Happily Never After by Lynn Painter (Review by Stephanie Rowitz)

Rating: 5/5

When Sophie Steinbeck finds out that her husband-to-be has been unfaithful, she wants to call off the wedding. However, her future father-in-law is her dad’s boss, so rather than risk a potentially messy fallout, she hires Max Parks to object during the ceremony. Afterward, Sophie learns about Max’s public service of saving people from unhappy and unfaithful marriages and decides she wants to pay it forward. As Sophie and Max team up to help other confrontation-fearing folks get out of messy entanglements, they realize that their chemistry and easy working relationship may mean more than just being great business partners. 

I wasn’t a big fan of the premise, but I really enjoyed this book. I haven’t read anything by Lynn Painter before, but this book made me want to check out more of her work. The writing was excellent and flowed easily. The dialogue was quick and witty. The relationship was also very believable and fun. All these factors made me devour this book in two days. I liked seeing Sophie come into her own and go after what she wanted in her career, even though it was difficult for her to do that in her relationships. This contradiction made her character seem real and believable. 

I think Max’s character could’ve been developed a bit more, but I understand how that isn’t always feasible in a dual-POV book. There was still a fair amount of depth, but I wish he was fleshed out like Sophie was. However, their banter definitely helped the reader see more of Max’s character, so he wasn’t just an average guy. 

Happily Never After was a sweet romance that took me by surprise. If you are skeptical about this book because of the premise, I urge you to try it anyway. If you’re a fan of good writing, witty yet flawed characters, and a satisfying romance, this book is for you.