This is such an important book layered between a sweet romance. Great rep for depression, anxiety, and a Black female lead. I loved the way the author was able to handle serious topics within the romance as I prefer my novels with more meat than bones and this definitely delivered. I'm so happy that we are getting more disability rep and intersectional rep at that.

So many important topics in this one.

PLUS a great romance?!

Quite a few trigger warnings regarding mental health! (Depression, suicide, anxiety, etc.)

This is a really successful debut novel by Cadenet. "Getting His Game Back" is a romance novel that deals with mental health issues, the dynamics of interracial relationships that can be problematic and objectifying, and the building of a relationship between two successful adults. This book deals with a lot of complex situations in a very successful and natural way. I loved the challenge this narrative posed to baggage you carry from past relationships, expectations of masculinity and emotions, and an accurate depiction of what having anxiety and depression is like. This novel is mainly a character driven plot with some glimpses at great side characters like Darius. Please note this book has some serious subject matter near the end, please look up trigger warnings before starting.

The connection between the main characters barber franchise co-owner Khalil and App Goddess Vanessa was really good, the author was phenomenal at capturing that initial attraction, sexual tension, and excitement of first meeting someone. While you can definitely tell main character Khalil is a man written by a women, how great of a guy he was did come across as unrealistic sometimes which took me a bit out of the story. None the less, I feel the author did an excellent job at balancing his and Vanessa's relationship. In the beginning of the book Khalil was doing the most and providing the most effort toward the relationship and that role switches to Vanessa near the end when Khalil is no longer able to do so. I feel this really symbolized the positives of a healthy relationship where sometimes one person needs more help than the other and vice versa.

Vanessa is an amazing character that is the epitome of a successful Black woman who strives for the best in her professional career. Her perspective on interracial dating and the extremely gross comments and behavior she has had to deal with in her personal and professional life is a lived experience of many Black woman professionals and was a well fleshed out point of reservation within her story arc. Vanessa and Khalil's experiences of objectification really bonded the pair while the author made it clear that Khalil not being Black or a woman would never fully understand exactly what Vanessa has been through.

Their connection was often strengthened by open communication which was refreshing as most romances often have miscommunication at the core of their conflict. Instead this book had the very real reality of mental illness and self doubt at the core of its major conflict. Mental illness affects so many people and for this book to have a successful man with a mental illness and all the unpleasant things that come along with that is so important.

Getting His Game Back, the debut novel by Gia De Cadenet, sensitively tackles some of the issues related to mental health and race with clarity and compassion. The main characters in this story are Khalil Sarda, a Morehouse Grad and business owner, and Vanessa Noble, a Spellman Grad and a business owner. Khalil has struggled for years with depression; he is able to function on the surface successfully…he is a son, a brother, a friend, a gifted basketball player and he is the co-owner of a successful chain of barbershops. Unfortunately, his depression colors all aspects of his existence. He has not been able to articulate to the people in his close orbit his feelings of inadequacy and self-loathing. He is hiding in plain sight. When Vanessa enters his shop for a haircut, they are instantly attracted to each other. However, his last relationship ended in disaster due in part to his untreated depression and Vanessa is leery about interracial relationships. The author uses a light touch to detail the issues of race in America by showing some of the usual suspects: the glass ceiling, being a woman in professional settings while black, microaggressions, and for Khalil…. being white in environments where most of the people he encounters are people of color. While race is certainly a factor in this stellar story, where the author and the story breaks hearts are the depiction of Khalil and his lonely battle with depression. Having worked for almost forty years in special education with students labeled emotional and behavioral disordered, I really appreciate how this author allows us to see that mental illness comes in many guises; it is not always overt. I also appreciate the level of kindness and compassion displayed by the people in Khalil’s life. I know firsthand that this stance is often not the case. I found Vanessa and Khalil’s Road to love to be realistically rocky due to their circumstances, but I loved every step of their journey. In addition, Ms. De Cadenet has filled her book with people I want to KNOW! I was thrilled to see that Karim will be the next in line for a story (I was low key worried about him).
Thank you to NetGalley for providing me an E-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Getting his game back is a multifaceted story. Gia De Cadenet crafted a well balanced book that is both tooth achingly sweet while also being hard hitting and real. It focuses on the main characters Vanessa and Khalil as meet by chance and embark on all consuming romance. This story focuses on the reality of interracial relationships and how past experiences can impact your frame of mind in dating. The passion and the love that is shared on page have a way of leaping out of the book and snatching your heart.
I had gone in expecting a fun chicklit, but it was so much heavier. The book really focuses on race and depression, both of which are heavy topics and the latter can be triggering. I think it was unique and really emphasized what POC and people with depression go through.

Khalil Sarda is a man who loves his family, his friends, and his growing business. He’s driven and kind, but underneath all of that he struggles to be his ideal perfect self.

