This book is the definition of "It's not you it's me" I wanted to love this so badly, but it sadly didn't work for me. Bella as a protagonist was almost insufferable at times, I wanted to pull her out of the pages and shake her! Her poor decisions, lack of communication and inner monologue came together to make one of the least likeable characters I have ever read. I fully understand that was probably the point of this book so that the eventual character development would be all that more satisfying and I was waiting for the pay off, but it never came. The climax of the book wasn't worth it in my opinion, and the end was just ineffective in showing the evolution and growth of Bella. I know there is an audience for this book but regrettably that was not me.

This was one wild ride of a book. I really like fairy tales, so I hoped I'd enjoy a book that incorporated a lot of them, but ultimately it just wasn't my cup of tea. There's so much dimension to those tales that just wasn't explored. I also wouldn't really call this a romance novel. A bit disappointing all around.

This fell flat for me, and it took me over six months to finally make it through. I pre-ordered it and received an ARC, and it still took me a while to read the entire thing. I will be putting the copy I purchased in my free little library. The main character is wicked unlikeable for me, and I was just annoyed by it the entire time. The writing felt a little younger, and I feel like maybe this would have been better as a YA novel. I really struggled to get through it.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t a fan of this book. It was very redundant and I found the main character be very unlikeable and immature. The writing was very funny and witty, however nothing really happened until the very end of the book. I wouldn’t classify this as a romance book, maybe more of a contemporary fiction. For that category, it was fine.

Thank you to Netgalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Bella’s best friend and roommate Ellie, is getting married, and Bella doesn’t know how to cope with the changes. She doesn’t care for the fiancé and feels lost without her friend by her side. Her job has no career growth, and she is not in a meaningful relationship. As a result, she is sulking and unhappy. Enter Marty, Ellie’s twin brother and Bella’s long time friend. He helps Bella through the transition and provides respite when needed.

Though the reader could find Bella self-centered, the author presents her in a way that allows her to be likable and almost pitied, rather than spoiled and selfish. Bella has some crazy dating adventures that help her evaluate and re-evaluate what and who are actually important, leading up to a satisfying ending.

I received a copy from Net Galley and have written an objective review.

A thank you to St. Martin’s Press, St. Martin’s Romance, and NetGalley for the advanced copy of this book!
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Ellie wants to be a writer, but is stuck as a receptionist for a small publishing company, watching other writers move past her and her colleagues move on. Her best friend is also moving out to get married to her long time boyfriend, so Ellie is left in their apartment with strangers for roommates, no romantic prospects, and still no motivation to write. Ellie then discovers a new writing platform, and begins going on dates to rewrite thinly disguised retellings of fairy tales. Basically, Ellie is writing fanfiction from her own lived experiences, without taking into account the men she is writing about, or how this abrupt change could affect her real-life relationships.
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Frankly, Ellie is a terrible friend throughout the book, and I am glad that this is pointed out to her in no uncertain terms. She acts like a jerk to her best friend for having the gall to move in and get married to her fiancé, and she throws her other friends aside because she has no interest in hearing about them or their interests ever. The premise was cute, but I wish it had a stronger follow through.

I honestly don’t know the last time a book made this angry or feel this bad for an author. This was not a romance novel. Just because two people ended up together at the end of the book does not make it a romance novel. This was a chick lit novel. Which is fine, except they presented it as a romance novel and these are fundamentally different things. All of my thoughts on this book are shadowed by the fact that it was not what I was promised and it failed to deliver upon expectations.

In a romance novel, it’s a story about two people falling together. It’s their journey of falling in love. Yes, each character has some personal growth in addition to their relationship but their relationship is the focus. The male romantic interest in this kind of randomly popped up when needed and then disappeared for chapters on end. I didn’t realize he was going to be the romantic interest until over halfway through the novel. And then it kind of felt abrupt and weird (because I am a romance reader with romance reader expectations).

I honestly cannot tell you if I would have enjoyed this book if I went into it knowing that it was not a romance novel because I spent the whole book waiting for the romance to begin and then being angry when it failed to deliver. I find the most fault with the publisher since they’re the ones who chose how to categorize and market this book and did so under false pretenses.

