I love office romance trope! This book truly delivered such a vivacious and bad ass FMC. She knows her stuff and is so dang relatable!
One of my fav parts of a well written office romance are the zooming in to the office culture. It is so important to understand the stakes of each person involved. For me, this book covered the office culture perfect. The more I got to know the office jerk, the work wife, the work crush, and then all other cast members, it felt so easy to feel what the FMC was going through.

I love the female empowerment in this book too! The tension leading to the steam was also so well done! Will be recommending this book to friends!

Rival engineers Trishara and Rafe find themselves in close proximity on a tropical company retreat that challenges their assumptions.

I really enjoyed this one! The book delivers all the fun romcom vibes with sarcasm, banter, flirtation, and tension, while also tackling mistreatment in the workplace as Trishara is trying to succeed in a male-dominated field. I loved the Maui setting as our leads are stuck sharing the honeymoon suite.

It's an easy read I'd recommend picking up if you're enjoy:
- Workplace romance
- Forced proximity
- Slow burn
- Women in STEM

I’ve read Nisha J. Tuli’s fantasy books, and they’re absolutely amazing—so I had high hopes for Not Safe for Work, her first adult contemporary romance. And wow, she nailed it!

The story follows Trishara Malik, a fiercely ambitious engineer who’s worked her way up, only to have her well-earned promotion snatched away by Rafe Gallagher—aka the boss’s son, aka her worst enemy. As if things couldn’t get more ridiculous, she’s stuck on a corporate retreat with him.

I adore Tris—she’s smart, strong-willed, and knows when to stand her ground in a tough industry. She’s determined, but she’s also got a vulnerable side that makes her feel so real.
And then there’s Rafe—broody, smug, and frustratingly charming. I loved discovering all the little layers to him throughout the story.
Turns out he’s way more than just an arrogant smirk—he’s actually a total cinnamon roll, especially when it comes to his love for desserts (seriously, so cute!)

Now let’s talk about Tris and Rafe’s chemistry—off the charts!
Their feisty banter is pure gold, with that push-and-pull tension that had me grinning the whole time!
Just when it seems like they’re getting closer, they’re right back to square one, which drove me crazy—but in the best way! The wait was totally worth it once they finally gave in, because wow, once they do, things get HOT.
All that built-up tension ? Absolutely explosive, and Nisha J. Tuli doesn’t hold back!

This book pulled me in fast, and I finished it in a day because I just couldn’t put it down.
If I had one wish, it would be getting Rafe’s POV—I needed to know what was going on in that man's head!

Overall, this was a fun, addictive, and swoon-worthy read.
Nisha J. Tuli did an amazing job weaving in themes of workplace competition, career ambition, and personal growth, while keeping the romance front and center!

If you love office romance, rivals-to-lovers, forced proximity, and the classic "one bed, one room" setup, then you need to grab this book ASAP!

⚠️ 𝐓𝐖: sexually explicit content (on-page), sexism, racial microaggressions, nonconsensual touching, misogyny

Two workplace rivals find themselves forced to share a room on a tropical company retreat only to discover that they might have been completely wrong about each other... and that they just might be completely right for each other. Trishara Malik is an engineer who has dreamed about making it as the first woman of color to smash the glass ceiling at WMC Purcell... but after years of being passed over on promotions, on dealing with sexist comments and everything else, she's close to burnout and just giving up... that is until she is given the spot on the corporate leadership retreat in Hawaii. The only catch? The person going with her is the person she can't stand the most at work: Rafe Gallagher, the boss's son, the guy who has gotten all her promotions, and the guy who is as handsome as he is good at getting under her skin. To make matters worse, they both find out they've been booked under one room and there are no other rooms, so for three weeks they'll have to share. Yet the more time Tris and Rafe spend together the more she is beginning to realize she didn't know him at all... and that the only thing in danger is her heart because she just might be falling for him... but can she trust him when he has a ex calling at all hours of the day, his father is a terrible boss, and she's been burnt by falling for a coworker before... can she really give her heart to the guy she thought she hated? This was a fun romcom to read and I can definitely see this being made into a fun sexy movie. I love the growth for the characters and getting to see them fall in love was really sweet. Tris grew a lot and stood up for herself while also learning to open her heart up again. I also appreciated seeing both characters work on themselves and getting their lives in order before fully getting into a relationship. It's a great read and one I think a lot of people will have fun with.

Release Date: May 20, 2025

Publication/Blog: Ash and Books (ash-and-books.tumblr.com)

*Thanks Netgalley and Forever (Grand Central Publishing) | Forever for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

4 ⭐⭐⭐⭐

“𝑹𝒂𝒇𝒆, 𝒘𝒉𝒚 𝒅𝒊𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒅𝒓𝒂𝒘 𝒎𝒆?”
“𝑩𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝑰 𝒅𝒓𝒂𝒘 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒂𝒖𝒕𝒊𝒇𝒖𝒍 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒆.”

