The number of times I've cried because of laughing while reading this book is beyond me. Bella was unapologetically hilarious, confident & witty. God the opening scene? I swear, I knew I'm going to love this book from page 1 itself.

Bella's life was complicated & full of chaos, but I could understand where those fears or insecurities came from. I loved the flatmates' situation they had going, which kinda reminded me of "We Met in December."

The hilarious fairytale retellings she went through were hilarious as hell. I loved the bond she shared with her best friend. The conflict with that made me so sad, but it had to be done in order to accept Mark & realize how wrong she was about everything.

The romance with Marty played out perfectly. I loved the slow burn of it; how beautiful & comfortable they were with each other. Every single of them together was worth reading & left me wanting for more.
I really appreciated the message at the end about being true to yourself no matter what.

I had to dnf this book after just a few chapters in . The main character is so whiny and annoying that I can’t keep reading about her. I’m sorry but I just can’t.

𝘕𝘰𝘵 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘒𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘖𝘧 𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘈𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 follows Bella, an aspiring novelist, on her quest to happy ever after all while she's struggling with the dating scene which she vents about on the internet and gains support to continue writing more.

- ~ -

Hmm... I did not enjoy this one.

You know how most stories are written to either teach a lesson or for entertainment purposes, I can't comprehend this one's existence. But oh wait! while it is not much fun, it does teach us to 𝘯𝘰𝘵 be a Bella.

The protagonist Bella is pretty whiny. She is going through a midlife crisis from hell but the situation is not the problem, she is. All her reasons to be sour are self created and could be avoided if not for the drama.

I would love to say that while the main character was annoying she got tolerable towards the end but nooo nothing changed, she was as miserable in the end as she was in the beginning.

And why was this listed as a romance? The romance aspect doesn't even start until the last 15% and usually a good romantic ending can take things off the edge for me but nothing seemed to work with this story.

- ~ -

3.12 / 5✩

𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘚𝘵. 𝘔𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘯'𝘴 𝘗𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘕𝘦𝘵𝘨𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘱𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬, 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘐 𝘷𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘭𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 & 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸𝘦𝘥. 𝘈𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘰𝘸𝘯.

Thank you to Net Galley and St. Martin's Press for a copy of this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Unfortunately, I had to DNF this book due to being unable to connect with the FMC.

One girl, many one-night stands, and happily ever afters.

Bella Marbles is in search for Prince Charming, but she seems to be looking at the wrong places. When her best friend’s hot brother Marty Mathews suggests to stop looking for a prince and just have fun, she finds a new side of herself. Not only that, but she finds viral fame posting fairy-tale retelling of her experiences.

While it was great to see Bella discover a new side of herself, I began to not like her character because she couldn’t see how her one-night stand adventures was affecting her own relationships with others. She definitely went through great lenghts to live a sort-of fairy tale, but it did help her grow and she was able to redeem herself.
Then we have Marty, the best friend’s brother. Marty may be made out to be as a player in Bella’s eyes, but to me he’s pretty wholesome, definitely Prince Charming potential.

Not That Kind of Ever After by Luci Adams

Bella Marble’s life is changing… and not for the best. Her best friend in the whole world is moving out and is engaged to the most boring person ever. She’s stuck in her receptionist job at a publishing company instead of actually working on her book, her lovey-dovey parents are divorcing and she can’t seem to meet her fairytale perfect Prince Charming. So she starts writing out her dating failures into an online blog… what could go wrong?

I have personally laughed out loud a couple time during this book, it was quirky, funny and sarcastic. There are parts of this book where Bella’s self-pity becomes a little redundant but I can see how it would be necessary for the story line. Overall, it was a unique and interesting twist to the modern day fairy tale.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martins for the ARC in order to review.

Bella Marble’s life isn’t what she imagined. Instead of an author, she’s a 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)?

When Marty recommends Bella stop looking for “the one” and just have fun, Bella finds a new, empowered side of herself. But when she posts a fairy-tale retelling of a disastrous one night stand on a storytelling app, all of a sudden, Bella has become @B.Enchanted. And she’s gone viral.

