Happily Ever Afters audiobook

Reading this book as just like watching a teen rom-com from the 80s and I just ate that right up. Tessa loves to write romance, and when her family moves, she gets into a prestigious arts school where she is going to be a part of their writing program. Tessa has never actually shared her writing with anyone but her best friend, but she's excited to write and have this new experience. But the first day, she freezes up and finds herself not being able to write. Anything. The solution her best friend comes up with? Have a real life romance that will inspire her to write. And Nico, the gorgeous guy in her writing class, is the perfect target. The premise of this book was so fun, but this book also explores a lot of themes and shows just how messy and hard life can be for teenagers. One of my favorite parts of this book was Tessa's older brother, Miles, who has disabilities. Tessa talks a lot about growing up with him, how she deals with other people's opinions of her brother, and how other people treat him. I loved how he was in the book a lot, along with Tessa's parents, and how Miles was important when it came to her friends, especially Sam. When I say this book was messy, I mean that Tessa makes some very messy decisions that felt so real when it comes to teenagers. She makes mistakes, has a love triangle, messes up with her best friend, and lies to her parents because she just doesn't know what to do and doesn't want to disappoint them. Her decisions became frustrating, but she was making mistakes that she had to make in order to face the consequences and learn and grow from what she does. I really loved the setting and premise of this book, as well as everything Tessa went through. I was definitely rooting for a specific romance and I really loved the whole journey Tessa went on to find her words and find herself.

I loved Happily Ever Afters. The story is cute and talks about important issues. Tessa grew up around very few black people. Tessa is in multiple situations with racial problems. Bryant discusses how Tessa feels and why she handles the situations the way she does. After moving, she is now around black people and feels like she fits in. Tessa’s brother Miles has disabilities and she discusses how people don’t usually treat him right. Tessa’s parents are always looking out for Miles which sometimes leads Tessa to feel like she isn’t as important. She works through this with her mom. I loved the characters in Happily Ever Afters. Tessa is deals with fear that she doesn’t belong and anxiety. She wants to do the right thing but sometimes makes bad choices. Sam is a very kind person and always treating everyone with respect. Lenore radiates self-confidence is a great friend to Tessa.Thank you Balzer + Bray, Harper Collins and Edelweiss for Happily Ever Afters.Full Review: https://justreadingjess.wordpress.com...

i have so much love for YA books where the characters act and think and f*ck 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.

I 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.

5 starsThis is just such an amazing book!! I love it so much!! A girl named Tessa was just accepted to a pretiotus arts school where all types of art are allowed. Tessa loves writieg. But one day she gets into a writers block. But it is not just any block is is a block that makes her stop writing. Her groove from writing is gone and she can't get it back...I hope you liked that synopsis.(view spoiler)[ SPOILERS!!! This book has some LGBTQIA+ rep from Tessa's friendat her new school named Theodore. Now... I feel like I can really relate to Tessa in ways I never thought was possible to relate to a book charcter. Nico, Nico is your dream rich boy that eveyrbody seems to hang all over, and Tessa wants to be one of those people too. Sam, is the dorky boy who lives across the street. The whole story you can see that Sam likes Tessa but Tessa is to busy with Nico to notice. Tessa and her best friend divise a plan to get Nico to fall in love with Tessa because Tessa beileves that the only reason she isn't writing her romance novels is because that she doesn't have any romance in her life so she wants Nico to fall in love with her so that her writing will come back. But Sam, he is the kid who Tessa met in a hawain shirt and still wheres one everyday. But Tessa, also that know thats Sam has been jeaouls. (hide spoiler)]Well, I honestly loved this book so much. I could relate to the mc in ways I never thought was possible!!

