A review by xabbeylongx
Before I Say I Do by Vicki Bradley

dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

SPOILERS AHEAD
Book Review: 
I bought this audiobook a while ago, and I finally got around to reading it. It was about 11 hours long, so not a bad time at all, and I finished it in a few sittings. 
I really liked the characters in it. To be fair, although I didn’t like some of them, they were definitely all well written. Not the stereotypical ‘perfect’ characters, which I really really like. And the writing got a lot better towards the end, I must say. I wasn’t sure how good it was going to be, but the book grew on me. 
The was the slight issue of repetition. In the first chapter, I reckon that Lucy’s hair colour was described as auburn like three times. And throughout the book, there was too much emphasis on hair colour, especially with that word, and it got a bit tedious in the end. Not only that, but there seemed to be a sort of hatred towards fat people, I felt. Everything was good, the only thing I felt was not needed was the leak part of the story. To me, it didn’t contribute anything, it just made things more difficult for the characters. It was an unnecessary detour, to be honest. 
I really liked Loxton and Kovolski together. I was over the moon when they kissed. I’m so happy they waited until after the case was solved, too, and not just fuelled by the excitement of solving crime. And also, the bit where Julia talks of Rachel looking like her namesake is so goddamn sweet. I teared up a little bit, not going to lie. Bradley definitely has a way of describing emotional scenes, and it works really well for her. So, I was really, pleasant surprised by this book. 
 
Book Summary: 
We follow Julia Tolbert on her wedding day. She’s about to walk down the aisle, getting married to her best friend Mark Rowthorn (sorry if I’ve absolutely butchered the spellings) when she notices David Steele, Mark’s best friend, talking to the wedding officiator. She’s never had much time for him, and especially not today when he comes over and tells her that Mark hasn’t been seen for over 24 hours. She’s in shock. With Lucy Webb, her bridesmaid and best friend, by her side, they call the police. 
Loxton and Kovolski are on the same police team. She was demoted, after a scandal involving Alex Saunders, an ex lover and a journalist, who sold stories to newspapers for his own fame. They became fast friends when she joined the team. They are also put on the Rowthorn case. At first, they are given it because they think he’s just got last minute nerves, and they think he’s done a runner. 
However, when a body turns up, and they look into him and realise he has a load of debt, it’s starting to look like he might have killed himself. 
Or, that he was murdered. 
Loxton and Kovolski follow many leads, one of them being David. He’s a drug addict, and they find cocaine in his house, and blood, which they assume is Mark’s. It, unfortunately, isn’t, and although they can charge him for the assault of a police officer, they are still no closer to finding Mark. 
Julia has a past - one that no one knows about, so much so that she had to change her name, and leave behind her parents. When she was younger, Kayleigh Webb (now Lucy) was her best friend, but Jenny (now Julia) was sick of her, and sick of everyone. Ever since Rachel, her little sister, came along, Jenny felt jealous. She never had her parent’s attention anymore. One day, she goes into the forest with Johnny. They decided to play a prank on Rachel, hide and seek, but they intend to run off so Rachel can’t find her. They were supposed to scare her, but after Johnny tried to touch her, she didn’t find it funny anymore. She went to get Rachel, and found her dead. Julia was arrested for murder, but was cleared, and Johnny got charged instead. 
Having recently been released from prison, Johnny was contacting her. He was trying to get his name cleared, and was hoping Julia would help him. She didn’t trust him, though. She went looking for him, because she thought he knew where her husband was. He tries to attack her, and ends up killing him when he falls against a bin and hits his head. 
Not wanting to drag Lucy through any more of her mess, she doesn’t tell her anything. 
Julia starts to act very suspicious to the police. They are being fed a load of lies from her. They find out her parents didn’t die in a car crash, that they are just estranged. They didn’t know she was accused of murder. Just when they think they’re close to finding out who did it, something else is brought into the mix that confuses them. 
There was a little bunny that Rachel had when she was younger. When she was killed, the bunny was gone. However, when looking through Lucy’s flat, they find that a patched quilt made by her grandma is using that exact patch. And even though Loxton is off the case (someone framed her for spreading information, again), she and Kovolski travel to Lucy’s house. 
When Julia gets to Lucy’s, after finding out she’s pregnant and the sleeping pills that Lucy gave her were too strong for the dosage advised, she doesn’t know what to think. And when she finds someone whimpering from the basement, she has to free them. 
The only issue is, it’s Mark. 
Someone sets a fire. Lucy’s on one end of some rope, and Mark is on the other side. The fire is travelling towards them. Lucy is already burning, screaming so awfully. She tries to save Mark. However, she is stopped by someone… 
Lucy. 
The girl in the basement was Emily Hart. She looked like Lucy, and was having an affair with Mark. She was in love with him, and he was with her, too. Lucy was conducting and experiment, would Julia try and save her or Mark, and she chose Mark. Lucy has always wanted to be her one and only, so when she followed them into the woods the day Rachel was killed, she knew that to be close with her again, she would have to kill Rachel. And she injected Johnny with ketamine, too, which was why he died, and not because of the head wound - although that surely didn’t help. He was stalking Julia and Mark and David, though, waiting to ruin their lives the way Jenny did his. And Lucy stole Mark, to conduct the experiment. And she hurt Emily, because she was involved in hurting Julia. Lucy did all of this because she was in love with Julia. 
The fire takes the house down, and Loxton and Kovolski get there as soon as the flames are rising. They manage to save Mark, but no one else. He is hospitalised, and when they return to the scene (which Loxton is banned from, due to ‘rat’ allegations again) they notice footprints leading to the back gate. 
Lucy takes Julia back to the same place Rachel was found. She’s going to kill Julia - or is she? - because she wanted to be her first priority, but she always seemed to forget about her. Luckily, Loxton turns up just in time, and distracts her whilst Kovolski tackles her. She is arrested and confesses, so she is charged and Johnny, if he was alive, would have been cleared. 
Julia decides that she can’t be with Mark anymore, because of his lying and his cheating, his drug problem which left them in loads of debt which meant she couldn’t afford her house anymore. He went to prison anyway, so she had the baby on her own. Although, she reconciled with her parents, and they’re helping to bring up little Rachel - who looks exactly ‘like her namesake’. Loxton and Kovolski also end up sharing a moment. 
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