Business Not As Usual
BY Sharon C. Cooper
Rating: 3.5/5 Genre: Contemporary Romance Steam: Explicit Publisher: Berkley Publishing Pub Date: April 5, 2022 Thank you Berkley Publishing and NetGalley for a copy of this book! All opinions are that of my own. Available: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | BookShop
Business Not As Usual Synopsis:
I am beautiful. I am confident. I am lovable. I am a lottery winner.
This is the mantra that will get Dreamy Daniels through each day until she makes it big. So what if she lives in a seedy part of Los Angeles in a house that’s one earthquake away from crumbling, or works an unfulfilling secretarial job while struggling to finish her bachelor’s degree? All Dreamy needs to do is win the lottery, which she’s been entering in as a weekly tradition with her grandfather. When she catches the attention of her boss’s potential investor, Dreamy has to remind herself to focus on her career goals so she can be her own boss. Who cares if he has the social grace of the Duke of Sussex and the suaveness of Idris Elba? No distractions allowed.
Growing up with a father who is an A-list actor and a socialite mother, venture capitalist Karter Redford lives in the world of the rich and famous. Instead of attending movie premieres, however, he prefers spending his time helping the less fortunate, backing start-up companies and investing in cutting edge ideas. Karter is used to his life revolving around work, but when he decides he wants someone to share it with, he falls for someone his mother would never approve of: hilarious, quirky Dreamy, who has goals of her own…but also isn’t a wealthy, upper-crust socialite. Though it’s clear they’re from different worlds, their relationship might just be his greatest investment yet.
Business Not As Usual Review
While I did end up enjoying parts of the book, this was not the one for me. I really like the premise of different classes and I came to enjoy Dreamy, but at the end of the day there were some major drawbacks that stopped me from really enjoying the book. I do appreciate how much of the romance plot there was in this book, I have found a lot of “romances” lately to, well, not be romances.
Thoughts:
It took a while for me to like Dreamy. Like she starts off being told to do something very important and then proceeds to chat with her friends? Um, you were just complaining about your boss micromanaging but perhaps his worries are valid. Also the whole premise of her banking everything on winning the lottery just seemed ill advised. Maybe I’m too much of a stats person, but I can think of better options to increase your net worth that aren’t as unlikely. Nevertheless, she did grow on me and I did enjoy following her journey. I loved her relationship with her grandfather and her friends. I totally understood her hesitations around Karter. Like, girl I get it I would be the same way. Overall I came to love her.
Karter. Hm. I liked him when they met and there were pieces of him throughout the novel that endeared me to him. However, some of his statements about the other women in his life just ugh. Please not that. It really took a lot of my ability to like him away.
The plot was touch and go for me too. It really goes back to the lottery aspect of this book. I get that this is Dreamy’s dream, but really? For a woman so founded in her education and desire to help other business women your goal is to win the lottery? And then the ending, I’m not going to say anything but it just seemed disjointed from the book. Like I have opinions on how it should have been written, but I’m not the author and I can see why Cooper did it. I just didn’t like it, which is on me.
Long Story Short:
Do I recommend this book? Maybe? If you can work around all of the shortcomings I’ve listed then yes. It is a good book, just not one for me. I do want to go through and read Cooper’s backlist as I know there is a book for me there. I loved so many little aspects of this book, but the overarching pieces made me meh about it. (Can we also take a moment to appreciate the cover because it is beautiful!!)
If You Liked This One…
I would recommend checking out In A New York Minute by Kate Spencer as they felt fairly similar in style. I mean there are major differences in the book, but it’s just a feeling you’ll like it too! Or if you’re into class differences in historical romance I’d recommend Earls Before Girls by Anna Bennett. Obviously it’s different in many ways with it being a historical romance, but the relationship is similar!
Award-winning and USA Today bestselling author of over thirty books, Sharon C. Cooper loves anything that involves romance with a happily-ever-after, whether in books, movies, or real life. Sharon writes contemporary romance, as well as romantic suspense and enjoys rainy days, carpet picnics, and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. She’s been nominated for numerous awards and is the recipient of Romance Slam Jam Emma Awards for Author of the Year 2019, Favorite Hero 2019 (INDEBTED), Romantic Suspense of the Year 2015 (TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES), Interracial Romance of the Year 2015 (ALL YOU’LL EVER NEED), and BRAB (Building Relationships Around Books) Award -Breakout Author of the Year 2014. When Sharon isn’t writing, she’s hanging out with her amazing husband, doing volunteer work or reading a good book (a romance of course). To read more about Sharon and her novels, visit www.sharoncooper.net
