This is one of my new favorites of 2025. The tension and banter was top tier and that made the spice that much better. I absolutely love enemies to lovers with forced proximity. Its the perfect rom-com in the perfect vacation setting. Ultimate beach read this summer! Also, Nisha's representation of women in STEM and WOC was refreshing to see!

Thank you Net Galley for the ARC, absolutely loved this one and will now go back and read Nisha's Romantasy's!

I mean, rivals to lovers, forced proximity and fake honeymoon? Sign me in! I really enjoyed this book. It’s funny and fast paced and I really devour it in a few hours.
Tris and Rafe are wonderful characters and I really appreciate the way this book talk about white men privilege.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for the arc.

ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE. This may be Nisha's first contemporary romance, but you can tell shes no novice. This book had the perfect amount of real life drama and conflict, mixed with the swoony, spicy, cinnamon roll MMC we all adore. Rafe is a curve ball. Grumpy corporate enemy turned golden retriever artist/baker was not what I was expecting from this book but I absolutely loved it so much. The tropical Hawaii background is the perfect setting for a love story. And Tris is such a badass, I love how she takes no shit and encourages Rafe to follow his passions too. Engieer FMC and baker MMC might be my new favorite trope. I will be screaming about this book to anyone who will listen.

I’ve devoured every fantasy Nisha J. Tuli has ever written like they were gourmet meals, so the second I heard she was dropping a contemporary romance? You know I had to snatch that up faster than a limited edition book box.

And Did Not Safe For Work? Honey, it did not disappoint. Trishara and Rafe? Electric. Their chemistry was off the charts, their banter was gold, and watching their story bloom into a swoony, feet-kicking, giggling-under-the-covers kind of romance? Chef’s kiss. Plus, Trishara is the kind of fierce, no-nonsense heroine who makes you want to stand up and applaud. No crumbs were left.

I honestly can't decide if I love Nisha's fantasy books or this rom-com more!

Trisha Malik is jaded from a previous workplace heart break and is determined to make it at WMC. Unfortunately, Malik still has to deal with the male dominated hierarchy and after being passed over for numerous promotions, is only chosen to attend a leadership retreat in order to improve the company's DEI image.

Unfortunately, she's chosen to attend with her bosses' son, Rafe, the villain in her story and her work nemesis. When they arrive at the resort, they learn of a mix up that leads to only one bed, and the rest is history.


This is a binge worthy read. Both characters get in their own way, discover what they need though supporting each other, and overcome obstacles to find love. This story is absolutely worthy of being added to your TBR and is a perfect summer read!

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC.

I loved this book so much.
Nisha J Tuli just proved she can hold her own in Romantasy AND romcoms because EXCUSE ME. I am an avid reader of both genres and i absolutely adored this romance book. I was laughing and kicking my feet and doing that thing where I clutch the book to my chest and scream a little and my entire family side eyed me but they’re also kind of used to it so they go on with their day. YEAH ALL THAT.

The characters were so much fun and their chemistry was 🔥 literally. Tris is my hero and Rafe I’m literally drooling.

If the cover alone doesn’t convince you then know these two are subjected to BS corporate team building exercises and manage to banter back and forth until someone snaps. I love it. I love it.

Petition for more romcoms by Nisha!

Trishara is an engineer that is being all too familiar with setbacks at work. She was recently passed over for a promotion by her workplace nemesis and the son of the boss, Rafe. Things are looking up when she is picked alongside Rafe to go to a company leadership retreat in Maui. She has her suspicions that she was picked to fulfill a diversity quota but is determined to make her company see what an asset she is. When they arrive at the hotel Tris and Rafe find they have been placed in the same suite and with the hotel being fully booked have no choice but to stay together. As the retreat progresses Tris soon learns there may be more to Rafe than meets the eye but she is still unsure if he can be completely trusted.

This book was a delight. This workplace antagonist to lovers slow burn romance really worked for me. The yearning, the angst, the tension! And once they really went for it wonderfully steamy. Tris is probably one of my favorite FMCs from a romance book in quite a while. She is smart and determined. She has great friendships to lean on so the man is not her only focus. The book deals with a lot of serious topics too in a really natural and believable way. The story did not rely too heavily on miscommunication. There were a few moments but Tris and Rafe had actual conversations with each other to resolve them. This book is well paced and the story moves along quickly. This was my first Nisha J. Tuli book but I look forward to reading more.

