I have read all of Denise Williams’ books (minus the novellas) and this was another great addition to her body of work (but admittedly my “least” favorite, although I still liked it!). RJ is a divorce attorney who accidentally starts a side hustle as a wedding officiant and surprisingly enjoys it until she’s forced to start working with Lear, a former pro-football event planner turned wedding planner. It’s your typical enemies-to-lovers trope and while RJ (and I!) had doubts about Lear’s seemingly “dude-bro” personality, his backstory and kindness gets slowly revealed and it’s not long before their initial antagonism makes way to a tentative friendship and then full-on steamy times. What I struggled with was connecting to RJ but even though I couldn’t relate to her, I did empathize with her fears of getting hurt and her moments of vulnerability. But as I said, I still liked the book overall, and at this point Denise Williams is an auto-read author for me.

Sadly this was just okay for me. I’ve been a fan of Denise since her debut but something was missing for me in this story. RJ and Lear were okay enough, but something just felt off. I did enjoy Both if their growth even though it was like pulling teeth to get them to admit anything. In the end it was okay. Just not 100% the book for me.

A story that covers all the bases for a great romance. Several tropes, that are so much fun, and the writing was great! She did a great job of making the characters real and swoony!

“Some love stories are real.”

I swear I’m not purposefully finding books about weddings while I myself am wedding planning but man it’s fun 💍

RJ is a divorce attorney who officiates weddings? The irony is reaaall! And Lear has been burned by love but he’s a people person and a former event manager so when his cousin needs his help with her wedding planning business he right jumps in. RJ and Lear do NOT get along but they spend a lot of time together in the wedding industry which leads to…enemies with benefits!! This was a steamy one🔥There was one bathroom scene in particular which had me😮‍💨 There was some good character growth and discussions on opening yourself back up to love which I appreciated! However the romance between our two MCs didn’t really hook me the way I wanted it to!

Overall I’ve rated it 3.5⭐️s - I liked it! The audiobook was done by a couple of my favorite narrators which is always a plus! I just felt it was a bit too long while still leaving me wanting more? But the writing was great and the humor and spice were there!

Do You Take This Man is another sweet and charming romantic comedy from Denise Williams. Every time I read her books, I just fall even more in love — with her writing, with her stories, with her characters. I absolutely loved the premise of this one — the enemies to lovers trope, the bickering between RJ and Lear is just *chef's kiss*, the overall plot. I just can't wait to see what Denise comes out with next!

*3.5

3.5 Two Opposites Connecting Stars
Oh, how I love when a strong look at things happening due to "chance" happen. This book takes the impromptu wedding ceremony happening between two celebrity/Instagram famous people done by our well-known divorce attorney, and the video goes viral. Can we say Oxy-moron??? This causes our gal to become an in-demand person to do weddings, who'd da thunk?

Then things get good when she runs into a man who will be planning one of the next big weddings she will be involved in...

Let the games begin.

What a fun read read! I thoroughly enjoyed Do You Take This Man! Denise Williams has become a favorite author of mine, and I look forward to future releases from her!

Divorce attorney RJ would never describe herself as romantic. But when she ends up officiating an unplanned wedding for a newly engaged couple in a park, her life is turned upside down. The video of the ceremony goes viral, and she finds herself in the unlikely position of being a sought-after local wedding officiant. Spending her free time overseeing “I dos” isn’t her most strategic career move, but she enjoys it, except for the type A dude-bro wedding planner she’s forced to work with.

Former pro-football event manager Lear is a people person, but after his longtime girlfriend betrayed him, he isn’t looking for love. He knows how to execute events and likes being in control, so working with an opinionated and inflexible officiant who can’t stand him is not high on his list. He’s never had trouble winning people over, but RJ seems immune to his charms.

Surrounded by love at every turn, their physical attraction pulls them together despite their best efforts to stay an arm’s length apart. Lear refuses to get hurt again. RJ refuses to let herself be vulnerable to anyone. But when it comes to happily ever after, their clients might not be the only ones saying “I do.”

My store liked this one so much that we made it our local romance monthly pick! Denise Williams is a name that sells books, and for good reason. Her best work yet.

I saw @bookwormbullet talk about this and I knew instantly that I was going to love this. Do You Take This Man is everything I want to see in a rom -com book.

Denise Williams continues to be the reigning queen of hilarious and heartfelt romcoms. She is 100 percent one of my favorite romance authors.
This book follows the pragmatic RJ and the charming Lear who enter an enemies with benefits relationship after working closely together on multiple weddings.

I adored these two beautifully flaws characters and their journey to loving each other. Denise Williams does a perfect job of making us fall in love with the characters and the story every step of the way.

RJ is an incredibly strong and resilient character and Lear is extremely lovable and romantic. This opposites attract couple is the perfect pair and I so enjoyed reading about them!

This was a really great book. I love books set around weddings and this one was really fun. I was a huge fan of her book how to fail at flirting and this book was just as good.

