Maggie is a 38 year old female trying to find her Prince Charming after a bad breakup. All the dates she goes on, the men end up not being up to her standards. Her best friends, Savvvy and Joan apply pressure and demand she finds a date worthy of attending their weddings. After multiple dates Maggie is on the verge of giving up until she meets a handsome doctor at the gym who just might be the one. Maggie’s best friend Garrett’s feelings for her start to resurface. Now she must choose.

This was a cute friends to lovers romance. I loved Maggie’s character and the relationship she had with all of her best friends. I didn’t picture Maggie being 38 in the book; it definitely seemed as if she was younger based off of some of her actions. One thing I loved when reading was how realistic/relatable the author made the book.

Blake showed his true colors in the end and tbh, I was looking for it. He seemed a little too perfect. I felt for Maggie as far as not wanting to cross that line with Garrett. No one wants to ruin a good friendship. Throughout the book there were some parts that were slow but right after it picked back up. I laughed a few times throughout the book because of the banter between Maggie and her girls.

I know this is an ARC but there were a lot of errors and repeated words while reading. I’m sure that will be fixed before publication. I absolutely loved the ending although it was predictable.

What a cute story! I loved the characters! Loved the diversity in relationships. Loved the realistic view into online dating and adult friendships. Oh Mags & Garrett! I was rooting for Garrett the whole time, nitpicking every other guy that entered Maggie’s space even Blake. Sometimes you overlook what’s right there in front of you, what was always meant to be but in the end love finds its way! Would love an epilogue or part two to see where the crew ends up! Amazing job author!

This is a case of "My Bad", but I really wanted to read a Taj McCoy book.
First, I'm not a huge "friends to lovers" fan, so that was my first flag. But I wanted to give The Good Ones Are Taken a shot because I wanted to check out a new to me author and I DID like the fact that was it was going to kind of be a love triangle.

In the synopsis we basically get the whole story. No surprises. Maggie is the single one among her friend group and she is of the age where she feels she needs to settle down. She has a good and steady job (tax attorney), she has an amazing friend group (Savvy, Joan and Beth) that are both about to be married and she has a best guy friend from college who she has regular Saturday 'dates' with. The only thing she needs to up her game is to find a man that checks all the boxes. Her friends suggest she try the online dating world after being burned by her latest boyfriend, but again, not the best of luck. FINALLY she meets the perfect Ken Doll Man at the gym. A successful doctor that does and says all the right things. Sort of. Can we say perfect on paper?

Ok, let me say the things I did like.....
I loved the friend group and I loved Maggie's love for food. I'm a big foodie, so that aspect of the book really drew me in. Food and friends? What could be better.
The whole online dating was 100% relatable and so very relevant to this day and age. It was amusing and uncomfortable, which I think online dating can be.
I loved the friendship she had with Garrett and how much they supported one another. I loved how frank they all were with one another and their conversations.

The things that could've worked better.....
I really wish we got Garrett's POV. I think that would have helped with the whole story and understanding where he came from, because NINETEEN YEARS to be on standby?! No!
The dialogue just seemed off. It didn't flow well and the fact that we got so much on page detail of outfits, food, etc really seemed unnecessary. That brings me to the pacing. The pacing and small time jumps didn't help with the believability in the relationship Maggie was fostering with the doc. Whatever they had seemed to move faster than I expected when she goes on a small trip with him.

Overall, it was obvious where this story was going to go and it felt like we really never got to see them actually together until over 3/4 of the way through. I think that's where having his POV would've helped because your girl here doesn't mind slow burns, but this was a slow mess that had a lot of potential, but didn't win any favors for me. Still enjoyed the friend group and hope that since this was an ARC that some of these issues will be cleared up in the final draft. Still would read another book by McCoy, but this one was just ok for me.

The Good Ones Are Taken is all about our girl, Maggie who is looking for love. Both of her best friends are getting married and they want her to be there. However, they want her to have a date so she’s not the fifth wheel. At first, it doesn’t seem possible as Maggie keeps finding red flags everywhere.

Everything feels even more compounded when her best friend, Garrett is helping to weed through her choices. Eventually, she ends up meeting Blake at the gym and the two hit it off but something doesn’t feel right. The two keep trying and every time it falls short which is exactly when Garrett admits that he’s in love with Maggie.

From there, it’s truly all on Maggie to decide who she would rather be with and who makes her happier. While the choice does seem obvious, it does take a while for Maggie to figure it out. I was rooting for one of them all along but I won’t spoil anything. However, the book didn’t just focus on the romance, though.

