Thanks to Netgalley for the chance to rate and review this book.

Rating: 4 stars
Spice: Low to medium depending on your preferred smut level
Tropes: close proximity, enemies to lovers, office romance.

Emma (FMC) is a used to be rich girl, working in a corperate tech company that undermines her consistently and dismisses her constantly.

Charlie (MMC) is one of those office boys with a good suit who can play the game and seems to be the golden boy of the office.

Both are only seeing the surface and neither shows any inclination to dig deeper until their boss makes a competion for a promotion they both want. But instead of competeing separately they are being forced to work together.

Emma believes she will do all the work and Charlie will take all the glory. Charlie believes working with Emma may kill him, because he doesn't hate him, in fact she drives him to distraction.

So I liked the book don't get me wrong. The characters were engaging and it hooked me from almost the first page. The story flowed well but in the last few chapters it lost its flow. It felt very rushed to finish the story.

The conversation between Emma and Charlie and her confessing her feelings, went south very quickly and seemingly out of nowhere. The make up scene, where the hell did Logan go. He was there, he never left and seemed to be forgotten about, granted he was an ass but still. Then the last two chapters that were like 2 epilogues jumped wildly and to be honest, did either one of them get the promotion? I know there were redundancies but ????

It left me with a few questions and I went back to where I had gotten confused a couple of times, wondering if my eyes skipped over anything, but no, I am still a little bewildered. Maybe it was just me I just felt things weren't really tied up in the end.

As I said though the story moved well and I very much liked the characters and I hope McLean writes a second because I really, really want to find out more about Ivy and I really hope she gets a book.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 3.75-4/5 🌶️🌶️🌶️ 3/5

Tropes:
📌 Enemies to Lovers
📌 Office Romance
📌 Opposites Attract

Emma Conway is a trust fund princess until she isn’t… her family is secretly not as well off as everyone assumes and she is left picking up the pieces. Emma is strong and knows exactly how capable she is, while faced with a misogynistic boss that micromanages her at every turn, she handles it with grace and continues doing her job #boss.

Charlie Walker grew up in the foster care system and his whole life has been dedicated to finding a level of comfort and safety for himself and his sister. Charlie is well respected at work and admired by his coworkers for always going the extra mile and helping everyone out so when Emma asks him to enter into a “ friends” with benefits situation with no strings… of course he can’t say no.

Emma and Charlie had their wires crossed from the start, they both had the complete wrong idea about the other and I really enjoyed both characters being vulnerable and revealing that actually everything the other person thought about them was wrong, it made me admire them both and I really wanted them to get together.

The only reason this wasn’t a 4+ star was I struggled at the beginning with the pacing, there was a lot of work lingo and information I couldn’t tell you what it meant ( except they worked on a group project together to fight for a promotion) but I do think it was necessary to illustrate how important both Emma and Charlie were to the company and that they were pretty darn good at their jobs.

The spice was ✨chefs kiss✨ and was open door,once things started heating up between Emma and Charlie it went from 🌶️ to 🌶️🌶️🌶️ real fast. I really enjoyed this book and if you like a good office romance with a tonne of spice…this book is for you.

Ivy and Lincoln’s story has to be next…right?
(please)

Thank you to NetGalley, Victory Editing & Dani McLean for the ARC, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and cannot wait for book 2.

3.75 / 4 ⭐️

I feel like alllll the reader corporate girlies should read this because they’ll definitely identify with the FMC!

Dani truly writes the most relatable and fun characters! I really enjoyed getting to know our MCs and watching them fall for each other.

I am NOT a corporate girly and while Dani includes lots of corporate talk, i wasn’t confused or deterred. It gives what it needed without going over the top to make it unenjoyable.

THE SPICE. this is absolutely Dani’s best spice book! The spice is SPICING & def well done.

While i really enjoyed this book, it definitely wasn’t my favorite Dani book! It was a fun, quick read but didn’t resonate with me too much so i think that it will be a bit forgettable for me. BUT i think if you’re a corporate girl you’d ADORE this book.

