrey normally dated. She went for the misfits, the poets, musicians, the ones who she knew were never looking for more beyond a few good times.

The book is laid out in multiple timeline fashion. You go back and forth between the present and different scenes from the past when one day 6 years ago she randomly meets Photo Booth Guy and they spend one free spirited, care free day together but when it came time to meet again the next day he doesn't show.

Audrey has thought she's moved on and realized that Josh is her soul mate until she sees HIM again the day before her wedding and all the doubts she's kept to herself come bubbling back up.

Will she marry Josh? Or does she feel the universe is attempting karma on her?

This book is a beautiful take on how while we assume every true love story ends in a HEA thats not where the story ends. There's going to be hard times and sad times and struggles. It's how you work as a team to navigate through them

I loved this one! It kept me on my toes and most of the time I didn't even know which outcome to hope for. All I now is that I wanted to reach into the book and give Audrey the biggest hug the whole time. The ending felt very satisfying.

Just like her other novels, the latest from Sophie Cousens layers multiple timelines, flawed characters, emotional upheavals, sweet moments, and a hint of melancholy.

Audrey is marrying Josh… or is she? The titular “I Do” becomes a flight risk when men from her past are on her mind and even on the arm of her soon-to-be sister-in-law. What ensues is an exploration of the role of soul mates, the choices we make, and what it really takes for love and a marriage to endure.

This would make a perfectly cozy fall read, and I considered it redemption after Just Haven’t Met You Yet fell short for me. Definitely pick this up if you’re a fan of This Time Next Year or Beth O’Leary.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advance copy in exchange for my honest review!

💍 Before I Do 💍

Some thoughts-

I love Josh and Audrey and was frustrated with her second guessing things because of bad omens and what Benedict said. I think if his quote was I introduced sooner in the story, her obsessions with signs and omens would have made more sense and been less frustrating.

I loved Clara so much and her perfect description of motherhood- ‘When I’m with them, they need me constantly, it makes me feel like I’ve lost who I am. Then, when I’m without them, it’s like a part of me is missing.’

Vivien’s unhealthy obsession with finding ‘the one’ person / soulmate, and her unhealthy relationships gave Audrey unrealistic expectations about love.

Clara talking about marriage with young kids is SPOT ON. I feel like she’s married to my husband 😆

Overall, I enjoyed this story but the book seemed to drag on a little too long.

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

Thank you @sophie_cousens and @penguinbooks for this ARC!

This was a pretty solid 3 star read (which is fine! There’s nothing wrong with a 3 star book). I thought it was an interesting take on fate and soulmates and I really liked how we got to go back in time a little bit to see glimpses of Audrey’s life before the wedding. I didn’t really connect with Audrey at all and I didn’t like the Epilogue, I thought it was too far in the future for me. But I think I would recommend this to a friend, as long as they aren’t looking for something that’s really going to wow them. Maybe a quick read from the library!

This was ok. It was never really a mystery who she’d end up with, but the drama involving her mother was the real center of the action. This was more coming of age and less romance, which is fine, just not quite what I thought I was getting, also, the best friends drama was annoying

Sophie Cousens has a way with words and the way she uses them creates characters you really care about. This book is written in multiple time lines as we follow Audrey and Josh meet and plan their wedding. So many things go wrong as Audrey struggles to find her true sole mate. This book started slow for me. I had a hard time warming to Audrey and wondered what kind, steady, lovely Josh saw in her. Then, bit by bit, by flashing back to earlier years I learned what made Audrey so reticent to fall in love. There are some dark themes in this book and at times I wondered if I would call this a romance novel but, in the end, the book is about love. I would highly recommend all three of Sophie Cousens books and hope she is busily working on her next.

I flew through this one! I really enjoyed the jumping timelines. With the prologue I had no idea how this one was going to turn out. I was team Fred through most of the book, but then changed at some point. I couldn’t decide how exactly I wanted this one to end. I loved the different supporting characters in this one too!

Thank you to NetGalley for the chance to read this book for an honest review. Sophie Cousens is one of my favorite authors and an automatic must read for me. So I was thrilled to be able to read this early. With other authors, jumping back and forth between past and present timelines can be confusing, but that is not the case here. Instead it allows us to get to know Audrey and understand the doubts she starts to experience on her wedding day to Josh. When she unexpectedly sees Fred, the guy she’d met 6 years prior and spent a “perfect” day with, it throws her because she’s always wondered what happened to him. Fred reappearing allows Audrey to evaluate her own feelings for Josh and also her own relationship with her mom.
I cannot recommend this book enough!!

“Before I Do” by Sophie Cousens was about Audrey and is the universe trying to send her a sign before she walks down the aisle with Josh. The book cleverly bounced between past and current time. You learn about Audrey’s past of dealing with all her mothers marriages that may be taking a toll on her relationships. You go back into the past when she met a guy on a whim who then shows up at rehearsal as a plus one. Could fate be trying to tell her something. But yet there is Josh the groom and how their relationship began not so exciting but maybe the safe choice for Audrey. I really loved this book. The time shifts and the quirky stories that all tied together. I was routing for Josh the whole time but is he the one for her? Are there soulmates? Audrey is bound to find out before she says I Do.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
Fun, Quirky, cute yet heart wrenching rom com that is worth the read!

#julesbookshelf #arc #beforeido #sophiecousens #romcombooks #bookstagram #netgalley #goodreads