Synopsis:

Corinne Blunt is an icy, unapproachable executive. It’s the price she’s had to pay to get to the top. She’d hoped to finally find an ally in Wesley Chambers, but she’s not about to let him off the hook for joining the office boys’ club. With long hours with what turns out to be a kind, thoughtful man soon has their business relationship turning personal, and things get complicated—fast. Could this be something more serious than either of them dared to hope for?

Review:

I loved that this office romance put the woman in power. While I think the power imbalance is a bit uncomfortable, at the root of it is just two people who fall in love while they're at work. If you think about it, we spend more time at work than at home so you can see how stuff like this happens. The chemistry between the two main characters was palpable and so well written!

Thanks to Carina Press for my digital copy.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me a free advanced copy of this book to read and review.

I wanted to like this book, but I just couldn’t get over the workplace dynamics, I felt like continuing to bring up the power imbalance was unnecessary, and the only thing that saved this book was the tragic backstory of Wesley and his ability to help Corrine during a hard time.

A delightful book full of adventure, action, and thrills. Fun to read, engrossing world building, and very descriptive imagery made it feel like it was cinematic. It's hard to resist the story as it drives forward. Would recommend.

3.5 stars. Wesley's first day as a marketing intern is not going well. His new boss, Corinne, overheard him laughing (kind of) at a coworker's inappropriate joke about her. And she knows he'd rather be working for someone else. Despite his protestations, Corinne decides a little hazing is in order. But when she needs help and Wesley steps up, they both have to reevaluate their attitudes toward each other. Not to mention a completely inappropriate attraction between them.

I was cringing at some of the choices these characters made. Corinne is only a few years older than Wesley, but she's still his boss, and this is basically an HR nightmare. They are well-matched otherwise, but I had a hard time getting over the power dynamic.

Thanks to Netgalley, the publisher, and the author for the ARC to review. All opinions are my own.

Was not able to read the entirety of the book and cannot give an accurate or overall rating/review . As a librarian for a big library system, we most likely have a copy of this item. I will look forward to reading it in future since I am sure I will.

This book was recommended to me by Rosie Danan and it was just so good. I think Ruby is an autobuy author for me.

I wrote this so I am pretty biased but I think this is a great book and I hope if you read it you liked it too!

Hot Copy, as its name suggests, is a romance between a boss and her intern. A forbidden office romance with a few sex scenes that I didn't expect to be so hot. It was a surprise but I wasn't really looking for smut when I started reading this book.

At first, it's not love at first sight for Corinne, to say the least. When she hears Wesley laugh as some interns call her a "cunt" well... he'll have some work to do to get back in her good graces. However, we quickly find out that Wesley like her just a little too much considering he's only supposed to be her intern. But that's exactly what makes this book interesting.

Overall, if you're looking for an office romance, maybe check this one? I wasn't completely in love with it but it was still a good book.

<i>(Thank you for letting me read and review an ARC via Netgalley)

It's taken me a while to review this because I'm simply unsure how I feel about it. On the one hand, Ruby Barrett is clearly a skilled writer. On the other hand, the sexual harassment plot and power dynamics were complicated and difficult to read. The fact that we had two boss-employee relationships in the same book--one consensual and one not--was confusing and it was hard to feel okay about the "good" one while feeling so horrified by the other.
This is also a double cancer/grief book, so there's a lot of heaviness here.
There's a lot to like, however, like how the male MC has a character arc in which he reconnects with his friends and finds his path after caring for his dying mother for two years. Usually we see the gender reverse of that and Barrett did a good job describing his complicated feelings of love, grief and resentment (a bit toward his sister). I felt the female MC's arc was less developed and would have liked more there.
In all, I'm not entirely sold on this book--though the steam was excellent--yet I'll gladly read the next thing Barrett publishes.

It’s hard to take on a workplace romance between a boss and an intern, but in Hot Copy, Ruby Barrett succeeds with something sexy that also manages to have a firm emotional grounding and clear consent. While the heroine is challenging to like, that’s not always a bad thing.

On his first day at his new internship, Wesley Chambers has been assigned Corrine Blunt as his mentor. A bro fellow intern riding the elevator gossips that she’s reputed to be a bitch (“Blunt the C-,” precisely; you can figure it out). Embarrassed by this unprofessional and misogynist behavior, Wes laughs. Unfortunately, Corrine is in the elevator, too, and assumes Wes’s laugh indicates agreement, not awkwardness. By the time Wes officially meets Corrine, it’s too late: she is already convinced he’s yet another member of the business boys’ club.

