Overall, I give this book 4 stars.

The broad stroaks about what I liked:
- I was already a fan of Nisha's after reading her Artifacts of Ouranos series; however, I have been in a bit of a fantasy slump. You could imagine my surprise (and quite frankly delight) to hear that Nisha was coming out with a contemporary romance.
- The cover???? Gorgeous.
- Love the FMC (Trishara) and all the different facets she represents. WOC with a chronic illness and trying to get by as a woman in a male dominated STEM field??? She's honestly a bad b****. Can I curse on NetGalley? I don't know so I'm gonna play it safe.
- Love the MMC (Rafe) too. I know he's not real, but I also know he is just SO fine????
- Pacing. I ATE this book up. Left no crumbs. I don't know what it is, but this story and/or writing style just grabbed my attention and kept it. Never did it feel like it was dragging.
- Nisha's wit and humor shine through in this book and if this is just her first time dipping her toes in the contemporary pool, I am just SO excited to see what kind of "splash" she makes in the future.

Something that I wasn't a huge fan of:
- This book discusses a lot of things the FMC has to endure not only as a woman in STEM, but also a minority and one with a chronic illness. With these them, we see the FMC dealing with some pretty heinous actions of others. From racist micro aggressions to uncomfortable romantic advances in the work place. That being said, there was a part of the story that kind of sat a little weird with me??? Without divulging too much of the storyline, there was a scene where the FMC is partaking in a team building exercise and she makes a weird innuendo joke to another woman (whom she doesn't know). What bugged me about this is 1. If a man did this to another woman we would be calling him a pig. 2. She does it with the attention of the MMC and making him laugh, but this made me feel like it was at the expense of the woman to look good to the man? It's not really THAT deep, and it didn't affect my rating, but I feel like it didn't add to the story and with Nisha's aforementioned wit/humor, it felt like low hanging fruit.

Things I have to talk about before I explode with people who also read the book, but may borderline spoilery so read at your own peril:
- I loved FMC gaining the courage to tell her boss where to SHOVE IT. And not only applying that courage and self worth to her work life, but also her romantic one as well.
- Fellas, take note, THIS is how a MMC should do a grand gesture. Exquisite. Perfect.

i’ve only ever read fantasy novels by nisha, so i wasn’t sure what to expect with this one…but i really enjoyed it!

this book was such a fun read, and hilarious! so much banter between the trishara (fmc) & rafe (mmc) - and i love a good book with all the banter! the chemistry between the both of them was top tier. i really enjoyed that it was a workplace / vacation romance.

i’m always down for a fluffy little romcom, but what i love more is when there’s a more meaningful & deep story within the romance. trishara deals with a lot of racism & sexism in her workplace. thankfully she removes herself from that toxic environment!

i also thought it was neat that some of this book was based on real life experiences in nisha’s life.

thank you netgalley & forever publishing for the arc of ‘not safe for work’!

what to expect:
- rivals to lovers
- only one bed
- slow burn
- workplace romance
- women in stem
- biracial mfc
- forced proximity

This is a very fun rivals to lovers book set at a company work retreat in Hawaii. It's a slow-burn, will they won't they story with my favorite trope of them all - only one bed!
I appreciated the fun location for the story and very fleshed out characters. There was also a lot of discussion of what it really means to be a woman, especially of women of color, in a male dominated field. This brought a lot of substance to an otherwise fluffy (in a good way) novel.
I think this one is well worth the read!

If you like vacation romances, burning down the patriarchy, and the MCs in any Ali Hazelwood book then you need to run out and read this the days that it's published. The FMC is such a delight that I don't mind that this is a single POV romance (even though I was absolutely hoping for a look inside Rafe's head). The burn is slow, but the payoff is extremely worth it. I enjoyed Tris' character development and how she behaved towards her employer at the climax of the book. Though the grand gesture would have had me personally dying of embarrassment I had a blast reading it for these two.
I'm super grateful to have had the opportunity to read this ARC through NetGalley.

Reviews have been posted on Goodreads and Storygraph. Amazon and Instagram reviews to follow on release day.

Not Safe for Work follows our heroine Trishara as she goes on a corporate retreat to Hawaii with her nemesis and rival: Rafe Gallagher. When the company's receptionist accidentally books them in the honeymoon suite together, they are forced to find out perhaps their feelings of hatred towards one another were something else all along.

This book was like The Unhoneymooners meets The Hating Game meets the TV show Partner Track.

