bella was insufferable the entire time, she was so selfish and annoying. not everything is about you!!

Hilarious but brilliantly so! Bella is witty, sarcastic and totally unfiltered!
Everyone seems to be finding "the one" except Bella, and her career as a writer seems to be dead in the water.
But when she starts writing all her misadventures and dating fiascos on this new platform to share with a wider audience everything starts to change!

The characters are so likeable and Bella's raw & honest dialogue makes this an awesome take on a romantic comedy.

This book started slow for me - I disliked Bella and was shocked and dismayed by her behavior on multiple fronts. She was toxic to her supposed best friend (and unhealthily attached to her), lazy at her job, and rude to a variety of people. Even with my dislike of Bella, I enjoyed the plot and pacing of the book. Things got better as they went along, as well - it was a believable redemption story. I still found the sleeping around a little cringy, just because it seemed like such self-destructive behavior, but ultimately I was glad that Bella got herself together. Rounding up to 3.5 stars, though I’m only setting it at 3.

Thank you to the publisher - I received a complimentary eARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Not That Kind of Ever After by Luci Adams

Published: March 14, 2023
St. Martin’s Griffin
Genre: Women’s Humor
Pages: 384
KKECReads Rating: 5/5
I received a copy of this book for free, and I leave my review voluntarily.

Luci Adams (she/her) started out working in tax before moving into copywriting, creating social posts for Apple Music, and assisting with Amazon and BBC productions at Working Title Television. She now works as an analyst at The Guardian by day and writes uproariously funny and inventive rom-coms by night. Not That Kind of Ever After is her debut novel.

“With every hit of that space bar I’m back to feeling more myself than ever.”

Bella has always wanted the big, white, fairytale wedding. She has been obsessed with finding her Prince, and growing up has only sharpened that desire.

This was such a perfect book. I loved the story arc and the character development. The emotions were spot on, and the delivery was fantastic.

Bella was such a lovely character. I was a tad worried she wouldn’t have any growth- but boy, was I wrong. I loved watching her start as an overly ambitious person yearning for her one, to finding herself and what mattered.

I loved how this was written; it was so smooth. The storytelling was engaging, and these characters were so charming. I found the balance perfect.

The use of humor was well-placed and well-played as well. We get just enough emotion, and the delivery was always on par.

This was the cutest adult romance, filled with the earnestness of fantasy. This would be such a cute movie or mini-series. I am happy to announce this book is #KatyApproved!

3.5 stars

Some parts of this book were fun and enjoyable, including the way humour was incorporated into the story at both expected and more surprising moments. Other parts, though, felt really unbelievable; the protagonist did a few complete changes on her feelings for certain people and situations with seemingly minimal prompting, and it didn’t come across as realistic to me. Ultimately, the premise of the story was fun enough, but I felt like some of the details could’ve been tied together and developed a bit more effectively.

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

Unfortunately, I had to DNF this book. I've been reading some INCREDIBLE romance novels lately, and this one was a miss for me from the first sentence.

"It came, unlike me, while I was riding backward cowgirl on what must have been the hairiest man in London."

Listen, I've read my fair share of spicy books before. It's not that I'm a prude who can't handle the mention of sex in the first sentence. But it was such an ODD way to start...and I read quite a few chapters and feel like I still didn't know what came to her...during her lousy sex with a man she wasn't even really interested in.

I think that's what strikes me the most, the fact that when you look this book up on Goodreads, this is the tagline you're met with:

'Fairytale meets feminism in Luci Adams's Not That Kind of Ever After, a frothy adventure of one woman’s journey to claim happily ever after in times of serial dating, swiping right, and the quest to find your soulmate…'

Bella does not read feminist to me. She THINKS she is, and she's trying to convince herself that sleeping with this man who was an asshole from the jump is HER idea, but...it isn't, and she isn't. And this is further proved when she spends an entire page scrolling through social media and making fun of everyone, INCLUDING WOMEN, for...what, living their lives? "Martha and her big-nosed wife are on holiday in Dubai." "I see a post from Rachel about a new promotion at the job she can't stop posting about—Jesus, it's so unprofessional to use Instagram for job updates." It's 2023 and you're really bent out of shape because someone is excitedly posting about a promotion...? Give me a break.

