Call me different, but reading about COVID while still enduring COVID is low key fun to me. It makes me feel like I'm in this story, too. I liked the characters and she had me chuckling a few times but I couldn't find myself rooting for this romance. It was still really cute!

2.5 stars.
***Spoilers***




A romance that acknowledges Covid, which may be a first for me.

I wanted to like this more than I did. I love the setup (post-Covid, office downsizes, leaving people to share desks. The main characters communicate by post-it notes.), which seemed familiar to The Flatshare, one of my favorite contemporary romances.

However, there were a couple of issues that fatally flawed the book. Spoiler warning. First, the main characters shared a kiss at a music festival years ago. I hate the conceit of “one perfect kiss with a stranger changed my life.” It’s lust at that point! Which isn’t a bad thing, but doesn’t mean that it’s love or that you’re fated to be 2gether 4ever.

Second, Jamie, who’s the male part of the couple, finds out that he has a kid. Which is actually a fairly good obstacle in terms of plot. However, the resolution is ridiculous. He’s … going to travel to Cornwall sometimes to see his kid? And maybe spend summers there? Throughout the rest of the book, Jamie is portrayed as conscientious. It boggles my mind that the solution he comes up with isn’t immediately moving to Cornwall to be close enough to see his small child on a regular basis. It just made me think, “oh this is a terrible non-resolution.”

I did like that Alice worked on becoming more assertive and drawing boundaries. It was a good way to show character growth. But Alice could have at first refused to move to Cornwall and then gone to Jamie and said, “look, I’m better at drawing boundaries and I’m also aware that I love you and I want to be with you and Alfie and so I’ll move with you.”

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

I received an advance copy of, Hot Desk, by Zara Stoneley. I did not really care for this book, Alice is a very weak character that I did not like.

I've never read Zara Stoneley before and I'm sat here asking why I left it so long to read her books.

This book was brilliant. You will follow Alice through love and friendship. You'll meet her family and her work colleague's. You'll even meet Mabel, a blue footed booby bird (not a real one, a toy one), who if you're an animal lover like me, you will research and find out they are a pretty interesting animal.
I connected with Alice a little more than I'd like to admit as she is very like me but I think most women who read this book will find themselves connecting to her in some way. There's some good life lessons in this book as well.

In general it was a really good book and one that I will definitely be recommending it and probably buying a paperback copy of it once its published as I can see myself wanting to reread it.

Thanks Netgalley for the chance to read this ARC.

I really wish I could give this book more than a 2 star rating. Within the first few percentage of the book, you get slapped around with Covid left, right & center and considering our current world state, I just can't read that yet. I'll give this one a chance in a few years time when everything hopefully is back to a somewhat more normal state again.

A feel-good romantic comedy for a fun light and cheerful read. Thank you to NetGalley, Zara Stoneley, and the publisher for the ARC of this book.

Alice has a job she loves and wants to keep it. She then finds out that the company is switching to flexible working and hot desking. She's less than thrilled. Alice loves her messy desk and does not want to share. To make matters worse she's sharing her desk with her least favorite coworker, Jamie.
He's obnoxious and loves to tease Alice. They start communicating via post-it notes and their relationship evolves. Will they stay enemies or will they become lovers? Fans of the enemy to lovers troupe will enjoy this story! I'm typical a fan of that troupe but I found the first few chapters of this story to be tiresome. It really took a while to get this story moving to the point where I was invested. I liked the characters and the story but for me the writing held me back from ever falling in love with this story.

Really enjoyable story with lots to keep you wondering how it is going to end up. Hard to put down so be prepared to binge this book.

Thank you to Harper Collins UK One More Chapter and Netgalley for the electronic ARC of HOT DESK by Zara Stoneley.

When Alice goes to a music festival she meets a man and shares the most unforgettable kiss of her life. The last thing she expects is to start a new job months later and have him start at the same place on the same day. His name is Jamie and he doesn't seem to remember her. Even when they have a similar encounter at a work social function he seems to have no recollection.

When Alice and Jamie's employer institutes hot-desking and reconfigured working weeks, Alice and Jamie find themselves sharing a desk and alternating days. In Flatshare-ish fashion the pair begin leaving each other notes about mundane things to transition between days. They form an easy friendship and are heading for more when something happens to de-rail everything. Sprinkle in an ex of Alice's who won't take no for an answer and it doesn't look good for this couple.