Thank you to NetGalley and Forever for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I wish I loved this more than I do. I like enemies to lovers but I felt the FMC took too long to make up her mind. It felt more lust than actually loving each other and while that’s entirely fine, it’s just not for me. I did appreciate the way that Tuli discussed what women in certain STEM fields face. The sexism, the racism.; I appreciate that she didn’t ignore any of that.

This was the first book I’ve read by this author and I thoroughly enjoyed it!

Rivals to lovers, in a workplace environment, with lots of forced proximity!

I’m a big fan of FMC in STEM, especially when they stand up for themselves. I started out my college career in engineering, and though I switched out second year, I heard and saw the same things Tris mentions in this book. I appreciate the author wanting to make this a main point of her book.

There was so much delicious tension in this book, which was a slow burn, but also didn’t feel like one? I really enjoyed their romance, even if I do feel Rafe should have stood up for himself earlier in the story.

Overall it was a very enjoyable read!

This was a fun and quick read! The vacation vibes and enemies-to-lovers trope remind me of The Unhoneymooners, and I love the female friendships shown throughout!

So much fun! A women working in STEM and having to deal with sexist standards in the workplace.
There are a couple of twists that were fun!
Workplace, biracial FMC set on the beach at a work conference.

Thank you for the ARC!

A steamy work trip romance that expertly tackles heavier themes within corporate settings concerning sexism and the glass ceiling.

Disclaimer: I read this book as an audiobook via NetGalley and Hachette Audio. All opinions are my own. This is my honest and voluntary review.

Not Safe for Work is narrated by Soneela Nankani and runs 10 hours and 35 minutes long. I enjoyed this audiobook narration. I typically listen to my audiobooks between 2× to 2.5x times speed and I was able to comfortably read this book within that speed range. The tempo and narration was clear and concise. I enjoyed the audiobook narrators portrayal of the numerous characters within the novel. None of the changes in tone or voice between characters felt/sounded awkward.

In this novel we follow Trishara, an engineer who's unhappy with her current workplace. She's gone stagnant and been passed up for many promotions. She has a sneaking suspicion it's due to her status as not only a person of color at work, but a woman as well. She shocked when her boss names her to go on a three week workplace leadership retreat to Hawaii. Even though she suspects it's to check a diversity quota, she agrees to go and dismayed to find that her rival in the workplace, Rafe is also going. Of course he is, he's the bosses son. But the more time she spends with Ray out in Hawaii the more she realizes that he may just be as unhappy as she is. Will they bond over their shared dismay of the direction their lives are taking or will she end up drowning him out in Hawaii?

I really enjoyed the way that this novel balanced a steamy contemporary romance with some real hard hitting issues like a glass ceilings in corporate America. Trishara did a really good job of showing a powerful woman with a lot of confidence in a workplace where she is not appreciated. I really love the way she took multiple opportunities to advocate for herself. Even though it was clear, she faced some massive hurdles in her professional life. She did a lot of that with grace and confidence.

I really liked the chemistry and tension that built up between Trishara and Rafe. It was an absolute slow burn that built up from rivals to lovers. Add in that one bed trope and I could not help but kick my heels and giggle. There were numerous laugh out loud scenes and I loved how throughout everything Trishara continue to advocate for herself. The book was light on descriptive spice, but I really feel the main point of this book was the sexual buildup and tension with the slow burn and not necessarily focused on a detailed payoff. That being said, I was satisfied with the sex scenes that occurred within the book. They gave just enough to capitalize on that sexual tension while keeping it easy for a wide range of spice readers to enjoy.

This book also did an excellent job of representing anxiety due to inclement weather as well as migraine representation. Our main character suffered from a trauma that was weather related in her younger years that bled into her adulthood and was very anxiety inducing. In addition to the anxiety, the main character also had a issue with migraines that she was open about and it was very normalized for her to discuss medicating for her medical needs. I thought that both of those topics were handled well and just showcase even more of the confidence of our main character. Rafe was very accepting and understanding of her issues surrounding anxiety and migraines, and I loved how absolutely normalized it was for the FMC to admit she was struggling and for the MMC to comfort her in that aspect without trying to offer any kind of solution or "cure".

The storyline and plot flowed very organically and kept me entertained throughout the entirety of the book. I do wish we had had a few more interactions with the side characters as I thought some of them very interesting and hope that there might be some subsequent books that feature these characters so that we can get to know them better. There was a few downtimes during the book that my mind started to wander, but they were definitely not long or frequent and I was able to stay engaged for most of the story.

I cannot wait for the next release by this amazing author.

