I was not ready for how much I ended up enjoying this book. It was a wild ride from the start and although, at times, I didn't like Bella much, I can say I loved her in the end. Her journey is powerful. Bella grew up believing in the fairy tale dream. But as everyone around her seems to be making a success out of their lives, and getting their happily ever after, Bella feels stuck and confused. Turning to her love of writing, Bella uses a bad dating experience to put a twist on the classic fairy tale little red riding hood. (Trust me, this makes sense) When her story gets positive feedback on a writing sight, she continues with her fairy tale themes stories, searching out opportunities to create content.

Bella has reached a point in her life where she no longer cares who she is in a relationship with, she just wants to be in a relationship. Lots of things around her are changing as well and this is the catalyst for lots of poor decisions. The woman we meet is selfish, immature, drinking to excess, and unreliable. Seeing her put so little value on her self worth when hooking up was sad. The hook ups are mostly closed door/fade to black.
While this is a romance, I feel like it is mostly about Bella journey and growth. I loved seeing her holding a mirror up to her own actions and deciding who she wanted to be.

Thank you St. Martin's Griffin for the advanced readers copy!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing me with a free e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Nothing in Bella’s life is going as planned. She’s not the author she always wanted to be, and she’s certainly not found the Prince Charming she’s been looking for. Since things aren’t working too well for Bella, she decides it’s time to change things up. Instead of focusing on finding Mr. Right, she’s going to focus on having a good time. After documenting her one-night stands on a story-telling app, her career starts to take off. She becomes obsessed with finding the next story for her readers, sometimes at the expense of those around her.

This book was entertaining at times, but it had one of the most unlikeable protagonists that I have ever read. Bella was self-centered and immature; she treated her friends terribly throughout the book. Unfortunately, there wasn’t enough of a redemption arc for her to be redeemed. Also, the romance with the eventual love-interest didn’t make sense, because it was only really developed in the last 50 pages of the book.

I enjoyed the idea of the story and the humor that was sprinkled throughout the book. Ultimately, I really think the story would’ve benefited from some fine tuning. I have to say that the cover for this book sure is beautiful though!

This book was quite fun to read. I had a hard time keeping interest in the first half because the main character drove me absolutely insane. She was whiny, clingy, and mean for no reason to Marty. I just was not rooting for her at all really. But then when she decided to write her book of fairytales, I started to become more invested in the chaos she had created even though I knew the stories would somehow backfire on her. It was thoroughly an interesting concept that had be laughing. I definitely preferred the second half of this book solely because of the growth of the main character. She finally was able to see her wrong doings and fix the relationships with her best friend's fiancé and her true prince charming. All of those problems too where her just being petty truly, so I'm glad she had some growth. Overall, I really did think this story was fun and lighthearted. I enjoyed the plot, it had more substance than some romances do, and it had some cooky side characters, which are always a good time. I think I just wanted more dynamic from our main character and for her to not be so snobby in the first half of the book. I rate it 3.5 stars, but it won't let me do half stars.

This wasn't horrible, but it could have been better. I have a hard time with books where women in their late 20s act as if they're horrible old spinsters.

Not That Kind of Ever After by Luci Adams was a great read. Bella wants a happily ever after but keeps kissing frogs. She decides to make lemons into lemonade and start having fun. She takes her romantic encounters and turns them into fairy tales. Maybe she will find her happy ever after?

I liked Bella. She could be so stubborn sometimes but is not obtuse about it. She admits to being wrong and shows a lot of growth as a character. The side characters and men she meets are interesting, to say the least. I did feel bad for some of the guys she slept with but that speaks to the author's ability to write a small character that you kind of root for.

This debut book was fantastic and I would recommend it for anyone who likes a good fairy tale.

Thank you to NetGalley, St Martins Press, and Luci Adams for the e-ARC. This review is my own opinion.

There is a lot of chaos in Bella Marble's life. The world around her is collapsing around her. The fact that this was a British romance appealed to me. At times, Bella's choices seemed childish to me, and I thought she had made the wrong choices. There is no way I can reveal those choices without spoiling the book. Reading about the lives of other characters was enjoyable. Bella's work in publishing was interesting to me in the book. She described her quest for romance in the writing app in a captivating way that intrigued me. I rooted for her to find love and loved how it was right in front of her all along.

