What would you do if the one that got away turned up the night before your wedding?
Such a well crafted novel, compelling enough to pull you through and very quick read. I enjoyed it so much from the first page till the end. A good story like this needs a quiet afternoon, a sofa and a warm blanket. Moving and heartfelt! Enjoy!

Sophie Cousen+ Love Triangles+ Fated/cosmic love is possibly my new favorite thing.
Before I do is a wholesome & heartfelt read that is told between past & present chapters. I loved the concept of alternate chapters allowing the readers to know Josh & Fred.

"I have my head in the stars & you have your roots firmly anchored in the ground. I think that's why we work."

Audrey is such a realistic character. Her jolly self hides such vulnerability & sensitivity that was absolutely well portrayed.
But I must say the love interest (the one with the HEA) was my total favorite from the beginning. So as much that I couldn't imagine the story with the other person. God I loved him so much.

"Was it the trees that swung it? Was it the blisters?"
"You had me before the trees, you had me WAY before the trees".

Both the guys had a profound effect on Audrey & the story & I was blown away with the last few chapters & the message depicted. Fated lovers will always remain special for me.

Thank you Netgalley & Publisher for the arc, all opinions are my own.

I would to thank Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC!

Audrey and Fred spend an extraordinary day following a fated-meet-cute in what feels like the blooming of a romantic relationship in their lives. And six years, Audrey has to married Josh who is a perfect picture of a husband but what if Josh isn't the one for her?

Audrey must decide who she's meant to be with and deal with the hurdles that stand in her way as a lot of bad luck begin to emerge before the nuptials, including the unexpected sudden appearance of Fred, all but proclaiming his love, and somehow changes her true feelings.

I loved the story of Audrey and Josh meeting and subsequently falling in love; it was cute and a bit weird but it was also endearing and heartwarming. It made me fall in love with them as a duo.

And i also enjoyed her story with Fred. But what happened towards the other half of the book confused me.

None of the characters is truly likable. But i understand no characters is perfect, but i couldnt stand Vivien, Benedict, nkt even Audrey herself. It seems like she was trying to find loopholes by using her personal 'traumatic' past to suddenly changing her mind ON her wedding day.

At the end, I got the impression that Audrey was using trauma as a justification for her behaviour, which I didn't like. I also didn't like how there was no mention of any healthy healing of the said trauma, only that Audrey's partner wanted her to come clean to them them about their past and that's where the discussion of it ended.

It was confusing, annoying, and makes me really angry at times to read through Audrey's POV, and i often find myself disagreeing with her.

And need I say something about her mom? God, i couldnt stand her. Whenever i read the flashback where her mom was involved, i would just 'god, is she a mother?' yeah, so there's that.

Overall, this book is very fast-paced, so i like it a bit about that, but plot-wise... not so much. Maybe there are some people like this kind of story, but borderline cheating is not for me.

I really enjoyed this book, it's very much what about the road untaken....likeable characters that you are rooting for and an entertaining storyline, it's a perfect holiday read.

Thank you Netgalley and Hodder & Stoughton for providing an e-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Not only am I a sucker for a good romance, and I also adore it when there is depth to the story and it makes me think. The premise deals with the past versus the present and the crisis that comes along with it. This book alternated between the storyline of the past and present. This alternating was done well, which made it an easy read. Sophie has clearly put a lot of effort into the book and you can see that clearly when you read the book. This book was cute, thoughtful and heartwarming and I can thoroughly recommend it!!

This book follows Audrey, who is about to marry Josh, the only guy she ever had that she can put her trust in. At the rehearsal dinner Miranda, Josh's sister, brings a plus-one: Fred, Audrey's "What if?" guy. Fred's appearance surely is a coincidence, but when everything with the wedding starts going wrong, Audrey has to wonder: could fate be trying to stop her from making a huge mistake?

This is the third book I’ve read by Sophie Cousens and is now my favourite!

Audrey and Josh are getting married today. The rehearsal takes place, the guests are here and everything is ready for the main event…..or is it? After a couple of things happen and give Audrey pause for thought, she is still sure that Josh is the one for her. After all, the one who got away disappeared without a word years before….or did he? When Josh’s sister Miranda shows up with a random date in tow, Audrey is shocked to her very core. Why him and why today at her WEDDING.

