Not That Kind of Ever After by Luci Adams
Contemporary Romance
Publication Date: March 14, 2023

Bella has spent her whole life dreaming of fairy tales. Now in her late 20’s she is waiting for her prince to come along. With her best friend set to move out and get married, and her parents divorcing, Bella is struggling to cope. When her best friend’s brother suggests she stop looking for “the one” and on just having fun she decides to write down the tale of a disastrous one night stand on a writing app and ends up going viral.

This book is for all the cynical twenty and thirty something singles out there who are exhausted from the hellish nightmare that are dating apps, tired of scrolling through social media to see their friend post the 400th picture of their wedding from six months ago on Facebook or worse, answering the dreaded “what’s new with you?” question after not seeing someone in years. Nothing. Sleep, eat, work and repeat Karen.

So yes I enjoyed this. In fact I was down right snickering at Bella’s escapades and how she was able to turn the most cringy experiences into fairytales gone wrong. In fact there was a chapter involving Smurfs that left me in stitches.

Bella isn’t always likable at times, She is judgmental (especially in terms of people’s appearances), she’s prickly to outsiders and she makes a lot of obvious mistakes. Yet that is what makes her charming. Her journey to maturity and to discovering that fairy tales do exist, just not the way Disney retells them, was a cute and satisfying journey.

Even though there was a character named Bella, I assure you this book does not contain sparkly vampires or spider monkeys.

Thank you to St. Martins Press for providing an advanced reading copy through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was a fun read, if a bit dragging in its pace…? I enjoyed Bella’s story, and I can dig a flawed/unlikeable character, but her redemption seemed a bit… clumsy? Absolutely loved the fanfic angle and the meta book-within-a-book, and the fairy tale “characters” were great. This was fun, I would definitely recommend to readers looking for a quirky twist on the romance genre.

I must have done something horrible in a past reading life that ended up with me committing to reading this book. It was awful, and if I hadn’t have felt obligated to finish it to provide a review I would have DNF’d it after the first couple of chapters and some serious ick factor. Bella is twenty-nine, but she’s the epitome of the dippy high school girl with no attention span that Amanda Seyfried plays in Mean Girls. A publishing agent she meets tells her that the protagonist in her stories is a piece of work, and as self-absorbed as she is, she’s all proud that the agent can separate her character from her as the author, despite the fact that she is in fact her own character. When she has success writing about her dating experiences she goes full scale on the easy factor, offering to hook up with guys so she can write about it, despite accusing one of her dates of doing the exact same thing. She’s hurtful to the people who care about her, and just can’t quite seem to understand why they have rain on her parade by having lives with problems of their own. And inevitably, what I figured was going to happen early on happened, but it felt weird and awkward because the author hadn’t built up to it at all. And she still acts like a complete and utter s**t. Is anyone familiar with the original fairy tales that didn’t end so well before they all got Disney-fied? Yeah, that would have been an ending that I would have enjoyed way more than the one we were actually given. Read at your own risk, but I wouldn’t recommend it. A copy of this book was provided by the publisher. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Bella works as a receptionist for a book publishing company. She'd rather be a published writer. Her best friend since childhood is moving out of their shared apartment in getting married. Bella is struggling and, on a whim, decides to post a story she wrote making a fairy tale of a terrible one night stand. An inventive idea for lovers of rom-com books.

Unfortunately I had to put this book down a quarter of the way in. I was turned off by reading about the main character getting drunk often and partying and wanting to just get laid.
I also wasn't connecting at all with the character and found her to be a bit annoying.

I received an e-ARC from NetGalley and this was a fun Romance but it wasn’t really a 4 star read for me.

Our main character Bella is an aspiring writer looking for her Happily Ever After. When her best friend gets engaged to someone she doesn’t deem worthy of she decides to find comfort in testing out writing for a Beta reading app. She decides to begin writing about her bad dates by alluding them to fairytales which I found to be very witty and creative! We explore events in her life such as friendship breakups (temporary)/divorce/finding purpose.

I didn’t feel this was 4 stars for me because we didn’t get much character development and when we did it felt very rushed. Bella spends most of the book casting judgment and burning bridges and fixes it all miraculously. Her character overall was very unkind and selfish so I would have loved to see her put more effort in rebuilding her relationships and more personal development overall. Marty (who I loved) who is called out in the synopsis is more of a supportive friend most of the book, but not actually a love interest in Bella’s eyes.

Thank you NetGalley for the e-ARC!