👠 workplace romance
☀️ rivals to lovers (they're both obsessed with each other)
🌡️forced proximity
🏖️ retreat set in HAWAII !!
🥵 banter on banter on banter

**thank you NetGalley for providing me with this ARC**

I'm not usually a huge fan of workplace romances so imagine my pleasant surprise when this book freaking SLAPPED. The slow burn, the tension, the mutual pining 🤌🏻 The banter between Rafe and Tris flies off the page in this. Nisha's writing in this has my favorite amount of humor and wit. This is a light, spicy romance that's easy to get lost in.

I already knew I was going to enjoy NSFW because Nisha’s romantasies are my favorites but her contemporary is just as sexy and fun. She loves a slow burn and Tris and Rafe are no different. Listening to their chemistry explode had me fanning myself at work. And their banter? Giggling, kicking my feet experiencing them try to resist their attraction. A fabulous contemporary debut and I hope we get many more.

Not Safe for Work is a laugh out loud funny romcom about being stuck with your work rival on a tropical vacation. Trishara Malik is an engineer working in a male dominated field and once dreamed of being the first woman of color to break through the glass ceiling at her company. But after years of being passed over for promotions, witnessing white male privilege, and seeing the company’s blatant nepotism, she’s ready to give up. But then she’s chosen to attend the corporate leadership retreat in Hawaii and she starts to hope again.

There’s just one huge catch, she has to go with Rafe Gallagher, the boss’s son, her work nemesis, and an unfairly attractive jerk. She plans to ignore him for three weeks, but there’s only one hotel room and they keep getting put together during team building exercises. As they spend more time together, Trishara realizes that she misjudged Rafe and comes to realize what a great guy he is.

This book has romance, humor, a fun setting, and it tackles the challenges women face in male-dominated workplaces by portraying the misogyny, sexual harassment, and racism against women and especially women of color. It was a very honest, impactful book, and I think it’s an important read.

The audio is very well done and Soneela Nankani voiced Trishara perfectly. She made the book so entertaining to listen to, and really embodied all of the sarcasm, anger, banter, and flirting that exists between Trishara and Rafe. I had a blast listening to it.

Thank you to Hachette Audio, Forever, Grand Central Publishing, Hachette Book Group, Nisha J. Tuli, and NetGalley for the ARC and ALC.

📔Not Safe for Work
✏️ Nisha J. Tuli
📆 May 20, 2025
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

READ IF YOU LIKE:
🏝️work rivals
🏝️she hates him
🏝️forced proximity
🏝️only one hotel room
🏝️tropical company retreat
🏝️banter

Have you ever unexpectedly won a work trip with your enemy coworker and had to share a bed and pretend like you’re not super attracted to him?
Me neither, but man oh man was I LIVING for our FMC getting the chance to. I’ve never been a ✨corporate girly✨ but I’ve heard plenty of horror stories from my corporate friends and Nisha nailed this.

I cannot wait for this book to be out in the wild! It was such a fun read and I absolutely devoured it. I loved the showing of women and especially women of color in STEM and then choices they have to make and the abuses they endure to be successful in the field. The story is told so well. I loved the romance and the tropes. This was a 5 star read! Absolutely fantastic!

I've been seeing so many incredible reviews on this book, and maybe it's my own fault for getting my expectations high, but sadly this was a miss for me.

Overall, the story is pretty fast-paced; it's a slow-burn, and it definitely has its cute moments.
I enjoyed the fact that it's focused on the challenges and injustice women face pretty much on a daily basis when working in a male-domineering profession.
However, I feel this wasn't developed to its full and meaningful potential.

No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't connect with the FMC. She acted *very* immaturely, and more often than not her behavior made me roll my eyes at her.

***SPOILER***
From the whole luggage buying thing situation, her constantly getting on the defensive mode—even when the MMC, Rafe, was complimenting her work, to Trishara eavesdropping on Rafe's private conversations all the time. I just couldn't look past this.
***END OF SPOILER***

We also learn that something happened to Trishara's career in the past, which sadly wasn't explored more either.

There's this constant bickering between the main characters—which I normally don't mind and actually enjoy. However, in this case we don't really get to meet their true selves, and when the romance hit out of the blue it felt flat and unconvincing.

The bright side: I did enjoy the setting, and want to visit Hawaii even more now.

what happens when you get sent on a work trip with your hot work nemesis? fall in love ofc.

nisha’s contemporary debut had me giggling and kicking my feet. their hate to love, work nemesis to lovers dynamic was delicious. the reveal when we find out rafe is a softie FOR HER i was squealing. i loved the setting and work trip shenanigans so much.

this book tackles tough topics like workplace discrimination and i thought nisha handled it with such grace. i was fuming for trishara and rooting for her every step of the way.

