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.

Thank you to NG for my copy to read and review!

I'll be honest: I'm picky with romance novels. In this case, my main gripe was with the MC herself. She was incredibly unlikable. The storyline was pretty solid and they're read great banter, but this fell kind of flat for me.

More like 3½ stars.

Bella is an almost-30yr old singleton, living in London, dreaming about the perfect “happily ever after” she always read about as a girl and now mourns the fact that she simply cannot find it for herself. After a particularly awful “date” (the term is being used very loosely here) and a very frank conversation with her best friend’s brother, Bella writes up her fairytale evening turned nightmare…and it goes viral. So even though Bella was having a hard time before, now she has a full blown following, all waiting to see what comes next, and she’s more than happy to oblige—at least until it all starts to spiral out of control. Cute book, kind of predictable and a bit unrealistic, but a nice “chick lit” type of book to pass the time.

3 Stars

Note: Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Not That Kind of Ever After is a unique and entertaining read about a hopeless romantic looking for love. Bella is a bit of a hot mess that's stuck in a rut. Everyone she knows seems to be moving forward except for her and so her quest for the one begins...

Overall, I thought this book was an ok read. I thought the plot was unique and I liked that the story was broken up into multiple sections. I thought the pop culture references were funny and they kept me entertained. I wouldn't truly classify this book as your typical romance. For me, it fits more along the lines of women's fiction since I felt like it was more about Bella discovering herself and finding who she truly is.

This book did have some hit-or-miss moments for me, including some moments that just felt repetitive. And even though this book was a 100% hit for me, I'm still glad to have checked it out. I think this author has a lot of potential and I look forward to checking out more from her in the future.

While I liked the story overall, I found Bella to be unlikeable in dealing with her friends and her parents. Who at 29 years old, thinks they are the most important person in their best friend's life, especially when that best friend is in a serious romantic relationship? Glad Bella got her stuff figured out, though she relapsed there for a minute.

Bella's life is not what she imagined it would be, and she has always wanted to find her Prince Charming. She has also wanted to be a writer. Put the two together and we watch Bella share her "fairy" tales of dating on a storytelling app.

Overall, it's a quick and funny read. I chuckled out loud several times. I even choked up a little towards the end of the book.

Bella is most certainly not likeable for me for most of the book. She is, more often than not, unapologetic, selfish, ungrateful, and a total mess.
But she does have a lot of character growth, which I love. She also has some funny moments.
The book is filled with moments of self-reflection, friendship, laughter, understanding others, and learning from one's mistakes.

This fairy tale themed book based on dating and finding Prince Charming is worth the read!

Thank you to Netgalley and St Martin's Press for the ARC in exchange for my review!

Thanks NetGalley and St Martin's Press for this arc.

2.5/5 rounded up

This book sounded good, but man was Bella ever a spoiled selfish 29 year old child. I'm glad she came to the realization in the end (like very end) of how self absorbed, selfish, and entitled she is, and how much she uses people without thinking about it, but it took way too long for me to give this any higher of a rating.

The entire time, I just wanted Bella's to admit she's in romantic love with her BFF (because she clearly is and is so possessive of her it's weird if she isn't in love with her) but she settles for the next best thing I guess - her twin brother.

I feel like this book would appeal best to young Disney adults - the ones who make Disney movies their entire personality - bc that's basically who Bella was.

I didn't hate this book, I don't exactly regret reading it, but I do wish I had put it off longer lolololol.

This was my first ever NetGalley DNF. Right out of the gate the book is crass and poorly written, and as a lot of other reviewers as mentioned, the main character seemed rather immature for 29. I didn't realize that this book was going to largely be all about her various one night stands, and I am not likely the target audience for this story, but the narrative jumped around a lot and was also hard to follow. I also just don't generally enjoy books where the main character is making terrible selfish choices 90% of the time. There was nothing fairy-tale about this book and I will not be reading others by this author.

I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book which I received from Netgalley. All views expressed are only my honest opinion.

I was laughing through half of this book. I would’ve love to read Bella’s story because each chapter sounds better then the next. All the characters are great and Bella/Ellie are adorable. Props to Mark for reaching out xx

However the one thing I think I missed was the chemistry between Marty and Bella. The friendship was certainly there but I just didn’t see a romantic relationship between them.

I was sold by the tagline for this one: "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…"

After all, I've got years of online dating experience under my belt, and for as many contemporary romances as I've read, I've yet to read more than a few featuring dating apps. Not That Kind of Ever After sort of does (a weird-sounding app called Mirror Mirror), but the main focus is on Bella turning her romantic and sexual interactions into fodder for her writing. For much of the book, she is self-centered and selfish, which was hard to watch. The multiple Harry Potter references added to the feeling that the main character was in her early 20s, when in actuality she's 29.

I think the book would have been stronger had it been tightened, and if Bella's chapters for B-Reader were interspersed throughout -- i.e., keep the book a similar length, but cut some of the repetition and unneeded inner monologuing, and add the writing she's posting online.

Overall, I'm not sure I'd characterize this one as a romance novel, given the focus on Bella's personal story/potential growth. I'd recommend it most to those looking for a coming-of-age story about a character who can act foolish at times. (Because of that, it wasn't a great fit for me personally.)

Thank you to NetGalley & St. Martin’s Griffin for picking me to read this book.
DNF at Chapter 21/35%
I don’t even know where to begin with this review. It took me 5 days to make it to 35% and it has been a struggle. I’m not connecting with the main character at all. There was nothing in the first 21 chapters that made me want to stick around.

DNF. I was just not jiving with this book.

The first line is so good but 10% in and I'm dreading picking this up. I don't know where it's going, or who anyone is. Too much backstory hefted upon me right out the gate. And then realizing it's 400 pages? I can't commit to that. Romances hardly ever work if they're that long. I can't take the risk.

