Overall this was a cute, funny story. I liked the dates Bella went on as they made me laugh. She really got into some hilarious situations.

I liked the short chapters and I liked that Bella seemed to really grow as a person (she didn't start out as the nicest). I feel like the ending is sort of easy to guess but that didn't take away from the story because Bella still had some fun times throughout.

As a light romcom this was a good read.

Pubs tomorrow!

Not That Kind of Ever After was a good book. I would recommend this to anyone who likes an emotional read. There were so many ups and downs in this story, it was a good roller coaster of a book. I was a little bored in the middle, but the ending was 1,000% the read.

Thank you to Luci Adams, St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for allowing me to read this book in advance.

I really struggled with this one and ended up DNFing it. Based on the 5 star reviews, I know there will be people out there who love this book, but unfortunately I'm not one of them.

I found the main character difficult to root for. I don't expect my characters to be perfect, in fact I prefer a flawed character who makes mistakes, but I didn't enjoy Bella's inner monologues. She hated her best friend's partner, to the point she was actually disappointed that her friend was being proposed to.
I honestly felt like she wasn't a very good friend, and maybe that improved, but it wasn't a story I wanted to stick through. She showed up to her friend's going away party with 0 effort, then got mad when her best friend's partner brought a cake and felt like she was being upstaged and he was ruining everything.

Bella also accepted a lot of shit from men that women shouldn't be putting up with in 2023 and it felt like it was framed as "well you just have to do this to find a good one!" And I am not here for that narrative.

This was a very quick read but wasn’t my favorite read. The FMC seemed very self centered and it was hard for me to get passed that. This was a difficult book to finish.

3.5 out of 5 stars

Bella was the conductor on the hot mess express called her life. She wanted the fairytale but not the happily ever after; she wanted happy for tonight. While she navigated her train wreck life, she was writing a story that were fairytale retellings with her own twist. There were instances that I felt Bella was self-centered and immature. But that also could be attributed to the changes in her relationships with her friend Ellie and her parents. What I did like was the fact that Bella was her own person and that she had realistic and relatable flaws. She knew she wasn't perfect and didn't strive to be. And while she was looking for her happy for tonight, her happily ever after was right in front of her.

Sarah Naughton did a stellar job of bringing Bella to life. Her tone of voice and inflections gave the characters personality and dimension. I loved her British accent which made me feel like I was in the room with Bella.

I received an advance copy of this book at my request from the publisher and voluntarily left this review.

title: Not That Kind of Ever After
author: Luci Adams
format: ebook (ARC)
pub date: 14 March 2023
🌟: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

(thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for allowing me to read this ARC in return for an honest review!)

this book took me by surprise y’all! the first page of this book was SPICY and caught me off guard, but it really captures the hilarity of the book and the voice of the MC!

the story follows Bella’s life as she embarks on her journey to find her Prince Charming. and the men she’s been finding are truly anything but. when she has a less-than-great experience with a man named Charles Wolf, she uses her experience as writing inspiration (which she’s been in short supply of), and posts a story titled “My Night with the Big Bad Wolf” on an online platform for writers. when she begins to blow up — and her sexual encounters continue to mirror fairy tale stories — she continues to write and then actively seeks more and more inspiration for her stories. but could she be denying the Prince Charming who was quite possibly been there all along..?

truly the only thing that marked me down for this book was that I felt like it dragged a little bit. ! I love me some detail and a nice build up/slow burn, but there were moments that felt a little too drawn out for my taste.

that being said, this is such a cute and sweet book, and SO funny! it’s also a great pick if you love a good best friend story. so many moments between Bella and her childhood best friend Ellie made me tear up and made me get all mushy on *my* childhood best friend. we’ve been friends for about 17 years now so I really felt their relationship deep in my core

pick up if you enjoy:

👑fairy tale tropes
🤪hectic but lovable female MC
👭bff storylines
😉best friend’s brother tropes
🤣LOL moments

This was not really anything like what I was expecting….

