4 stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐

"Because if you're going to commit to anything in this life, shouldn't it be love?"

Before I Do follows Audrey, a soon-to-be-bride, in the hours leading up to "I do" when all of a sudden her "what-if" guy from years past shows up at her wedding of all places. Feelings are jumbled and questions arise as she begins to feel overwhelmed by the potential outcomes that could have occurred if she had made different decision in the past.

I liked how the book switched between time frames, showcasing moments from both the present and the past. Getting to see these different time lines allows the reader to see the characters' backstories, how they have grown, and how they're lives could have been different.

This is my second Sophie Cousens book and I really enjoyed how she ties this idea of "fate" into her stories, adding this sort of psychological (that's the best way I can describe it lol) aspect to the story as the main character deals with some internal struggles. Although this plot element can definitely lead to some frustration with the characters at times when they struggle to communicate their feelings, I think that when well-done, as in this book, it makes for such an interesting read and adds a lot of depth to a story. It left me intrigued to know how the story would pan out and very invested by the end!

This book was just such a fun, interesting read and I liked that it was different from the recent romance books I have picked up, offering a bit more depth and even suspense at times. I would definitely check this book out if you have previously enjoyed Sophie Cousens' books or stories like Normal People!

Sophie Cousins is a must read for me. I love her unique stories because I never quite know how they are going to end. This story touches on fate, romantic love, family and friendship. The dialogue was witty and I liked the way each chapter told a different part of the timeline to keep the plot moving. This was a smart, sweet and romantic novel that I recommend! Out October 11.

🥰really liked
🤟unique love triangle, moving timelines, a wedding
📚 Beth O’Leary
🎶Magnificent by Oh Wonder

So I didn't necessarily love Before I Do, there were things I liked about it and it was a pretty solid 3⭐️ for me.

What would you do if the one who got away turned up the night before your wedding? That's what this book is about. Audrey is about to marry sensible Josh but has always been a little bit of a unpredictable girl. So when her future SIL shows up with Fred as her date, her what if guy she starts to question is fate trying to tell her something...

I loved Josh but didn't quite like Audrey. I thought there were a lot of funny scenes in this book but I felt like Audrey was almost too immature to me. I hated that she was questioning everything after one day she had six years ago. This had love triangle vibes to me that I just couldn't shake the whole book.

I know more people have really enjoyed this book so me being more meh on it, is just a me thing.

I'm really sad that I didn't love this book. I loved Sophie Cousens' previous works, so I assumed I'd love it just as much, but sadly I didn't.

I will preface this review by saying that I didn't finish it. I have a rule of giving a book to 30% before I completely DNF it, and that's where I left off. I found it difficult to care about the MC's romances with her current fiancé and past flame when I genuinely didn't care about her as a character.

I thought her fiancé was a little lackluster, and it's hard to pull off a "who should she choose" romance when one of the love interests is generally unlikable from the get-go. I've read other books with the "fiance vs. the one that got away" trope, and I've usually enjoyed them BECAUSE I was rooting for both love interests to find their happily ever after, and for some reason this one just didn't hit the mark with me.

I'm giving it 2 stars—I didn't finish it, but I do think there's an audience will appreciate what I could not. The writing is good, the character's emotions are relatable, and the transitions between the past and the present flow easily.

Easily one of my top reads of the year! Fans of TJR's One True Loves will absolutely devour this!

Characters to fall in love with and an ending that will keep you guessing. Often these what if type stories end up being extremely predictable, but with this book it was definitely not the case! Loved the wedding trope and all the truly laugh out loud moments!

Coupled with Sophie Cousens writing, this is sure to be a huge hit!

This was a really interesting book! I don’t think this specific trope/plot is for me, but I really enjoy Sophie Cousen’s writing style. If you like this trope then you’ll thoroughly enjoy this book!

4.5 stars rounded up!

When I read the description of this book, I was a little nervous. Two guys, one she’s marrying tomorrow and one she’s spent one day with but can’t get out of her mind? This can’t end well. But it did!

It’s a real comedy of errors as everything that can go wrong on Audrey and Josh’s wedding eve and wedding day DOES go wrong. Audrey is understandably shaken by the chaos and wonders if it’s the universe telling her not to go through with the marriage. With help from a quirky cast of family and friends, Audrey must confront her past and decide which path to choose.