Though, to be honest, I probably wouldn’t have enjoyed the book all that much if I knew it was a chick lit because if I wanted to hear about someone have a third-life crisis and being quite a bit whiny, I would pay attention to my own life. Bella was pretty unlikable, immature, and excessively self-centered. She read as someone much, much younger than almost thirty and it was impossible to feel sorry for her as she kept creating her own problems over and over again without ever looking to fix them.

Bella’s life is not what she expected and certainly not a fairly tale - she isn’t an author, her best friend Ellie is moving out to get married, her parents are divorcing. Taking her friend’s Marty’s advice to stop looking for the one and just have fun, she writes a fairy-tale version of her disastrous one-night stand.

This was fun - slightly absurd - but fun. The main character wasn’t my favorite - she wasn’t exactly likeable. The fairytale dates were cringy at times! I’d recommend the audiobook.

I did not enjoy this book for the most part. I honestly found the protagonist unlikeable. However, I did like the ultimate love interest (although I wished the FMC realized he was a love interest sooner than she did lol) and I did enjoy the relationship between FMC and her best friend. Overall, this book was not for me but that doesn’t mean it won’t be for someone else!

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for my digital ARC

I wanted to like this book but the author seemed to be trying too hard to be like Bridget Jones’ Diary or the Shopaholic series. And unfortunately the main character of Bella was just too unlikeable to pull that off.

I love these cute romantic books. I am not as into as I have been lately so this review is late.

I love the idea of not looking for “the one” and instead living for yourself. And I’m glad this book was written about that!

DNF at 40% unfortunately. I could not get into the book because I did not relate to or enjoy the main character. I may just not be the target audience or age for this but I found her very difficult to understand and root for.

The premise of the book was great, but the main character was slightly insufferable and made it not as fun of a read. I was disappointed, but still finished.

This was an interesting contemporary romance, that I would recommend try to those who are curious about it!

I received an e-ARC from the publisher.

I love when the main character is writing a book. I think it give me insight on the Authors process. Modern Twist on fairy tales was super fun! Would definitely recommend.

This was so well written. I was engrossed from the first page and it ticked all the boxes of my expectations. The character development was excellent. I would definitely recommend to others, a must read!

The description of this book sounded right up my alley. I love fairy tales, love when someone wants to find love so badly and the 'one' for her seems to be the complete opposite of what she thought she wanted the entire time.

There were things about this book I enjoyed. Bella and Marty had such fun banter and I loved the witty dialog. It was hard to like Bella in the beginning, she seemed so young and immature BUT I think that was the entire point. You were supposed to see her grow and mature throughout the book. Even though Bella wasn't necessarily a likeable main character at times, it was a cute story that made me laugh several times as I was reading. I would recommend as a nice, easy pallet cleaner read. 3.5 stars

Not That Kind of Ever After by Luci Adams was a fun twist on the fairytale retelling that has been going around a lot lately. The book is funny and sweet, but our main character seems to cause all her own problems. Our MC is in her late twenties working a receptionist job while aspiring to be a novelist. She also yearns for her own fairytale love story. As she dates, she starts writing and posting about the situations through a kind of fairytale lens on an online forum. As her popularity grows, the MC changes, and acts differently towards those in her real life.

The twist on fairytales was fun but also felt repetitive at times and it was hard to empathize with an MC that caused her own trouble. I still think the writing was done well and the premise is super fun and cute!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my ARC!

Bella is stuck in her life, while she's searching for Prince Charming, she keeps getting a lot of duds. With this inspiration, she begins to write chapters out portraying her dates. In the meantime, she's also navigating family and friends around her moving on to their next chapters in life. At first, I wasn't finding Bella likeable, but as the story continued on, I started to see her in a different light and started to root for her to get her happy ever after and her personal growth. There were antics in this story that had me giggling at times. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an advanced copy! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Bella Adam’s loves romcoms and wants a fairytale romance. She wants to be swept off her feet by a Disney-esque prince. She turns to online dating to help her in your journey.

“If I’m in the wrong fairytale, then I’m turning it to the right one. I don’t want to be the ugly stepsister. I don’t want to be little red riding hood. I want to be cinder-fucking-rella. And to do that I need to re-write my story. So, here’s my glass slipper. The time is almost midnight. With any luck my own Prince Charming will find it and bring it straight back to me… or at the very least call 📱 “