Dreamy and Karter meet when he visits the company where she's working, somewhat unhappily. They come from different socio-economic backgrounds - he's got money and she doesn't. Dreamy has been playing the lottery with her grandfather (he's terrific) in the hopes of winning money to pay for her education among other things. He's a venture capitalist and philanthropist who is reviewing his life and actions in light of the recent untimely death of a friend. He knows he has to make changes but can he bridge the gap with Dreamy (and deal with his family)? You'll root for her to overcome her own insecurities. Thanks to netgalley for the ARC. Trope-y for sure but rom com fans might enjoy it.

I really liked the premise of this story. I thought it was going to be super cute and I’m sad that it didn’t work out for me. I struggled staying invested.

It’s cutesie and lighthearted. Grumpy / sunshine (love that always). The heroine Dreamy is a badass, driven businesswoman. I liked how quirky and confident she was. There’s definitely some funny and tender moments. The relationship conflict being their large socioeconomic differences in their upbringings and that was brought up a lot.

Karter as a character felt so misogynistic. How he talked about his exes (I get it- but also always a red flag for me when anyone feels the need to trash their exes to new partners) but even how he talked about his sister.

My main issue was the writing. It didn’t flow well to me. Some of the character dialogue felt so cringey. It was like being in the head of a millennial MLMer and it made it hard for me to stay connected to the story.

Not a favorite for me, but I still encourage others to see if they’ll like it.

I liked this story a lot. I love their "meet cute" and how their relationship slowly built. I enjoyed their chemistry and how they complimented each other. I also appreciated their approach to their respective pasts and how they worked towards overcoming them in order to find their way to each other. There is also a nice balance between the romance and humor between the characters. I finished this book quickly because I was really enjoying it!

This was a wonderful adult contemporary romance! Dreamy was a great main character, and I loved her relationship with Karter. And I really liked the epilogue! Overall, I would definitely recommend to anyone who thinks it sounds good!

I received an e-ARC from the publisher.

DNF. Has a great premise, but bogged down by problematic elements and cringe. I generally liked the instant chemistry between Dreamy and Karter, but when she had a vivid sexual fantasy about him at 23%, I cringed super hard. Add to that what I’ve heard about the over-emphasis on her end of the class difference and his constant judginess of other women, including his family, in comparison to her, and I find myself struggling to maintain my investment.

From the first paragraph, I knew this book would be a good one. I immersed myself into the book from the first chapter and I cannot say enough good things about this book! Honestly amazing! The writing is incredible and the plot is just one to die for. I am absolutely obsessed with this book. My favorite part would have to be the character development throughout the book. Character development is something I look forward to and this book did not disappoint.

This was a cutesie, light-hearted read, and I adored every minute!

Dreamy and Karter are absolutely delightful together. I loved the relationship building in this story. Their relationship really progressed perfectly, and when they finally make things official it’s HEART EYES EVERYWHERE.

Dreamy may be the main character, but Karter stole the show! He was definitely my favorite character! His attitude, wit, and affection make him someone you can’t wait to see on the page.

The story takes you on a few ups and downs, mainly in Dreamy’s personal life. I did get a little frustrated with Dreamy’s attitude towards other peoples thoughts and feelings towards her. Mainly because when she thinks about it, it felt like a pity party instead of the growth she needed. But other than that, her character was super fun and flirty!

Thank you Berkley Romance and NetGalley for an eARC! This review is being left voluntarily, all opinions are my own!

Thank you to Berkley and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review

CW: death of a friend, grief, emotionally abusive relationship (past), family tensions

I really enjoyed the first half of this book. The random meeting, the insta attraction. Two people not looking for love and just bumping into it. The first date that could have been a disaster but laughter and just enjoyment turned it around. Two very driven individuals recognizing that in the other.

But when this book hit the 50% mark I'm not sure how else to put it, it drifted. Motives, and the overarching plot were no longer clear. The moments between the couple were summarized rather than on page making this insta love and difficult to invest in their relationship. The ending leaned on external drama that hadn't been built up much in the first half.

Ultimately a low angst mid-heat book that I think many will enjoy just not the book I felt like had been promised in the first half.

Steam: 3

The beginning of this was so cute and fun, and then the middle of this was so cute and fun, and then the ending was too?

Since when is that possible.

This is just a cute and fun book I guess. It wasn't perfect for me - it was a little silly and a little fairytaley and I found the characters a little forgettable - but it was cute and fun.

I think that's all I have to say?

Bottom line: Cute, fun, what else matters.

Thanks to Berkley for inviting me to read this. Unfortunately, I began to lose interest pretty soon into the story. Karter and Dreamy are just super horny for each other from the start and reading through other reviews here, it seems like there are some issues with misogyny and class, which are already very apparent in the early chapters. Class difference as a conflict is one thing. To have it be the ongoing insecurity factor that holds a woman back in a contemporary romance...I just find that tedious. I may finish this at a later time.

Words cannot express how fun this read was. I loved every aspect of this book. The characters, the story and hello, the outfits.

