Do You Take This Man has easily become one of my favorites written by Denise Williams. I am fairly new to her books and currently reading from her repertoire, but I can say this novel is a bit different from the rest. First, this book was one I couldn't put down--I had to read to the end. The character's were interesting (and had interesting jobs), and gave me inspiration for my own characters.

I wish I had more from RJ's past and her getting the revenge/closure she deserved after a crappy breakup from a crappy guy, and I found myself wanting her to let Lear in more than she had, but I'm fine with what I got. This romance is one that I'd love to see develop in a second book, but I think Williams did a good job with ending the story the way that it should.

Thank you Berkley for the gifted copy.

I made it through 63% before giving up on this one. I'm so disappointed, because I really wanted to love it.

A wedding coordinator and a divorce lawyer/officient - enemies to not quite lovers, because I don't feel like there was honestly any love involved....more like sort of friends with lots of. benefits. I didn't feel a connection between Lear and RJ at all. RJ was very hard for me to like, and I thought that Lear needed to just move on from her and find someone that was actually treating him well.

I also had difficulty telling who was narrating which chapter, because they were very similar.

I tried really hard to love this book but unfortunately I couldn’t grow to like Lear. from the beginning he came across as misogynistic and rude. Add in the fact that he was being disrespectful to a Black woman; and I couldn’t enjoy it

Denise Williams is fast becoming one of my favorite romance authors.

Do You Take This Man is a enemies with benefits romantic comedy with excellent banter! I loved RJ, and I have to admit I don’t always like reading books about lawyers, but this one did a great job of not getting into too many details. Unfortunately, much like RJ, Lear rubbed me the wrong way at the beginning. I don’t know if I would have been as quick to forgive him as RJ was. But he grew on me and turned out to be a good guy.

Do You Take This Man was told in alternating viewpoints, and it was perfect for the story. It was so important to get both of their points of view, especially Lear’s. It certainly helped me like him more.

I love the characters Williams writes about, and these two were incredible. Do You Take This Man is another great romance book, and I can’t wait to read what she writes next!

I am convinced that Denise Williams is trying to become one of my favorite romance authors. I mean, to be fair, with this book she graces my favorite authors of all time list, but still! The way she manages to write every trope and make it fun and exciting like I have never experienced is just so refreshing.

Enemies with benefits. Most certainly not friends with benefits. RJ and Lear find themselves working together quite a bit all of a sudden. RJ did a favor for friends and officiated their wedding ceremony. The ceremony went viral and before long, RJ is now an officiant. Her full-time job is a busy divorce attorney, one who sees the worst of couples who fight tooth and nail as their marriages are ending. For her to be on the other side of things, playing a big role in couples starting their lives together seems rather contrary.

Lear was a sports event planner and has amazing organizational skills. This helps him now because he was at a turning point in his life, and his cousin has brought him into her business as a wedding planner. So, RJ is involved with weddings. Lear is involved with weddings. The two now find themselves in each other's company quite often. However, one thing is clear. For all intents and purposes, they hate one another. This is majorly complicated by the fact that they share an intense sexual attraction, an attraction that cannot be denied.

There is no stopping RJ and Lear when it comes to them taking every opportunity to demonstrate how they affect one another. However, they are both beset with baggage from previous relationships, as well as RJ's constant stream of clients ending their marriages via divorce, so emotion cannot and will not factor into whatever it is that is happening between them. What an angst-filled story! While there are definitely light moments in this book, the drama that this couple faces while navigating a physical relationship that is not and will not go further was done quite well by Denise Williams.

I love how this story evolved, and wondered who would take a chance to push things further, all while loving how both RJ and Lear had people in their corner in their lives, It is those secondary characters that gave this delightful read an extra lift. This wonderful story definitely packed a punch and kept my attention from beginning to end.

Many thanks to Berkley and to NetGalley for this ARC for review. This is my honest opinion.

Please enjoy my YouTube video review - https://youtu.be/OdEVEtkAz6g

I've said it before and I'll say it again, Denise Williams NEVER disappoints! Her black FMC are always so perfect and I want to be friends with them. This was a light-hearted enemies to lovers about a divorce attorney and a former pro football player. I SWOONED. Denise Williams, I would read your grocery list if I could.

Thank you #Netgalley for an early read of #doyoutakethisman

Oh, Denise Williams, how I love you and your writing 🤩 I’m not exaggerating when I say that her first two books are two of my all time favorite romcoms EVER. I will always recommend her books for smart, witty, and unique characters.

❤️Here’s what to expect::
•A great meet cute
•Workplace romance
•Forced proximity
•Terrific wedding scenes and drama
•Friends-with-benefits to lovers
•Great steamy scenes
•Characters that you cannot help but root for!

