Overall: 3
Spicy: 2

I started the book as an e-book but switched to the audiobook. I believe it's the same narrator as the other books so that was good. The entire book just felt like the main FMC was whining and complaining the entire time. She was self-absorbed and made it hard to want to keep reading. You do get appearance from characters from the other books, and we get additional information on how those relationships turned out.

This book has a few of my favorite things: good girlfriend group, friends to lovers and the comedy of online dating.

The story was cute and fun, however, it was also a little slow.

The Good Ones are Taken was such a fun read! This swoon worthy friends to lovers romance is full of sisterhood, romance, humor, disastrous dates, spice and all the feels! Taj McCoy never misses!

♥️ Romance
📱Dating Apps
💞 Friends to Lovers
🧾 Taxes
💖 Sisterhood
🌶️ Spice
💓All the Feels

Thank you so much MIRA for the gifted copy!

This story...hmmm...where to start?

The Characters: Let's start with Maggie. She's a 38 year-old woman tossed back into the dating streets by her friends in order to find a date to their dual, international wedding. Despite being great at a lot of things, Sis was absolutely CLUELESS about the most obvious of things.
- The friends: hilarious. But also, a lot.
- The MMC: ummm... some things just didn't quite add up for me. His character was a bit...flat? I don't know how to explain it, but it felt as though he was more of a prop in the story than an actual, authentic and multi-dimensional character in the story. And considering his background, i wanted him to feel a little more real and less "perfect," especially being a main character... IDK, moving on...

The plot: This was your quintessential romance novel. It had all of the "classic" romance plot markers. Overall: this book is great for the romance lovers who want a light and easy read with diverse representation and a bit of spice.

I’ve come to the conclusion that this author’s books are just not for me. The pop culture references, the dialogue just all seem inauthentic and cringy. I did feel like the friendship chemistry was promising. I also still feel this author does well with her friendship between the ladies. I think if her books were more geared towards women’s fiction than romance they might be a tad bit more interesting.

Thank you, Harlequin Trade Publishing, for providing me with an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review via NetGalley.

Rating: 3.8
The title alone got me.

Starting on page one you get pulled into the dating scene Maggie is facing - something anyone dating in the 2020's could relate to.

The plot for this story is simple, making this a fun and quick read:

Maggie decides she is going to try online dating after a not - to - so great break up and facing not one but two weddings where she will be maid of honor.

The pressure is on. Maggie needs to find a date for these weddings!

After online dating flops, she finds her "dream man" -> great job, good looking, ... but is he really right for her?

Especially when she has a male friend of 19 years, who knows her better than anyone does...and can take care of her better than anyone could.

Who to choose? Is there really a choice?

The blurb for this story spells everything out. You know who Maggie will choose, but the journey to her selection was fun, relatable, and heartwarming.

It was refreshing to read a humorous (there were moments when I actually laughed out loud) romance story with black characters closer in their 40's and it still be relatable to a reader not in that age range yet.

Some of the characters you meet are from other Taj McCoy books, but the story is written as a solid stand alone.

If you love the "friends to lovers" trope and romcom feels I would highly recommend "The Good Ones are Taken"!

I LOVE A BOOK WITH A BLACK PLUS SIZE FMC!! This was just a great feel good book. It was funny, relatable and all around just a great time.

I would rate this book 3.5/5 stars (rounded up).

This is my first book by Taj McCoy and I can honestly say that I enjoyed it. I got hooked very quickly and finished this book within two sittings. I thought the characters were likable, I loved the humor and banter, I was a huge fan of the girl group, and I loved the overall idea.

The friends-to-lovers trope is always very hit-or-miss for me, but I actually didn't mind it this time around, and I feel that Taj McCoy executed it fairly well.

Some things that I liked:
- The realism of what it is like to jump back into the dating pool after a failed relationship. This is such a common occurrence and I appreciated that it was highlighted in this book.
- It was super easy to get hooked on this story, it was hard for me to put the book down so that I could get a decent night's sleep, but I just had to know how things worked out.
- Garrett was such an amazing friend, and just an amazing guy in general, and I absolutely adored their friendship.