Sharon C. Cooper has a wonderful way with words. She can take a simple explanation and turn it into something so colorful and wonderful to the mind. I love how strong Dreamy is and how she became that way. And lets not forget her sense of fashion. Cooper must have an amazing wardrobe to pull her inspiration from, because I don't know how she could make this stuff up.

Karter has a wonderful demeanor and air about him. He never looks down on those around him and always knows how to put rude people in their place. I was drooling over him.

This was a great read. I can't wait to see what else Cooper has to offer.

My review will go live on my blog, Book Confessions on 3-29-22.

Thank you so much for an advanced copy of Business Not As Usual. This was a cute read!

Star Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Pub Date: April 5, 2022

Overall, I liked this book. I thought it was a cute story, and I liked Dreamy and Karter. Their interactions were enjoyable, and I felt like they had good chemistry. I also really liked that Dreamy had this big personality that made her almost a tangible character to me as a reader. I could almost feel her joy bouncing off the pages at times! I also (shamelessly) enjoyed the steam in this book. Read with a fan and a bottle of water if necessary. 😂

That being said, I did not enjoy all the negativity that this book employed. Dreamy was constantly pointing out the discrepancies between her and Karter's social standing, and honestly, it just got annoying by the end of the book. I also got bored with the drama in the story, and I wasn't sold on the lottery.

I think this book has a lot of positives that will make others like it, but for me, this book was just an okay three star romance. Nothing about it really stood out to me from the group of romance novels I read every month.

This was a fairly quick read. SHaron C Cooper is one of my fav writers, a hallmark of Black romance and this on was super cute. I love any type of Cinderella trope and it was great. Dreamy was the kind of girl you root for automatically (I mean, I couldnt say that off the bat for the male MC). Overall, it was an enjoyable read.

This was fun! I enjoyed the characters for the most part and liked the dynamic between them. At times I found them a bit irritating but that didn’t take me out of the book at all. I would definitely recommend this!

Business Not As Usual is a story for the every-person.  You, slugging away at your coffee, stuck in a dead end job, living in a bad neighborhood, dealing with crappy relatives.  This is your book, and if you wanna escape into a fluffy Cinderella fantasy, you’re going to enjoy it.

The wonderfully-named Dreamy Daniels has plans to make it big.  Though she’s currently stuck in a growing pot, with a day job and a crumby apartment, sitting a few credits shy of her bachelor’s degree, she knows someday her destiny will be fulfilled and she will win the lottery.  Someday she will be her own boss, thanks to this tradition she and her grandfather have established.

Enter the gorgeous, suave Karter Redford, venture capitalist.  Dreamy’s goal is to impress this man so he’ll invest in the company she works for and please her boss. Karter is not only handsome, debonair, and the owner of genes descended from an actor and a socialite, he’s incredibly dedicated to charity work, too. Talk about the perfect guy. The problem is, poor Dreamy comes from a whole different universe than rich Karter – and aside from their professional connection, they’re going to have to swim through a lot of class differences before finally achieving togetherness.

Life isn’t all roses for Dreamy, even though much of Business Not As Usual is a sweet fairytale.  She has difficulties with her mother – who is trying to make amends for abandoning her when she was young - she has next to no money and must live on her hopes and dreams, and it all makes her eminently easy to root for.  Her grandfather is an incredible character, and their loving relationship is wonderful.

Karter is, of course, Prince Charming incarnate; handsome, caring, loving, and good in the bedroom.  But he’s not perfect, and Dreamy sees and loves his flaws.  Their romance is filled with chemistry, which makes their love scenes sparkle.

The entire novel is a whirlwind of frothy, Cinderella-style romance.  Dreamy attains her hopes and dreams and beats down the snobs (and tough family history) that lies behind her.  Business Not As Usual is easy to slide into, like a hot toddy, a box of good chocolate, or a fuzzy sweater.  It’s warm, friendly and tender – a fantastic romance novel, and a totally satisfying one.

Buy it at: Amazon, Audible or your local independent retailer
Visit our Amazon Storefront

After contemplating for a couple weeks, I’m still unsure what to say about this novel. I loved about 2/3 of it and then something happened that took me completely out of the story with how ridiculous it was. So I’ll give it 3.5 stars I guess.

Dreamy is a colorful, strong, and loyal black woman who would make an awesome friend. She gets noticed by a handsome millionaire not only for her looks but for her kindness, competency, and grace. She doesn’t come from money, but she has big dreams. There are a lot of funny moments when silly things happen to her, but she handles them with such class that you respect her even more, and you can’t help but root for the relationship.

Big thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

When I first started this book, I was enjoying it. I liked the first few scenes of Dreamy and Karter interacting. When Karter first saw Dreamy in person, he was immediately attracted to her not only physically but also her lively and positive personality.

Unfortunately, the story went downhill from there for me. I didn't like that Dreamy was constantly thinking about or commenting on what she saw as an unbalanced relationship between her and Karter. She kept seeing him as out of her league and herself as less than because he was rich and from a different social world and that irked me. I also didn't like that the story was mostly a string of bad luck for her and malicious people (their exes, their mothers, her boss) being nasty to them. It created too much drama for my taste. And the lottery thing was strange, in my opinion. I won't go into detail here to avoid spoiling the plot, but I was scratching my head at that.