I’m not sure how to share my love of this book without spoiling the ending, but I’m comfortable saying that both love and logic win out. The book jumps around in time a lot - not just back and forth, but all over the place - and it works really well. I’ve seen this type of non-chronological narration in a number of books lately (new trend???) and I really love it as a way to create a deep connection between the character and the reader that’s impossible to do if you’re just jumping between two fixed points in time.

I can’t recommend this story enough if you’re looking for a romcom with a unique plot and real substance.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the gifted e-ARC. I purchased a print copy myself after reading and loving it.

This book was so full of heart, emotion, connection, loss and humor.

It's so interesting how your upbringing and surroundings can impact the person you become, good or bad. There are so many big life moments that bring everything to the surface albeit joy, fear, doubt, anxiety. This can just ruin the enjoyment of a big moment but it happens to us all.

This book runs on multiple timelines to show us the what if guy, the one she was to marry and the trauma. We all have experienced some kind of trauma first or second hand that makes things hard to process.

This was so sweet how letting go of the old you, the one that was hurt and growing into the new you, older, one that has made mistakes and survived.

Also, so many "bad omens" happened that felt like signs against the wedding. Her Dad had passed away, I would have rationalized it was my Dad playing tricks lol. But I'm a wackadoo.


Thank you putnambooks and netgalley for the e-ARC for my honest and voluntary review.

This was so fun! And who HASN'T played the 'what if' scenario in their head?! This read fast and I loved the chapter lengths (not too long). Will absolutely read more of her work!

Before I Do unravels in multiple time lines before and after Audrey's wedding. Audrey and Josh are about to celebrate the happiest day of their life when all these crazy things begin to happen. We then follow on a journey to learn how they met and about the one who got away.

Thank you netgalley and the publisher for the chance to read this digital arc. All opinions are my own.

Thank you NetGalley and PENGUIN GROUP Putnam for the chance to review this ARC.

This book had me in my feels!

So many emotions and feelings with this one.

I could easily see this as a movie. It has a very interesting premise.

It was an overall great read!

What do you do if your dream guy shows up on your wedding day, do you still say I do?

Audrey is getting omen after omen that her big day may not be what she hoped for. As someone who studied the stars and has had an interesting experience with love… perhaps these signs are worth listening to. Audrey's father was her rock, her best friend, he showed her the magical things the sky held even when he was ill. Audrey's mother is a hopeless romantic, it is quite a humorous aspect of the story at times. Many husbands with many stories that follow, Vivien has a love for theatrics and putting on a show. Audrey has been through a lot and learned plenty on the way. Now it is her big day and she has a big decision to make.

Josh seems like a lovable guy, he is sensible and grounded, the proper choice. Audrey loves him but is she ready to settle down and play it safe?

Fred is wild and free, a man with a camera and a lot of passion. Similar to Audrey, he has experienced loss and dramatic life changes. They are quite similar and bring out each other's rebellious sides.

Should Audrey play on the safe side or play with fire?

This novel jumps timelines quite a lot but it is all fairly easy to follow. Lots of names and connections to remember but once again written very well! The ending will throw you for a loop!

I liked this book very much!! I enjoyed that I truly didn’t know what was going to happen even up until the last couple chapters. It felt realistic and not cheesy at all. I only deducted one star because I felt that the end dragged on for me a little bit.

Kudos to Sophie Cousens for writing a romance with a happily ever after ending that is also not completely predictable! It's a rare feat in this genre, and I really enjoyed reading Before I Do for this reason.

In Before I Do, it's the day before Audrey and Josh's wedding and Audrey has cold feet. Everything is going wrong and she is questioning whether Josh is really the one for her. As she thinks back through their relationship, these seem to be so many red flags and they seem to be so very different. And then the mysterious Fred shows up right before the wedding. Audrey and Fred spent one magical day together, and for years Audrey has been pining after him and wondering if she would ever see him again. When he shows up, Audrey questions whether this is a sign that she is really meant to be with Fred instead of Josh.

