ARC Review: "Business Casual" by B.K. Borison (Lovelight #4) ★★★★★

ARC Review: Business Casual by B.K. Borison

B.K. Borison has concluded her Lovelight series beautifully. This book is a great combination of all things cosy and spicy. Containing tropes of grumpy x sunshine, opposites attract, friends with benefits to lovers alongside cute, spicy, hilarious and vulnerable moments, it was so easy to both read and love this.

“Maybe we can call it business casual,” I say slowly.
His hands tighten on my hips. “What does that mean?” he laughs.
“Business casual,” I say again, the idea growing on me. Yes, that’s exactly what I want. Something casual but with parameters in place so neither of us can hurt the other.

[Contains some spoilers]

PLOT SUMMARY
26-year-old Nova, the youngest of the Porter siblings, watches on at the wedding of Luka and Stella Peters (the couple from “Lovelight Farms”). She has been working hard on trying to open her tattoo shop in Inglewild called Ink & Wild, and her sister Harper suggests she should relax and have fun.

She takes this rather literally as she is called to the dancefloor by Charlie Milford, Stella’s brother, an investment banker from New York who is as goofy as he is charming. He has flirted with Nova on previous occasions and he is not her type. He will be down taking care of the farm while Stella goes on her honeymoon with Luka, meaning he is conveniently on the town committee with Nova.

Nova decides that for one night they should hook up to get things out of their systems. At first Charlie is not sure about it because her brother Beckett is his best friend. Of course, feelings are caught and they both end up wanting more. They would rather have some of each other than none at all so decide to have a “business casual”, a casual September fling for a month with some rules in place. But will even that be enough for them?

OVERALL OPINIONS
This is the final installment of the Lovelight series and frankly I am annoyed at myself for not finding this series sooner, but am so glad to have been there for the final book. I am sure I will check out the other stories because I enjoyed this so much (potentially Christmas time) and, if needs be, update this review if new thoughts take place.

Discovering it is part of the series makes so much sense as to why there were so many characters and a sense that somehow I was jumping in and was partly meant to know the characters – but how everyone’s story is told/reminded to the reader made it easy to follow. This book could be read as a standalone, which I always like.

This book is what Tessa Bailey’s “Too Hot To Handle” should have been like! It had similar vibes with the grumpy x sunshine, secret flings, and opposites attract, but in comparison, it was far more shallow and convenient where every time Rita leaves something happens and she doesn’t. In this story here, we have far more realistic moments and a point where Charlie does need to leave and you feel the distance between them.

<< Positives >>
ㅤㅤwriting
🠚 There was a very clever moment with the writing and that is chapter 26, which solely consists of a compilation of Nova and Charlie’s texting exchanges when he is away in New York. As the chapter goes on, the length of the texts and conversations get shorter so that by the end of the chapter, there are missed calls. This all shows how further apart they are drifting through their long distance relationship.
🠚 I love the maturity of Nova and Charlie, the way that if something bothers them they will come out with it even if it takes the other person to encourage them to open up. It is literally cleared up or resolved within a few chapters, if not the very same one (the longest unresolved moment is at the start where there are some miscommunications between them). This feels realistic, acting the age that they are.
🠚 I loved the scene between Nova and her brother Beckett when he comforts and encourages her when she admits she is scared she will fail in her tattoo shop and not live up to his expectations. “All I did was believe in you. You were the one who was brave enough to try it”.
🠚 This book is teeming with beautiful words. Usually, something that is spoken by some character or other rather than within the narrative itself.
🠚 I like that this is the reverse grumpy x sunshine trope in the sense that Nova is the grumpy one and Charlie is the sunshine golden retriever.
🠚 Some people will be pleased to hear that there are no third act breakups. I heard that this is something Borison tends to do in her stories so it is nice that she has taken the public’s feedback on about this and ensured this doesn’t happen here. It is quite a common trope to do, and understandable in most cases, but it is nice if there isn’t one.
🠚 There was a good mixture of serious and humorous moments, which brings me to my next point.

ㅤㅤhumour
I had a lot of fun reading this. I have rarely read a book where I have laughed out loud – and at more than one bit. This was one of them, I laughed so much reading this, never a dull moment! A lot of these moments were made up of the very wholesome but funny family which would have to be the second-best thing about this book besides the romance itself. I have to name some of the moments as I am smiling just thinking of them:
• Beckett and Layla having a falling out but then when he explains the situation she goes from being a grump to “Goddamn it, Beckett! I can’t be mad now! That’s romantic!” I giggled.
• Gus and Montgomery bickering about art the way one of them is like “What do you know about art? You can barely write your name.” and the description of “Gus gasps like Montgomery just pulled out a knife and stabbed him directly in the heart.“ I imagined it so well haha! He was so offended, bless. • when Beckett comes to check on Nova but she is in bed with Charlie who panics and leaves through the window, quoting Romeo and Juliet’s “But soft, what light through yonder window—” interrupted by Nova’s “Oh my god”
• finding out the whole family knows about said window incident
• “What’s going on with you?” bursts out of her, a whispered accusation.
ㅤㅤ“Me?” I rub at my arm where she bulldozed into me. “I’m not the one bodily accosting people in dark hallways.”
• “I told Evie I’d call her for this.” “For what?” Beckett taps at his screen and places his phone into the middle of the table while it rings. “For the moment you enter reality.”
ㅤㅤEvelyn answers on the second ring. “Is it happening?”
ㅤㅤI love how the family is so involved and invested!
• when everyone gathers at Nova’s house at 2am
• I snicker. He turns his attention to me. “What are you laughing about? You weren’t exactly forthcoming either.”
ㅤㅤThe smile slips off my face. “That feels vaguely hypocritical, Mr. Elope-in-the-Middle-of-the-Day.”
ㅤㅤ“This isn’t about me.”
ㅤㅤI had hysterics!