Now, Bella’s in a fight with Ellie, her new roommates are so, deeply, weird, and the pressure is mounting to find new fairy tales to write about—but she’s got to live them first.

The book was somewhat entertaining at times, it just didn’t grab me. I lost focus quite a lot. The ending was cute, but I just wanted more depth in the story. The characters were okay, but the first half felt like it dragged on for quite some time. There was a funny part or two that I did appreciate.

Thank you to Net Galley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC!

Unfortunately, I had to DNF this book due to being unable to connect with the MC. I disliked some of her choices from the first chapter, and she did not have any redeeming qualities.

The author had a good writing style that was easy to follower; however, the characters just didn't do it for me.

*I received a free ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

DNF @ 30%

While I do firmly believe this book, as with any book, will be for someone it unfortunately wasn’t for me. I didn’t vibe with the writing style, and I found our main character to be insufferable. She was whiny and entitled, and I found myself resenting her rather than feeling sympathy for her. I also think this book took a long time to get going, even at 30% it still felt like it hadn’t gone anywhere.

I think there are other readers out there who will find this humorous and witty, but unfortunately it wasn’t for me.

Luci Adams’s debut novel takes us along Bella’s adventures on the London dating scene that’s full of LOLs and OMGs!

Bella is an aspiring author looking for her fairytale love story but Prince Charming is nowhere to be seen. When she tries too hard to make every date turn into “the One” she decides to take another approach. Why not just have fun instead? This inspires her to start writing about her fairy tale sexcapades on a storytelling app. While she gains popularity, she starts to lose herself and learns that the fairy tale isn’t exactly what she’s looking for after all.

Bella reminded us of our favourite hot mess heroines like Becky Bloomwood and Bridget Jones. They all have a kind heart, good intentions but their lives are a bit of a mess when you first meet them. Bella was no exception and she is lost for most of the book but the journey she goes through to get to where she ends up is very satisfying. She’s unapologetically herself and makes lots of mistakes along the way but she owns them (eventually). She had a lot of growing up to do.

This book is a little less romance and a bit more of a journey of self discovery. We were pleasantly surprised by this book and loved going through this rollercoaster with Bella!

What we liked:
▪️Her lifelong friendship with Ellie & Marty
▪️Endearing/hot mess FMC
▪️Marty! (He needs to be mentioned twice)
▪️Mark (It started out rocky especially during the proposal)
▪️Short chapters!

What we didn’t like:
▪️No real introduction to the FMC before she’s with the Wolf
▪️Would have loved more time with her love interest

The synopsis of this book sounded so good. I was really looking forward to awkward but funny moments with our main character and a realistic take on a "fairy tale ending." Sentence 1 though immediately made me regret trying this book as I did not give my consent to be part of the bedroom scene our MC finds herself part of. It's one thing to write about sex in books when you have some build up and know it's coming, but right from the get go and it's bad sex? No thanks. Very crude in my opinion and it didn't get better from there as the first 4 chapters kept referring to her positioning, bouncing, and hairiness of her rude date. I did try to get past it hoping there would be some redemption, but then realized I just didn't care about the MC after she willingly put herself through that disgusting mess of a night and it wasn't funny. I guess kuddos that his name was Wolf and it was in keeping with the fairy tale theme, but that's all I've got for positivity.

I wasn't sure what to make of this one. I believe it's supposed to be a romance, but it's more of Bella finding herself and her journey to do so.

I found humor, especially in the dialogue. I liked some of the scenes with friends and such. I didn't love any of the main characters. Bella is just a mess, somewhat immature and she doesn't treat people very well, even those she calls friends. She is insensitive. She treats her so called best friend horribly and wonders why she doesn't hear from her.

The dating and writing about it sounded good in theory, but the way she went about it just wasn't for me.

Marty showed promise at times, but other times he was also insensitive. These characters are late twenties and people I know in that age group are more mature.