Sure, there were a lot of things I didn't like about this book, but I really think that many others could like this book. If you enjoy books with lots of entertaining drama and hot sex scenes, pick up this book!

Steam level: 🔥🔥🔥
⚠️: death of a loved one, depression

3.5 rounded up! A little back and forth here but I was entertained.

Heads up that it is, like the title might suggest, an office-ish romance with both an age and wealth gap. The age gap was no biggie for me, given their respective ages - 28 and about 38.

Okay, good things first!

Dreamy is very relatable. She's still pursuing an undergraduate degree in the latter half of her twenties, she's an independent self-starter, and she reliably helps support the family.

I didn't care for the "she's not like other girls" attitude Karter adopts (ugh that trope again!) but you can't deny Dreamy's a protagonist with flavor. She likes to dress flamboyantly, has relatable money woes, and speaks frankly about her love for wigs. I was laughing aloud at a scene with a runaway afro wig.

The insta-lust was funny because you just...Suspend rational thought, and imagine this millionaire and secretary eyefucking each other at a first professional business meeting, and I was chuckling. I could see this easily as a romcom because it's so ridiculous in a fun way.

This leads me into the main con: you gotta suspend your disbelief. Like you're watching a Lifetime movie. I found it hard to believe a really organized, efficient secretary would forget to pay utility bills. Or could get so lost in lustful daydreams at work that she makes embarassing noises. Then there's her cute but preposterous belief that she's gonna win the lottery any day and fund her own business.

Karter's frequent maligning of his exes does at times read like misogyny, it should be noted.

But you know what, when I didn't look too closely this was cute, AND conflicts were smoothed over quickly. We need fluff in these times, and hot love scenes, and ridiculous cushy happy endings!

Kudos to the cover artist, too, I like it a lot.

Thanks to Netgalley and Chelsea Pascoe over at Berkley for reaching out to me first with an ARC!

Karter never saw her coming, but once he met Dreamy, he was determined to make her a part of his world.

This is my first Cooper book, and I have to say, it was quite a treat. I tend to go on and on about the heroes in the romances I read, and don’t worry I will, but first, I want to sing the praises for the heroine. I had no problem understanding why Karter was drawn to Dreamy. She was vibrant, full of life, goal orientated, and big hearted. Her life had not been easy, but Dreamy never gave up. I loved that she lived out loud and chased down her dreams, but I especially delighted in her love of the lottery. This quote earned Dreamy a place in my heart. It’s not my thing, but you know, whatever gets you through, right? I thought it was a fun quirk of hers, and I chuckled with every lottery mention.

I am beautiful. I am confident. I am lovable. I am a lottery winner.

Now, time for some hero worship because I loved Karter too. He made a hard play for Dreamy, and he wasn’t shy about expressing his feelings verbally or via actions. He was an interesting blend of a sort-of-alpha caretaker, but also really in touch with his emotions. I adored this pairing, mostly because Karter treated Dreamy the way she deserved to be treated. Considerate, caring, and supportive, he was there for Dreamy in a way she was not accustomed to and cared for her.

The main conflict in this story was the drastically different socioeconomic backgrounds Dreamy and Karter came from. Dreamy didn’t have much, while Karter was raised with, and still enjoyed, incredible wealth. Cooper did a great job exploring this issue, and I rather liked how she worked it out.

Honestly, I loved these two! I can’t wait for readers to fall for Dreamy, and Kater was the perfect match for her.😍 That man did and said things that had the happy tears flowing. The book was packed with many amusing moment, but also, extremely tender moments. Needless to say, I was smiling a lot as I read this book.

Overall: A fun grumpy-sunshine romance that had a lot of heart.

3.5 stars
Dreamy Daniels relies on her positive attitude and vision for her future to get through her unfulfilling job as she struggles to finish her bachelors. Part of her plan is to win the lottery, which she plays with her ailing grandfather. She’s quirky and bubbly but struggles with self-doubt. She’s clever and driven and relatable, the sort of person you want to be friends with.

Karter Redford is a venture capitalist who comes from money and focuses too much on work. After his friend’s death at 40, he decides to make some changes. The two meet when Karter comes to invest in the tech company Dreamt works for and there’s an instant attraction. Karter’s interest in Dreamy had a strong “not like other girls” vibe, but I don’t mind this in the attraction phase. He quickly begins to appreciate Dreamy for her own sake without comparing her to his failed relationships.

The romantic comedy element fell flat for me. Some of their early interactions that were supposed to be cute made me cringe. I felt second-hand embarrassment or was rolling my eyes, but other readers might laugh.

This is such a feel-good love story, but I struggled with the ending. I wanted to see more character growth. Instead, things happened to them that made them change. They didn’t come to those decisions on their own. I wanted Dreamy and Karter to reach all of her goals and be happy, but key aspects of the ending were unbelievable for me. They were such likable characters, though; you have to cheer for them.