Audiobook Stats:
⏰: A steamy work trip romance that expertly tackles heavier themes within corporate settings concerning sexism and the glass ceiling.

Disclaimer: I read this book as an audiobook via NetGalley and Hachette Audio. All opinions are my own. This is my honest and voluntary review.

In this novel we follow Trishara, an engineer who's unhappy with her current workplace. She's gone stagnant and been passed up for many promotions. She has a sneaking suspicion it's due to her status as not only a person of color at work, but a woman as well. She shocked when her boss names her to go on a three week workplace leadership retreat to Hawaii. Even though she suspects it's to check a diversity quota, she agrees to go and dismayed to find that her rival in the workplace, Rafe is also going. Of course he is, he's the bosses son. But the more time she spends with Ray out in Hawaii the more she realizes that he may just be as unhappy as she is. Will they bond over their shared dismay of the direction their lives are taking or will she end up drowning him out in Hawaii?

I really enjoyed the way that this novel balanced a steamy contemporary romance with some real hard hitting issues like a glass ceilings in corporate America. Trishara did a really good job of showing a powerful woman with a lot of confidence in a workplace where she is not appreciated. I really love the way she took multiple opportunities to advocate for herself. Even though it was clear, she faced some massive hurdles in her professional life. She did a lot of that with grace and confidence.

I really liked the chemistry and tension that built up between Trishara and Rafe. It was an absolute slow burn that built up from rivals to lovers. Add in that one bed trope and I could not help but kick my heels and giggle. There were numerous laugh out loud scenes and I loved how throughout everything Trishara continue to advocate for herself. The book was light on descriptive spice, but I really feel the main point of this book was the sexual buildup and tension with the slow burn and not necessarily focused on a detailed payoff. That being said, I was satisfied with the sex scenes that occurred within the book. They gave just enough to capitalize on that sexual tension while keeping it easy for a wide range of spice readers to enjoy.

This book also did an excellent job of representing anxiety due to inclement weather as well as migraine representation. Our main character suffered from a trauma that was weather related in her younger years that bled into her adulthood and was very anxiety inducing. In addition to the anxiety, the main character also had a issue with migraines that she was open about and it was very normalized for her to discuss medicating for her medical needs. I thought that both of those topics were handled well and just showcase even more of the confidence of our main character. Rafe was very accepting and understanding of her issues surrounding anxiety and migraines, and I loved how absolutely normalized it was for the FMC to admit she was struggling and for the MMC to comfort her in that aspect without trying to offer any kind of solution or "cure".

The storyline and plot flowed very organically and kept me entertained throughout the entirety of the book. I do wish we had had a few more interactions with the side characters as I thought some of them very interesting and hope that there might be some subsequent books that feature these characters so that we can get to know them better. There was a few downtimes during the book that my mind started to wander, but they were definitely not long or frequent and I was able to stay engaged for most of the story.

I cannot wait for the next release by this amazing author.

There were some cute and fun moments to this book, but as a whole it fell a little flat. I work in an engineering field and while i do believe these workplace harassment events can happen, it hasn't been as prevalent to me. Obviously it was played up a bit for the story, but I wish it might have focused more on the pain of being nominated for something as the token female rather than the blatant sexual harassment. I didn't ever fully understand why the two main characters hated each other, but who hasn't had a grudge for no real reason. Plus going from that to love in under two weeks was a little insane. If you can suspend belief on some of these details it is an enjoyable story and a good time.

I'd firstly like to thank Forever Publishing for a copy of this eARC.

This is my first book that I've ready by Nisha J. Tuli, and I'm so glad I was able to read this one, early! I've had her books on my TBR list for a long time, but if you give me a contemporary enemies to lovers, I will eat it up all day everyday. This will absolutely not be my last book by this author, and I can't wait to dive into her fantasy books!

We have an incredibly smart (engineer) FMC who is one of the few women in her office (surrounded by Khakis at work), and our MMC is the son of one of the bosses for their Chicago branch for their company. Both of our MCs are chosen to attend a 3 week long work conference to see who will get selected for a covetous leadership internship with the company. Of course, there are all kinds of competitions between the attendees, and this is where our MCs shine (and, of course, make it so everyone is watching them).

I'm not going to spoil the rest but if you enjoy these tropes, I think you'd like this one!