<< Negatives >>
🠚 I feel it jumped into things too quickly at the start of the book. I expected more of a buildup. But overall I did not mind.
🠚 I keep getting Stella and Selene’s names muddled, which is my own fault but two S names have me stumped.

CHARACTERS
*⁀➷ Similarities
• Both Nova and Charlie believe they don’t deserve what they have or want but for different reasons: Nova feels she has to work all by herself to prove she’s capable; Charlie feels that his desire to be away from work and stay in Inglewild (or just any desire) are selfish of him and therefore undeserved.
• Both of them also struggle with the idea of disappointing someone if they fail.
• Both tell people they are fine but are actually really struggling.
I see a bit of myself in both of them but mostly in Charlie

-ˋˏ ꒰ Nova꒱ ˎˊ-
↳ There was a lot about Nova I personally didn’t relate to. But she is a perfectionist, like me, and also has to walk “two of my steps for every one of his” due to her short height SAME GURL. I too am the youngest of my siblings and just as protective of them as they are of me. I also relate to what she says about her achievements “I’ve been waiting for this feeling. Not quite I made it, but I can fucking do it.” – this is how I’ve been feeling recently. I have been stumbling not sure of my future or career path. Finally, I feel like I know what I want to do.
-ˋˏ ꒰ Charlie꒱ ˎˊ-
↳ Ahhh Charlie boy. He’s an angel! I just want to hug him! He is so kind and selfless, he is a thoughtful gift-giver, he remembers your favorite coffee, memorises how you like to drape your blanket over you, and brings forms you forget to fill out. He will sit with you through your migraine, encourage you, make you laugh. He loves classic films and historical romance novels. Also the way he says “Nova girl” aww! But he can also be very sexy, can hold your throat while you kiss.
🠚 I relate more to him because he is a people pleaser, and I also struggle with confrontation. “I’m happiest when the people around me are happy. I’m uncomfortable when there’s tension and I want to be liked.” I relate so so so much to this. I also like to be very organised like him.
🠚 Also, I adore the amount of consent and the way Charlie asks Nova what she wants and if this or that is okay just ahhh GREEN FLAG GALORE!
🠚 It is ashame his dad gives him so much hell but I love Charlie’s growth in the sense that he has the strength to cut his father off.
🠚 There is a moment where Nova says she doesn’t know “what to with the information that Charlie recommends historical romance to his friends” – I know exactly what to do with that: MARRY HIM!! I love how he helps Nova through her migraine.

FAV QUOTES
• He is either trying to organize a complicated line dance or a revolt against the DJ. It’s not clear.
• The music feels far away, nothing but me and Nova and the twinkling lights overhead. A flower petal in her hair and her hand in mine.
• I swear to god I need a road map with this woman. I never have any idea what she’s thinking.
• She shivers, and I’d offer her my jacket if I had it. She’d probably light it on fire.
• A bubble-wrapped heart. I know I’m not soft. I know I’m not gentle. I can be abrupt and to the point. But I don’t think I’m unapproachable. I don’t think I’m cold.
• I love that he called it my art and not my ink, because that’s what I think of it too.
• Every time I’m with her, it’s like a vacuum of time and space until there’s nothing but her smokey laugh and her dark blond hair. Careful touches and wicked grins.
• “Asking for help doesn’t make you less deserving of anything you’ve already achieved on your own.”
• “You noticed.” His eyes are soft. Knowing. “I always notice you, Nova girl.”
• “your eyes remind me of page seventy-three in the Encyclopedia of Plants and Flowers. Forget- me- not blue.”
• “I’ve never been anyone’s favorite,” he whispers. “Well,” I say, feeling defensive. “You’re mine.”
• Laughing and talking and fucking and driving and kissing and sharing and stealing blankets in the dead of night. A tattoo on my wrist and my heart in my throat.
• It’s nothing special and everything wonderful at exactly the same time.
• “I don’t think I’ve ever been this happy in my life, Nova girl.” “Me too.”

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I received an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review, and I’d like to thank B.K. Borison, Pan Macmillan and NetGalley for the opportunity. This has not affected my opinion in any way.

“Business Casual” is out July 16th