Full of twists and turns
Alice and Jamie kissed at Reading Festival and now years later they work at the same firm, Alice recognises Jamie and still really likes him but he doesn’t seem to remember her. Covid has caused issues at the company they work for and now they have to do a desk share…
I liked Alice, this book focuses a lot on her development as a character who needs to be more assertive and allows her to become the person she wants to be but there are a lot of road blocks that make her question the way things are. She is however incredibly creative, smart and fun as well as having collections of things that bring back memories and helped me as a reader to better understand her and start to love her
My main issue with this book was that it was totally set from Alice’s point of view and I would have loved to hear from Jamie, maybe a second book that looks at things from his side? That would work really well as I struggled a lot with Jamie, I didn’t “get” him that well and it took me a while to see what Alice saw in him and for me to start to adore him
I loved reading Alice and Jamie’s story, right from the very first page, and the twists, turns and drama both bought them together and pushed them apart whilst keeping me as a reader on my toes. There is also a brilliant cast of supporting characters, without whom the book wouldn’t have worked nearly as well and who made both Alice and Jamie come alive for me
I would recommend this book to those who enjoy a romance full of drama with twists that will keep you on your toes and a story that will draw you in right from the first page

Hot desk or hot mess?

I just couldn't connect to the female MC. She was too much. So much inner monologue. I just couldn't.

When the romance eventually got going, with post-it notes on the shared desk, I wasn't interested anymore.

I had seen some negative reviews for this book so I started it with some trepidation however I quite enjoyed it so it just goes to show you shouldn't be influenced by others opinions!

Alice was weak & a bit of a doormat at first but I liked how her outlook changed throughout the book. I liked all of the secondary characters (apart from Dave yuk!) & felt the story had a good flow.

Quirky, fun and flirty. Hot Desk by Zara Stoneley is a light hearted, enjoyable escapist read.
Alice prefers working in the office and is relieved to be getting out of her small room in a house share, especially as her house mates are so noisy.
Poor Alice can’t seem to catch a break. Every day life throws annoying obstacles in her way, such as her very persistent ex-boyfriend, her sister Sophie who steals all her clothes and hot Jamie in her office, who doesn’t seem to remember their first encounter… And now she’s being told she has to desk share… with Jamie… it really is the last straw.
I remember having to switch from working on my own desk to hot desking, what a nightmare. Like Alice I had quite a lot of stuff! For months I was lugging my laptop bag that was crammed with all my pretty stationery, post-its and to-do note book. 🙂 Things like sellotape and staplers were like gold and would be stolen when your back was turned unless you hid them in your bag and lugged them about on your back all week.
I found the daily post-it notes between Alice and Jamie very entertaining and relatable. Jamie’s Hot Desk Contract was really funny, especially when they were broken and a forfeit was required.

This book comes on the heels of a bit of a mini trend of romantic fiction where the two love interests primarily interact through notes, or similar, without spending a great deal of time together; the most well known example probably being The Flat Share by Beth O'Leary.

This book lacked a little charm for me. The main female character, Alice, is clearly a bit of a pushover and at the start of the book its clear that she lets her family members and flatmates walk all over her. She has trouble setting boundaries and really only views her desk at work as "her" space, filling it with knickknacks and personal trinkets. This all gets upended when she is forced to hot desk with Jamie, a guy from the office.

I felt like there was a little too much "telling" about Alice's issues - it was almost as if the author didn't think we'd got it and so we kept having it emphasised again and again which got a bit repetitive and annoying for me. I could have done with a little more of the notes passing which was the thing that made me pick the book up - it seemed like a nice twist on similar plots that I've seen, but it seemed like they started spending time together in real life quicker than I'd expected.

It just didn't seem to hit the mark for me I'm afraid, I didn't find myself rooting for Alice and Jamie, though it was nice to see Alice grow and start sticking up for herself.

A chance meeting at the Reading Festival, that led to a kiss had Jamie and Alice wanting more.
They share a desk and they share a secret; will either confess to each other that they remember the kiss?

In a post-Covid world, Alice is overjoyed to return to working full time in the office once more - until her employers drop the bombshell that they are hot-desking instead of having their own space. Alice ends up sharing her desk with her work-crush (whom she, like, totally doesn't actually like, if you ask her), and romantic hijinks ensue.

I wanted to like this book, because it had great promise, but I really struggled to get into it. I found Alice frustratingly obsessive about her desk, and endlessly complaining about, well, everything.

Told in first person narrative, I found the prose to be quite stilted, as though every second sentence was a two-worded eyeroll, presumably intended to be quirky.

The author appeared ro be aiming for a Bridget Jones style, but unfortunately overall it just didn't do it for me.

Would best suit fans of the "you're annoying, I like you" romcom style

*Many thanks to Netgalley for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*

This reminded me of the hating game, in a great way. This wa Amy first novel from this author and I look forward to more from her!

I absolutely loved the plot summary of this book and was so excited to read it when I first saw it. However, I hate to say it, but I was really disappointed. And this book was definitely not for me.

The romance between Jamie and Alice had so much potential, but I felt like 80% of the words in the entire book were more about Alice’s obsession with her things and needing her own space. Now trust me, I completely understand where she comes from because I love my things and love personal space. But for the main takeaway I have from this book being this MC only ever thinks, talks about, and cares about are her possessions? It got old really fast.

