Bella’s life is not what she expected and certainly not a fairly tale - she isn’t an author, her best friend Ellie is moving out to get married, her parents are divorcing. Taking her friend’s Marty’s advice to stop looking for the one and just have fun, she writes a fairy-tale version of her disastrous one-night stand.

This was fun - slightly absurd - but fun. The main character wasn’t my favorite - she wasn’t exactly likeable. The fairytale dates were cringy at times! I’d recommend the audiobook.

I did not enjoy this book for the most part. I honestly found the protagonist unlikeable. However, I did like the ultimate love interest (although I wished the FMC realized he was a love interest sooner than she did lol) and I did enjoy the relationship between FMC and her best friend. Overall, this book was not for me but that doesn’t mean it won’t be for someone else!

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for my digital ARC

I wanted to like this book but the author seemed to be trying too hard to be like Bridget Jones’ Diary or the Shopaholic series. And unfortunately the main character of Bella was just too unlikeable to pull that off.

I love these cute romantic books. I am not as into as I have been lately so this review is late.

I love the idea of not looking for “the one” and instead living for yourself. And I’m glad this book was written about that!

DNF at 40% unfortunately. I could not get into the book because I did not relate to or enjoy the main character. I may just not be the target audience or age for this but I found her very difficult to understand and root for.

The premise of the book was great, but the main character was slightly insufferable and made it not as fun of a read. I was disappointed, but still finished.

This was an interesting contemporary romance, that I would recommend try to those who are curious about it!

I received an e-ARC from the publisher.

I love when the main character is writing a book. I think it give me insight on the Authors process. Modern Twist on fairy tales was super fun! Would definitely recommend.

This was so well written. I was engrossed from the first page and it ticked all the boxes of my expectations. The character development was excellent. I would definitely recommend to others, a must read!

The description of this book sounded right up my alley. I love fairy tales, love when someone wants to find love so badly and the 'one' for her seems to be the complete opposite of what she thought she wanted the entire time.

There were things about this book I enjoyed. Bella and Marty had such fun banter and I loved the witty dialog. It was hard to like Bella in the beginning, she seemed so young and immature BUT I think that was the entire point. You were supposed to see her grow and mature throughout the book. Even though Bella wasn't necessarily a likeable main character at times, it was a cute story that made me laugh several times as I was reading. I would recommend as a nice, easy pallet cleaner read. 3.5 stars

Not That Kind of Ever After by Luci Adams was a fun twist on the fairytale retelling that has been going around a lot lately. The book is funny and sweet, but our main character seems to cause all her own problems. Our MC is in her late twenties working a receptionist job while aspiring to be a novelist. She also yearns for her own fairytale love story. As she dates, she starts writing and posting about the situations through a kind of fairytale lens on an online forum. As her popularity grows, the MC changes, and acts differently towards those in her real life.

The twist on fairytales was fun but also felt repetitive at times and it was hard to empathize with an MC that caused her own trouble. I still think the writing was done well and the premise is super fun and cute!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my ARC!

Bella is stuck in her life, while she's searching for Prince Charming, she keeps getting a lot of duds. With this inspiration, she begins to write chapters out portraying her dates. In the meantime, she's also navigating family and friends around her moving on to their next chapters in life. At first, I wasn't finding Bella likeable, but as the story continued on, I started to see her in a different light and started to root for her to get her happy ever after and her personal growth. There were antics in this story that had me giggling at times. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an advanced copy! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Bella Adam’s loves romcoms and wants a fairytale romance. She wants to be swept off her feet by a Disney-esque prince. She turns to online dating to help her in your journey.

“If I’m in the wrong fairytale, then I’m turning it to the right one. I don’t want to be the ugly stepsister. I don’t want to be little red riding hood. I want to be cinder-fucking-rella. And to do that I need to re-write my story. So, here’s my glass slipper. The time is almost midnight. With any luck my own Prince Charming will find it and bring it straight back to me… or at the very least call 📱 “

Title: Not that Kind of Ever After
Author: Luci Adams
Release Date: March 14th, 2023
Page Count: 284
Format: Audiobook and Netgalley
Start Date: March 18th, 2023
Finish Date: March 20th, 2023

Rating: 5 Stars

Review:

There are so many layers in this story. Luckily, the layers won't make the reader cry. She gets sick of trying to find her ever after, so she writes fairytale blog retellings of some of her casual encounters. She wasn't expecting the blogs to take off like they did. Nobody knows it's her that's writing them. I don't feel comfortable continuing to explain the book. I'd wind up explaining the entire book. I would love to find others to talk about this book with. I really loved the creativity behind it all. I'll would love to reread it again one day. Also, isn't this an adorable cover? Hopefully the future covers will be just as adorable.

I don’t think this book was a good fit for me. I enjoyed the beginning of the book, but then it became very repetitive. I tried to get into it, but I ended up DNF it. I know others loved it! I recommend checking their thoughts on it.

This book started with a bang – the opening sentence made me laugh out loud, and I actually took a photo of it and sent it to my girlfriends! Unfortunately, the rest was pretty hit or miss. Bella is a receptionist at a publishing company who desperately wants to be a writer; she signs up for a website that allows aspiring authors to get feedback on their work in progress, and starts posting stories of her dating escapades, all styled after fairytales. I found that plotline really interesting; what I hated was Bella’s immaturity and desperation, which permeates the whole book. She’s creepily obsessed with her best friend; she sleeps around for validation; and she won’t take responsibility for anything and takes everything (like her parents’ divorce) as a personal affront. The writing is absolutely stellar and full of great gems, but Bella is so immature and frustrating that it was hard to really embrace the plot. I am not a fan of hot mess main characters, so this plot just wasn’t really for me.

I'm not sure what it is about this book, but I had a really hard time getting into it. The writing is good, but I honestly don't think I connected to the characters the way I had hope to. Thank you so much for letting me read it early! I will be checking out Luci's other books in the future!

A different kind of romcom. Main Character Bella wants her happily ever after, but of course she doesn’t find the kind with Prince Charming. This book was not what I expected, but it was a fun read.

This book wasn't my favorite. I don't feel like much actually happened in this book. The blurb explains everything that happened in the story. There was no reason this book needed to be so long! The character felt flat and I didn't really feel connected to any of them.

DNF CH 57. It’s becoming repetitive and I don’t feel like picking it up any more. The beginning had me laughing out loud but it feels long for what it is.