Huge thank you to Berkley Romance and Lynn Painter for the ARC of Happily Never After. Lynn is my auto read rom com wrtier, It doesnt matter if it is YA or adult swooning I am there for it! From Better than The Movies to The Love Wager ( that was one of my fave rom coms of 2023) Lynn is guaranteed to make your heart swoon . 4.5 stars!
Read if you like:
-Friends with benefits
-Wedding shenanigans
-He falls first
-“Fake dating”

I always know that classic rom com movie vibes are going to be present with a Lynn Painter book : Add a dash of Runaway Bride ( Sophie hires Max to "object " at her wedding when she finds her fiancé was cheating. ) then a little bit of The Wedding Date because they are fake dating while getting paid to break up weddings. Max doesn't want a relationship, Sophie wants a fling. He has his important job in an architecture firm and she is on the rise to VP. Why cant they use each other to fool her boss and his parents into believing they are really dating?
I adored their banter, their face time antics, and how hard Max fell for her.
"F#$% love and relationships, I just want to be with you because you're my GD favorite person."

And the little old roommate Larry.. he was precious and fitting that a character named Sophie Steinbeck has a man like Tom Hanks talking in her ear. Absolutely my favorite rom com of March 2024!

this book was such a cute read! the perfect palette cleanser! lynn painter writes such cute romcoms! she really never misses!

HNA has Everything you expect from a Lynn Painter book: hilarious characters, chemistry dripping off the page, quirky side peeps, and slightly bonkers but totally believable circumstances bringing couples together.

What I especially love about Lynn’s characters is how hard they fall for each other, and how strong the connections are by the time the characters realize it. They get to know each other so well, and oftentimes it’s only *that* character they really open up to and trust to be their authentic selves with.

That was most definitely the case with Happily Never After, where our protagonist Sophie meets Max the day he interrupts her wedding ceremony to object to the marriage. Sophie, who was in on the scheme, connects with Max instantly, and rekindles that friendly connection a few months later, when Max asks her to help with another wedding-related objection plan. They realize they’re a dynamic duo, in and out of the wedding chapel.

When they figure out hanging out could be mutually beneficial to their respective work situations, they decide to play up their platonic relationship.

This was so cute! It felt like a 2000s rom com. I feel like maybe something was missing and the conflict was kind of meh. but I loved the fmcs roommates and the banter between the characters. I love Lynn painter. I will read anything she writes.

This was one of the cutest romcoms EVER! This was such a fun read. Such an adorable friends to lover trope plot revolving around two wedding objectors.

Sophie and Max meet when Sophie finds out that Max is a professional wedding objector. She then hires him to object to the marriage of Sophie to her cheating fiancé. Sophie and Max decide to work together objecting at various weddings. They have both sworn off love, but will their budding friendship turn into more?

I loved the banter between Sophie and Max as their friendship developed. The author did a great job in developing their characters, as well as their friendship. I enjoyed the snarky humor they used when talking to one another. I found myself chuckling out loud during certain parts. It was great to see the two of them develop a friendship and not falling in love right away. Healthy love is the best love.

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Loved this one! It was such an interesting story with the whole wedding objectors angle. I loved how unique that was. I find the book to be funny and delightful. Loved the two main characters.

So cute! I loved both Max and Sophie and the idea of an objector. The part about Max's ex felt rushed but the book was still great overall.

Another fun read from Lynn Painter. I really enjoyed the dialogue/banter between the main leads. I wish the book was a little longer. I would've liked to spend more time with the characters.

2.75⭐️

the first 50-60% of the book was great!

things I enjoyed:
✨the whole “wedding objectors” idea is very unique and the perfect set up for a rom com
✨the scenes of them wedding crashing
✨her roommates

things i didn’t enjoy:
✨fake dating element felt random
✨the mmc defending his ex
✨the fmc being so hung up on her ex🫠i just don’t see how two people can have a meaningful relationship while having their ex in mind?
✨i didn’t feel the emotional connection between the two main characters


thank u netgalley for the arc!

