[Review] Zora Books Her Happy Ever After - Taj McCoy

Summary: 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. (Pub Date: Apr 25 2023)

 

This story goes much beyond the trope of loving someone before you know who that person you love really is. It's got power, it's got thought, and a lot of other things, and for that reason I really wanted to have enjoyed it more. I'd say it was a 3+.

Zora is the owner of an independent book store, and her grandmother can't see the day she'll finally give her great grandchildren. But Zora doesn't have time for that between the books and her work. Then she meets the author whose books have captured her, as well as his cranky best friend, and that way she ends up going out with both of them, trying to see which of the two will be her happy ending. 

I like the tone of the book. Zora isn't a dreaming main character, but she isn't totally against love either. It's not only easy to believe in the character but also to identify with her. However, I think everything about the book was too predictable. It's funny that the trope didn't play as you'd think it would, I'll avoid going into the details so I don't spoil you, but the pages don't surprise you in the least. You may argue, it's a romance, I want the coziness more than the surprise. But I find that the thrill is also important when "falling in love". Of course, Zora had more than enough of that, but as a reader it was lukewarm. And wordy. Her daily life with her best friend, her grandmother, her job, her activities in the community, it's all great, but it took so much room, I started skipping whole passages. Like, great that she's doing that, but it's not interesting. I'm not dying to know how this or that played out, I can already foresee it. Zora felt like a real person, and the book felt like her life blog, whenever it wasn't talking about her love interests, not like a story developing.

So we have good characters, a trope I like, a filling to the story so it's not just another romance, but it lacked thrill. Those scenes that really give you butterflies in the stomach. We were almost there some times, but it was mostly a lot of blog entries. 

I'd read more from the author, as I can see lots of room for improvement, and I know there is a public for this book, so I can think of some people I'd recommend it to. However, it wasn't a favorite for me.

Honest review based on an ARC provided by Netgalley. Many thanks to the publisher for this opportunity.

Rating: 3 out of 5.