The HP references were also cringe. Authors really need to stop talking about Harry Potter. It's 2023.

Have you ever read a book where the main character was a train trying to get to one point, but could derail at any moment? She means we'll, but everything she tries to do just falls apart? She says one thing, but comes out all wrong?

In Not That Kind of Ever After by Luci Adams, Ellie Matthews wants her happily ever after. Chasing that dream of finding the one-and-only Prince Charming has turned into one crazy event after another, so why not just write a book about these experiences - turning each one into a fairytale retelling Ellie-style! All the while her own Happily Ever After is right in front of her and always has been!

I truly loved the way this book unfolded. The whole time I was cheering on Ellie and of course, what shenanigans she would find herself in. Let me tell you, she had some crazy experiences.

Put this one on your radar! Available March 14th!

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martins Press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Genre: contemporary fiction
Setting: London
POV: single, 1st person, present tense

Spice Level: 3/5🌶, fade to black/little explicit

What I Liked: This was a funny, fast-paced, read! I enjoyed the series of one night stands and corresponding fairy tales. I found all the different conflicts to be interesting.

What I Disliked: While the FMC being immature is kind of the point of the book, it took so long for her to grow up and I got quite annoyed with her. Having the narration in first person really demonstrates how unlikable the protagonist is.

Read This Book If… you enjoy the hot mess that is Bridget Jones!

Bella thought by now she would be a married author, but she is a single receptionist, her parents are divorcing and her BFF, Ellie, is getting married to Mark (who definitely doesn't deserve her). When Ellie's brother, Marty, suggests for her to just have fun, she rediscovers herself and becomes viral after posting a fairytale retelling of a disastrous date on a storytelling app. The pressure is high for her to dig up some more horror date stories to tell...
This is a nice and easy read, funny at times, but I did not vibe with it. I didn't like Bella, she was annoying and let her life lead her instead of taking control. It was redundant at other times, there was no tension or chemistry, and the ending felt rushed.
I received an advance review copy for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Bella is a 28 year old publishing receptionist living in London. When Bella’s best friend Ellie moves out and gets engaged in short order she decided to write about her horrible encounter with a wolf like man that resulted in her stealing his red hoodie comparing it to the fairytale little red ridding hood. When her red ridding hood story gains traction on a new website she decided to live out fairytales through dates.

Bella honestly starts out this story as super unlikable and selfish, she doesn’t even notice that her best friend is getting proposed to until a good deal of a way into the proposal, and her selfishness gets worse before it gets better. To me the story did a very good job showing how selfish and narcissistic Bella is and how her internet fame an a bit of validation caused her to act on her worse impulses, I.E. Lying to people, fighting with her friend because she’s jealous of her fiancé, making a mess of shared spaces and other peoples stuff, neglecting her job, and taking advantage of the people in her lives generosity. When Bella finally has her come if Jesus moment and wakes up and sees shes honestly been making a horrible mess of her life.

Other than Bella who I found unlikable but funny, the side characters are really fun. I liked everyone’s interactions with Bella’s weird new German roommates. I also like Marty a lot, he’s fairly down to earth and I think he handles Bella’s insanity fairly well.

I don’t think this is a book for everyone and I had my issues with it, I think there was a tad to many chapters and the emphasis on the amount of chapters made the pacing feel a bit choppy at points. I also wish we had more of seeing Bella get her shit together at work, but I had a fun time with it. I would recommend the book if your looking for woman’s fiction book with a main character learning how to be a functional adult.

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

DNF at 34%.

I picked this up two different times and I just could not get into it. I think 1/3 of the way through is a good time to figure out if a book is for you and this one just wasn't for me. The main character is not likeable and I was not rooting for her. She's far too immature for a 29 year old.

The only bit that I did enjoy were the short chapters...however, it really didn't give you any time to get into what was going on. I felt as though it jumped around so much.

Sorry, this one is a no from me.

Thanks to St. Martins for the ARC!

4/5 stars

Advanced Book Review! Thank you @netgalley and @stmartinspress for sending me this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

So I’ll be honest. From the start, I wasn’t too sure about this book. I didn’t love the first couple of chapters, Bella isn’t the most likable character, and it’s probably more detailed and longer than it needs to be. However, the short chapters made it easier to get into and I found myself getting invested in the story.

It’s got kind of a Bridesmaids vibe – Bella is jealous of her friend that got engaged and has her life together, while Bella is not in the career she wants and doesn’t have a boyfriend and is really kind of a mess. There are also lots of fairy tale references – some direct and some just lightly sprinkled throughout. I found that fun – kind of like a treasure hunt for fairy tales.

There’s a lot going on and a lot of different story lines. Bella definitely makes some questionable decisions. I was relieved that it does all end up being relevant to the story and I was pretty satisfied with where things ended up.

Overall I found this an entertaining read and I even stayed up late to finish it. I’m giving it 3.5 stars, rounded up to 4 for Goodreads.

Favourite quote: “I want what all those Disney princesses had before the producers and writers got better and found independent non-male-oriented story lines.”

Publication Date: March 14, 2023

I started off hating this, but the story grew on me.

I really did not like Bella as a main character, and that didn't change even as I grew more invested in the story. She just came across as immature and I was continuously annoyed at her poor decisions.

Note that this is more general fiction than romance, which one might not expect from the cover and description.

The content was also cruder than I would have liked, but this did not impact my rating.

DNF

I hardly even started this book before I decided that it wasn’t for me, which isn’t something that I usually do. But suggestive talk isn’t something that I like or agree with.

I wouldn’t recommend this book to my friends or family, but that doesn’t mean that it isn’t for someone else