Attain Happily Ever Afters (Happily Ever Afters, #1) Translated By Elise Bryant Conveyed As Booklet

had an amazing time listening to the audiobook, and I want this book to be translated immediately, It gave me all the To All the Boys vibes, with a main character who wants to be a romance author, and a boy who's an amazing baker, baking stuff that I could practically smell, it sounded so good.


I loved how much this book let its main character be messy, She has flaws, she fucks up, she struggles to make the right decisions, and it was so good to see her get that space to grow and learn what she really wants and needs in life.


Additionally, I really liked the disability rep, The main character's brother is disabled, and it was amazing to see such a respectful, loving portrayal, without shying away from how difficult it can be.
It was very clear how much Tessa loves her brother and wouldn't change him for the world, and that did things to my heart.
This was very cute just not my typical read! I thought it felt a lot like a teen movie which was fun.
i have so much love for YA books where the characters act and think and fck up and learn and grow like real, actual teenagers, and this book is a perfect example of that.
plus, a writer main character and a baker love interest, with an art school setting and a realistic and lovable cast of side characters! i enjoyed this so much.
“You need to learn the subtle art of not giving a fck, ”

Happily Ever Afters was not a book for me,
I can see why its compared to To All the Boys Ive Loved Before, These books do have many similarities thats probably the reason why I didn't like it and stopped caring for the last third of the story.


It started off pretty good, The first few chapters addressed many important topics making the reader more aware of underrepresentation of black people in the main cast of books, movies, and tv shows and how that effects especially young people of colour.
Additionally, it thematized disabilities and how not involved people with their prejudices and reactions are the real problem for the family.
I liked how the plot helped the reader become aware of those issues and hopefully made many readers think about it outside of the book.


However, once the main plot started, everything went downhill for me, The very likable and relatable protagonist, Tessa, just stopped being herself somewhere on the way to her first day at her new school.
In her desperate need to fit in, I felt like the plot was just one “peerpressured” act after the other but there wasnt even any pressure other then Tessas own expectations of what she thought others want her to do, her own thoughts of how the others might think her actions make her look stupid, and her obsession with getting the ONE boy.
So, in my eyes Tessa developed from a great character into a shallow false persona obsessed with her fake image.

The light of my life was Sam, I loved how he didnt give a damn about what others thought of him, how he dressed, or what he did.
He was always himself, did what he loved, tried to give good advice, and supported Tessa throughout the story.
He is NOT a “pity suggestion” and was what kept me going after chapter ten,

I guess Im just over such tropes,
Im over too much teen angst and unhealthy amounts of selfdoubt, overthinking literally EVERY breath one takes in public stressing over how others perceive you, while being overly shallow and so fixated on the looks of others.

Im over girls blindly chasing after boys no matter what they do or say just because they are “everyones” dream boy and overlooking both the boys problematic behaviour and the girls unfounded obsession.

Im over people not realizing a friends life has to go on, too, even if you arent there every minute anymore and getting jealous over that fact, especially when your fixation keeps you from trying to live your own life.

And Im definitely over the enormous amounts of Harry Potter references in this whole story especially when the MC addressed the latest developments making it clear that JKR fcked up before the book was published and the author was aware of the pain those references can cause.


I had hoped it wouldnt be this cliché plot with just another insecure girl, losing herself in her own prejudices and her shallow crush and it had so much potential, because Tessa definitely had some strong, great opinions and positions.
Sadly, she was too easily motivated to ignore those views in certain company instead of speaking her mind and looking badass, was too afraid of rejection and judgment and preferred lying over getting help or being upfront with everything.

Nevertheless, Im glad Tessas fears that come with being black in a largely white society were depicted in such powerful scenes, that her anger and frustration about how others treated her in certain situations was described the way it was.


Black girls deserve to see themselves in romance books, but no girl should have to read about someone giving up their own morals and personality just to try and make a boy like you, because that makes it seem like you cant be loved or deserve love the way you are because you DO deserve love and romantic relationships DONT define a persons value.


