Review: Happily Never After by Lynn Painter

​Happily Never After by Lynn Painter is a witty and heartfelt romantic comedy that follows Sophie Steinbeck, who discovers just before her wedding that her fiancé has cheated on her—again. Unwilling to confront the situation herself due to her future father-in-law being her father’s formidable boss, Sophie enlists Max, a professional “wedding objector,” to disrupt the ceremony by declaring, “I object!” -Penguin Random House

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I recently read Happily Never After by Lynn Painter on Libby.

This blog post main contain spoilers for it, so please read at your own risk.

It follows Sophie as she hires Max, who as a side job, objects at weddings, because her fiancé cheated on her (and not for the first time) Afterwards, she gets in contact with Max and joins him as they become partners in crime. Of course since they’re spending so much time together they grow close and some feelings bloom, but here is the thing. Sophie does not believe in love. She never did. 

I personally have been a romance kick and using Libby has made accessing romance books super easy while not having to buy them. This was, I think, the fourth book I read on Libby. 

While the book itself was not the best written book ever (not Pride and Prejudice or Sherlock Holmes), it definitely kepy my attention and I found it to be very character driven. 

I strive to have Sophies reaction if I had ever found out my fiance was cheating on me. Hiring someone to object at your own wedding and blast the reason why? Amazing. The fact that this book ends with a HEA with the person you hired to object at your wedding is hilarious. 

Now what I did find odd in the book is that the best friend/maid of honor is the one who had known about Max’s side gig and had originally hired him for Sophie…but she isn’t really mentioned again? I feel like she should have been more involved in the story then just that  night of the wedding where the three of them get trashed. She just seemed to disappear after that and wasn’t really mentioned again.

This I think is a he falls first trope and I love the way he (Max) approaches it. I also love the way he deals with her ‘senior’ roommates. He definitely could have been more communicative for one of the conflicts of the book. But obviously wasn’t because otherwise the conflict wouldn’t have happened in the first place. So miscommunication is another trope you see in this book.

All in all, I did enjoy this light, funny book that I devoured in one evening (yes I stayed up way too late to finish it.)

-Fallon