It will have you saying UGH MEN! but also one MAN. Tuli did such an amazing job with the frustration of being a woman of colour and woman in STEM. I was so mad and frustrated for Tris but the ending was so satisfying and so well done.

It is a fast-paced story that delivered on both aspects of rom and com, and had the perfect amount of spice. I couldn't put it down.

Thank you to Nisha J. Tuli, Forever Publishing, and NetGalley for an ARC of this book. All opinions are my own.

Tropes:
- workplace romance
- rivals to lovers
- forced proximity
- women in STEM
- only one bad

I love the book The Spanish Love Deception, and I enjoyed the movie The Hating Game (unfortunately, just the movie, not the book). That's why I decided to read this book. I liked that it tackles the topic of sexism in the workplace.

This book turned out to not be for me, no matter how much I wanted it to. I didn't feel a connection with the main character, and because of that, her behavior reminded me of a teenager going through puberty when someone kicked their puppy 😅

But if you're a fan of the book The Hating Game, you'll probably like this one.

Thank you to NetGalley and Forever for providing this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

4⭐️

Very NSFW 🥵

What do you get when you combine work rivals, a tropical leadership retreat/vacation, and one room (with one bed) - a good time! Nisha has written a truely fun rom com that will have you laughing and screaming.

Not Safe For Work brings work enemies Tris and Rafe to Hawaii for a work leadership retreat. Right away the tension is high between the two as a room mix up leaves them sharing a room for the 3 week trip. The story has highs and lows as Tris battles the toxic white men in her workplace and finding her passion. Nisha offers a lot of Tris’s thoughts, using colorful descriptions to her feeling which are unfortunately pretty relatable. I wish the book was dual pov to get a look into Rafe’s perspective during their story. Overall a fun and enjoyable romcom perfect for anywhere but work!

Thank you to Nisha Tuli and Forever Publishing for an advance reader copy of NSFW! All opinions are my own.

I really enjoyed this book! The banter between the main characters was great and I loved the idea of workplace nemesis’s while in Hawaii. I wish they were a little better expressing their feelings but overall it was a very fun read

I love a book set in a tropical setting; it’s fun and easy to imagine yourself as part of the story and NSFW is no exception!
This book follows rival coworkers Trishara (Trish) and Rafe as they go in a 3 week work training/retreat and unfortunately (wink wink) get booked into the same suite with only one bed.
I appreciated the authors note at the beginning, explaining how this book was personal to her and inspired by her own experience as a female in a male-dominated industry prior to becoming a writer. I instantly felt more connected to the author and the story.
Rafe is a delicious green flag MMC and was exactly what our girl Trish needed, once they decided to give in to their mutual feelings/attraction.
Trish is a woman who knows her mind and and isn’t afraid to tell it like it is.
At times the description and metaphors felt excessive and took me away from the story instead of pulling me in. I also was waiting for some explanation or resolution around Trishara’s headaches.
Overall, this was a fun and swoony story and I enjoyed reading it! Thank you to Netgalley for allowing me to read this ARC. All opinions are my own.

3.5 ⭐️
2 🌶️

🌸 Workplace rivals
🍰 Tropical setting
🌸 Only one bed
🍰 Hurt/Comfort
🌸 F the patriarchy
🍰 Banter

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this free eARC

Trishara is a smart, sexy FMC who is frustrated with the lack of advancement her career. Rafe is her hot coworker who has a massive ego who definitely has gotten where he is in his career thanks to nepotism.

While the story was not particularly relatable to me, I'm sure it is to a lot of women who work in male dominated industries. I do think the pacing is a little off, and the resolution feels a little too quick and tidy. Overall I enjoyed my time reading it and would certainly be interested in reading other works by Nisha J. Tuli in the future.

Not Safe For Work is a slow burn, rivals to lovers, open door romance. 4/5 stars

I love Nisha. I am so glad I stumbled on Trial of the Sun Queen and continued this reading journey with her.

I am not normally a contemporary person, but Nisha manages to keep that badass heroine FMC vibe in this book. The tension and angst between Rafe and Tris had me kicking and screaming!!

The underlying message in this book was also very inspiring. The fact that Nisha herself went through these things is crazy but also not surprising. To every woman in STEM who has started feeling complacent or unappreciated; it doesn’t have to be that way. We can still make a difference 💙

Cant wait to see what else Nisha creates for us! Look for this one on release day!!!

4 stars ⭐️ First off, I love books that have women in STEM. I wish there were more books empowering women when I was growing up. Especially women of color!