Vanessa Noble is busy building a tech career and killing it. One fateful day her hairdresser is closed and she fides herself at Fade, a local barbershop. Here she meets Khalil. They are both drawn to each other and strike up a friendship. Vanessa opens up about her struggles as a black woman in STEM and the adversity she meets every day, as well as her reservations about dating outside of her race.

I think Cadenet did a wonderful job writing about this topic in a very realistic way. And one thing I really appreciated was the inclusion and discussion about men’s mental health and the stigma surrounding it. Khalil struggles with depression and feels like he is unable to open up to those closest to him about his struggles because he doesn’t want to burden them, and he’s been conditioned to feel like his emotions make him less of a man.

I really enjoyed this book and thought it was incredibly well written and well done. A very sweet romance that I definitely recommend!

Thank you Random House Publishing and Netgalley for providing me with this ARC!

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me an E-ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Getting his game back is a multifaceted story. Gia De Cadenet crafted a well balanced book that is both tooth achingly sweet while also being hard hitting and real. It focuses on the main characters Vanessa and Khalil as meet by chance and embark on all consuming romance. This story focuses on the reality of interracial relationships and how past experiences can impact your frame of mind in dating. The passion and the love that is shared on page have a way of leaping out of the book and snatching your heart.
I had gone in expecting a fun chicklit, but it was so much heavier. The book really focuses on race and depression, both of which are heavy topics and the latter can be triggering. I think it was unique and really emphasized what POC and people with depression go through.

When I first started this book, I wasn't sure how I thought it would read but I actually really like it. It was great to see topics such as race, mental health, bad relationships, and dating in general brought up. I loved the parts where it talked about the different stages of dating as everyone knows the initial pre-date stage can be challenging.

Overall, I thought this was a cute, fun read. The characters developed well and overall I'd recommend it.

An interesting debut novel. There were parts I really liked and parts I did not enjoy very much. I liked both Vanessa and Khalil as individuals. I liked that they had their own careers and people and were both working hard to achieve their goals. The romance side of it felt a little flat for me. I love a slow burn and all the things that lead to two characters falling for each other but I struggled a little with the build up here and didn’t really feel the emotional connection until about the 50% mark. The dialogue between characters was quite stilted at times as well and I felt there were too many random side characters/plots that did not really add to the Vanessa/Khalil story. I did however feel that the author’s handling of Khalil’s mental health issues and Vanessa’s reaction to it was handled in a really sensitive and honest way. The author delves into the topic of depression in a way you don’t often see in romance and I felt she did a great job with it. Overall would recommend and give this 3.5 stars.

This seems like a really cute book…also I love the cover. I just want to say I still have plenty of time to read this, but I just do not remember requesting a copy of this book. So, I was confused when I got it? But anyways men do get depression and have mental health and that was shown in the book, even through Khalil has a hard time realizing this. It was nice to see the two characters interact in each others would and fall in love.

Also, love Vanessa…like who wouldn’t love a strong female, person of color character. Would be surprised if you didn’t.

I think this book will definitely be one that everyone will love.

Getting His Game Back is about a very successful app designer, Vanessa and Khalil, co-owner of a barbershop. They meet when Vanessa comes in for a haircut before an important work event. This book started slow for me. It took a while to really get invested as I thought some of the pacing was off and sometimes was overly descriptive. I did like Vanessa and Khalil’s chemistry and their support of one another. I think this book touched on some really important topics such as mental illness, race, toxic relationships, and therapy.

Khalil, a successful business owner, is just recovering from a nervous breakdown but is feeling better and has even developed a crush on Vanessa. Vanessa is a successful app designer - but she doesn’t date white men and Khalil is ‘sorta white”: Algerian and French. However their attraction cannot be denied. As they grow into love Khalil’s depression takes over again and he tries to block her out. Vanessa comes through for him, helping him deal with his depression and sticking by him so their love can triumph.
This book deals with heavy issues especially cross- racial love and battling depression. And these are not touched on superficially. But it is not a sad or difficult romance novel. It is real and well written. The characters are multidimensional and convincing. I would recommend this book to my patrons.

Ultimate Feel Good Reading Book

Vanessa has had enough with dating white men and men in general. She has a list of the qualities she wants in a boyfriend. Then her salon gets burned down and she turns to Fade, and reluctantly goes to Khalil the owner to get her hair done. The attraction to him is instantaneous. For both of them, Khalil feels like he has lost his dating game when it comes to her. Will he be able to get it back?


When I first started this book, I felt that the POV would make me hate the book. However, the flow of the book only made the POV more interesting.

My most favorite scenes were the pre-dating phase where it was that cute awkward!

I really appreciated the book as it follows Khalil and Vanessa as they learn about each other for a couple of months, and the TENSION between the two of them. This man written by a woman is definitely one I want to read more of. The fact that Gia was able to write about the struggles of interracial dating and have Khalil listen to Vanessa's concerns with dating. I also appreciated how their conversations didn't feel forced, and that Khalil genuinely listened to her.

