This book starts with a bang, literally, but not in a good way. We where just thrust into a very unsexy scene and the more we learn about it, the more we dislike it. I feel like I could have enjoyed this story if it had started in a different way, but I was honestly turned off from the beginning. I ended up DNFing this book because the writing was not my style and I was cringing more than enjoying.
Thank you for the eARC.

I really wanted to love this book. There were some good laugh out loud moments. I think my main issue was that the FMC was supposed to be almost 30 and she was so immature and self-centered. At times I was beginning to wonder if she was in love with her best friend because she became so possessive.
Bella came across as rude and inconsiderate a lot of the time, again back to the immaturity. I was really rooting for her but the book lost me at like 66% and I couldn't continue.
Plus this book is was entirely too long, seven parts some with over 20 chapters each.

The idea was great but the follow through was a let down for me.

I’m not even sure what to say about this book - it was so different than anything I’ve read before!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
🌶️
(Note on the spice - it’s not super detailed but the FMC definitely has a lot of sex in the book)

I had a hard time on a rating for this one, since I went back and forth between not liking it, and loving it.
I adored the audiobook - the narrator gave it the perfect touch. I went between that and the ebook, and I think had I just read it without listening, I may not have liked it as much.

Bella is not the most likeable character for most of the book. She’s selfish and whiny, but also hilarious and quirky. Her love life is a bit pathetic - she sleeps with the first guy to call her pretty. She’s possibly a little in love with her best friend? She definitely adores her a ton, and is super jealous of her fiancé. Bella is also quite the brat when her parents announce they’re getting a divorce.

HOWEVER - throughout the book, with a little help, she does learn about herself and evolve/mature (thankfully). If she hadn’t, I don’t think I could give this story about a 2-star rating.

Read if you enjoy:
⭐️ Romcom
⭐️ Heroine who loves fairytales
⭐️ Best friend’s brother
⭐️ Single POV/first person
⭐️ Short chapters

Thank you to NetGalley, Macmillan Audio, and St. Martin’s Press for an advanced copy for review. All opinions are my own.

This book was a bit of a rollercoaster. I found myself laughing frequently while reading but also had points where I couldn’t help but be completely confused by the main characters’ rationale for her actions. Bella is naive, immature at times and all of her problems were self inflicted. However, the story itself was entertaining. She made bad decisions but the point of the story was to have these be the decisions that lead to the most possible growth for her character. I enjoyed the book but I do think that if it had been a little easier to sympathize with Bella I would’ve been able to rate it higher.

This is the first book I have read from this author and boy oh boy is Bella a hot mess. Bella is working as an assistant for a marketing firm. Her best friend is about to move out to get married to a “boring” Mark. Her parents who she thought was happily married announcing their pending divorce. What could go wrong right? This is a hilarious debut book and highly recommend!

Ugh. I was so excited to read this but it is just not the one for me. The dialogue is cringy. The main character is very annoying and immature. I can't think of a single character I have disliked more. You may love this.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and St. Martin's Press for the gifted e-book

I love the premise of this book, but Bella was all around insufferable. From regularly crawling into bed with your best friend and her boyfiriend, being a jealous twat when she got engaged and it wasn’t you because she didn’t want a wedding and you did so for that reason she needed to be single and miserable with you and all around not great friend to her or literally anyone else (I hope Simon didn’t forgive her) to using multiple men for sex to further your goal of being a writer. Bella literally could not take responsibility for anything that happened to her until the 70% mark, and ever still managed to be the absolute worst after realizing you are an overspoiled child. Ellie was also an enabler and it’s clear her parents let her think she was God’s gift to earth. Aside from my major issues with the FMC, the side characters were great. I fell in love with Marty about 40% in. I’m not saying happily ever after does not exist, I’m a romance reader after all, but Bella was seriously making the dumbest decisions to get there. When she waxed poetic about her parents being so supportive of her and then she turned around and acted like a 15 year old when they wanted to live their own lives.
With a better heroine (literally anyone else) this book could’ve been a hit for me as I’m a lover of fairy tales myself.

