Business Casual (Lovelight)
AN INSTANT USA TODAY BESTSELLER! Two opposites decide to test their chemistry with one steamy night together. But will once be enough? Nova Porter isn't looking for love, and she certainly has no explanation for her attraction to buttoned-up, three-piece-suit-wearing investment banker Charlie Milford. Maybe it's his charm? Or maybe it's his determination to help her fledgling business however he can. Either way, she's distracted every time he's around. With her new tattoo studio set to open in her hometown of Inglewild, she doesn't have time for frivolous flirtations. In an effort to get Charlie out of her system once and for all, Nova offers a proposition. One night. No strings. They'll kick their uncomfortable attraction to the curb and return to their respective responsibilities. But their explosive night together scatters their expectations like fallen leaves. And with Charlie in town as the temporary head of Lovelight Farms, Nova can't quite avoid him. And Charlie? Well, Charlie knows a good investment when he sees one. He's hoping he can convince Nova he's worth some of her time.
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Community Reviews
An unsatisfying end to an otherwise fun series! Don't get me wrong, this book wasn't abhorrently bad - but I could not wait for it to over. My two main issues were its length and Nova's character. Although I am familiar with Borison having slightly longer than necessary books, this one just dragged on for way too long. There was no real plot to keep the story interesting or to keep the conversations/settings/actions from reverting back to the same things that we already read the chapter before. This, coupled with the fact that Nova and Charlie pretty much agree to be friends-with-benefits (exclusively - no seeing anyone else!) in the beginning and immediately catch feelings, meant that the story just felt like it could have ended a lot earlier than it did. Then when I thought that the book was finally ending because they confessed their feelings to each other and agreed to try a long-distance relationship, I realized my audiobook still had ANOTHER WHOLE HOUR left. Imagine my surprise! They were already together - what else was there to say?! Safe to say the 12 hour audiobook length could have been cut in half.
Another reason the book felt so long was because of Nova's character. She was just so bland and boring, and when she wasn't boring she was annoying. I simply could not wrap my head around her motivations. The novel begins with her at a wedding saying that she has no interest in relationship and at one point in the novel she describes her own heart as being "broken and rusted" with disuse and that she has it "bubble wrapped". It was never explained why exactly she did not want a relationship, what she has against being in one, or why her heart is broken or why she feels she must protect it. This makes it hard to understand why she didn't want to catch feelings for Charlie.
I also did not understand her motivations any time she created a fight with Charlie. First, she takes her anger over her brother out on Charlie when he has nothing to do with it. Then she tells him that they are nothing, not even friends, yet gets mad when Charlie isn't jumping at the opportunity to tell her all of his secrets and life wishes. If she was aiming for Charlie to open up more to her, I am sure pushing him away or creating an argument is not the way to do it. She is described as the youngest Porter sibling, and it certainly shows in the way she throws tantrums when she doesn't get her way. She is simply always grumpy and I do not see a real reason for it; she has a loving family, she's opening her dream tattoo parlor, and is sleeping with the guy she lusts after. Her only real tangible characteristic is that she has a fear of failure and shattering everyone's perfect image of her, which I can understand but also causes her to have massive insecurities that circle back to her lashing out at Charlie in frustration. If they were a real relationship it would be a toxic mix because of Nova's misguided anger and Charlie's need to please and feel loved.
Speaking of Charlie, he was the main redeeming quality of this novel. He was such a relatable and lovable character. He just wanted to feel like he belonged, to find a group of friends and a family that would accept him and choose to love him for him with no strings attached, which is what everybody wants. He was an absolute sweetheart to everyone and it felt really sincere; my heart feel for him when he questioned people's feelings towards him or his place in the town. Although towards the end of the novel his insecurities did go a little over board and had me rolling my eyes at how he was acting around Nova, he was largely likeable. Quite literally every other character in this novel was not enjoyable - even the characters I loved in previous novels. Beckett was an overbearing big brother with no boundaries, Layla was presumptuous and thought she had a right to know everyone's personal life details, and all the other small town side characters that normally made me smile or laugh instead had me rolling my eyes or cringing. Four novels of the same shenanigans became too much.
I might be in the minority here, but Business Casual was the weakest novel in the Lovelight Farms series for me. I think that if the series focused on the three business owners of Lovelight Farms instead of branching out to side characters, it would have stayed strong.
Another reason the book felt so long was because of Nova's character. She was just so bland and boring, and when she wasn't boring she was annoying. I simply could not wrap my head around her motivations. The novel begins with her at a wedding saying that she has no interest in relationship and at one point in the novel she describes her own heart as being "broken and rusted" with disuse and that she has it "bubble wrapped". It was never explained why exactly she did not want a relationship, what she has against being in one, or why her heart is broken or why she feels she must protect it. This makes it hard to understand why she didn't want to catch feelings for Charlie.
I also did not understand her motivations any time she created a fight with Charlie. First, she takes her anger over her brother out on Charlie when he has nothing to do with it. Then she tells him that they are nothing, not even friends, yet gets mad when Charlie isn't jumping at the opportunity to tell her all of his secrets and life wishes. If she was aiming for Charlie to open up more to her, I am sure pushing him away or creating an argument is not the way to do it. She is described as the youngest Porter sibling, and it certainly shows in the way she throws tantrums when she doesn't get her way. She is simply always grumpy and I do not see a real reason for it; she has a loving family, she's opening her dream tattoo parlor, and is sleeping with the guy she lusts after. Her only real tangible characteristic is that she has a fear of failure and shattering everyone's perfect image of her, which I can understand but also causes her to have massive insecurities that circle back to her lashing out at Charlie in frustration. If they were a real relationship it would be a toxic mix because of Nova's misguided anger and Charlie's need to please and feel loved.
Speaking of Charlie, he was the main redeeming quality of this novel. He was such a relatable and lovable character. He just wanted to feel like he belonged, to find a group of friends and a family that would accept him and choose to love him for him with no strings attached, which is what everybody wants. He was an absolute sweetheart to everyone and it felt really sincere; my heart feel for him when he questioned people's feelings towards him or his place in the town. Although towards the end of the novel his insecurities did go a little over board and had me rolling my eyes at how he was acting around Nova, he was largely likeable. Quite literally every other character in this novel was not enjoyable - even the characters I loved in previous novels. Beckett was an overbearing big brother with no boundaries, Layla was presumptuous and thought she had a right to know everyone's personal life details, and all the other small town side characters that normally made me smile or laugh instead had me rolling my eyes or cringing. Four novels of the same shenanigans became too much.
I might be in the minority here, but Business Casual was the weakest novel in the Lovelight Farms series for me. I think that if the series focused on the three business owners of Lovelight Farms instead of branching out to side characters, it would have stayed strong.
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