Thank you St Martins and Netgalley for the ARC of this book. This was an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley, St Martin’s Press and Luci Adams for the opportunity to read an ARC for “Not That Kind of Ever After”, this is my unpaid and honest review.
When I started this book I wasn’t sure what to expect, but it was even better than I hoped it would be! What a fun journey of self discovery this story takes you on with Bella Marble. The fairytale spin is absolutely hilarious and I liked the cautionary tale about how online fame and popularity can have a dark side. I would love to read more by this author!

What a fun, flirty, fairytale story! The perfect book for fans of Rom-Coms.. Lots of giggles while reading & I enjoyed the banter..
3.5 stars

bella was insufferable the entire time, she was so selfish and annoying. not everything is about you!!

Hilarious but brilliantly so! Bella is witty, sarcastic and totally unfiltered!
Everyone seems to be finding "the one" except Bella, and her career as a writer seems to be dead in the water.
But when she starts writing all her misadventures and dating fiascos on this new platform to share with a wider audience everything starts to change!

The characters are so likeable and Bella's raw & honest dialogue makes this an awesome take on a romantic comedy.

This book started slow for me - I disliked Bella and was shocked and dismayed by her behavior on multiple fronts. She was toxic to her supposed best friend (and unhealthily attached to her), lazy at her job, and rude to a variety of people. Even with my dislike of Bella, I enjoyed the plot and pacing of the book. Things got better as they went along, as well - it was a believable redemption story. I still found the sleeping around a little cringy, just because it seemed like such self-destructive behavior, but ultimately I was glad that Bella got herself together. Rounding up to 3.5 stars, though I’m only setting it at 3.

Thank you to the publisher - I received a complimentary eARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Not That Kind of Ever After by Luci Adams

Published: March 14, 2023
St. Martin’s Griffin
Genre: Women’s Humor
Pages: 384
KKECReads Rating: 5/5
I received a copy of this book for free, and I leave my review voluntarily.

Luci Adams (she/her) started out working in tax before moving into copywriting, creating social posts for Apple Music, and assisting with Amazon and BBC productions at Working Title Television. She now works as an analyst at The Guardian by day and writes uproariously funny and inventive rom-coms by night. Not That Kind of Ever After is her debut novel.

“With every hit of that space bar I’m back to feeling more myself than ever.”

Bella has always wanted the big, white, fairytale wedding. She has been obsessed with finding her Prince, and growing up has only sharpened that desire.

This was such a perfect book. I loved the story arc and the character development. The emotions were spot on, and the delivery was fantastic.

Bella was such a lovely character. I was a tad worried she wouldn’t have any growth- but boy, was I wrong. I loved watching her start as an overly ambitious person yearning for her one, to finding herself and what mattered.

I loved how this was written; it was so smooth. The storytelling was engaging, and these characters were so charming. I found the balance perfect.

The use of humor was well-placed and well-played as well. We get just enough emotion, and the delivery was always on par.

This was the cutest adult romance, filled with the earnestness of fantasy. This would be such a cute movie or mini-series. I am happy to announce this book is #KatyApproved!

3.5 stars

Some parts of this book were fun and enjoyable, including the way humour was incorporated into the story at both expected and more surprising moments. Other parts, though, felt really unbelievable; the protagonist did a few complete changes on her feelings for certain people and situations with seemingly minimal prompting, and it didn’t come across as realistic to me. Ultimately, the premise of the story was fun enough, but I felt like some of the details could’ve been tied together and developed a bit more effectively.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Unfortunately, I had to DNF this book. I've been reading some INCREDIBLE romance novels lately, and this one was a miss for me from the first sentence.

"It came, unlike me, while I was riding backward cowgirl on what must have been the hairiest man in London."

Listen, I've read my fair share of spicy books before. It's not that I'm a prude who can't handle the mention of sex in the first sentence. But it was such an ODD way to start...and I read quite a few chapters and feel like I still didn't know what came to her...during her lousy sex with a man she wasn't even really interested in.

