Sophie Cousens’ new rom-com, BEFORE I DO, opens with an indelible image: a bride, dazed and confused, staggers out of the wedding chapel 20 minutes before her wedding ceremony was due to end. Clearly some kind of crisis is unfolding inside. But what is it? And why does the bride appear, on some level, to be relieved, or at least not surprised that everything is ending in disaster?

"BEFORE I DO is funny, surprising and genuinely romantic, with a hard-won yet delightful happily-ever-after."

These are just some of the questions that readers delve right into in the following chapters, which unfold over several different timelines. In one narrative strand, Audrey is just days away from marrying her long-time boyfriend, Josh. Audrey has always been a bit of a free spirit, bouncing from job to job ever since failing the math exam that might have led to a serious study of astronomy. Love of the stars is something Audrey shared with her late father, who died when she was 12. Her mother, on the other hand, is very much alive and is practically an expert on matrimony (in a manner of speaking); she’s now on her fifth husband. In contrast to Audrey’s somewhat flighty family, Josh is reliable, dependable and kind. But does that also mean he’s a bit boring? And is Audrey settling for him instead of holding out for a soulmate?

This uncertainty comes into high relief when Josh’s sister, Miranda, shows up with a date --- who turns out to be a stranger to everyone except Audrey. She and the mischievously handsome Fred shared one wild, perfect day together six years earlier, the kind of spontaneous, carefree day one might expect to have with one’s soulmate. A series of misfortunes and miscommunications (traced in a second chronology) led to the ultimate missed connection --- and to one enormous “what if…” that’s been at the back of Audrey’s mind ever since. Does Fred’s reappearance in her life at this pivotal moment mean that they’re fated to be together, that their future is the one written in the stars?

In addition to tracing the leadup (and follow-up) to Audrey and Josh’s possibly disastrous wedding ceremony, and outlining what happened before, during and after her one remarkable day with Fred several years earlier, Cousens outlines Audrey and Josh’s love story, letting readers make up their own minds --- probably before Audrey herself does --- about who she’s meant to be with. Cousens masterfully structures these narratives to consistently readjust readers’ expectations and assumptions, making for a surprising and addictive reading experience. Audrey herself is an appealingly flawed, complicated character who has to address her own shortcomings before finding clarity about what --- and whom --- she wants for herself.

BEFORE I DO is funny, surprising and genuinely romantic, with a hard-won yet delightful happily-ever-after.