Zora has committed every inch of her life to establishing her thriving DC bookstore, making it into a pillar of the community, and she just hasn’t had time for romance. But when a mystery author she’s been crushing on for years agrees to have an event at her store, she starts to rethink her priorities. Lawrence is every bit as charming as she imagined, even if his understanding of his own books seems just a bit shallow. When he asks her out after his reading, she’s almost elated enough to forget about the grumpy guy who sat next to her making snide comments all evening. Apparently the grouch is Lawrence’s best friend, Reid, but she can’t imagine what kind of friendship that must be. They couldn’t be more different.
But as she starts seeing Lawrence, and spending more and more time with Reid, Zora finds first impressions can be deceiving. Reid is smart and thoughtful—he’s also interested. After years of avoiding dating, she suddenly has two handsome men competing for her affection. But even as she struggles to choose between them, she can’t shake the feeling that they’re both hiding something—a mystery she’s determined to solve before she can find her HEA.
Title: Zora Books Her Happy Ever After
Author: Taj McCoy
Publication Date: April 25, 2023
Publisher: Mira
Genres: Adult, Romance, Contemporary
If you’ve ever developed a crush on a best-selling author and then promptly ALSO developed a crush on his grumpy best friend, then you understand the struggle Zora has to navigate here. This book had a unique voice, so many fun characters, and romantic chemistry off the charts.
Plus, who can resist a book about indie bookstores and other books! We love book-ception.
I basically went between this…
…and this the entire book. Gotta love hard decisions and funny side characters.
Then, finally, the glorious ending with that wonderful love triangle wrapped up.
Oakland native and law grad, Taj McCoy, is committed to writing stories championing Black and biracial women of color, plus-sized protagonists, Black love, and characters with a strong sense of sisterhood and familial bonds. Taj started writing as a small child, enjoying the success of her first publications in elementary school. Since then, her dream has always been to become a professional writer. As a law student, she attempted her first novels and joined the Twitter writing community. Though Taj has spent more than ten years working in higher education administration, she continued to pursue her goal and ultimately finished her first novel in 2018, securing her agent in 2019.
When she’s not writing, Taj may be on Twitter boosting other marginalized writers, trying to zen out in yoga, sharing recipes on her website, binge-watching her favorite reality tv, or cooking private supper club meals for close friends. Catch her producing and co-hosting the Fat Like Me Podcast, which celebrates body diversity in publishing and entertainment, or watch her join forces with several writer friends on Sundays for the Better Than Brunch video podcast.
Great review! I’m really not a fan of love triangles (lol, I can’t handle the angst) but this sounds like a very fun read 😃
Admittedly, I don’t often like love triangles either. This was a more manageable one.
We’re so interested in reading this! It’s set in DC and at a bookstore? Sounds amazing!