Book Name: Not That Kind of Ever After
Author: Luci Adams

ARC
Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an ARC of Not That Kind of Ever After by Luci Adams be

Stars: 3.75
Spice : 1.75

- Standalone
- POV of Quick-Witted FMC
- Modern Romance with a Storybook Twist
- Similar Vibes to “he’s just not that onto you” movie
- Hilarious
- Wanna have drinks with Bella
- Predicable AF
- “Coming of Age” Navigating Adulthood
- Friendship
- Fade to Black (yet still raunchy humor)
- Friends to Lovers
- He Falls First
- Ending was rushed
- Turned into a “Hallmark” book in last 15%
- HEA
- So many pop culture references (my pet peeve)

This book was a little darker than I was expecting - it's not a light frothy romcom by any means but I dug that about it!! Bella is a receptionist at a London publishing house and an aspiring writer. When her best friend moves out of their apartment she starts to feel a little lost. A drunken night and a bad one night stand inspires her to write a first 'chapter' in what becomes a viral loose Fairy tale dating adventure book she publishes online in a Wattpad-esque platform.

While I did enjoy the various dating scenarios at times things were pushed a little too far I thought but to each their own. And Bella certainly gets some on these dates! Funny with lots of great pop culture references and a wonderful friendship story at the core with a delightful best friend's brother romance side story. Much thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for early digital copies in exchange for my honest review. This cover is fantastic too!

This one just did not work for me at all -- thoroughly unlikable main character. I understand that we're supposed to see her grow throughout the story and "redeem" herself but by the end I would still cross the street to avoid her if she were a real person I knew.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me an Advanced reader's Copy of this book for a unbiased review.

Well I finished the book, I am not sure what I can say about the main character Bella? I am at a loss of words to explain how over the top she is. I am sure there are people out there who act and react like Bella however I am thankful not to have a friend like her. I found her exhausting, I feel bad for her best friend Ellie who has decided to move forward with her life and move out with her boyfriend Marty. Bella hates Marty though the only reason I can see is because she wants Ellie to herself, she gets into bed with them in the morning for goodness sake.

I agree that she is stuck, that she needs to move on from her receptionist job and roomate flat but she goes beyond what a normal person would do. Bella reminds me of a manic depressed person who in all honesty is only in the manic cycle through this book.

I find it hard to believe that any man would wait around for her after all the situations she puts herself in. I wasn't a fan of this book because I couldn't relate to Bella but maybe I am of the wrong generation to understand her actions.

I wasn't sure what to expect from this book at first, but after reading it, I was not disappointed. It was a great read and definitely got a few laughs out of me. I felt like I could connect to this book and that's what I loved the most about it!

While the story was at times entertaining, it just didn’t grab me as much as I would have liked. I wanted more depth and more feeling. Given the length of the book, I was hoping to feel more attached to the characters.
The ending was cute and tied up all the loose ends nicely.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press & NetGalley for allowing me to read and review this arc

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for a review!
Not That Kind of Ever After follows Bella who is not living the life she wants. Her job and dating life are not what she imagined. Bella decides this needs to change and she decides to write about her dating experiences. When this becomes successful Bella begins to actively search for hook-ups to write about. Unfortunately, I did not love this book. I know that Bella is probably supposed to be an unlikable character but for me, my dislike towards the character interfered with my ability to like the story. The whole book she is just making poor decisions and ruining her friendships and when she finally realizes how bad of a person she has been, she somehow gets a happy ending. It did not make sense to me how Bella went from just wanting a happy ending to someone who hooks up with guys all the time. Also, all her hook-ups became very repetitive and annoying because they take up the majority of the book. Overall, I did not like the characters or the direction the book went so I cannot recommend this book.

Bella's search for Prince Charming has stalled and she needs a new approach. In trying to have more fun, she finds herself in a series of interesting circumstances with unique companions. She channels her experiences to jumpstart her stalled writing career, resulting in online fairy tale retellings that go viral. When things get messy, she must separate real life from fiction and find a way to live happily (if not ever after).

This was a light hearted, quick and easy read. It was easy to get frustrated with Bella. But at the same time, her journey was fun and entertaining. I would have liked more development and building of the prominent relationships, including the main love interest. The was not much history or elaboration provided. As a result, I never felt very connected to the character. It was entertaining but there are several other books that I would recommend before this one. However I would not dissuade you from reading it if it sounded good either.

This was a cute, witty and fun read. I adored the female friendships and the few twists thrown in. Thank you to NetGalley and Publisher for the early read.

Received this book as an ARC on Netgalley.

This book just wasn't for me. It started right off on the 1st page with a spicy scene that caught me off guard. I just could not get into this book. It was a DNF for me.

* I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley. Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for this book. All thoughts are my own.


I’ll start by saying this really wasn’t a romance. Sure there are a couple romantic parts but they’re small. It’s mostly about a woman who has one night stands that she uses to write a book. I found Bella to be completely insufferable. The first part is about being in a date with a man who doesn’t seem to respect her, or women in general, and she decides to go home with him anyway. Then we get into how she hates her best friend’s boyfriend so much and how he’s basically ugly, which is just so awful of a friend to think. Which all eventually leads to a blow up. She doesn’t realize that she’s the problem until 75% of the way through the book and then still really doesn’t redeem herself.

I also was not a fan of the super short chapters and parts because it took away from the story. Nothing really develops in a chapter. It just seemed like there wasn’t a transition between ideas.

Would not recommend.

This book was a bit all over the place, but I still enjoyed it. Bella is a mess and certainly is going through a lot, but I could relate to her crisis. I do think there was a lot of subplots that were unnecessary and made this longer than it needed to be, but I did like the outer characters and enjoyed the world around the protagonist. I would give this author another shot.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I got a copy of this book from Netgalley as an ARC.