Bella is an aspiring writer living in a flatshare in London and trying to find her Prince Charming through dating apps. She continues to meet Mr. Wrong is not having any luck writing and her best friend is moving out to live with her boyfriend. Thus begins Bella's quest to find the right fairytale since she so obviously is in the wrong one. She begins to write about her dating life online and suddenly everyone is reading and can't wait to see what fairytale she'll write next and if she'll finally meet her own Prince Charming. I loved the idea behind this story and I love retelling fairy tales but I just did not like Bella the main character at all for most of the book. She was very self centered and selfish, immature and extremely co-dependent on her best friend. It was really hard to root for her when she was treating others around her so poorly especially her other roommates. While there was a some character development at the end it was not enough for her to be redeemable for me at least. I enjoyed the side characters and like the love interest but again not enough to be very invested in either character. I want to thank NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the digital arc in exchange for an honest review.

This is a new to me author and I have to say I am looking forward to reading more by this author! I loved this book

Book Review
Not that Kind of Ever After by Luci Adams

Fairy Tales and fables - ever little girl dreams of her Prince with a story that begins “once upon a time”

Bella, a struggling writer, has dreamed of her own fairy tale for YEARs… she has put Prince Charming on such a high pedestal that she is blind to everything else. Real life rears its ugly head as her best friend finds her true love and moves out, her parents marriage falls apart, and her roommates are slowly dispersing. It seems every one is discovering their happily ever after but her. So, what to do….
Find a Prince. Fall in love… or at least have an orgasm or two…. And then Write about it…. Fairy tale style!

Tropes
Friends to lovers
Self discovery
Growing up/Adulting
Divorce
Sexcapades


Thoughts
A fun read with a guaranteed happily ever after. Witty banter. Tons of Disney references. Some of the sexcapades seemed a little bit dangerous and extreme - while I get the point the author was making it also conveys irresponsible sexual activity. No judgement here , but…. At times it felt a bit too much. Bella’s “Knight is Shining armour” is never far away , waiting patiently on the sidelines, playing a supporting role in Bella’s wild dating adventures- the perfect potential fictional boyfriend!!
Eventually Bella reconsiders her choices and changes her course with a predictable fairytale ending.

Overall
Fairytales do come true !

Thank you to St Martins press for my eARC in return for an honest review. Opinions expressed are my own.

This coming-of-age story follows Bella Marble as she searches for her fairy tale happy ending. Bella feels that her life is stagnant while everyone else reaches new milestones. She decides to wade through the London dating pool and use the stories as chapters for that darn novel she still hasn't finished. Through a lot of growing pains, Bella learns that she is all she needs for a happily ever after.

I thought this was a cute story and I found Bella to be frustrating but cute and relatable. I felt this book had a lot of potential to showcase a common experience for women in their late 20s.

However, it didn't really dive into her growth. The ending felt rushed and didn't really explore how her perspective had changed. I really wanted her ending to focus on her, but her happiness was still largely tied to other people. Also, it felt like her book was forgotten in the end even though that was a huge part of the plot!

Overall, it was a sweet read and I enjoyed it, but missed the mark a bit for me.

Isabel Marble is looking for her forever husband but she’s having trouble. If and when she goes on a date with a hairy beast named Charles and does everything to be his perfect girl he just wants sex from her and for her to pay the lift back to his flat. To make matters even worse her best friend Ellie is engaged and moving into her own proper apartment with her boyfriend Mark this is why she finds herself relying on Ellie’stwin brother Marty. He’s a veterinarian a womanizer but when it comes to Bella he’s very dependable which even surprises her at times. She also has a riding career that is going nowhere and when she finds out her parents who she thought were together forever or getting a divorce she really doesn’t know what to think. Will things start looking up for Bella it’s her prince charming in plain sight or is the mystery man on the dating at mirror mirror the one she’s been waiting for? I thought this book was adorable and funny but I didn’t like the way Madi and Bella just slept with whoever but that’s just my own personal choice because if you sleep with everybody and then you fall in love what is it you’re really offering them? Again these are my own personal thoughts that’s for the book there were a few moments I found ridiculous but they made me laugh and only added to the happiness the book ultimately brings I thought it was a cute story and I love the way it ended and I also like the way you didn’t know who she was going to end up with I thought that was a nice touch. Although I thought I knew but wasn’t sure. I received this book from NetGalley and the publisher but I am leaving this review voluntarily please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.

I really tried to enjoy Not That Kind of Ever After but it seemed so disjointed and I kept almost hoping it would end soon. I didn't like the MC, I didn't care if she found anyone... I was disappointed.