- Enemies-to-lovers
- Workplace Romance / Work Rivals
- Secret Pining
- Women in STEM
- Forced Proximity

This entire book was one giant nonstop HR violation. None of this would be acceptable professional conduct in any workplace. That said — and with my disbelief suspended about all of the circumstances needed for this story— this was a fun steamy nonsensical romp and I enjoyed the heck out of it. The banter is delightful, the setting is dreamy (Maui? Yes, please), and I absolutely devoured the book.

4 stars

ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was so much fun!
I loved Tris and her ability to stand up for herself and be an absolute badass! The banter between her and Rafe was amazing, and I loved their tension and swoon worthy moments 🤭

This story was the perfect amount of lighthearted, cheesy, fun, rom com, fast paced, progressive and honestly just slayed tbh

“Not Safe for Work” by Nisha Tuli included many of the tropes I love: work trip, forced proximity, only one bed and enemies to lovers. Trishara is an environmental engineer who is fighting misogyny and nepotism at work. She is finally selected for a leadership work trip but only to make her office seem more diverse than it is. She is going with her boss’ son, Rafe, who got the team lead job over her and has been her nemesis since they have worked together. She intends to keep him in the enemy zone despite her growing attraction to him as she soon starts to realize he might actually be a good guy. Then fate and their feelings start conspiring against them and all bets are off.

I really liked the writing style of the author and the chemistry between the two MC’s that was pretty spicy. It was a slow burn and they stayed enemies for a good chunk of the book that led to a lot of good tension but also felt like it dragged on a bit at times. I loved the plot line of a work trip to Hawaii and all the little side excursions they did but I found Trishara unnecessarily unprofessional at times and it kind of irked me because it didn’t feel like it was how someone would act in her role despite all she had to put up with. In general I really liked the book and it had me hooked quickly and kept my attention throughout. A decent read in my opinion and one I would recommend but I didn’t love it enough to put it in my reread pile.

This was a super cute and quick read! I loved that the FMC is a South Asian engineer who faces challenges in a field mostly dominated by white men. She’s fiery, independent, firm in her beliefs, and I was constantly rooting for her. She puts up with so much and I was so proud of her by the end of the book.

This is my first introduction to this author and I know this is her first romance novel. I’m not entirely sold on romance being her genre, but I have heard great things about her fantasy series that she’s more known for. There were a mix of things that did and didn’t work for me with this book.

The romance itself was fine but the writing could have used alot more improvement. I found it hard to connect to the story since the plot was a bit repetitive and slow. Some parts were pretty predictable and the characters, while great on their own, were too immature for me. The banter was still super fun and I’ll admit that some scenes had me giggling. That epilogue was adorable!

I also really liked Rafe! He was so sweet, funny, and still managed to keep up his competitive streak with Trishara. I loved that reveal of his hobbies outside of work and thought that was such a fun addition to his character. However, I would have loved it if this was dual POV because it was a bit difficult to really understand his character at the beginning.

The slow burn, tension, and chemistry between them was so good, though. I loved how the author wrote their overall relationship and definitely will need to give her fantasy books a try.

Thank you to NetGalley and Forever for this ARC!

I enjoyed this book! It was a fun read while also hitting on some important topics. I always the “workplace rivals” dynamic and thought it was done well here.

⭐ Rating: 4/5
🔥 Spice: 4/5 – There’s a lot of spice in the second half, but it fits the story without overpowering it.

I really enjoyed this story. It’s a fun, emotional, and satisfying rivals-to-lovers romance with depth beyond the banter. The characters felt layered and real, and the relationship progression was both believable and rewarding. I loved how the emotional growth of both characters was given as much attention as the romance itself.

Things That Stood Out:
- The rivalry-to-lovers setup worked really well. The teasing could be a little over the top at first, but once their walls started to crack, the chemistry really clicked.
- Both characters had deeper emotional layers beyond the rivalry. Rafe's complicated relationship with his wealthy, controlling family added a lot of depth, and Tris’s trauma from a past workplace relationship gave her hesitancy real weight.
- I appreciated how the author handled Tris’s fears about mixing romance and work again—showing both her anxiety and growth without brushing past it.
- Rafe was a genuinely swoony MMC. His patience, his support,, and the way he stood up for her and eventually, his passion for baking made him easy to root for.
- While the spice level was high in the second half, it didnt overpower the story.
- The ending gave a satisfying balance of personal and romantic closure, with both characters making choices for themselves first, and then choosing each other.

This is definitely one to pick up if you love a good rivals-to-lovers romance with depth, a lot of heat, and characters who feel fully fleshed out by the end. I’m excited to read more from Nisha J. Tuli!