3.5/5 rounding up to 4.

This was a very fun adventure! If you love cozy fantasy with some deeper themes and a fun premise this book is absolutely for you.

There was a lot I loved about this book including the unique premise that looks to focus on "heroes" 10 years after a quest was completed. The scenes, and character antics throughout the book felt very a la "A Princess Bride," while the story still manages to talk about trauma in dealing with the aftermath of the quest. The characters are easy to like and I adored seeing queer representation in a fantasy book! The story of preserving and navigating that trauma was absolutely endearing.

What lowered the rating for me slightly was the overall pacing of the book. It really slaps you right into the throw of things which had me enticed right at the beginning. However, that quickly peters out as you start learning the characters' motivations but without the means to truly care for the characters themselves. This eventually grew on me but took until the last quarter of the book.

Thank you to NetGalley, Avon and Harper Voyage, and E.B. Asher for the ARC in exchange for my review.

Thank you to HarperCollins and NetGalley for providing a review copy of this title. This book will definitely appeal to you if you like romantasy or cozy fantasy. The characters are three-dimensional and relatable. The storyline is light-hearted, yet compelling, and contains plenty of comic relief. I would not be surprised if this book turned into a series.

I have read a few stories this year with a similar vibe (that, almost fanfiction-y quality). For the most part, this one pulled it off and pulled it off well. My heartstrings were tugged, I felt for the characters, I tensed up when they squared up the Big Bad. The end felt slightly abrupt and a little bit of a wish fulfillment, but it was a very fun story and I'm not mad at it. I would read more from this author.

Thanks to NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for the e-arc.

I hate to be one of the few to write a negative review, but this book was not very good. The pacing was weird -- It took too many chapters to introduce all the characters before bringing them to the same place, and half the book to reveal why they'd all stopped speaking. When the cause of the rift was revealed, it seemed like not enough to cause them all to stew for ten years. The new quest arose about halfway through and was resolved pretty quickly, after a couple of nights of staying in hotels. The worldbuilding was minimal and unoriginal; it was basically just this world with magic instead of the Internet. The characters' own magical gifts were fairly minor, though of course essential to defeating the bad guy, who by the way was named Myke. The worse name of all was the therapist, Lettice. This book took me longer to finish than it should've because I had to keep pushing myself to keep going.

This is a cozy, sweet, funny fantasy standalone that will please newcomers to the genre or those who like their fantasy light.

The plot of the book surrounds the aftermath of saving the world ten years prior, and the trauma that still haunts the surviving heroes, though the story is far from all doom and gloom. The world is a playful recreation of our modern world, only set in a magical medieval setting; behold references to Starbucks, Las Vegas, etc. The magic is not thoroughly explained, and neither is the world, but it’s not really necessary in this case.

The easiest comparison to make to this book is that it is like a rom-com version Sarah Beth Durst’s "The Bone Maker"; and yes, I would certainly categorize this as a romance, with 3 POVs and 2 couples (1 M/F, 1 F/F).

4/5 stars
The beginning of this book made me think “What happens to the heroes after the quest?”. This rom-quest tackles one take on that.
We follow three of four heroes 10 years after their quest. We see how their regrets and their heartaches. The ensuing shenanigans are
funny and lightly romantic. This story is light on the fantasy magic aspect and does lean into the comedy side of their quest. I wish we could have gotten to know the characters more, especially some of the side characters.

Overall l, I liked it. It was an enjoyable, light read. I was given a copy by the publisher (thank you!) and all opinions are my own.

4⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This was a nice little cozy fantasy. I thought it started out strong. I found the characters to be likable. My favorite character had to be Clare. I love how he grew throughout the book. Vandra and him gave great comedic relief throughout the book.Even though there were some good parts, I felt like nothing was really happening throughout the book. Just a lot of information, and not a ton of action. By the middle of the book, i was struggling to finish. The fight scene felt rushed to me, and I found the ending to be okay, in my opinion. I kind of expected it to happen. Then it leaves me with a lot of questions. Overall I still really enjoyed this book. I can't wait to read more of their work.

Thank you to NetGalley, Harper Collins publishing, and E.B. Asher, for this electronic ARC copy.

What a fantastic book! It had the perfect mix of fantasy and romance. The main characters were all so great on their own and together. Such a great debut novel from E.B. Asher!

3 ⭐️

Thank you HarperCollins and NetGalley for my ARC.

This is a very unique medieval meets fantasy style story about a group of friends who reunite to save the realm (again). There are two love storylines and an overarching conflict (hence the realm saving).

