Cover Image: Happily Ever Afters

Happily Ever Afters

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Member Reviews

Thank you to the publisher for approving me to read HAPPILY EVER AFTERS! I'm not typically a YA reader and it takes a special premise to make me want to read. This was charming, heartwarming, and everything I wanted at the time I read it. A delightful escapist read.

Disclaimer: I work for HarperCollins at the time of this review, but my opinions are my own.

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Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me a free advanced copy of this book to read and review.

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This was such a cute book! I really felt for Tessa as she struggle with writers block, family issues, and boy problems. She made some really poor choices throughout the book but I really loved the arc of her character growth.

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I LOVED the disability representation in this novel. As someone who has a disability myself, I think it was portrayed wonderfully through Miles’ character. A lovely teen story about romance & finding one’s place in the world! Four stars.

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Happily Ever Afters is a breath of fresh air for romance readers! Not only does it detail the beautiful and fluffy world of romance reading and writing, it also addresses important subjects like racism, disability, difficult family relationships and friendships, performative allyship, and more. Indeed, the exploration of the lack of BIPOC in romances, code switching in schools, and performative allyship to BIPOC and queer individuals by white cisgender people are important and eye-opening inclusions that will assuredly inspire further research and conversation by teens and adults alike.

Another strength of the book is the characters. Readers will be unable to keep from sympathizing or falling in love with Tessa, whose head-in-the-clouds romantic idealism and frantic attempts to right wrongs will be all too familiar to teens. The side characters, especially Hawaiian Shirt Sam and Lenore, are also endearing, which makes the fact that Elise Bryant continues with some of these same characters in her recently published book, One True Loves. An additional shining facet of the book is the relationships, both good and bad. Tessa and Caroline’s long distance friendship is truly #goals even in the worst of times, and Tessa’s family dynamic is heartwarming and refreshingly realistic.

While I very much enjoyed reading Happily Ever Afters, I got the feeling throughout the book that I had read it before. While the author definitely tackles tough topics in the book, the mechanics of the plot and the writing are all things I’ve read before in the vast offerings of YA romance. I reveled in reading Happily Ever Afters, but to me there was not enough to distinguish it from other books in the genre. Those looking for romance will be placated, but romance devotees may find the novel too predictable.

Another issue I took with the book are the copious Harry Potter references. While Harry Potter has been a cultural mainstay for almost 25 years, in the past few years the author has made it clear of her harmful beliefs towards trans women and other marginalized identities. While the author does address the author’s controversies in the book, it is quite subtle and not fully explored in plain language. Frankly, though I don’t think this was the intention of the author, the number of Harry Potter references in the book could deter or harm queer teen readers. I’d recommend Happily Ever Afters to rom-com lovers everywhere- it delivers in all the best, trope-filled ways as your fave romantic comedy film! You’ll have a serious case of heart eyes and be in danger of swooning after turning the final page.

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Tessa Johnson was accepted into the writing program at a prestigious art school, but on her very first day, the creative juices that had always been so easily flowing came to an abrupt halt. When her best friend suggests a sure fire way to get the writing flowing again, she jumps on board, only to find herself getting farther away from what she had always felt so passionate about and hurting people she really cared about along the way.
Thank you Netgalley, Elise Bryant, and Harper Collins for the opportunity to read and review this book. This book had me from the start! This was a very cute YA rom-com. I thoroughly enjoyed the characters in this book and enjoyed the character development. There was some pretty in depth points that were touched on as well including racism, interracial marriage, a character with disabilities as well as relationships between family and friends. I think this was very well written and I would definitely recommend this book. If you like YA feel good books, this one is for you! I rate this ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

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While I think tackling the topics surrounding insecurity as a teenager is something the audience very much needs, I was disenchanted by the story given how much proximity to whiteness is reveled in this story with a mixed Black lead.

