Not That Kind of Ever After is full of hilarious one-liners and cute side characters. However, the main character is, at (most) times, intolerable.
The main character, Bella, seems to be so obsessed with her friend, Ellie, and her quest for her “happy ever after”, that she treats everyone around her horribly. It was so hard to like her or feel any empathy for her because she never thought about anyone but herself. Worst part? There’s no character development for 90% of the book.

Not That Kind of Ever After did have good parts. We meet some adorable characters along the way, and I often found myself laughing. The side characters are really what makes this story.

I can tell that Luci Adams in a phenomenal writer, and the intention probably was to make the main character unlikable. However, this is just not my cup of tea.

Overall, I gave this book 3 stars. I think it is a decent read, but you should go in knowing that the main character is awful. That way, you won’t be disappointed like me. 😂

I will keep this short and brief because I agree with the majority of the reviews. It took me a little longer than usual to finish this book, I kept putting out down out of disinterest. However, I haven’t given up on my books and I’m not about to start yet!

The ending did improve and I knew who she would ultimately find her fairytale ending with. I still didn’t think she deserved it! She was very self absorbed throughout, definitely didn’t have a healthy relationship w/ her friend, and I just don’t buy her big break through. I think she needed some more self reflection/growth. Also, the ML was far too easy on her after her shenanigans. That being said, there were a few moments that made me chuckle and I didn’t necessarily dislike it enough to bring it down to a 2.

Thank you thank @netgalley & @stmartinspress for allowing me to read your works yet again.

Thank you for letting me reading this book! First off I want to start buy saying the first chapter was very funny. After that I had a hard time contacting to the heroine. It seemed a little repetitive about her not finding love. I read about 50 pages and DNFed. I think others will enjoy this book; I personally wasn't able to to connect and focus on the story at hand.

My Thoughts

Bella Marble has found herself at 29 in a job she is not only overqualified for but one she has actively lost interest in to the point it has become impossible for her to ignore how much.

When her best friend, and favorite roommate Ellie Matthews announces she is moving to a new place with her boyfriend Mark, whom Bella has never liked, it is apparently a turning point for them both.

Not a good one from Bellas point of view.

What happens after another strike out with Bellas latest date causes ripples in her life that at times were humorous and others just sad.

Finally, Bella seems to find answers when all along she was asking the wrong questions.

Some readers found this Rom-Com lacking I found it to be somewhere between fun and outrageous.

29-year-olds Bella Marble and her best friend Ellie Matthews are actually a fictional testimonial to being besties.
[EArc from Netgalley]
On every book read as soon as it is done and written up for review it is posted on Goodreads and Netgalley, once released then posted on Amazon, Barnes and Nobles as well.

First off I want to thank @netgalley & @stmartinspress for my free ARC copy in exchange for an honest review.

Ouff..this is a tuff one to rate. The FMC is so unlikable, her decision making is horrible, the way she acts is questionable, there was nothing I liked about her. She is just plain mean and self absorbed. It made it very hard to relate to her or root for her happy ending. Plus she has a very unhealthy obsessive relationship with her best friend.

The side characters were much more likable and added to the story. I truly really did want to enjoy this book, but due to the main character I wasn't able to.

Also, the story did develop quite slowly, only starting to get interested around 40% in and then took another 40% to get some wake of conscious and some self growth from the FMC, that was long.

I did want more depth, more feeling, more emotions from the characters which I never got. It just wasn't the book for me.

Synopsis:
Bella Marble’s life isn’t what she imagined. Instead of an author, she’s 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.

Review:
This book gives a lot of Bridget Jones Diary vibes, and not necessarily in a good way- if you like Bridget Jones, Bella is the center of her world and change is coming and she's not prepared, but she selfish and irritating and does not care one whit to think about consequences. She cries first and apologizes never (until forced) and all around doesn't feel like a real adult. I'm supposed to believe that she's a great writer with a voice and stories to tell but she can't see more than a foot or so in front of her. She treats her friends, family, coworkers. and herself horribly and then is surprised when things aren't working out her way.

I'm surprised I actually finished this one since I kept waiting for a change to happen to make all the cringey moments giving me third degree second hand embarrassment worth it but it never did and i am mad there were no actual consequences for Bella except tears.

Bella has two main goals - becoming a published author and finding Her Man - originally a search for her HEA, but recently things have changed. A lot.