If you’re looking for rivals to lovers, workplace romance, he falls first, & friends with benniesss!

I would definitely recommend it to my audience! & I will always go back to read alllll that Dani puts out!

Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for a review.

This is the perfect read for any corporate girlie who's looking for a break for their normal day to day. So much of this book and the characters were so relatable and the terminology was always correct. Emma and Charlie were so fun to read and while some of the issues facing Emma in her job were too relatable it made the story more interesting cause I felt like I could be talking to one of my coworkers or friends.

If you are a woman who work in a corporate world before, today, or even curious, this book is for you! As a corporate girlie, I felt so represented in this book.

Emma and Charlie were forced to work together to be promoted. They were enemies in the office because of their own assumptions of one another but as they both continue to work, they saw a whole different side.

I love both of them as a characters, and they are proof that there's more than meets the eye. Emma's resilient and so strong amidst all the misogynistic encounters in her job. How she stood tall, worked the extra mile to achieve her goals is how I wanna be when I grow up. I resonate so much towards her.

Charlie, I get him and with his background as a foster kid, he made a name for himself and he worked very hard to lift himself up. He deserves everything and more.

I love their dynamic, their banter and the flow of their story. The pacing from hostile, to reluctant coworkers to being friends and eventually lovers was great! Dare I say, I might read this author's works from now on.

This book really gave me The Hating Game vibes!

Ahh I absolutely adored this book, I think I devoured it in about 3hrs!

It all starts in the workplace! It's more than a workplace romance - It very much showed the very real scenarios some women face in a male dominated career. I don't often hate a character within a book, but I very much did hate Karl.

Both Emma and Charlie were well written, and I would say the development of Emma from the start to the end was great, she already was a smart, hardworking, and capable, but by the end her confidence in dealing with different situations was great to see. Not saying that Charlie wasn't any of those as well... he just had other issues to work through. The chemistry and intense attraction between Emma and Charlie leapt off the pages and the steamy scenes... well...

My only thing I would say I felt the end was a little bit rushed - like we jumped from one thing to another... but other than that, it was such a great read. This eas my first by this author and it won't be my last

This was a lovely and refreshing love story!

I liked how honest it was about such a sensible topic like money and family and how nicely it built a charming love story. An office enemies to lovers, through very hot encounters and heartfelt ones this story got its solution without much drama.

At times it felt like the chapters were a bit sketchy and small, which would make this perfect to be transformed into a movie.

What I liked the most about the whole story, other than how well defined and likeable were the characters was how full of love and deep understanding they get over their issues. Even the money issue gets such a heart warming solution.

Overall, this was a nice read, which I'm grateful to have received in order to share my view of.

AHHH WHAT A DELIGHTFUL AND ALSO 🌶🌶🌶 READ

Charlie and Emma's chemistry and banter was so fun and hot. It literally had me squeaking while reading.
Workplace rivals having to fake date will never get old and this was such a good one. Charlie is a perfect book bf and Emma is who i want to be when i grow up!!

Read it. Really tho, trust me on this!

*arc kindly provided in exchange of an honest review

‼️My review might contain some spoilers‼️

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️ (the second and the last spicy scene🥵)

Emma Conway comes from old money. But nobody knows that her parents made several bad investments within the last few years and she had to help sell paintings and summer houses to pay off their debts. And she’s working and living paycheck to paycheck, while living in a run down apartment complex. She works hard and even has a hand in the changes around the office, but sadly her nemesis gets the accolades and again she’s overlooked.

Charlie Walker, a foster home kid that didn’t go to college, now has a good job, great apartment and designer suits that he likes to wear to work every day. He works hard and has been for 8 years. So when he gets the change to climb the corporate ladder, he doesn’t say no. If only he don’t have to work with her…

Sparks of hatred fly between Emma and Charlie, as their boss puts them on a project together to see who will come out as the winner and get promoted, while still working normally in their own departments.