If I were to call this fantasy, it would be super light fantasy. Honestly, it was just enough to be a little confusing and in the way of the story — there were fantasy elements that were replacements of normal things (e.g., conjuring instead of baking —> conjuring competition instead of baking competition), which I found distracting and a bit annoying.

The love stories lacked chemistry for me and the saga lacked suspense. I’m not sure why, but I just didn’t feel invested in this.

It’s a fun romp and definitely lighthearted, unlike anything I’ve read before.

What happens to the heroes after the villains are vanquished? In a brief prologue, This Will Be Fun shows how The Four, a team of confident and hopeful new adults prevail against an existential threat to the magical kingdom of Mythria.

The action really takes place ten years later when only three are left. Each of the survivors is struggling with guilt and inadequacy. Beatrice is divorced and drinking too much. Elowen has isolated herself in a remote treehouse. Clare has become a celebrity spokesperson but still doesn't feel like enough. The book is told in alternating perspectives, with each of the 3 main characters voicing different chapters.

When a new threat shadows the realm, they grudgingly unite again and agree to set out on a quest - road trip!

This Will Be Fun is very humorous. While Mythria has medieval vibes, there are lots of comic takes on modern conventions - Wagons-For-You instead of Uber; Harpy & Hind instead of Starbucks; shadow plays instead of streaming.

The people of Mythria also have interesting magical talents using either their heads, hearts or hands.

Each of the characters is likable and you will empathize with their emotional struggles, misunderstandings, and resentments.

My primary concern - and the reason for my 3 star review - about the book was the slow pacing. After a quick introduction, the first half of the book examines the lows that each of the characters has hit. The second half follows the team on the new quest - both to defeat the villains and to gain emotional clarity and self-acceptance. What should have felt action packed still felt a little slow.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this title! I really enjoyed this book. Perfect for people who love cozy fantasy rom-coms with lovable characters & a unique magic system. While all of the characters are incredibly likable, Elowyn was my favorite and I enjoyed her character development. I hope to be able to order this title for my library when it is published :)

4.5 on StoryGraph

After reading the prologue for this book, I was absolutely hooked.

We start with our heroes in their 20s about to fight their big end battle… but the book then launches us into the future where our heroes are now in their 30s and having to deal with the consequences of their previous quest.

I loved the take on traumatized heroes and the “what happens next” take post initial adventure. It was such a refreshing idea and I loved seeing the flawed cast come together and see how they each worked through what happened.

This book was funny, sweet, and heartwarming with the right balance of working through issues and fun plot twists. I do think it lived up to its name!

I would say that this could almost fit the cozy fantasy genre, but our cast is pretty traumatized so it does take some work before settling into the cozier aspects of the story. Princess Bride is a fairly accurate comparison. Go into this one blind with a cup of coffee, you’ll have a blast.

Thank you for the fun!

As the title promises, this is a fun read. It is a little silly and a bit repetitive but very entertaining.

Beatrice, Clare, and Elowen are lauded as heroes but they don’t feel very heroic a decade after their quest to save their realm. They reluctantly reunite to salvage the queen’s wedding and slowly come to terms with how they have all changed and what they want and need from each other. This was funny and adventurous and I was as invested in Clartetrice as their fellow Mytrians. It does take a while for the action to begin as there is a lot of context setting and flashbacks at the start. 3.5 stars.

Thank you to Avon and NetGalley for the opportunity to read a copy.

This book was, as the title suggests, a lot of fun! I liked the take on the chosen hero trope and the internal monologues we get, and I was seriously rooting for each character. The friendships and relationships were so heart warming and full of emotion. I especially loved Elowen and the queer/sapphic rep, and the commentary on being enough and deserving of love as you are. I felt the pacing was a bit off as we don't get introduced to the main quest mentioned in the blurb until almost halfway through which made the book feel drawn out. A lot of the conflict was based on miscommunication, which I personally don't like in books, and it was frustrating to see them continually jump to assumptions and basically self sabotage. These aspects made it harder to root for the characters as the book goes on. Overall, this was a really fun book with touching elements here and there, and a great read for any cozy fantasy lovers.

This was a light, heartwarming read with a lot of emotional reflection and growth from the characters. Exploring what happens to the hero's party AFTER the quest is over is always one of my favorite storylines to explore and this was a very cozy, happy-ending-energy read while still packing in plenty of emotional depth. The world building was a bit weak but at the end of the day, I thought of this as a D&D romcom beach read: fluffy, comforting, and engaging without anything too stressful to get bogged down in. This could have been paced a bit faster in the first half but I think in order for the character's emotional growth to be believable, the reader really needs to sit with their grief and ingrained issues before the changes we see in them in part 2.

