And They Lived Happily Ever After – ARC Book Review

One unexpected kiss . . .
Successful romance author Gaia Anders has a secret: anything she dreams at night is magically written into her bestselling novels. After a lonely childhood in foster care, her dream life is the only one she trusts. Gaia’s waking life just can’t compare—until she gets caught in one utterly surprising, crazy-passionate, real-life kiss . . .

One near-perfect guy . . .
Workaholic businessman Jacob Scott has had a crush on his brother’s best friend, Gaia, since forever—but he never expected to literally share her dreams. Living out their magical nighttime fantasies is explosive, but it’s their waking desire turning his single-minded ways upside down. It’s making him want a future he didn’t think was possible . . .

One dream that could come true . . .
But Gaia has secrets from her past she won’t reveal. And Jacob’s attempts to keep the peace in his own fractured family puts him up against her deepest fears. Soon, they’re facing hard truths about who they are and what they’re running from. And the only way to break this curse is realizing true love’s real-life power . . .

I am having mixed feelings about this book.

First of all, Gaia is a successful romance author with magical abilities. Jacob is a workaholic businessman and Gaia is friends with Jacob’s brother Seth. So when they accidentally kissed one day, then things start changing for them and Jacob falls for Gaia. But Gaia has secrets. Soon she meets a woman named Gemma with a man named Levi who seemed to be following Gaia everywhere out of blue.

This was a bit of a slow burn romance to me. I felt like I was watching some cheesy Hallmark movie with a romance setting when I was reading this book. The writing was OK although the plot of this story was good and interesting. There is not much I can say about this book, except the slow development of romance between Gaia and Jacob, their feelings for each other, how they eventually started dating and break up and then end up together in the end–so it was a bit predictable. Nonetheless, some parts of the story was boring although it was an OK romance novel to me. I liked the fact that this book is set in South Africa and is the second book I have read with a South African setting so I do like a bit of diversity in the book. Also there’s a sequel coming with this book, this time in Gemma’s point of view and despite the fact that I didn’t very much like this book, I do look forward to read Gemma’s version in the second book.

This book actually talks about adoption and the separation of the twin sisters. I won’t put too much spoilers here but that was the only part in the story that I actually enjoyed reading about.

Overall, this was an OK book–if you like happily ever afters, then this book is one for you. Worth 3.5 stars

Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC. The review is based on my honest opinion only.