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Unabridged Digital Audiobook
Runtime: 8 hours, 5 minutes
Read by Colleen Prendergast
Anyone who’s ever planned a wedding can tell you how stressful the process can get. There are so many decisions to make, details to coordinate, and schedules to manage. And in the audio edition of I Do…or Do I? by author Karen King, one bride-to-be adds work pressures, a controlling mother-in-law, and an ex-boyfriend to the mix.
The story joins journalist Cassie on the rocky road to marriage. She didn’t even expect her fiancé, Timothy, to propose—but now, because his overbearing mother, Sylvia, was able to get a last-minute reservation for a fabulous wedding venue, she has just eight weeks to plan the wedding. Cassie’s editor sees it as the perfect opportunity to plan a weekly bridal feature for the local paper, following her adventures in wedding-planning. But when Sylvia’s behavior spirals out of control—and she ends up booking a photographer who just happens to be Cassie’s ex-fiancé, Jared—Cassie begins to wonder if she’s doing the right thing.
I Do…or Do I? is pretty typical chick lit. The elements are all here: the secrets and misunderstandings, the amusing characters, the predictable story. There are plenty of wedding-planning antics, too, as Cassie attempts to arrange a wedding that has at least a little bit of her own personal style, despite the disapproval of her controlling monster-in-law.
Still, it tends to take the expected formulas to extremes. It isn’t just predictable—it’s often blatantly obvious. Cassie doesn’t seem like a woman who’s about to marry the love of her life, and Timothy is almost entirely unlikable. It’s clear from the start that he sees their upcoming marriage as more of a business deal than a loving partnership—and it’s more than just hinted that he might not be the best partner. So while Jared’s reappearance in Cassie’s life may create a kind of conflict, it’s pretty clear that there’s really no competition here.
Cassie’s lies and cover-ups, meanwhile, can be maddening. Not only does she keep her relationship with Jared a secret, but she also keeps her wedding-planning column a secret—and it’s obvious that all of these secrets will eventually come back to haunt her. At the same time, she plays a childish back-and-forth game with Jared, both refusing to admit that they have feelings for each other while assuming that the other doesn’t care—despite the obvious evidence to the contrary. And all of the characters’ secrets and lies and insecurities make for a frustrating read.
If you’ve ever wanted to yell at the characters in a movie, you may finding yourself yelling at the clueless characters in this audiobook, too. It has its moments of humor and romance, but it may not be worth the aggravation.
Listen to the review on Shelf Discovery:
