I was invited to read this by HarperCollins and NetGalley in return for an honest review.

First, I have to say that given the poor quality of the proof, it was incredibly difficult to read, let alone enjoy. I hope I've put aside my frustration with the quality of the download so that I've solely aimed my comments solely at the contents, not the package.

Second, I think the Covid references sounded unreal and out of touch. Knowing so many people who hot-desked before Covid was ever on the scene, I find it difficult to believe someone would be so unaware of the practice or so hostile to it. The days when jobs were permanent, and you got your own desk- are long past!

I think the premise was good, but the execution was not effective. Some judicious editing and perhaps actually starting the story sooner might have helped.

I have to say that this was an incredibly tedious read - long, meandering paragraphs, sections in BLOCK CAPS, shouty thoughts, and endless introspection just seemed to take over the first few chapters. I kept thinking, when is it going to start?

.Sorry I hate to be so critical of a writer but I'm afraid this is not my cup of tea.

Oh this was just lovely, and the best thing was that the main protagonist wasn't a flailing mess who just kept getting deeper and deeper in the mess: she grew and learned and got stressed but worked on it, like a real person. It was so unusual and so great for this genre. More please!

Following the pandemic work from home directive Alice's company introduces hot desking. How will she cope sharing her untidy desk with someone so annoying? A life full of post-it notes, will it progress further? Thoroughly entertaining and heart warming with characters that you can't help caring about.

This is a cuteish story with a women who just wants her own space without people treating it as their own and a man who has a secret... well, two really. Company is doing some office space downsizing. The staff will be working part time from home and part time in the office. Sharing desks while their new desk partner is at home, and visa versa.. This does not sit well with Alice who is fighting for her own space everywhere else, and had considered her desk, her safe space. And then there is Jamie. A co-worker who is constantly teasing and picking on her... he just happens to be her new desk mate. There's a little back story between the two... a meet cute they shared once upon a time. In addition to the sort of romance, this is also about Alice taking a stand, and stop letting other people take over her life, which she finds to be a tough chore. The story itself is good and interesting, but there was a lot of redundancy in the writing and the book could have been made much shorter had the author cut all that out. (I mean, when I start reading on my Kindle and it tells me there is 6 1/2 hours left in the book... it becomes a bit daunting, and then I get off on the wrong foot to begin with. Note: No page total was listed anywhere and I'm the kind of person who likes to know the length of a book going in.) There is no sexual content, and it is safe for teens and up. It's written from Alice's POV. The characters were likable enough, but it was a little harder to like Alice (due to all that redundancy with her inner dialog.) It's based in England, so the language/slang used are British. It was easy to read, though did take awhile to get into (see earlier comments.) I would give it a higher rating, because I did really enjoy the plot of the book, but there were those few negatives that brought down my opinion of it as a whole.

*I received an ARC of this book from Netgalley.

This was a nice story and I enjoyed it, how ever the first few chapters are very repetitive and Alice went over the same things that bothered her repeatedly it did get better when Alice and Jamie got chatting and their narrative is quite amusing. Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for this early proof.

Rating: 2.5 stars

First, I have to say - this book is a hot mess. It probably didn't help that I read an egalley that was formatted just horribly, so hopefully those who read a fully finished copy don't have to deal with that. Still, I found myself lost and rather exasperated through most of the book. It's written in the first person from Alice's point of view, and is MOSTLY present tense but occasionally slips into past tense in weird ways that made me confused about if Alice was remembering something that happened before or in the current time. There's also repeated and rather endless (and annoying) repetition about exactly WHY Alice is so attached to all her stuff. I almost DNF'd at 3%, in the first chapter, because it was so obnoxious and just exhausting being inside Alice's (jumbled) head.

Then the story really starts to pick up with her interactions with Jamie, and I was briefly sucked in again. YES! Their banter is so cute and fun. And then in the last 10-15% the story just got seriously bogged down with Jaime's drama side story, which just... was weird and didn't fit right and just threw the pacing and vibe all off again.

