After Bella spends the night with the hairiest man she’s ever met, she starts writing about her trysts with fairy tale characters on a writing website. As she goes viral, Bella becomes more and more desperate to live these fairy tale encounters.

This book had me ROLLING laughing. I loved how insane Bella got as she was reaching for any chance to live an encounter she could write about. Her thoughts felt super real as she struggled with letting go of finding Prince Charming, desperately looking for wolfs and Smurfs and ultimately ended up realizing how selfish she became in her quest to complete her story.

I absolutely loved the resolution in the end, I think Bella and Mark’s arc was one of my favorites.

Thanks to @netgalley for providing an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

*ARC Review*

2.5 Stars

Not That Kind of Ever After had a really cute premise, a girl who dreamed of a fairytale working through her not so magical life. There were bits and pieces of the story that felt magical to me (like partying with Smurfs and Bella's date with Mystery Man), but most of it was slow and cumbersome. I liked how Bella's stories were direct write ups of her experiences, but I really wish we got more character development for some of the men. It found it weird that we were 70% of the book in and we were just exploring her romantic relationship with her main love interest. I wanted a deeper dive into Marty, but we never got it. Bella as a main character was cute, but I LOVED her feisty energy on her date with Mystery Man, I wish we got to see more of that blunt, fiery spunk.

This is a cute easy read, but if you want to see a relationship really grow... this is not the one for you.

Thank you St. Martin's Griffin and Netgalley for an arc of this book.  This debut novel is such a fun chick-lit story.  Bella is in her late 20s and always believed she would be a writer and have a fairy tale wedding.  Her boyfriend of 4 years ends things at the beginning of the book and she goes on a few blind dates and dating app dates and has a lot of fun.  Bella ends up writing her life/sexual escapades and publishing it on an online reader forum where she ends up with lots of follows and likes. Can she become a true author and stop being a receptionist at a publishing company and will she meet her prince charming?  I can't wait to see what else this author writes.

I felt that this book moved too slowly for my taste. I was not interested enough in the characters to keep reading. I did not finish this book. Sorry.

Sadly I just wasn't a fan of the main character, Bella. However, I thought this book was fun and light in most parts and overall a quick read.

*ARC courtesy of the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. I want to thank the valued author, the publisher who took a chance on the author, and Netgalley for providing a copy.*

Pleasantly surprised by this one! Clever story-telling and witty banter. It took a bit to get used to the non-American turns of phrase and wording (but that’s on me and no reflection on the book). I did feel like it built up and built up and then ended kind of abruptly though.

This book gave me all of the feels! It really took me on a ride. I laughed, cried and fell in love with all these characters. I hope to read more from this author in the future.

I received a netgalley arc of this and it was a fun quick read but? I genuinely could've just read the blurb and it would've explained the whole book. It's not that I hate it per se, it's just not attention grabbing enough if I'm being honest. Main characters were so stale too , kind of lifeless. long story short, I don't feel much for bella.

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)?

Overall I liked the book but honestly it was pretty predictable for the most part. A couple instances I didn't expect it (Mystery Mans identity). I think Marty was one of my favorite characters. He told Bella just like it was. Bella got on my nerves a lot. The relationship between Bella and Ellie came off a little strange to me mostly just the sleeping in the same bed while she was with her boyfriend.

*I recieved this book from NetGalley

Thanks Netgalley for allowing me to read this book. Bella's life is not what she pictured it would be. She thought she would be married, but hasn't found rhe right person. When her friend gets engaged she is happy for her. This book was a quick read.

I was very excited for this book and felt a rollercoaster of emotions, but in the worst way. I strongly disliked the main character, she was too self absorbed and not learning from her mistakes at all. I have never wanted to punch someone more. She made every little thing about her and was quite honest annoying to read. Additionally, I felt like the other characters were not well developed in a sense. You are introduced to so many people throughout the course of the book who just come in and out as they please, which made it a bit confusing to read.

Despite the main character, the book had a very interesting premise and wasn't too badly executed. The way it was written kept me engaged and it made it a fast read. The fairy tale retelling was fun! One of my favorite parts was Bella trying to figure out which fairy tale she was going to be reliving. But the ending was something that I did not like, it tried showing that Bella had big character development but she really didn't. Overall, not the worst but definitely only for a quick read.

The first 3/4 of this book I was so tired of the main character, I wasn't sure if I was going to finish it. She is self centered, whiny, and could not care any less about those around her. However, she did get to a better place by the end of the book. The chapter are unnecessarily short and the book is unnecessarily long, but I did find a lot to enjoy. I loved her friends and the other side characters that were created and the basic idea of the book. The writing is also great, don't get me wrong, I just wanted to punch Bella most of the book.

