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.

Romance Sparks…
Romance sparks in most unlikely of places, when least expected and with those least expected in this sweet and nicely drawn romcom with an entertaining and enjoyable cast of characters.

I was really excited for this one since the description of the book and all the reviews mentioned its resembling atmosphere to The Flatshare by Beth O’Leary, and seeing how that one is one of my favorites books I immediately requested this title in hopes to get the opportunity to read it.

The story introduces Alice and Jamie. Alice loves her job so much and she enjoys to see her desk adorned with various accessories and decorative things, that is until she is forced to share a desk with her office nemesis after the budgetary cuts are made when the pandemic strikes. Alice has now to adapt to her new work schedule, jogging the situation of her shared desk at the same time as working for home. However, things change when she finds a note on her desk. And, what would happened if she answered to it?

Apart from that, the story tells itself with the buildup between two co-workers developing an office romance when they are forced to share the same space. It was swoon worthy to see the dynamic change between Alice and Jamie, coming from being enemies to establishing a friendship that was clearly heading towards romance.

I have to say that I enjoyed reading this one, but I found that the ending was a little too rushed for my liking, seeing as how much I enjoyed books having epilogues showcasing the couples in the near future of their relationship. I also struggled to connect to Alice most of the times in her narrative and I think part of that made the story be a little dragging towards the ending.

2.5 stars rounded up
The premise of this story was great but the execution could be better. I liked Alice and I loved how she grew and changed and learnt to stand up for herself and set boundaries throughout the story but at the same time it was exhausting sometimes being in her head. I think this story would be better if it was told in 3rd person insted of 1st. I also wasn't fan of the plot twist that got thrown into Jamie's life/story. It was unnecessary and in my opinion it didn't fit into the story. After that revelation the book started dragging for me and it didn't hold my attention any more. And on top of it all, the love/attraction between Alice and Jamie that was so obvious and a great part of the first half of the book got lost and paled out in the second half in the flood of Jamie's problem and everything else that was happening.
I do feel like it's me and not the book kind of situation because the things that are bothering me about this book are things that someone else wouldn't mind at all. There's nothing wrong with the book or the story at all just the writing style wasn't always to my liking and I didn't enjoy the long paragraphs we spent in Alice's head. Overall I wouldn’t call this bad but I can't bring myself to give it more than 3 stars because when I put the book down I didn't feel the urge to pick it back up.

Alice loves her job and her collection of things adorned on her desk but when budgetary cuts must be made after the pandemic things do not work in Alice’s favor. Alice must now balance a hybrid work schedule and share a desk with her office nemesis. Sharing a desk and working from home forces Alice to set up boundaries in her life and challenges her to stick with them but when a note appears on her desk one day things change. Could you have misjudged her desk mate and could things change if she responds to his note?

This is a predictable but cute office/forced proximity romance. Alice and Jamie are adorable leaving notes for each other and watching their dynamics change from nemesis to friends was endearing. I was glad when they were finally able to be honest with each other because they definitely could have saved themselves a lot of trouble. While I enjoyed reading this story I just felt like something was missing throughout and I wasn’t a fan of how it ended so quickly. I like an epilogue and this story could have used one.

Thank you @netgalley and publishers for this eARC in exchange for my honest feedback.


Rating 3.5 stars

This book was enjoyable enough but I didn’t love it! It felt a little unrealistic and strained in places. Labouring certain points just too much with no real depth.

I didn’t love the main character and although I wanted to feel connected to her, I just really struggled.

The premise of this book is a nice one, and something that I think a lot of us who worked in offices during the locks downs could relate to. However the main character was just too much for me, her very very long winded streams of consciousness were infuriating. Why think 10 words when you can think 100 seemed to be the idea. It was exhausting to read and I found myself losing interest half way though any of her long drawn out internal monologues. Wanted to love it but it was just too tiring to enjoy.

DNF at 25%
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I really wanted to love this book, but he main character was just very annoying and it was hard to be in her head all of the time. I also did not think that the concept was executed well.
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Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

This was a cute book with a "Flatshare" type scenario, but at work. The main character Alice is excited to get back into the office post-COVID. She lives working in the office and having her own cozy space. Her company decides they would be doing a hot desk sharing though and Alice has a big adjustment. She is assigned to share with her office crush Jamie. He's been ignoring her for two years though they shared an amazing kiss at a festival before they started working together. Where I didn't like the book was her stalker ex-boyfriend and also the twist toward the end with Jamie's story. These plot lines diverged from the cute story line of the leaving notes desk share part. I did like Alice and her complexities as a character and finding her voice.

I want to thank NetGalley for an ARC OF Hot Desk. I really wanted to love this book! When reading what the book was about I was so excited for Alice and Jamie’s story, but this book didn’t do it for me. I think one thing was the covid being in the book. I read to escape reality and all the talk about covid. When it’s brought in a book it’s just not for me.

