You Get What You Play For: A Novel

Screenwriter and new voice to fiction Jeff Farley delivers a nostalgic Brooklyn coming-of-age tale about finding love, holding on to dreams, and learning to forgive.

It’s 1992, Brooklyn, New York. All of the girls had bamboo earrings—at least two pair. Charisse Hawkins, adored and admired by her best friends and one of the smartest and most sought-after girls in high school, has dreams of becoming a doctor. Her mother, who works tirelessly to support her, is proud she’s on the right path.

Then she meets him, Jamal Butler, a part-time college student who lives at home and works an obscure job. Too old, not her type, and certainly not part of her plan, Jamal wants Charisse for nothing more than to please his ego and he is willing to use any tactic to gain the affection of a naive Charisse. He offers what she’s never known before—the love of a man.

Or so it seems. Life takes a sharp turn when Charisse spends her graduation day giving birth to their premature daughter. Her priorities change and so does Jamal. Suddenly Charisse’s world is turned upside down and truths are exposed about her family and friends. She begins a journey of tough life lessons as she struggles to come to grips with her role as mother and ultimately having to accept one of the simple rules of life: You Get What You Play For.