Sophie Cousen’s always does a great job writing nonlinear timelines and building up angst within a romance. I loved Audrey as a main character, the wedding setting and how the drama made sense with the story. Cousen’s also did a great job balancing the over the top/ silly moments with the more serious topics.

Read if you are interested in
-Stories that question fate and “what if”
-Nonlinear timelines
-Wedding settings
-Love triangles
-Family drama

Deeper than your typical Rom-Com. Sophie has a beautiful writing style that brings characters to life. They feel real. You won’t always like them, but you will feel driven to understand their choices and follow their journey. I struggled a bit with the female MC and her indecisiveness. Although I loved how it all came together in the end. This is a story about the love that you think got away, the what-ifs, and what true love really means. I applaud authors efforts showing a human and realistic approach to a love story.

Audrey is the quintessential nervous bride on her wedding weekend. Anxious about walking down the aisle to Josh amid a myriad of bad omens, mishaps, and a wedding she had very little voice in planning, she's completely shaken when Fred, her "What if?" guy, shows up at her rehearsal dinner. What if they'd had more than one day together? Is he who she should be with instead of Josh?

The multiple timelines of this book were sometimes hard to keep up with, but I loved getting glimpses into Audrey then and now and her relationships. Throughout the book, I kept wondering who she would choose, and I really appreciated her choices/reasoning in the end. If you like every character's storyline tied up in a tidy bow, you'll find that with this book! Overall, I enjoyed Audrey's journey to choose the right love for her!

Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read & review an ARC of "Before I Do", written by author Sophie Cousens!

This novel told the story of Audrey & Josh, who are slated to get married, say "I Do", and seal the deal. Things become complicated when her soon-to-be sister-in-law shows up with an old flame as her plus one to the event - Fred. Audrey isn't sure if marrying Josh is the right thing to do anymore. She feels as though Fred might be her soulmate.

Overall, I rated this novel 4/5 stars!

I keep coming back to Sophie Cousens books, but I'm not sure if they are for me.

I generally liked the story, but wasn't super engrossed in it.

First of all thank you to Netgalley and G.P. Putnam's Sons for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review. An apology for my chaotic life making me read this months after publication.

Sophie Cousens is an auto-read author for me. I adored THIS TIME NEXT YEAR, loved JUST HAVEN'T MET YOU YET, and now BEFORE I DO has also earned its place in my bookish heart.

In BEFORE I DO, we follow Audrey, a bit of a wandering soul who has some trauma in her past playing tricks on her. She is about to get married to Josh, a sweet, steady sort of guy. On the night before the wedding, Josh's sister shows up with Fred, a guy Audrey shared one day with six years ago. A day she has romanticizes and blown up to epic proportions, and Fred along with it. This sends her into a tailspin that surfaces her past trauma and feelings of self-worth, or lack thereof, and she proceeds to sabotage herself in tremendous ways that are sometimes funny and sometimes sad to read.

This mix of lighthearted and serious is a trademark in Cousens' books, where characters are fleshed out beyond mere romance archetypes by giving them lived-in pasts that impact their behaviors in the present. Audrey's journey is as much about rediscovering and accepting her own self as it is about choosing who she wants next to her in a romantic way.

As always with Cousens, we have a full cast of friends and family who also feel like real characters. No one is just the "funny BFF" or any other cliche.

The plot here is told in an unlinear timeline, we jump from the present to years ago and see Audrey's romance with both Fred and Josh unfold, along with the events that led her to feeling stagnant in her career and sabotaging her chances at happiness.

I was very pleased with how it ended, my one issue with the books is that I never believed <spoiler>Fred</spoiler> to be a real contender. It's an issue for me with love triangles, you can very often see that it is lopsided and therefore it lowers the stakes a little. However, there was still a twist at the end that could have ruined Audrey's chances so I kept frantically turning the pages.

Highly recommend it to romance, rom-com, and commercial fiction fans, particularly if they like their lightness contrasted to some real-life issues.

Trigger warnings: <spoiler> Sexual assault/molestation, divorced parents, cheating </spoiler>

Like the author's two other novels I've read, this was a solid middle of the road 3 star for me. There is something about her books that I really enjoy but somehow, I can't ever seem to connect with the characters. I found it hard to care about anyone and while I wasn't sure if Audrey would choose Fred or Josh, I wasn't sure I cared. She knew Fred for ONE DAY and yet questioned her entire relationship with Josh. Josh deserved better IMO.

I really enjoyed this quick read!

I loved the drama, the dual time line, and the characters of Josh and Audrey!

The superstitious grandma made me laugh out loud so many times!

My review will be posted on my Bookstagram (Bookmarkedfavs) on 2/19!

This book follows Audrey who is about to get married to Josh, but the day before her wedding “the one that got away” shows up and she questions if fate is trying to stop her from making a mistake.

I loved this book so much. I feel like I learned so much right along Audrey. It was a beautiful story about how love is a choice.

I also am blown away that Sophie was able to tell basically 4 stories in one book!! The alternating timelines were so good!!

Overall, I highly recommend this book, and I will be taking with me what I learned from it for a long time.

Thank you to Penguin Group Putnam and NetGalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review!

I started this book with high hopes for enjoyment - over the years I’ve been a fan of other Sophie Cousens stories and this one had a premise that was fun and intriguing.