There is also a LOT of British slang in here, and as an American reader I had to look some things up. There are a few bits where I was unsure if there were typos or poor grammar, or it's just a difference in the two types of English, haha.

So the beginning and end both dragged and were a hot mess, but there were some glimmers of gold buried in there along the middle. Something about it compelled me to keep reading, though, so there's SOMETHING there! Maybe it just needed a bit more polishing.

I recommend if you have a high tolerance for internal babble BS. I'll probably not be picking up another book by Zara Stonely for a while, though.

Thank you the author, NetGalley and HarperCollins/One More Chapter for an e-arc of this book in exchange for my honest review.
The premise was similar to The Flatshare except this time it is a desk at the office, not an apartment. Alice's only place where she has any privacy is at work. Due to budget cuts she has to switch to working from home half time and can only come to the office part of the week. She is forced to share her desk with Jamie, her office crush. Alice's character showed a lot of growth in this story and I enjoyed that. Jamie and Alice communicated via post-it notes and they were really cute at times. The beginning of the story seemed way too long- it was told in an endless stream of consciousness by Alice. The ending then switched over to feeling rushed. Otherwise, it was a cute story with unique characters.

A modern style book bringing the pandemic into it, maybe an after thought. Not sure people will be sharing desks after everything that has happened. In head monologues are really not my thing.

unfortunately, this book wasn’t for me. The narration wasn’t my favorite and at points felt either too repetitive or too choppy. Next to that, I had a hard time really getting attached to the story overall. However, I can see how others could enjoy it. My favorite parts of the book were towards the end, where we really delved into Alice’s character development. She really found herself and her voice and I appreciate that. Then again, some of the story felt a bit sloppy or confusing, and it didn’t reach my high expectations. At times I had to push through some of the rougher patches to get to my favorite bits. Overall, this story wasn’t exactly my style but has endearing components to it that make it an easy but thoughtful read.

A great thanks to NetGalley & One More Chapter for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

I was asked to read “Hot Desk” by Zara Stoneley.

The novel has an interesting premise. Alice is happy to return to work after the lockdown due to the pandemic. (I have yet to meet a person who feels the same way, but the writer makes a big point of emphasizing how Alice never had her own place growing up with sisters in a small house). As an adult, she shares a house with a variety of roommates and is excited to have her “place” at work. But due to restructuring, Alice is asked to share her desk with a workmate, Jamie, who gave her a memorable kiss at a music festival two years ago (which he apparently does not remember). Alice loves to have her desks adorned with objects galore while Jamie believes the adage less is more. Since they work alternating shifts, they leave each other notes, which leaves the reader to wonder whether Jamie did remember that kiss after all.

The premise is cute with plenty of potential, but I had difficulty getting into the story, mostly because of Alice’s monologues, which made her come across as very self-serving. I didn’t feel like the novel clicked until Alice began exchanging notes with Jamie. You got outside of Alice’s head, which made the story much more interesting. The pandemic felt like an afterthought (would workers be sharing space in 2021?) and I wondered if it was something the author added last minute to make the story more current. While Alice did grow and the relationship between her and Jamie had a nice build, I found the ending a little clunky.

Three stars.

Thank you the author, NetGalley and HarperCollins/One More Chapter
for the eARC of this novel.

Thank you NetGalley, Zara Stoneley and HarperCollins UK, One More Chapter for the ARC of Hot Desk. This is my personal review.
The idea of going back to work after being home during the Pandemic for quite a while could make for a very interesting story. The idea was good but trying to read a story that was told by Alice having conversations in her own mind was a bit trying for me.
The story was just an OK one for me to read. Nothing about really grabbed much.

this was a very cute read. I loved the slow build of their relationship through post it notes. The characters are so cute with each other. I liked the development from a wallflower to a confident woman who knows what she needs and wants from from her relationships.

Thank you to netgalley for providing me with this arc in exchange for an honest review.
The blurb of this book seemed really promising and since I recently started reading romance I wanted to give it a chance. But to be honest the writing style was just not for me. I didn’t really love the “OMG”’s being thrown around every other paragraph especially when it was an inner monologue and not actual dialogue. It felt a bit predictable too. Maybe if you want a quick enjoyable read this is for you but definitely not me.

