Book Review:: Not Safe For Work | Nisha J. Tuli

I judged this book by the title. That was enough to spark my interest. Alright, I also judged it by the cover, which is also hot. Basically I couldn’t wait to read Not Safe for Work by Nisha J. Tuli (a new author to me)!

Not Safe for Work by Nisha J. Tuli Book Cover

Tris is a brilliant engineer in a male-dominated field. She’s experienced some effed-up-shiz over the years (including a total douche of an ex who violated her trust and privacy bad enough to scar), and she is thisclose to being completely fed up and leaving. She’s been passed over for promotions she was clearly the best candidate for and glossed over time and time again. So when her name was called to go to a professional development retreat in Hawai’i, she almost couldn’t believe it. When it became clear she was just a diversity pick, she decided to make a few extra demands of the company’s money. What she couldn’t wiggle out of is who else is going on the three-week retreat: Rafe Gallagher, the boss’ son and her personal nemesis.

Let’s start with the good stuff. I found Tris to be such a refreshing character. She is smart and spunky in a sassier way than what I typically find. I was proud of her multiple times in this story for speaking up for herself and not taking less when she deserves more. Rafe is such a sweetheart. He always had his heart in the right place and was so easy to root for. Such a cinnamon roll! Also all the tropey stuff you expect in a book like this was done well and I was locked into the story all the way through. Plenty of swoony moments!

Then there were a few things that got under my skin: I put Tris’ sass under the good category, but she really took it too far on multiple occasions. Even as she was saying something she’d be thinking ‘why did I say that, why am I ruining this moment?’. Maybe if it only happened once that would be okay, but it was multiple times, which brings me to the next flaw in this story…there is way too much repetition! Work retreats can obviously be a lot of the same stuff, but man I couldn’t have picked out one night among the others with all the same people there, the same arc of chemistry then sass then a ruined moment capped by having to go back to the same suite (*raises eyebrows suggestively*). It was too repetitive to ignore how repetitive it was, if you get what I mean. Aaand, if I’m going to list those things, I might as well throw in the fact that I didn’t feel Rafe’s feelings for Tris were quite justified enough for the depth of them once they’re discovered. Professional admiration only takes you so far, as does general hotness. I was left wanting more on that front.

Obviously with a rating from me of 4 stars the bad was nowhere near outweighing the good, and I absolutely recommend this book for romance lovers. This would be an awesome read poolside or on a beach somewhere. It just didn’t quite reach my stratospheric 5 star criteria.

Note:: I received an early copy of this book from the publisher through netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Details

Title:: Not Safe for Work
Author:: Nisha J. Tuli
Genre:: Contemporary Romance
Publisher:: Forever
Length:: 352 pages
Audio Length:: 10h 30m
Audiobook Narrator:: Soneela Nankani
Published:: May 20th, 2025
The Litertarian Rating:: 4-Stars