This book was just okay for me. Denise Williams writes amazing banter, especially text banter, and this book was missing that extra spark and humor. It just didnt sound like her first two books and I really had a hard time liking the characters in this enemies to lovers with benefits. Possibly that trope didnt work well for me either.

I feel so bad. I wanted to love this one so much. But I just couldn’t finish it. I felt zero connection to RJ and Lear. Maybe it was just the timing but I couldn’t do it. I might give it another chance down the line. But it wasn’t for me right now.

It was the synopsis of Do You Take This Man by Denise Williams that prompted me to pick it up, as well as the author herself, of whom I’d heard good things but hadn’t yet had a chance to read. The set-up is quite a fun one – a female divorce lawyer who moonlights as a wedding officiant embarks on a mutually agreeable frenemies with benefits relationship with the male wedding planner with whom she butts heads. Based on these first impressions I had high hopes for this one, and it definitely met them.

Lear Campbell was an event planner for a California football team before a personal crisis redirected him across the country and into a new career as an assistant wedding planner for his cousin Penny. On his first day of work he collides with a woman in a hurry, a bruising encounter that leaves them both irritated and now late for their respective events, which, of course, happen to be in the same place and are in fact the same event, a wedding rehearsal.

RJ Brooks is a divorce attorney by trade, and a damn good one too. When her best friend Britta asked her to perform her upcoming wedding ceremony, RJ got her license but had no intentions of making it public. Yet that’s just what happens when she finds herself officiating a wedding between two movie superstars following a spontaneous wedding proposal in a park, one that gets filmed and posted online and suddenly she’s the one everyone wants as their officiant. It’s a lucrative side job, especially since her older divorce clients often have children who are looking to get married themselves. But it’s not going to divert her from her career goal. And it certainly isn’t because she believes in love. She can pretend as well as anyone, but having been abandoned by her father, ghosted by her best male friend in high school, and endured a recent breakup with a man who never appreciated her or saw beyond her cool outer shell, she’s got no illusions about romance.

It’s not just Penny that connects Lear and RJ. Lear also happens to be a friend of Gretchen, RJ’s mentor, at the law firm. Lear’s relationship with Gretchen makes things even worse as far as RJ is concerned, as pissing off Gretchen won’t bode well for her career aspirations. When Penny and her wife Kelly get a sudden call regarding a baby for adoption, Penny leaves Lear to handle some upcoming weddings on his own, with RJ as the officiant. They have different styles with people, they clash constantly, and yet somehow, there is a sizzle of attraction that just keeps getting stronger and stronger. It leads to the inevitable, a sizzling secret affair with no expectations on either side. Until real feelings start to come into play and RJ has to decide if she’s willing to let down her walls and let love in.

I enjoyed many aspects of this story. The uniqueness of having a male wedding planner was a nice change from the stereotypical female role, and I loved that RJ, despite seeing mostly the ugliness of divorce, isn’t completely able to turn off her romantic side, even if it’s hidden under a pretty thick shell. As Lear and RJ spend time together and get to know each other, the antagonism that defines the start of their relationship gets put behind them. Their personalities don’t change – as a Black woman, RJ has to do more to overcome obstacles and this has made her appear cold on the outside and she still sometimes retreats behind that shield. But with Lear, she can start to relax and open up, and he’s able to see the wonderful, thoughtful, loyal woman that she really is as she interacts with her friends and family. And Lear, coming off a painful breakup with some deep emotional scars, is able to own up to his mistakes with RJ, apologize for his missteps, and open up his own heart to caring again. I just loved seeing them take these tentative steps towards each other emotionally, even though they both pretend it’s all about the sex and the challenge of one-upping each other.

Additionally, the author is excellent at writing friendships and family relationships that resonate with the reader because they feel true to life. RJ’s best friends Britta and Kat know her inside and out and are excellent sounding boards as she tries to sort out her feelings. They aren’t afraid to point out (with love) her faults and gently push her to realize what she really wants to have with Lear. And Lear’s sister Caitlin is a positive influence on his life, as is his quiet uncle Harold, who in his own gentle way, is able to tease out Lear’s complicated feelings about RJ.

There are lots of funny moments, witty banter, and steamy love scenes to round out this contemporary romance which gives this wonderful couple their well deserved happy ending. I’m looking forward to catching up on Ms. William’s backlist!

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Thank you to the publisher for giving me the chance to read a copy of this book. I started reading this one, but after having trouble getting into it, I decided to put it aside for the time being. The fact that a divorce attorney has a side gig as a wedding officiant is perfectly ironic and seems like it would be entertaining, but honestly, RJ and Lear both annoyed me. The way they acted towards each other wasn't professional at all, and I felt like they were both really immature. I was having a hard time becoming invested in the story, and up until the point that I read, the only thing I really enjoyed was a cameo by Britt, the protagonist in The Fastest Way to Fall. I have been reading a lot of romance books lately, so maybe I'm a little burned out on the genre, and will enjoy it more at a later date.

