Book Review: Business as Usual

Business as Usual (Off the Subject #3) by Denise Grover Swank

Lexi Pendergraft has given up on finding love after a disastrous encounter with her last boyfriend. Instead, she focuses on two things: One, setting up a summer program for underprivileged middle-school aged students. And the second, getting to the bottom of her brother Reed’s recent strange behavior. His secret is destroying his relationship with his fiancée Caroline, and Lexi will do anything to help him save it. Especially after he gave up his dream to give Lexi a chance at a semi-normal college experience, something her parents threatened to steal from her after her rape a year ago.

Ben Masterson is determined to make it through his final semester of his senior year at Southern University. After recently losing his full ride scholarship, he’s suffering from sleep deprivation while trying to keep up with his mechanical engineering courses and working three part time jobs. He thinks he’s lucked out getting a job in the university math lab. The only problem is his boss—Reed Pendergraft.

As part of a role in a community theater play, Lexi wears a black wig and feels a confidence she hasn’t experienced in over a year. When she wears it to a bar close to the theater, she doesn’t think Ben, a bartender there, recognizes her. While Ben’s intrigued about what she’s up to, he’s smart enough to stay far away from his overprotective boss’s sister. Until fate forces him to help her, but why won’t she tell him her real identity?

Paperback

Expected publication: April 10th 2014 

I receive an ARC to review Business as Usual  . . . I do not own this book

Book Review

Lexi's life turns upside down when something horrid happen and she doesn't get justice and instead she has to hide. She has to create a new identity in order to protect herself but also regain herself as a person when she believe she was stripped, tainted, and humiliated by one person.

Ben had the ideal life, he had the scholarship, the will to succeed, and graduate in time but then one selfish person was deem to destroy everything he works hard for and that person did destroy his life. Now Ben has to work extra time and basically lose all of his social life because he want to finish what he started before that one person destroy it.

Both Ben and Lexi both have something to redeem themselves but can they do it alone or will they need to redeem themselves by helping each other.

Business as Usual present two unlikely people who seem to have the perfect life however when you get deeper into their lives, not everything is as it seems.

Denise created two halves of a story that make mending a love story works, a hidden identity behind the mask that both characters wears. ~ 4.5 Cat's Tails Up review


MEOW . . . MEOW . . . MEOW

I've only read a few books by Denise and each one that I read were different themes/characters/series, now reading a whole different book by her isn't a surprise to me that I love it. Business as Usual has a unique set of characters with their own demons to fight against. 

They're not driven by their demons, they're reminded of their demons and the after-effect that lingers with them, both Lexi and Ben have something to redeem themselves for and that's why their relationship just might work because it's about redeeming but also finding themselves again.

Lexi had her life taken away when a guy essentially held her against her will and tainted her in such a way that even when she was willing to make a stand, she couldn't because the guy was made of money and money always sweep things under the rug. But Lexi still has the lingering thought of "Did I give up to easy?"

Ben has always been on the right track, but he's made some decision and during one of his certain female fling that ends up labeling him something that he thought he would never be accuse of . . . a Rapist. 

Ben and Lexi eventually come across each other and both have some sort of chemistry between each other that makes each of them forget their demons and focus on the now and the future TOGETHER.

I love how Ben was the one that quickly fell in love with Lexi first rather than the other way around, he didn't care what her demons were or how over-protective her brother was he was interested in HER and he wanted to know her.

Lexi was very self-conscious even after the Ben knew who she was in her black wig that she wore, but she still remains that way through their time together because she didn't know if anyone else could provide that comfort and protection that her OVERLY-PROTECTIVE brother have done.