o Charlie and Nova are strong characters with struggles and personalities outside of their. While their personalities are very different, ultimately, Charlie and Nova deal with the same feelings of inadequacy and believing they might not deserve to be loved or happy. They both have different journeys of self-discovery and self-love, and they support each other through them. In this sense, they understand each other better than anyone else because they see each other for who they are at their core and love them for it. Since this is the last in the Lovelight series, we also check back in with the protagonists of prior books. Nova has a strong bond with her brother, Beckett, who was the main male protagonist in the second book, In the Weeds. Charlie is not from Inglewild but shows up throughout the first couple books to visit his half-sister, Stella, who owns Lovelight Farms. This allowed readers to revisit favorite characters and also adds emotional depth to Charlie and Nova’s characters.
o Setting appears to be less important in modern romances than in historical romance, but the town of Inglewild, Maryland adds so much depth to this story and has been a key part of each book in this series. Inglewild is Nova’s hometown, and it’s very important that she makes her family and town proud with her tattoo shop. Charlie is a recurring character throughout every book, popping up at random Inglewild events and integrating himself with the townspeople. A large part of Charlie’s character arc in Business Casual is him believing that he could be accepted in Inglewild and actually live there instead of in NYC. Inglewild is also a fun, close-knit, small town. The town has a phone-tree which was initially created to share important and emergency information in Inglewild but has become the main source of gossip in town. For those who read In the Weeds, you will find it hilarious to see that Beckett has joined and even participates in the phone tree to keep tabs on Nova and Charlie’s developing relationship. There’s a cast of loveable and silly townspeople who care for and support their own, adding to the cozy feel of this book.
o Charlie and Nova’s relationship is central to this story, but we also get to check in with some characters in previous books. Charlie’s relationship to Stella is very important to him, as she’s been his main supporter since they found each other. He has a very complicated relationship with his father, which informs how he relates to other characters. Nova’s family is very close, and her relationship to her brother Beckett is incredibly important to both of them. It’s so important to her that she’s actual kept him from seeing the development of her tattoo studio because she’s so afraid to disappoint him. This ends up causing some conflict in their relationship, but this conflict resolution is actually what prompts most of Nova’s character development.
o Sex is important to this book as Charlie and Nova’s relationship starts as a one night stand that turns into friends with benefits into a real romantic relationship.
o Banter is incredibly important to the romance genre according to Wyatt and Saricks, and Charlie and Nova do not disappoint. Their opposing personalities lead to quick-witted and fun banter. The author herself has described Nova and Charlie as having flirting as a love language. When they’re apart, the author utilized texting to keep the banter and flirting going, continuing to develop Charlie and Nova’s relationship.
If you would like to see more of my personal thoughts on this book and how much I love it, you can see my review on Goodreads!
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This book sounds like one that is a great book to make someone who loves people who are both super fierce and want to accomplish their own goals. It sounds like one that gives people who love reading stories that grow with the people, as well as seeing businesses and people grow together and learn to lean on other people at times. This sounds like such a fun read. This may have to go onto my list for the future.
ReplyDeleteI love this annotation! I love the spice level, I love how well written your appeals are, and I love that you included a link to your personal review. Great work!
ReplyDeleteTaylor, I am going to have to add this book to my to-be-read list. This book sounds very spicy. It is so cool to be able to read through all of these romance book annotations. My library used to send staff to Book Expo yearly, and we would pick up a lot of ARCs there.
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