I do love a slow burn, but this one was just a bit too slow and just lost me at some points.

Marty and Ellie are siblings and her best friends and there are lots of stories of Bella working through changing relationships.

Bella works her way through “fairytale” relationships (aka one night stands) but there are times when her character was a bit whiny, and desperate when trying to come across as empowered.

It just didn’t live up to the hype for me.

Overall there were a lot of things I enjoyed about this book but it was kind of a mixed bag of a read. Bella and Ellie’s friendship was really sweet, though not without issue. Bella’s whole problem with Mark felt kind of forced but I did like how it was resolved. The chemistry between Bella and Marty definitely felt the most natural and I really enjoyed their arc through the story. There are some really poignant moments where Bella and her experiences are really, deeply relatable. But also a lot of moments where I wanted to be like….girl, really? Really?! In the end she did mostly show character growth and tried to make up for some of her not so great choices, so I appreciated that and it left me feeling satisfied. The narration was GREAT, the narrator captured Bella perfectly so it was really enjoyable to listen to!

This was an anticipated read for me - it sounded really cute! But as I read on, it felt a little vain, and the characters all seemed full of themselves. I mean, the MC didn't even bat an eye when she betrayed the trust of multiple people.

Listen if you like:
🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Narrators with British Accents
🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Books Set in England
😆 Funny, Laugh out Loud Moments
❤️ Romances

This one was definitely interesting and different than other romances I’ve read lately. It’s full of self-created drama from the FMC making bad choices all while seeking her HEA and getting closer to her dream of being a published author.

If you like quirky romances that are full of missteps, make sure to check this one out as it will have you laughing out loud as the blunders the MC finds herself in throughout the book.

Thank you to the publisher for my ALC in exchange for my review!

*This audiobook was a fun listen. It was light-hearted and it felt very easy to invest in the characters.
*I really appreciated the sex-positive, free-spirited nature of Bella. The situations she found herself in for the sake of another chapter in her book were unexpected and hilarious.
*However, her selfishness and jealous, childish behavior throughout most of the book made it, at times, hard to root for her.
*I really enjoyed the relationship dynamics between Bella and Marty. The banter in this book was spot on and had me literally laughing out loud at times.
*The ending was very sweet, and it felt like it wrapped itself up very nicely.

I enjoyed this and would love to read more books by Luci Adams in the future.

loved being able to listen to this book. was hooked and total fan of it. I found me a new author to read and listen too.

Not That Kind of Ever After by [author:Luci Adams|21833590] came out on February 16th and is a debut you need to snatch up!
Bella is, likely, the definition of quirky in a character. I would suggest this romcom for people who like to laugh, enjoy fairytale retellings, or related to Bridget Jones' Diary on any level.
Much love to NetGalley & MacMillan Audio for my DRC.

Fav quote:
A woman, perhaps half my age, who apparently has the correct qualifications needed to boss me around and make me want to cry constantly.

The synopsis pretty much sums up the book. I loved the connections of characters to various fairy tales. The main character is well developed and her adventures had me laughing.

Thanks NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for this ALC.

2.5/5 rounded up

The best thing about this book was the narrator. She did a really good job of capturing Bella's whiny voice and making it not incredibly grating, so Josie Charles deserves a raise lol. However her fantastic narration didn't save me from speeding it up to 2.5 speed so I could finish it. Anything slower than that was WAY TOO SLOW.

This book sounded good, but man was Bella ever a spoiled selfish 29 year old child. I'm glad she came to the realization in the end (like very end) of how self absorbed, selfish, and entitled she is, and how much she uses people without thinking about it, but it took way too long for me to give this any higher of a rating. I absolutely would have DNF'd it about 15% of the way in if I was reading a physical book.

The entire time, I just wanted Bella's to admit she's in romantic love with her BFF (because she clearly is and is so possessive of her it's weird if she isn't in love with her) but she settles for the next best thing I guess - her twin brother.

