this is THE book of the year!!!

i had never read anything from nisha j tuli before as i am not a huge fantasy reader but as soon as i heard she was writing this one i was SAT!!

tris and rafe had me completely enthralled by them from page one. workplace rivals to lovers is such an underutilized trope and nisha knocked it out of the park with this one!!

tris was such an incredible character and didn’t deserve half of what she was put through, but handled it so well. i was fuming for her through it all.

no sooner than i met rafe i knew he was going to be a man down bad. the fun twist of them being absolutely obsessed with each other the whole time with it disguised as “hate”.

soneela nankani did FANTASTIC as tris and this was easily one of my favorite audiobooks i have listened to this year.

so grateful for forever and hachette for this arc + audio!!!

This book is like a glass of water in the desert! I knew that I was gonna love this one, and I had such high expectations for it, and it still smashed all of those! This book made me laugh, it made me cry, and it made me kick my feet with joy! If you enjoy a romcom with a smart FMC, heavy tension, and forced proximity, you won’t wanna miss this one!

A good read but I expected a bit more.

I thought the FMC with a STEM background was really interesting as a premise but for me it didn't deliver. I was hoping to see more specific actions and a mindset that would characterize a MC with a STEM job. She was sometimes a bit childish and stubborn with no point other than prolonging the slow burn. She assumed the worst about the MMC on every turn and it didn't feel like it was for a good reason.

The office / team building setting had a lot potential for exploring quirky side characters that you'd encounter in a typical office environment and maybe provide some comical relief. I wish it had expanded on that aspect more.

I did enjoy the banter and the playfulness between the MCs - I really liked the scene where they created a silly competition and took it way too seriously, in this instance the FMC's stubbornness has a fun payoff.

Tropes:
- women in STEM
- rivals to lovers
- one bed
- angst and banter

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the chance to review the audiobook!

This book was easily a five star read, and it is PERFECT for summer. The banter between Rafe and Trishara is amazing and my girl Trish stands up for herself in the workplace. Some of my favorite tropes were in this book, it has forced proximity, one bed, and workplace romance! AND the narrator Soneela Nankani did a phenomenal job! I am going to keep recommending this book because WOW it was great.

This was amazing and I'm not surprised. I have loved all of nisha's past books, but this is the first contemporary romance of hers that I have read. I love the big issues that Nisha tackles in a wonderfully sensitive and funny way. The rivals to lover's trope was truly wonderful and I really felt the hate from the FMC at the start of the novel. The shift from hate to love was delicious. I listened to this book and the narrator Soneela Nsnkani was absolutely fabulous. There were some super hot scenes that were wonderful and also the description of Hawaii made me want to visit. I was finding more housework so that I could keep listening!

Big thanks to NetGalley and Nisha J. Tuli for a copy of this book. This review is my honest opinion.

Trishara and Rafe are both engineers at a big company. They’ve been rivals for a long time. Rafe is the son of one of the big wigs and Trishara is one of the few women in the company. She’s constantly being overlooked and under promoted. The company is holding a leadership retreat in Maui and both of them get selected to attend. When they’re mistakenly booked to the same suite in the hotel, they’re forced to spend a lot of extra time together.

I enjoyed this story! I loved Trishara and how she stood up for herself in multiple instances. She is strong and smart and capable. I enjoyed Rafe as a boyfriend, but as a person, he seemed so arrogant. I loved his fun hobby reveal later in the story.

There were many instances of Trishara being overlooked or taken advantage of with her job because she’s a woman and while I don’t have experience with that, seeing as I was an elementary school teacher, it is the reality for many women. I appreciate that the author set out to write a story that sheds some light on that.

I listened to the audio and thought the narrator did a wonderful job!

This book came out in May, but thank you NetGalley, Hachette Audio, and Nisha J Tuli for my copy of the audio!

⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 | 🌶️.5
(rounding up)

"There's nothing unmissable about you. That's all I meant. That there isn't anywhere you could go where everyone wouldn't notice you."