The Good Ones Are Taken also felt like a slice-of-life story as this is all happening to Maggie in real-time and it’s fun to watch. While you can normally predict where the romance is going to go, Taj McCoy had a few tricks up her sleeve. All in all, I really adored this book and it makes me want to read the rest of her backlist now.

While The Good Ones Are Taken won’t be for everyone, this romance does have its audience so hopefully, that’s you.

I loved this book. It definitely made me laugh. The characters were very down to earth. This book makes women everywhere have hope that their Mr. Right is out there looking for her just like she’s looking for him. Great read!!

The description of the book really grabbed me and I was excited to read it. My favorite part was having a FMC who was in her late thirties but where it fell flat is that she didn't act her age. The overall story was entertaining but found the relationships between everyone needing a bit more work/ tweaking. Garrett came off as controlling at times, everyone in the group felt extremely too easy going aside from Maggie, and the fact Maggie was VERY loved by everyone and cared for but it just felt like something was missing.
I do very much like the premise of the story, but as someone who really looks for character connections and development, this one simply missed the mark for me.

Thank you to Netgalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review. Overall, this was a fun and light rom-com with a friends-to-lovers trope. This book follows one of the characters from "Savvy Sheldon Feels Good as Hell". I didn't read Savvy Sheldon, but I still found this book easy to follow. I think I would have liked this book more if there was a dual POV from Garrett. Also, the choice between the two MMCs seemed pretty obvious and it was a bit odd that Maggie had such a hard time making a decision. There were several typos throughout the book, but I'm sure that will be corrected before publishing.

If you are looking for a Rom Com with the perfect amount of steam, then this is it. While the pace of this book is a bit slow, it allows the reader the opportunity to get to know and love the characters. Maggie has the friend group every girl dreams of and now her love life is about to take a turn towards something nice. Who doesn’t love a friends to lovers story!! Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing, MIRA for allowing me the opportunity to read this ARC.

Thank you to Harlequin Trade Publishing for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review. Unfortunately I found this hard to read and connect to. As someone who loves love-triangles neither option was speaking to me.

Delightfully steamy. This was a fun, fresh read and readers will delight in Taj McCoy's unique voice.

This was just a fun story!!!! I loved everyone in it and the story was highly enjoyable.


Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC. All opinions expressed are my own.

Truthfully, being honest here is hard, because I really wanted to love this book. Ultimately, I did like the characters, but it made me even more frustrated when their dialogue fell flat and their story did not do them justice. There's very little plot, and the entire story is a love triangle with a very obvious ending. The pacing was really off - some moments between the FMC and her friends felt like filler, with repetitive conversations and extreme detail about what everyone was wearing. On the other hand, the spice scenes started immediately and felt like they were written out of obligation - they went from start to finish quickly and without much actual romance. It's upsetting because I *adore* a friends-to-lovers novel, but while I rooted for the FMC and MMC, every time there should have been a moment I cheered, it fell flat. Also, character development was inconsistent. The FMC is religious, which isn't established until she says grace and has the MMC join her. I recognize that not every character trait has to be fully fleshed out, but it struck me as out of place when it happened without further reflection on her background. Other areas were repetitive - we were told about the MMC's background with his friend Kenny twice in the book, with almost identical language. Despite these shortcomings, I rooted for the characters, and if they felt more real and engaging, this could be a great book.


I recognize it's an ARC, but the extreme amount of formatting and punctuation errors often made me pause and re-read to understand properly, like who was speaking because of misplaced quotes. I know that will be fixed prior to publication, but I also hope the content will be revised as well, because this story has a lot of potential, but falls extremely flat at the moment. I strongly recommend that future books by this publisher have improved formatting prior to requesting reviews from readers, because the left justification, inconsistent line breaks, and lack of punctuation caused distractions. While this did not factor into my review, it did make the reading experience less pleasant.

Friends to lovers is trope sprinkled with a love triangle is growing on me. I enjoyed Maggie's journey to self love and discovery on what she needed from a relationship. I love Savvy and Joan and enjoyed the interconnection from the previous books. Overall, I felt like the book was sold, I didn't feel extremely connected to there one of the MMCs, and at times it felt like chemistry with Maggie was a little forced. I, enjoyed the laughs, and development of the story.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for access to this eARC. I received it in exchange for an honest review.

And honestly, I disliked this book. From the very first page, I wasn't entertained. I didn't like the writing. There is far too much detail. And yes, I'm an adult, and this is a romance. But the way the bodies were described, it was like things I read when I was a teenager. And unfortunately, that isn't a compliment.

The dialogue felt off to me. The characters weren't interesting or loveable. I didn't even really like them. I just didn't care.

