THIS WILL BE FUN is a novel I wasn't sure I would love. However, it ended up being an incredibly engaging read. I don't think this is a book for those that love happy endings or stories with detailed fantasy backgrounds. Instead, this is a book for those that love the melancholy, character driven novels, and character growth.

This book centers on three heroes who save their world, but suffer a devastating loss in the process. Picking up 10 years later, they are no longer friends, but come together again to celebrate the wedding of their queen. Each of the characters, in their own way, is broken by being a hero and what that means to them. Saving their world took its toll. This is a story about what happens after.

This novel has the readers exploring how humans, in all of their capacity for good, even heroes, are still people too. It has us looking at how one can try to find happiness if a person is strong enough to want it. It is character driven, second chance romance with people who aren't sure they deserve to really have a second chance. While all of that is a bummer (and it is), if you step outside of that idea and focus on the characters themselves, the message that the authors are portraying, and embrace these ideas, this is a good read. One that I think will stick with you for a long time.

Overall, this is a book that I enjoyed. This is meant for those who love some character growth and driven novels, for those that aren't necessarily looking for a happy book, who are looking for something different in their fantasy genre, and who are looking to think a bit while they read.

Thank you to Avon and NetGalley for a copy of this review in exchange for an honest review!

I appreciated the chance to read this one, but it wasn't something that hit me hard one way or the other. I know some people will love it, but it just wasn't my bag.

Reading the acknowledgments at the end and realizing that this book had three authors made me better understand one of the things I enjoyed most about it. THIS WILL BE FUN captures the magic of collaborative storytelling and feels like immersing oneself into a D&D campaign that balances the serious sacrifices involved in world-saving with humorous bits like a convention of impersonators mimicking the great hero of the realm. This book reminded me of the joy of building a world with my friends and letting the dice decide what happens—and of the way that stories can be methods for processing the past that sometimes haunts us.

Thank you to Avon and NetGalley for the chance to read the e-arc of This Will Be Fun by E.B. Asher.

This read was, alas, not that fun. And it was certainly did not give off promised Princess Bride or Emily Henry type vibes. Alas again. In the words of side character Hugh on or about page 232, “Bit of a bummer, isn’t it?”

This was the tale of a trio of adults, post hero-ing, who suffered a horrible loss, behaved badly towards each other and got stuck in their respective angst for ten years. It takes the better part of 200 plus pages for the action of the story to start helping our anti-heroes see their way back to each other, and another hundred pages to also flub their way through a kidnapping rescue and a “quest” to stop a re-occurring evil. Add some miscommunication, some grudges, some hook up drama, some inner turmoil and some reconciliations, and that’s the story. All in a “fantasy’ world where approximations of Starbucks, Uber and serial soap operas (and texting via magic!) are in use. On the plus side, the last third of the book reads much quicker, and the ending also wrapped up pretty neatly. Although, one particular element I saw coming kind of ruined the whole point of getting the wounded band back together one more time for me.

It took reading the acknowledgments to gain a better understanding as to why Elowen, Beatrice and Clare feel like separate characters in the same story to me… (Asher is the pen name for 3 separate romance authors.) If there is a sequel, it won’t be on my tbr pile. 2/5 stars

Magical Realms, Friendship, Fantasy, and a chance to finally have what you always wanted.

A lie. A secret. A kidnapping. It's time for an adventure filled with heroes, villians, second chances, sapphic romance all intertwined. Who will find love? Who will find redemption?

A sinfully sweet story with some heat but be warned as the content warnings might make this a challenge for some readers - divorce, grief, past loss of siblings, kidnapping and violence.

⭐️3.5
Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Collins for providing me with an ARC of This Will Be Fun!

This book is a cozy fantasy the follows a group of ex-friends as they embark on a quest to save their queendom. This Will Be Fun has many laughable moments and will also pull at your heartstrings from time-to-time.

Personally, I enjoyed that it was an easy read with little world building and no complex magic system— not every fantasy book needs this. Instead this book is rich in lessons about navigating strained relationships and also hilights the not so glamorous reality of dealing with grief.

At times, the pacing of this book felt off and made the sections drag a bit. I also didn’t love the mention of so many contemporary items in a book that was set in a postmodern era.