I enjoy that they showed the character flaws, but felt they were shown so much that they overshadowed the good stuff. I enjoyed the interactions with Marty and her bestie more than the dates and would have liked more of her relationship with Marty.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Macmillan Audio and St. Martin’s Press for both an ALC and ARC of this is exchange for my honest review.

Bella had given up all hope on dating so when she took to Mirror Mirror (an online dating site), she was willing to give nearly anything with two legs a trying chance. That’s when she got set up with Charles Wolf. Not Charlie, not Chip, not Chaz - just Charles….so boring and so serious. It didn’t come as a surprise when Charles turned out to be a mediocre “frog” to the Prince Charming Bella was expecting. Thus continuing her search for “The One.”

In the midsts of finding “The One,” Bella was also in a severe writing slump. When she met Henry Pill, a well-known B-Reader author, she was intrigued by his work and the idea of writing a chapter by chapter book that readers could interact with through likes and comments as the chapters came out.

Here’s the part where Charles Wolf came back into play. She wrote chapter one about her encounter with Wolf and took her own spin on the classic fairytale, Little Red Riding Hood. And there it was, her writing slump was over but that didn’t come without a little something, or shall I say, someone else. Each chapter would be based on a different fairytale and a real life story from her life AKA she was going to be hooking up with different men and crafting the experience into a new chapter for her book.

So Bella was focused on the new task at hand but also very interested in her newest match, “Mystery Man” from the online dating site Mirror Mirror. We are introduced to so many different men in this book that it made the thrill so exciting to see who “Mystery Man” would turn out to be. Would it be her besties brother, Marty or Henry Pill, the latest signed author at her job? Or could it be one of the frat boys from downstairs or Sir Read-A-Lot who keeps commenting on her chapters?

When Mystery Man was revealed, let’s just say I low key saw it coming and was so here for it! Karma is a two-way street and if Bella is willing to use men to create her stories, then why shouldn’t Mystery Man be able to do the same? Mystery Man quickly became just another chapter and Bella’s dating “sexcapade” continued.

And then, finally, we meet the real Prince Charming. For sake of spoilers, I won’t reveal him but it was everything my heart was hoping for and even more! This book was fantastic and I cannot wait to see more from this author!

This one just wasn't for me. I found Bella hard to connect with. The beginning of the book kind of rubbed me the wrong way in making Bella feel like she had to have a man. It's 2023 and this narrative just didn't interest me. There was nothing overly wrong with the book. I could see people enjoying the laugh out loud situations Bella finds herself in. It's entertaining. But I just felt like it lacked a little substance and felt a little redundant.

Thank you for allowing me to read a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

To start off I would give this book an overall 3/5 stars. I thought the storyline was cute and well thought out. However, the reason for knocking the rating down was because it felt predictable and I just really found myself starting to dislike the main character.

Storyline was cute and there were a few moments where I caught myself smiling while reading.

Not That Kind Of Ever After is a charming story about a young woman who is at a crossroads in her life. While everyone is changing and growing up around her, she is at a loss as to what to do next. She continues to look for her own Prince, but only seems to be kissing frogs…so many frogs!

Bella Marble is having a sort of mid-life crisis. Turning thirty, she is nowhere near where she thought she would be in her life at this point. No boyfriend (or husband), not a writer (at all), and living in an apartment with four other singles (not ideal). But at least one of her roommates is her best friend since childhood, Ellie. But her boyfriend Mark sleeps over quite a bit, ugh! And just like that, everything changes.

Ellie and Mark decide to move out and get their own place and become engaged. A suspiciously odd couple move into Ellie’s old room, and Bella still has writer’s block. But after Bella discovers an online site where people write stories which other people read and comment on, she decides to try not only her hand at writing but decides to document her quest to find her Prince Charming. She writes about her not-so-great dates and gives them funny fairy tale headings.

Although her dates do not go too well and she continuously asks Ellie’s brother Marty for help and advice because, well, he is a player, and a handsome one at that, she begins to find she has a following on the site.

