I skimmed through the first half of the book, reading only the dialogue. Didn’t quite understand the purpose of dividing into parts and then chapters. Maybe a title for each part would have helped understand its purpose. It is fairytale theme-esque but it’s not overwhelming on the princess, which I liked. The second half is where it picked up for me I read it properly. The characters were great.

Luci Adams has written a provocative story about a woman who is trying to find her place in a world where everyone is evolving and where she feels left behind.

Bella’s world changing, her best friend is getting engaged and moving out, her parents have news she thought she never hear, and she is over it all. She wants to be a writer and decides to take a slightly different approach to it.

Luci Adams is a new to me author and I’m so glad I took a chance. This is a well written, heartfelt story with the perfect amount of spice. You are going to connect with Bella and you will root for her as she tries to find her HEA!

#luciadams #mustread #couldntputitdown #marchrelease #takeachance #new2me #fairytales #readersofinstagram

I really really wanted to like this book, but how was I supposed to do that when I literally despised the main character from the very beginning of the book? She was immature and self centered, and I felt like she never really went through any believable change or growth. Plus the love story was so deep into the book.

I don't know. It just wasn't for me.

Thank you, Luci Adams, @stmartinspress and Netgalley for the gifted eARC.

Bella Marble's life is not exactly the fairytale she imagined it would be. Her best friend, Ellie, is moving out of their apartment to get married, her parents are divorcing, and she still hasn't found her Prince Charming. After a disastrous one-night stand, Bella decides to write about it and post it on an app for writers. When her one chapter starts getting attention, she decides to add more chapters to her story. But, she can't write more until she goes out, finds a date, and creates her stories first.

Not That Kind of Ever After is such a cute idea for a rom-com, but unfortunately, this novel just didn't work for me. Bella is such an unlikable protagonist. She's twenty-nine but still acts like an immature child in her actions and the things she says. The character development is very superficial, and I didn't feel any connection to any of the characters in the story. I found the plot itself boring and was often waiting for something exciting to happen. Many times, I just wanted to give up and put this in my DNF stack. The only redeeming qualities of this book were Marty, the ending, and the beautiful cover illustration.

Not That Kind of Ever After by Luci Adams
Rating: 2.5 stars (DNF)
Pub Date: 3/14

Bella is not where she thought she would be in life. Perpetually single, in a job she’s not happy with, and losing her best friend to married life, Bella is depressed. When her best friend’s brother suggests that she stop worrying so much and just enjoy herself, she thinks she’s finally found the solution to her problems. She begins to write fairytale versions of bad dates she’s been on, and one of her stories goes viral. Even after this huge victory, she’s still not sure if that’s where she wants to be.

After about 45% I had to throw in the towel on this one. I just couldn’t handle one more negative, snarky remark or observation from the mc, who can’t seem to find a positive thing to say about anything happening in her life. I understand the brand of humor Adams was going for here, and she would have achieved it if Bella wasn’t so immature and unlikeable.

There were some really hilarious observations, especially when Bella started writing about her dates, and I laughed a few times. I loved all of the side characters, and they’re probably why I kept reading for so long.

Unfortunately, this was a miss for me. I couldn’t relate to Bella’s character at all, and therefore couldn’t root for her. And for all the talk of Prince Charming, dating apps, and fairy tales, there’s very little romance in the story. The premise was really promising but didn’t hit the mark.

Thank you so much to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this novel. Not That Kind of Ever After comes out on 3/14.

My thoughts about this book changed from part to part and chapter to chapter. At first Bella grated on my nerves. Then the story got kind of funny. Then I totally disliked the main character again. And so it went. I'd laugh out loud and think, okay, we've got something here and then Bella would be Bella and I'd be thinking to myself, ugh what is wrong with her. And then it hit me why I disliked her so much. She kind of remind me of myself when I was young and stupid. I suppose I don't like being reminded. There were other characters that brought me out of the ugh funk I was in. This was a 3.5 star read for me but since I can't do half stars, I thought about whether I would recommend it to my friends and the answer was maybe? I didn't hate it, but didn't love it.

I didn’t know what to make of this. Bella, an aspiring author, was trying so hard to find true love all while also trying to go viral via a storytelling website and it just got way messy. Everything was about trying too hard and losing herself in the process. Bella was whiny and egotistical at best. I didn’t like her. The MMC was too good for her and while they had chemistry, it wasn’t off the charts. I didn’t love the book but I didn’t hate it either. Middle of the road.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this eARC.

DNF 3%
Absolutely TF not. What is feminist about Bella? The fact that she still sleeps with the guy she was actively body shaming. I won't put up with books that body shame women and I won't put up with books that body shame men. I'm not giving this book one more page, let alone another almost 400.

Bella is a single woman working as a receptionist at a publishing company. She
has had a lot of changes happening in her life very quickly. She lives with her best friend Ellie, however, Ellie is moving out to live with her now fiancé, Mark. Bella is not a fan of Mark. On top of this, her parents who are her basis of true love have told her they are getting a divorce.

Bella has been on the hunt for her happily ever after. After continuous bad dates, she slowly is giving up on that theory. She finds out about B-Reader. B-Reader is a self-publishing app where you can publish a chapter of your writing for people to read and comment on. She decides to start writing about her bad dates and comparing them to fairy tales. Before you know it, she is getting thousands of likes and comments. Everyone is loving her work.

However, she holds herself to a standard where she needs to find another terrible date just to write about without realizing that her real life happily ever after was right in front of her the entire time.

I know it can be very hard to deal with change for a lot of us. So I totally saw where she was coming from. I love that Bella realized when she had messed up or had done something wrong to the people who love her. She owned up and apologized to them all.

I think it is safe to say that Marty is one of my favorite characters I have ever read. His attitude and lines were the best.


Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for an eARC in exchange for my honest review.

It is rare that a book is so unlikeable to me that I can't finish it - but that's exactly what Not That Kind of Ever After was for me. From the very first page I knew this wasn't my vibe, but Bella everything worse the longer it went on. This was...not it. Bella was whiny, unlikeable, and so desperate for a man that she just seemed...desperate.

At about 20% (which is usually when I give up on books I don't like) I decided to peek at the ending to see if things would get better (BTW - still had not the MMC at 20%). They did not! The ending looking incredibly unsatisfying.

Very bummed at this. Not a fan.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This book sounded right up my alley when I read the description, and it was just…fine. There were some funny moments that really had me laughing, but there were also times that I felt the story dragging, repeating and was a little bored.

Overall this was okay, I wouldn’t read again, but not a terrible book.

I wanted to love this book, but it fell extremely short for me. The main character was very immature and her behaviours towards her best friend were ridiculous. I found I was mainly skimming the book and I only ended up finishing about 40%. There was a lot of potential with the plot, but it just didn’t happen in this book.

Bella is frustrating, immature, childish and hypocritical. The beginning of her trying to idealize a man she doesn’t like who is clearly using her for one thing while trying to envision a blissfully future is cringeworthy.

Her further dating ventures aren’t as bad but her internal vitriol for a man writing about his bad dates whilst doing the same thing are just one of many self-created problems that makes it impossible to empathize with her.

I didn’t really like Mark (her best friends fiancé) but honestly briefly hearing how Mark has experienced Bella I get why he acts the way he does towards her. I still think he was a judgmental twat though. I do feel that he did own up to being the bigger person by apologizing to Bella which did somewhat redeem him.

The romance subplot I was hoping for in the first half but the further the book went on for far too long without anything happening between Bella and this character. This left me frustrated and just not caring nor feeling like she really deserved their affection before going to a lot of therapy and doing a lot of self-reflection (which is reflected in how she treats this person in the moment).

2 stars

⭐️⭐️

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the E-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

What it's about:
- finding Prince Charming
- fairy tale retelling
- aspiring author going viral

This was a fun, light read and definitely relatable if you've ever been single in this modern day and age!

I really enjoyed the character growth of Bella, the protagonist. She can be really immature and selfish most of the time, but she does learn and owns up to her mistakes by the end of the book.

This is not your typical romance book where you have a clear male love interest. In this book, the characters get together much later in the book and you don't really see a tension build-up. Their friendship is really sweet throughout the whole book but is not the focus of the story.

I really recommend this book, especially if you want to read something a bit different and, most of all, hilarious. I laughed a lot, I cried a bit, I even cringed sometimes but overall, I had a great time reading!

Well, this was a wild, bumpy ride (raunchy pun intended). But in the best possible way. It was highly entertaining!

You will be happy to know, dear readers, that this book DOES in fact have a happy ending. It might not be the ending you were hoping for, but it is happy nonetheless.

I didn't ship any couples in this book passionately, but they were still good entertainment.

Read if you like reading about heroines that write, that are adventurous, silly, and navigating through life's relationships.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC!

Fun read in the world of dating and fairytales
Light hearted and full of heart, a great fit for fans of Disney classic love stories with a modern twist

I almost did not finish this book. Is it worth reading all 400 pages? Personally, I don’t think so.

From the start I found the female main character to be unlikeable, annoying, self-centered, and frankly…rather naive. While her chatterbox ways entice the reader to want to read more, the book had a tendency of being wordy with overboard descriptions. While being able to fully imagine everything that happens in a book is a great thing to experience, this caused the pacing to feel off for most of the book. The pacing would have been spot on if there were about 30-50 pages less.

I did, however, think that incorporating these children’s tales into Bella Marble’s love life was a cute play on both the dating scene and bringing childhood stories into adulthood. Marty was my favorite character - I was rooting for him the whole time.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press- Griffin and MacMillan audio for a gifted copy in exchange for an honest review.

2.5/5

I absolutely loved the premise of this book but I’m sorry. I started this and immediately could not stand the main character. Something about the language just did not do it for me. Maybe I can try picking it up again at one point but today is just not that day.

Not That Kind of Ever After is a romance bout the world of online dating. The protagonist, Bella Marbie, dreams of being a writer and finding a husband. A self-described hopeless romantic, she wants “what all those Disney princesses had before the producers and writers got better…a good old-fashioned man to sweep [her] off her feet and make [her] feel like royalty.” While Bella’s parents were high school sweethearts and her best friend Ellie is engaged to be married, Bella struggles to find her prince charming using a “Mirror Mirror” dating app that uses the tag line “because the fairest of them all should be the right one too.”

The novel opens with a sex scene between Bella and one of her dating app matches, a man named Charles Wolf. Bella begins to document her lackluster dating experiences online, using titles that correspond to the fairy tales she feels caught in. For example, her experience with Charles is titled My Night with The Big Bad Wolf). Her writing grabs the attention of many readers which leads to some success in her career. The book is riddled with overt fairy tale references as Bella navigates a world that seems anything but romantic.

Although I enjoyed the way Luci Adams wrapped her narrative in fairy tale references, this book seems intended for a younger audience who has some experience with the world of contemporary online dating. There are a few fun plot-based surprises and a happily-ever-after arc which provides closure to Bella’s adventures, but the book is not designed to offer any complex or meaningful commentary on fairy tale messages. Not That Kind of Ever After might be a fun summer read for those interested in the world of online dating.

Thank you to NetGalley for a free copy of the book in exchange for a fair review.

The book was a quick, cute read. It was entertaining and funny at times, but I didn’t feel attached to the characters. I did enjoy it for the most part and work recommend it to persons who like fairytale storylines.