Hot Desk is a slow, gentle romance. The early chapters are heavily weighted Alice musings about life, love, routine. She comes off as a tad whingey and painful and it required a little effort (and some skimming) to maintain my interest early. It's set during and in the later stages (if we can even say that now) of the COVID-19 pandemic and the humour might not be appreciated by some readers (ie. Effing COVID-19 killed off 3 of my clients, any of yours go tits up?)

Alice's focus on sharing the desk is reflective of her feelings about sharing everything in her life and not having her own space - but it a tenuous link and the reader could be forgiven for thinking "it's just a desk love, chill". For mine, Jamie is the saving grace and I largely enjoyed how his character was written. There's some chemistry and a little angst, and consideration of life lessons about being in control and focusing on the things you can change. A quick read, a resolution you can live with and promises of things to come - there's just not anything that sets this book apart from turning a nice read into a great one unfortunately.

2.5 stars rounded up to 3 for goodreads purposes

I received this ARC from the publisher in exchange for my honest review. Overall I liked this book and thought it was a cute. Girl meets boy during her college years, falls in love at first kiss..2 years pass and they finally run into each other again at work. One of them has been pining for the other, and one of them doesn’t remember the other.. awkward! There are parts we can all relate to related to working from home due to COVID.

I’m sorry reading this book wasn’t the right time for me,,I tried to persevere by scan reading it but didn’t help, the death jokes were just a step too far, probably just me and it was too soon after COVID for me to be objective, I would like to say to anyone struggling with the ‘new normal’ do this book justice and please wait before reading this book.

Too soon for me with the covid story line and the jokes about death so was unable to progress.

Also took forever to build to a reveal that I assume was that they had to host desk instead of all being made redundant which seems a little insensitive

Overall a cute storyline but I found myself skim reading some of the longer rambling sections and generally really struggled to escape into this book in anyway. We're still in the Covid pandemic, reading flippant comments about deaths and the experience of it overall just felt far too soon for me.

Thank you for my review copy. Nope, No, No way. I'm sorry. Putting this one down due to corona triggers. (That's something I never knew I would put a book down for). The dialogue is just too soon. I'm sorry. No. This is a big miss for me.

This fun book is a mix of Bridget Jones in 2021 experiencing a hybrid work environment. Alice used to sit across the way from Jamie in a website design company. The company goes to a hybrid model with desk sharing and Alice now shares a desk with Jamie on alternate days.. Little by little a romance develops through post-it notes left behind. The writing is fun in a Bridget Jones stream of consciousness living in Alice's head. This the perfect light hearted read (I admit I was concerned that it had Covid timing but it wasn't the focal point so it became a non-issue).

Slow burn at it’s best. Alice and Jamie are meant to be but things both in and out of their control is stopping them. It was a lovely read and I enjoyed it immensely.

I wanted to like this but found that I could not get into the story or the characters much. I went into this expecting one thing and ended up finding it was something else. Thank you for the e-arc.

What a fun read!

After the Covid-19 pandemic, office life has changed! And in Alice's case, it's hard to adjust. She learns soon after going back into the office, that the company is changing policies and now her office life includes working from home (again) and hot desking - where she shares a desk with a co-worker part time in the office. And just her luck, she's partnered with Jamie -- the hot guy that doesn't remember meeting her before they worked together...or does he? A lot of communication issues and a lot of funny post-it notes lead to romance.

It's a light, easy read but there is deeper depths in the story - handling life after a pandemic, learning yourself and boundaries and sometimes things aren't always as they seem.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author and publisher for a temporary, digital ARC in return for my review.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. One More Chapter for this cute read! Quick and entertaining read, that once you start, you won’t be able to tear yourself away from. But it does hit a little home with lockdowns getting lifted and returning to work.

A sweet slow burn story of a woman taking her life back.
Alice is a sweet generous people pleaser who always seems to be making concessions for the people around her; from her sisters to her house mates to her on again off again boyfriend Dave. Her only safe space is her desk and work, where she can keep her Knick knacks and just feel like it’s all hers. That is until work introduces a hot desk policy to save some money and Alice finds herself sharing with Jaimie who is not only a prankster but a guy she shared one hot kiss with years before they started to work together. He seems to have forgotten but she never did…
I like Alice’s journey of self discovery, how she decides to set her boundaries and stick to them; she’s a really strong character and her friends and family are developed around her quite well.
A sweet rom com; I thought it was a little longer than it needed to be but of stream of consciousness type writing inside a sweet romance is your thing, you’ll absolutely love it.