A few things that I disliked:
- I understand that Maggie is a foodie (so am I lol), but I felt like the constant mention of food and the immense detail was a bit much for me.
- A lot of things were very predictable for me, and I feel like that took a bit of the excitement out of the story.
- I didn't like how long it took for Maggie to make her decision. You've been oblivious to the fact that your best friend had feelings for you for almost 20 years, and when he finally admits his feelings (and you acknowledge that you also have feelings) you force him to wait while you date another man that you barely know???
- To avoid spoilers I'll just say, don't make someone else's wedding about you... it's their day!

Overall, this was a very cute and easy read and I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who loves friends-to-lovers or just romance in general. I probably wouldn't read this book again but I'd definitely be open to reading more from this author!

Thank you NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion!

Another great feel-good, romance with a beautiful, strong and desired plus-sized FMC. If you read Savvy Sheldon Feels Good As Hell, you'll recognize some of the characters! Hint! Hint! Such a great reminder that you may already know your person.

I appreciate this opportunity to read this book ... The Good Ones Are Taken is what I needed - romance, comedy, diversity... I had a time ..

This was my first Taj McCoy book and it was absolutely wonderful. I could not put his book down! It's a friends to lovers romance read with a bit of comedy and a little spice. Usually love triangles aren't my fav but Taj McCoy did it beautifully. I can't wait to read more by them!

Published Date : April 23, 2024
Published by: Harlequin Trade Publishing /MIRA
Pages: 304

I received this ARC via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

This was a fun, and cute love story. I was so glad Taj Mccoy, continued the friendship of the ladies in this book. I love the friendship circle with Maggie, Savy, and Joan. This book was a friend to lovers story. This book opened my eyes to sometimes we go looking for love in all the wrong places and its right there in our faces. In my opinion, I felt like Maggie thought it would never be her turn, and she wanted it to be so bad, that she was overlooking red flags until she realized that true love has been there all this time. Maggie was foodie and I did enjoy some of the food choices that were mentioned in the book. I didnt give me all the feels but it was a good read.

A heartfelt, sexy friends to lovers tale with a twist that sees maid of honor, Maggie, talked into finding a date for her two best friend's joint destination weddings in Thailand. After a lot of disappointments, Maggie finally hits it off with a hot heart surgeon at the gym only to learn her best guy friend, Garrett also has romantic feelings for her.

This forces Maggie to choose between something new or the guy who knows her best and if taking a leap with Garrett is worth the risk. Steamy with great female friendship and cameos from past characters, plus lots of great food references and positive fat rep. This was a fun read but does have a love triangle trope which isn't always my favorite but worked for me this time.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy in exchange for my honest review. I think this latest is my new favorite from Taj McCoy. It was great on audio narrated by Adenrele Ojo and I am absolutely OBSESSED with its gorgeous pink cover!

LOVED this book.

It hit every spot of romance that I like. I also need to confess that I love a good love triangle. As well as please give me more plus size romance books. I need this book to be made into a netflix movie right away please!

I had fun as it's a refreshing and well plotted rom-com featuring a strong female characters and a realistic description of the world of dating.
No insta-love, the frogs who thinks are swans and a lot of dates that makes you you wish you were home watching television.
Maggie is single after a breakup but she's lucky because she's got great friends and maybe one of them could be the right one.
This is a friend-to-lover story and, even if it takes some suspension of belief, I rooted for Maggie and Gareth.
The Queen-of-Skipping-sex-descriptions did her job and I had fun in reading the adventures of this groups of characters.
Entertaining and well plotted even if a bit dragging at times.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

The Good Ones are Taken 4.8 Stars

Anyone that has dipped their toes into online dating knows that sometimes you can find a diamond in a rough and other times you end up with a wild story to tell your friends. Sure it would be great to organically meet someone out in the real world and not experience the pain of swiping through profiles, but sometimes it's just not that easy.