this book is the epitome of all the good and potential that comes with being the main character of your own story and god dammit do i feel so happy that tessa johnson got the story that she deserves. this book is tagged as a romance, you see. and a romance it is. but what does that mean? what’s the first thing that pops up in your head when you think about what a romance looks like? i asked this question to myself as i was halfway through this story, as i was aching so badly seeing tessa so desperately hang onto a narrative that didn’t fit her at all but,,,she thought it was the only way to feel like she can belong. romance is all about the fireworks, the breathless sighs and whirling butterflies that fly around your belly—there’s the bare bones of it, or at least what i think (?) is what most people would assume—and it was what tessa assumed. but it was even more than that—she saw a character from a love story that she was writing herself actually brought to life, almost as if the universe dropped him straight into her lap and said “now go. take this chance and don’t let it go.” and tessa fought like hell to try and hold onto what she thought was her only shot at having an earth-shattering romance of her own. but the most heartbreaking thing is that in trying to cling to an ideal romance that felt like her only chance, she lost her own voice in this story and became a caricature that could hardly recognize herself. a good romance isn’t just about the main couple, that’s what i’ve learned, the two characters aren’t the entire focal point of the story—it’s so much more than that. it’s about how these two individual characters carry themselves, the support systems they have and the flaws they have that continue to guide the story. you aren’t just rooting for these two to get their happily ever after, you’re rooting for each of them to grow into themselves and become even more certain of where they want their paths to lead and who they want with them, besides just their love interest. all the characters in this story, supporting and minor alike, were all sort of caricatures in tessa’s love story. they filled roles that tessa herself found to distance herself away from as she thought she needed to focus on “catching the guy”. but what tessa eventually learns is that they’re their own people, too; they have their own lives and they are so steadfast in how more important they become for tessa by the time we reach the end of what we see in her story. the good and bad guys, they have their own stories leading a life of its own as well. there were so many highs and lows in this one but the most consistent thing that i find so astonishingly beautiful from this story is that all along, tessa thought she had all these steps to follow and that she was failing at all of them or that she just wasn’t doing anything right but,,,,she was wrong. she was so incredibly familiar to me and shined so brightly because i was rooting for her from the very beginning. and it wasn’t for her to “get the guy” but to find herself. that’s what i cared most about for her. so you can say that for sure, this was a romance to be remembered. tessa’s writing was always what was most important to who she was but it became obvious that there’s no way to edit or revise her own life to fit a certain image so eventually,,,,she learned she had to carry it for herself. i wanted so bad for her to be happy, to have her get her own happily ever after with herself. bless elise bryant for not giving up on tessa, and bless tessa for not giving up on herself. because this story is just the beginning and i will still be screaming my head off in support for her as she continues to experience her highs and lows. just,,,,i really liked this story. and so i’m happy.content warnings//: mild anxiety, depiction of panic attacks, mention of police brutality, allusions to jk rowling’s transphobia + discussions of harry potter, and racism

This was really cute!

What can I say? Give me a black girl who loves writing, loves writing romance, and is a hot mess outside her laptop. Yes, this book had its moments of cheesiness. There were times I got annoyed with the main character since the right love interest was there, the signs all there. But it is was cute

4/5 🌟 SPOILER FREE REVIEW:I adored this book! Happily Ever Afters is a romantic and wonderfully written book with a socially aware character who is probably one of the most realistic MC's ever ever read about. I am also not a love triangle fan at all, but Elise Bryant made me one for 384 pages. My favorite part of the book had to have been the scenery and the culture of Long Beach, which the author captures in such a vibrant and beautiful way. I also found the book to have some of the best representation of anxiety (which I personally struggle with) and the experience of growing up with a sibling with disabilities (also a conclusion from my personal life), and I felt representation on a level I had never before. It is also refreshing to see a WOC being the main character in a teenage, slightly- cheesy-in-the-best-way romance like this, and Tess provides a view of the world that is portrayed as much as it should be in YA novels. I would also like an invitation to her friend group, which, once you read the book, you will understand why

“I've got all the lines for you. As many lines as you could possibly dream of, because you are deserving of lines from here to eternity.A 16-year-old romance novelist who doesn't feel like the protagonist of her own life? That is the only thing I needed to convince me to read this.Tessa Johnson, like other reviewers have mentioned, can be accidentally selfish and make mistakes and (unintentionally) neglect her friends, but she is real. Real life is getting swept up in your feelings and being unable to see what other people are going through. Real life is wanting your stories to be reality, and fighting the sadness that accompanies that fallacy. Real life is not always happily-ever-afters. But sometimes it can be?I am going to keep this short and sweet, but I think that more people should read this book. I hope someone sees/reads this and goes, "Oh, that is ME". To see oneself in literature is something else.NOTE: I would also like to add a friendly *content warning* for brief discussions of racism, police brutality, anxiety/panic attacks, and She Who Shall Not Be Named (HP and all that).I do wish that the implications of JKR's words/actions were further explored whenever HP was brought up in conversation, but that is just my personal feeling about it.

(Do not read whiler dieting, I was craving dessert all the way through). Beautiful and poignamt story about love, friendship, hope and finding yourself and growing into the persony want to be. This book has poc, mental disability representation. It was powerful and beautiful and really made the reader think about different types of love, whether that's relationships, parents, friends, and self love. As an anxiety sufferer, it was really interesting to read about someone else's journey with managing her own anxiety and reaching for her dreams no matterard it is for her to push away the doubts she places onherf. Really believable and loveable characters, all brilliant but also flawed in their own ways. I was honestly glowing when I finished this at 2 AM and I was desperate to read more of Bryant's work, as well as desforate for a plateful of Sam's tasty creations.