I didn’t enjoy or like this book.

We follow Bella who is trying to find her happily ever after in London through various dating apps.

I found Bella so obnoxiously annoying as a main character.

She is not supportive of her friend who is in a happy and healthy relationship, and the only reason why is because she is too attached to her. She doesn’t realize her friend is happy and keeps referring to the past.

The book opens up with her ignoring very clear red flags that she acknowledges and then she gets upset over them. It’s hard to sympathize with.

The plot is stale and I really wish the characters could’ve been more than flat.

I tried so hard to get in to this novel, and I just couldn't do it. The novel was hilarious and I found myself laughing out loud for a good part of it. Luci Adams is witty and knows exactly how to make the audience laugh. The biggest issue I had with the book was the main character. There was not a single thing that was likable about the main character Bella. She was selfish and annoying and so unlikeable. She went out on a mission to destroy herself and took her best friend down with her. I loved the fairytale aspect, and when Bella first wrote about her night with the big bad wolf, I thought to myself, okay I can do this, this is funny. Once I realized that Bella was okay going out and sleeping with random men just to get a story, that's where I had to draw the line. I feel like this story would have been perfect for me, had it not been for Bella's self destructive behavior. I would definitely be willing to try another novel by Luci Adams. The girl knows how to write a funny scene!

I really enjoyed this. I’d say it’s more of a 3.5 than a 4, but I did read it fast and have fun so I’ll bump it here. I thought that the main love interests were very easy to root for from when they were first introduced. The writing was funny and I actually laughed out loud at one point. And a lot of the feeling out of place while your friends move on (and writing bits) felt deeply personal and relatable. But I also think that Bella was a little overly obsessed with her best friend and that made her just a touch rambley at times. I also thought that the ending could have been a bit longer and wrapped up with the main couple better. But overall a fun read.

I was a bit thrown, when at the start of the book there is a really graphic sex scene of bad sex between Bella (the MC) and a one night stand. This does not really give me good rom-com vibes, and doesn’t really match with what you expect from the cover.

There were parts of this book I liked, especially the fairy tales come to life idea. However the main character Bella was extremely unlikeable and her behaviour was quite cringey and immature.

This book starts with Bella having a drunken epiphany that she needs to keep dating/having one night stands with guys until she finds the one that completes her fairytale. She then starts writing graphic online “stories” about her exploits and submitting fact as fiction. She manages to alienate her best friend with her self destructive behaviour. However, like a knight coming to her rescue her BFF’s playboy brother Marty is always available to save her when she needs it. About half way through the book Bella and Marty realize that they are starting to have feelings for each other.

Overall, I found this book difficult to finish and the MC very hard to like or sympathize with.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martins Press for providing me with a eARC of this book to read and review.

I'll be honest... this is one of the few times I read reviews before picking up the book and I really wish I didn't. I can see why people didn't love it, the fmc was selfish and pretty unlikable at first.

I will say that she grew on me and I enjoyed her redemption(I felt like she was redeemed, others might disagree.)

It was a cute, quick read

Thank you, Netgalley for the ARC

I read 9 chapters (how are 4 chapters her explaining how she ended up there?!). Pacing was definitely off!

The main character could maybe be interesting but thinks too much of herself and isn’t as independent as she thinks she is.

I just couldn’t continue. Couldn’t care about main character and what she would do with her life. Unfortunate since I liked the synopsis.

Thank you to St. Martin's Griffin and Netgalley for providing me with this digital ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Bella has always been a romantic believer in fairytales, but she isn't where she wants to be. She hasn't found The One, she hasn't become a published author, and worst of all her best friend for life, Ellie is about to move out of their flat to live with the ever-boring MARK. Feeling all sorts of stuck, Bella decides to follow the advice of Ellie's older and totally not-hot brother, Marty, and throw caution to the wind in life! She uploads the story of her disastrous one-night stand (with a rather hairy man) to a storytelling app and suddenly... she goes VIRAL.

Not That Kind of Ever After is a late-20s coming-of-age story that I would say leans more toward women's fiction than romance. I enjoyed the twist on fairytales that Bella incorporates into her writing and actually wished we could have read them! However, Bella's increasingly unhinged experiences brought many laugh-out-loud moments but often at the expense of her seeming anywhere close to being a 29-year-old adult. Perhaps that is Adams' intention to paint a main character you want to shake by the shoulders or scold, because when reality sets in for Bella it is 1000% deserved and I can't say I felt bad for her at all. The way she treats her friends, her family, and her employer, all scream a lack of self-reflection and so, so much privilege! At about 400 pages, the latter quarter of this book could have been edited down for more precision, and the two main "conflicts" and resolutions felt slightly redundant after the initial come to Jesus moment that Bella had.

Finally... the romance. I don't want to give spoilers, but I appreciated the intention and felt the execution fell flat. Marty is an adorable and caring man, and I felt that the chemistry between him and Bella was just lacking. There is so much potential there, but alas, it was not for me.

Well, I gave it a go until 34% and that was it. I got put off early when the main character, Bella hooks up with a match from her dating app. And after noticing that her match is hairier than the wolfman, she still has a one night stand with him -- still hoping he's prince charming. Yikes!

And as her best friend and roommate, Ellie has plans to move out, Bella is full of resentment. That self centered attitude really turned me off. Especially when Ellie becomes engaged.

Bella's desperation and infantile antics really killed it for me with this novel. I'm sure that there are a number of readers out there that will appreciate this sort of storyline. Unfortunately, I'm not one of them. One star.

I received a digital ARC from St. Martin's Press through NetGalley. The review herein is completely my own and contains my honest thoughts and opinions.