At the beginning we learn a lot about the company Emma and Charlie work at. It’s a lot of stuff I didn’t really understand as to what exactly they were working on. This goes on throughout the book and at the end it kind of fizzles out to where we are told about redundancies and that he should put his notice in…I didn’t understand who works there anymore.

Noticing the way Emma gets treated by their boss and other men in charge, Charlie gets the feeling that it’s already a done deal that he’ll get the promotion. So he offers a truce and that they work together and be friendly. But Emma has a more pressing (very personal) problem that she thinks Charlie might be able to help her with….to get her ex Logan back.

The way he falls first but is also the scared one is heartbreaking. I loved Charlie in his suits 😍
Emma and her “issue” is a very common one and I want to thank the author for shining a light on this and that it’s ok, but also not and that the typical Logan reaction to it, is really sad.

Thanks to NetGalley, I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I liked the chemistry between Emma & Charlie. I usually like workplace romances but in the beginning, there was too much of detail about what's going on in their office so it was a bit hard for me to feel engaged. I liked both Charlie & Emma and their rivalry was good to see but the miscommunication and the third act break up in the end was so off putting tbh. And the last chapter was the epilogue due to which I felt like some of the plot points were left unresolved. Still, the characters were strong, smart and well sketched and the intense attraction between Charlie & Emma was also well portrayed. Overall, this was a good read and the issues discussed were also solid but some details in the last two chapters felt vague tbh.

I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange of an honest review

Take It Offline by Dani McLean is book one the Out of Office series.
I thought his was a super cute story.
With the best cast of characters. I loved Emma and Charlie so much. And their chemistry was amazing.
I love Dani McLean’s writing. It never fails she always keeps me so entertained and coming back for more.
The story captured my attention, but the steamy and cutesy romance kept me interested.
A steamy, rivals to lovers contemporary romance.
This can also be read as a standalone.

I will definitely be keeping my eyes open for book two!

i thought this was a really cute read! i think that emma and charlie had great chemistry, their banter was *chefs kiss*

however, i unfortunately found myself feeling the same way quite a few others reviewers did in the sense that the work related content made this a bit hard to enjoy in the beginning and the end felt like there was really no conclusion.

I’m a sucker for workplace romance and this book delivered! It was a quick and easy read that kept me kicking my feet, the banter was bantering and the spice was definitely spicing!! Definitely recommend this book to get you out of a slump or if you’re looking for a cute, romance that flows quickly!

This was a very fun, witty, chemistry filled workplace romance between two rivals, Charlie and Emma, who aren’t what they seem. I loved how McLean really highlighted how appearances aren’t always true and that there is so much more to people than what meets your eye. Charlie was a fantastic male main character with heart of gold. He has a difficult back story which makes it hard to be open and trust others but once “his”, he is protective and loyal, like with his sister and then Emma. Emma is equally awesome with her sense of humor, confidence, and intelligence. Also loyal to her family, she works so hard and just wants to be taken seriously in her role and not just seen for her family’s money. I loved that the rivalry aspect quickly turned to a partnership and a friendship, with a little intimacy pact on the side that, of course, turned to more. I loved that the two characters really grew to respect each other and that miscommunication was not the drive to their conflict but rather their own personal feelings that they had to work through. This was my first McLean but I really enjoyed how she wrote banter and the quick pace of the novel. I did feel like there were some continuity issues or places where the story jumped. I really enjoyed this novel though and would recommend to it contemporary romance readers and those new to the author!

Take It Offline
By Dani McLean

⭐⭐⭐⭐
🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️

ARC Review: Pub Date September 24, 2024

𝑰𝒇 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒏𝒆𝒆𝒅𝒔 𝒉𝒆𝒍𝒑 𝒃𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒅𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒃𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒓𝒔, 𝑰’𝒍𝒍 𝒂𝒔𝒌 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒐 𝒑𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒃𝒆 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒘𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒃𝒂𝒍𝒍. 𝑰𝒇 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒈𝒐 𝒉𝒊𝒈𝒉, 𝑰’𝒍𝒍 𝒈𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒂 𝒃𝒐𝒐𝒔𝒕. 𝑰𝒇 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒈𝒐 𝒍𝒐𝒘, 𝑰’𝒍𝒍 𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒃 𝒂 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒍 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝒅𝒊𝒈𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒈. 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆’𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝑰 𝒘𝒐𝒏’𝒕 𝒇𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒐𝒘. 𝑵𝒐 𝒄𝒐𝒓𝒏𝒆𝒓 𝑰 𝒘𝒐𝒏’𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒊𝒏.

