Risky Business

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Don't miss the new forced proximity, forbidden workplace romance, perfect for fans of The Hating Game and Ali Hazelwood - available to preorder now!

Jess Cole’s rules for keeping it professional:

Do apply to a major investment competition to get funding for your game-changing women’s therapy app
Do stay laser focused on winning
Don’t apply under your brother’s name, however fed-up you are with the male dominated industry
Don’t hook up with a ridiculously hot man, Oliver, only to find out he works for the top investor running the competition
Do try your best to resist Oliver’s charm while hiding your real identity
Don’t fall for Oliver anyway…

Mixing business and pleasure has always been a dangerous strategy for Jess, but this time will the risk be worth the reward?

Annabelle Slator is a master of the workplace romance. Packed with her signature humour, real-world issues surrounding women in tech, and characters you root for from page one, Risky Business is the perfect investment for your TBR.
Georgia Stone, author of The Friendship Fling

Risky Business is smart, witty and charming as hell. Slator is at her best in this modern reimagining that masterfully weaves feminist commentary with delicious romance to create a story that will have you gripped from beginning to end. With messy family dynamics, and a deeply relatable story for any woman trying to make it in a male dominated world, Risky Business is a page turning story that feels more relevant than ever. Raising funding has never sounded so hot.
Rufaro Mazarura, author of Let The Games Begin and Skate It Till You Make It

Risky Business is a fun, flirty story that will stay with you after reading. Slator has outdone herself with her second novel, marring sizzling chemistry with a gripping Shakespearean retelling and a damning exploration of what it means to be a woman in the corporate world. To package all of this into a gripping and still light feeling novel is no easy feat, but it has been done here beautifully. A true joy to read.
Jasmine Burke, author of The Quarter-Love Crisis

About Annabelle Slator

Annabelle Slator grew up writing stories in the depths of the British countryside. After achieving a degree in creative writing spent most of her late teens and early twenties writing social media and blog posts for start-ups and tech companies in London. Nowadays, if she isn't spending time writing, you can almost always find her obsessing over niche internet drama, practicing her fencing parry or mooching around vintage fairs and flea markets with her husband and two mini dachshunds, Gruffalo and Gryffin. The Launch Date is Annabelle's first book, inspired by her time working at the global dating app, Bumble.

Details

Imprint: Penguin
Published: 12/02/2026
ISBN: 9781804994153
Length: 416 pages
Price: £9.99

All editions

Risky Business

Format:

Pre-order:

Annabelle Slator is a master of the workplace romance. Packed with her signature humour, real-world issues surrounding women in tech, and characters you root for from page one, Risky Business is the perfect investment for your TBR.

The delicious nostalgic vibes of a classic noughties romcom whooshed into the modern day — RISKY BUSINESS is sharp, witty, funny and sexy, with a deeply satisfying undercurrent of feminist rage. I loved every minute.

I adored it. Smart, funny and seriously sexy, I devoured this book with indecent haste. Ten out of ten, no notes.

Come for the fake identity hijinks and scorching chemistry, and stay for the poignant commentary on issues female founders face in the tech industry. With a heroine full of grit, whip-smart humour, and a romance that is as heartfelt as it is sexy, Risky Business had me invested from page one.

RISKY BUSINESS is the kind of romcom that will have you clawing at the pages, desperate to know what happens next. Sharp, witty and hot as hell!

About Annabelle Slator

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