Before I Do by Sophie Cousens tells the story of Audrey Lavery, a bride about to marry her fiance Josh, when everything that can possibly go wrong actually does. Audrey is left wondering whether this is the universe giving her one big sign that marrying Josh isn’t right.
Audrey feeds into this doubt by thinking about all of the what ifs she’s ever had, including about her what if guy, Fred, who makes an appearance after not seeing him for six years since they met. She wonders if she really is making the wrong choice in marrying Josh, or if she should risk everything to see if Fred was the “right” one.
The entire story goes back and forth between key moments in Audrey’s life before her wedding. A common thread being that Audrey was still figuring out who she was both in the past and in the present, which did play into her doubts about marrying Josh. She also began to question whether fate and soulmates were real, and if the universe really was trying to tell her she was about to make a huge mistake. Audrey was too focused on hypotheticals, on the what ifs, especially since she didn’t even know Fred, where she thought about throwing her relationship with Josh away for the idea of someone.
As the story progressed, I felt that Audrey and Josh were a mismatched couple. Sure, opposites attract, but she seemed like a flighty, free spirited kind of person vs Josh’s calm, organized personality. I guess they balanced each other out but the love she had for Josh wasn’t convincing to me, especially compared to how he seemed to feel about her. It almost felt like Audrey choosing Josh was forced.
Granted, the moral of the story is that you choose who you love, which was true about Audrey and Josh, though their love story wasn’t compelling to me. All in all, I give Before I Do three stars because despite falling a little flat, I still found it a bit entertaining.
Have you read Before I Do? Let me know your thoughts in the comments! Also check out my review for Sophie Cousens’ other book, This Time Next Year.