I feel like this book would appeal best to young Disney adults - the ones who make Disney movies their entire personality - bc that's basically who Bella was.

I didn't hate this book, I don't exactly regret reading it, but I do wish I had put it off longer lolololol.

Some reviews are not so favorable, but most were DNF/Did Not Finish. I can see where (at 10 1/2 hours) they may not have had the patience to see Bella grow and mature. I did like the last half of the book more than the first half.

The main character Bella takes someone's advice to have fun, but her interpretation is to have a string of one night stands. That really isn't the type of romance that I like, but if you like open door situations, this book is for you.

I did feel sorry for just about all of Bella's associated cast of characters.

I'm probably rounding up from 3 1/2 ish stars to 4 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to review Not That Kind of Ever After in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to the author Luci Adams, the narrator Josie Charles did a great job, and publisher Macmillan Audio.

Not that kind of ever after by Luci Adams publishes march 2023. I really did not like this book. Bella was so desperate to get married. She would settle for any man. Her best friend was getting married and she was jealous. This was just a sad book for me

Bella isn’t where she thought she’d be in life. She thought by now she would be a successful author and happily married. Instead shes a receptionist and single. Bella sets off to find her fairy tale ending, while juggling her best friend’s wedding. Will Bella find her happily ever after?

This was an easy book to listen too. The narrator was great and perfectly captured Bella and the other characters.

I did find Bella’s character rather grating and annoying. She fell flat for me and seemed one dimensional. I felt all she wanted out of life was to be in a relationship, and for me that was something I struggled wrapping my head around. She gets to the point that she is just obsessed with finding love and all her time and effort is devoted to it. The references to Disney characters was cute and gave some humor to the story.

Check out this lighthearted romance March 14th.


Thank you to the publisher MacMillian Audio, @Macmillianaudio, St Martin’s Press, @stmartinspress, St Martin’s Romance, @SMPRomance, and Netgalley @netgalley for this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I was sold by the tagline for this one: "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…"

After all, I've got years of online dating experience under my belt, and for as many contemporary romances as I've read, I've yet to read more than a few featuring dating apps. Not That Kind of Ever After sort of does (a weird-sounding app called Mirror Mirror), but the main focus is on Bella turning her romantic and sexual interactions into fodder for her writing. For much of the book, she is self-centered and selfish, which was hard to watch. The multiple Harry Potter references added to the feeling that the main character was in her early 20s, when in actuality she's 29.

I think the book would have been stronger had it been tightened, and if Bella's chapters for B-Reader were interspersed throughout -- i.e., keep the book a similar length, but cut some of the repetition and unneeded inner monologuing, and add the writing she's posting online.

Overall, I'm not sure I'd characterize this one as a romance novel, given the focus on Bella's personal story/potential growth. I'd recommend it most to those looking for a coming-of-age story about a character who can act foolish at times. Because of that, it wasn't a great fit for me personally -- but Josie Charles's narration kept me reading. Her accent also placed the book in London for me.

Our main character, Bella, is a bit of an idiotic. She’s so caught up in finding her fairy tale ending she’s giving guys who clearly are no prince a shot.

However her bad luck with love translates into a great story she begins to write on a fanfic-esque site where she spins her bad dates into hilarious takes on fairy tales.

End the end she realizes the fairy tale right in front of her, but it’s not the romance you’d expect.

I loved this book. It’s funny, sweet, and just different enough to not be trite.

Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to listen to this book but I think this is not my kind of book, or not enough happening to make me feel interested. I made it through, but I did want to DNF after the desperation chapter about Charles Wolfe and Bella, wanting him to be her Prince Charming. I feel like this could have been cut in half and it would have made it a better read. Parts drug in for me and the ending wasn’t anything spectacular. I may just not be the target audience for this book.