The story is told from Audrey's point of view, and we see everything through her eyes. One thing I really loved about this story is how the reader does see both Fred and Josh from Audrey's point of view, and because Audrey is uncertain about her feelings, the reader is also uncertain about their feelings. For most of the book, it's hard to decide which man is right for Audrey! And I just loved that uncertainty and the way the story could have easily swayed in either direction. It took me most of the book to decide which direction that I thought it should go!

I think this book does a great job of exploring all the "what ifs" that plague many relationships, and I would recommend it!

Told in third person, this story had good, complicated characters with an emotionally driven backstory. Unfortunately, the nonlinear format really didn’t work for me here, which was disappointing as I really enjoyed the last two books that I read by this author.

There were moments of what could have been a great story and elements that just didn’t quite come together smoothly. The story starts on the wedding day of Audrey and Josh then jumps back and forth in time to important points in her relationships including her groom, her “what if guy” Fred, her late father, her mother and several of her mother’s various husbands. The author makes a comment in the notes at the end about how complicated the timelines became and keeping post-it notes all over during edits and it occurred to me that if the author needed that to keep it straight, what effect that might have on a reader. I would say that this was my major issue with the book.

Audrey is also a bit flighty. Her experience with actual relationships is limited and influenced by watching her mother flit from man to man as a child and though she became attached to some of her mother’s husbands, she had some cringe-worthy experiences with others. While this makes her cautious and closed off in her own relationships, it also gave her an element of self-fulfilling prophecy at times that I felt was often enabled by her group of friends though every now and then they came up with plumb advice. I had a hard time relating to her choices in life, especially with regards to getting out of the situation. My husband’s hobby is astronomy photography so I found the connection that Audrey had with her father and astronomy to be extremely interesting and found the reasons for her loss of motivation in her pursuit of this interest to be a bit unjustified.

Fred was a little wild and daring and a bit of an enigma while the kind Josh who spends his spare time planting trees felt a little inconsistent with his choice of friends that he kept from college who really didn’t share is current interests or support his love of Audrey. My frustration over Audrey waiting until her wedding day to figure this all out was probably a prime example of my frustration with the overall situation. Limited recommendations to those that are okay with jumpy timelines and love wedding interuptis.

Thank you to Netgalley and G.P. Putnam’s Sons for a copy provided for an honest review.

Sophie Cousens has become one of my fav0rite authors. She consistently writes engaging stories and each one is better than the next. thank you netgalley & the publisher for the ARC, in exchange for an honest review.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4/5

Pro tip: Don’t read a book about second-guessing your wedding/marriage two weeks before your own wedding! As a future bride, I have enough on my mind without thinking about all the things that could possibly go wrong! 😅

Overall, this book was quite the emotional roller coaster! I felt for Audrey as she navigated every situation thrown at her on her wedding day that made her question if the universe was really telling her to run. I saw how much she loved her fiance and how much she also craved abandoning it all and diving into the unknown. I really loved the depth that this book had and how the author navigated Audrey’s internal struggle.

Read if you love:
🌟 Second chances
🌟 Plane passenger camaraderie
🌟 Public declarations of love
🌟 Letting fate guide you

Before I Do was published on October 11, 2022.

Thank you to Sophie Cousens, Penguin Group - Putnam (@putnambooks), and NetGalley for an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley, Penguin-Putnam, and Sophie Cousens for an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

3.75 stars. I liked this one. I will admit though, Audrey did frustrate me at times, but at the same time, my heart broke for her. There are also a few "over the top" scenarios in my opinion. But this book did make me laugh more than a few times. there are a few things that I wish we got answers to or more details on. But other than that, this was a good quick read.

Before I Do is the story to Audrey and the years/days/hours leading up to her wedding day with Josh. The technique of jumping time frames works well here and adds a level of understanding to Audrey's story and journey. This was a easy and fun read.

Thanks to NetGallely and the publisher for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely adored this newest book by Sophie Cousens! What a great love story that offers up the question of having that one soul mate or could you be happy with any one of several people depending on the circumstances of life. Told in alternating nonlinear timeline from "Before I Do" to minutes leading up the nuptials, to minutes, hours, days after the wedding. I love the way this story unfolded and I'm happy with the ending because I was going to be very upset had it gone a different route. This is a little bit Serendipity and a little bit You've got Mail and all fabulous!