Bella reads jealous, bratty, immature, and NOT feminist. She's clearly fed up with her own life and can't handle seeing anyone else around her be happy, and that makes for a character I don't care to root for or get to know. Of course I've read books where the main character isn't where they want to be in life, but instead of shitting on everyone around them, they look inward and put in the work to find themselves, to find THEIR source of happiness and discover that everyone's journey is different. But it was clear that Bella had no interest in doing that. I wouldn't want to date her either.

I was so excited about this book, but if I'm not vibing within the first few chapters, I know it's over for me. Maybe this will land with a different kind of reader, but I don't want to read about an insecure girl tearing down people she's supposed to be friends with and pretending to be a feminist. It simply gave me the ick. :/

This review also appeared on Goodreads.

A book with lots of literary nods and splash of romance? YES! I feel strongly that this was made to be a “book club” book. It leads to discussions well and the more I talked about it or read other reviews I could see details I overlooked (red riding hood).

This was also written for New Adults. The main character was sometimes unlovable in her actions/thoughts. The side characters will make you smile though.

Bella’s life seems to be falling apart—her perfectly in-love parents are getting divorced, her childhood best friend and roommate is engaged and moving out, and instead of being a published author, she’s still working as a receptionist. After a disastrous one-night stand inspires her to write a fairy-tale retelling, she uploads the story to a storytelling website, and goes viral. People can’t get enough of her hilarious take and she quickly becomes obsessed with recreating more stories for her followers.

I thought this was a great debut, but it might not be for everyone. Is the FMC super immature, self-absorbed, and annoying? Yes. Is she relatable and highly entertaining? Also yes. I don’t think the story would have worked with a character with any other type of personality. We basically see Bella hit rock bottom as she is engrossed in living out her fairytale one-night stands. It takes her getting to this point for her to realize a few things about herself and her life.

Although there is some romance sprinkled in, I would consider this more the story of Bella finding herself. I definitely wish we had seen more of Marty because he was genuinely sweet and a good friend to her. I thought it was obvious how he felt about her, however, Bella is so blind to this for the majority of the book that we don’t necessarily get to see a ton of romance between the two.

I was excited to get read this book as it sounded interesting to me but unfortunately it fell flat. There was not much more to the book other than the description. By the time I got to the end, I didn't feel like I knew anything more than the blub gave. I also found that the characters fell flat for me. And a book that was supposed to be character driven with flat, almost stale characters, yeah that just doesn't work for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Super cute and so easy to enjoy. This book is a perfect weekend get away in story form. The main character is the perfect mix of quirky and fun.

This was a cute romance novel that comes out March 14, 2023. If you are looking for a cute romance novel that is set in England, this one is for you. I've never read anything from Luci Adams, but I'd love to see a sequel to this one for sure!

Bella is a young woman who works for a publishing company and is an aspiring writer on the side. Bella lives with her best friend Ellie and Ellie's boyfriend Mark and a couple of other friends. Bella is desperate to get a guy, "the one" if you will, and get married and have the "happily-ever-after" ending that is in fairy tales.

She sets herself up on a dating app and has several terrible experiences that she then transfers into her new writing inspiration, making each chapter-escapade reflect a different fairy tale story. In the process of gaining many followers on the writing site she's on, she closes off all her friends and isolates herself, blind to the ones who truly love her and mean something to her.

In the end, Bella gets her happy ending, its just not what she was originally expecting. It was a little predictable but light and easy to read. I read this one pretty quickly too. Go preorder your copy NOW!