I found many the decisions she made in her search…not the best? In a ‘this is going to end badly’ sort of way. That said, I have to respect the drive. That girl was Going For It.
What I didn’t like about Bella is how she - for the majority of the book - came across as unhealthily obsessed with her best friend Ellie, but thanks to being incredibly self absorbed, didn’t treat her in a way that shows she even liked her. She wasn’t even as considerate as you’d be with a casual friend. It made no sense!

This was a tricky one to rate. While I wanted to Love this book - and was Very Amused and a fan of many of the side characters (also Marty is great) - the MC keeping me from getting much past Like. It took over 3/4 of the book for her to show some actual character growth, and that…is a long time.

My main take away for this book is that I am overwhelming glad I haven’t had to date in literal decades, because just reading the lives of these singles makes me tired 😂

Thanks to NetGalley and St Martins Press for the ARC!

Not that kind of ever after is cute and funny modern (no so) fairy tale, great for fans of Sophie Kinsella.

Bella Marble has always dreamed of being a writer, but like so many of us, she is easily distracted and not terribly motivated. Until she has a one night stand with Charles Wolf, sparking her creativity to write about her awful dating life framed as fairy tales on a site similar to WattPad. As her following grows, so does her desperation, which is when I started to get annoyed with her. Until she begins to actively seek content-making dates, Bella was funny and relatable, and while a bit childish and silly, she wasn't aggravating and obnoxious. (Side note: Bella sleeping in the same bed as her best friend and the best friend's boyfriend/fiance is weird.) But once Bella's story gains traction, she starts actively trying to sleep with men to fit in fairy tales. Now, this isn't me slut-shaming. I don't care how many people Bella slept with, my problem is that she's using them for content. It made me want to shake her.
Eventually, though, Bella comes around and realizes that she doesn't need a fairy tale ending because she's not in a fairy tale.

Thanks to NetGalley for the eARC. This is my honest review. This is 3.5 stars rounded up.

I really really tried but Bella is so annoying and I just couldn't root for her. Hated how self-centered she was, she was not a great friend, and so many bad choices. I got 50% before deciding to stop reading and just skimmed through chapters to see what fairytales she'd create a new one night stand from + if my prediction of who her "happily ever after" was right.

I found Not That Kind of Ever After to be difficult to read. Our main character, Bella was annoying, immature, and unfortunately I just wasn't bought into her journey. The ending/true love interest felt both predictable but also out of left field. I liked the side characters much more than Bella, and would've liked to read more about them.

2.5 stars
I was looking forward to reading this book, and I liked some parts. It’s funny and entertaining at times, and I like the messages about growth and forgiveness. Some of the friend scenes are fun and charming, and the dialogue and narrative are often comical. However, I didn’t really like any of the main characters, and I felt the story was less of a romance and more a story of a woman trying to find herself.

Bella was a hot mess of a protagonist, and I had a hard time getting invested in her story. I could relate to some of her insecurities and fears, but she is incredibly self-absorbed and selfish, and she doesn’t treat her friends well. She acts really immature. I don’t know. I think I’m just the wrong audience for her character because if she were my friend I’d ghost her real fast.

One conversation Bella had with Marty was specifically harsh. I hated how insensitive she was and how often she didn’t think before she spoke. It felt like she didn’t really value the people closest to her, and I found her actions and words hard to forgive. Luckily, she has friends that are way nicer than me. I feel like the story was meant to show Bella’s emotional growth, but she didn’t really grow that much. Even her decision to write about her disaterous dates feels petty and mean.

I didn’t like Marty that much either. He is charming sometimes and does show Bella that he cares, but some of his other actions are so rude and insensitive. I had to keep reminding myself that these characters were supposed to be in their late twenties because they acted so much younger than that. I like that the story shows them flaws and all, but it feels like their flaws outweigh the good stuff.

Overall, this wasn’t a terrible story. It just wasn’t the right fit for me. Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing me with a copy of the book. All thoughts are my own.

Not That Kind of Ever After is fun and sweet, and even made me laugh out loud a few moments. I could relate to Bella as an aspiring writer in my late twenties who is looking for love but beyond that things felt a bit slow with this one. I had fun and would recommend but at times Bella's story was a bit cliche and repetitive. Most of her issues were challenges she caused for herself instead of outside battles that she was taking head on, making it hard for me to cheer for her as I would like to.

Thank you to Luci Adams, St. Martin's Griffin, and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of NOT THAT KIND OF EVER AFTER!