Told in real time as well as in timelines from Audrey’s past, this is a fantastic and relatable love story. I thoroughly enjoyed it and would recommend to anyone wanting an escapist love story.

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to read and review.

Sophie Cousens is quickly carving herself a name that sits alongside the queens of literature - Marian Keyes, Jane Green, Fiona Walker, and Sophie Kinsella.

In Before I Do - Audrey is preparing to marry Josh - dependable, honest and loveable Josh but Audrey has never forgotten 'the one that got away' - Fred.
Until Josh's sister arrives at the rehearsal dinner with Fred. Fred's arrival throws Audrey into a conundrum - should she marry Josh or is Fred her destiny.

This laugh-out-loud read is perfect to lose yourself in. It's incredibly well written, the characters are rich and believable and it has a lovely ending.

Audrey and Josh are total opposites, so when a man from Audrey's past turns up the day before their wedding, she begins to wonder whether she is making the right choice.

This is a really beautiful love story told as a mix of present day (the wedding) and flashbacks, in a way that builds up Audrey's personality and relationships. There was actually not a huge amount of Josh in the book - Audrey was certainly the focus! But it still was a sweet and romantic story.

I received a copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review

Thoroughly enjoyed this one, the characters and writing made it a real page turner. Highly recommended.

This is such a fun book. It's a little bit different to the normal romance books and I'm completely here for it. I liked how the characters unraveled. I thought the the storyline was engaging and I thought that it played out well.

Thank you NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for this advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this romcom by Sophie Cousens. The book follows Audrey as she prepares to marry her fiancé Josh but is faced with a series of ‘bad omens’ which lead to her questioning her past and decisions.
The characters in this were lovable and entertaining. I enjoyed the jumping back to different timeframes to slowly reveal the development of relationships and events that lead up to the events of the wedding. I felt this really effectively built the plot in an intriguing way. I don’t want to give any spillers but I absolutely loved the end of the book and was massively entertained by the events leading to the ending!

Overall this was an enjoyable romcom and I look forward to reading every other book by Sophie Cousens!

Ahh Sophie Cousens does it again. I fell in love with this book from the start and the last 50% was un-put-down-able!

The start of the book draws you in straight away, leaving you needing to know what happened to Audrey and why she had just run out of her wedding.
The characters were well written and I really loved the multiple time line, as it helped me as a reader to know all of the characters and their pasts a little better. I really enjoyed the multiple "what if"s - we've all asked ourself this question at some point - the pondering of whether soul mates exist, and whether "the one" can be someone who is the complete opposite to you.
I can't lie, I was team Josh all the way. He was too nice to be dumped for someone Audrey had only known for 24 hours!

A good book. It starts near the end of the story and then flashes between the past and the near present.
When Fred turns up at Audrey's wedding it brings back memories of times gone by and a love that almost was (and one that Audrey never quite let go). Then the wedding doesn't turn out exactly as expected and it all turns Audrey's fears about this next step in her life into a really good story.

A quick and easy read that I found myself picking up after a long day to unwind. The characters are beautifully written and I came to love them within the first few pages and was rooting for them all the way to the end. At times I wanted to stop reading because I just wanted the experience to go on for longer.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

So after reading This Time Next Year in 2021 on my holiday (which I loved!) I was really pleased to recieve an ARC copy of Before I Do. After reading what Before I Do was about, I knew it was definitely my sort of book 😊.

Firstly I loved the different timelines in this book, and to be honest for most of the book I really didn't know who Audrey was going to choose (which madd it even more enjoyable!). I also kept changing my mind on who I wanted her to pick 🤣. At one point I even thought she might not end up with either of the men!

I loved Audrey, and found her to be a very likeable character. I enjoyed reading about her journey, and loved seeing how much she changed and grew throughout the book 🥰.

This is a lovely romcom book to read, and I read it all so quickly, wanting to know what happened next! One thing I did find was that I did get a little confused sometimes with the amount of side characters, as someone else mentioned. I couldn't keep up with all of her Mums partners names! But tbh she did have quite a few to remember! 🤣

Overall it was an enjoyable read and I would definitely recommend if you love romance books! It was a unique book, particularly because of the different timelines, that I loved reading. I usually prefer a slow burn book, but I loved this one because you just didn't know who she was going to choose and what was going to happen at the wedding!

