emotional funny lighthearted reflective tense medium-paced
Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0

Thank you to Forever Pub, Netgalley, and Nisha J Tuli for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.

What can I say about this book that could possibly do it justice? I absolutely loved it. I loved every moment of reading this book from the tough subject matters that came up, to the gruelingly slow burn, to the tension of the main characters and the stress and angst of the environment. Everything about this book was perfect. It was balanced and engaging, and when it ended, I wanted to re-read it all over again (but I fought the urge). You're going to want to pick this book up, and never put it down. It's a read in one-sitting, ignore your responsibilities, and stay up until morning, kind of read.

MIGRAINE REPRESENTATION I felt so seen! I enjoyed this book, I love a rivals to lovers and this delivered it in the way I love best... two people who are actually insanely attracted to one another! Nisha also did such a beautiful job of highlighting the difficulties woman often face in the workplace, especially woman of color!! I appreciated how she was able to weave elements like that into the story while it still also remained feeling lighthearted and fun to read! Am looking forward to rereading by the beach this summer!

One of the best romcom's I've read in a while. If you loved the Spanish Love Deception but wanted more? You'll love Not Safe for Work by Nisha J Tuli.

I loved this! I think this would be the perfect book to read on a tropical summer vacation! It was short and sweet all wrapped up in a nice romantic bow. I thought Tris was a good character, she was laugh out loud funny and confident in herself! Rafe was a standard male main character, I enjoyed his banter! I wish we got some scenes from his pov so we could understand his motivations and personality, and his relationships with his father and his ex a bit more. I thought some of his hobbies came out of left field, but that was okay! It was too short for any crazy development or plot, but for a fun, spicy summer romance read by the water, it was perfect!

Nisha J. Tuli never disappoints. It was a fast read with a slow burn. The tension and banter in the book were great, I loved the real world aspects relating to the struggles of women. The ending of the book was excellent.

4 ⭐️

Thank you NetGalley, the publisher and Nisha J. Tuli for providing me this ARC in exchange for my honest thoughts! My first read from Nisha J. Tuli and I am obsessed! An easy read in the best way possible, it had me intrigued very quickly. It talked about issues that are present in real workplaces and unfortunately, in everyday situations (racism and sexism). Their fights were kind of childish to me but other than that, it was a good read!


Tropes:
- Rivals to Lovers
- Forced proximity
- Workplace Romance
- One Bed

🔉Thank you to Nisha J. Tuli, Forever (Grand Central Publishing), and NetGalley for this arc of Not Safe for Work out May 20, 2025!

📜Quick Summary: Trishara is one of the only female engineers at WMC Purcell, a company based in Chicago. After being turned down multiple times for promotions, she’s had enough with the company. But then she gets chosen to go on the company’s leadership retreat. The catch? She has to go with Rafe, the owner’s son and well, someone she just can’t stand. With a traumatizing past relationship, Tris knows she has to keep her walls up and not let anyone interfere with what she’s worked so hard for. But will Rafe and Tris be able to work together while on this trip? Or will things take a different turn?

❣️Initial Feels: I am loving the characters and am impatiently waiting for the spice to kick off with these two!

👀Trigger Warnings: unfair work setting, toxic (past) relationship

🌶️Spice Level: 🌶️🌶️🌶️

📖Read if you want: spicy scenes, forced proximity, enemies to lovers, workplace romance

🙋🏼‍♀️Moving Character: Tris was such a strong character. I loved her banter, I loved her steadfast view on her strengths and her worth, and I loved her journey in a career mostly dominated by men. She also held strong in her views on workplace romances…until, well…you’ll have to read it to find out! But overall, she stood up for herself and made known that she was not someone to mess with!

🗨️Thoughtful Words: “My future stretches before me, but the road I’m traveling is blank.”

💡Final Sentiments: Make sure to read the author’s note to fully understand her deep connection with being a woman in an engineering, male dominated field. I really enjoyed this novel! I love an enemies to lovers, slow burn romance kinda novel, and Tuli did not disappoint! Once the romance started spicing, it got SPICY! Not only that, but there was a lot of depth to these characters and their beliefs. She dug into Rafe and Tris and made them truly think about what was important not only in their careers, but important to their well being as a person. I loved that Rafe opened up and was emotional with Tris and not embarrassed to show his true feelings. Overall, an enjoyable, hot read!

🌟Overall Rating: 4.5 stars

This novel was provided by the publisher, via NetGalley, in exchange for my honest review.

Not Safe For Work

I rarely say this about a romance but it could have been longer, OR the beginning shorter with more time for their relationship to grow. It felt like enemies to lovers to in love hit so fast my head was spinning. There’s also some solid friends in this book I would have loved more from.

The MMC was a bit of a walking red flag, in my opinion. But the main FMC was likeable, powerful and her confidence was amazing! She felt real, and I enjoyed her a lot.

The last 15% the book really picked up and it became a smoother read.

This was a fresh fun read! A real divergence from some other heavier titles but it was a great way to spend a rainy weekend!

Rivals on a retreat? What could go...right? I absolutely loved Not Safe for Work by Nisha J. Tuli! I will be looking forward to reading more by this author!

Wow. Wow. Wow. I adored this. I read it in a day. This is my first Nisha novel, but I will be coming back for more like a feral cat at a restaurant dumpster. The banter? PEAK. The tension? I can’t even describe. And HE PINES FIRST?? Just take my wallet, Nisha, you earned it. Great tropes. Great writing. Steamy as heck. It’s at 12/10 for me.

As someone who is a big fan of Nisha's fantasy writings, I was really curious if she would crossover to romcoms successfully. And I'm happy to say, she did. "Not Safe For Work" is about two rival engineers who get stuck doing the one room trope during a conference in Hawaii. It was cute, it was funny, and it's a perfect beach read this summer. I felt a chemistry between our two main characters and ended up reading this book quite quickly. Also love any book with women in STEM. I hope Nisha writes more romcoms in the future, they will be automatic buys from me.

