Reviews with content warning for Alcohol - Happily Never After

I would say I have a love-hate relationship with Sophie and Max. While I dislike the miscommunication trope, I understand their inner turmoil. I can see myself having such doubts. I am a sucker for he-falls-first, so that balances out the former, haha. As we are reaching a pinnacle point in the plot (which happened way later than I anticipated), I felt that there is an imbalance between how much of Sophie's thoughts and feelings we get compared to Max's. I can definite relate to Max and see what is going on in his head. With Sophie, however, I would like a bit more. There's a bit of a disconnect there. I didn't count the chapters/sections for each pov, and I don't know if it's cause I feel more closely connected to Max's stream of thought, so those may be factors.

Overall, may read her other books, too!

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courtnetto's review against another edition

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emotional lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This is the first Lynn Painter book that I have ever read. In this book we have Sophie, who was about to marry Stuart when it was revealed that someone objected to their marriage. We soon find out that Max is the person who objected to the marriage as he was asked by Sophie to come and object to them getting married as we learn that Stuart isn’t the most trustworthy person and may actually be cheating on Sophie! After this, Max is offered another job being an objector, but this time asks Sophie to go with him so she can be an “objectress”.
Both Max and Sophie believe that true love isn’t a thing, Sophie believing that you can’t possibly know when there’s 8 billion people in the world. Sophie ended up keeping the apartment she shared with Stuart after she forced him to leave due to his cheating. She then finds 2 roommates, Rose and Larry who are two elderly people, as she is unable to afford the apartment alone on her wage. Soon after, Max and Sophie are offered another job at a redneck wedding. They successfully break it off but not without fights! The bride ends up going for Sophie, but Sophie then manages to put her into a headlock. As the book progresses between these scenes, you can see the relationship between Max and Sophie developing more and more.
They are then asked to do another wedding, which wasn’t within driving distance so the couple (yes, they both wanted their help as neither of them wanted to get married anyway) said they would pay for their travel and their accommodation. This wedding goes without mishap and the couple are happy that it worked well, the groom even trying to give them more cash which Sophie told him to keep because they were kind enough to pay for their travel and accommodation.
In between these weddings, they start to realise that they have a bit of sexual chemistry and end up doing something about this. Soon after, Larry gives Sophie another job that Sophie wants to take. This is to be the objector at Lilibeth’s wedding which Max tells her not to take, but she doesn’t understand why and says that she’ll do it alone if she has to but she is still pleading with him and he keeps telling her no. Sophie only finds out about this job through Larry, her roommate as it’s his best friends sisters niece. Eventually, Max tells Sophie she can’t do this job because Lilibeth is his ex. However, Sophie still decides that she wants to go ahead, much to Max’s dismay. This is when Max takes matters into his own hands and tells Lilibeth about the plans to object at her wedding.
Soon after, Max arrives at Sophie’s apartment and Rose says to him that she doesn’t want to talk to him, but Sophie ends up listening to Max as he declares his love for her (but remember it’s not love because they don’t believe in it) and Sophie freaks, kicking him out of the apartment. While at work the next day, Sophie receives a call saying Larry is on his way to the hospital, so she asks questions, except it’s a neighbour ringing so he keeps telling her he doesn’t know. At the point, she has also texted Max saying Larry was going to the hospital and Max tells her he will meet her there, which he tries to. But by the time he arrives, Sophie has already left. While at the hospital, Larry tells Sophie that she is stupid for not thinking about her feelings in this situation and to think about how she feels now and how she would feel if he was to cheat on her 2 years from now. Which changed something in Sophie and she decided she owed Max an apology.
Sophie and Max then meet up and Sophie apologises, firstly for going ahead and wanting to object at Lilibeth’s wedding and then secondly she wanted to address her feelings for him. Only Sophie typed what she wanted to say on a PowerPoint so that she remembered everything, but Max preferred for it to come straight from the heart.
At the end, there’s a year jump and this is where Sophie and Max get their own wedding!! When it’s asked if anyone objects, Larry and Rose decide it would be funny so they pretend that they’re objecting.
This was a lovely read and it really demonstrated how people show their feelings. It just felt like there was something missing for me, hence the 4 star rating.

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mkeisler's review against another edition

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lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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devilbunny6's review against another edition

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lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.25

The only likable characters were a couple of Baby Boomers who, for reasons, chose to live with the emotionally immature Gen Z FMC in her way too overpriced downtown Omaha apartment in order to help her make rent. Both MMC and FMC were the hottest two people on the planet and super fancy, yet super relatable because they had cats. They drank copious amounts of alcohol and ate a lot of pizza and ice cream. Oh, and they also made a crap ton of money busting up weddings.

Weird premise + annoying MCs = me wishing I could get a refund on this book. I’d enjoyed this authors Mr. Wrong Number series so I picked this up thinking it’d be a nice, fluffy read only to be filled with regret.

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beckyyreadss's review against another edition

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funny hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I wanted to read this book because I love Lynn Painter’s work and when she announced this book, I instantly pre-ordered this book.

This book is based on Sophie Steinbeck and finds out just hours before 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 saviour comes in the form of a professional objector, whose purpose is to show up at weddings and proclaim the words no couple 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 their betrothed masses. As Sophie and Max spend more time together, they realize that their physical chemistry is off the charts, leading them to dabble in a 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.

This book is so fun and adorable and flirty. I love the aspect of professional stopping wedding discreetly without being the one that is breaking the family apart. I feel like I would find the perfect job, I would love to do this job. I love Sophie, I think she is brilliant, and I wanted to hug her throughout the book, she was going through a rough time, trying to get a promotion and having to see her ex-fiancé every day. I love the character development she had and how she went from being a cynic to be all fluffy and in love. Max took a while to grow on me, I think it’s mainly because I was waiting for the red flag to make an appearance. He seemed too perfect for a main character, even in fluffy romances there is usually something wrong with the love interest. I loved his POV and wanted more than him just talking about how much he missed or wanted Sophie. I loved Larry and Rose and what them to have a book together please? They could be doing anything – bickering, on holiday, working. I don’t care, I loved those two.

The third-act conflict wasn’t needed. The miscommunication wasn’t needed. If Max had told Sophie on the phone that Lilabeth was his ex then she would have understood why he didn’t want to be the objector at this one and then moved on, but instead he went behind her back and then was wondering why she was pissed. It was all just very annoying for the last sixty pages.

I will always read anything Lynn Painter writes. I adore her work and I'm hoping to rate one of her books five stars soon, but this was just missing something to make it a five-star read.

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thevanessa's review against another edition

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lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.75

1.75/5⭐️

✨She’s not like other girls✨

✨He’s not like other guys✨

✨And they remind you of that in every chapter with great detail✨

🫠

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lexiemoon321's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Did I manage to read this all in a couple of hours? Yes, I did.

Okay, I want to go ahead and get my only problem with the book: the romance between the two main characters just completely undermines what the book is trying to talk about: that love isn't real. But besides that...I liked it! If there is one thing that I have noticed with Lynn Painter is that she writes the most HILARIOUS banter. I think overall this was a really cute read and one that you can read in one sitting!

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