Thank you Luci Adams, St. Martins Press and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review. Not That Kind of Ever After comes out March 14, 2023.

I was really excited about the premise of this novel and thought that I would relate to the FMC, Bella. Basically Bella is a woman who gets broken up with even though she thought she was going to have her dream wedding and also hates her job as a receptionist when all she wanted to do was write. While on the dating scene she decides to turn the not so great dates into fairy tales on a story telling app, her stories become very popular. In her quest for fairytales will she lose sight of the reality that is right in front of her.

Like I said I was very excited for this book. and I think in a female journey/ learning about yourself this book was good. I think for me it was hard to watch the fallout of Bella's actions, even though I don't think she should have gotten as much grief as she did. I also think that as a romance novel it fell kind of flat for me, I just wish we could have gone a bit more into hers and Marty's relationship. Overall I think this book would be appealing to women looking for more of a women's fiction with not a big of emphasis as the romance that does happen I the book. I would be interested to see what the author does in the future.

Quick read for this girl, homesick for England. Bella works her way through personal and private emotions while she juggles a boring day job - very much like any of us would, but with fairy tales embedded in it.

NetGalley ARC - not a book I’ll be singing to the heavens for, but one who got me out of a massive funk. I needed a quick chick lit rom com friends to lovers book and this did the job perfectly!

While I think the premise had more promise than is realized, it's a genuinely good debut. I'm a sucker for modernized fairy tales, and this starts out with a bang, tackling Little Red Riding Hood with comedic gusto. The subsequent one night stands/scary tales weren't as strong, but I really liked that the author takes a sort of meta approach, with her protagonist recognizing that her concept and initial writing was a hard act to follow. As the book grapples with where to go next, so too does Bella, as she struggles to figure out how to weave her plot all the way through her series of short-term romances. As a writer, the process explored-- including mining one's own life, using friends and family for inspiration, and the temptation to engineer experiences in order to write about them-- all really resonated with me.
Where the book really hits a snag for me is in its ending, as Bella comes to term with her selfishness and seeks to rectify her 'wrongdoing'. Maybe I'm a horrible person (I am), but I didn't think Bella did anything so awful she needed to spend a third of the book atoning for her sins. It felt like it was purely for the plot, or else a preemptive defense against those woke warriors who'd otherwise lambast a single, white, moderately affluent female. Why can't we accept that we're all a little messy and flawed, without having to throw ourselves on a pyre?


PS: Dear Luci Adams-- keep going, looking forward to reading the next one!
Had to put that out there, since this is getting surprisingly low user reviews, and I wouldn't want a budding author of Adams's caliber to be put off by that negativity.

This is the kind of book you come across and immediately want to read everything that the author has penned. So fun and witty! Bella is great lead character and her story is so entertaining. Love the bit about her parents and how they maintain a deep friendship. If only all divorces could be that great.

Bella is another aging woman who has had issues in her love life, having endured a gamut of disappointments not only in her relationships but in her career as well, to the extent that she transmutes her life into a fairytale. Her risky, questionable behaviors were cringeworthy and made her less likable until the big fallout when her emotional upheavals became palpable and painful to witness. The secondary characters were too many to keep ordered and, with the exception of her best friend ,did not really enhance the story. Couldn't find anything hilarious in this book and by the end couldn't care whether she got her happy ending , especially finding out who she ended up partnering with. Now, after saying all this ,I would read this author again as it was the essence of the story I disliked, not the writing.

I was really excited about Luci Adam's "Not That Kind of Ever After" from the cover and the description, but, I had the HARDEST time getting into this book. When I first read the description, I thought "Wow, I have a lot in common with the main character," and it never really cliqued for me.

For me, I LOVE getting into the depths of characters, deep diving on why they feel a certain way and what makes them feel why they did. This fell really flat for me and I'm really sad that it didn't expand. This had a ton of potential but really did not fit where I wanted it to be.

I usually LOVE Fairy Tale Retellings, but this one was just not for me.

This books was pretty funny and I loved the main character and her quest to find that “happily ever after” I was cheering her own to find her “Prince Charming” and loved the end and how it closed everything. This books covers so many topics we tend to face everyday from rejection to gaining confidence and even family and friend issues. It does help us learn if we stay true to ourselves we are able to make it out and be okay.

ARC kindly provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

2.5 Stars Not That Kind of Ever After by Lucie Adams is a cute and sometimes magical story about a woman who dreams of fairytale endings, but whose life isn’t so magical. The story was a slow-paced at times and I didn’t like that Bella didn’t explore her relationship with the main love interest until well into the story. Because it took so long to get there, we didn’t really get to know his character as well as I would’ve liked. A whimsical, easy read.

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.