Isabella “Bella” Marble is obsessed with finding her fairytale man. She dreams of being an author but is a receptionist at a small press, she wants to be happily married but is single and her best friend of 29 years is moving out and getting married to a guy Bella hates. The only person Bella ha sis Marty, her best friend’s brother who always takes care of her. When he recommends she stop looking for “the one” and just have fun, Bella decides that in order to do that she’s going to find a new empowered side of herself by going out with everyone and try anything. After a disaster of a date she posts a fairy-tale retelling of the one night stand on a storytelling app and soon she’s gone viral. But then she gets into a fight with her best friend, her new roommates are weird, and the pressure to create more fairytale bad one night stand experiences to maintain her popularity is rising so... she starts to self sabotage: 1. fighting with her friend 2. going out with people she knows will not be right for her and ending up doing anything to sleep with people she knows will only be good for another story post 3. mistreat her friends 4. actively seek out things that will not make her happy. Bella is not a great person, she’s selfish, childish, and just unlikable. Does she redeem herself by the end of the book? Sort of. However reading 300 pages of her just being unlikable was not a fun time. She is jealous of her best friend but is possessive and hates that her best friend is even getting married, she hates her best friend’s fiancee because she thinks he’s boring and that her best friend can do better... without even taking into consideration maybe that he makes her happy or that maybe she shouldn’t be so possessive and obsessive over her best friend?? Also the romance between Bella and Marty was not there for me, at all. This book just missed the mark unfortunately. For a book about finding fairytale endings, it was definitely lacking the fairytale spark for me.

*Thanks Netgalley and St. Martin's Press, St. Martin's Griffin for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

Rating: 2 / 5 Stars

Thank you to NetGalley & Luci Adams for providing this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was an easy & fun read - but I honestly had trouble staying focused. I couldn’t find myself relating to any of the characters or even fully interested in what they were doing / feeling. The writing style is enjoyable, just couldn’t click with the story.

*arc from NetGalley*
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Pub date: March 14, 2023
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This book ended up being really cute. Bella is a hopeful writer and has been looking for her Prince Charming, but she isn’t having the best luck.
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With her best friend moving out and getting engaged, Bella feels stuck. After yet another date gone wrong, she writes a story in a fairy tale retelling format and goes viral!
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I’ve been obsessed with the Twisted Tales series since I discovered them and this book gives those vibes. I only wish I could’ve read Bella’s stories more.
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This book was beautifully written with the friendships and friends to lovers (one of my faves). And who doesn’t love a good “ahh ha!” moment with their main character??
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🌟🌟🌟🌟/5

Not that Kind of Ever After by Luci Adams is such a fun read. It's written in quick chapters that remind me of scenes in a TV show, but it absolutely works. The main character, Bella, is on a quest to find Prince Charming, but is finding the single scene rather disappointing. When everything seems to be changing around her, she get so wrapped up in creating her own story that she honestly stumbles into hot-mess territory. After receiving some internet fame, she spirals, but her friends are there to pick her up. Definitely worth the read.

I was drawn to this book for its title, but this book wasn't for me. I liked the concept of the story, but there was a lot going on and I couldn't get into it. Maybe if I was at the same place as the main character in life I would have connected with the character and the story more.

Thank you NetGalley for the opporunity to read this book.

Disclaimer: I received this book as an E-ARC from Netgalley,


This book was not the one for me. I love romance books but two chapters in I couldn't get over how unlikable the main character was. She just didn't seem to have any self respect and I'm not in the mood to try and give her a chance to change and grow into a more confident main character. The description of the book sounded good so I am disappointed that I didn't like it at all.

Not to say that I didn't love this book, but the overall premise was surprisingly refreshing. The MC was a little plain Jane, and while I didn't mind it at times, her need to "hook-up" with men for the sake of the plot was a bit gross. I'm all for an empowered MC looking to have her own bit of fun, but Bella (MC) was more of a pushover than anything.

