Book: Not Another Happily Ever After by A.R. Schilling
Reviewed by Weird | weird.reads.books
Rating: 2/5
I loved the whimsy of this book and how passionate Princess Sunday (FMC) was in helping others. She has a heart of gold and is genuinely kind to everyone around her, which makes it absolutely heartbreaking to see the abuse she endures by so many close to her.
At first glance, this book should be a home run in terms of something I’d recommend for cursed fairytales. Unfortunately, the execution missed the mark.
The narrative felt severely rushed, chaotic, and disjointed. The premise follows Princess Sunday as she travels with a party of guards toward a political marriage with a creepy Prince Charming, encountering various fairytale figures along the way. While that sounds like a fun, episodic quest, the transitions between scenes were so jerky that I constantly found myself re-reading passages, wondering if my brain had somehow skipped crucial plot points.
While the cast of eccentric side characters added some welcome humor, their development remained strictly surface-level. Major plot beats and character motivations felt as though there’s an assumption the reader already possesses context that was never actually provided on the page. I loved the concept and artwork, but the the actual storytelling reads more like an unpolished early draft that needed a few more structural passes to fully flesh out the world and pacing.
This book was delayed in its release, which is completely understandable when you want to put your best work forward. However, what was handed over to ARC readers felt like a first draft. I was slightly behind in finishing this and went to download the book on KU to see if the final published book read any differently. The small things like grammar errors were fixed, but my other criticisms still stand.
The ending cuts off sort of abruptly, leaving several threads hanging. While I’ll likely check out the sequel eventually out of curiosity to see where Sunday’s journey goes, it won't be at the top of my TBR.
Thank you to A.R. Schilling and IRIS Influencer Society for the eARC. All opinions are my own.