4.5 Stars
If you love books with a ton of banter, this is a MUST READ!!

This book had everything I love in a good romcom; witty banter, spice and loveable characters. I honestly just could not get enough of Sophie and Max!! This book was so close to being perfect, right up until the whole ex situation came up. Nothing unforgivable or even really that bad happened but I just wanted more discussion between Max and Sophie, with a little more opening up from Max. I think I'm just too nosy to not have every detail about the conflict thoroughly discussed before I can really FEEL the HEA.

*I received and early copy from NetGalley for voluntary review

Lynn Painter has done it again!

Sophie Steinbeck is about to marry her cheating fiancé, until Max Parks comes in and objects to their marriage. Now free from a doomed marriage, the two navigate the single life. The two, now friends, decide to embark on a new business, professional "objectors" saving other couples from their own doomed marriages.

Sophie and Max, two people who have sworn off love, slowly start to deal with the challenges of the no feelings, no love pact they have in place. The chemistry between these two is just *chefs kiss*. I loved this new take on the rom-com drama. All the characters in this book are well developed and there was a great balance between the humor and romantic moment. I highly recommend that all romance lovers give this book a read!

Huge thank you to Net Galley and Berkley Publishing for the ARC of this book!

There wasn't anything special about this romance for me. I didn't hate but I wouldn't seek the author out in the future.

Happily Never After by Lynn Painter is a hilarious romantic comedy featuring a friends to lovers story. While I absolutely loved this rom-com I would warn there’s some language and a bit of spice that may not be everyone’s cup of tea though.

Sophie Steinbeck was so looking forward to her wedding day but when she finds out some things about her groom to be she begins looking forward to ending the relationship instead. Sophie finds herself caught between a rock and a hard place though when it comes to ending things with her would’ve been future father in law employing her own father making his job in jeopardy if Sophie walks out.

On the wedding day Sophie’s friend hires Max whose sole job is to object to the nuptials and derail the wedding train. When everything goes wonderfully Sophie still couldn’t help but wonder how Max ended up in such a weird position. A few months pass when Sophie and Max cross paths again and Sophie finds herself fascinated with learning to be an objector herself.

Happily Never After is the third book I’ve read by author Lynn Painter and it’s the third absolutely loved it story too. First, of course it’s great that I constantly found myself laughing while reading this rom com but I also found myself rooting along for the characters quickly and finding myself enjoying such a unique setting and circumstance for those characters. With the exact opposite of the three strikes your out saying with finding three gems from Lynn Painter she will definitely be welcome into my TBR again in the future!!

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

Ugh. Another AHHHHH-MAZING novel by the one and only Lynn Painter. I am a HUGE fan of hers and cannot not read her books.

Someone grab Hulu (because that's my streaming service) and get them to make this book into a movie.

This isn't a Hallmark-y kind of book, it is an adorable rom-com/chick lit, that starts off in a way you wouldn't expect it.

Just grab the book, get lost in it, it'll take you a couple hours, you'll thank me later.

Thank you NetGalley for my E-ARC (is it still an ARC if it is out? I guess it is since I can't get this at my library still) in exchange for my honest review!

Thank you to Net Galley and Berkley Publishing Group for the copy of Lynn Painter’s newest. Although I received it after publication, I still wanted to give it a review.

Lynn Painter always gets me, there’s some reads that are fabulous and others that are meh. This one is in the fabulous category. I read it in one sitting. I did predict the wedding that would cause turmoil, but that’s okay! I love a successful, smart woman and I love a man that is working on himself. This story includes both of those types of characters in Sophie and Max. PS - Max is a literal 10/10 and I love him.

Every time there was a wedding objection all I could picture was Shrek screaming “I OBJECT”.

Lynn - I need a prequel of Stuart and Sophie and Max and Lillibeth.

