Business Not as Usual by Sharon C. Cooper

e-Audio, 08:55:24
Narrated by: Marcella Cox
Release Date: April 5, 2022
Published by: Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group
Read from: April 11-14, 2022
Stand-alone (Although I am keeping my fingers crossed for her sister’s story……….)
Source: Library’s Libby
TW: Bad Parental Relationship
For Readers Interested In: Contemporary Romance, Black Romance, Adult, Social Class Diversity, Racial/Ethnic Diversity, Realistic Fiction, POC on the cover, POC MC, TW/CW

      A woman learns the hard way about mixing business with pleasure in this hilarious new romantic comedy by USA Today bestselling author Sharon C. Cooper.
     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.

*MY THOUGHTS*

I never, and I mean never, thought I would read a book about a grown woman named Dreamy who told herself every day that she would win the Lottery, but here we are lol As someone with a name that people ask all the time if that’s my real name, I’m sad to say when I read this synopsis, even I was saying, “that can’t be her real name…” But as it turns out, it was… Andddd I related to her more than just the weird real name.

Dreamy has known all along that she would win the lottery and she’s already got plans to use the money she wins on her family and the non-profit she wants to open up. In the meantime she’s working for a terrible man who unfortunately owns a decent company. When big tech guru Karter Redford turns up at her job to meet with her boss, they’re both taken aback on how they are instantly attracted to each other. But Dreamy wants and needs no distractions with all her focus on her business proposal and getting out of her boss’ employment. But Karter is proving to be one distraction she doesn’t seem to mind.

Ok I want to start by saying this…. This is mostly a fade to black story. But don’t say you won’t read it because of that. There’s an office scene and there’s some mentions of touching, but for the most part I would say it’s like a 2 on my spice scale. And on top of that, there’s only two spicy scenes. But as someone who knows BookTokers, I know y’all like the spice lol I’m just saying, don’t miss out on this one because it’s less spicy.

As for the rest of the romance, I thought it was really sweet. Karter is a sweetheart and is a hopeless romantic. There’s short mention of some of the things he does for Dreamy, but I wish she had shown it more. I wish there had been more of that shown vs the amount of time we see his mom. But that’s besides the point. As for Dreamy, she is so stubborn and head strong. She needed so much help, but she was so proud that she wouldn’t even let him help her. I get saying no in the beginning, but later on, when y’all are actually together and you’re having some types of problems that he could help with, why not get the help? lol This book basically solidified my dislike for billionaire romances. I always feel like a fictional gold digger because I would have taken it lmao But the two of them together was super cute.

Them separately was also pretty cute. Karter was stubborn and had working and I knew where that was going as soon as they mentioned that he never stopped and he was 40. I was scared the whole book that something was going to happen. And Dreamy, I related to her more than I thought I would. We both have the “weird” names, I too had someone close to me that would play the Lottery constantly, and I once had dreams of opening a non-profit with no money to back it. (But I just became a librarian instead and started pushing diverse books that way) I wasn’t expecting to like her so much, but this one kind of snuck up on me.

However, I did not like the ending. Although I was happy that I didn’t need to see all of that in an epilogue, but Lawd, it was SO RUSHED. It was like one thing after another. I don’t want to say what it was for spoilers, but let’s just say this book takes place over a couple months apparently and there’s no epilogue. Take a guess on what I mean by that lol If you really want to know, leave me a comment and I’ll find a way to let you know!

So, the TL; DR is this was a cute read, but I don’t think it’s something I’d think about again. Even though I had a lot in common with her and I thought the romance was cute, that’s all this really was. The chemistry was ok and the romance wasn’t really shown, but it was still just cute.

Overall, I gave this

Real Rating 3.5 but I rounded up for Goodreads.