I’m rating it 3-stars. I had a hard time deciding, but it could land between 3 and 3.5, depending on the part of the book. The first half was tough to get through, but the second half went a bit quicker, the main character, Bella, grew up a bit and started making more mature decisions that her 30 year old self should have been doing all along, and then it felt more worthy of a 3.5 rating.

The concept of this storyline was rather interesting in the blurb, but I found myself getting quite angry and annoyed at Bella pretty much the whole way through, with how she behaved like a teenager and how she treated everyone around her like total garbage. There is a character in here that Bella was upset with, and I have a friend of the same name that I found myself suddenly upset with in reality because the book made me feel immature feelings towards him (I took on Bella’s immaturity in those many pages) … sorry to my real life “friend” Mark who had the brunt of book hangover emotions! It’s not good to behave like a teenager because of a book getting you upset.

While we do see Bella finally grow up, realize what she’s doing, take on some responsibility for her actions, apologize for hurting people, stop being selfish and hurtful online, and even move on in her career, personal life and relationships, she still has a very long ways to go. I’m happy with how it all ended, though.

And finally, the audio to ebook, which I was reading both at the same time, differed greatly - the audio must have the original British version while the ebook was edited to be North American and audio a final edited draft. Big changes! I have read many British books and been there many times so understand the terms, but trying to read along with the audio and it’s so different made me lose my place a lot. The narrator, Josie Charles, did a great job! She’s a new to me voice, and while I wasn’t loving the material, she made it easier to get through.

I received an advance review and advance listen copy from NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press (St. Martin’s Griffin), and Macmillan Audio, and this is my honest opinion and feedback.

I really liked the premise of this book and wanted to love it so much. But good god Bella was such an unlikeable FMC. She was selfish and annoying and rude and wildly immature for a 29 year old woman. At times it was hard to read her insane inner monologue because it was just so not relatable. I liked the idea of the plot and would have loved this with a more likable FMC.

This book starts with a bang, literally, but not in a good way. We where just thrust into a very unsexy scene and the more we learn about it, the more we dislike it. I feel like I could have enjoyed this story if it had started in a different way, but I was honestly turned off from the beginning. I ended up DNFing this book because the writing was not my style and I was cringing more than enjoying.
Thank you for the eARC.

I really wanted to love this book. There were some good laugh out loud moments. I think my main issue was that the FMC was supposed to be almost 30 and she was so immature and self-centered. At times I was beginning to wonder if she was in love with her best friend because she became so possessive.
Bella came across as rude and inconsiderate a lot of the time, again back to the immaturity. I was really rooting for her but the book lost me at like 66% and I couldn't continue.
Plus this book is was entirely too long, seven parts some with over 20 chapters each.

The idea was great but the follow through was a let down for me.

I’m not even sure what to say about this book - it was so different than anything I’ve read before!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
🌶️
(Note on the spice - it’s not super detailed but the FMC definitely has a lot of sex in the book)

I had a hard time on a rating for this one, since I went back and forth between not liking it, and loving it.
I adored the audiobook - the narrator gave it the perfect touch. I went between that and the ebook, and I think had I just read it without listening, I may not have liked it as much.

Bella is not the most likeable character for most of the book. She’s selfish and whiny, but also hilarious and quirky. Her love life is a bit pathetic - she sleeps with the first guy to call her pretty. She’s possibly a little in love with her best friend? She definitely adores her a ton, and is super jealous of her fiancé. Bella is also quite the brat when her parents announce they’re getting a divorce.

HOWEVER - throughout the book, with a little help, she does learn about herself and evolve/mature (thankfully). If she hadn’t, I don’t think I could give this story about a 2-star rating.

Read if you enjoy:
⭐️ Romcom
⭐️ Heroine who loves fairytales
⭐️ Best friend’s brother
⭐️ Single POV/first person
⭐️ Short chapters

Thank you to NetGalley, Macmillan Audio, and St. Martin’s Press for an advanced copy for review. All opinions are my own.

This book was a bit of a rollercoaster. I found myself laughing frequently while reading but also had points where I couldn’t help but be completely confused by the main characters’ rationale for her actions. Bella is naive, immature at times and all of her problems were self inflicted. However, the story itself was entertaining. She made bad decisions but the point of the story was to have these be the decisions that lead to the most possible growth for her character. I enjoyed the book but I do think that if it had been a little easier to sympathize with Bella I would’ve been able to rate it higher.