Then, her life comes crashing down around her. She and Ellie have a terrible fight and stop speaking. This has never happened before. Of course, the impetus for the fight was Mark, ugh. She then discovers her parents, whose love story has always been the basis for Bella’s Prince Charming, inform her they are getting divorced. Her stories have gone viral, and she now feels pressure to come up with more interesting fairy tales to keep her readers excited. But she can’t seem to find the mojo. Bella’s just tired. Of it all. How on earth does she get her best friend back and prove there is more to her writing than just sloppy dates.

Without Ellie, Bella turns to Marty to steer her in the right direction, only to have everything blow up in her Cinderella face! Can you truly ever find your Prince Charming? Someone who will be there for you forever? Or do you just settle for someone less. Sometimes wishing for something so desperately and getting it is far worse than what you had. Especially when the one person you’ve counted on since you were young is not by your side.

Not That Kind Of Ever After is a hysterical, empathetic look at dating, trying to change your life, trying to become a real adult and hopefully learning a few lessons about life and love.

Thank you #NetGalley #St.Martin’sGriffin #LuciAdams #NotThatKindOfEverAfter for the advanced copy.

Frothy and funny. Bella is a mess who eventually gets herself together to see what was in front of her all along, and it was fun to witness everything that went left along the way. The fairy tale elements were a lot of fun!

Bella has always wanted a romance like her parents - a full, pre-woke Disney, sweep you off your feet romance with her very own Prince Charming. But as life around her continues to change, and she’s even further from her dream of being a writer, she thinks that maybe she’s just in a different fairy tale. And if she wants to be a princess, she’ll have to leave her best shoe behind(I was going for a “best foot forward thing, but it didn’t work, so just ignore that 🤣)

This was pretty fun! I can’t say that I’ve read a ton of books that started with the main character in reverse cowgirl(but I won’t be able to say that in the future!) Bella was a selfish character, and needed to work through her own fears of impending change in her life. Her desperation to find “the one” and then her obsessive need to do more things for her book made for an interesting character arc.

I saw Marty as the fairy godfather, as it were, because he always seemed to know exactly what she needed to feel better. His kindness was on display whenever he was on page, even with Bella calling him an arsehole and commenting on the amount of hookups he’s had. I knew I loved his character when I read about his flat filled with cozy, grandma-like decor - like a cup of tea as a room.

I know it was iconic, but I’d be happy to not have any more HP references in books - there were at least 4 that took me out of the story a bit, because they could have been described in a different way quite easily.

I can see why Bella’s writing was so popular, and I would definitely read the smut she writes in this book 😂

I thought there was some really good character development as the story went on, and I genuinely enjoyed all the shenanigans that happened while she looked for fairy tale inspiration. What a riot!

Not That Kind of Ever After is a stand-alone contemporary romcom. The storyline is a little choppy but overall it's a cute read.

The FMC Bella is her own worst enemy. While everyone seems to be moving on without her, she doesn't do much to help herself. Once she does finally get ahead she’s prone to self sabotage.

This is the author’s debut novel and I would be interested in reading more of her work in the future.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press (St. Martin’s Griffin)!

Thank you for an advanced copy of this book!

I was really looking forward to this book, and for the most part, I enjoyed it! The story had funny elements and was pretty entertaining. I also thought the dialogue/banter was well-written! I do feel like this is less of a romance and more of a women's fiction book, though.

I liked the story, but I wasn't a big fan of Bella. I definitely identified with some of her hang ups, but she wasn't a very likable person. She also wasn't always a very nice person, and I just couldn't get invested in her sadly. I just felt like she was insensitive and a horrible friend. I don't mind an unlikable character, but I do mind a mean character...and I felt she was mean at times.

I don't think this was a bad story, but that maybe I'm just not the target audience. I was expecting a bit more romance, and I really got a women's fiction book...which is cool, because it's still a decent story. Just not one I think I'll reread or buy for my shelves!

Thank you again for an advanced copy!

Star Rating: 3⭐️