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 … 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?
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Another emotional book by Denise. Highs lows, times I was cracking up laughing.
She saved the best for last in this Series.
You get a perspective of someone raped and how it effects their mentality. Scars emotionally/mentally not physical.
A different view you also see someone accused of raping(not related to the raped person). Makes you see different side of what people can struggle with.
It seems realistic the struggles, the scars, the demons the characters go through.
Denise did wonderful on getting into the heads of these characters.
By the way, Ben Masterson is now my new book boyfriend!
Caught myself smiling like an idiot too many times in this book. Just emotional, funny, heartfelt. Loved it!
Business as Usual is the third book in the Off the Subject series and focuses on Lexi. This is a standalone book but I feel that it helps to have read the previous books only because there is an overlap of the characters in this series. Reed, Lexi’s brother, was featured in the second book and I was not a huge fan of his in that book and I cannot say that this book made me feel any better about him. He probably annoyed me the most out of all of the characters.
I did like Lexi, Ben, and Caroline though, and it was interesting to see how Lexi changed throughout the book and how Ben handled her needs. Tina was a character in this book that I was hoping to learn more about because her behavior is puzzling to me. Overall, I thought the book was pretty good if you are in the mood for a book with a lot of romance and some drama.
Excellent final book to the series! The confidence that Lexi shows while “under cover’ is awesome! I love how Ben and Lexi come together. Such an adorable love story and slight mystery, as Lexi finds out why her brother starts acting odd. I felt this book was very light and carefree for me to read.
I was really hoping this wasn’t the last book in this series! I’ve come to love these characters and don’t want to see them go. Each story has been surprisingly more full of depth and more internal conflict than I originally imagined. Business as Usual follows Reed’s little sister Lexi. Lexi has been through a lot in her life, and has a secret that she keeps hidden away from most people. She meets a boy named Ben and has to learn how to juggle the experiences of her past and well as regaining her confidence in her current relationship. She and Reed also have to learn to balance her freedom and his over protectiveness as a big brother. Such a great and heartfelt series, five stars!
In the second book in the series I feel like Lexi is a bit naive but she certainly proved me wrong in this book! I was left in shock! Other than the shock value in this book it is a great story. It did tend to raise my blood pressure as I read about Reed’s actions and the secret Ben is hiding from Lexi. It was definitely a page turner and kept me up at night wanting to get to the end!