Are you happy, Rafe?” He smiles and touches his forehead to mine.
“Of course I am, Tris.” Then he winks.
“𝗪𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘆𝗼𝘂, 𝗜’𝗺 𝗮𝗹𝘄𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝗮 𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗲𝗻.”

Trishara Malik, an engineer, is feeling defeated after she's repeatedly passed over for promotions while the boss’s son, Rafe Gallagher, gets ahead. So he became her very hot, delectable nemesis. 🤭 They both get selected for a leadership retreat in Hawaii and find out that they are stuck together in the same room (with one bed! 🫣) for 3 WHOLE WEEKS! What's the solution? Avoid each other, of course! But, how long can that really last?

Omg! Tris was so obsessed with Rafe! Like she wanted to hate him so bad, but was sidetracked by everything about him! The tension, pining, and obsession had me giggling and kicking my feet! Their banter was quick witted, their competitiveness was hilarious. The way they would be vulnerable with each other was everything. I really enjoyed seeing another side of Rafe that Tris didn't know. He is definitely the protective/growly cinnamon roll. He's equally obsessed with her, I'm sure of it! 🥰

While this is a romance, it definitely shines light on the sexism and racism that women face in the workplace. I thought Tris’ experience and struggles at work were incredibly well written. The defeat she felt and questioning if her hard work is ever truly going to pay off is so relatable (unfortunately) to many women in any workplace. I thought the author did a great job expressing that. I did love the way Tris continued to stand up for herself. This was such a good time, and I can't wait to read more contemporary romance from Nisha! 😁

Thank you to @netgalley & @readforeverpub for the eARC.

Comes out May 20th!

I hope Nisha writes more contemporary romance because this was a great one! Biased slightly by being in STEM myself, I loved the progression of the romance balanced with work. um hello there's only one bed!!! I also loved the nods to her fantasy books, they were such a fun touch!

This was my first ever Nisha J. Tuli, and I would easily read more! I see her fantasy novels EVERYWHERE, so once I saw this one and my best friend told me it was a must read I requested it! I was definitely in (and still am) in a bit of a reading slump at the moment, so I think if I was not I would have enjoyed this a bit more.

Overall I thought this was fun and cute, and I fully plan to add it to my shelf so I can reread! I love a women in STEM romance, and find them so fun to read. I know its not everyones jam, but it is mine. I feel like this reminded me of Ali Hazelwood romances because of the nod to STEM. I did feel like the FMC was a bit immature for my liking, and there was not much development (or did I miss it, idk?).

Again, I feel like my reading slump caused me to not enjoy this as much as I would have if I was not in one, but with that being said, I do plan to reread this later on!!

I really enjoyed this book. Workplace romance isn't for me, especially when there's a power dynamic involved. I liked that this was more between peers/ adversaries and that, spoiler, they didn't have a true third-act breakup. I also loved the nods to Tuli's other books.

This was a spicy good time!! From the beginning you could feel the brimming tensions between Tris and Rafe. As the book went on I was beggggging for them to just kiss! I loved the sort-of clown burn of their story.

While I had a grand ole time reading this, I do wish there was a bit more depth to characters like Rafe. I liked him, but I just feel like some of it was too surface level for me to really latch onto.

Overall a really fun summer-y romance!

4.5/5 stars!!!

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of this book!!!

Yall. I’ve never read anything by Ms. Nisha J. Tuli, but when i tell you she ate this up and left no crumbs whatsoever. Wow. Now this is how you do Rivals to Lovers and the one bed trope??? You know what, yeah, hell yeah.

I genuinely really enjoyed this book. I loved the FMC, and even really loved Rafe. I also loved Trisharas name, like it legit was so satisfying to read for some reason. I loved how realistic this was as well– because the way Trishara was treated was basically how most POC and Black people are treated in the corporate office space.

The romance in this too? UGHHHHHH YESSSSSS 10/10.

The only quip i had about this book was that Rafe seemed to do a very random 180 out of no where, and his previous character traits seemed like they just disappeared to me? Idk it was kinda random but still made sense in a way? I’m not sure but just you’ll know what i mean once you get to like 80%.

Overall though wow. I’m SO glad I requested this ARC!!! This was such an amazing read and truly enjoyed it.

Forced proximity, enemies to lovers, and work romance? Yes please. This was a fun and steamy read that I really enjoyed.

2.5 ⭐️
I haven’t read any of Nisha J. Tuli’s fantasy books, but I’ve seen many positive reviews that when I spotted this stunning cover and found out it was her first contemporary romance, I knew I had to read it. Unfortunately, my first experience with this author didn’t go well.

The FMC is an engineer who faces injustice at her workplace. The promotion she deserves goes to her boss’s son—her enemy—and she also receives inappropriate propositions from one of the company’s executives.

I appreciated that the author touched on important issues like women in STEM and workplace sexism, especially for women of color, because these topics are still relevant.

However, I struggled to connect with Trishara because of her behavior. She acted quite immaturely. Rafe was polite and kind to her, but she constantly criticized him and dismissed his suggestions. Meanwhile, she kept thinking about how sexy he was, eavesdropping on his private conversations, and discussing them with her friend.

This book also reminded me of The Hating Game by Sally Thorne and felt predictable to me. Maybe if I’d read it five years ago, I would have enjoyed it more.

𝐓𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐬:
✓slow burn
✓forced proximity
✓enemies to lovers
✓woman in STEM
✓only one bed
✓workplace romance

Thank you to NetGalley and Forever (Grand Central Publishing) for the ARC in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.