I liked that their misunderstanding starts with something I haven’t seen before. I am also an awkward/embarrassed laugher, and can totally empathize with Wesley. What I didn’t like was Corrine’s reaction. I’m not sure what I’d do if I overheard somebody seemingly laugh at a coarse joke at my expense (probably assume it was awkward, actually), but I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t take revenge by abusing my power as his supervisor to ruin his internship. Instead of training Wes in marketing, Corrine gives him not just professional admin tasks, but personal assistant ones, sending him for coffee, dry cleaning, and shopping for a gift for her ex’s wedding. Two HR violations do not cancel each other out. Fortunately, the two eventually talk it out, but not until Wes takes a lot more than he should have had to.

Once you accept that Corrine is a very sharp-edged character, that characterization is consistent and well-executed. When you see what Corrine has seen, including conduct from a previous intern and treatment from her current boss, you understand better why she is so easily convinced that Wes is cut from the same cloth. I didn’t forgive her quite as easily as Wes (and, I think, the author), but I did understand her. Ultimately, I think the author successfully captures a heroine who is willing to be vindictive without characterizing vindictiveness itself as laudable (or using it to create ‘hilarity’) which other authors unfortunately have done.

Excessive sharpness leaves a fragile, brittle edge, and the author knows that. Corrine needs Wes’s goodhearted softness. Wes is what people often refer to as a cinnamon roll hero. He is a few years behind other interns because he cared for his mother while she was dying of cancer, and he brings that same sense of selflessness to caring for Corrine (even when Corrine is not as caring). He has a difficult relationship with his twin sister, who was able to pursue her culinary dreams thanks to Wes’s labor. Again, it’s interesting to see this from a reversed-gender perspective. The author accurately captures the lost-ness and the isolation of someone whose life has been on pause for caregiving, with Wes too overwhelmed by the prospect to even text his former best friend.

While I thought Corrine initially did misuse her professional power over Wes, I never questioned that their relationship was completely two-way. If you like the frisson of characters who absolutely, positively cannot be caught together and yet cannot stay apart, this is your book. Sex and makeout scenes burst with chemistry, sometimes echoing Wes and Corrine’s non-bedroom dynamic (boss/subordinate, caretaker/caretaken) but sometimes subverting it. I did, however, find myself flipping to the end of every scene before I read it to see if this particularly indiscreet boink would be the one that got them caught, thereby advancing the plot. Because, yeah, we know how this goes.

Workplace romance is one of my favorites, because professional boundaries are a legitimate obstacle and create a sense of taboo. I also appreciated Corrine’s sharpness being characterized as with a cost - ultimately, almost the cost of Wes and their future. Throw in the interesting gender flip of the cold, harsh boss and the healing caregiver assistant, and you have a Hot Copy that’s worth picking up.

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While super steamy (you will not forget about those sex scenes any time soon), and really well written, I felt the swing from the heroine, Corinne being scared and intimidated by her sleazy boss to her having sex on her desk with her intern very jarring...

There are some really heavy themes of grief, not to mention multiple instances of sexual harassment in the workplace that had me super uncomfortable... Overall, not my favorite read, but I'd absolutely read something else from this author in the future.

Loved every second of this book. I have been in a reading slump since the beginning of last year and, have only picked up a handful of new books. This was one of the only ones I've loved.

I'm a big fan of office romance, an even bigger fan when it's turned upside down. The characteristics you expect of the hero and heroine are flip flopped giving this book a fresh appeal that kept me engaged from start to finish. While I'm not typical a fan of the "nice guy" hero Wesley was the exception. I liked everything about him, he was so real and refreshing.

This was an outstanding first book for this debut author.

This was arduous to get through. I’ve seen it described as feminist, but it’s actually not. Sleazy, sexually harassing boss who never treats her with respect. Mere interns who are crass & misogynistic. The corporate boys club. Not just one, but 2 moms with cancer...Wes’s dead a few months, Corinne’s just beginning her struggle. An ill-fated, very sexual relationship between an intern and his boss. It’s consensual, but the optics aren’t good...that she’s screwing a subordinate while being sexually harassed by her superior. Just cringy. They keep it a secret, but like all secrets, they’re bound to get out. I found both characters immature...Wes is a doormat with a heart of gold who always defines himself by the people he cares about & Corinne is a talented marketing person who puts up with the boss’s bs out of misplaced loyalty and fear that she’ll lose her job when what she should be doing is looking for a new one so she can leave on her own terms. Wes gives everything to their relationship, even admitting his life. She takes and takes, using sex as a way to avoid heavy conversations and laying the blame on him (hitting him where she knows it’ll cause the most damage) when things go south.

Overall, this was a struggle to get through. I only finished it because I wanted to see how the author could salvage this dysfunctional relationship. The ending is lame, leaving the reunion up to chance rather than intentional, and not worthy of the time it took to read to the end. Not recommended.