In the end thats obviously just my opinion and I dont want to make anybody feel offended because of my critique or bad about disagreeing with me.
cw hp amp jk rowling references

i just, stopped liking this after one of the love interests yes, there is a love triangle said he wanted to be like jk rowling.
plus i wouldn't like anyone who tries to take away someone's boyfriend for herself!! A book I didn't know I needed.
I loved it!!! find this review amp others on my blog, sitelinkhere !

rep :
biracial black mc with anxiety
fat li
side black character with cerebral palsy
filipinaamerican side character
black side character
mlm side characters

im going to start with the cons so that i can end this review on a relatively more positive note : firstly, i just could not appreciate the fact that tessa was openly and seriously considering stealing another girls boyfriend.
i also could not believe that her friends were also openly and seriously encouraging this, i mean, theres this one point in the book where one of the characters calls her out for it, but then reverts to a hey, no judgement! thats cool! stance.
or more specifically :

“Well, thats just because youre trying to steal her boyfriend,” Theodore says matteroffactly



he gives my arm a quick squeezea firstand looks me in the eye, another rare occurrence.
“Hey, no judgment. Theres no shame in going after what you want, ”

what,

ive known a lot of people who have had their relationships ruined because of cheating and i cannot believe that while nicos inability to be faithful to poppy was rightfully called out, nowhere was it pointed out that tessa did wrong too and no, the above quote does not count, for obvious reasons.
she also had the gall to be surprised by the fact that nicos girlfriend, poppy, doesnt like her, actively villainizing poppy in the process.
society has progressed way beyond the need for the mean girl trope not that we ever needed it, and this is something i deduct ratings for from a lot of books.


another thing that bothered me was a scene where nico tells tessa that he wants to be like j.
k. rowling i know, big yikes because he feels that she writes well and is also extremely famous at the same time.
tessa questions this by asking him if he really wants to be just like her, considering what shes said.
he defends himself by saying that shes still famous, then we get two lines where tessa thinks about how she and caroline had discussed their heartbreak and anger when rowling first made her transphobic comments.
in the same two lines she also says that she doesnt want to go too deep into the topic and scare off nico.
and then they proceed to talk more about their harry potter houses and laugh a bit, i cannot deny that i felt a bit angry about this because while i understand that situations like these are meant to highlight how tessas becoming less of herself the more time she spends with nico, this particular scene is never brought up again later on in the story.
the words transphobia or trans person/trans people were never directly mentioned, saying words like these isnt too deep, and tessa keeps sticking with her idea of getting with him even after this.


next, the romance between tessa and nico, so heres the thing i know that nico and tessa werent meant to be together, but we find out towards the end that nico genuinely wants to be with tessa.
personally, in the beginning, i thought that this was going

to be one of those tropes in which bad boy nico reveals later that it was actually a bet/dare and that he didnt really like tessa.
thats how contrived his affection for her felt, in almost every scene they interact from the first time they meet.
again, i understand that hes meant to be a douchebag, and that the author was probably focusing on tessa and sams relationship, but that didnt mean that genuine feelings have to be depicted in the way that it was.


now the pros : the writing was sweet, cute and managed to complement the story really well overall its the sort of writing that makes you want to read more.
the descriptions of the desserts sam made were done with flair, as was the writers portrayal of how racism factors into the protagonists experiences without shoving it in our faces, but in a manner that was still very much discernible.


am i going to read the next book probably, apparently the next bookis going to be about lenore, one of tessas friends, i did like lenore for the most part except, you know, the parts where she encouraged tessa to steal another girls boyfriend, and the writing, like i mentioned previously, was enjoyable, so maybe i might pick it up!

would recommend if youre looking for a cute y.
a. contemporary comparable to to all the boys ive loved before featuring a sweet love interest and memorable conversations revolving around the themes of talent, love and friendships.


.stars



ive finished this amp i have some thots
rtc after my exams are over djasjkfak.