RJ is an unromantic divorce attorney, but when a video of her officiating an impromptu wedding goes viral, she becomes a highly sought-after wedding officiant in her spare time (much to the dismay of her law firm). After leaving his job as an event manager for a football team, Lear takes a job planning weddings (a lot of which happen to be weddings that RJ is officiating). Despite having a meet disaster and constantly butting heads, the more weddings RJ and Lear work together, the harder it becomes to deny their attraction to each other. Having both been burned in the past, the pair decide to become friends with benefits (or enemies with benefits, if you will). However, the longer their arrangement goes on, the harder it is to not catch feelings.

Do You Take This Man is a contemporary rom-com invoking the enemies to lovers, friends with benefits, and forced proximity tropes. This book would be ideal for fans of books like The Fastest Way to Fall by Denise Williams, The Heart Principle by Helen Hoang, Book Lovers by Emily Henry, Set On You by Amy Lea, and Thank You, Next by Andie J Christopher as well as fans of movies like The Wedding Planner. Some themes present in this book include love and heartbreak, friendship and companionship, death, weddings and divorce, parenthood, family, facing darkness, and overcoming fear. Some potential trigger warnings include off-page death of parent and absentee parent, recalled cheating, trauma surrounding infant paternity, and infant NICU stay. In my opinion, the moral of this story is that, even if you’re struggling or heartbroken, at a certain point, you need to try to live your life and find love again; or, in the words of Lear’s Uncle, “there’s nothing wrong with bein’ sad…but, at a certain point, you got to start dancing again.”

Firstly, the concept of this book, a divorce attorney/wedding officiant with a wedding planner, to be unique and I was happy that there were some unexpected twists in the plot. Also, having previously read and enjoyed The Fastest Way to Fall by Denise Williams, I was happily surprised the main characters, Britta and Wes, made frequent appearances in Do You Take This Man.

Given the fact that RJ is a wedding officiant and Lear is a wedding planner, I anticipated that there would be a fair number of weddings in this book, but there was even more weddings (and pre-wedding events) present in this book than expected. On the one hand, if you enjoy weddings and are a fan of movies like The Wedding Planner, this book will be right up your alley! However, if weddings aren’t really your thing, the abundance of weddings, rehearsal dinners, and wedding planning in this book may be a turnoff.

It was challenging to get into Do You Take This Man with the middle of this book seeming to be quite repetitive as there was a constant cycle of weddings and secret hook-ups. Also, even though their relationship was steamy, RJ and Lear had a tendency of hooking-up after rehearsals in secluded areas of wedding venues, which seemed a little cringey.

Overall, Do You Take This Man was steamy, romantic, and unique! If you are a wedding enthusiast and are a fan of Williams’ other romance novels, then I highly recommend picking up a copy of Do You Take This Man!

If you love a good enemies to lovers plot, you will enjoy this one. I am a sucker from rom coms and I think this one had all the necessary elements: accidental collision that sparks argument, forced to work together, arranged sex that leads to feelings, weddings, friends that are the voice of reason, frivolous argument because they can't share their feelings, but a corny-cute reconciliation.

I liked both of the characters independently, but I also really liked them together. I think the story is well written. Even when switching between the two characters there wasn't any confusion on voice. One of the highlights I enjoyed was the use of dance.

My full review will be on my Youtube channel: kandacewithak

Sparks fly when RJ, a divorce attorney, meets Lear, an event planner and former NFL player. He is a man who is absolutely tired of being labeled a "nice guy" and sets about changing that perception. RJ gets roped into officiating a spontaneous wedding in a park for a newly engaged couple, but her life gets put under the spotlight when the video of the wedding goes viral, She becomes a sought-after officiant for local weddings and it puts her in close proximity with Lear. They form an enemies-with-benefits arrangement even as their personalities clash. Both of them have good reasons why they are both afraid of falling in love and it is pure magic when they realize how much they are crazy about each other!

I just reviewed Do You Take This Man by Denise Williams. #DoYouTakeThisMan #NetGalley

3/5 stars. Since it's a Denise Williams novel, I wanted to enjoy Do You Take This Man a lot more - but unfortunately, the story fell a bit short for me. I loved the writing style and everything - there's something so wonderful about Denise's way of writing romances.

Enemies to lovers is one of my favorite tropes. The friends with benefits trope was paired with that for Do You Take This Man, and I think Friends With Benefits is just not my cup of tea. (or should the trope be called enemies with benefits in this case? I am kind of confused to be honest, lol) The chemistry between RJ and Lear was not convincing at all to me. I liked the conversations that they had, especially regarding their pasts. Honestly, that was the only time I enjoyed them being together. I did not see any kind of spark between RJ and Lear, so it was difficult for me to connect with them. I loved The Love Hypothesis/Love on the Brain, so miscommunication does not bother me much ( mentioning this as a reference hehe) but the lack of communication between the two leads in DYTTM frustrated me countless times. I had to stop reading more than once just because I wanted to shake RJ and Lear in order to put some sense into them!!

My favorite thing about the book was definitely RJ's character. I liked the headstrong attitude she had, especially as she worked in a field that's dominated by men in general. I love female leads who know what they want - and RJ was definitely a character who expressed that vibe every step along the way. The author showed how vulnerable she was with love and romantic relationships, so I really liked that aspect of the story. Seeing her grow made me really happy! Strong independent women >>>> everything.