Read if you like: second chance romances, adult characters with alllllll their baggage, romcoms, WLW romance, Dungeons & Dragons, a little bit of spice

Thank you to Avon and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Best I can describe this would be Chosen Ones but with a cozy fantasy ending. This is one of those books that drops you sort at the end of a story, beginning of another, the group of heroes lives after they defeated the big bad. They lost their leader and went their separate ways, most of them stuck ruminating on the past. The writing felt a bit slow because of that, but overall I loved all the characters and especially the ending. I also liked the magical abilities in this book. You have the usual strength ability but also a memory/time ability, a heart feelings ability and more.

Unfortunately, I found myself unable to finish this book. While I was extremely excited about its concept, the writing was stiff an unimaginative (the tapestry communication??). Missed the mark from me and I won’t be sharing a review for it elsewhere. Thanks for the offer of reading it.

Thank you to NetGalley and to Avon & Harper Voyager for the ARC of This Will be Fun by E.B. Asher.

I saw someone else mention this book is a rom-com, and yes, I think that's a good way to put it. In the story we join Beatrice, Elowen and Clare as they return to Mythria's capital to attend the queen's wedding. The friends have been at odds since they finished their realm saving quest 10 years ago, and while they are thrust together for the wedding, the stakes are then raised when a new threat comes to the land and these three are thrust back into their old roles to save the kingdom.

Asher does a good job of illustrating how guilt/trauma/grief can tear apart relationships or make it hard to reflect on past mistakes in a way that allows you to move forward. Each of the characters has to take time to evaluate themselves and what got in the way of them a decade past. They manage this through humor, truth or dare, and goading each other. While they all seem at odds for a large part of the book, the ways they come together in the end is very nicely full circle.

It was interesting to read at the end that E.B. Asher is three people - it made me wonder a lot about how they split who wrote what or if each of them took on a characters POV and they wrote the book that way. With how the book flowed and how it was really focused on being cozy overall, I could see it being a fun game of "And now they do this!" round and round. Considering three different authors wrote this, it's really fantastic that they managed to keep the flow and tone of the book so similar to each other - I imagine that was not the easiest.

They also remind me a bit of Meg Schaffer's writing (The Wishing Game to a degree, but very much the same vibes as The Lost Story). Both have a quest and a broken relationship from the past with just the coziest, low stakes atmosphere. So, if you're looking for a book to read that does not take itself too seriously and just here for a good time, this is a great recommendation. I think it would also work for fans of Travis Baldree's style too. It's like all of these authors just want to play a friendly campaign in Dungeons and Dragons.

This book was just delightful. I absolutely love the premise of "here's what the aftermath of saving the world looks like for the people actually doing the world saving". It is a very nice change of pace from those epilogues you get where everyone settled down, had babies, moved to farms or something along those lines.

The writing was a perfect balance where just when things would start to verge on too campy, the authors pull you back in with the heavy emotion side of the story. All of the characters and character arcs were well balanced and I loved all their healing journeys.

10/10, well done, would love to check in on them again in another 10 years. Maybe Beatrice has learned to cook.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book.

📣 a fantasy with two different second chance romance storylines

Thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for the complimentary ARC. All opinions provided are my own.

📖 what do you think will be fun later today or this week? I’m on vacay & currently looking forward to a trip to Jekyll Island today ☀️.

4 besties went into battle to save their kingdom. Ten years later, there are only 3 remaining & none of them talk to the other.

But a Queen’s bday, & then a quest, reunite them where they can save the day again & also hash through the many obstacles/poor decisions/etc. standing between their friendships & entanglements.

E. B. Asher is also known as authors Bridget Morrissey, Emily Wibberley, and Austin Siegemund-Broka. The blurb on BM’s website mentions how this book is recommended for people who loved Shrek, & I can see how.

There is absurdity, a sense of whimsicality, & eccentricity when it comes to the characters & their movements throughout the book. My fave parts are the beginning & particularly the end, where it all comes together in a satisfying way.

But the middle bogged down things, & I found myself feeling like the book is too long *womp womp.* This Will Be Fun also had some of that dreaded back & forth that is not…fun for me.

So this one is enjoyable in spots but I wish it had been tighter.

3.5 ⭐️. Out 09/10.

Please see a trusted reviewer’s list of CWs.

[ID: the ebook rests on an orange ottoman with a pink rose to the left of it.]