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irenemarie's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny
Moderate: Sexual content and Alcohol
Minor: Infidelity
dogoodwithbooks's review against another edition
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I would like to thank NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing me with a free e-ARC of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.
Life is not going how Bella Marble is expecting. She can’t stand the guy her best friend got engaged to. She’s stuck at a dead end job and not living out her dream of being an author. Most of all, she can’t seem to find her prince charming. After Bella becomes a viral sensation when she starts turning her dating failures into modern day fairy tale stories, she realizes that she has to get out there and live her own happily ever after.
I have mixed feelings about this book for several reasons.
One, I’m not going to lie that Adams’ pacing took awhile to get used to. Adams’ splits this story into seven main parts with several chapters in each part. The seven parts does seem a bit excessive, but I’m able to get over that. However, I felt that some of the chapters were too short. What I mean by that is that you find yourself reading a scene and you think it continues onto the next page, but then a new chapter starts dropping back on the same scene. I feel like in instances like these the chapters could have been combined. By doing so, I think it would make the pacing a bit easier to read and the flow of the book seems more natural.
Second, Marty is the most morally gray love interest I’ve ever read. Like, for real. I mean, having Marty make Bella buy her own pity chocolates seem like a low blow. But at the same time, he does things that shows he genuinely cares about Bella. Near the end of the book, Marty’s not all that bad. But I just can’t get over some of his actions that just make him look like a jerk and I do think there were some other characters that could have been a better match for Bella. At least Marty is self-aware.
Finally, for Bella, I have mixed feelings about how she was portrayed in the book. In general, I love having Bella as MC and I definitely found her to be super relatable. Additionally, I loved Bella’s confidence earlier on in the book and when she gave Henry a piece of her mind, that was truly a highlight for me. However, as the book progressed, I don’t know if I was that big of a fan of how Bella developed during her “fairy tale” encounters.
Overall, Not That Kind of Ever After is a good story, but there were just some flaws with character development and plot structure. Personally, I enjoyed Adams’ writing style and it was easy to get into the plot. I also loved the concept of having Bella recreate these fairy tales into a 21st century dating encounter. Readers who love their fairy tales but want a dose of reality added will enjoy this book, though I wouldn’t recommend it if you're not a fan of morally gray love interests.
Life is not going how Bella Marble is expecting. She can’t stand the guy her best friend got engaged to. She’s stuck at a dead end job and not living out her dream of being an author. Most of all, she can’t seem to find her prince charming. After Bella becomes a viral sensation when she starts turning her dating failures into modern day fairy tale stories, she realizes that she has to get out there and live her own happily ever after.
I have mixed feelings about this book for several reasons.
One, I’m not going to lie that Adams’ pacing took awhile to get used to. Adams’ splits this story into seven main parts with several chapters in each part. The seven parts does seem a bit excessive, but I’m able to get over that. However, I felt that some of the chapters were too short. What I mean by that is that you find yourself reading a scene and you think it continues onto the next page, but then a new chapter starts dropping back on the same scene. I feel like in instances like these the chapters could have been combined. By doing so, I think it would make the pacing a bit easier to read and the flow of the book seems more natural.
Second, Marty is the most morally gray love interest I’ve ever read. Like, for real. I mean, having Marty make Bella buy her own pity chocolates seem like a low blow. But at the same time, he does things that shows he genuinely cares about Bella. Near the end of the book, Marty’s not all that bad. But I just can’t get over some of his actions that just make him look like a jerk and I do think there were some other characters that could have been a better match for Bella. At least Marty is self-aware.
Finally, for Bella, I have mixed feelings about how she was portrayed in the book. In general, I love having Bella as MC and I definitely found her to be super relatable. Additionally, I loved Bella’s confidence earlier on in the book and when she gave Henry a piece of her mind, that was truly a highlight for me. However, as the book progressed, I don’t know if I was that big of a fan of how Bella developed during her “fairy tale” encounters.
Overall, Not That Kind of Ever After is a good story, but there were just some flaws with character development and plot structure. Personally, I enjoyed Adams’ writing style and it was easy to get into the plot. I also loved the concept of having Bella recreate these fairy tales into a 21st century dating encounter. Readers who love their fairy tales but want a dose of reality added will enjoy this book, though I wouldn’t recommend it if you're not a fan of morally gray love interests.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny and Sexism
Moderate: Abandonment and Alcohol
maddireads13's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Misogyny
Minor: Infidelity