Reviews

Zora Books Her Happy Ever After by Taj McCoy

ert3593's review

emotional funny hopeful

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.5

mgreathouse's review

funny lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

monchandtherats's review against another edition

lighthearted slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I was more horny for the food in this book than the men tbh.

I guessed the twist as soon as Reid spoke so perhaps that's why I never warmed to Lawrence and why this book felt very slow/meandering whilst I was waiting for Zora to catch up.

I also just didn't buy her struggling to choose between these 2 men when clearly she like Reid more, and the only turmoil about him was that he was in a bad mood when they met. Except for when we got to

the NDA, and she couldn't get over that he never told her his secret. Girl it's AN NDA, and he's known you for a couple weeks. Get a grip!

So the conflict was just nonsense to me, especially when there was actual conflict with Lawrence! I did not feel the chemistry (despite the author trying to tell me it was there) and I just thought he sucked! He was chauvinistic, lavished gifts and riches instead of curating experiences like Reid, selfish in bed, constantly double booking/canceling plans, and I knew from the start

he wasn't writing his own books so that didn't help me either.

Despite all this the book was still enjoyable, and I did enjoy the writer's descriptive style - not so much the wooden dialogue though.

abn123's review against another edition

1.0

Among its other probs, way too much tell and not enough show, dialogue is so unnaturally written, and Granny Marion can stay in the damn guest house

laura_biscuit's review against another edition

3.0

Zora has an incredibly strong independent woman who is running her own book store whilst doing all she can for her DC community. She hasn’t had time for love, but when one of her favourite authors comes to her store for a book event with his best friend - she decides it might be time to change that.

I really enjoyed the strong female characters in this book - knowing what they want and not letting people stand in their way. Zora’s granny is obviously a star of the novel, but there’s also female characters peppered throughout who do a great job of showing where hard work and determination can get you.

I did feel like there was character introductions and back story that got mentioned once and then didn’t develop further. I also felt like you didn’t need to be Zor-lock Holmes to figure out the plot twist here, and actually it could’ve come sooner and shifted the story from less love triangle to monogamous relationship trying to fix an issue.

Overall it was a fun and flirty read.

Thank you NetGalley and Dialogue Books for the ARC.

kawalker26's review against another edition

5.0

OMG!!!! this was such a cute, kick your feet read from beginning to end!

k_smith_1990's review against another edition

lighthearted reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

 Too much high-fiving.

Two men who are best friends feels so wrong in this novel.

The mystery isn't bad.

The writing is good.

The characters are background filler except for the three mains.

If Granny mentions great-grandbabies one more time I will find this author and scream in their face. Seriously. Minus one star just for how annoying and one-dimensional Granny is. 

reading_bae's review against another edition

lighthearted slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

peachmoni's review against another edition

emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

I don't know why I thought this was a why choose romance. What is it, the braids?! What was it, that there's two guys on the cover?

(And the guys hinting that they'd been in the same situation before.)

Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed this story, despite a few quibbles I have.

For example, Lawrence's heel turn felt like it came out of nowhere. All of a sudden, he turned into a soap opera villain. I don't think we got hints at that aspect of his personality, just that he might be kinda fake and perhaps a bit of a liar.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Misogyny

Minor: Cursing, Mental illness, Police brutality, Grief, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

naptimereader4's review against another edition

1.0

DNF honestly, the grandmothers obsession with babies was really creepy.