bookishmillennial's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
disclaimer: I don’t really give starred reviews because I don’t like leaving them. I enjoy most books for what they are, & I extract lessons from them all. Everyone’s reading experiences are subjective, so I hope my reviews provide enough information to let you know if a book is for you or not, regardless of the lack of stars. Find me on Instagram: @bookish.millennial or tiktok: @bookishmillennial
I haven’t read a book with a love triangle in a LONG time and I should have known by the cover, but this story pleasantly surprised me! 😍
The quick premise is that Zora owns a bookstore in DC, and one of her favorite big time authors is the guest of honor for a bookstore event. Lawrence, mystery crime thriller novelist, immediately takes a liking to Zora and asks her out for drinks after the event. Zora -who would love to write a romance novel one day- is understandably excited to get to know an author she admires and to possibly date him, because he seems like the whole catch! Plus, her meddling and curious grandma continues to bother her about giving her great-grand babies lol!
During the event though, Zora also meets Reid, who is best friends with Lawrence but seems grumpy and arrogant. He invites Zora to speak at his school, since he is an educator and fellow aspirational writer👀 With the consent of both men, Zora continues to date them both to play the field and figure out who is a better fit. This reminded me a lot of “Because I Said So” because it felt so clear to me who Zora would choose, but I knew she had to get their on her own!
I would say the steam is about 3/5 & this was another big clue as to who Zora would end up with, because the way men behave in bed tells me SO MUCH about how that translates into them as emotionally intelligent partners!
I never ever thought I’d enjoy a love triangle book, ever, and here Taj McCoy is making a liar out of me 😂 I appreciated Zora’s passion for the book community, for inspiring young readers, her zest for unpacking mystery, & her convictions! I appreciated that she really knew herself and trusted her gut. Her dynamic with her best friend Emma and her grandma was one of the highlights personally for me though; they had me cracking up and I could feel the play and care they shared with each other.
One last thing — the food descriptions!!!! I’m so hungry. All of the food sounded delectable and I need an accompanying recipe book 😂
I haven’t read a book with a love triangle in a LONG time and I should have known by the cover, but this story pleasantly surprised me! 😍
The quick premise is that Zora owns a bookstore in DC, and one of her favorite big time authors is the guest of honor for a bookstore event. Lawrence, mystery crime thriller novelist, immediately takes a liking to Zora and asks her out for drinks after the event. Zora -who would love to write a romance novel one day- is understandably excited to get to know an author she admires and to possibly date him, because he seems like the whole catch! Plus, her meddling and curious grandma continues to bother her about giving her great-grand babies lol!
During the event though, Zora also meets Reid, who is best friends with Lawrence but seems grumpy and arrogant. He invites Zora to speak at his school, since he is an educator and fellow aspirational writer👀 With the consent of both men, Zora continues to date them both to play the field and figure out who is a better fit. This reminded me a lot of “Because I Said So” because it felt so clear to me who Zora would choose, but I knew she had to get their on her own!
I would say the steam is about 3/5 & this was another big clue as to who Zora would end up with, because the way men behave in bed tells me SO MUCH about how that translates into them as emotionally intelligent partners!
I never ever thought I’d enjoy a love triangle book, ever, and here Taj McCoy is making a liar out of me 😂 I appreciated Zora’s passion for the book community, for inspiring young readers, her zest for unpacking mystery, & her convictions! I appreciated that she really knew herself and trusted her gut. Her dynamic with her best friend Emma and her grandma was one of the highlights personally for me though; they had me cracking up and I could feel the play and care they shared with each other.
One last thing — the food descriptions!!!! I’m so hungry. All of the food sounded delectable and I need an accompanying recipe book 😂
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexism, Sexual content, Fatphobia, and Misogyny
Minor: Death of parent and Toxic friendship
callidoralblack's review against another edition
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Pregnancy
Minor: Car accident, Death of parent, and Alcohol
librarybookscene's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Minor: Emotional abuse, Body shaming, and Death of parent
amberinpieces's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content and Cursing
Minor: Alcohol, Body shaming, Death of parent, Grief, and Pregnancy
zombiezami's review against another edition
3.75
The love interests seemed a little flat and idealized, but I thought the story was cute overall. I felt like Emma and the Grandmother may as well have been the same person because they wouldn't stop talking about how fine the love interests were, and how much the protag should date them on that reason alone. Also, granny constantly repeating how she wanted Zora to have kids got very annoying, very fast, but that was perhaps the point.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gaslighting and Sexual content
Moderate: Outing, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Grief, Cursing, and Alcohol
Minor: Pregnancy, Medical content, Car accident, Police brutality, Cancer, and Body shaming
allingoodtime's review against another edition
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
I will start by saying that Zora, her best friend Emma, and Granny are wonderful characters and have a special bond that I loved reading. Though it doesn’t seem like it at first, Reid is amazing and I always loved when he was on the scene. There are other things I really enjoyed about this story that I’ll be discussing as I go along, but there were things that also didn’t work for me.
My biggest issue with this book is its pacing. The chapters are on the long side and since the two MMCs aren’t introduced until the third chapter, it seemed like a long wait to meet them. Not that they’re the focus of this story. The focus is very firmly on Zora and we only get her POV. I generally like multiple POV books, but the single POV worked here. What didn’t work was the continuity. There are a lot of unneeded details and meandering text that overburdened this book. If you’re not going to edit out those unnecessary bits, at least make sure they are adding up and make sense. Thankfully, these weren’t things that changed the storyline. But they were noticeable and distracting.
