The narrator is Audrey (3rd person POV). She is on the verge of marrying Josh. When the guy she always thought about (Fred) shows up at the rehearsal dinner.

The secondary characters were great in this one. The two mothers definitely shaped up the story a lot and you get to see why Quinn's mother still thinks about Minnie's mother. Minne's best friend was great though and I thought that Cousens did a very good job of handling the evolving friendship and changes that they both needed to make.The pace actually works for this. Cousens does a good job of setting up points in time by saying X hours, days, months, years before Audrey is supposed to say I do. Summary: After a “meet cute” to end “meet cutes”, Audrey and Fred spend an incredible day together in what feels like the start of a relationship destined for greatness. Fast forward 6 years, and Audrey is marrying “bad jeans Josh.”

Fred and Audery met six years ago, spending one perfect, memorable day together. They took pictures together in a photo booth, promising to keep in touch. For one reason or another, they didn't stay connected, and somehow, Audery has thought about Fred for all these years. She even kept the photos they took together in her wallet. A heartwarming and playful novel about the ones we love and the ones we lose by the New York Times bestselling author of This Time Next Year A thoughtful and romantic story about the moments and choices that change our lives in unexpected ways….Cousens has created something special with this lovely tale.” — Washington Independent Review of Books Audrey ends up at a crossroads trying to weigh up if she should go through with the wedding or take a chance on Fred. What will she do? She spends so much time in her head thinking about her needs without considering what is Blatantly staring her in the face….

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Cousens does a wonderful job keeping the suspicion alive. The reader has no knowledge of what Audrey will do, which was a nice surprise! You're about to get married to the perfect person, but you can't help but wonder if you're making a mistake. Can you have the perfect relationship with someone completely different from you?

At twenty-two, Audrey met Fred after finding his photo at a photo booth. The instant she finds his photo she’s intrigued, and then, she leaves photos of her own in the same photo booth, hoping he’ll find them and somehow, he does. When they meet, they have one perfect day together. Minnie Cooper (a person, not a car) is just vrooming through life as a pie-maker for the less fortunate. 🥧 (Sorry for the dad-joke about Mini Coopers and vrooming 🚗 .) She’s a New Year’s baby...and was supposed to be named Quinn Cooper. However, while in the hospital in 1990, her mother’s birthing roommate seemingly stole the name for her son. Before I Do by Sophie Cousens is a romantic comedy about a woman who is about to marry the love of her life, when the prior love of her life shows up unexpectedly at her wedding. Many thanks to NetGalley, Penguin-Putnam, and Sophie Cousens for an ARC of this book! Now available as of 10.11!**Flat-Out-Hate-Celeste). If the quirk in this story was a character, I would say it was very...self-aware. And poked fun at itself.

Before becoming a full-time writer, Cousens worked as a TV producer in London for more than 12 years, working on programmes such as “The Graham Norton Show”, “Russell Howard’s Good News” and “Big Brother”. This book is so emotional, approaching and discussing so important things like choices we made, the fate we’re destined, finding “the one”! What would you do if, at your engagement party, your fiance’s sister brings your first love (and the one that got away) as her date?

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The strongest element of the book is the characterisation which is very good. There are a lot of very likeable characters such as Minnie, Quinn and Minnie’s best friend Leila, some who are a bit quirky and colourful, some are a bit selfish or slightly negative so there’s a really good cross section of people and they all feel real. There is a good injection of humour some of which is a bit snarky, some is of the pun variety and there are plenty of fun, feel good moments. Tara suffers from anxiety which can from time to time almost cripple her and this is very well conveyed and it shows the impact that it has on Quinn but also how much he cares and tries to be supportive which is heartwarming. The book shows the importance of family bonds and friendship - even very unlikely friendships between Tara and Connie which becomes extremely important to both of them but especially Tara. It helps to lessen the effects of her anxiety and I think this is a positive message about reaching out to people. The conclusion of the book is fun but lovely. Atkins commented: "It is a match made in heaven to be publishing Sophie at Hodder – as a reader, I have adored her from afar over the past couple of years, and am so excited to get to work with her now as her editor. Sophie is hugely talented and full of unforgettable and original ideas, brilliant characters and stories that marry genuine heart with plenty of humour. I could not be more delighted to take her books to the next level at Hodder and to introduce readers to Before I Do later this year – it’s genuinely Sophie’s best book yet, and I know her readers are going to be as obsessed with it as I am.”