I can't recommend this book to anyone. I really wanted to like it, and the cover is stunning, but this didn't grab me. There were just so many things about it that I couldn't that I didn't like or enjoy.

Maybe her next book will be better but I don't think this author is for me.

Authors, please stop adding so much unnecessary detail. It was such a slog to get through.

1 star.

The concept was super cute. The cover is what initially drew me in and the story ended up being lovely. I rooted so hard for Maggie the entire book. I want to go back and read Savvy’s story now.!

Sometimes the perfect person for you is the one right in front of you.

Maggie wanted love, but was so against the process. Garrett wanted her all to himself but was patient and willing to wait on her. Even if waiting meant watching Maggie kiss a lot of frogs before meeting a suitor worth her time,

This was a fun, spicy friends-to-lovers story that showcases what it means to have true community, romance and self-discovery. Taj McCoy did a great job portraying the characters as if the reader is a part of the friend group. The characters and the situations they face can relate to the reader as though they too could be in Maggie or any other character’s position.

‘The Good Ones Are Taken’ is a great rom-com book from Taj McCoy that I most definitely recommend.

Actual Rating: 3.5

The Good Ones Are Taken follows 38 year old Tax Attorney Maggie as she attempts to navigate dating and finding a wedding date for a friend’s wedding later in the year. Maggie meets supposedly perfect Blake but also learns her best friend of 20 years, Garrett has always had a thing for her.

This was a cute Black romance with a fun variety of characters. Each girl in the friend group seems to have a fun personality that really helps create some memorable moments. Although each girl being their own character is great, it did end up meaning that I didn’t love Maggie herself. Maggie is stubborn and kind of brash which I didn’t vibe with compared to some of the other side characters. It also seems like Maggie probably appears/plays a large role in McCoy’s debut “Savvy Sheldon Feels Good As Hell” which I have not read. Maybe I would have felt differently about some of the characters if I had read Savvy’s story first. I also just got a bit frustrated with how Maggie handled the Love Triangle she found herself a part of. There’s some clear moments where I genuinely questioned how a 38 year old, educated woman would make a certain decision.

Overall, even though I had some slight gripes with the character, The Good Ones Are Taken was a fun and fairly fast romance. There were a few fun and spicy scenes, plenty of “Good Girls” and some great comeback one-liners (mostly since Maggie is very sassy 😂). I definitely recommend this for a plus-size black romance featuring some hot men and great friendships!

I received an Advanced Copy of this book and it did contain a multitude of spelling errors and just plot/setting mistakes. I believe this version will go through another round of editing between the copy I read and the eventual published version though and that did not play into my rating here.

4/5 stars,

Such a cozy read. I loved the vibes and I was easily Team Garrett. I will be getting the physical copy when this book comes out so I can have it on my shelf!

Thank you NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for the advance reader copy. This is my honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for the ARC of The Good Ones Are Taken!

Summary:
After a bad breakup, Maggie wants to find her Prince Charming, but all she’s finding are frogs. When her best friends, Savvy and Joan, apply pressure and demand she find a date worthy of attending their respective weddings, she agrees to take her own advice and try online dating. Since she's the maid of honor for both weddings, her bridal party duties are massive, but both brides insist that Maggie prioritize finding a date. After an onslaught of maybes, noes, and hell noes, she’s close to giving up, when she meets a handsome doctor at the gym who just might be the one.

Meanwhile, her college bestie, Garrett, throws salt in everyone’s game. At every turn, he points out the red flags and tells Maggie to keep looking. Things come to a head when Maggie demands that Garrett be happy for her, and he finally admits that he can’t. Not when he’s not with her. When he blurts out his feelings, Maggie’s world is turned upside down. Now she must choose between the perfect guy and a friendship that is the foundation for everything she’s ever wanted.

Review:
This was a fun rom-com about a confident, successful woman. I loved her relationships with her dad and her friends. Maggie and Garrett's friendship is so strong and secure that you can really get why she is afraid to explore taking the friendship farther. At the risk of spoilers, I felt that there definitely was not as much chemistry with the doctor. He obviously did not get her as well as Garrett did. Also, the descriptions of food were fantastic! I had to snack the entire time I was reading. This was a fun story and I'm glad I read it.

A wonderful look at the complexities that often face professionals in the black community looking for love. Looking at it mainly through the eyes of Maggie who is a 38 year old tax attorney, it is a boisterous ride. Readers have to be willing to open their minds to new experiences and go on this adventure with her. She comes out better for it and so will you. You will meet a wonderful community of characters who are her friends that will make you laugh. The plot will keep you turning the pages and renew your belief in friendship and true love.