Really cute story. I absolutely loved it. It was light-hearted and just made me feel good while reading it.

I enjoyed this. I really loved that all of our heroes were in their 30's. It was really nice to read about them repairing their friendships over the course of a second great quest. All of the different characters played a role and I loved all of their perspectives individually. Where this flounders just a bit is in the world building for me. I didn't feel completely immersed in it and wished that the fantasy elements were expanded on.

Overall, I enjoyed this and it was fun read.

Thank you to Netgalley, Avon and Harper Voyager|Avon for the e-arc of this book!

A clever tale, This Will Be Fun follows three heroes a decade after they've saved their magical realm—but in the process, lost the glue that held them together. The story finds them each in the midst of personal unhappiness: Beatrice has just gotten divorced and is now destitute, Elowen is grappling with loneliness, and Clare is trying his hardest to fill the hole the death of their friend Galwell left. But when the queen summons them to her wedding, each decides that they should go—only to discover upon their arrival that the groom has been kidnapped and the queen needs them to once again be the heroes of the realm.

The story is full of banter and hijinks as the heroes (mostly) put aside their grievances to come together once again, and though nothing in the plot will necessarily surprise you, it's still a fun and entertaining time. I particularly enjoyed Beatrice—who has the "power" of being able to recall memories in vivid detail—and her journey both to find personal happiness and forgiveness, and was thrilled with the way the trio of authors here worked together to create a fantastical and sweet happily ever after for everyone.

So when you're in the mood for a cozy little adventure that's pretty low stakes, give This Will Be Fun a go!

I am not a fantasy girly but when my fav authors under a pen name write a book compared to shrek, I’m game.

Unfortunately while I can understand what they were going for; this book felt so disorganized and hard to follow. It was a medieval esque story with a lot of modern day terminology. I was totally indifferent to the characters and overall felt like I just didn’t care what happened in the story.

I think lots will like this but not me

I’ve been stalling on posting this review. I read this before it came out back in October, but I just had to force myself to finish it. I wanted to love this. I love the Princess Bride. Like, wore the VHS tape out loved it. I was so excited for this book!

And…it’s nothing like the Princess Bride. Where did that description even come from?

There’s a lot to be said about how this book starts. It’s a fantastic idea, and seriously it’s a great point. What does happen after “The End,” so to speak. This book starts the night before a Big Battle. Think Avengers ending battle, think Troy, think of whatever epic battle you want to. But, what happens to everyone after? And more importantly, what happens to the warriors after a huge battle that’s been won and brings peace to the nations? Seriously, that’s a great idea! The very beginning is right before the Big Battle, and we get tiny snippets of the heroes through the perspective of one man, one major hero. This is not much. It’s tidbits. I think it’s supposed to be unbiased, but it’s just not enough.

But so little information is given out throughout, and it takes forever to get those bits, that it’s hard to get to know who the characters were. That’s important because very few of them are likeable now, ten years later, so a lot seems to be dependent upon who they were. Yet we don’t know. We get very little backstory and it’s not well-done.

So the adventure begins! And the anachronisms that bothered a lot of the reviewers didn’t actually bother me. However there’s very little world building for that sort of thing, it just is there. It exists and we suspend belief. Cool, annoying though. I didn’t even mind the magical horse drawn Uber they can call, totally fine. The magical tapestries that worked like the internet, and had fan message boards for their favorite actors, a little weird, but fine. But again, no worldbuilding. It just…was. Okay. I can work with that, I guess.

But the personalities of the characters just all kind of suck. And with 3 separate authors? It’s obvious. The book feels disjointed at times. I wonder if each author just took a couple and ran with it, rather than all of them working together. And speaking of each couple, this was very Big Misunderstanding of them.

Short version: After the battle that they did win, they were recognized as heroes. But the man from the beginning, the “best of them all,” was killed in the battle. This is part of what broke up their friendships. One of The Four died, one became a hermit, one became a celebrity and reveled in it, and one married into a bad marriage and when she left her husband, that’s where our story starts.

The Four are brought back together when the queen requests them at a ceremony. They go out of obligation, but this is where the “adventure” begins. I found them frustrating. I wanted more. I wanted them to be heroic, I wanted them to less…whiny.

I kept waiting for the fun. I kept waiting for the romance. I kept waiting for the excitement. This was not, in fact, fun.