I started this book with such high hopes, but I never felt like I could connect with the characters. I understand the story is about Bella realizing her selfish ways, but she wasn't really a likeable character for me. And for a romance, I would have liked for the start of her HEA to have occurred sooner than the last ~10% of the book. There were definitely some laugh out loud moments for me and I enjoyed the writing style. I think maybe I went into this book with a different idea of how the story would unfold.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC of this book!

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to receive an arc in exchange for my honest review! All thoughts and opinions are my own.



I loved the premise- so I was excited to get this one. Sadly, I was left …. Frustrated? The main character is unlikeable for the majority of the book, and the likeable characters aren’t discussed much. The overall relationship in the end isn’t “much”. I just feel like it was lacking.
However, the author writes very well- and I AM looking forward to more works by them, but this book itself just … wasn’t my cup.

I absolutely adored this book! Bella makes mistakes, she gets hurt, she sometimes hurts others. She wants to find love and live her dream as a writer, but feels stuck. While the fairytale dating scene was a little over the top, she felt real to me. I loved her relationship with her bestie which reminded me a lot of me and my platonic soulmate. I wish there was more between her and her love interest. Their scenes together were filled with banter but I would have loved more and more tension between them.

I understand that Bella’s demise and subsequent resurrection was the point of the book…but damn I kinda hated her. All of the men in her life are also the worst - *until* they magically come around and see things exactly her way. A quick read, but not my favorite. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.

I received a copy of this story from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Ugh, I feel horribly misled by the synopsis! I have two kind things to say: Marty is a lovely character and it's a readable story (barely).

I spent the first 1/3 of the book trying to decide whether I'd even keep reading. Then I hate-read the rest of it just to see how deep a hole Bella would fall down.

Bella is an awful human. Sure, I get that we're seeing her spiral but her spiraling is so incredibly immature and hurtful. She's selfish, self-centered, and entitled. She seems to think a book deal should just fall in her lap and gets jealous when it doesn't, though she puts in almost no work at first. She's very whiny. I would hate to meet someone who has made it that far in life without growing up even a little.

Her hatred of Mark is undeserved. She's so very disrespectful of her roommates. She uses men as creative fodder and doesn't feel even a little bad about it until WAY LATER than she should. Not even that, she's completely oblivious to her faults for almost the entire book! Nothing could possibly be her fault because her life is supposed to be a fairy tale. Her redemption feels like it happened because it had to in order for the story to keep moving rather than because she actually learned something.

As it stands, I would not recommend this book to anyone.

Bella is facing a series of disappointments, and is finding that life is not all about happily ever after. She begins going on random dates to provide fodder for her new novel, and swears off all real emotion. Just when she starts to get some notoriety, she is faced with a challenge to her integrity. Is it possible for Bella to have real feelings when push comes to shove? I loved this story about Bella!

Bella’s life is not the way she imagined it would be. She is a receptionist at a small press, not an author. Instead of having a fairytale marriage with her charming prince, she's single. Then she finds out her lovey-dovey parents are getting a divorce. Last but not least, her best friend of 29 years Ellie, is moving out of their flat and in with her boring boyfriend Mark. At this point in her life the only person she is slightly soothed by is Mark, Ellie’s not hot brother Marty - well maybe she thinks he is a little hot but he is really the brother she never had. Marty suggests that Bella stops looking for her Prince Charming and just starts to have fun. When she takes his advice, she feels a sense of empowerment she hasn’t felt before. Bella posts a fairy-tale-like retelling of her horrible one night stand on a storytelling app and suddenly becomes B.Enchanted and has gone viral!

This book is your standard good rom-com story! Bella is witty, charming but also a hot mess. The first chapter begins literally with Bella on top and in the middle of what becomes a horrible one night stand. To be honest, wasn’t quite expecting it to be as full as sex as it was. I would say 80% of the theme is bad dates, one night stands and attempting to have sex often. In between those escapades, you also had 3 other story lines in there. One being the relationship with her best friend Ellie. Bella doesn’t think that Ellie’s fiance Mark is the right choice for her so unfortunately they spend most of the story struggling with their relationship. With Bella’s parents getting a divoce, the story also has them popping back in and out and dealing with the pain of parents separating. What I feel like should have been the A part of the story, her relationship with Marty, it was written as it was the least important. When it became time for their relationship to move forward, the storyline was great, I just felt like the other stories got in the way of what it really should have been about. Overall it was a good read. If you are looking for something that is just light, easy reading with short chapters, then give it a try!

Not That Kind Of Ever After by Lucy Adams was a cute and fun read. It wasn’t exceptional but overall I enjoyed it. I’m not a big romcom fan, so I was surprised that I enjoyed this book for the most part. I would have liked a bit more depth, but I think if you’re looking for a feel good romance, this one is for you. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.