Another escapist read from Stoneley, who excels in this genre. This one is set in the office, where sharing a desk is de rigueur. Laugh-out-loud, one sitting read.

Thank you so much for allowing me to read the ARC of this book. I've lived in California all my life and I have a huge love for all thing UK related .. but especially books that are set in the UK. This book delivered it for me.. I loved the romcom feel of this book. I enjoyed reading how the Alice had self growth and finding herself and what truly made her happy. I would give this book a 3.5 stars .. the only thing I would want is more an concrete ending of the two of them. But all in all I really enjoyed reading this one. Fast paced with so lots of British slang and all the feels.

I loved this book and blew through it in 2 days! Set in today's world (read: Covid exists) Alice's office has to down-size and she now has to share her desk and personal space with her co-worker, Jamie. Their professional relationship starts to blossom into more through cute post-it notes left for each other on their desk…but there will be a few bumps in the road. What an amazing storyteller Zara Stoneley is!

Another sure fire hitfir Zara. When the only personal space you have in your life is your desk.
Family, friends and boyfriend do not respect boundaries and over ride your opinions, you put special items where you know they are safe. On your desk but due to the financial situation the company downsize.
Keeping your job, but you mix home working with desk sharing.
This is only the start of the story. Follow Alice and Jamie's story.
Enjoy I definitely did.

I just finished Hot Desk by Zara Stoneley. This was a very unusual read for me. The book is very much written with a UK vibe and contained lots of phrases and words that I was unfamiliar with. This won't bother some, but it did make it difficult for me to follow a few of the parts. I'm going to assume that it isn't just typos as that really didn't feel like the issue. Now into the story. I really liked the blurb and thought, this one is going to be good. The writing is good, but I have to say I didn't like Jamie. I thought he was an immature jerk for most of the book. I know he explained it towards the end, but I still didn't like it and by that time there were other factors about him and his character that I liked even less. I did like Alice and I thought that her growth arc was the best part of the book. That said, she could do way better than Jamie and since we didn't get to see into the future at all in the book, I am going to make up my own epilogue for the book where she finds someone more like her sister's new boyfriend and has dumped Jamie too. Sorry, only 3 stars.

One of the major drawbacks of Zara Stoneley books (as per my view) is the ending. The story will be great, so does the narration, but the ending . . . it just lacks that sizzle and the bang. This particular book solves some of these. There is a bang for sure, not at the end, but on the crisis part. And not in my wildest dreams I was expecting that. As for whether it was a nice sort of surprise, I still need to sort that out.
Romance through post-it notes is not an entirely new concept, but it works like a charm. No exceptions here. I loved the growing attachment between Alice and Jamie, that is until Jamie's bombshell came through. It all got awkward after that, sort of like the merging of two storylines. Shouldn't he be taking the other path? Won't this create fissures in their relationship . . . in future? Well, love conquers all and it is blind too. So it might work in the end, though I have some misgivings.
The romance part didn't work for me, obviously. Why the four stars then? Alice, without a doubt. My brave, soft-hearted heroine. I know how hard it is to say 'no' to our dear ones and getting out of a possessive relationship is harder. Kudos to you girl. Lockdown days has made us all vulnerable. Making the right decisions, sticking to them and learning from the initial mistakes . . . one cannot but admire that. Long interior monologues with the 'to be or not to be' theme usually irritate me. But in this story, that is what captivated me the most.

It’s was cute, but a miss for me. Not exactly a rom-com either. Read more like Women’s Lit with the storyline.
Years ago, Alice and Jaime kissed at a fair (concert in the USA?) They have a moment when they begin working together (by chance years later…it’s awkward as hell. Jaime pretends the kiss didn’t happen. The pandemic then happens. They have to share a desk on random days. They leave notes for one another on the desk…and yes, form a friendship. The friendship turns and gets awkward again…. Ends predictably but sweet.
Reminds me of Flatshare or Holiday Swap… less cuteness though.