Okay this book was adorable. I loved the spin-off way that Luci Adams brought real life fairy tales into this book. There were so many moments where I was laughing out loud, and even more moments where I wanted to slap Bella because she was being stupid.
HOW did she not see what was right in front of her? Her very own Prince Charming, just waiting for her self, self-centered self to catch up.
I loved that the FMC wasn't very likeable, at least not to me. She was whiny, annoying, and the whole hating her best friends boyfriend drove me nuts. But we get to see her grow throughout this whole book, and that character growth alone made the book worth some of the more eye-rolling moments.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Not That Kind of Ever After is set to release on March 14, 2023!

Thank you so much for this ARC!

I really got into this book and fell in love with Bella as the flawed heroine writing her own fairytale.

She was funny and quirky and I loved the fairytale tie-ins and side characters throughout her journey.

It was refreshing to read a romcom where the protagonist finding a man isn’t the grand finale. Instead, it’s seeing her journey in finding herself and rediscovering friendships.

Bella has been searching for her Prince Charming her whole life. Her parents have a wonderful, fairytale-worthy relationship that she’s always dreamed of having herself. Now, her absolute best friend in the whole world is moving out of their flat and into one with her boyfriend, her writing is at a standstill, and there still are no Prince Charmings on the horizon. With the inspiration from her best friend’s brother and also a website where writers publish stories one chapter at a time, Bella lives out some real-life fairytales in order to kickstart her writing journey. The only problem? It’s not that kind of ever after she’s looking for.

Wow! What a unique (to me) storyline. When Bella and her friends come up with the “living out fairytales” idea, I’m all for this little adventure for her. At first, I’m on Bella’s side with being angry and upset with everything that’s happening in her life (trying to not give spoilers haha). But then I start to realize this self-destructive path she is on, and I have to buckle up. There’s definitely some predictability to the story, but that’s what you get with romcoms. I very much appreciate the mild “third-act breakup” because my heart couldn’t handle even more turmoil in this tale. I will say, the beginning was a little jarring for me, and I almost put the book right back down because it opens with a sex scene (mild spice) which will usually, immediately turn me off. I’m glad I kept at it though because it turned out to be a very enjoyable read!

I couldn’t connect with Bella’s character. She was really selfish and I just couldn’t finish it.

I received this ARC from NetGalley and the publisher for an honest review*

I have very mixed feelings about this book. The beginning was rough. I wanted to DNF at 12% of the way through and was actually going to. I decided to try to speed read to 50% and hope it got better. It did once I finally understood the theme the author was trying to portray. Even after the book ended, I wasn’t a fan of the FMC or most of the characters, but it at least had a decent story arc. The FMC seemed way too whiny and self-centered, and the last part of the book couldn’t even change that. I don’t understand the organization of the book and why it was split into seven parts. I think this will cut off the potential, but the beginning, especially needed a lot of refinement to make the rest of the book worth reading. 2.5⭐️, 3🌶

Not that kind of ever after

This book of fairy tails isn’t what your mom read to you as a young child. A girl determined to find the one ends up creating a whole new genre of fairy tails in what turns out to be a mission of self discovery. This book is a long one filled with a main character that is very hard to read at times but if you push through you find this truly is a path of discovery as she reinvents herself and grows into a better version of herself. This book is not what I was expecting in the best kind of way with laughs and plenty of cringing along the way. A unique read.

I really wanted to love this book. The description and cover of the book sounded like something I will enjoy, but it unfortunately did not execute. It was cute and lighthearted, but it had no depth. I can see how the author tried to make the female mc "whiny and immature", in order to have character growth, but it was a little hard to read and get past. It just wasn't for me.

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

This seemed like a cute rom-com story about Bella Michaels envisioning her future perfect happily ever after that mimics the epic level of a fairy tale story, complete with a prince sweeping her off of her feet. In the meantime, she keeps finding frogs and looking at them like they might turn into a prince if she kisses them. While I could understand where she was coming from, Bella does come off a bit self-centered and spoiled, especially when witnessing her best friend Ellie with her boyfriend Mark.

After a fallout with Ellie and Mark, Bella has to find her way on her own and because she's trying to navigate through finding her own happiness, or at least fun right now, she goes on a series of dates. They become inspiration for stories that she can write and it gives her the much needed confidence to continue and to put herself out there.

Although I saw the romance coming, I was rather underwhelmed by it because there was no hint of chemistry between them prior except that they had known each other for a long time, but he certainly wasn't sitting around pining for her and vice versa. When it finally happens, as though it had been meant to be all along, I was a bit disappointed about what a non-event it was and the aftermath. I realize the point of the story is that Bella grows out of her egocentrism and becomes more self-aware of others and their feelings and vulnerabilities as she, too, comes out of her shell in order to appreciate both human flaws and strengths.