Had a really tough time with the main character. She’s shallow and self absorbed and didn’t really redeem herself with her climax “transformation”. And of course she’d end up with the guy she ended up with, that was not subtly hinted at way too early in the story.

Some parts are very good!

Bella Marble thought she would be a writer, married or at least in a serious relationship but instead she’s the receptionist at a publisher and still trying to find the one after a lot of swiping right and bad dates thinking that she has dated most of London. But now her best friend is moving out to live with her fiancé in a different apartment and Bella needs to figure out what she actually wants in her future but first she going to use her bad dates to write a story telling app about her bad dates.

Parts of Not That Kind of Ever After were very good and some parts felt very disjointed but not every book fits all readers.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

In Not That Kind of Ever After, Bella has dreamed of finding 'the one', her personal Prince Charming, all her life. But Bella's life is crashing down around her. Everything she felt she could count on is changing in ways she hadn't prepared for. To deal with this turmoil she decides to change her life up a bit leading to a string of one night stands and writes them up as retellings of fairy tales which she posts online.

This is the story of a late twenty-something who is still figuring out her place in the world when it feels like everyone around her is moving on and away from her. It's the story of how sometimes we can make self-destructive choices in a moment of self-catharsis that end up leading us down a path we never wanted to travel and becoming a person we never intended to be. And it's a story of how to find yourself and hack a path back to the person you want to be.

For fans of Wasted Words and Meet Me in the Margins or anyone who enjoys books about books.

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ (3.5)

🌶 🌶 🌶

Tropes: slow burn, best friend's sibling

I’m kind of surprised by the harsh reviews. I found the first chapter immediately engaging. The female lead, Bella, came off as relatable, flawed, well-written. Okay, so she’s very flawed, but who isn’t? Sometimes change is hard to cope with and doesn’t bring out our best attributes—and that’s how we see Bella devolve from romantic and fun to hurting those around her. But she redeems herself! And the whole time she brings us along for her best and her worst. I enjoyed the cast of characters, the storyline, and the writing. It was a very easy and fast read that felt mostly light and charming. Of course, when I saw the inevitable happen (no spoilers) and she loses sight of the reality before her, I certainly cringed. But she figured it out quickly and we were back on track! I also really liked the development of her relationship with Mark!

I honestly DNF’d this book. I just couldn’t get behind Bella as a main character. I’m sure there are some out there that will love this book, but it just wasn’t for me!

The number of times I've cried because of laughing while reading this book is beyond me. Bella was unapologetically hilarious, confident & witty. God the opening scene? I swear, I knew I'm going to love this book from page 1 itself.

Bella's life was complicated & full of chaos, but I could understand where those fears or insecurities came from. I loved the flatmates' situation they had going, which kinda reminded me of "We Met in December."

The hilarious fairytale retellings she went through were hilarious as hell. I loved the bond she shared with her best friend. The conflict with that made me so sad, but it had to be done in order to accept Mark & realize how wrong she was about everything.

The romance with Marty played out perfectly. I loved the slow burn of it; how beautiful & comfortable they were with each other. Every single of them together was worth reading & left me wanting for more.
I really appreciated the message at the end about being true to yourself no matter what.

I had to dnf this book after just a few chapters in . The main character is so whiny and annoying that I can’t keep reading about her. I’m sorry but I just can’t.

𝘕𝘰𝘵 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘒𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘖𝘧 𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘈𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 follows Bella, an aspiring novelist, on her quest to happy ever after all while she's struggling with the dating scene which she vents about on the internet and gains support to continue writing more.

- ~ -

Hmm... I did not enjoy this one.

You know how most stories are written to either teach a lesson or for entertainment purposes, I can't comprehend this one's existence. But oh wait! while it is not much fun, it does teach us to 𝘯𝘰𝘵 be a Bella.