Unfortunately it just wasn’t a connection for me. The characters felt emotionally flat and I couldn’t connect to any of them. On top of that, the non-linear structure of jumping around to different points of time made it harder to make those emotional connections because they were at such different points of their life at each chapter.

I really enjoyed Sophie’s other two stories so it’s likely this just wasn’t a tale made for me. I don’t want to discourage other readers who may be interested.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and author for a digital ARC of this story in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Another Sophie Cousens book that I am obsessed with!

This was an amazing book!

Sophie Cousens wrote this book in multiple timelines, and I adored uncovering more pieces of Audrey’s past little by little. It helped to add to the drama of what came next. This book was truly a page turner, and I was drawn in from the start.

Before I do has quite a few of the traditional elements I look for in this genre like a meet cute and an entertaining cast of supporting characters who add to the story, as well as the classic mistake that makes everything fall apart before it is brought back together in the end.

But what I loved the most about this book is the morally gray moments throughout. I was unsettled at parts (this is a compliment!!) and left questioning what was right and what was wrong. I really love when you are made to question everything that is happening during the story and if it is truly okay that the event happened.

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

This was a nice read. The story was a little slow for me. I found myself looking forward to the flashbacks that involved Josh. His character really made the book. I wish the MC had a little more depth to her. Her backstory was a bit more surface level, until the end. Overalls I give it 3.5 ⭐️ I’d like to read another Sophie Cousens book in the future

Audrey is still figuring her life out. She holds a bunch of odd jobs, several different passions, and lives her life out loud.

Josh is a planner. He has a steady job, loves spreadsheets and order, and hates crumbs in the bed.

Somehow, after a few false starts, they end up falling in love. But on the eve of their wedding, Audrey's "what if" guy shows up as a surprising plus one and makes her question how she ended up heading for the aisle.

This book is filled with many comical "bad omens" in the hours leading up to the wedding, that are amusing but only serve to re-inforce Audrey's doubts.

I'm going to be honest -- I spent most of this book not liking Audrey. Her character was immature and incapable of taking any responsibility for her actions or her life. Through it all, Josh was her rock -- and instead of trusting the foundation of their love she doubted his unwavering commitment to her in hurtful ways.

The ending of this book, however, redeemed both characters in my mind. No spoilers, but it was perfect.

After a “meet cute” to end “meet cutes”, Audrey and Fred spend an incredible day together in what feels like the start of a relationship destined for greatness. Fast forward 6 years, and Audrey is marrying “bad jeans Josh.”

As bad omen after bad omen begin to unfold before the wedding, including the sudden reappearance of Fred, all but professing his love, Audrey must decide who it is she’s meant to be with and deal with the obstacles standing in her way.

Thoughts: From page one, I knew I was going to like this book. Even with third person narration, Sophie Cousens pulls you directly into her books and into her characters lives, and “Before I Do” was no exception.

These characters were fun to get to know, and Cousens did an amazing job flushing out each and every one of them. While this book is a romance, the added mother/daughter relationship and how it impacted Audrey so significantly is what takes this book from an average rom-com to a romance with more depth.

I am genuinely surprised that up until the midway point, I was completely torn by the love triangle and had no idea who I wanted Audrey to end up with, nor who I thought she would end up with. This is so unusual as I often know who I want to be endgame immediately. Again, I think this is a testament to Cousens’ writing.

This story features multiple moving timelines that rotate back and forth with no consistent order. While it’s fairly easy for the reader to follow, I imagine it must have been incredibly challenging as the writer, to make it all come together in a cohesive way. I am most impressed by her ability to tackle such a difficult style, and I think it is what makes this book so unique.

Sophie Cousens is such a great romcom writer. I haven't disliked anything I've read by her! I read this and her other recent one back to back and they were so cute!

I wasn't entirely invested in this book. I understand that cold feet is normal when you're about to get married by Audrey's thinking was just a little bit ridiculous. She was debating throwing away her loving relationship & soon to be marriage for a guy she spent one day with, many years ago. I thought that was just a bit crazy and unrealistic, as well as unfair to her fiance. The back and forth of timelines also added some confusion to the storyline in my opinion.

This book was cute. Took me a minute to get into it, but I don’t regret reading it I would
Definitely be recommending this
Book and rereading when I need a comfort read!

3.5 stars rounded up to 4

After Audrey and Josh's wedding rehearsal gets interrupted by a dead bat, Audrey gets scared that the bad omens are warning her that her wedding is going to be terrible and that maybe she's making a huge mistake. When Josh, her what-if guy, shows up to the rehearsal dinner with her soon-to-be sister-in-law, Audrey wonders if the stars are aligning to tell her that Josh is not "the one" for her.

It took me a really long time to get through this novel and then I didn't fully like any of the characters, which is why I knocked it down a star. I knocked it down another half because the epilogue was doing too much. I'd recommend the book to folks who have ever wondered about their "what-coulda-been" person.

Thank you to NetGalley and Putnam books for the ARC!

Thank you NetGalley and Penguin Group for this ARC. I enjoyed this book. It took me a little bit longer to get through than normal. I felt that the beginning was slow, but the pace picked up. Overall it was a solid read and I enjoyed it!

Got halfway through and just didn't care. not invested at all.

I was bored, and didn't care what happens to the characters.