Happily Never After

Painter (Betting on You) delivers a charmer of a rom-com with this lively tale of professional wedding objectors. When Sophie Steinbeck finds out her fiancé, Stuart, has been unfaithful, she wants to call the whole thing off—but her father-in-law to be is her father’s boss and she worries about the repercussions. Enter Max Parks, who gets paid to object at ill-fated weddings and who helps Sophie to call things off mid-ceremony without getting blamed for the relationship’s end. Both Sophie and Max have been burned by love, but when Sophie asks Max to show her the ropes of the hired objection gig, their attraction is undeniable. They agree to a purely physical relationship even as Max hopes feelings will grow. When Sophie is called to object at Max’s former girlfriend’s wedding, however, his instinct to protect his ex from heartbreak creates a huge rift between Max and Sophie. Will they be able to sort out their differences? Alternating between Sophie’s and Max’s perspectives, the zippy plot comes complete with a winning supporting cast, especially Sophie’s entertaining senior-citizen roommates and mischievous cats. Rom-com fans will find this scratches the itch. (Mar.)