Hot Desk is a coworker rivals/enemies-to-lovers romance taking place in post-pandemic workplace where Alice and Jamie must begin “hot dealing” aka sharing the same deal on alternate days. Alice is a maximalist who has made her desk her home away from home, who creatively thrives when she is surrounded by her things. Jamie is a minimalist who keeps a sparse workspace and often teases Alice about her clutter. Alice resents Jamie as much as she is attracted to him not only because she has to share a desk with him but also because she had the kids of her life with him at a festival several years earlier, only to have him pretend not to recognize her when they begin working together. What starts a management-mandated arrangement gets reluctantly personal (the contract) before veering into flirty territory (post-it’s and emails).

Things I like about this one: the depth and development of how Alice has become who she is and why she has a little bit of a hoarder’s tendency, as well as her personal growth in realizing that she was in a toxic relationship and the boundaries that she established with those around her in a positive way.

Things I didn’t love about this one: the author hoping on the pandemic story train like so many others are doing right now. Jamie’s unexpected plot twist.

A solid, lighthearted romance with only a few hiccups and a (kinda) unique take on enemies-to-friends-to-lovers with a dash of forced proximity. If you liked The Flatshare, you’ll definitely like Hot Desk! Thanks to NetGalley, Zara Stoneley, and HarperCollins/One More Chapter for the opportunity to read this in exchange for my honest opinion.

Alice and Jamie shared an amazing kiss between strangers at a music festival one day, now two years later they end up working together. Alice is confused about how to act because the kiss was incredibly meaningful for her, while Jamie doesn’t appear to have remember it at all.

Due to Covid, the company they work for is heading into a downturn, and each person is required to work at home for part of the week, while another co-worker works during that time, and they share the desk between the two of them. To Alice’s horror, she gets paired with Jamie to be desk mates.

There were many things I really enjoyed about this book. This has been the first book I’ve read that has talked openly about the Covid pandemic and the ramifications that have come along with it, which I found refreshing, I also immensely enjoyed the interaction between Alice and Jamie in the form of little post it notes left between the two of them at the desk.

An aspect of the book, that I didn’t think worked was the inner monologue that goes on inside Alice’s head. I feel like she kept having the same epiphanies about herself over and over and after a time it made me want to skip over her stream of consciousness like meanderings to get back to what
was actually happening in her world.

All in all, I thought it was a sweet and clean romance that brought up issues that I had never read about before. Very original.

Thank you to Netgalley and to One More Chapter publishing for gifting me an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I found this book very disappointing and irritating. The story is told in a sort of stream-of-consciousness from Alice’s head. She’s returning to work after having had to work remotely during Covid. Just traveling to work on the bus and to a business meeting with her and her internal thoughts exhausted me. She’d be in a big hurry, but then we’d have to wade through digression after digression about her sister and her flatmates and her job and her desk and her family and ten other topics. And all that was supposed to be only a few minutes of her thinking.

It took a while to get into the story, but by then I just didn’t care about Alice and all her hang-ups. I really enjoyed Zara Stanley’s first book,

I voluntarily reviewed an advanced reader copy of this book that I received from Netgalley; however, the opinions are my own and I did not receive any compensation for my review.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for an early review copy.

For Alice, who loves her job, and doesn’t want to lose it, the thing that’s she’s always had without sharing it with anyone has been her desk. Since childhood she’s always had to share, be it her room, clothes, food. Even moving out of her parents house hasn’t changed this. But her desk has always been just hers. But now, that’s about to change.

The company where she works has decided to switch to shared working weeks, so she’s now got to share her desk, move her stuff off it to make room for the other persons stuff, and that other person is Jamie. The man she can’t stand, and also someone with whom something happened years ago.

As well as that, she’s got her ex, Dave, who can’t take no for an answer. Alice is beginning to realise Dave has always tried to mould her into his way of doing things, be it what she should eat, wear, buy or have at home. Even though the relationship has ended, he’s still poking around.

Deciding to stand up for herself, she’s slowly getting to live her life how she wants, starts saying no to people helping themselves to her stuff, wanting her doing things their way.

Jaime, finally let’s her know that he too recognises her from the past, and then also drops another bombshell……

What will this mean for her and Jaime, will they remain just friends sharing a desk or will their note leaving ritual progress to something beyond friends?

Recommend It.

I absolutely LOVED this book. Sweet and funny without being sappy and predictable. I’m definitely going to keep an eye on this author!

It's a solid book, but it wasn't for me. I thought the notes left on the desk were sweet and I loved their origin story with each other, it was just a lot of inner monologue. I found myself skipping paragraphs because I was just bored. I did appreciate how Alice grew throughout the story.

Hot desk was an ok read, I really liked the first half and then I felt it became a little repetitive, but it is still worth a read. I liked the characters and wanted things to work out for them.