Wednesday 10 July 2024

Book ~ "Before I Do" (2022) Sophie Cousens

From Goodreads ~ What would you do if 'the one that got away' turned up the night before your wedding?

Head-in-the-stars Audrey is about to marry down-to-earth Josh. Though they are polar opposites, they have a healthy, stable relationship; Josh is just what Audrey needs. But romance should be unpredictable and full of fireworks, and as the big day approaches, Audrey's found herself wondering if Josh really is The One.

So, when Josh's sister shows up to the rehearsal dinner with Fred, Audrey's What If? guy - the man she met six years ago and had one amazing day with - Audrey finds herself torn. Surely Fred's appearance the night before she is due to get married can't be a coincidence. And when everything that could go wrong with the wedding starts to go wrong, Audrey has to ask herself: Is fate trying to stop her from making a huge mistake? Or does destiny just have a really twisty sense of humour?

Six years ago Audrey randomly met Fred. She loved that he was a free spirit and they had a fun day together and made plans to meet the next day. Though Audrey waited, Fred never showed up and she never heard from him or saw him again. Because of the time they had together, even after she stopped looking for him, he always held a special spot in her heart.

Over the years, Audrey is trying to find herself and figure out what she wants to do with her life with lots of starts and stops. Along the way, she has encounters with Josh, who is a friend of one of her roommates. They eventually go out on a date, fall in love and get engaged. But Fred is always in the back of her mind (and their photo booth pictures are still in her wallet). 

On the day of the wedding, anything that can go wrong does ... including Fred showing up as the plus-one of Josh's sister. It all makes Audrey wonder if they are all signs that she shouldn't be marrying Josh after all.

I thought this story was okay, though the ending was cheesy. It is written in third person perspective with the focus on Audrey. It bounces back and forth and back and forth in time from the day of the wedding to when Audrey and Fred met to Audrey and Josh's developing relationship to after the wedding but the chapters are marked (and I was okay with this). In addition to Fred's surprise appearance at her wedding, there was lots going on around Audrey including her mother who was on her fifth husband, her best friend who had recently given birth to twins, past questionable behavior of an almost stepfather, Josh's grandmother who predicted doom and more.

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