2 stars

***ARC courtesy of Avon Books

I'm sad I didn't love this one as much as I was expecting to! This novel is a blend of cozy adventure and romance that focuses on the characters rather than the plot. The past relationships, the hurt and unresolved emotions—all make these characters feel real and makes their pain easy to emphasize with. 

I think this is a wonderful addition to the cozy fantasy genre. If you don't like modern anachronisms in your fantasy, or enjoy plot over character development, this may be a pass for you.

4 Stars

The title is perfect for this book! It was such a fun book to read. It almost felt like a book 2 in a series. I would love to read a book about their first adventure. I thought the story moved along nicely and had just the right amount of adventure and romance. Even though this was a light read it also dealt with grief and had LGBTQ representation which I loved.

Thank you to Avon and Harper Voyage and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ 3 stars

Advertised as a frolicking adventure compared to the whimsy of Legends and Lattes, Princess Bride, or Shrek I was excited to read this book. The cover instantly captured me in with the description as well. Four friends are heroes in Kingdom of Queendom.

Fast forward to 10 years later when 3 remain and they have fallen apart. Soon enough, the group begins to reunite composed of three main POVs. Beatrice, Clare, and Elowen.

Tropes and vibes:
⚔️ found family
⚔️ second chance romance
⚔️ sapphic romance
⚔️ cozy fantasy

This will be fun is a book that started with so much promise for me. The biggest problem I had with this story was the lack of plot, and the fact that we learned about the past of these characters throughout the story. I would have almost wondered if it would have been a more enjoyable book if it focused on ten years prior. The ending also made little to no sense, but we will let it slide because it was cozy fantasy. One could tell the writing style made it apparent that multiple people had worked on this story. Overall, it was a fun journey with likable characters, but there was no real driving plot for a book like this to be over 400 pages. It felt choppy at times and I got lost along the way asking … what are we doing and why— all too much.



Thank you NetGalley, Avon, and E.B. Asher for this copy of This will be fun!

Beatrice, Clare, Elowen and the late Galwell The Great have been know as the Four, heroes of the realm. But since their great victory a decade ago, the group has disbanded and relationships severed. But when Princess Thessia summons them to find her missing betrothed the three reluctantly decide to work together once again. As their journey through Mythria progresses secrets surface and relationships slowly mended. But Will Beatrice, Clare and Elowen be able to find and save Sir Hugh?

This was a fun and entertaining read! I haven’t read much medieval since my teenage years so this was a nice change of pace. Full of dynamic characters, magic and of course a quest I was thoroughly entertained!

there was a lot of modern language used that really jarred me and pulled me out of the story.

this is a book about friendships above all else, and unfortunately I just did not feel very connected to any of the main characters, so I did not become invested in their relationships with each other.

also, for a fun and cozy fantasy, it was quite sad.

I've been struggling to get through this book for a couple of months.... WHEN exactly will it be fun? I'm 55% of the way through the ARC and couldn't care less about the characters. I'm still waiting for the adventure to really kick off and the petty bickering to stop. The main quest is taking WAY too long to get going. It feels like I've started in the middle of a series because the backstory and world building context is given so slowly and so piecemeal that I just feel more and more lost.

Dear Queen whoever,
I hope your new fiancé survives whoever he's been kidnapped by., but also I know nothing about you so I really don't care. Peace out.

I am head over heels in love with every bit of this book. I’m always fascinated by what happens when the quest is over, and this story had a great way of mixing in the present plot while piecing together the past quest. All of the characters were very lovable, the world was fun and whimsical, and I could almost imagine all of the elements of this story fitting perfectly into a Dimension20 campaign. Easily one of my all time favorites.

Thank you for the ARC Avon and Harper Voyager!

I adore each of the authors that make up this pen name so I was thrilled to be able to get an ARC of This Will Be Fun! I’d been counting down the days til pub day ever since they announced they were working on it!

This was such a fun adventure with a mixed bag of friends, romance (with a bit of spice!) and fun humor. The slow burn was slow for sure but it pays off in the end 🔥 but overall this book was about friendship which was pretty special to me. If you’re looking for a cozy romantasy adventure that has a group of friends going on an adventure both physically and emotionally, then you’ll enjoy this one!

A fantastic read for the cozy fantasy genre. Its all about the slow burn and how their friendship comes together. It's not an epic fantasy and sometimes I wish there was a bit more plot advanced, but I appreciate it for what it is.