This is the first book I have read from this author and boy oh boy is Bella a hot mess. Bella is working as an assistant for a marketing firm. Her best friend is about to move out to get married to a “boring” Mark. Her parents who she thought was happily married announcing their pending divorce. What could go wrong right? This is a hilarious debut book and highly recommend!

Ugh. I was so excited to read this but it is just not the one for me. The dialogue is cringy. The main character is very annoying and immature. I can't think of a single character I have disliked more. You may love this.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and St. Martin's Press for the gifted e-book

I love the premise of this book, but Bella was all around insufferable. From regularly crawling into bed with your best friend and her boyfiriend, being a jealous twat when she got engaged and it wasn’t you because she didn’t want a wedding and you did so for that reason she needed to be single and miserable with you and all around not great friend to her or literally anyone else (I hope Simon didn’t forgive her) to using multiple men for sex to further your goal of being a writer. Bella literally could not take responsibility for anything that happened to her until the 70% mark, and ever still managed to be the absolute worst after realizing you are an overspoiled child. Ellie was also an enabler and it’s clear her parents let her think she was God’s gift to earth. Aside from my major issues with the FMC, the side characters were great. I fell in love with Marty about 40% in. I’m not saying happily ever after does not exist, I’m a romance reader after all, but Bella was seriously making the dumbest decisions to get there. When she waxed poetic about her parents being so supportive of her and then she turned around and acted like a 15 year old when they wanted to live their own lives.
With a better heroine (literally anyone else) this book could’ve been a hit for me as I’m a lover of fairy tales myself.

Had a really tough time with the main character. She’s shallow and self absorbed and didn’t really redeem herself with her climax “transformation”. And of course she’d end up with the guy she ended up with, that was not subtly hinted at way too early in the story.

Some parts are very good!

Bella Marble thought she would be a writer, married or at least in a serious relationship but instead she’s the receptionist at a publisher and still trying to find the one after a lot of swiping right and bad dates thinking that she has dated most of London. But now her best friend is moving out to live with her fiancé in a different apartment and Bella needs to figure out what she actually wants in her future but first she going to use her bad dates to write a story telling app about her bad dates.

Parts of Not That Kind of Ever After were very good and some parts felt very disjointed but not every book fits all readers.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

In Not That Kind of Ever After, Bella has dreamed of finding 'the one', her personal Prince Charming, all her life. But Bella's life is crashing down around her. Everything she felt she could count on is changing in ways she hadn't prepared for. To deal with this turmoil she decides to change her life up a bit leading to a string of one night stands and writes them up as retellings of fairy tales which she posts online.

This is the story of a late twenty-something who is still figuring out her place in the world when it feels like everyone around her is moving on and away from her. It's the story of how sometimes we can make self-destructive choices in a moment of self-catharsis that end up leading us down a path we never wanted to travel and becoming a person we never intended to be. And it's a story of how to find yourself and hack a path back to the person you want to be.

For fans of Wasted Words and Meet Me in the Margins or anyone who enjoys books about books.

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ (3.5)

🌶 🌶 🌶

Tropes: slow burn, best friend's sibling

I’m kind of surprised by the harsh reviews. I found the first chapter immediately engaging. The female lead, Bella, came off as relatable, flawed, well-written. Okay, so she’s very flawed, but who isn’t? Sometimes change is hard to cope with and doesn’t bring out our best attributes—and that’s how we see Bella devolve from romantic and fun to hurting those around her. But she redeems herself! And the whole time she brings us along for her best and her worst. I enjoyed the cast of characters, the storyline, and the writing. It was a very easy and fast read that felt mostly light and charming. Of course, when I saw the inevitable happen (no spoilers) and she loses sight of the reality before her, I certainly cringed. But she figured it out quickly and we were back on track! I also really liked the development of her relationship with Mark!

I honestly DNF’d this book. I just couldn’t get behind Bella as a main character. I’m sure there are some out there that will love this book, but it just wasn’t for me!