Zora is a strong, brilliant, compassionate black woman in many ways. That’s why it was hard for me to understand how she didn’t figure out what was bothering her about Reid and Lawrence. It’s very obvious and when she does figure it out, her character seemed to change before my eyes. I felt she became selfish in the way she handled the situation and her expectations from both men. Especially the one she was closer to.
I don’t know why it didn’t occur to me that this book would be a love triangle. That’s not my favorite thing, but it didn’t bother me here because the author did a fantastic job of approaching the triangle in a very mature way. Everyone in the triangle was well aware of the situation and on board with exploring feelings before any commitments were made. My only problem with this is I strongly preferred one paramour over the other and didn’t understand why Zora wasn’t thinking the same way I was, and that’s a me problem.
There weren’t really fireworks in this book. As I mentioned earlier, this story is more focused on Zora and her journey than the men. I don’t love that Granny has tunnel vision about great-grandbabies, it gets to be a bit much. I honestly wasn’t all in on Zora even wanting a relationship when she first started dating these men. It seemed much more a by-product of the nagging she got from Emma and Granny. But one of the men did lift Zora up and support her in a way that there was a true partnership that I liked.
I want to end on a positive note. When the dialogue was between the friends and more of the chit-chat variety as opposed to lengthy explanations Zora is giving one of her gentleman suitors it was so fun and realistic. This is how I hear real people talking with their friends, the wording and cadence. Spot on.
This story was not bad by any means. But it also didn’t live up to my expectations. It had so much potential.
My biggest issue with this book is its pacing. The chapters are on the long side and since the two MMCs aren’t introduced until the third chapter, it seemed like a long wait to meet them. Not that they’re the focus of this story. The focus is very firmly on Zora and we only get her POV. I generally like multiple POV books, but the single POV worked here. What didn’t work was the continuity. There are a lot of unneeded details and meandering text that overburdened this book. If you’re not going to edit out those unnecessary bits, at least make sure they are adding up and make sense. Thankfully, these weren’t things that changed the storyline. But they were noticeable and distracting.
Zora is a strong, brilliant, compassionate black woman in many ways. That’s why it was hard for me to understand how she didn’t figure out what was bothering her about Reid and Lawrence. It’s very obvious and when she does figure it out, her character seemed to change before my eyes. I felt she became selfish in the way she handled the situation and her expectations from both men. Especially the one she was closer to.
I don’t know why it didn’t occur to me that this book would be a love triangle. That’s not my favorite thing, but it didn’t bother me here because the author did a fantastic job of approaching the triangle in a very mature way. Everyone in the triangle was well aware of the situation and on board with exploring feelings before any commitments were made. My only problem with this is I strongly preferred one paramour over the other and didn’t understand why Zora wasn’t thinking the same way I was, and that’s a me problem.
There weren’t really fireworks in this book. As I mentioned earlier, this story is more focused on Zora and her journey than the men. I don’t love that Granny has tunnel vision about great-grandbabies, it gets to be a bit much. I honestly wasn’t all in on Zora even wanting a relationship when she first started dating these men. It seemed much more a by-product of the nagging she got from Emma and Granny. But one of the men did lift Zora up and support her in a way that there was a true partnership that I liked.
I want to end on a positive note. When the dialogue was between the friends and more of the chit-chat variety as opposed to lengthy explanations Zora is giving one of her gentleman suitors it was so fun and realistic. This is how I hear real people talking with their friends, the wording and cadence. Spot on.
This story was not bad by any means. But it also didn’t live up to my expectations. It had so much potential.
**I received an ARC of this book courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher. All opinions expressed in this review are my own and given freely**
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death of parent
Minor: Cancer
jaz_gets_literary's review against another edition
challenging
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Zora, a bookshop owner, ends up in a love triangle between her favorite author, Lawrence and his best friend, Reid. Zora isn’t keen on the idea of dating them both but the guys are okay with it because they’ve done it before. That’s red flag #1 for me lol. She focused on her bookshop but with her grandmother pressuring her for great-grand babies she decided to date the best friends. She’s leaning more towards one guy when a shocking secret gets revealed that changes everything. Will Zora even find her happily ever with either of the men.
While I liked that Zora, her friend Emma, and grandmother have such a close relationship and that there were there to help guide her through the ups and downs up dating two guys. At times, it was overbearing. I don’t believe anyone should be asking about when you’re having children every time they see you.
While Reid didn’t make the best impression on Zora when they first met, in the end you understand exactly why he did and I don’t fault that against him. Also, I appreciate the author showing a Black male character being vulnerable in front of a whole he’s dating in the African American history museum scene. We need more books with Black male characters showing their vulnerability. I do feel like Zora was way too hard on him with the how can I trust you bit. He literally legally could not tell you and now you think he’s lying about any and everything. But Lawrence literally lied about something on the first date and you were willing to be okay with it. BFFR! <<Sidenote: Did anyone else think that a certain character has something else going on in Atlanta other than book events or what it just me?>>
The book was full of representation. A Black curvy female lead character. A Black male high school English teacher. A Black male author who writes intelligent strong Black female characters, bi rep, several Black owned businesses, in the metro D.C. area.
This was time reading a book by Taj McCoy. I’ve heard nothing but good things about her debut book Saavy Sheldon Feels Good As Hell and after finishing this book I look forward to reading more of her work. Thank you Hear Our Voices Tour and the publisher for the advanced copy of this book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Death of parent
Minor: Body shaming, Cancer, and Car accident
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