What a cute romance in which she thinks that she is fairy tales and experiences them with many one night stands. I enjoyed this romance and how she found love with someone she knew already. I loved the friendships and her figuring life out. I enjoyed that she told Henry off and made her own stories .

I voluntarily read and reviewed a copy of this book, provided by Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I wanted to like this book. But I was honestly disappointed. The MC was shallow and only thought of herself. And she lived in a bubble. I couldn't identify with her, and I found her quite unlikable. Is it horrible of me to say I really didn't want her to get an HEA? I found her insufferable throughout the whole book, and the humor was too dry for me. Marty. I did like Marty. A lot. He was sweet and funny and real. And he was too good for her. The flow of the book was sort of disjointed, too. I dunno. I just wasn't feeling it. I gave 2 stars because the writing was actually good.

Overall I really enjoyed this book. Unfortunately I wasn’t the biggest fan of the main character Bella. However I did appreciate the redemption arc at the end, it was nice to see the growth of the character. All in all I recommended this book, it was a fun and easy read. Thank you Netgally for the opportunity to read this ARC.

I really enjoyed this book! I thought Ellie was the ultimate best friend. I loved how much she supported Bella. I had my fingers crossed for the final match. Great read! Will recommend to my friends!

This was fine but I didn’t love the humor in this one. I can remember feeling like the character so some readers may really connect with that! Super cute cover!

Not That Kind of Ever After by Luci Adams
What a cute book! Main character Bella was funny and witty. Many parts of the book had me literally laughing out loud. I would consider this a textbook rom-com. Overall I found this book to be humorous, engaging, and an enjoyable light read.
Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

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

I have read every rom-com available and I was feeling a bit bored as most have the same very pretty predictable storylines but for my first NetGalley ARC I got lucky receiving a story that was fresh, funny, and kept me interested from beginning to end. It is also not lost on me that by chance my first review for a NetGalley book is for a story about a girl placing her story out into the world for others to read and review!

I really enjoyed Bella’s dialogue which is what pulled me in first and foremost. She was funny, witty, quick, messy but lovable even when she was creating a lot of chaos in her life. The author still found a way to make me root for her success in life and love. I also appreciated that as soon as I felt the main character was bordering a little bit too selfish and messy the author pulled her in at exactly the right time realizing she needed to right her wrongs with everyone she loved.

The supporting characters were so much fun and gave the story all of the fairytale twists and turns.This is what made the story so unique from others! The Seven Smurf’s made me laugh the most for sure. The friendship between Bella and Marty was my favourite though. The dialogue between them made me crack up and you could feel the deep bond from when they were kids. And of course the Ellie and Bella’s friendship. So close to real life when friends start to move on and all the growing pains that come with it.

The love story made my heart happy in the end. You don’t have to always look to far to find love and your best girl-friends will always be your soulmates.

I recommend reading this story if you are bored with the typical rom com tropes and you want an easy, fun read!

This was the first book in a long time that I literally could not put down once I started! Bella is SO relatable, love-able , and a little loathe-able at times. Even when she’s spiraling, I found myself rooting for her. There were a couple unexpected twists and I truly didn’t know where she was going to end up through this adventure. Highly recommend for some great laughs, feel-good moments, and modern fairy tales at their finest!

“Not That Kind of Ever After” is the debut novel of Luci Adams. This book is one that has its moments, but those moments aren’t always next to each other. Our heroine, Bella, has a lot going on seemingly all at once. Between her modern dating life issues, her roommates, her best friend, her parents, her work life, and her hoped for side gig at times it felt like there was too much. I did like the nod to modern dating issues - who is that person behind the avatar and why is there a double-standard for males vs females re dating? I also liked the inclusion of the chapter site, though I had some questions about that too. Anyway, I can see a number of people really enjoying this book (it’s got some great one-liners) and I can see others not being as enchanted. I did feel at times that Bella was a bit too much “me centered,” especially for someone nearly 30, but the lightbulb moment at the end helped redeem both her and the book for me. I am glad that I read the book, but I wished that I liked it more than I actually did. This book did hold my interest and was a quick-isa read. For a debut novel, I think this was a great idea but I think with some better editing, it could be a much tighter and stronger novel.

I really struggled liking the main character, Bella. I couldn't relate to her. She was horrible to everyone in her life. Her wake-up call at the end came so late it didn't do much to make me like her.

“Not that Kind of Ever After “

I really enjoyed this book. I was pulled in from the start and found the main characters to be a bit ridiculous in her view of dating but as the story went on I enjoyed the growth she goes through. I appreciate the references to modern day difficulties with online dating - it made the whole thing more like a realistic rom-com than others that I’ve read in which the main character plays a more passive role in getting what she wants. Overall I found this book to be humorous, engaging and an enjoyable light read.

This was a cute romcom, that other from all your classic fairytale tropes. Although it did feel a bit predictable at times, I did enjoy it for the most part. I would recommend this if you're looking for a feel-good romance that's a nice and easy read.

Thank you to the publisher for kindly providing me with an ARC via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

I found myself disappointed in, and disgusted with, this book.

The writing itself isn’t bad, but the flow is uneven (suddenly many things happen at once, then things are dragged out over many chapters), the structure is irritating (WHY are there SO MANY chapters!?), and the book is much, much longer than it needs to be.

Our protagonist, Isabella “Bella” Marble, is not a likable or relatable character for me - or anyone I know. Her delusional, narcissistic, self-destructive actions truly turned my stomach as the book progresses. She is so caught up in her own wants and perceived needs that she fails to take anyone around her into account.