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If you’re the breakfast-baking type, you’ll love Elise Bryant’s upcoming Happily Ever Afters, a sweet and grounding book about showing up for yourself and showing up for others. One of the ways Sam shows up for himself is in the book is through his baking creations, which he learns to accept is truly an art. And Tessa is always happy to show support by being his taste-tester on the way to school, especially if the subject is a warm, brown-butter raspberry muffin. Sam is supportive, too: as a friend to Tessa who champions her writing and just shows up for her, which she really needs when she moves and starts at a new school for creative arts.

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I tried finishing this book and could not get into it. I did not write a Goodreads review because I try not to put out negative reviews for books that are still trying to gain traction.

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Thank you for giving me the opportunity to review but unfortunately it didn’t get my attention. Tried to get into but barely got to the 5th chapter.

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As expected, this book was just as bookishly adorable as I was hoping it would be!

In HAPPILY EVER AFTERS, we have our Black MC, Tessa, who is addicted to romance novels (like, SAME!) and dreams of writing her own romance someday. However, upon gaining acceptance to the creative writing program of a prestigious art school, Tessa finds herself struggling with writer's block, and comes up with a genius plan: to experience real romance for herself.

While the romantic "twist" was a tad predicable, I still found that I loved it more than words can convey. If you're looking for a delectable, bookish sweet treat of a book in the same vein of WHAT I LIKE ABOUT YOU, definitely be sure to pick up a copy of this book today!

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this story had so many things i love: a writer main character and a swoon-worthy best friends to lovers romance. overall a really solid story with some stand out character and a nice story about being unapologetically yourself. it veered a little bit trope-y here and there and you know, i hate a love triangle. but all in all was a sweet story

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This is a cute rom-com that reminds me of summer netflix movie. I liked that the main character was a writer and how diverse the story was told.

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I really liked this YA debut, and I know I'll definitely be reading anything this author writes in the future!

I received an e-ARC from the publisher.

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I'm a sucker for a main character that is a writer. This was a cute story, along with tackling the issue of an absence of POC as main characters in novels.

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This is a super fun read. I really enjoyed this one!

Many thanks to the author, the publisher, and Netgalley for my ARC. All opinions are my own.

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Happily Ever Afters is a book that is breathtakingly beautiful and uniquely wonderful. Elise Bryant did a great job at portraying persons of color at the story. The book shows how can we cope up either to love and to our environment. The characters are amazing, the environment and phasing of the story got my sanity at high level. I overall love this book!

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This book is a delightful, geeky love story! I'm always looking for straight-up romances by authors who come from marginalized backgrounds. I love a love story, but for years, they have been a lot of the same type of characters. This one is refreshing and adorable. And it has everything I like—a girl who longs to see herself as the heroine of a romance (check), lists (check), best friends (check), loving family (check).

I am a sucker for rom-coms. But put a Black girl on the cover and I AM DOUBLE SOLD. Tessa just wants her creative writing mojo back. She wants to kiss a cute boy. IS SHE ME?

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I thought I was going to love this book more than I did. On the surface, there was so much I enjoyed. I loved reading and relating to a black heroine; as she discussed facing stereotypes and life as a black girl, I was just reminded why representation matters so much and loved feeling understood while reading this book. Add in writing, baking and romance - and I thought this book would be an instant favorite.

Unfortunately, at the core of this story, I didn't connect with it at all. Tessa is an extremely self-absorbed individual and it's evident in her relationship with her best friend as well as the lines she's willing to cross to get her ideal happily ever after. To compensate for Tessa ignoring her conscience, the "no judgment" trope generally blankets and excuses Tessa's actions, which irritated me. Additionally, Tessa's pervasive insecurities and passivity frustrated me at times too.

Although Tessa does eventually learn from her mistakes and grow as a person, her growth felt compacted at end of the story and left me questioning the authenticity of her transformation in certain areas. Regardless, I did enjoy the message of Tessa's self-realization at the end.

But, overall, this story just wasn't for me.


*No sex scenes, moderate/heavy swearing

*I received a complimentary copy of this book from NetGalley. I was not required to write a positive review. All thoughts and opinion s expressed are my own.

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While this book didn't really grab me, it's a cute premise with good representation. I will definitely recommend it to readers looking for a sweet coming of age romcom.

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