This was so fun! This is the story of how Max, the Objector, rescues Sophia by answering the question, "Does anyone know why these 2 should not be wed?" yes. Max has a side gig to provide this service and give a way for the wedding to be cancelled in a very public way that place the blame on the person that actually is responsible. What Max doesn't expect is that he will find friendship and a partner in his side gig in Sophie. Sophie has decided she does not believe in love so when she begins spending time with Max it is for the side gig and friendship. But the more time they spend together, the more time they want to spend together. They agreed to not catch feelings but why can't they keep their hands and lips off of each other? A fun story of learning to trust and to take a risk at feeling something.

When i pik up a book by Lynn Painter, i know that i am going to be entertained. I expect to laugh, emotionally connect to the characters, and enjoy a love story. This gave me all of that and a fun plot. Have you ever been to a wedding where someone objected? I haven't. But imagine if you really wanted out of your wedding and didn't know how- wouldn't it be neat if there was someone you could ask to "object"for you? That's how these two main characters meet. Max is an objector at Sophie's wedding. Sophie then ends up working with Max as an objector because she believes in helping others who experienced what she did. While neither Max nor Sophie are interested in a relationship, they do develop a strong friendship that seems to be sliding down a slippery slope to more (it's a rom com, right?). I loved their banter and escapades. I also loved the dual point of view and hearing each of their perspective.

I really enjoyed this one!

4.5 stars rounded up to 5.

Thanks to the publisher for sharing a copy. All opinions are my own.

Welcome to all those gathered here today for the celebration of Lynn’s newest book, Happily Never After.

You are all invited to say “I do” to reading this book, and any objectors, while entitled to their opinion, can keep it to themselves because I freakin’ LOVE this book.

I received an early copy from @berkleyromance @berkleypub but all opinions are my own.

I can fully imagine Lynn sitting at her desk, fingers tapping away at the keyboard and just cackling to herself as she puts Maxxie and Sophie into this ridiculous situations and drafts their banter. I can imagine this because I definitely laughed and cackled a lot while reading.

The premise is ridiculous but welcome to the romance genre in which hundreds of books are written on ridiculous premises and we, the readers, LIVE for them. Sophie is getting married. Finds out her fiancé is a scuzzbucket and wants to cancel the wedding without negative implications for her family. So she hires “the Objector” aka, Max, to intervene, which he does, to great success. A few months later, and Max reaches out to Sophie, and thus begins a beautiful friendship that is, from the get-go, meant to be something more.

Joining in on the fun are Sophie’s two roommates who are an absolute delight and I would watch a reality tv show based on them. Max’s dad also provided some laughs as he’s determined that, with Max’s help, he will finally get to retire to Florida and spend his days golfing and boating.

What I really enjoyed about this book is that as Max and Sophie were growing closer together, they were also helping each other to heal and grow from their past, and to figure out how to take the next steps forward, individually and together.

In my opinion, another hit from Lynn Painter.

Lynn Painter books are always guaranteed to make me laugh, swoon and sweat. She writes the most amazing banter between her characters and Happily Never After was just right. In saying that, it won't be my favourite of hers and there was a little something I can't put my finger on that's holding me back from 5 stars, but this book was still a wonderful, funny and cute read.

The plot was very original and very entertaining. The chemistry between the characters can be felt through the pages. Overall, it's a perfect palate cleanser and a book that's sure to warm you up from the inside out.

Thanks for the free book @berkleyromance, @prhaudio, & @librofm!

This was my first read by Lynn Painter, but it definitely won’t be my last!

My only regret is that I binged it in one sitting, and coming back a week later to write this review it’s all a bit blurry.

I fell in love with the romcom genre as a teen watching movies, and this gives book gives those golden age of rom com movie vibes - the kind of feel good movie you can watch over and over again. I can see myself pulling this book back out as a comfort read just like those movies became comfort watches!

🎧 Both narrators were so well suited to their characters and really brought the story to life!