#BookReview: WORK TRIP by Chloe Ford @AriaFiction

Publication: 24th April 2025 – Aria

They say you should keep your enemies closer.

For Fliss, the prospect of a team building work trip fills her with dread. Mostly because she cannot stand her pushy colleague James, who often attempts to derail her brilliant plans. But when the two arrive in the Scottish Highlands, they find themselves facing a unique challenge: their boss has abandoned them in the middle of nowhere with only one tent, two sleeping bags and a few protein bars.

Cut off from the outside world, the pair are forced to put aside their differences to weather the unpredictable elements of the Highlands and get home. As they set out on a journey across miles of rugged wilderness – pushing each other to survive and testing their physical and emotional limits – they remain fully aware of their boss’s manipulative plan to orchestrate a hook up between them.

But even with only each other for company, Fliss and James stand firm in their resolve: they won’t give in to any romantic notions. Or will they?

AMAZON

WATERSTONES

Work Trip is an engaging and enjoyable novel. I read it right before my first trip to Scotland and the Scottish Highland, where most of the story is set, and it made me even more excited about my holiday. The setting is beautiful and remote, perfect to keep the two protagonists together and isolated from the rest of the world.

The protagonists, James and Fliss, are enemy colleagues, always against each other during the company’s meetings and now on the run for the same promotion. Fliss is determined to get the position of director, after all she’s sacrificed the last six years of her life to this job, spending long hours at the office and giving up on any kind of social life, and James really gets on her nerves, with his perfect hair and perfect suits and his arrogant responses. After yet another animated meeting, their boss organizes a corporate retreat in Scotland. However, when she gets there, Fliss discovers that it’s just for her and James as they are left to survive in the Scottish wilderness with only a tent, two sleeping bags, and an uncomfortable number of condoms and tampons. Forced to work together, Fliss and James start to know each other better and to question their life choices.

I had fun reading this novel. There is quick and witty banter, sexual and romantic chemistry, and a few hilarious adventures and mishaps that make for an easy and entertaining read. And I really liked the character of Fliss. I found her relatable and authentic and, even though she is a bit controlling sometimes, I liked how her character develops throughout the novel.

Work Trip is a fantastic novel full of humour, romance, and charm that makes me look forward to the author’s next novel!

A huge thank you to Aria and NetGalley for providing me with a proof of the novel.

Chloe Ford grew up in rural Sussex but is now based in South Gloucestershire. She has an affinity with all things country, from riding horses to muddy walks. Her love for writing began at secondary school when her English teacher would set a writing task for the whole hour. An avid reader, she started sneaking Mills & Boon books out from under her mum’s bed as a teenager and hasn’t stopped devouring romance books ever since.