🎧 soneela nankani read for trish and she did such a great job bringing her character to life! i really enjoyed this on audio and would def recommend it.

thank you forever and hachette audio for the gifted copies!! 🫶

Thanks to Read Forever Pub for the eARC via NetGalley. I saw this book as a “Read Now” selection and immediately grabbed it because, while I have not read other books by this author, I have been a fan. Her social media reveals an author who is bold, unapologetic, feisty, and proud to be South Asian. The main character, Trishara (Tris), is much like how I imagined the author. She is an introvert with a fire inside.

Tris is a woman working in a hugely white male dominated field (engineering) and is constantly overlooked and treated like crap. Forget microaggressions, some serious harassment claims could be made by what happens to her. She gets chosen to attend a leadership training for three glorious weeks in Maui. The other person who gets selected is the boss’s hot nepo baby, Rafe. The whole story is told through Tris’ eyes, which is wild because her eyes cannot stay away from Rafe’s abs and forearms. So now your mind keeps thinking about his abs and forearms. 🥵She is clearly attracted to Rafe but hates his guts at the same time in a delicious rivals-to-lovers trope. Tris has been with this company for five years, and by the time this trip opportunity arrives she has hit her breaking point. So, much of the story is her being a bit daring and reckless. She is a woman who doesn’t believe in casual Friday, but now she’s showing thighs and talking back to her bosses as if they don’t sign her checks. I loved the chaos and drama of it. She’s listening in on phone calls between Rafe and his (ex?) girlfriend Hannah. She is conflicted about her feelings, but she can’t stop drooling over this man’s body. She is running away only to be chased and then have her wrist grabbed. (Such Bollywood vibes here) She is being thrown over a shoulder. (!!!!) She likens Rafe to a dark-haired villain with a lair, and you know we all love that. This story is a fantasy girlie's contemporary romance, and I am here for it.

Tris is a mess, though, as she has to deal with her past boyfriend's trauma and figure out her life plan. I was a little disappointed in her immaturity at times, but I got it. She was probably in heat and hit the wall hard at her job. My girl Tris deserves a break.

I need you to know that the part I freakishly loved the most about this book was how the author described brown eyes. There was an author who once described brown eyes as the color of “dirt,” and Nisha Tuli hits back with:
<i>
“They’re the color of cinnamon and nutmeg. Leather club chairs and log cabins, and acorns scattered across the forest floor.“

“I love those eyes. They’re rocky trails winding through forests. They’re warm spice cakes and mugs of tea sipped at sunrise. They’re autumn landscapes rendered in vivid technicolor.”

“His eyes are pools of melted amber reflecting in sunlight.”</i>

I feel seen and loved. This is the beauty of this book and its representation.

I’ve read and loved the Artefacts of Ouranos series by Nisha J. Tuli. And when I saw that Nisha had a new book coming up, I was super excited. The Artefacts of Ouranos series is a fantasy series, so I was definitely surprised to learn ‘Not Safe For Work’ was a totally different genre, a Contemporary Romance. But still.. count me in! And luckily I got an ARC.

‘Not Safe For Work’ had a bit of a slow start. We get to know the two main characters Trishara and Rafe, who totally hate each other, and who have been challenging each other at work for years. Luckily, after a few pages I found myself enjoying these characters more and more. Trishara and Rafe end up going on a work trip together. And trust me.. from the moment that trip starts.. this book had me hooked.

Not only had this book some sizzling chemistry, but their where also some hilarious moments that made me laugh out loud. Their is one moment for example where Trish and Rafe end up face down in the mud.. And I couldn’t stop laughing. I honestly cried!

This book was definitely a slow burn romance, and I really enjoyed it. The chemistry between Trish and Rafe was amazing, and I loved how things turned around for them. It felt so real! Add some tough feminist moments that made me proud to be a woman and this book was definitely a hit.

‘Not Safe For Work’ was a very fun romance that proofed Nisha J. Tuli can write anything! And I can’t wait to read more written by her.

I was extremely excited to dive into this book and I’m so glad I did! It was enjoyable and I’m interested in seeing what else the author has written.
However, there were both things I liked and disliked about this story.
Let’s talk first the things I liked: the fact the author was an engineer and wrote this to shed light on the unfair treatment of women in the field. It was so personal for her and you can tell. She showed us how men treat women in the office, the constant misogyny. Our main character stands her ground and defends herself, which I love. Her constant defense was honestly my favorite part of this book. Seeing a main character being fierce in the face of adversity is always great.
For what I didn’t like: the constant obsession with the love interest. From the moment he is mentioned Tris is lusting over this man, in a very uncomfortable way. Maybe I would understand the obsession if he was a great character but he felt so one-dimensional. You could see the kind of character Tris was but Rafe had nothing going for him besides his sexy body. It wasn’t even revealed that he had real hobbies until closer to the end of the book.
Overall, it was enjoyable but I still had some problems with it. I think many people will love this.

