When Sophie Steinbeck finds out just before her nuptials that her fiancé has cheated yet again, she desperately wants to call it off. But because her future father-in-law is her dad’s cutthroat boss, she doesn’t want to be the one to do it. Her savior comes in the form of a professional objector, whose purpose is to show up at weddings and proclaim the words no couple (usually) wants to hear at their ceremony: “I object!”
During anti-wedding festivities that night, Sophie learns more about Max the Objector’s job. It makes perfect sense to her: he saves people from wasting their lives, from hurting each other. He’s a modern-day hero. And Sophie wants in.
The two love cynics start working together, going from wedding to wedding, and Sophie’s having more fun than she’s had in ages. She looks forward to every nerve-racking ceremony saving the lovesick souls of the betrothed masses. As Sophie and Max spend more time together, however, they realize that their physical chemistry is off the charts, leading them to dabble in a little hookup session or two—but it’s totally fine, because they definitely do not have feelings for each other. Love doesn’t exist, after all.
And then everything changes. A groom-to-be hires Sophie to object, but his fiancée is the woman who broke Max’s heart. As Max wrestles with whether he can be a party to his ex’s getting hurt, Sophie grapples with the sudden realization that she may have fallen hard for her partner in crime.
- Title: Happily Never After
- Author: Lynn Painter
- Publisher: Berkley
- Publication Date: March 12, 2024
- Genre: Romance
- Source: Digital ARC via Netgalley
- Targeted Age Range: Adult
- Content Warnings: infidelity, hospitalization
- Rating: ★★★.5
What happens when two cynics with undeniable chemistry start a low-key side gig as wedding crashers, and also make a deal to pursue a friendship? Happily Never After explores exactly that — Sophie and Max first meet at Sophie’s wedding, where Max is hired to object at her wedding. After a conversation, and a series of events, Sophie decides to join Max’s lowkey gig of being a wedding objector. Being able to help someone out is lovely, as is the added cash, but the best part of it is being able to show her coworkers that she’s moved on from her unfaithful ex-fiancé, who she happens to work with. And if Max and Sophie’s friendship happens to ease Max’s parents’ worries about him, a win is a win.
I adored Sophie. As our heroine, we get to watch her pick up the pieces from what she thought was going to be her life once married. I really liked how despite how cynical and practical Sophie always was, she still had to reimagine her life and recalibrate her expectations in the way that anyone has to after a breakup. And for Max, I totally felt for him — who hasn’t told a white lie here and there to get their parents to worry less?
Max and Sophie have a lot of chemistry, and I really appreciated that there was a distinction between instant attraction for both parties rather than instant love. I think their dynamic progressed well, and I loved their banter although I really wish that we got to see more of Max and Sophie’s relationship once they made sense of their feelings and got together. Especially with the way the epilogue is, I just wish we could’ve seen more of the in-between parts of their relationship.
Something I think Lynn Painter also does really well is balance the amount of wedding crashes, as we do Max and Sophie’s “friendship” develop. Each wedding crashed is a catalyst for a deeper step into the development of their dynamic, as well as their individual character growth. I was initially worried that this concept could get boring and repetitive, but luckily for me, Happily Never After felt that way. Another highlight of Happily Never After, for me, was Sophie’s 77 year old roommate, Larry. Truth be told, I loved all the side characters in the book; it’s just that we saw the most of him.
I really wish we’d seen more of Sophie and Max’s relationship once they got together, but I liked Lynn Painter’s twist on the wedding crasher trope. Overall, I’d recommend Happily Never After to anyone who is looking for a quick, fun, lighthearted read.
Links for Happily Never After: Goodreads | TheStorygraph | Bookshop.org
I have been curious about reading this one.