This Will Be Fun by E.B. Asher is exactly like the title - fun.
It’s a campy, quirky story that doesn’t take itself too seriously. If you read it for what it’s meant to be, you’ll be entertained, especially if you like puns. I love puns!
It’s a light-hearted tale of three friends after they save the realm, which is something we don’t see often in fantasy books. It reminded me a bit of Monty Python and that’s exactly how I read it - fully expecting it to be satire.
The pacing wasn’t great and sometimes the jokes took center stage over the three main characters. This made it difficult to connect with Beatrice, Elowen, and Clare. Which is important because it’s definitely a character-driven story that deals with trauma, grief, and heavy feelings that these friends are all struggling with.
Yes, they do grow and heal once they meet again for their second quest, but sadly it was hard for me to fully invest in them because I was distracted by all the silliness. I even had a hard time believing in one of the romances but the other relationship has a lot of heart and history.
The plot is slow and low stakes because that’s not really the main point of the story. Does anyone really care about the guy who is kidnapped by the already defeated villains? I didn’t.
This Will Be Fun, at it’s core, is a story about friendship, second chances, healing and realizing that you have the power to change your future.

Most fantasy books I have read are spent telling you about the great adventure the heroes are about to go on. The quest to save the princess, the relationships that are forged along the way. Very few talk about what happens after. The trauma, the regrets, and broken relationships that sometimes come after the day is won. This book tells that story in the form of a humorous yet cozy-feeling fantasy adventure.

Told in the POVs of the three main characters, this story felt like a warm hug to me. I fell in love with each of the characters, from moody and self-isolating Elowen to regret-filled Beatrice to overly-enthusiastic yet full of insecurities Clare. I loved watching these characters grow throughout the book. The world of Mythria is entertainingly full of fantasy-infused modern amenities such as carriage Uber, coffee shops, and soap operas, and it kept me giggling.

I would highly recommend this book as a lighthearted palette cleanser. It worked wonders for me. Thank you so much to NetGalley and HarperCollins for the arc!

This one surprised me. I was attracted to this book because of the cover, it's cute and gives cozy fall vibes. This book had me laughing and I loved the plot of the book as well. Where I thought it could do better is giving us more world building. There wasn't a lot and I was having a hard time understanding the world and magic system. I loved the romance in this novel, but I didn't feel a connection to the characters.

“Princess Bride meets People We Meet on Vacation”??!!! I’m sat. Best friends saved the realm. But it ruined their lives.

The premise of this book is refreshing. Yes we get to see these characters fall in love and save their realm, but they’ve also done it once before. This is mythical world where the characters fight for love and friendship and their realm to be safe. Wish I lived there too!
There could have been more world building and development but all in all it was a cute cozy romance fantasy!

Thank you to Avon and Harper Voyager and NetGalley for the ARC of this novel. I really enjoyed this book with a minimum of large action but a lot of emotion and character growth. The setup of the novel being like The Princess Bridge is correct and the humor shined throughout. Clare, Beatrice and Elowen all grew during the novel and got back to who they wanted to be and still saved the realm. Sometimes you just want a cozy book and this was it even with some higher stakes near the end. 4 stars.

What happens to heroes after the quest is finished? What happens when a group of friends loses one of them, and now ten years later are dealing with the aftermath of their grief, romances, and friendship. Two set of ex lovers, a road trip, and facing off against a new evil.... maybe a new quest can help mend the pains of the old one. Ten years ago, four people, four best friends, went on a quest to save the realm... but in doing so ruined their own lives when their leader dies. now ten years later there is Beatrice (freshly divorced and dealing with her hatred for Clare), Clare, a handsome ex bandit who has been nursing a crush on Beatrice for ten years.... and despite hating her for what she did he can't seem to let her go, especially now that she is divorced and free, and finally there is Elowen, a recluse who has run away from her ex-love ( a cunning assassin named Vandra). When their leader and best friend died, all of them separated... and have not been in touch for over ten years but when they are all asked to attend the Queen's wedding they all have to face one another again.... and when the Queen's fiancee is kidnapped they'll have to go on one last quest, but it could either break them apart further or finally heal them all. This was definitely a book for fans of second chance romances and DND adventures. It just kind of fell flat for me personally and I wasn't all that invested in the characters and their romances. The characters just felt like they were missing something and that they could have benefitted from a bit more personality. Overall it just didn't fit with me but I do think it would be a fun read for others.

Release Date: October 29,2024

Publication/Blog: Ash and Books (ash-and-books.tumblr.com)

*Thanks Netgalley and Avon and Harper Voyager | Avon for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*