Thank you to Dell for gifting me a copy of Getting His Game Back by Gia de Cadenet.

Khalil Sarda is working through a lot of stuff, seeing a therapist and trying to get back to feeling more like himself. But he’s been hiding his mental health struggles from his friends and family, thinking it makes him ‘weak’. He certainly hasn’t been interested in dating, or relationships…until Vanessa Noble, tech queen, walks into one of his barber shops.

It may not have been love at first sight, but there was certainly plenty of sizzling tension crackling between them.

There’s a problem though…after attempting to date white boys in the past, with scaring results, Vanessa has vowed not to go down that road again.

The two of them form a friendship as they start to work together on an app for the barber shops, and it doesn’t take too long before it turns into more. But will they both end up hurt?

This book is super emotional, there is talk of racism, suicide, depression, and other heavy topics—but it’s also incredibly sweet and tender.

I really loved Vanessa’s character so much, she was a badass. I did have problems with Khalid’s actions on a few occasions which were setting off some alarm bells for me.

This one is also open door, and steamy. So a perfect read for #FlirtyFebruary 😉 I’d give it a steam level of: 🍆🍆🍆/5

Synopsis:

Khalil Sarda went through a rough patch last year, but now he's nearly back to his old self. All he has to do is keep his "stuff" in the past. Real men don't have depression and go to therapy--or, at least they don't admit it. He's ready to focus on his growing chain of barbershops, take care of his beloved Detroit community, and get back to being the ladies' man his family and friends tease him for being. It'll be easy . . . until Vanessa throws him completely off his game.

Vanessa Noble is too busy building a multimillion-dollar tech career as a Black woman before age thirty to be distracted by a relationship. Not to mention, she's been burned before, still dealing with the lingering hurt of a past breakup. Besides, as her friends often remind her, she'll never find a man who checks all the boxes on her famous List. Yet when she desperately needs a shape-up and happens upon one of Khalil's barbershops, the Fade, he makes her reconsider everything. Khalil is charming, intelligent, sexy, and definitely seems like he'd treat a woman right . . . but he's not Black.

Vanessa may be willing to take a chance on Khalil, but a part of him is frustratingly closed off, just out of her reach. Will old patterns emerge to keep them apart? Or have they both finally found a connection worth throwing away the playbook for?