Really enjoyed the audio for this book. Soneela Nakani did amazing. This is the first Nisha J. Tuli book I've read and it won't be the last. Nisha addresses diverse workplace challenges for women of color, in an amazing way in this romance. Bringing along with it, rivals to lovers, STEM setting and one bed tropes. I really enjoyed the dynamics between Tris and Rafe and found myself wanting to be Tris best friend. The banter and tension was done so well. Would of loved to get Rafe's POV and just a bit more from him as a MCC.

Great summer time read for those who like a really cute, sloooowwww burn, workplace romance.

Thank you to Hachette Audio and NetGalley for sending me the ALC for this book and my honest opinion.


#NotSafeforWork #NetGalley

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC, I enjoyed the story right from the start’ the MMC I really enjoyed I though he was sweet, the FMC at time was a bit annoying but once she found her voice and her confidence I liked her a lot more!
Overall I gave this ARC a 3.5 stars, I would recommend 😊

Thank you to NetGalley and Hachette Audio for sending me the ARC of this book.

So..... I read the book, and I liked it, but everyone, please take this review with a grain of salt because I am a mood reader, and I am trying to get out of a reading slump, so don't let my review deter you from reading this book.

Let me start by saying I enjoyed the book; I rate it 3.5 stars. It's just, I went into this book thinking it would be like The Spanish Love Deception by Elena Arias because I found small similarities to these books, and I thought I would be getting another Aaron Blackford because who doesn't want to read another Aaron Blackford? But unfortunately, I didn't get that. The MMC Rafe was actually kind of flat, but he wasn't terrible; I just had high expectations, and that's my fault. The plot was good; I liked the whole rivals-to-lovers thing, but just to warn you all, there is some other women drama; however, it wasn't that bad, that you couldn't stomach it. Overall, it was a decent read; I would recommend it, but I wouldn't expect it to be a 5-star read. I hope you enjoy the book.

Here are some of the tropes:
* Women of color
* STEM setting
* Rivals-to-lovers
* One Bed Trope
* Training program in Hawaii
* Forced proximity/workplace romance
* Banter and angst

A big thank you to NetGalley and Hachette Audio for the ARC!

Just a general observation I have (with all the best intentions!): I think modern non-genre romance novels could often be more impactful if they were about 10-15% shorter. With Not Safe for Work, there was so much to appreciate. I loved the dynamic of the main characters who recognized their own imperfections, the lively setting, the engaging side cast, and, of course, the fantastic STEM representation. My only significant critique is that the frequent arguments between the protagonists felt quite contrived and could have been substantially reduced. Doing so would have tightened the narrative and made the character interactions feel more authentic.

If you enjoy authors like Ali Hazelwood, you'll likely find a lot to love here. This book has certainly made me a new fan of Nisha J. Tuli, and I look forward to her next release.

I haven't read anything by Nisha Tuli before, but this was so enjoyable and real. I love a bit of depth to my romance.

At the beginning of the book, the author's note sets us up for success describing the triggers but also that this was her personal experience when she was an engineer. She wanted to deliver a story about that time in her life, and I think she paid a lovely homage to, perhaps, how she'd wished those situations had panned out.

The FMC is snarky and not sickly-sweet. She's strong and her growth throughout the book - really just realizing she wasted years at a firm that would always overlook her talents unless they wanted to tick some DEI boxes - was slow and believable. I felt like, at 29, I also started not to gaf and tried to be more authentic, so this mentality was relatable for me. I also just really liked being with her as the narrator. I liked her perspective and I was really drawn into the story throughout.

I also loooove a good girls' girl plot. This book showed happy and productive female friendships that were not the source of any drama. The author also did not shy away from that feeling that so many Millennials dealt with professionally when our heroes turned out to be just narcs and wimps playing the sleezy corporate asshole game.

The MMC was a little more fantasy, but I dug it. He was of course perfect, but he also defended her and did/said over the top romantic things. It worked for me because I love reading romance in all its forms, but I do wish he was a little more flawed to play off of the FMCs situation better.

Overall, cute, a bit cheesy, romantic. sloooooow burn but worth it, and fun love story.

i read this physically first and the audiobook made it even better the second time!! love love loveeee rafe & tris so much

3.5 🌟

I loved the summer vibes and the resort setting. I also loved the enemies to lovers and forced proximity tropes. Definitely a good recommendation for summertime. Really enjoyable workplace romance!!!