The story was pleasant enough, but I wasn’t enamored with the characters or story line. The inner dialogue from Alice was just too much and would’ve been better for my tastes if the focus had been more on the romance and relationship, rather than being inside of her brain which is constantly occupied by thoughts of needing her own space.

*Thank you to Netgalley for giving an arc in exchange for an honest review.*

Loved it
A bang up to date book about living working and dating through the covid pandemic.
Characters were well written and enjoyable.
I need to read more books by Zara Stoneley, they are the perfect curl up in a comfy chair and escape books!
Thank you netgalley.

I thought this book would be right up my street but unfortunately, it just wasn’t.

The book is well written but it didn’t grip me whatsoever.

Including an ongoing event in your novel isn't easy, I get that. But to make COVID a part of the story reality is such a massive risk. In this version of the story, apparently COVID isn't a major issue anymore, since people are jumping with joy at the idea of going back to work and when people have to start hot desking it's not even a health&safety concern. Which, unfortunately, pulls you out of the story a little bit, since COVID is still a major issue in real life. And the author didn't need to use COVID as a plot point, they could've found literally a hundred other reasons why people would need to share a desk at this office.

And if this was the only thing that bothered me, this probably would've been a glowing review. But the main character was so childish. She talked like a teenager from a bad movie, she kept being weirdly obsessive about all her possessions and how growing up with sisters meant she always had to share and never had anything for herself. It just grew old very quickly.

A good chunk of this is just the main character rambling about the day-to-day of working in an office, and it resulted in me skim-reading to get through the boring bits. There were a lot of those.

The romance could've been cute, if only these characters could actually manage to talk to each other. It's an issue in so many romance novels, but it just bothered me so much in this story. Maybe because their "meet-cute" was a kiss at a music festival years earlier, a kiss that was apparently so great the characters never forgot about it. Really? That just doesn't do it for me. On top of that, I didn't really feel a spark between them, sadly a rather important element in a romance.

Found this book quite hard to get into. After reading the blurb it gave me a sort of feeling it be similar to the flatshare however it was and wasn't. I found being inside Alice head quite exhausting. It did have its funny parts though so would recommend giving it a go.

Unfortunately, I did not even finish this one. I love The Dog sitter, but I just could not get into Hot Desk. The heroine was unrealistically attached to her desk at work. Further, the story just did not come together. We kept shooting off into side tangents to the point that I lost my way in what should be an easy, fun read. I know we need some back story, but the present story never got going enough to bring me in.

I could immediately empathise with Alice, having currently been working from home for the past seventeen months due to COVID, and indeed having been told we will never be going back to working in the office like we did before.

Alice was a great character and her dynamic with Jamie in the office was great fun. There was plenty of humour in this book, which I liked, the best moment for me being when Dave’s Mum turns up with her ‘special package’. She was almost too nice, and struggled to be assertive enough with Dave, who struggled to u Derby’s do the status of their relationship!

The relationship between Alice and Jamie developed at a really nice pace, with a slight hiccup in the middle, which Jamie could be forgiven for. I loved the sense of family in this book; Alice came from a wonderful, close family, from the Sister who liked to share, to the Sister with the terrible scarring; you could tell how close Alice was to them all, but could see why she valued her own space!

A really great novel, keeping up with the current state of affairs in the world, guaranteed to make you laugh and smile.

Zara Stoneley's Hot Desk is a workplace rom com with funny quips and quick dialogue that fans of Bridget Jones Diary will love! This book follows our characters as they return to the workplace after COVID shutdowns. It requires some suspended disbelief that the world returns to normal so well, but it's a fun romance for readers looking for a book that includes a post-COVID world.

I really wanted to like this book, the premise sounded interesting. When I got into it, I found that the main character Alice was difficult to relate to and I just didn’t like her. Too much complaining and whining about Covid and everything else. Towards the end, we learned more about Alices’s character and that was interesting. There were some cute parts, that’s why I’m giving it 3 stars.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

I had a bit of a hard time staying interested during this book. The middle to end picked up a little but this was a I didn’t love it but I didn’t hate it kind of read which was a little disappointing because I was really excited for it.

I liked the premise of this book, but it failed to deliver. There were parts I didn’t like, and parts that just plain didn’t work.
Firstly, only one POV in a romance is never fun for me. I wanted to know what was going on in Jamie’s head the whole time.
Secondly, whilst it became clearer as the book went on why Alice was so protective of her desk space, it was a bit odd at first to see her freaking out about it so much.
I also found her long internal monologues quite distracting, often going on for multiple pages before returning her to reality. It was also quite jarring sometimes because she wouldn’t actually respond to the person she was talking to, making me visualise this long awkward silence where she’s talking to someone, they say something and she has a whole freak out in her head then just walks away without replying.
The whole storyline with her ex would have worked better if he was less stalkery or she actually did report him to the police. I was pretty uncomfortable with a lot of the things he did, but she and her roomies just seemed happy to let it all slide.
Lastly, it is always disappointing when, after a nice buildup and plenty of cute banter, the sex scenes fade to black.
Though enjoyable at times, I thought this was a pretty average contemporary romance, and I am seeing other books using the pandemic as a plot device in cleverer ways. This is more a book about personal growth and boundaries.

When the company Alice works for has to down size thanks to Covid. She finds herself sharing a desk with Jamie, the most annoying guy in her office.

Sadly, this one didn’t hit the mark for me.