Review: "You Get What You Give" by Karen Grey

You Get What You Give by Karen Grey
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

When local casting director Violet Davenport is dumped by the wannabe actor who had been working as her receptionist, her pride is more hurt than her feelings. She's indulging in a glass of wine and the comfort of her friends at the bar of the Rumrunner Hotel that evening when she meets hotel guest Nathaniel "Nate" Fowler. After they spend the night together, Violet never expects to see Nate again, so she's shocked to run into him outside her office building the following morning and learn that his father, a top Hollywood casting director, has sent him to open a satellite office that will directly compete against her fledgling business. For his part, Nate had no idea that Violet's business even existed, or that his father's decision to open the office was part of a family feud with his uncle in New York. When he realizes that Violet is the one who will suffer instead of his uncle, Nate does his best to make amends, but can he persuade her to trust him after their rocky start?

I really enjoyed this funny, sweet, and heartwarming story, which featured likeable, well-developed characters and a well-crafted rivals-to-lovers romance. Violet and Nate were both dealing with a fair amount of emotional baggage related to their parents, though they chose to deal with it in completely different ways. That difference was responsible for a lot of the conflict between them. After Violet's parents dumped her on her grandparents when she was just a little girl, she came to the conclusion that the only person she could rely on was herself and became a workaholic. Nate, on the other hand, decided that he would never be like his workaholic father and bounced around from job to job, never settling in one place for more than a few months before arriving in Wallington. In the end, they found a good balance as a couple and really seemed to bring out the best in each other, which made it very easy to cheer them on to their HEA.

The book's late 1990s setting was a lot of fun and felt authentic based on what I remember from back then. I'm really looking forward to future books set in this world, especially after the craziness of this book's last chapter. There's so much going on with Violet's friends and it will be interesting to see how it all plays out.

I highly recommend "You Get What You Give" for all fans of contemporary(-ish) romance and romantic comedy. I can't wait to get my hands on the next book of the series!

*Review copy provided by the author. All opinions expressed are my own.

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