I decided to give this book two stars instead of one, only because she does (thankfully) finally get a wake-up call, but damn, that really felt like too little too late. The only reason I didn’t DNF this book was mostly because my need for continuity wanted to see how the train wreck Bella had made of her life would right itself. Meh.

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

Not That Kind of Ever After by Luci Hart, published by St. Martin's Press, is a witty and fun read. The story of a woman, spunky, witty, fun, flirty, sometimes a bit whiney, and foremost single with great friends.
Bella Marble, writer, doglover, broke and romantic at heart is looking for prince charming, but til today there were frogs only in her dating life. But who needs lover when he has great friends, family.
An entertaining read that kept me intrigued from start til the last page.

Thank you to Net Galley for allowing me to read this book. I enjoyed Bella and her misadventures in looking for her modern day Prince Charming. There were plenty of plot twists, like any good fairy tale, and just when I thought Bella had figured it out, surprise she hadn't. I should have realized that was going to happen one more time. I do appreciate a happy ending where the loose ends are tied up however the ending was a little fast for me with not quite enough detail. Overall, I enjoyed reading this book.

At first the premise of the book really called my attention. I mean, the single lady looking for a prince charming? sure.

This story is more about a lost woman who’s going through A LOT. Between a friendship break up and an ongoing kinda struggling career, and not having ANY idea what she wants, she’s got it tough. Add the desperate dating into the mix and it creates chaos.

I’m bummed I didn’t love this like I wanted to but I’m thankful to have received this review copy!

This was a good read! And a pretty good debut novel. It has a strong opening scene that will hook readers into the story, as well as spotlight the tone and humor for the rest of the book. Similar to other reviewers, it was hard to be on Bella’s side a lot of the time because she is very in her own head and is sort of self-destructive. I wouldn’t say it is completely justified, however, I can understand why she is this way; her life isn’t panning out how she anticipated, and she’s trying to salvage it and play catch up. People around her are getting into relationships, she isn’t working the job she wants, and it’s getting to her that she isn’t in those same places in life. In a way, I think this helps to make her realistic, and even somewhat relatable.

I like the modernized fairytale retelling aspect, and I think this book will be a good fit for readers who enjoy witty writing and a commentary on relationships and the modern dating scene.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the chance to review this eARC! (:

I loved this book! It was a little predictable but I still enjoyed reading it so much. If you like cute romance give this one a try!

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

Overview | 5.5/10 ⭐️ Bella is a young single woman struggling with the search for Prince Charming in the big bad wolves of London.
Tropes | Best Friend's Brother, Dating App Games, Fairy Tale Retelling
POV | First Person/Present Tense, single narrator
Heat Level | ❄️ Brrr, Chilly. Somewhat spicy talk, but off-page/at a distance sex
Upshot | Chock full of witty one-liners and relatable singleton frustrations.

Not That Kind of Ever After starts with a bang, literally. We meet our heroine, Bella, mid-disappointing hookup with the hairiest man in London. The laugh and cringe humor sets the tone for what is sometimes a delightful, laugh-filled romp through the horrors of modern dating.

The story is told entirely from Bella's perspective, which proves a difficult stylistic choice. First-person POV, present-tense narration feels like being trapped in an elevator with a person who speaks out loud their entire inner monologue. Bella is a take-in-small-doses gal. This creates a struggle to feel empathetic toward an often unlikeable character. In less close quarters, and not being privy to every thought in her head, she would become vastly more sympathetic.

Bella doesn't know what she wants and therefore we, as readers, don't know what we want for her either. She makes decisions for herself and others that are questionable, harmful, and occasionally selfish and cruel while justifying her own stunning lack of self-awareness. Her behavior is rewarded in the end and makes it more frustrating, as we don't see that Bella learned much of anything. Her change and growth seems superficial.

The love story with Marty, what we come looking for in a romantic comedy, felt like the D-story here. The A-Story was Bella's relationship with her own ego. The B-Story was her best-friend break-up with Ellie. The C-Story was Bella's professional growth as a writer. Then we finally get near to the Marty connection, but even that is mostly buried behind her parent's divorce and hookup planning. In the only scenes where we see Marty and Bella relate to each other in a personal way, she is cruel to him for no compelling reason.

Still, there are the bones here of a fun novel. There are downright hysterical one-liners that humanize Bella is such a cute and quirky way. The book is too long for the genre and with the claustrophobic POV feels like we were drug through a bunch of action scenes that didn't matter at all to Bella's inner progress. But if that were tightened down and we had space from her inner monologue, the scenes can be quick hit adventures. Lastly, if the A-Story is finding her great love, then we want Marty’s part of the journey the whole time – not just when Bella remembers he exists. Give us that, and I’d be on board to read another book by this author.

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Thank you to NetGalley and St. Marten's Press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I love a good romance, especially one that somehow wraps itself around fairy tales. And, this one is just that.

It starts off with the very first sentence to be rather....raunchy. Maybe some people find that as a hook to keep reading, but for me, it was a bit of a turnoff. I wasn't sure I wanted to continue reading if it started out like that. But, on the other hand, I thought that might indicate some hot and steamy scenes.

Unfortunately, there was no much in the hot and steamy aspect. It was, however, a really cute story where she had some tame one-night stands that were twisted into fairy tales. I did thoroughly enjoy reading it!

Though...I really love a romance novel with an epilogue. I don't care about a last scene with the best friend getting married. I want to know if our heroine finds lasting true fairy tale love, so I was rather disappointed there was not much to the ending.