Hands down my favorite person in this entire book was Marty, I *knew* he was going to be with Bella no mater what. Who doesn't love a good 'best friends brother' trope??

Review posted:

“Have you ever wished you lived inside a fairytale? The dreamy Prince Charming, always present best friend and picturesque life? Well Bella decides to take things into her own things after wasting too much time waiting for her fairytale life to begin. An aspiring author, Bella decides to live as if she is the main character in a fairytale, posting about her disastrous cliché dates under the pen name B.Enchanted. Soon she takes off, and is eager to gain more experience to write about. But Bella doesn’t realize that she’s hurting people along the way. She leaves a string of one night stands behind her before devastating the one boy who may actually be her Prince Charming. Not to mention freezing out Ellie (the Elsa to her Anna) when her best friend moves after getting engaged to a prince of her very own. She spins like a tornado out of control until finally she realizes that life isn’t always a fairytale, and sometimes you need to look at the magic already in your life.


This is Luci Adams’s debut into romance, and I thought it was a great first novel. There are some parts of the book that I really adored, including the MCs budding relationship w/ a childhood friend. I also loved the MCs character growth towards the end of the novel. At times, though, I found the MC to be quite unlikeable; she has some selfish moments and is set on self sabotage for a portion of the novel. & the guys she dates. Imagine all the bad dates you’ve been on; the guys Bella dates has the personality of each of them. Finally, the spice. I’m all for a spicy scene, but I felt like some of these scenes were a bit cringey to get through.

Overall, I think some of you will really enjoy this! I’m excited to see what Luci writes in the future and her creativity is out of the box! If this description interests you at all, definitely give this a read!”

I received this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I did not enjoy how long and yet choppy it is. I wish there was growth in the MC.

Bella is tired of the dating scene and trying to find her Prince Charming after a failed date. Everything in her life is changing and she can’t keep up. In one last attempt to find her HEA she leaves her shoe in a bar hoping for her Cinderella ending. This leads to the start of a new chapter in life and her book.

This book has a good story premise and I like the idea here, but the book needs better edits. Many of the chapters are way too short, a number of them are less than a page long. The short chapters really impact the pacing and flow of the story. I feel like other readers might have a hard time with the short chapters. I also felt the physical diving of the story into seven separate parts wasn’t needed.

Personally I wasn’t the biggest fan of Bella. I do think she was well written. Ultimately would have liked to have seen more of her development on the page. It is hinted at later on in the book that she has grown but I would have really liked to see that journey.

I also would have liked to have seen more with her relationship with Marty too. While their interactions are nice and they are comfortable with one another they are lacking a strong connection to one another.

There were also a few inconsistencies in the book that I think could be cleared up with a bit better editing.

There is a smidge of spice but it is closed door with vague recounting of events.

Again I do think the story premise was good and I am excited to see what else this author has for us in the future. I just don’t think this was the book for me. I do however think this is the book for someone.

I would recommend it to those who are fan of the Bridget Jones's Diary type films and stories.

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

This is a quick, cute, fun and easy read about a woman who is searching for her Prince Charming but instead is kissing a lot of toads along the way.

The story is too long, it didn't need to be 900 pages, quite a bit was just filler. And while I found the characters relatable the end of the story was also very predictable. The main character, Bella, was all over the place and while I understand she was spiraling, I think it may have gone just a bit too far. I did however really like that the characters, especially Bella, owned up to their mistakes, gave heartfelt apologies and asked for forgiveness.

All in all, it was enjoyable but not anything spectacular.

DNF @ 74% At first I really enjoyed the book. It had a lot of my favorite elements of quirky heroine and rom com fairy tale weaved in. However, the pacing of the book really slowed down, and I got to the point where I was just reallllyyy done with Bella's antics. She started off as a hot mess, and at first it was fun to read about, but you get to a point where you're just like girl you need to pull yourself together. All of the things she did were so cringe that I just got so much ick and I get that it's all part of her character arc, but when you're 3/4 of the way through the book and the MC is still just bumbling her way through life, it just really makes me doubt how they're going to redeem her. Additionally, the author makes it very obvious who the OTP is from the beginning, yet it is SUCH a slow burn, I wouldn't even count it as a simmer. I get that people pop out of the woodwork and sometimes youre surprised but just Bella's obliviousness drives me nuts.