I think that's what strikes me the most, the fact that when you look this book up on Goodreads, this is the tagline you're met with:

'Fairytale meets feminism in Luci Adams's Not That Kind of Ever After, a frothy adventure of one woman’s journey to claim happily ever after in times of serial dating, swiping right, and the quest to find your soulmate…'

Bella does not read feminist to me. She THINKS she is, and she's trying to convince herself that sleeping with this man who was an asshole from the jump is HER idea, but...it isn't, and she isn't. And this is further proved when she spends an entire page scrolling through social media and making fun of everyone, INCLUDING WOMEN, for...what, living their lives? "Martha and her big-nosed wife are on holiday in Dubai." "I see a post from Rachel about a new promotion at the job she can't stop posting about—Jesus, it's so unprofessional to use Instagram for job updates." It's 2023 and you're really bent out of shape because someone is excitedly posting about a promotion...? Give me a break.

Bella reads jealous, bratty, immature, and NOT feminist. She's clearly fed up with her own life and can't handle seeing anyone else around her be happy, and that makes for a character I don't care to root for or get to know. Of course I've read books where the main character isn't where they want to be in life, but instead of shitting on everyone around them, they look inward and put in the work to find themselves, to find THEIR source of happiness and discover that everyone's journey is different. But it was clear that Bella had no interest in doing that. I wouldn't want to date her either.

I was so excited about this book, but if I'm not vibing within the first few chapters, I know it's over for me. Maybe this will land with a different kind of reader, but I don't want to read about an insecure girl tearing down people she's supposed to be friends with and pretending to be a feminist. It simply gave me the ick. :/

This review also appeared on Goodreads.

A book with lots of literary nods and splash of romance? YES! I feel strongly that this was made to be a “book club” book. It leads to discussions well and the more I talked about it or read other reviews I could see details I overlooked (red riding hood).

This was also written for New Adults. The main character was sometimes unlovable in her actions/thoughts. The side characters will make you smile though.

Bella’s life seems to be falling apart—her perfectly in-love parents are getting divorced, her childhood best friend and roommate is engaged and moving out, and instead of being a published author, she’s still working as a receptionist. After a disastrous one-night stand inspires her to write a fairy-tale retelling, she uploads the story to a storytelling website, and goes viral. People can’t get enough of her hilarious take and she quickly becomes obsessed with recreating more stories for her followers.

I thought this was a great debut, but it might not be for everyone. Is the FMC super immature, self-absorbed, and annoying? Yes. Is she relatable and highly entertaining? Also yes. I don’t think the story would have worked with a character with any other type of personality. We basically see Bella hit rock bottom as she is engrossed in living out her fairytale one-night stands. It takes her getting to this point for her to realize a few things about herself and her life.

Although there is some romance sprinkled in, I would consider this more the story of Bella finding herself. I definitely wish we had seen more of Marty because he was genuinely sweet and a good friend to her. I thought it was obvious how he felt about her, however, Bella is so blind to this for the majority of the book that we don’t necessarily get to see a ton of romance between the two.

I was excited to get read this book as it sounded interesting to me but unfortunately it fell flat. There was not much more to the book other than the description. By the time I got to the end, I didn't feel like I knew anything more than the blub gave. I also found that the characters fell flat for me. And a book that was supposed to be character driven with flat, almost stale characters, yeah that just doesn't work for me.

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

Super cute and so easy to enjoy. This book is a perfect weekend get away in story form. The main character is the perfect mix of quirky and fun.

This was a cute romance novel that comes out March 14, 2023. If you are looking for a cute romance novel that is set in England, this one is for you. I've never read anything from Luci Adams, but I'd love to see a sequel to this one for sure!

Bella is a young woman who works for a publishing company and is an aspiring writer on the side. Bella lives with her best friend Ellie and Ellie's boyfriend Mark and a couple of other friends. Bella is desperate to get a guy, "the one" if you will, and get married and have the "happily-ever-after" ending that is in fairy tales.

She sets herself up on a dating app and has several terrible experiences that she then transfers into her new writing inspiration, making each chapter-escapade reflect a different fairy tale story. In the process of gaining many followers on the writing site she's on, she closes off all her friends and isolates herself, blind to the ones who truly love her and mean something to her.

In the end, Bella gets her happy ending, its just not what she was originally expecting. It was a little predictable but light and easy to read. I read this one pretty quickly too. Go preorder your copy NOW!

#NotThatKindofEverAfter #NetGalley

Soooo good. I have read a lot of romance and I love it but when something different and interesting comes along it is just a fun ride to jump into. This book was like that. I am obsessed with these characters and I am just not ready to let go and say goodbye. Read this story.