Dani McLean is officially an auto read author for me. I had such a good time with this book. I was giggling and kicking my feet one minute and then sending Dani rage messages the next.

She wrote characters that are so easy to root for, and balances them with characters you hope will step on a Lego every morning for the rest of their lives.

I loved Emma and Charlie so much. They were both working so hard. Emma to be taken seriously. Charlie because it's what he felt like he had to do. But with each other they got to let down the barriers. They were precious.

They were also 🔥🔥🔥🔥. The spice in this book? 😮‍💨 It is hot. And it kicks off early. But let me tell you, Dani somehow managed to still make a slow burn. It was delicious.

This book reminded me of Not Safe For Work by Lindsey Lanza. Mostly because they are both stories of women in tech. These books are written by authors from different countries and still portray a very similar experience of women in tech, STEM, and corporate spaces. And let me tell y'all, you will also want to send ragey messages when you see what Emma has to deal with in this book.

Go read it. It's delightful and hysterical and spicy and you'll have a great time.

𝑰 𝒅𝒐𝒏’𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒇𝒂𝒍𝒍. 𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒎 𝒃𝒆𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒂 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒐𝒏 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒉 𝒇𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒇𝒐𝒓. 𝑺𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒐’𝒍𝒍 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒇𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒎𝒆.

Read September 8, 2024

Dani McLean is an auto-buy author for me for sure. I love that her characters are always in such beautifully developed worlds but this is her first slight miss for me in terms of setting (probably my own ignorance!) I must say I didn't understand what either of the characters did for work but I appreciated their ambition and the enemies to lovers of it all. McLean writes such quick and witty banter and such hot and kind characters - I could live in her worlds forever.

I had a hard time getting into this just because the characters' job was the main focus at the beginning and it honestly made zero sense to me. Once the story ramped up and the romance started, I started to get into it and really enjoyed that portion. I've read most of Dani's work and this is definitely the spiciest thus far! I really liked the characters, especially all of the side characters, and I love how Charlie showed up and stood up for Emma. The ending threw me off a bit just because I feel like it could've been labelled an epilogue and how far into the future we were seeing. Overall, besides having to gloss over all of the work talk, I enjoyed this spicy and fun romance!

Thank you to NetGalley and Set the Mood Publishing for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Loved this! I don't think this romance has ever been done before. Quick and cute read. The cover is also very awesome!

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This is a workplace rivals to lovers romance between Emma and Charlie. After reading the book, I still couldn’t tell you what their job was or what the project was that they were forced to work together on. The work-related part of the book was just way over my head. There were lots of random side characters mentioned that weren’t relevant to the story. Charlie and Emma had cute banter and interesting backgrounds. The names of the chapters were funny. Emma had to deal with a sexist boss and an ex that treated her terribly. I loved the way she handled it and didn’t need Charlie to fight her battles for her. If you are just here for the spice not so much the plot, you may like this one more than I did. Warning: there is a ridiculous third act break up. I wouldn’t have taken Charlie back. The last chapter is more of an epilogue, and I liked that it was a little different than the typical romance epilogue. 2.5 stars.

Thank you, netgally and Dani McLean, for allowing me to review this book early.

Take it offline, follows Emma and Charlie while they compete for the same job, neither of them trusting or liking each other when Emma's boss tells Charlie he wants to sabotage Emma's work they are forced to work together to bring him down.

I'm not gonna lie at 1st. I wasn't enjoying Emma's povs. Everything she said was irritating me. That was until she revealed more about herself. Charlie, on the other hand, I loved, especially his relationship with his sister. As the book went on, I couldn't put it down. But it took me over 50% of the way to get there