Gia also did an amazing job when it comes to representing mental health and the struggle of seasonal depression. It wasn't the classic, "I'm such a horrible person". It felt good to see it represented in an accurate way.

I enjoyed the premise of this book and thought it was set up well. I loved how the characters were developed and I liked their relationship for the most part. I enjoyed that they began as work acquaintances and friends and then more. I thought their chemistry was great. I found the dialogue to be a little stiff sometimes.

For the most part I found the book to be a little uneventful and thought the main conflict could have come sooner or simultaneously with others. I did really enjoy it overall and I was excited to receive it from my wishlist on Netgalley.

I received this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book was incredibly difficult to read for me. I had gone in expecting a fun chicklit, but it was so much heavier. The book really focuses on race and depression, both of which are heavy topics and the latter can be triggering. I think it was unique and really emphasized what POC and people with depression go through.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Getting his game back is a multifaceted story. Gia De Cadenet crafted a well balanced book that is both tooth achingly sweet while also being hard hitting and real. It focuses on the main characters Vanessa and Khalil as meet by chance and embark on all consuming romance. This story focuses on the reality of interracial relationships and how past experiences can impact your frame of mind in dating. The passion and the love that is shared on page have a way of leaping out of the book and snatching your heart.

While this book is super sweet and sultry, it is important to acknowledge that it tackles some difficult topics. This book has trigger warnings for suicide attempts, racial fetishization, sexism, gaslighting, depression, dementia and anxiety.

Gia De Cadenet has crafted an amazing and supportive cast of characters that feel real. Vanessa is a boss lady with a heart of gold. Her tribe includes an equally strong matriarch in her grandmother, Ma-max, a hilarious and down to earth friend of the family, Arletta, a calming cousin Bibi and a timely best friend in Lisa. Khalil is the world’s most caring and chivalrous (unicorn) gentleman. His support system consists of an equally sensitive twin Karim, a rider of a best friend Darius and a silent but strong brother Mo.

This book is perfect for readers who are looking for love and emotional realism. Someone who loves love, enjoys a good steamy scene and wants to relate with their MCs.

Vanessa is an App Goddess, a nickname given to her in industry, and she is killing it in the business world. So when she visits a barbershop for a haircut before a big conference, she meets Khalil and sparks fly. Khalil is the co-owner of a set of barbershops and when Vanessa walks into one of them, he is stunned by her confidence and beauty. Over the course of the next couple months, they get to know each other with Vanessa helping Khalil create an app for his shops, the routine hair appointments and the accidental meetings in places. But both having burnt by previous relationships, they are cautious and hiding some secrets.

I didn't think I would like this book when I first started reading it, but as I continued to read, I started to fall in love with both Vanessa and Khalil. Vanessa is someone to aspire to with her running her own company and Khalil with his business. They both understood the hard work it took to get to where they are when they meet and respect each other. Khalil never feels threatened by Vanessa and encourages her with regards to her job which I loved.

The book does a great job of addressing issues like race, mental health, and interracial relationships. It's not typical that you find these topics discussed in romance books, but this was a great change of pace. The author handled all of these topics beautifully and both of the characters talked about each at length which might seem boring to some but made it so much more authentic to me and helped me understand the struggles that interracial couples have.

This is not the typical type of book that I would read and I did have some small issues with pacing and certain story lines, but all in all, it's a great debut novel and certainly worth a read.

I received an ARC via NetGalley for an honest review.

actual rating: 4.5/5

Men written by women, are just *mwah* chef's kiss!

Getting His Game Back is definitely a very character driven story, focused on the two main characters Khalil and Vanessa. Khalil is a white man who has been struggling with his mental health and can't see himself getting back into the game so soon. Vanessa is a black woman who has reservations dating outside her race due to negative past experiences. I appreciate Cadenet having them have honest discussions about interracial dating and black women being objectified because as nice as it is to read books where everything is utopic, it's not reflective of reality. Although, real life Khalil's are few and far between... The inclusion of men's mental health is also super refreshing, considering it's rarely talked about and the symptoms of depression present differently in men and women. It's an incredibly realistic relationship to watch unfold, and the more R-rated scenes are also done well. I definitely enjoyed this book and really look forward to more from this author.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This story had two great main characters that I was invested in quite quickly. They were respectful of one another and valued each other. I appreciated the chemistry between Vanessa and Kahlil and the way they could communicate honestly and openly with one another about lots of different topics. Discussions of race, toxic relationships, mental health and therapy all make for a beautiful read. I appreciated the discussions about mental health and the supportiveness of one character when the other is going through such a difficult time. The conclusion to this story was so sweet and had me feeling especially grateful for an epilogue that takes place a year after the rest of the events the book. Overall, I'm glad I picked up this book. It had a great romance story, plus positive discussions on tough topics. Thank you to netgalley for an advanced copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

Content: mental health, race, therapy, brief mention of self harm in the past