"A thoroughly satisfying love story with a big, beating heart."--Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"This book is emotional, steamy and sweet--a triple threat! De Cadenet tackles mental health, gender stereotypes, and interracial romance with care and creativity. I loved it!"--Chantel Guertin, author of Instamom

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?

Author: Gia de Cadenet
Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: Dell
Published: 01/25/2022
Pages: 336
Weight: 0.5lbs
Size: 7.90h x 5.10w x 0.90d
ISBN: 9780593356623


Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 09/27/2021

About the Author
In addition to being a Maggie Award finalist and lifelong romance reader, Gia de Cadenet is a business school professor and former translator and editor for UNESCO. A native Floridian, she currently lives in France with her husband and children.