#NotThatKindofEverAfter #NetGalley

Soooo good. I have read a lot of romance and I love it but when something different and interesting comes along it is just a fun ride to jump into. This book was like that. I am obsessed with these characters and I am just not ready to let go and say goodbye. Read this story.

Overall there were a lot of things I enjoyed about this book but it was kind of a mixed bag of a read. Bella and Ellie’s friendship was really sweet, though not without issue. Bella’s whole problem with Mark felt kind of forced but I did like how it was resolved. The chemistry between Bella and Marty definitely felt the most natural and I really enjoyed their arc through the story. There are some really poignant moments where Bella and her experiences are really, deeply relatable. But also a lot of moments where I wanted to be like….girl, really? Really?! In the end she did mostly show character growth and tried to make up for some of her not so great choices, so I appreciated that and it left me feeling satisfied.

This was a really quick read that really kept me connected to the characters and rooting for them. I have not had a book that kept me wanting to pick the book back up and continue the story.

In her debut novel, Luci Adam’s turns away from the traditional romantic comedy format and takes her readers down a realistic path of a late twenties FMC whose life is just not where she imagined it would be.

This hilarious read shows the readers an unfiltered reality of growing up, feeling left behind, and navigating the world as a messy adult. The characters (and the writing) are witty, sarcastic, and sometimes chaotic. But that’s what I liked about it, it wasn’t sugarcoated as a feel good romance. It was real and relatable in so many ways.

I liked the FMC’s development throughout the book. She really blossomed from a scared, stuck, and selfish individual into a full grown adult by the end of the story. Through failures, rocky friendship transitions and self-exploration, Adams is able to showcase the character development in a way that the readers can really relate to.

I would say, the book could have been a bit shorter, there were times where I felt like it just kept dragging on, but overall this was a very enjoyable read!

Unfortunately I did not enjoy this book at all. Nothing was offensive and it wasn't terrible writing but the story was just boring and unengaging

Not That Kind of Ever After is a sweet story that follows Bella, an aspiring writer who is done with trying to find her “happy ever after” Prince Charming. So what does she do instead? She writes about her sexcapades that align with the classic fairytales we know so well.

While she’s on this journey, her motivation is to become noticed as a writer. She will put herself in the most ridiculous situations for the story. Along the way she loses herself. Quite frankly, Bella is quite selfish. She has a falling out with her best friend, she makes poor choices, and she breaks her own heart over and over again. The one person who never disappoints her though? Her best friends brother Marty. Marty is the boy next door, the boy she grew up with, the brother of her “one true love” Ellie. But Marty might be more than that, it just takes some wolfs and ogres for Bella to realize that.

I appreciated Bella and Ellie’s friendship the most throughout the story. I can resonate with that “one true love” being a best friend, and the bond they have made me smile. Although Bella is somewhat of an easy to dislike character, I did find myself cracking up at her sense of humor and antics several times. This is more of a story where the journey follows the protagonists growth instead of your typical love story, but the ending is worth it. Thank you to Netgalley for an ARC of Not That Kind of Ever After, in exchange for an honest review! :)

Listen if you like:
🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Books Set in England
😆 Funny, Laugh out Loud Moments
❤️ Romances

This one was definitely interesting and different than other romances I’ve read lately. It’s full of self-created drama from the FMC making bad choices all while seeking her HEA and getting closer to her dream of being a published author.

If you like quirky romances that are full of missteps, make sure to check this one out as it will have you laughing out loud as the blunders the MC finds herself in throughout the book.

Thank you to the publisher for my ARC in exchange for my review!

2/5 stars, I love Rom Coms but this book was just not it for me. I disliked the main character, she was mid 20s but acted like she was 18. She was just a disaster of a person who treated people horribly. She really didn't have any redeeming factors and she never learned from her mistakes.

Not That Kind of Ever After is pretty funny, but other than that I really struggled to enjoy it. I unfortunately could not connect with Bella's character at all... She comes across super immature and makes the worst decisions ever... I was hoping for some character growth, but nothing ever really changes with her character in this aspect.