This was a quick and easy read because I loved it!
- enemies to lovers
- forced proximity
- spicy ✨

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Forever for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Rivals to lovers is one of my favorite tropes. Unfortunately this fell a bit flat for me. I appreciated the representation of the difficulties women and especially women of color face in workplace.

I am astounded that this was Nisha's first time publishing a contemporary rom com, and I need more! I was utterly captivated from the first page until the last. Obviously it will be no shock to hear that I devoured this book in less than 24 hours. I could not get enough of Tris and Rafe. Their banter, chemistry and growth both as individuals and as a couple was so beautiful and empowering to read. While they both had very different circumstances, their wish to be free from the shackles of expectations and complacency is something they had in common. They both had to learn that they were worth more than they were being given, and they were able to gain the strength to realize that through each other.

Tris was such a strong and inspirational character. As someone who is about to enter a male dominated field, law, I aim to be like her and gain insight from her journey into how to handle potential sexism that might (and probably will) occur. I will 100% be keeping those receipts! Tris truly was an emblem of female empowerment and how not to just roll over and take it (both literally and figuratively). I loved that not only was she female, but also a woman of color and with migraines. Such a strong character with so many hurdles to jump through that she made look easy with her confidence and IDGAF attitude. I love her and want her to give me life advice.

Rafe is the male we all need in our life. Not only was he compared to Henry Cavill (swoon), but he also bakes and was an ex-college hockey player. Nisha definitely knew what she was doing when she threw in that hockey detail because it just made me love him more. I officially nominate Rafe for the Great British Baking Show even though he is American. I need to see him under the tent getting a Hollywood Handshake. He is such a great partner for Tris. He is there for her and supportive. He never once disparages her or looks down on her because of her gender or ethnicity. Hannah on the other hand I wanted to strangle. I need a Rafe in my life or for him to at least bake me a cake. I did not see baker coming and could not be more thrilled with that reveal.

Now onto the little things that I just loved. First of all, we all know what book Tris was reading and I cackled when she said the scene. Nadir would be proud. Second, as always Nisha gave us food porn. I swear I need to stop reading her books on an empty stomach because I always end up craving the food she describes. Third, this book had one of my favorite types of scenes which was a dress reveal that basically brings the man to his knees.

Tropes:
Rivals to Lovers
Strong FMC
They both fell at the same time but he fell harder
Only one bed
Forced Proximity
Woman in STEM
Miscommunication -- don't love this one but I understand why it needed to happen (Again, I hate Hannah)

As always, my love for Nisha remains true. This book blew me away and I can't wait to see what she comes up with next in the contemporary genre.

Thank you to the publisher and author for an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you NetGalley and Dana at Forever Publishing for sending me this ARC.

Prior to this I had only read Nisha’s fantasy novels and so I was really interested when I learned that she was writing a contemporary romance. This book completely surpassed my expectations and she did not disappoint with this genre shift. It was filled with witty banter, tension-filled romance, spice and dealt with racism and sexism.

The rivals to lovers romance between Trishara and Rafe was delicious. I loved the yearning between them. I’m truly obsessed with a MMC that is overprotective and possessive, so of course I fell in love with Rafe. I really enjoyed how Nisha portrayed his character against the ‘khakis’ and that he was constantly in Tris’ corner.

I love that despite everything Tris has gone through and dealt with she is still a smart, badass FMC who refuses to comprise her integrity and takes no shit from anyone.

I think my favourite thing about this book was that yes you get the swoony, fluffy romcom vibes but there is also a very meaningful message within about sexism and racism in the workplace and in life in general. Nisha says at the very beginning that parts of the story are based on her real life experiences and you can see in the writing how completely accurate she nailed how women and women of colour are treated in white male dominated industries. Nisha did an incredible job balancing the romance between the characters and the stark realty of corporate America.

What I found really interesting as well was how she addressed the stereotypes placed on men in the corporate world. How there can be expectations and stigma’s placed on them as well and how hard it can be for them to go against the grain.

This was a fantastic read for me and this story is perfect for fans of The Hating Game. I found this to be much better as it incorporated heavy issues within the romance.

