This book was a pure delight to read. Contrary to most readers the “friends to lovers”trope is one of my favorites, especially when done well. Taj McCoy delivered on a well balanced rendition of this trope, telling the story of Maddie and Garret.
Being faced with the reality of being the only single friend Maddie is convinced by her best friends to hyper focus on her dating life in order to have a date for their joint destination wedding. While focusing on dating her best friend of 20 years agrees to be her wing man and screen her dates for. What Maggie doesn’t know is her bestie has other plans. Garret has been in love with her for years and now is tired of waiting in the wings. Without giving too much away just know, we stan a devoted man who remembers our food order. I eagerly look forward to enjoying Taj McCoy’s other works.

I loved Zora Books Her Happy Ever After and was excited for this new Taj McCoy book. Although All the Good Ones Are Taken started off slowly I was still able to enjoy it. I loved reading about the food and the harsh realities of dating. I didn't really like how pushy her friends were.

I loved this book. I thought the writing was great, the storyline was fun and engaging, the characters were likable and it kept my interest throughout. Very happy to have read this book.

In The Good Ones Are Taken by Taj McCoy, Maggie longs for a lasting relationship after a bad breakup, but she’s not having much luck dating. Her two best friends pressure her to find a date for their upcoming weddings because she’s the maid of honor for both. Things become more difficult for her, especially when they push her to try online dating. On the verge of giving up, she meets a handsome Doctor Who could be a promising prospect. However, her best friend and wingman Garrett’s confession that he’s harboring feelings and is in love with her muddies the waters. Now, she is torn between choosing her best friend, who represents all she’s always wanted, and the perfect guy. Maggie doesn’t know what to do. But she knows she can’t lose the most important person in her life.

McCoy’s vibrant description, storytelling style and language use, and colorful and natural-sounding dialogue bring her emotional, multilayered, funny story and multifaceted characters to life. She develops her complex, messy, fallible, likable, and relatable characters through funny, emotional, snarky, and entertaining interactions that make you care about them and their lives.

I love the relationship and friendship Maggie and Garrett share. It’s solid, foundational, and supportive. Their love and support for each other are apparent, as is their reliance on one another. However, the attraction and the unresolved deeper connection are not easily understood. It’s clear there is something powerful with the potential for romance between them, but Maggie is resistant to giving in and taking a chance on them out of fear of risking losing what they have. Her complete blindness to Garrett’s feelings aggravates, especially how she treats him once she knows the truth. Garrett might be right that her taste in men might be the issue. Blake, I’m looking at you. He shows her who he is twice. I’ll leave it at that.

I love her relationship and interactions with her girls. They are so close, supportive, and snarky with each other, but their love for each other is evident.

Though I am a friends-to-lovers girl, this was a frustrating read because of Maggie’s stubbornness and attitude. I’m not into novels where the characters are involved in sexual relationships with other people besides the other primary love interest within the book, mainly when those scenes are open-door. I will say that all of the novel’s sex scenes contribute to the development and evolution of the characters, their relationships, and the plot, including these.

Garrett is a supportive best friend who respects and cares about her, what she needs and wants, and what’s best for her. He’s patient, gives her space and room to make choices, and loves her imperfections. While initially it seems their relationship feels one-sided, Maggie supports his dreams and does care about him, much more than she is willing to admit to herself. As her friends try to get her to see throughout, she’s in some deep denial.

Although the novel has romantic moments and a sweet ending, I was so frustrated with Maggie that it was hard for me to enjoy them as much as I could have. But other readers may feel differently. However, I suppose her behavior and fear are legitimate concerns about losing the most vital, foundational person in her life, whom she relies on to be by her side and has done for 20 years. And so often in friends-to-lovers novels, people express the fear but get past it maybe too quickly. I prefer my angst not to involve having to choose b/w the best friend and a third party when the contrast seems so clear, but I think that that’s on me. It’s clear what the book is about going in. I should have paid better attention.

The novel’s overall pacing is OK, though it drags a bit in the middle. However, it picks up a bit after that towards the end. Sweet, steamy, hilarious, sexy, emotional, romantic, and fast-paced, The Good Ones Are Taken is a perfect romance for fans of friends-to-lovers, wedding dates, online dating, Black romance/love, and Black female and male friendship.

MIRA provided an advanced review copy via Netgalley.

I really enjoyed this friends to lovers story. Maggie and Garrett have been best friends since college. They have a solid two decade friendship. that includes weekly Netflix nights. Maggie has watched Garrett navigate through numerous short term relationships and Garrett assists Maggie as she tries her hand at online dating. Maggie's online dating experiences are awful, but then she meets a serious prospect. Garrett was a lovable character. Although Maggie is quirky, Garrett gets her. I loved the ending to this love story. I give this book 3.75 stars.

Such a cute read! I did think some aspects were slow moving but I absolutely adored the friend group and consistently found myself laughing out loud!

Thank you to NetGalley & Harlequinn Trade Publishing for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.

I adore Taj McCoy and her writing. She pens characters who know their worth and aren't afraid to speak their mind and is *all* about women getting what they deserve (in *and* out of the bedroom!) and it was great to see the main character of this novel follow in those footsteps.

What I also like about Taj McCoy, similar to Kennedy Ryan, is the inclusion of a dynamite girl group. I love seeing female friendships get page time in books, especially romance books where the focal point tends to be on the prospective couple. The way they talk to each other sounds like true friendship and their relationship just jumps off the page, inviting you to be part of the group.

While I enjoyed the female friendship and friends-to-lovers trope, I found that I didn't love the main character, which made it hard to root for her. She seemed extremely selfish to me, especially for being 38 years old, and it was wild that for a majority of the book, she always had to make a comment about being unhappy and single while helping to plan her best friends weddings, or fake gag at the sight or mention of love. It got really old, really fast, and it made me question why anyone would put up with her negative attitude.

I also wasn't the biggest fan of the time jump and how, in true Maggie fashion, the wedding of both of her best friends turned into a proposal for her because I have a feeling if it was the other way around, she would NOT have been thrilled with that. It felt like she acted some type of way the whole book and then was rewarded for her indecent behavior. There was some character development, but not enough for someone who is close to 40 and seems very set in their ways.

All in all, I liked this book but it did fall flat for me.

The author did her thing again with this book. I absolutely enjoyed this story, not to mention catching up with the characters. Maggie went through a lot, and the scenes with her going on dates are so accurate. This story had me laughing out loud in public, including when I was at the laundromat. I loved the way this story flowed. Not only was this such a great romance, it shoecased what can happen when you have a good and accountable friend group. I am team Garrett. Great job and I can't wait for the next book.

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.