Not That Kind of Ever After: A Novel

Luci Adams

Mar 2023 · Sold by St. Martin's Griffin

About this ebook

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.

Bella Marble’s life isn’t what she imagined. Instead of an author, she’s a receptionist at a small press. Instead of happily married, she’s single, and her lovey-dovey parents are divorcing. And to top it off, her best friend of twenty-nine years, Ellie Mathews, is moving out and marrying the heinously boring Mark. (He’s not worthy of her. No one could be). Bella feels rudderless, only slightly soothed by time spent with Ellie’s (not hot) brother, (he’s not hot) Marty (okay, he’s hot. But he’s also the aggravating brother she never had—right)?

When Marty recommends Bella stop looking for “the one” and just have fun, Bella finds a new, empowered side of herself. But when she posts a fairy-tale retelling of a disastrous one night stand on a storytelling app, all of a sudden, Bella has become @B.Enchanted. And she’s gone viral.

Now, Bella’s in a fight with Ellie, her new roommates are so, deeply, weird, and the pressure is mounting to find new fairy tales to write about—but she’s got to live them first.

“As side splittingly hilarious as it is empowering and emotional, Not That Kind of Ever After is a sparkling debut.”--Helena Hunting, bestselling author

Ratings and reviews

There are so many layers in this story. Luckily, the layers won't make the reader cry. She gets sick of trying to find her ever after, so she writes fairytale blog retellings of some of her casual encounters. She wasn't expecting the blogs to take off like they did. Nobody knows it's her that's writing them. I don't feel comfortable continuing to explain the book. I'd wind up explaining the entire book. (More on blog: Star's Books & Tea)

Bella is a lost. Her friends are moving forward and as she approaches 30, she’s figuring out that where she thought she would be at this point in her life hasn’t happened. This is a true turning point for her as her best friend moves out to life with her fiancé, she realizes she won’t get to have the same late night chats. Her original dream to be an author hasn’t happened. She stares at the blank document and inspiration isn’t there. But then, she has a pretty weird date and suddenly inspiratio

I thought this book was so-so at best. It does have some funny moments but mostly I thought it was just pretty much blah. It didn't help that I wasn't a fan of Bella's. She just came across as childish to me. Sadly, for me, this book was just disappointing. This is my unbiased, unsolicited review.

About the author

Luci Adams (she/her) started out working in tax before moving into copywriting, creating social posts for Apple Music, and assisting with Amazon and BBC productions at Working Title Television. She now works as an analyst at The Guardian by day and writes uproariously funny and inventive rom coms by night. Not That Kind of Ever After is her debut novel.