Bella thought by now she would be a married author, but she is a single receptionist, her parents are divorcing and her BFF, Ellie, is getting married to Mark (who definitely doesn't deserve her). When Ellie's brother, Marty, suggests for her to just have fun, she rediscovers herself and becomes viral after posting a fairytale retelling of a disastrous date on a storytelling app. The pressure is high for her to dig up some more horror date stories to tell...
This is a nice and easy read, funny at times, but I did not vibe with it. I didn't like Bella, she was annoying and let her life lead her instead of taking control. It was redundant at other times, there was no tension or chemistry, and the ending felt rushed. The narration was great.
I received an advance review copy for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Bella thought that by now she would be a published author and married, but instead she is single and still a receptionist at a small publishing company. Her best friend and roommate, Ellie is moving out and gets engaged to her boyfriend that Bella does not exactly like and Bella just feels left behind. When Marty, Ellie's brother, encourages Bella to just have fun and not focus on finding her prince charming, she decides to start having lots of one night stands and writing a chapter on each hookup as if they were fairy-tale characters. She goes viral online which fuels her to write more and more but the more she goes on, she starts to feel pressured.

I thought this was a cute story, but somewhat unrealistic. Basing the characters off of disney character was cute and I love how Marty supported Bella before, during, and after the hookups. Even though it was cute, it just wan't my favorite.

Thank you to Net Galley for the advance audio copy of this book. This is a very charming audio book that combines entertainment and humor to strike just the right note. The main character is waiting for her prince charming, and somewhat distraught that her best friend just got engaged and her parents are divorcing. She embarks on a "blog-like" experiment of some questionable romantic escapades. A perfect listen for exercising and doing housework!

Entertaining, light, and a bit funny. I enjoy a good romcom that I can listen to without having to think too much. I recommend for anyone looking for a feel good book.

Not That Kind of Ever After follows Bella Marble, who is in her late 20s and at a crossroads in her own life. There are multiple storylines that take place throughout the story surrounding Bella and I can see her character being dividing among readers. The love interest is introduced early on as the brother of her best friend but is forgotten for a time as Bella deals with everything else in her life. Going into this novel, I thought the love interest would play a larger role to make this fall under the romance genre I thought it would be instead, this novel read more like a women’s fiction novel where Bella is learning to grow and put her life back together.

Bella and Ellie are great friends, so it was understandable when Ellie “leaves” Bella to be with her fiancé Mark and Bella is having trouble adjusting. However, the part that turned me off a lot was the way Bella seemed to constantly put Ellie on a pedestal. A lot of the story revolved around Bella “losing” Ellie, even though they continued to be friends and spend time together. She also disliked Mark before the book even began, but I could never figure out why she hated him aside from him being with Ellie. Luckily, this is dealt with a little throughout the story, but I feel it needed a bit more to feel complete. As Marty, the love interest, is Ellie’s brother, I really had a difficult time that this romance could be possible without more involvement from Ellie. Considering how much Bella loved Ellie, it seemed odd that Ellie was not part of this romantic journey in some way.

At the beginning of the story, readers find Bella working as a receptionist at a publishing house with dreams of being an author. She has dreamed of this for years but does not do a lot about making this a reality, which seemed odd to me. While at work she learns of a site called B-reader (like Wattpad), where aspiring writers post their own stories. As Bella goes on some interesting dates to find Mr. Right, she uses these experiences to create stories. This part of the story changed her a lot as a person where it seemed she spiraled a lot.

With the romance and writing parts of the story tying together with Bella including her experiences to write new stories, it was nice to see the story come together a little. I am not sure, though, why the author chose to have so much in this novel as it all seems unfinished. As a character, Bella was not likable, and it is surprising that so many people stuck with her either in her professional or personal lives. Overall, unfortunately this would most likely have been a DNF if I was reading the printed version. Instead, the audiobook and its narrator kept me engaged enough to finish the story. I think every reader should try this novel for themselves, but, for me, this is not one I would re-read again.

**I give a special thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for the opportunity to read this enjoyable novel. The opinions expressed are completely my own.**