Not That Kind of Ever After is a great love story. But it's not a love story between two people, rather it's a love story about one person learning to love themselves. It's about the love of friends and family and the relationships we choose to find with those around us. Equally parts hysterical and reflective, I could not put this one down!

This was an enjoyable romance that I didn't want to put down. I loved the main characters and the story was well developed.

This was a fun quick read! Bella is in her late 20's, an aspiring writer, and a hopeless romantic looking for her happily ever after. After her BFF gets engaged to her least favorite person, Bella vows she is going to find herself a Prince, and profit off her journey by writing anonymously about her entanglements. Add to this some bad news from her family, and she begins an incredibly quick downward spiral.

Overall I liked this book, but for as many things that I liked, there were things that I didn't.

I'll start with what I liked:
-Several laugh out loud moments
-Writing was funny and clever, and kept me entertained
-I LOVED Marty's character

What I didn't like:
-Bella's character - she was only likeable for about 25% of the book, the rest she was annoying, selfish and extreme in her behaviour
-Bella's downward spiral was extremely quick and predictable
-The real romance didn't start until 75% in

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the chance to read this ARC for an honest review.

This book surprised me in multiple ways, but honestly, I was a bit disappointed in the end because it seems that the MC did not learn from her journey. I'm glad she fixed her relationship with her friend and friend's fiance by the end, but it all seemed a bit forced by the narrative arc and not natural to what a real person would do. Also, I see the friendship chemistry between her and the love interest, but there were not enough early sings that there was anything romantic developing for them to end up together. I'm glad that was secondary, but it still felt very much random and not well constructed.

I definitely wasn't sure about this book when I first started reading it but then I ended up loving Bella's journey. I love how she discovered herself and how she fixed her mistakes. I wish her and Marty's relationship was talked about more and I didn't like how weird the roommates were and just found that part of the story unnecessary for the plot.

Well, the cover is pretty 😁.

To start off, this book was far too long. There was way too much going on, way too many characters we didn’t need and I kept trying to figure out if someone we were being introduced to was someone that I needed to remember, because the number of faceless guys, friends, roommates, was too much.

The main character was a mess. Normally I don’t mind messy characters, it makes them realistic. But this was just, again, too much. Like I’m amazed Bella had so many people who stuck with her for so long, because she’s exhausting. And they’re always so quick to forgive her? Like, she’s so awful to Marty near the end, and he just sort of forgives her? Like, no ma’am.

Overall, I normally love rom-coms, but this one just wasn’t for me. If you love super messy characters, friends to lovers rom-coms and fairytale tie-ins, you may love it!

Unfortunately, this book just wasn't for me. I liked the cover and the description it had so much potential.. Bella was quirky and kept putting herself out there just for fun. But she had no chemistry with the people she tried to date. Oh my goodness with the commentary during the dates. I know what the author was going for but with me unable to relate to Bella. After trying to hide behind my screen I finally gave in and put this in the didn't finish pile. I'm sure other readers will enjoy it but this one just wasn't for me.

Very grateful to St. Martin's Press for my review copy.

Quick fun read
But quite different take on romance

A Perfect example of how sometimes what we're looking for has always been around & we haven't really been seeing at the right places!

Like the narration of the book though I have a love hate relationship with the main character Bella

Unfortunately I DNF this one around 20% in. It just felt like it wasnt really going anywhere and I felt confused, may give it another chance at some point.

Thank you for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

This one was 3 stars for me. It was a quick read, cute at times, but also made me feel embarrassed for Bella well throughout the first three quarters of the book.

Her desperate, agonizingly terrible choices in sleeping around, for the sake of a good story, was really hard to take. The best friend theme that interwove itself between all of these horrible life choices, was what made me keep reading. I felt the author did something a little unique in that friendship reigned top theme in the end, rather than romance, and I appreciated that.

Thank you to Net Galley for this book in exchange for my honest review.

I loved this book! I thought it was hilarious and at parts relatable if you’ve ever joined the dating world. I also really enjoyed seeing the transformation of the MC and how her priorities and things changed in her life. I highly recommend this book to romance readers or girls ready to give up on dating.

