Happily Ever Afters

Written by Elise Bryant

Narrated by Jordan Cobb

Jane the Virgin meets To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before in this charming debut romantic comedy filled with Black Girl Magic. Perfect for fans of Mary H. K. Choi and Nicola Yoon, with crossover appeal for readers of Jasmine Guillory and Talia Hibbert romances.

Sixteen-year-old Tessa Johnson has never felt like the protagonist in her own life. She’s rarely seen herself reflected in the pages of the romance novels she loves. The only place she’s a true leading lady is in her own writing—in the swoony love stories she shares only with Caroline, her best friend and #1 devoted reader.

When Tessa is accepted into the creative writing program of a prestigious art school, she’s excited to finally let her stories shine. But when she goes to her first workshop, the words are just...gone. Fortunately, Caroline has a solution: Tessa just needs to find some inspiration in a real-life love story of her own. And she’s ready with a list of romance novel-inspired steps to a happily ever after. Nico, the brooding artist who looks like he walked out of one of Tessa’s stories, is cast as the perfect Prince Charming.

But as Tessa checks each item off Caroline’s list, she gets further and further away from herself. She risks losing everything she cares about—including the surprising bond she develops with sweet Sam, who lives across the street. She’s well on her way to having her own real-life love story, but is it the one she wants, after all?

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: Jan 5, 2021
• ISBN: 9780063058132

Elise Bryant

Elise Bryant was born and raised in Southern California. For many years, Elise had the joy of working as a special education teacher, and now she spends her days writing swoony love stories and eating dessert. She lives with her husband and two daughters in Long Beach. Happily Ever Afters is her debut novel. You can visit her online at www.elisebryant.com.

Reviews for Happily Ever Afters

[lizelsaurus · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Loved this! Super cute. Teenage angsty goodness. The main character is flawed but lovable.

[Ekene Ogbue · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Despite the obvious true love interest and cliches, I still loved it

[Faydra Lieveld · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Loved this book! It’s well written with characters that feel real. I loved the guy the MC ended up with and I loved how the author portrayed people with disabilities ❤️

[Joel Michael Herbert · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I really enjoyed this book. Jordan that reads the audiobook is also amazing. It’s helping me get in touch again with my inner teenager, the one that never got to live this life, this coming of age story that was stunted by the tyranny of premature adulthood.

[ftbooklover · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Tessa Johnson has just moved with her family into a new neighborhood and she is about to start in her new school, Chrysalis Academy for the arts, where she will be participating in their writing program. One of the first people she meets is a boy she calls Hawaiian Shirt because of his daily attire. Later, she finds that his name is Sam, he lives across the street, and he will be taking her to school because he is in his first year in the culinary arts division of Chrysalis Academy. Tessa is anxious as she approaches her first day of school, but she makes friends quickly and seems to be adjusting until she goes to her first novel writing class and finds that she can't write a word. This goes on for days and Tessa panics, so she calls on her best friend from her former neighborhood, who has a plan to help Tessa get out of her writing slump by getting her a love life.

Happily Ever Afters is a fairly predictable story but still shines due to the well developed characters and realistic emotions. Tessa goes about everything in the wrong way and we can see her make mistakes, but still root for her because her actions are understandable based on her thoughts and feelings. Her attachment to her disabled brother adds to the story because it is clear that she loves him even though, at times, he drives her nuts. Overall, this is a well thought out YA novel with recognizable themes and an enjoyable plot.

[sjgirl-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

With the title and the synopsis I went into this expecting some romance, a genre I do like, I guess I just didn’t expect quite so much focus on romantic drama and that’s where this lost me a little bit.Tessa’s never really shared her writing with anyone other than her best friend so it’s a giant leap for her when she attends art school and is expected to put her work out there for critique. The pressure leads to her experiencing writer’s block for the first time and since she writes romance, her best friend suggests real world experience to get her creativity back in gear. This prompts Tessa to pursue someone who looks like he stepped out of one of her stories, it also prompts her to ignore that the guy isn’t actually available. I thought there was potential in telling a story from the point of view of a boyfriend-stealer since generally book heroines are on the other side of that equation, however, Tessa rarely acknowledged guilt over her actions, there wasn’t really any digging into the juicy emotional and moral complications so then all the reader is left with is being expected to cheer for the villain (Tessa) which is more than a little challenging even if the victim (Poppy) isn’t the world’s nicest person.There was also another triangle in addition to the boyfriend-stealing triangle. I don’t have an issue with triangles when there’s a legitimate choice to be made, when both options are appealing and you could genuinely understand someone feeling torn, but here it seemed obvious early on who the better choice is for Tessa. I know I would have rather had less of one particular guy and more scenes of Tessa struggling with her writing, being mentored by her teacher, interacting with her Art Of The Novel classmates, confronting the stigma about the romance genre, etc.. More than either of these boys (even the one I liked her with) writing is Tessa’s passion and I would have loved further exploration of that in this book. This review is sounding so negative but there were plenty of times I did enjoy Happily Ever Afters, the baking was where you really did see artistic passion, and I loved when Tessa first meets Lenore how awkward and real the circumstances were, and the scenes with Tessa’s family were among my very favorites in the book touching on race (Tessa’s mom is white, her dad is black) and disability (her brother) and showing genuine affection and involved parents. Those things assure that despite my issues with other parts of this book I wouldn’t hesitate to try more from this author.

[brangwinn · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

16-year-old Tessa tells her story in first person. She and her family have recently moved to California. A big part of the story is her relationship with her 19-year-old brother with cerebral palsy. Her friend, Caroline, also play a big role in the book. She loves writing and aspires to be a romance author. What I most appreciated is Bryant’s ability to incorporate several issues confronting young people such as race, disabilities, and mental health.