This Will Be Fun is a romantasy about four friends who once saved their kingdom, but found living with the aftermath of their fame difficult. Asked now to reunite ten years later this is the story of how they learn to forgive the mistakes of the past and move forward. The second chance/slow burn romances are well explored and the HEA wonderful.. The fantasy quest elements are explained well enough to follow while still leaving room for the readers imagination.

The premise of this book sounded very fun but in reality it fell a little flat. I enjoyed the multiple POVs and the idea of the setting. Unfortunately I found the world building lacking and the characters self-pitying and unlikeable. I didn’t feel invested or even particularly interested in the storyline. The nods to popular culture are reminiscent of Shrek, so this may be a good book for lovers of that franchise!

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for the ARC provided in exchange for my honest review.

HELLO??? This is going down as a favorite book of all time. I don't think I've enjoyed a book this much in a long time.

This was in fact not fun. While the premise sounds so fun- every character in this book is severely traumatized and it is so sad to watch them struggle with the reality around them. Unfortunately, this was a hard no for me.

This Will Be Fun was a fun read. It was likened to "The Princess Bride and People We Meet on Vacation". It's an enjoyable romantacy.

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced digital copy.

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

First, this cover is GORGEOUS! It’s was initially drew me in, so huge props to the artist.

Unfortunately, this book was a huge disappointment. I really wanted to like it and I tried to get into it, but just couldn’t. I had to force myself to read it because the story dragged on with nothing of substance happening. Every chapter felt repetitive with characters I didn’t care about. I would much rather have a story about their initial quest!

Many thanks to NetGalley and the Publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Despite my best efforts, I was just not able to get into this book. Different POV just hashed out the same things over and over. Very little happens and I just couldn’t get behind any of the characters. They just weren’t likable. This really lacked substance and cohesion, unfortunately. The cover, however, is fantastic!

This Will Be Fun was a highly anticipated read for me as I adore both Legends and Lattes and Shrek. However; I ended up "not finishing" this book at the 57% mark as there were too many side things happening with the characters and not enough focus on the actual plot. As someone who's a fan of sexual scenes, I found the ones placed in "This Will Be Fun" to be unnecessary and wanted more of a focus on the quest itself, not characters running off to qualm their desires.

Unfortunately this one was a miss for me and after picking it up for almost a month, I decided to DNF at about 60%. The story just seemed to drag on and I had a hard time connecting with any of the characters. I kept waiting for SOMETHING to happen, but each of the characters kept referring back to the big awful thing that happened in their past without really moving forward. I rarely leave a book unfinished but this one just wasn’t for me.

A cozy book about friendship. I tried getting out of my normal realm of what I gravitate to and this just wasn’t the book for me but could easily be for others.

I wanted to like this one since Jodi Picoult said it was like Princess Bride. I just found myself struggling go get into it the whole book. Thanks for the review copy.

⭐️: 3

⚔️ fantasy
⚔️ heroes and villains
⚔️ “rom-quest”
⚔️ second chance
⚔️ sapphic romance

Fantasy is not my typical genre of choice, but the synopsis of this book caught my eye and I decided to give it a try. It was a medieval fantasy with hints of magic that felt very realistic and dare-I-say, modern day.

That being said, I didn’t love this book. I typically don’t mind when a story starts somewhere in the middle and the plot is filled in as you continue to read, but I found myself lost a few too many times. I would have much preferred to know the history of the characters and their decade earlier quest, up front. It almost felt like picking up the second book in a series with never having read the first.

I would still recommend this book to fantasy readers, as they may enjoy this more than I did.

♥︎ Thank you NetGalley, Avon and E.B. Asher for the ARC of This Will Be Fun.

Cute, cozy romantasy but I was really pulled out of the story by all the modern day stuff. I also wanted more from the world building - a lot didn't make sense to me. In a world that magically has all this technology, why are they still riding horses or fighting with swords? It felt like they were trying to capture the magic of Shrek, and it just fell flat to me.

This is a cozy fantasy that is also so much fun that you can definitely tell the author had a lot of fun writing. The characters and plot were a bit chaotic at times but overall it is a lighthearted, humorous novel.