Book Review: The Shop Owner and the Billionaire Developer

Title: The Shop Owner and the Billionaire Developer

Author: Josie Frost

Date: 2023

Quote: "I dig in and begin setting plans for all the upgrades I hope to accomplish."

Harper has always wanted to keep the "dry goods and sundries" store that's been passed down to her through an aunt. She also wants a human partner (at the beginning of the story she has a cat). Paul seems like an ideal partner for life, but is he only a tourist? Or worse, is he planning to "develop" property on the edge of town in a way that will suction traffic away from Main Street stores like hers?

Paul is one of those men who have difficulty bringing up sensitive topics until they can bellow "This is the way it's going to be! End of discussion!" so it takes some serious character development on his part to allow him to confess to a mutual acquaintance that he wants to be Harper's friend after others have convinced her that he's her enemy. But this is a romance, and gone are the days when a romance could end with the characters separated by difference of opinion but still too much "in love" to marry other people. You know they'll work everything out. The only question is what the cat will do during the marriage proposal.

Billionaire "developers," and people who guide billionaire companies to invest in "development," don't usually read sweet small-town romances.  Perhaps they should. This book is brain candy for ordinary romance readers but it ought to be required reading for all MBA candidates.