This Will Be Fun by EB Asher is a raw, emotionally charged journey that blends humor and heartbreak in equal measure. Asher’s writing is sharp and unflinching, capturing the highs and lows of love, loss, and the messiness of being human. The characters are vividly drawn, their flaws making them feel all the more real. While some moments feel slightly rushed, the story’s impact lingers, leaving readers with a bittersweet sense of hope. Perfect for those who enjoy stories that cut deep and make you laugh through the tears.

3.8/5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon for providing me with an e-ARC!

If you're someone who loves D&D and found family, I think this would be perfect book for you!

Definitely a cozy romantasy, it doesn't take too much brain power to read this book and thats what I enjoyed about it personally. It kind of gave me Ella Enchated vibes - medieval fantasy but with modern feeling in a way. I do think that some of the worldbuilding and story elements didn't mesh as well as they could together, but I didn't go into this book expecting super solid worldbuilding.

Definitely a fun book, but more for the vibes in my opinion!

Hmm. A real case of "two many cooks spoil the broth." Three separate people worked on this, and it shows - this is a very disjointed take on multiple other, better pieces of fiction (Shrek, Princess Bride, or, even, Dungeons and Dragons). I like a good lighthearted fantasy romp, but please, I beg: when did we decide to sacrifice earnestness on the altar of irony?

What happens after you save the world? Heroes are reignited for one final quest. While the book was fun, the magic and overall storyline fell short for me. It was slow to get into and the world-building felt underdeveloped. The banter and spirit of the characters kept me reading. It was cute but not necessarily memorable for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

this was just kind of forgettable, plot-wise, and the character chemistry and interactions didn't keep me interested enough to invest in their mission or fates.

Thanks NetGalley and Avon for providing an advanced e-copy for an honest review.

This story has so many incredible elements that I don’t see often. I was incredibly interested in the premise. How do you cope with grief after the epic quest? How do you live up to the reputation of a hero when you’re just a person? I loved seeing these questions explored.

The way this story was written was not simply for me, but I can see it being very enjoyable for others. The magical Starbucks chains, Ubers, and soap opera forums were probably meant to be tongue-in-cheek fun but to me came off as incredibly lazy worldbuilding that completely knocked me out of the story.

I think this plot could have been incredible as a low fantasy or even entirely contemporary work and it would have been one of my favorite books of the year, but the style was just so off-putting to me that I struggled for months to get through this book.

TLDR- If you don’t mind your fantasy with “we have cellphones and Vegas but it’s accomplished with magic”, I think you’ll absolutely love this. If that kind of thing bothers you, pass on this one.

The title does not lie. This book is such a fun read and is great to get anyone out of a reading slump. I think my favorite part of this story was how it was fun, a bit cozy, but it also dealt with some heavy topics related to grief and guilt. The author does a wonderful incorporating these heavy topics, and they truly do add another layer to the plot.

This is deffinitely a fun vibe read.

Thank you to the publisher and author and Netgalley for letting me read this ARC!

I think that this book just was not a fit for me. Some parts felt like too much and others felt like not enough, I'm unsure on the pacing. It was just okay for me.

This had so much promise but it felt too much like it was trying to capitalize on the Legends & Lattes cozy fantasy vibes. Medieval Uber and TV were just taking things too far.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC.

If I had to describe this book in one sentence it would be:
A group of friends that made a DND champaign go off of the rails and into the fire, all while lighting more fires on the way.
AKA. a very chaotic DND champaign and the dm is done.

Was this book groundbreaking In my opinion no. But it is a book that I'm happy that I read because it was a fun ride and a good experience. It was a fun book to read, it was a great premise with a great cast of characters they dealt with very human trauma and emotions. The characters learned, growth, and experienced life. The magic system was fascinating and rather unique. I think I would've enjoyed maybe more exploration into the magic system, but I understand this book was about the quest not the lore

In my opinion, the people who would enjoy this book the most are people who are familiar with DND campaigns and who like LitRPG. Classic fantasy and romance readers probably would not like this book. It is much more like a video game, where you deal with the quest and a bunch of side quest along the way rather than the standard linear structure that is commonly found in fantasy books. But I would definitely recommend to everyone to give this book at least a try.

This WAS fun! This book was a delightful romp, with lots of lightly masked pop-culture references and over-the-top ridiculousness. Old friends pulled apart because of grief, who have to come back together to complete a quest! My new, all-time favorite phrase that I will employ from now on, "in my humble but correct opinion..." Brilliance.

