I Want It That Way

This is the third book in Karen Grey’s Carolina Classics series. While each book focuses on a different couple, there’s definitely some story lines that will weave throughout the whole series making these best enjoyed reading them all and in order.

There’s a fine line to balancing a fiercely independent main character with providing readers a believable romance story all while maintaining the essence of who they are. Grey accomplishes that with Dani & Luke in this fake-relationship-becomes-true-love.

I love how Luke supports Dani’s mission to permanently prevent becoming a parent while unpacking how her fears are impacting the rest of her life. Dani helps Luke discover who he is outside of the roles he’s been playing his entire life. These two also have a lot of fun on the beach and in the bedroom. Add in two adorable dogs and it’s a great story.

As with the others, we catch up on how the previous couples are doing, there’s a HFN for Dani & Luke, and a cliffhangerish tease for the next book.

Note (spoilerish):
I just want to say how awesome it is that Grey gives us a character who doesn’t want children and that her HEA isn’t predicated on changing her mind about that.

I received an advance copy of this book from the author and am voluntarily leaving an honest review.

Heads up! Yes, you should read every single book Karen Grey has written or will ever write, but trust me on this: if you can get your hands – and ears – on an audio copy DO IT, DO IT NOW! These books are meant to be listened to. Always amazing narrators. Perfect pacing and tone. And the stories just sparkle when read to you. The humor, the corny sayings and quotes, the heat, the angst . . . listening is heaven.

Now on to the story, and what is there to say except that super-talented author Karen Grey has done it yet again: brought back all our favorites elements from her previous books and series, brought us up to speed on everybody we met and loved in the past, and then pointed her expert writerly laser focus on another member of the Carolina Classics gang? We met Violet, Sully, Ford, Whitney and Dani in 1991, when we were getting a delicious little peek at our favorite characters from Grey’s fabulous Boston Classics series. What a way to segue.

Book One in this Carolina Classics series, You Get What You Give, brought Violet and Nate hilariously and sweetly together. Book Two, Hold On To Me, saw Sully, recovering from a serious accident, surprisingly and perfectly paired with Helen. Whitney, tired of years of competition between Sully and Ford for her affections abruptly married someone more suited to her parents’ liking and faded into the background. Ford and Sully patched things up, so the gang is still mostly intact, just expanded a little.

Which brings us to this book, I Want It That Way, the third in the series. Dani’s turn to be in the spotlight. It’s the late 1990s and Wallington, North Carolina is still going strong as the Hollywood of the East Coast, and everybody is more or less involved in some aspect of movie and TV production. Dani still bartends, but now also drives for the actors, executives and crews working on the movies and TV shows being filmed locally. If anybody hasn’t changed over the years, it’s Dani. She’s not against (very, very short) relationships and men, but isn’t looking for anything long-term, marriage is a maybe-someday-but-not-on-my-current-to-do-list thing, and she is adamant that she does not want, and will never want, to bear children. Growing up saddled with much of the responsibility for her siblings by a mother who liked having babies but raising them not so much, and surrounded by extended family always with a hand held out for her time or money has convinced her that motherhood is not for her and never will be.

All Dani wants is a tubal ligation. Now. Not when she’s thirty, not when she’s married, not when she’s had time to “think it through.” No, not then. Now. But no doctor will agree to do it. So what’s the problem? Well, there are several problems: It’s the 90s, it’s North Carolina, it’s the culture, it’s just one giant roadblock after another. Come back when you’re 30 and maybe we’ll think about it. Come back when you’re married and you can prove to us you have your husband’s permission. Come back – wait, what’s wrong with you? What woman doesn’t want children? When (not if) you change your mind you won’t be able to reverse it. Dani is a clever, independent, self-supporting single woman but obviously she’s not “normal” if she doesn’t want to be a mother.

Enter Lukas Keith. Child star-turned-TV producer. Dani has driven him before. Not rude, but not a talker. Adorable as a child; more than adorable as a man, steamy thoughts whenever he floats into her mind (hey, she just doesn’t want a serious relationship – she’s not dead!). And when he gives her that thank you gift of sticky notes: well, wow, whoa. If Dani had a dream man Lukas would be it. And now he’s b-a-a-a-c-k. And of course there’s a lot more under the surface than she thought. So through a series of hilarious, sometimes sweet, sometimes sexy encounters while she’s driving him they come up with the perfect fair exchange: she’ll teach him to drive, he'll be her fake husband so she can finally get a doctor to perform the surgery. What could possibly go wrong with such a sound scheme? Well, it’s Karen Grey, it’s a Carolina Classic, and it's an outrageous premise, so I guess we’ll have to read on and see.

I Want It That Way is an amazing story. Author Grey takes a difficult, controversial topic and tackles it head on. Thoughtful. No flinching. Dani is a woman who knows her mind and Grey makes your mind step back and think about this. Amidst the always well-written, well-plotted humor, heat, romance and difficulties to be dealt with by well-formed, likeable, loveable characters, Grey inserts a very serious subject and deals with it very seriously. Excellent job with a little cliffhanger to make you eager for the next book. Narrators Amy McFadden and Alastair Haynesbridge make Dani and Lukas real. I was sent a free copy of this audiobook and am voluntarily leaving this honest review; all opinions are my own. I recommend it and the other Carolina Classics and the Boston Classics without hesitation. Note: A bonus epilogue is available from the author’s website and is a fun little addition to Dani & Lukas’ story.

Thanks to Home Cooked Books for the ALC & chance to give my candid review.

I Want It That Way
by Karen Grey
(Book 3 in the Carolina Classics series)

Narrated by Amy McFadden & Alastair Haynesbridge

Story Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨ 4.75/5
Audiobook Rating: 🎧🎧🎧🎧🎧 (0-5)
Overall Rating: 4.875/5 😜
Steam: 🔥🔥🔥 (0-5)

What I’m Starry-Eyed Over:
🤩 Retro 90s, small Carolina beach town setting.
🤩 Entertainment business/sitcom production world.
🤩 Great prologue—I love both MCs already, especially Luke because my love language is gifts/giving.
🤩 I love a let’s make a deal—you do this for me, I’ll do this for you.
🤩 Fake engagement/arranged marriage—two of my favorites.
🤩 One bed & forced proximity—thank you for these fantastic tropes. The Two Truths & A Lie is my absolute favorite part of the whole book. ❤️‍🔥
🤩 The way they so lovingly help each other.
🤩 Reproductive rights and women’s health care issues. Lukas Keith is total book boyfriend material for supporting Dani in this area!! And he’s a hottie!
🤩 The two narrators are so entertaining. They express feelings really well: excited, worried, teasing. . .
🤩 Slow burn that I could not stop listening to once I started.
🤩 The first (and second) kiss yumminess. 🥵
🤩 When Dani drinks too much wine without eating all day. 🤣
🤩 And then George & Tina show up. 😂 You can meet them in the series novella What Happens in Carolina and I highly recommend it.
🤩 These two MCs are so absolutely supportive and encouraging of each other—that is true love.
🤩 Secret pining and attraction at its BEST!
🤩 Laugh-out-loud funny.
🤩 Beautiful family/side character LGBTQ+ representation.

What I’m Wishing/Dizzy About:
💫 Please tell me there’s a fourth book in the series. I’m crossing my fingers for Whitney & Ford.
💫 I believe in the HEA, but I just really love some physical connection (steam) after the drama/time apart. But, I still want to listen again, so I guess I’m just being a brat. 🌟