
Member Reviews

Unable to review at this time. Will review at a later date. I'm cleaning up my netgalley in order to review 2023 books. This book sounds delightful and will read once fully caught up on my account. Thank you for this opportunity! I look forward to reading this book!

This wasn't excellent, and it wasn't horrible. It fell firmly in the middle for me as a sweet, tropey escapade. I didn't love it but didn't hate it either!

Solid 3.5/5
I wanted to love this book but for some reason I just don’t.
I really liked the main character, Audrey, she really comes full circle and it’s great to see her grow up during the book. The book itself is set the day prior to her wedding and then flashes back to different times in her life. The man that’s her what if? Shows up to the wedding. I think maybe if the book was faster paced I could have liked it more. There’s just something missing from it

I loved this story. The wondering who’d she end up with. Did it end the way I thought? No, but it ended exactly the way it should have!

This book was so much deeper than the lighthearted romance I expected. It is complex, leaving you questioning if there's such a thing as fate and that special one...I enjoyed all the characters individually and the way they were all together .I got this as an arc

5 stars for Before I Do!
This is my second Cousens book and I much prefer it to “Just Haven’t Met You Yet” but I can totally see the parallels between both books. Cousens loves to write about the mythical magical “perfect man out there” scenario.
Before I Do does a great job is flashing between the past and the present. I really enjoyed the character development of Audrey as we see glimpses of her past and her relationship between her mother, her future husband, and the “maybe perfect guy for me”, Fred.
I most enjoyed the classic British humor and Audrey coming to terms with what she wants in life and love.
I HATED Benedict and the interactions with him made my skin crawl. Which only goes to say how great of a writter Cousens is. I loved the last half of the book and how it added a touch of humor back into the heavy book. The airplane shenanigans, backup dancers and viral video were such a relief. Lastly, Granny Parker was the star of the whole book and you can’t change my mind!
This book is a perfect book for anyone who loves a good self discovery book with a hint of overcoming your fears and trauma.
Thank you Netgalley and Putnam Publishing Group for this eARC in exchange for my honest review!

I really enjoyed this one!!! The back and forth from past to present was a fun way to reveal things and (without giving spoilers) I found myself liking one love interest more and desperately hoping she would end up with him (spoiler: she did). It was fun and cute but not something I’m going to remember for a long time but will definitely recommend

This book is about the doubts and questions (the “what ifs” in some cases) that can come to mind as one gets married. The book had some good comic and some insightful moments. My problem with reading this book is that the timelines skipped back and forth too much. I found it confusing to follow. The story line itself was fun; it just became too frustrating to keep segments straight. I do thank NetGalley and the publisher for letting me read this in exchange for an honest review..

I have really enjoyed all of Sophie’s books and thought this storyline was especially refreshing. Her characters and their struggles are always complex and charming and I always find myself rooting for them. The transitions between past and present were seamless and I couldn’t wait to find out how the story would play out. Overall, such a heartwarming, breath of fresh air.

It’s the night before Audrey’s wedding when who should show up but the one that got away.
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Audrey and Fred spent one magical day together six years ago, and she’s thought about him ever since. Now engaged to Josh, imagine her surprise when Fred shows up as someone else’s date at her rehearsal dinner. 😱
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Told in three timelines—present day, her one day with Fred, and meeting/falling for Josh.
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Y’all I loved this book! Apparently love triangles with flashbacks are my jam. 🤷🏻♀️🤩 I loved getting to know each character through the flashbacks. I loved how the person I was rooting for changed as I read. I loved the idea of fate and destiny and if that really matters. I loved Audrey’s relationships with her family and friends and all the ways that they supported her. I thought the ending was perfect and even brought a couple tears to the ole eye. 💜
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Thanks so much to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for the e-arc!