Thank you netgalley for the arc!
If you say something's like the Princess Bride mixed with People We Meet on Vacation, I'd be interested. I haven't read PWMOV but Princess Bride is an all-time favourite. I don't really see it in this. I requested this because I saw it would be apart of our monthly campaign at the store I work, so why not familiarize myself! I thought it was fun. A relatively mindless cozy-esque fantasy, pretty lowkey, and the characters all had a strongly defined personality. It's very much a character over plot book and although we've got some oddly modern talk mixed with a very renaissance fantasy setting, I don't think it goes too against the books favour. I think it works well as a monthly pick, especially for the customer base at my work, but I don't know if I'll ever read this again. After I read it I saw some people compare it to Shrek, which seems much closer than Princess Bride as a comparison, but still not living up to it. If you're going into this expecting the next best fantasy, you'll be disappointed but if you're going into it for a fun little read, it'll be chill.

I thought this would be a fun book based on the description and title, but it did not fit for me. It was slow moving and although the friendship part was nice, the quest was not as adventurous to pull me in. Thank you Avon for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley.

Thank you to the dream trio that make up E. B. Asher , Harper Collins, and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read the ARC for This Will Be Fun. I snagged the audiobook at release, and it is one of my favorite of the year.

IMPORTANT NOTES:
🗡️I went into this without knowing the “author” is actually three authors writing under a pen name and never picked up on it at all until I hit the acknowledgments, which speaks for the skill of all three to weave the story.
☕️I have also never read anything by any of these authors, but that is going to change after this title.

Now, short explanation for the four star rating when this would have been a solid five for me. I didn’t vibe with the spice. It felt a little forced and like a tool to either make the story more adult or genre shift from Fantasy to Romantasy. I honestly felt the story would have been stronger without it.

PROS:
🗡️All the nods to modern day/ real world companies, products, etc.
☕️First time an Adventuring Party needing a coffee break didn’t make me cringe
🗡️That first Beatrice chapter had me cackling
☕️Solid world building
🗡️SAPPHIC REP 🧡🤍🩷
☕️Friends to Enemies to Lovers
🗡️Redemption quest
☕️Vandra is hands down the best character (to me)
🗡️Clare reminded me of Disney’s Hercules post fame. His face had to be on everything, he was the most popular man around, and he STILL was just an awkward guy who didn’t feel like he deserved any of it. He also got a little cocky and had to be brought back to Earth.
☕️Ride shares are the worst even in a fantasy world

CONS:
🗡️Elowen is obsessed with soap operas but doesn’t understand the meaning behind friends with benefits. 🤦🏻‍♀️
☕️Characters being too focused on their failures to see any growth for a decade
🗡️The bad guys are super generic, but they feel like early campaign adversaries
☕️The power growth felt like a Deus ex Machina

📱📱📱📱out of five dead spots of spellphone service

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this ARC.

I liked the fantasy and romance aspects of this one. Overall, it won't live with me forever, but it was a fun read.

This is described as The Princess Bride meets People We Meet on Vacation, and while I’ve never seen The Princess Bride, I did not get People We Meet on Vacation vibes from this. If we’re being honest in a weird way it sort of felt like Shrek 😂😂😂 like no ogres, but there’s a magical realm and magic is just a thing and we don’t need explanations and there’s relationship drama and quests. Also there’s like things in pop culture like the gossip magazines are pamphlets.

Overall though, for me personally, I felt like this was just okay. I had a hard time getting into it, which is a bummer because normally I like fantasy without too much explanation and details and instead have it more character focused. But I think this sort of lost some of its story, and the three character POV was too much.

Then the ending was SUPER rushed and the one part at the end really threw me off and I think the author should have kept that out.

If you like cozy fantasy romance, I think you’ll like this one.

Thank you @avonbooks for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

I love the premise of this, the band, minus the foundation gets back together after things went sideways. Drama, intrigue, and some laughs. But I got taken out of it too many times. A MC has a power that lets them see exactly what happens and another can feel out true emotions, rendering the inter party conflict moot if they stop for 1 second.

Join a quartet of retired adventurers as they come out for one more quest. I would have loved more adventure and world exploring. The relationship status updates were heavy handed in my opinion. Thus my 4 star review.

Loved the humor throughout the book! There's spice for those who are interested and not interested. LGBTQ friendly. Overall a fun and lighthearted read.

Similar feel to can't spell treason without tea.

Unfortunately I chose not to finish this title. The writing did not draw me in and felt fairly simplistic for my taste. It was not what I expected and therefore I chose to move onto another title that was a better fit for me.

This charming “rom-quest” has the same vibes as the movie version of Ella Enchanted, that one scene in A Knight’s Tale where they sing “We Will Rock You”, and dare I say a bit of Buffy the musical?? (With a smidge of Terry Brooks’ Magic Kingdom for Sale—Sold.) It’s bonkers and funny and wonderful. I truly hope it gets a sequel. Also, this book proves that more romances can and should have multiple romantic storylines going at a time.