This book is for you if you enjoy:

•Workplace Romance
•Rivals to Lovers
•Women in STEM
•One Bed
•Forced Proximity

3.5 ⭐️ thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the gifted arc! I love this author’s Artefacts of Ouranos series, so I was super excited to be given the opportunity to receive an arc of her first contemporary romance, even though it isn’t my typical genre. This book was light and fun, and it was the perfect palate cleanser after some more intense reads.
Tris was a wonderful FMC. She had so much personality and strength and I truly loved her so much. This book did an amazing job at talking about the obstacles women of color face in the workforce. I love that she took no shit and stayed true to herself. I also ended up loving Rafe too—their chemistry and banter was phenomenal.
I think where this book lost me a little is that I would’ve loved for the book to have started during their rivalry. We were told about their years at the office being rivals, but I think the love story would’ve been better getting to actually see those interactions. I think this also could’ve done with a little less emphasis on their physical attraction to one another.
Overall, this was a fun book if you’re looking for something lighthearted and simple. There’s no crazy plot twists or anything, so it’s definitely a low-anxiety read which is honestly just what I need sometimes.

I’m usually a big fan of Nisha Tuli and have enjoyed her Artifacts of Ouranos series but this one just didn’t do it for me. Based on the summary you’ll know that Tris and Rafe are work enemies but I found the “bantering” to be juvenile and the hate between the two of them forced and unrealistic. Some other reviews have mentioned that Tris flip flops between moods on a dime and this really stood out to me as well - mercurial and stubborn would be my best descriptors for her. If you’re okay with that in a character, she’ll work well for you! As the story goes, we find out more about her rough history with men and racial/sexist abuse at work so it makes sense that she would be guarded and mistrusting.

Things improve dramatically around the 60% mark when the slow burn finally burns and Tris stops being just so mean to Rafe all the time. I personally prefer books where the main characters are actively in each other’s corners earlier in the story but if you like angst and build up, you might like this.

Ultimately, things work out and I enjoy the way both Tris and Rafe get their individually fulfilling work happily ever afters in addition to their ✨love ✨ happily ever after.

Thank you to NetGalley and the author for the opportunity to read for free!

I could NOT put this book down from start to finish. This is one of my new favorite rom-coms! Author Nisha Tuli worked her magic and created one of the best tension filled rivals to lovers stories out there.

I adored both of the main characters. Tris was fierce and stood her ground through all the obstacles she faced being a woman of color in STEM surrounded by all the “khakis” of the world. I loved seeing her confidence grow throughout the story. Rafe, was a sexy MMC with a depth that comes out throughout the book. The tension between these two characters was 10 out of 10!

Read this if you love:
-workplace rivals
-tropical setting
-FORCED PROXIMITY
-one bed
-banter and swoon
-women’s empowerment
-fun side characters

I loved this book so much! I really hope this author continues to write more rom-coms. She nailed it!

4.5⭐️ rounded up!

Thank you so much to the author, Netgalley, and the publisher for providing this ARC. All thoughts and opinions in this review are my own.

Wow! Nisha absolutely killed it with this romcom. I can easily see it being a movie!

- tropical island setting
- coworker romance
- rivals to lovers
- sloooow burn 🔥
- south Asian fmc
- women/poc in stem
- one room/one bed

I ate up the tropes in this book. I’m a sucker for a good island romance! The tension was killing me throughout the book - it’s a slow burn, and super satisfying at that.

Rafe really captured my heart. I felt giddy and smiled at so many things he said! I love that he seemed more serious at the beginning but then we got to see the really fun and flirty and *cough* dirty side of him! Their texts had me feeling giddy.

I’m glad the conflict in the book was resolved quickly and they communicated realistically!

My jaw actually dropped at some of the things people said in the book, but I totally believe those things have really been said.

Overall I really loved this book and I’d recommend it to anyone wanting a fun summery romance!

Wow. I was blown away by this book. Trishara aka Tris is an engineer stuck in a position with no upper movement because she is a woman, and more importantly a woman of color.

She had a bad experience at her previous job, and she brings the unhealed emotion and trauma from there to her current job. Because of this, she blows off any and all relationships with co-workers, even though she is attracted to her co-worker, Rafe.

Tris and Rafe end up on the island of Maui at a corporate retreat where they find themselves in the same hotel room and in the same work groups. Tris can’t seem to get rid of Rafe no matter how much she tries.

Rafe, however, has his own issues he’s also dealing with, an ex that refuses to believe that they are no longer in a relationship, and a secret hobby that he hasn’t told anyone about.

You can feel their attraction to each other as you read through the novel, and when they finally get together, it’s worth the journey.

Mahalo @NetGalley and Forever (Grand Central Publishing) for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

#trisharaandrafe #notsafeforwork #maui #coworkers #nishajtuli