Thank you, St. Martin's Press, Luci Adams, and Netgalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

3.5⭐️

The ending wrapped up nice. The FMC was just not for me in the first half. If you can get past her desperate antics and selfishness, she's kinda lovable. The FMC just stayed messing up, but by the end, her self growth redeemed her. It's not bad, more raunchy than spicy. Not too bad.

Have you ever read a book where the main character is constantly getting in their own way without realizing they are? This is that book. Bella is her own worst enemy; she reacted rather drastically to all the changes happening around her in a way extremely out of character for her.

She channels her frustration and all her pent up energy into going out of her way to have these escapades and then writes about them with a fairytale twist and uploads them to a writing website. After her stories gain traction, the escapades escalate and then casualties begin to happen.

I’m glad Bella finally has her aha moment and realizes all the damage she’s left in her wake and makes the amends she needs to. This isn’t really a romance romance story between a couple it’s more Bella’s personal journey and the relationship is a secondary storyline. I enjoyed the story but I wasn’t Bella’s fan through majority of it. It’s a quick read so that’s definitely a plus.

Rating 3.5 stars



Thank you @stmartinspress and @netgalley for this eARC in exchange for my honest feedback.

Bella is an aspiring author who instead is a receptionist for a literary agent. She also isn't where she wants to be in her personal life, always looking for that HEA. When her post on an app where people can share and review stories starts to gain some traction she essentially goes viral. The story chronicles her journey in a somewhat magical way, to find her own happily ever after.

This book was entertaining. I felt like Bella was an interesting character with a quick wit who kept me engaged. While some of the stories about Bella's dating life felt a little fantastical, the overall story and characters kept me interested and engaged.

Overall I would give this one 3.5 stars.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an EARC in exchange for an honest review.

A fun romcom that is wonderfully pulls from classic fairy tales as Bella decides to chronicle her quest to find her prince charming she writes about her less than ideal dates in reference to classic fairytales. An excellent premise & overall a fun read.

Not That Kind of Ever After by Luci Adams is an overall good read. However, you have to get past the main character, Bella. She drove me crazy throughout the book and I had a hard time relating to her. She is self absorbed and "mean girl". The premise of the book is great and I like how it is a feel of everyone has a story, but one persons story will be different from another. I'd read this author again!

I don't know what it was about this book but I was not a huge fan. I think the FMC was just a little to immature for my liking. Her inner monologue was not jiving with me.

Bella Marble is an unlikeable character. She is mean and vapid. I had hoped that with growth she would become better, but she really didn’t. The book seemed to drag because I couldn’t get passed how much I disliked her. The cover is gorgeous. I had high hopes, but found myself disappointed by the book.

The concept of this British rom-com pulled me in from the beginning. In a quest to find "the one" and break out a writing career, the heroine writes about her series of dates (well one- night stands to be honest) fashioned around popular fairy tale situations. I did find the comparisons rather funny at times, but Bella Marble is not my preferred heroine. At 29 years of age, she has no direction in life, no self-respect in her sexual escapades, and most of the time acts like an immature brat. I just prefer my heroines to be, well, smarter. I may have related more to her in my early 20s, but in my 40s, I just couldn't help but shake my head. I did like how she managed to finally grow up a bit and find some direction in her life, so she did end up mostly redeemed by the end. I enjoyed Luci Adams' writing style and the gorgeous cover, and so I would look forward to reading more from her in the future.

Thank you to #NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.

Bella takes a look at her life and takes note that it isn’t what she thought it would be. Not even a little bit. Rather than being settled down and happily married to the love of her life raising a family, she is single, employed as a receptionist at a publishing house instead of being a published and celebrated author, her parents, the people she holds up as the up as the gold standard of happily ever, are splitting and her BFF and roommate is moving out to marry the worst guy ever and so much more. Her life is so far off the path she planned that knows some immediate action is needed. While trying to move forward and see whats next she uses all of her experiences as material for her writing. Some of it is amusing and witty, some of it incredibly immature and left me wondering how old she really was. It was an okay read for me, but I found a lot of the drama self created and not as interesting as I’d hoped. I just didn’t really connect with or enjoy the antics of the main character, Bella.