Bella is looking for her prince charming and improve her life. Her dates are all hilariouly horrible. She does have a terrific group of friends and great family. The story is filled with LOL scenarios and great lines. A great fun read.

Thanks to the publisher for the arc.

Not That Kind Of Ever After is an entertaining contemporary romance by Luci Adams. Ms. Adams has provided readers with a well-written book with lots of fun characters. Bella works as a receptionist but has dreams of being an author. This story was humorous but I think it was a bit angsty and repetitious. Bella's actions are a little juvenile for an adult and come to think of it, self-centered and spoiled. Will Bella wake up and become the adult writer she wants to be? Sorry, you have to read the book to find out. I enjoyed reading Not That Kind Of Ever After. This is a complete book, not a cliffhanger.

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

This is almost a coming of age book, but later. Main character Bella is confronted by her lack of relationship when her best friend moves out and gets engaged to her boyfriend- that Bella is mostly jealous of.
Tiring from lame date after online date, and struggling to break out as a writer, Bella impulsively decides to write a story about her dates gone wrong, with a fairytale spin.
As it begins to gain more and more attention, Bella starts looking for dates to go wrong so she will have content for her online novel. Along the way, the people closest to her worry that Bella is taking things too far and not being herself. She’s not a serial dater, but a romantic at heart!
While she’s kissing a bunch of Frogs she almost misses the prince right in front of her.
This story was a cute idea- Bella’s
Adventure was bit like a train wreck. Hard to look away, but just so wrong for her. In the end she was able to find her own happily ever after- with someone I was rooting for all along.
Overall it was a cute, sloppy mess of a love story. I liked it.

I think if I would have went into this book blind I might have enjoyed this a little more, but having had read the blurb it basically had everything in it. This one didn’t grab my attention, I never cared about the characters and what happened with them made it hard to get through. But I do think it has the potential to be a good book.. just not my cup of tea!

Not That Kind of Ever After by Luci Adams is one of the best Rom-Com debuts I've had the pleasure of reading. Adams is going to be a force to be reckoned with in the writing world!
Her debut was remarkable and us readers have a lot to look forward to!
That excites the hell outta me!

NTKoEA was addictive, adorable, funny, and swoon-worthy. I loved every single page.
Adorable characters with relatable flaws, witty banter, romantic angst, and full-on LOL moments.
I fell in love with these characters immediately. Bella posessed characteristics that I could identify with. The book itself was written so well.
I love when I wake up wanting to read and stay up late reading.... This book did that!
I can't wait to see what Adams creates next!

"I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own."

St. Martin's Griffin,
Thank You for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this eARC!

I had a had time reading this one. It didn’t venture far from the blurb and the characters just didn’t jump off the page. I was hoping for more from the characters and the story and it just missed the mark for me.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this eArc for my honest review.

This story has a good concept. I feel like some of the characters could have been developed a little more. Bella is not someone that I found easy to like, but there were times when I found myself liking her..

The main character is Bella. She has been friends with Ellie and Marty since they were kids. Bella finds herself going through a midlife crisis when Ellie gets engaged. She wonders what she's doing with her life and desperately looks for her own true love.

I also wasn't a fan of how quickly Bella found her HEA (Happy Ever After)., I felt like the author got close to her deadline and had to finish quickly so the last two chapters were rushed. They didn't feel like they naturally fit.

Overall this book was a fun read. I will definitely recommend this book to friends that like rom-coms.

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martins press for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Well, I loved this book! I despised Bella at first, but I think she was written so over the top selfish it set up for a serious character arc and a good, satisfying ending. The stories were very entertaining - though if your looking for smut, you won’t find it here. It’s a book featuring sexcapades, but no play by play. Highly recommend checking this one out when it comes out spring 2023!