I just love this book and this author so much! I loved Nisha Tuli's fantasy romance writing, and I was just as impressed with this contemporary romance story. Tris was such a fun, sharp, relatable main character—I wanted to be her best friend immediately. The story does a great job blending the lighter romcom moments with some very real experiences around being a woman of color in a male-dominated workplace. It made me laugh, but it also made me think, and I really appreciated that balance.

Rafe completely won me over. The dynamic between him and Tris was full of tension in all the right ways, and I thought their slow shift from rivals to something more was paced so well. The banter, the grudging respect turning into trust—it all felt earned and satisfying. And the tropical retreat setting added such a fun backdrop without feeling over-the-top.

I also was really impressed with the audiobook narrator, Soneela Nakani, who really brought the characters to life. It was an excellent narration with great pacing.

Thank you to NetGalley and Hachette Audio | Forever for an eARC of this book.

This refreshing romance novel adeptly addresses the diverse workplace challenges that women encounter, interwoven with a heartwarming love narrative. It also delves into the pressures that parents may occasionally impose upon their children. .

I had such high hopes for this book but I found the FMC insufferable, the MMC I felt I didn't get a very good grasp on, so ultimately it fell flat.

Loved that she was a woman in STEM and how she stood up for herself though.

Thank you for the ALC copy!

I’m not sure why I didn’t enjoy this book as much as I thought. To start out with positives, I liked the banter between the characters and the times they opened up to each other. The tension between them and the dialogue from Raif was spicy. When they got together I loved that too and felt like the story and dialogue flowed well. Now for the “bad”- I don’t know how much more I could take about how hot Raif was. The descriptions were endless and it was like enough I get it he’s the hottest man on earth. I also was frustrated how she would always assume the worst in the comments he said. I also didn’t like how much internal conflict she had and I just didn’t relate. It was fun overall, but the inconsistencies just didn’t let me stay in the story.

3/5 stars


Thank you to NetGalley for the advance reader copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This is Nisha’s first contemporary novel and SHE DID NOT DISAPPOINT!

This is the SLOWEST of slow burns that will have you absolutely melting with all the tension and banter, until our main characters eventually figure themselves out and fall into their “just one bed”. Who doesn’t love a one bed trope!!!

Tris and Rafe have so much chemistry, and the audio with this 🫠 just made everything 10x better! Nisha nailed the true rivals vibes with these two- you could absolutely believe how much Tris hated (or thought she hated) Rafe. And the workplace dynamic was so well done, especially having the work convention setting and competition aspect. We also get some great side characters!! Lan and Gabrielle were absolute favourites.

Nisha did such a wonderfully heartbreaking job of showing how it is to be not only a woman in a typically male dominated workplace, but also a woman of color. And the way Tris stands up to everyone… I let out the biggest “hell yeah”. I was waiting all book for that moment and it was so satisfying.

Honestly I ate this one up!! The audio was just so delicious, and I think that’s why I loved it so much. The narrators truly brought the characters and story to life.

Tropes in this one:
- Workplace rivals
- STEM rep (engineering queen alert!)
- Workplace romance
- Forced Proximity
- Slow Burn
- One bed

I'm familiar with Nisha J. Tuli's fantasy pieces, and I would call myself a fan, so I was excited when I saw that she wrote a romance novel. I drove right into this one, but unfortunately, I didn't connect with it as much as I hoped. Although I loved how she focused on and highlighted a very important topic in today's society - women in male dominated fields along with women in STEM - I didn't really vibe with the characters. I did not like Trishara's personality at all. She just seemed very immature throughout the book, and that made it difficult to get through. I do like how she stood up for herself, how she was a minority, a female, and worked her butt off and knew what she was deserving of, however, I just could not appreciate her immaturity. It was a quick read, however, not for me.
Thank you NetGalley, Hachette Audio, and Nisha J. Tuli for this ARC.

I LOVED THIS BOOK.

I thought the narrators did a great job with the banter.

One thing I liked about the book was the small tidbits of Indian culture. I felt like we got a taste, but it was not in your face. I really appreciated this because the culture was in story was intriguing.

The work trip - forced proximity - trop was very well written.