I received a complimentary ARC of this book from Carina Press through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed are completely my own.

Hot Copy by Ruby Barrett grabbed my attention from the very first page.

After hearing her new intern laugh at her colleague's degrading nickname for her, Corrine Blunt sets out to make him regret he ever laughed at her. She assigns Wes with the worst administrative tasks and most boring work possible as punishment, but Wes takes it all in stride and sets out to win Corrine over. She mistook his sputtering for a laugh at her expense and Wes will do anything to prove that he's on her side and committed to supporting her. The more time Corrine and Wes spend together, the blurrier the line between their professional and personal relationship gets.

Debut author Ruby Barrett has a unique voice and talent for crafting characters you can't help caring about. I think Wes is one of the sweetest heroes I've had the pleasure of reading.

I'm really impressed with how Ruby Barrett handled the tricky power dynamics of Corrine and Wes's relationship. I also appreciated how much care she took with exploring Corrine's experiences of sexual harassment.

I can't wait to see what Ruby Barrett comes up with next.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Carina Press and Ruby Barrett for the chance to read this digital galley.

An age-gap office romance, featuring an icy advertising boss falling for her intern despite her best intentions. Both love interests are dealing with their complicated feelings regarding their parents' cancer (his mother, deceased; her mother, recently diagnosed). Corinne is also being sexually-harrassed by her boss and other colleagues, and she thinks Wesley is laughing about another intern calling her a c*nt on their very first meeting on an elevator ride up to the office.

While wildly sexy, and with amazing writing, I felt the swing from Corinne being scared and intimidated by her sleazy boss to her having sex on her desk with her intern very jarring.

What is handled magnificently is the complications of grief, and how each of the characters talks and feels about their loved ones and cancer. Having lost my own father to cancer, these emotions hit true (and I was in a good place when reading this book and was glad to have this knowledge before diving in).

Thank you to the publisher for the ARC

I'll admit, I have conflicting thoughts on Hot Copy, which I'd initially requested because I do enjoy a good workplace romance. I'm not sure if the content warnings were included initially in the synopsis when I first requested it or not (and if they were I completely missed them), but I think they're hugely important to anyone considering picking up this book, mostly because if you're thinking you're going to get a light-hearted workplace romance, you're going to be completely blind-sided.

Hot Copy is the workplace romance between Corinne and her new intern, Wesley. And their meet cute is horrendous and honestly had me wondering if I was going to enjoy the book. Which I did, but perhaps not for the romance.

Corinne is a prickly heroine who has been dealing with workplace sexual harassment for almost her entire career. Forced to be tough as nails, and branded as worse by her male colleagues, she's fighting to just do her job well and be acknowledged for something other than her gender. When she first crosses paths with Wes, he's brand new to the company and gets caught up unintentionally in a conversation with another intern, chauvinistic Mark, and being out of his depth, he's blindsided by the comments Mark makes and Corinne mistakes his uncomfortableness for compliance. She then spends the first part of the book making his life a misery.

Wes is a total cinnamon-roll of a hero, who's dealing with a ton of grief after putting his life on hold for two years to be the full-time carer for his mother in her terminal battle with cancer. The internship is his chance to get his life back on track and then he comes up with the formidable Corinne.

Now, I enjoyed both characters. Wes a little more, but only because I have a soft-spot for cinnamon roll heroes, but I respected the very tight-spot that Corinne was in. What I struggled with a lot was their dynamic. There is a significant power imbalance between the two of them - she's his boss and they can't be open about their relationship, and the back and forth really bothered me. Which is a bit of a problem in a romance, because part of me never really believed they could make it work.

I did like that it tackled the huge issue of workplace harassment and showed that the path isn't always easy for women to stand up and hold the people responsible to account. Corinne was trying to do her job in the boy's club, while dealing with her own personal issues and trying to keep a secret boyfriend. Had we spent more time on either the relationship or the workplace issues, I think I would have found it less jarring each time we switched theme.

It's not a bad book - in fact, I think it's doing some important work, but it was only just okay in the end for me.

Work romance done right + all the steam in the world-- this is how you do romance! I found the chemistry to be palpable and the dilemma they faced to be realistic. Can't wait to see what else Ruby brings to the table.

I wasn't a huge fan of this book, to be totally honest. I didn't connect fully with either character and had a difficult time having empathy for them among the instant love and the workplace sex. I appreciated their banter together and the ways they supported each other, but I wish we would have seen more love for Wes. It seemed like he was completed focused on Corinne. Lastly, the scenes started to feel formulaic, with an emotional interaction and then a sex scene - rinse and repeat to make a book.

Hot Copy tackles real-worls concerns while keeping the chemistry and sparks popping and alive. Can't wait to read Barrett's work in the future!