Book Review: Zora Books Her Happy Ever After
Original review written 6/24/23
Title: Zora Books her Happy Ever After
Author: Taj McCoy
Read by: Adenrele Ojo
Audiobook Length: 10 rs. 13 min.
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What's it about?
Zora is an independent, confident and dedicated bookstore owner in the D.C area. Her whole world is her bookstore, dreams of writing her own novel someday, her best friend Emma and her grandmother, which leaves little to no time to put towards her love life, not that she feels like she's missing out on anything, mind you.
But she can't hide her crush on author, Lawrence which may have been why her first interactions with Reid were yielded no moments either of them want to brag about!l
But, as dinners are shared, favors are granted and projects are put into action, Zora finds that the two best friends are both very different in some ways and very charming. Unsure which man to choose to date, and after listening to her grandmother and Emma's advice, Zora decides to date them both in hopes of eventually choosing one to officially be her boyfriend and, maybe even the father of the babies her grandmother is hellbent Zora provides to be her great grand babies.
Favorites:
Favorite Character: I think I'm going to go with Granny, although I did like Zora, too. Granny was the parent figure, a friend, a confidante, supporter, straight forward and all without judgment, well mostly. While I wasn't a huge fan of her constantly pushing Zora to have kids, I appreciated her humor and wisdom shared with both Emma and Zora. While my grandmother was far less open about all the aspects of her life, in some ways Granny and Zora's relationship reminded me of the relationship I had with my grandmother.
Least Favorite Character: Lawrence. Maybe it's because I really wanted to like him that I was so annoyed by the fact that I didn't like him. I had a hard time trusting him right from the start. There were multiple times when I just wanted to yell at Zora to walk away. She could do so much better! I felt like he never really showed her his "good" side, though I'm not sure he really had one, and I had a hard time trusting him right from the start. I also think that he made the big "secret" that the two men have pretty obvious and I don't know how on Earth Zora doesn't see it sooner.
Least Favorite Part: There are a few dates that Zora has with Lawrence that I really didn't like. I actually wanted to throw my phone (which I was listening to the book on) across the room. I understand the purpose of those moments, but I kid of wish that they had been done differently, which may have helped me better understand why Zora couldn't get over the romantic idea of him she had to see who was standing right in front of her.
Other Thoughts:
I'm a monogamist. I can understand not being one, but I sometimes have a hard time taking a step back and not instantly jumping to "They are dating more then one person, they must be cheating". The truth is, I don't even really believe that. I believed that it is cheating if the ground rules and boundaries set up between those involved do not allow for more then one partner or any of the relationship rules or boundaries are broken. So, I'm not going to lie. When I first heard the synopsis of this story, my instinct was to assume that Zora was cheating on the two men becuase she couldn't choose or, worse, just decided she should have both. What I loved about this book is that it wasn't like. All three corners of the love triangle were aware of what was happening and agreed to it. I liked that it was a relationship in in which everyone gave their consent and respected the other relationships in play.
Of course, I always have to mention strong women in books! I love them! And this book has three at it's center. Not only are they intelligent and strong, they are confident and strive on lifting each other up at every chance presented which is pretty awesome. I think that's part of what makes this triangle work so well, Zora's not doing it becuase she feels like she has to, is pressured into it, ect, but because she genuinely sees something in both men that attract her to them and wants to make an informed decision without having to do so under someone else's terms.
I didn't like Lawrence, but I did enjoy the book and am excited to read more by Taj McCoy.
Ratings:
I give this book a
6
out of
10 Books
But that's just what I think. What do you think? Did you love the love tringle? Did you hate it? Let us know in the comments.