RJ and Lear do everything in their power to keep us from enjoying their HEA.

While RJ is an attorney by profession, she has been officiating weddings since she went viral on youtube for officiating an impromptu wedding in the park. Now she is often called in to officiate and is working with a local wedding planner. Lear just quit his job as an event planner for a football team and has joined his cousin’s wedding event company until he decides what he wants to do next.

When they meet, Lear and RJ literally run into each other. Lear still recovering from always being a “good guy” decides to leave RJ sprawled on the ground, which is just awful. Obviously, this leads to a portion of the story being about how much RJ and Lear dislike each other and working with each other. Lear does apologize and eventually they being to respect each other, to the point where they decide to give in to their mutual attraction and become co-workers with benefits. Is that a thing?

But can two wounded people risk their hearts again or will the only marriage in their future be the ones they plan for other people?

THOUGHTS:
The beginning of the story was just unpleasant to read since we knew that both RJ and Lear were acting out of character and treating each other badly. I was actually uncomfortable with their interactions because they were so rude to each other. I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to finish the book.

Once we got past that, the story picked up.

Both RJ and Lear just got out of long-term relationships that left them both mentally wounded. This is also why they sabotaged any attempts to enjoy their story. They could be an amazing couple. Once they stopped being aggressively hurtful to each other, they had great chemistry. This is especially true once they began sleeping together…okay, it was more quickies in a back closet, so we have that desperation to their hook ups. That need to someplace now! In fact, Lear would scout each venue for that place they could sneak off to.

The problem is that any moment of closeness which came after the climax was brought down by the fact that both were too afraid to take a leap of faith that someone else wouldn’t hurt them again. Mostly this came from RJ but some came from Lear as well. So if one of them took that risk, that leap of faith, of making themselves vulnerable and asking for more from the relationship, they were shot down by the other party. To watch someone who has been so badly hurt, take that chance and be harshly turned down, ruined all the good moments that came before, and to watch it happen again and again made this a hard story to enjoy.

While I had a hard time enjoying RJ and Lear’s story, they were well-written characters. There were some great moments in the story. I also really enjoyed Britta and Wes’s story. I also appreciate that although we once again have a mixed race couple, skin color is only a character descriptor here. It doesn’t define the characters or their actions or interactions. I will definitely grab the next Denise Williams story.

This isn’t noted as sequel to The Fastest Way to Fall but the characters are connected as RJ was a friend of Britta’s and goes to Britta and Wes’s wedding. I don’t know why it isn’t noted as part of a series but this would be the third story with interacting characters.

A wedding planner and a divorce attorney. (Is there any better set-up for an enemies-to-lovers romance?)

Denise Williams is an auto-buy author for me. She has a knack for creating imperfect characters and writing about them with such love and gentleness. RJ and Lear are both a bit grumpy and afraid of commitment. When they first meet they hate each other, and yet, they also can't resist the magnetic pull between them. I love a book where a sharp female character is accepted and loved because of her prickliness rather than in spite of it. RJ and Lear have that dynamic and it is a delight to read. Denise Williams does it again!

Thanks to the publisher for an early copy of this book. All thoughts are my own.

I couldn’t go to sleep last night until I’d finished DO YOU TAKE THIS MAN by Denise Williams and I haven’t stopped thinking about it since then. Denise Williams has such a gift for writing romance books that perfectly balance serious, meaningful topics with swoon, heat, and humor. Lear and RJ are characters who both feel deeply and have been hurt in major ways. And they’re both trying to protect themselves from being hurt again. But their no-strings arrangement doesn’t stay that way for long, and both RJ and Lear have to decide if they’re willing to make themselves vulnerable again for a chance at their own happy ending.

I have loved every one of Denise's books I've read so-far, and I can’t wait to read what she writes next.

I love books by Denise Williams and her writing style. In this book we have RJ, a grumpy divorce lawyer who also officiates weddings, and Lear, an event planner. After working a few weddings together they start a friends with benefits situation. I do always love a strong female lead but RJ just wasn’t very likable to me and remained so guarded throughout. Overall this wasn’t my favorite but will still read anything Denise publishes.

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for providing the ARC.

Roasting your significant other is my love language, and this book is a perfect example of why.

RJ and Lear start off on the wrong foot, but they quickly realize that the spark between the two of them is more than just animosity, but rather an exciting battle of wills between two extremely Type A people. They were so much fun to read about, and watching their relationship explode on the page was a real treat. The banter was fantastic, and I loved how both RJ and Lear gave as good as they got, never once backing down.

My only complaint was that I felt that some of the reveals happened too late in the book, that RJ was a little too closed off until the very end, and that Lear didn't really do enough to give her a safe space to be vulnerable. But that being said, the ending focused more on them healing through their respective traumas, and communication with each other first and foremost, which is a really fantastic and realistic way to show how a relationship could break down and ultimately be built back up again.

Overall, a fantastic book, and I plan on reading more from Ms. Williams in the future.