I don't always need a likeable character but the protagonist in this novel really bugged me for the majority of the novel. I didn't think she was particularly well developed so it was a challenge to watch her make really big mistakes and treat people poorly throughout the entire novel. I thought some of the writing stuff was interesting but generally got frustrated that she was unable to use her imagination and had to do destructive things and use people to get material for her writing. I'm glad it wrapped on a positive note but I'm not quite sure that the protagonist grew at all during the book.

An interesting story about one woman's search for a happy ever after through her attempts to live out various fairy tales and write about it. From Little Red Riding Hood and Cinderella to Rumplestiltskin and Snow White, she finds herself in these dating situations and recounts everything on an online writing site. Will she find her happy ever after, or will she keep finding only duds?

I kind of didn't like the main character. She was so hung up on needing to find her Prince Charming, the future father of her children, that she didn't notice everything else happening around her and ended up blindsided when big changes came up. She is very selfish and self-centered. I guess that's what it's like being a single twenty-something? I never was that, so maybe I just don't relate well to her. She does redeem herself in the end, so I guess that's what matters. At any rate, I did enjoy her trip through the fairy tales, and was happy with how things ended up.

*I received a digital ARC from Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

Thanks to Net Galley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC of Not That Kind Of Ever After. All thoughts are my own.

Not That Kind of Ever After is aptly titled as it did not feel like a normal romance. I enjoyed the difference I felt while reading this book.

When you start this adventure with Bella Marble, you’re instantly thrown in to her headspace as she is trying out her latest date in bed. Immediately, I did not like our main character. She’s vapid and really hung up on body hair and looks.

We continue on with Bella as she tries to find the mysterious and ever allusive “one”. She’s using a dating app called Mirror Mirror and most of her dates are loosely based on fairy tales. Also - the fairy tale theme is done on purpose by the main character as she is also writing a fan fiction chapter by chapter based on her dates. All the while this is going on, her best friend just moved out and is getting married soon to a guy that Bella doesn’t like.

I was kind of sucked into this book despite not liking the main character for so much of the book. I really liked Marty and the shenanigans of the flat mates. It was a fun quick read that followed a very flawed main character who eventually kinda sees the light about her own behavior and then tries to make amends. The patch up scene between the two main love interests was a bit clunky and could have used a little more polish but at the same time kinda feels par for the course for the main character.

Tropes : slow burn, best friends brother, best friend conflict, misunderstanding,

One more thing that did kind of bother me about the side characters is all the stereotypes. They were all kind of hammered home way to much. The gay couple, the fitness woman, the stoners, Marty even were all really big stereotypes that you couldn’t get away from.


Overall, I did enjoy this quick, fun read and a couple of changes could have made this a four star for me.

I liked this book more than I expected to based on other reviews. Some parts were predictable but the different dairy tale chapters were entertaining and at the heart of it, Bella grows up and owns that life has to change if you want to be happy and achieve your dreams. A quick fun read for a lazy weekend or poolside.

Thanks to NetGalley and St Martins for the arc.

This was entertaining, but not a favorite for me. I give it 3 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC.

Not That Kind of Ever After is a fun and quick read that I really enjoyed. Bella's someone I can absolutely see most people being friends with and someone with whom you belly laugh about her dating adventures over a lazy Sunday brunch. She grows a lot as a person and with her life goals throughout the book and it was something relatable, not a world tour that changes her soul, but honest to goodness, real life growth.

I'm recommending this to my book club so that I have a "real" reason to re-read it!

4 STARS

This is my first book that I have read by the author Luci Adams and it won't be my last.

The female main character, Bella, seems to be standing in place relationship wise, while everyone around her is finding their happily ever after. So Bella decides to go after what she wants by serial dating anyone and everyone. Bella is one of those characters that you love to hate and hate to love, but still want to root for even what it was hard. This was definitely a lot more smutty than I expected it to be!

If you are looking for a cute, rom-com with some definite spice, look no further!

This book was really cute. The author did a great job of really bringing you in and I felt all the emotions Bella was going through. I loved the dynamic between Marty and Bella. Their banter and friendship was perfectly done. I initially found the book hard to get into but once the story got going I couldn’t put it down. I liked the ending of the book but I almost feel like a bit was missing as I would have like to know a bit more about Bella’s current status (trying not to give spoilers, sorry!).

This was a really nice, fun and clean romance read. Bella was a great character and I loved that she wore her emotions on her sleeves. Who doesn’t love figuring out your own personal fairytale?

Tropes
-found family
-friends to lovers

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ .5 / 5
🌶 /5