Trishara has always wanted to smash the glass ceiling and make leaps and bounds as an engineer. After professionally stagnating in a job she's exceeded at, and being consistently passed over for mediocre white men, she's less than enthused about what her future career prospects look like. In a bid to increase the appearance of diversity, her bosses send her - and the bosses son - as training partners on an all-expense-paid trip to Hawaii to learn from the best. The only problem? Rafe Gallagher is her absolute nemesis.

*****

This was such a fun and engaging read. I absolutely love the way the author writes. She's witty, eloquent and captivating in her descriptions. Her references and similes pulled me in and kept me burning through pages as we got a peek inside of what life is like for an indian female engineer in a white-centric, male-dominated field. It was endlessly satisfying to witness Trishara speak up for herself despite everything that was stacked against her, and actually be heard by some.

The tension, chemistry and yearning between her and Rafe was astoundingly good. I couldn't wait for them to finally break from being enemies and cave to each other - it definitely didn't disappoint. I did find that I wanted Rafe to have a bit more to him though. Likely due to most of his development being with his hidden passion, and the rest with his ex and family being off page. That being said I loved the slow burn between them, and how they were on the edge of happiness and disappointment throughout the book until Rafe finally pulled his head out of his ass. I was a bit surprised in the way he finally reconciled, as it felt a little abrupt and not like something Tris would appreciate, but overall it was still a great read.

*****

Thank you to NetGalley and Forever Publishing for the digital ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This title and the setting in Hawaii totally grabbed my attention. Tris and Rafe are coworkers that don't get along and Tris is frustrated with her engineering job that is male dominated. She and Rafe are chosen to do a 3 week retreat in Hawaii.

Workplace romances are so fun especially with the addition of Rafe being the boss's son. I liked that the author drew on hers and others experiences in the workplace to make it relatable. It's so sad as well as I know these type of behavior still happens.

The story is fun but I did find Tris seems to act a bit immature at parts. I would have liked to see Rafe and Tris develop a relationship rather than rely on lust.

The story is narrated by Soneela Nankani and told in Tris' perspective. She did a great job with bringing the story to life but I always prefer a dual POV with romances.

Thank you @hachetteaudio @readforeverpub for the audiobook.

This book was a lot of fun! It combined a lot of my favorite tropes in a fresh and summery package.

The main characters have a ton of chemistry— so much so that everyone around them can see they’re into each other before they can. The rivals to lovers dynamic is always a great time and this was no exception.

My favorite part is when the walls come tumbling down and they start building a connection.

The spicy scenes were definitely NSFW! 🥵 I was here for it!

One quibble: The miscommunication trope came out to play in this one, which was frustrating at times.

Read if you like:
- Workplace Romance
- Rivals to Lovers
- Forced Proximity
- One Bed
- Women in STEM
- Banter

Thanks to Forever for the eARC!

I was just drawn into this wonderful story and I just couldn’t get enough of it. It was just so easy to get lost in this great story. I just didn’t want it to end. I just lost myself in it and I just couldn’t get enough of these interesting characters. I can’t wait to see what’s next from this author.

I was familiar with Nisha J. Tuli from her fantasy series so I was interested to see what a contemporary romance from her would be like. This was a fun and quick read, and I really enjoyed it! I liked the setting of a work trip in Hawaii because it had vacation vibes while also including workplace situations and drama for the main characters to navigate. The issues Tris faced as a woman in a male dominated workforce were interesting to read about and made the plot a little more nuanced. I enjoyed the rivals to lovers banter and slow burn. Overall it was fun and kept me engaged until the end!
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Trishara wants to be fully appreciated as the brilliant engineer she is, but working in a male dominated field seems to present more obstacles than rewards. On the brink of leaving the company, Tris is selected to go to an exclusive leadership retreat in Hawaii. Tris would be happier if it weren’t for the other person going, her work nemesis Rafe. The company’s golden boy has always gotten under her skin. To make things worse when they get to the resort Tris and Rafe end up having to share a room. As Tris and Rafe slowly reveal their true selves they realize how wrong their assumptions were about each other. But what happens after the retreat? Will they go back to being work enemies and pretend nothing has changed between them?

This is one of my favorite reads of the year so far. Highlighting issues such a gender discrimination and harassment at the workplace make this more than just a romance. Although it has to be said the romance is scorching hot! You do not want to skip this one!