When Maggie is the Maid of Honor for both of her best friend's weddings, they decide to create a dating profile for her and tell her that she has 9 months to find a date for their weddings. Still recovering from her break up a few months ago, she decides to give it a chance and thankfully has her best friend Garrett there to step in if a date turns out less ideal. Besides, if she can't find a date, she'll always have her best friend Garrett for the wedding. Until she happens to find her "perfect" guy at the gym and finds herself on the dates she always dreamed of. But something still feels off for her and maybe it's because the right person has been in front of her all along.

There were so many things that I loved about this book and truly enjoyed. For one the body positivity and a strong, confident female lead with so refreshing to read. Then there was all the food mentioned in the book... As someone who is a foodie and enjoys trying different dishes, I loved reading about Maggie and Garrett's Saturday dates and salivated over the descriptions for all their favorite dishes to order. Which may have been a problem when I'd read parts of this book before bed and found myself getting hungry.

The only reason I can't fully rate this book a 5 star read is that personally I'm not a fan of spice in books. I think that there was the perfect amount of spice in the book where it didn't become too much for me. But that is the only reason I'm rating it 4.8 stars. I really did love this book and even though I read this as an e-ARC, I think I will need to buy myself a physical copy.

Thank you NetGalley for letting me read this ARC.

3.75⭐️, 2🌶️

This was a feel-good, friends-to-lovers romance with the tiniest bit of a love triangle, but it was also a celebration of female friendships. As much as I loved the love story, I loved reading about this friend group again.

We got introduced to Maggie in Savvy's story "Savvy Sheldon Feels Good As Hell", along with Joan and then Beth when she started training Savvy and dating Joan. They were a fantastic group then, and they've only gotten better in this story.

In fact, the few places this story did fall short for me, (namely Maggie's refusal to admit what she clearly already knew in her feelings for Garrett [especially once he finally admitted them to her after almost 20 years of pining!] and the fact that the story is told in 3rd person only from Maggie's POV - just not my personal preference), the friendship between those women brought me back into the story over and over. I was laughing, crying, and ready to deliver Maggie the tough love right alongside her girls! 🥰

If you want to feel like you've gained a new group of girlfriends, while reading about 2 friends who finally admit how much they've always felt more for each other, and read about them discovering a new side to their relationship they never let themselves explore before (hello spice 🥵), then this book is for you. And if you like a little "will they, won't they" with a bit of a love triangle (everyone is aware and there is no exclusivity so no cheating), then this is also going to be your cup of tea. I know who I was rooting for the whole time. 😏

This story was definitely a 3.5, it was a really cute romance where it follows the main character Maggie, as she tries to navigate the dating scene in her late 30s. She has a great support system of family and friends that also try to get her to join the dating streets by online dating or meeting a new man organically. Two of her friends are getting married and they want her to bring a plus one for their weddings. Maggie tries her best to snag a date but stated if she can’t she has no problem bringing her best friend Garret of over 20 years. These two have known each others flaws and all since being friends since college, but Maggie refuses to cross their friendship line because she doesn’t want to ruin their friendship. I really loved that she was such a foodie in the book, some of the food described felt like you could almost taste it. I did find that Maggie had to be the center of attention a lot, even when her friends were discussing their upcoming nuptials. She seemed exhausting but her BFFs seemed to know how to keep her in line I’m guessing. To conclude, it’s a cutesy journey of a love story for the audience to enjoy but the main character is very extra. Grateful to have read this ARC & all opinions are of my own.

I loved this book from beginning to end. The characters were so relatable and it made me feel like I was reading a story about me and my friends. I really enjoyed the riding style, It made me forget that I was reading words on a page. This book draws the reader in and everything is told feeling like a movie.

I almost didn’t finish this book because the formatting of my digital arc was horrendous, but I’m glad I pushed through and gave it a chance.

I really enjoyed the relationship that Maggie had with her girl friends. I loved their banter, how they were there for each other, and how they held Maggie accountable.

I didn’t really care for Maggie and Garrett, they were cute but did she really not know he had feelings for her after all that time. It seemed so obvious to me and felt like she just kept him in her back pocket for when she needed to feel better about herself.

The ending was eh for me, and I feel like it could’ve been done better.