An enjoyable chicklit read, whilst not top tier it’s still got enough likeable characters to keep you invested until the end

4.5 stars
After adoring Sophie Cousens first two books, both of which were 5 stars for me, I simply could not wait to read her latest book.
This story flowed really well and I liked the way that it jumped around timeline-wise.
I honestly couldn't put this book down and it's been a while since I finished a book the same day that I started it but I just had to keep reading to see how it would all turn out.
You don't necessarily know who you'd like Audrey to end up with the end. I liked that Josh was dependable and loved her completely but I didn't get the same feelings from her, with it taking some time for her to even consider him nonetheless fall in love with him. You get the vibes that she sees him as boring, even as the wedding day gets closer and closer.
I actually wondered if she was going to realise that maybe she was better on her own than with either of them, to be honest.
It did fall a bit short of perfect for me, maybe because I'm more of a Josh than an Audrey (I love a spreadsheet, alphabetise my DVD collection, etc.) so some of Audrey's chaotic ways or inability to decide what to do in life, with her career, etc.. didn't make me sympathise with her as much as I should have.
There were also a few too many side characters, so much so that I had to remember who was who when certain names popped up. For some reason I couldn't get the name Miranda to match up with his sister so kept asking myself, 'who is this Miranda?' only to realise after a few seconds that it was Josh's sister.
But I still enjoyed it and raced through it and can see many others doing the exact same.
Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

It's Audrey's wedding day, but things aren't going to plan, not least because 'the one that got away' has come as her future sister-in-law's date to the wedding. Told in flashbacks and rolling forwards from the wedding rehearsal, Audrey has to decide whether she wants to marry solid dependable Josh or take a chance on Fred, a man she had one date with six years earlier.

I really enjoyed Just Haven't Met You Yet but I have to say I didn't warm to this book. First, I found Audrey a bit of an unsympathetic character. Second the catalogue of disasters that is the wedding degenerated into slapstick/farce, frankly I would have seen it as a sign that the universe didn't want Audrey and Josh to get married. Third, all the flashbacks and flashforwards meant that every event was forewarned so that by the time the reader got to find out what really happened this reader didn't care. There was too much drama, too many 'quirky' side characters who added nothing but detracted from the plot. I think this book was having a crisis of identity, it didn't know whether it was romance, screwball comedy, or voyage of self-discovery.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

Just Haven't Met, was one of my favorite reads of 2021!
So getting the chance to read a new Cousens book was beyond exciting for me.

Before I Do was such a fun, enjoyable, light, sweet, novel! I devoured it one day!
That's how wonderfully written and fantastic this book was!
It is heartwarming, funny and original.
I love how Cousens incorporates strong friendships in her stories.
I also love that she adds a lot of depth and texture.
It's not just a fly away contemporary romance, it's a solid read with a lot of heart and full bodied characters.
Audrey was such a relatable character for me and I loved the relationships Sophie builds between her characters.
The characters are brilliant and bring to life real emotions and situations.
I felt each sentiment and pain as if it were my own. 
The setting is absolutely stunning.
And the writing once again blew me away!
The dialogue, descriptions, and humor settled right into my heart and soul and I couldn't have asked for a more perfect story.
I can say so much about this beautiful book! Highly recommend!

“I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.”

Hodder & Stoughton, 
Thank You for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!
I will post my review to my platforms, blog, B&N and Waterstone closer to pub date.

An interesting, sometimes emotional but ultimately lovely take on what ifs, fate and missed chances. The story is told over a multitude of different timelines leading up to, and subsequently after, the wedding of Audrey and Josh. A series of mishaps lead Audrey to consider whether fate is intervening and through events preceding the big day, we learn why she seems to put such weight on these feelings. For most of the novel there seems to be two very different love interests for Audrey. While usually it becomes clear who we as the reader should be rooting for, or we get an idea of who we think she may choose but Cousens does a great job of creating reasons she shouldn’t be with one or the other. Ultimately she’s creating relatable characters and showing that there isn’t a perfect person, but this also makes the end result less predictable and more interesting to read. I don’t know if this is a book I would immediately recommend to an engaged friend… but this was fun, emotional and very easy to read.