The protagonist Bella is pretty whiny. She is going through a midlife crisis from hell but the situation is not the problem, she is. All her reasons to be sour are self created and could be avoided if not for the drama.

I would love to say that while the main character was annoying she got tolerable towards the end but nooo nothing changed, she was as miserable in the end as she was in the beginning.

And why was this listed as a romance? The romance aspect doesn't even start until the last 15% and usually a good romantic ending can take things off the edge for me but nothing seemed to work with this story.

- ~ -

3.12 / 5✩

𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘚𝘵. 𝘔𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘯'𝘴 𝘗𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘕𝘦𝘵𝘨𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘱𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬, 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘐 𝘷𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘭𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 & 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸𝘦𝘥. 𝘈𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘰𝘸𝘯.

Thank you to Net Galley and St. Martin's Press for a copy of this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Unfortunately, I had to DNF this book due to being unable to connect with the FMC.

One girl, many one-night stands, and happily ever afters.

Bella Marbles is in search for Prince Charming, but she seems to be looking at the wrong places. When her best friend’s hot brother Marty Mathews suggests to stop looking for a prince and just have fun, she finds a new side of herself. Not only that, but she finds viral fame posting fairy-tale retelling of her experiences.

While it was great to see Bella discover a new side of herself, I began to not like her character because she couldn’t see how her one-night stand adventures was affecting her own relationships with others. She definitely went through great lenghts to live a sort-of fairy tale, but it did help her grow and she was able to redeem herself.
Then we have Marty, the best friend’s brother. Marty may be made out to be as a player in Bella’s eyes, but to me he’s pretty wholesome, definitely Prince Charming potential.

Not That Kind of Ever After by Luci Adams

Bella Marble’s life is changing… and not for the best. Her best friend in the whole world is moving out and is engaged to the most boring person ever. She’s stuck in her receptionist job at a publishing company instead of actually working on her book, her lovey-dovey parents are divorcing and she can’t seem to meet her fairytale perfect Prince Charming. So she starts writing out her dating failures into an online blog… what could go wrong?

I have personally laughed out loud a couple time during this book, it was quirky, funny and sarcastic. There are parts of this book where Bella’s self-pity becomes a little redundant but I can see how it would be necessary for the story line. Overall, it was a unique and interesting twist to the modern day fairy tale.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martins for the ARC in order to review.

Bella Marble’s life isn’t what she imagined. Instead of an author, she’s a receptionist at a small press. Instead of happily married, she’s single, and her lovey-dovey parents are divorcing. And to top it off, her best friend of twenty-nine years, Ellie Mathews, is moving out and marrying the heinously boring Mark. (He’s not worthy of her. No one could be). Bella feels rudderless, only slightly soothed by time spent with Ellie’s (not hot) brother, (he’s not hot) Marty (okay, he’s hot. But he’s also the aggravating brother she never had—right)?

When Marty recommends Bella stop looking for “the one” and just have fun, Bella finds a new, empowered side of herself. But when she posts a fairy-tale retelling of a disastrous one night stand on a storytelling app, all of a sudden, Bella has become @B.Enchanted. And she’s gone viral.

Now, Bella’s in a fight with Ellie, her new roommates are so, deeply, weird, and the pressure is mounting to find new fairy tales to write about—but she’s got to live them first.

The book was somewhat entertaining at times, it just didn’t grab me. I lost focus quite a lot. The ending was cute, but I just wanted more depth in the story. The characters were okay, but the first half felt like it dragged on for quite some time. There was a funny part or two that I did appreciate.

Thank you to Net Galley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC!

Unfortunately, I had to DNF this book due to being unable to connect with the MC. I disliked some of her choices from the first chapter, and she did not have any redeeming qualities.

The author had a good writing style that was easy to follower; however, the characters just didn't do it for me.