Lear on the other hand though, kind of...irked me out. He apologized a lot for his toxic masculinity-packed behavior (which he showed at the beginning of the book) but I just couldn't warm up to him at all. I normally LOVEEE male leads with a sad tragic past as that opens up a lot of space for character growth in a book. But umm, I just couldn't vibe with Lear urgh.

So yeah, this one was kind of disappointing as I love Denise Williams. I guess I just have to accept the fact that I won't fall in love with every book by my favorite authors. :(

I love a good enemies to lovers workplace romance and this one is EXCELLENT, especially on audio narrated by Teddy Hamilton and January LaVoy!

RJ is a badass divorce attorney slash wedding officiant who butts heads immediately with wedding planner Lear - a new to LA, post divorce guy trying to start over. Both these characters have been burned by love in the past and aren't looking for anything serious but the sparks between them are inescapable as they work closer and closer together on a number of weddings.

I loved the banter and the emotional vulnerability in this story! RJ is a big softie at heart and she can't help taking a chance on love with Lear. Together these two are really great together even though the road to their HEA is a bit bumpy.

Much thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy in exchange for my honest review. Highly recommended for fans of books like The hookup plan by Farrah Rochon!

I have enjoyed Denise Williams so much since I read her first book. This Divorce attorney who is also a high sought after wedding officiant makes a run in with Lear who she immediately butts heads with. This enemies to lovers book is a great read.

How does a divorce attorney become the most sought after wedding officiant? Turns out when you perform a ceremony off the cuff for two blockbuster actors in the park and it goes viral, everyone wants RJ.
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Lear left his job as a pro-football event manager and is now helping his cousin with her wedding planning business. He has never had a problem winning people over with his charm, until Rj. As they butt heads at work, one thing is clear, their chemistry is off the charts.
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This is a fast, enjoyable one and it is out today!
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Huge thank you to @berkleypub @prhaudio and @netgalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

RJ is an up-and-coming divorce attorney who reached notoriety when she officiates a wedding. Now everyone is reaching out wanting her to officiate their upcoming nuptials. She doesn’t mind as long as it doesn’t interfere with her career. The biggest snag is working alongside a hotshot event planner that makes her blood boil.

Lear is a former football events manager who has switched gears just a bit and started working as an event planner. He has his share of heartbreak but that doesn’t stop him from working weddings as well. He is naturally competitive and that comes into play with RJ. She brings out his competitive side and the two bicker back and forth on every single wedding they attend.

This was a fantastic fun read. I enjoyed RJ and Lear’s relationship from beginning to end. They went from enemies to friends to lovers in an organic way. I love a good enemy to friends read and this one fit the bill. Both RJ and Lear were kind of grumpy together which was different than the normal sunshine and grumpy pair.

The steam factor was level 10. They scorch the pages. The author does a great job building it up and letting all the intensity from them their day-to-day fights spill out into the bedroom. I loved it all! However, she relied too heavily on the sex instead of the emotional connection. The characters don’t develop until the very end when they finally stop fighting and let their guards down to express themselves.

Overall, I enjoyed this fun read. I recommend this for fans of contemporary romance lovers.

~ Samantha

If you love alpha heroines and enemies to lovers this is the book for you. Also, recommend if you like characters with complex pasts. Also recommend if you like lots of steam because this one had tons.

For me though there was a little too much miscommunication and lack of communication. Don't get me wrong I like 🔥 but I'd prefer a little more verbal communication.

I did love the strong female lead - especially in a male dominated career. I loved how assertive she was.

I received an advanced copy of this book through NetGalley. This is my honest review.

This is one of my favorite romances this year. The chemistry between Lear and RJ sparkles from the moment they meet and I really enjoyed both of their back stories. Denise has a way of writing her characters that makes some facet of their life or personality relatable to all and I love finding that bit that I identify with. It adds depth to her books and draws me in every time making her stories so memorable.

The cover is what first got me--so glad to be getting away from all-white all-the-time romances.

Enemies to lovers is also a bullet-proof trope for me, with conditions. I don't like bickering and tearing each other up, and I want to see real transformation happen.

What I got from this book is a lot of hot sex, but I never got the feeling these two really got *each other*. It left me with the feeling that once the spark went out of the bashes on the beautyrest, these two would be heading for divorce court, or cheatersville. Not what I want in a romance.

So it was fun, and fine, especially if you like a lot of whoopee in your romances! But didn't emotionally engage me as much as I'd hoped.

Do You Take This Man is a flirty and fun romcom about a wedding planner and an officiant / divorce attorney caught in tropes of enemies to lovers and friends with benefits to feelings. It is cute, sparky, full of 🔥 and a perfect long weekend beach read. The banter was fun and I really loved their dynamic - from the flirting to the sensitive discussions a it just worked. And lots of overlaps with characters from the rest of the books in this series.