REVIEW: Not Safe for Work by Nisha J. Tuli

Not Safe for Work by Nisha J. Tuli: Tris is brilliant, ambitious and know exactly what she is doing in her job, to bad no one is able to see beyond the fact that she is a woman in a male dominated engineering firm! So when the promotion she’s worked hard for goes to non other than her arch nemesis Rafe, who just so happens to be the CEO’s golden boy son; Tris is ready to declare an all out war. However her plans are soon put on hold when she is invited to a leadership retreat in Hawaii, this could just be the chance she needs to prove that she is the right woman for the promotion. But things things take a swift turn for the worst when Tris learns that Rafe to will be attending the retreat and if this wasn’t bad enough the two of them have landed up sharing the honeymoon suite after a booking error! With no way to avoid each other, the two are forced to face of in team building challenges by day and share a suite by night, soon their old rivalry begins to give way to a slow burn attraction neither of them saw coming… and Tris has no choice but to accept that maybe Rafe isn’t the arrogant nepo baby that she always pegged him for… he might actually might be the exact partner she needs…

There is nothing quite like a good spicy, banter filled work place romance and that is definitely what we get in Not Safe For Work. With witty banter, sizzling tension and a refreshingly honest look at race, gender and power dynamics in the corporate world, Tuli crafts a story that feels both escapist, relevant and so easy to get lost in.

I loved the fact that we got a strong brown female as our lead and the fact that this was a women in STEM read, well that just another positive in my books. I loved the fact that Tris was so strong, intelligent and ready to push her way into a largely male dominated world, she gave all the right boss girl vibes. In saying this we do get to see the tightrope that she has to walk daily of being assertive without being labeled aggressive, being excellent without making others feel threatened, and trying to be seen as more than a diversity hire, this aspect of the book just felt raw and so true to the situation that many woman have to face. Seeing her face these challenges only made me love getting to see her find her voice and stake her claim as the book progresses. We get to see her face more than a few of her insecurities while at the retreat, both professional but also personal and I have to say I loved getting to see her realise that she can have it all, provided she takes a leap. Now for our hero, well at first I really wanted to hate him as much as Tris did, but gosh it was hard not to love Rafe. He was so far from being nepotistic slacker, in fact Rafe was hardworking and painfully aware of the assumptions people make about him because of his last name which made him work all the more harder. The thing that I liked the most about Rafe was the fact that he saw Tris and he didn’t go out to try and fix her, instead he was there to offer her support and just show her that he cared and that was what truly made him stand out.

I just ate up all that slow burn, angst and tension that radiated of these two. While their relationship starts of as enemies or that rivals, we soon get to see their dynamic shifting to something so much more rewarding as they both realise that there is more to each other. Their forced proximity on the retreat strips away professional façades and forces honest conversations allowing them to see each other beyond their office roles. I loved the fact that Rafe listens, learns and respects Tris’s boundaries and brilliance to show her that he is more than a rival but he is actually her supporter. As for Tris well she learns to let down her guard and believe that she can be loved fully without diminishing her ambition or identity. I really liked the fact that their relationship just highlights the fact that they can both shine bright together without putting each other down in the process.

Overall I really enjoyed reading Not Safe For Work, with the combination of witty banter, heartfelt moments, and characters who feel genuinely complex we get an all round good debut romcom from Tuli that I would definitely recommend reading.

Book Info:

Publication: May 20, 2025 | Forever |

Engineer Trishara Malik once dreamed of being the first woman of color to smash the glass ceiling at WMC Purcell, but after years of dealing with white male privilege and blatant nepotism, she watches her hard-earned promotion go to her nemesis, Rafe Gallagher—the boss’s son. Teetering on the edge of burnout, Tris is stunned when she’s picked to attend WMC’s corporate leadership retreat in Hawaii. It’s a chance to revive her stalled career and compete for a coveted spot in an executive training program—plus, three weeks in paradise! The only downside? Rafe is her co-attendee.

Tris plans to avoid Rafe entirely, but when she arrives in Maui, a booking error has them stuck sharing the honeymoon suite. Sure, it’s not all torture. Rafe is a smoldering ten—okay fine, an eleven—but after years of competition, they can barely stand being in the same time zone. As they vie against each other during aptitude tests and team-building exercises, Tris begins to realize Rafe might not be the villain after all. With her dreams at stake, can she learn to trust the man who might have been standing in her corner all along?