Sophie Cousens has delivered another wee gem with “Before I Do.” I was lucky enough to receive an advance copy from Netgalley.
Audrey is getting married. Or is she? “Before I Do” takes us through the hours leading up to her wedding to the dependable, sweet, rugby handsome Josh, while also jumping back in time to the one perfect day she spent with the spontaneous, electric, and enigmatic Fred, who she never saw or heard from again but whose picture she carries around in her wallet to this day.
When Fred shows up at her rehearsal dinner as the date to one of the wedding party, it’s just one of many bad omens that take place leading up to Audrey and Josh’s big day - including dead bats falling from the church ceiling, and groomsmen with food poisoning.
I adored this book! The first half dragged for me a bit but the second half had me completely hooked. I love how we slowly learned more about Audrey’s character and why she is the way she is. Her obsession with astronomy was really fun when it came up, which was often. And perhaps the most interesting part for me was Audrey’s relationship with her mother Vivien, who has jumped from man to man and marriage to marriage over the years. I think Cousens writes complex mother/daughter relationships so well, as she also did in “This Time Next Year”
There is a talk between Audrey and Vivien at the end of the book that had me in tears and I almost never cry at books so clearly this one got to me! Four stars for a great book that is a love story and is as much about forgiveness (of yourself and others) as it is about romance.

A moving and realistic portrait of last minute thoughts and choices before a wedding. I loved the wit.
Many thanks to PENGUIN GROUP Putnam and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Sadly, this was not the book for me. I couldn’t get behind the characters or storyline, but finished it despite wanting to DNF.

Sophie Cousens is on my "don't care what the plot is, I'm buying this book" list. This one was funny, dreamy, and gave me butterflies. We've all experienced a "what-if" moment and I loved the journey these characters took.

BEFORE I DO grabbed me from the first page! A disastrous wedding day sets the scene and I was hooked...but then, in the middle, it got soooo slow.
The writing and story was good enough that I kept going, but this book needed trimming. There were also far too many characters.
Having said, BEFORE I DO managed to perfectly execute a love triangle (a trope I absolutely loathe) and the ending was perfect.
𝗥𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗡𝗚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
𝗦𝗧𝗘𝗔𝗠 𝗟𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗟: Rated PG / Kissing and awareness that characters sleep together. Closed Door.
𝗧𝗥𝗜𝗚𝗚𝗘𝗥𝗦: past death of parent, past inappropriate sexual advances
𝗙𝗘𝗘𝗟𝗦: 3/5 - You will definitely feel some feels.

What would you do if 'the one that got away' turned up the night before your wedding?
This is one of those questions that can throw you off. Audrey has had an easy life...she changes jobs like she changes shoes. She never really looked for a long term relationship, probably because of how many times her mother has divorced and married...gives her a skewed way of looking at things. The first several times she meets Josh she is not impressed enough to remember his name...keeps calling him Jeremy. Then something changes and he suddenly peaks her interest but he's in a relationship. The next time they meet up as guests at a wedding he's single again and they are free to let the sparks fly.
This book starts out with Audrey walking out of the church on the wedding day with the title "one minute after I didn't"...it goes back and forth in time so the entire relationship builds up to the wedding and how the one she thought got away ended up there with someone else. There are bad omens at rehearsal and on the morning before so with everything going on she is questioning ALL of it.
The author is good at weaving a romance in a way that can make you think about bigger topics and this one is kind of about whether or not fate and soulmates are a thing and how you can convince yourself of one thing only to find out it's all in your head.
I enjoyed this one but it will come in 3rd place in books I've read by this author.

Thank you, netgalley for my copy of this book.
I enjoyed Sophie Cousens book before and this one I think I liked even better.
There was a lot of drama and miscommunication and it definitely kept me guessing for awhile at how it was going to end.
The romantic gesture at the end had me laughing out loud.
Overall, I liked this one. 3 stars.

I recently finished Before I Do and I gave it 2-2.5 stars.
I did not like any of the characters. I found it hard to root for Audry. I typically like books with multiple timelines. But with the timeline here I felt like some chapters were not necessary to the plot of the story. It was very choppy and just felt unnecessary and excessive. It could have been a shorter story with a less rushed ending. I felt like Audrey was immature and blamed her problems on others. In my opinion, she shouldn't have ended up with either cause it sounded like she needed to spend some time alone to figure things out. The premise was cute, but not when you get into the nitty-gritty of the relationships.
I received this book through NetGalley and the publisher for my honest review.

Before I do ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I received an advanced copy of Before I Do by @sophie_cousens and loved it!
This book follows Audrey who is about to get married when her “one that got away” mystery man walks in with her soon to be sister in law. The book proceeds to show Audrey’s past and you start to wonder which man she will end up with.
I loved the ending and was honestly a little surprised by it! Coming out October 11, 2022.

I love Sophie Counsens and this book did not disappoint. It was fun and light without being predictable or cliche. Audrey, the protagonist, was a bit annoying especially towards the end and I wish her character development would have been stronger and more positive. Overall through a good read!