The Takeover: A Novel

by Cara Tanamachi

Sometimes, when you ask the universe for your soulmate, you wind up with your hate mate instead.

On Nami's 30th birthday, she’s reminded at every turn that her life isn’t what she planned. She’s always excelled at everything – until now. Her fiancé blew up their engagement. Her pride and joy, the tech company she helped to found, is about to lose funding. And her sister, Sora, is getting married to the man of her dreams, Jack, and instead of being happy for her, as she knows she ought to be, she’s fighting off jealousy.

Frustrated with her life, she makes a wish on a birthday candle to find her soulmate. Instead, the universe delivers her hate mate, Nami’s old high school nemesis, Jae Lee, the most popular kid from high school, who also narrowly beat her out for valedictorian. More than a decade later, Jae is still as effortlessly cool, charming, and stylish as ever, and, to make matters worse, is planning a hostile take-over of her start-up. Cue: sharp elbows and even sharper banter as the two go head-to-head to see who’ll win this time. But when their rivalry ignites a different kind of passion, Nami starts to realize that it's not just her company that's in danger of being taken over, but her heart as well.

• ISBN10: 125084228X
• ISBN13: 9781250842282
• Publish Date: 18 March 2024
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Saint Martin's Griffin,U.S.
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 304
• Language: English
• URL: http://melia.co.uk/page/detail/?k=9781250842282

Reviews

[chymerra]

Important things you need to know about the book:

Pace: The pace of The Takeover is fast.

POV: The Takeover is told from Nami and Jae’s 1st person POV.

Trigger/Content Warning: The Takeover has trigger and content warnings. If any of these triggers you, I suggest not reading the book. They are:

• Death of a parent (mentioned)
• Bullying (adult and workplace)
• Grief

Sexual Content:  There is moderate sexual content in The Takeover.

Language: There is moderate swearing in The Takeover. There is also language used that could be offensive to some people.

Setting: The Takeover is set in Chicago.

Plot Synopsis (as spoiler-free as I can get):

Nami is dreading her 30th birthday. Her life hasn’t gone the way that she planned. Her company, a tech company that she poured her blood, sweat, and tears into, is about to lose funding. Her ex-fiance has moved on quickly, getting engaged almost immediately after the breakup. And her sister, well, her sister, is planning her wedding to the man of her dreams. Nami wonders where she went wrong. So, on the night of her 30th birthday party, Nami makes a birthday wish for a soulmate.

Instead of the soulmate she wants, Nami renews a rivalry with her childhood nemesis, Jae Lee. She hadn’t seen Jae since high school, but he was the same annoying jerk who had one-upped her at everything. Now, he is part of the acquisitions company looking to buy her company. Desperate to save her company, Nami finds herself going head-to-head with Jae. No one is more surprised than Nami when their hatred turns to passion. And just when she dares to let herself believe that she could have love, it is smashed, leaving her heartbroken. It is up to Jae to show Nami that she is his forever. Can Jae do that? Can he win Nami over and have their happily ever after? Or will Jae’s actions (or inactions) hinder that?

Characters:

The main characters in The Takeover are Nami and Jae. I found them to be well-written, well-fleshed-out characters. Their interactions had me laughing out loud while reading. Their enemies-to-lovers trope was interesting, and I liked how much history Nami and Jae had together. The sparks were apparent from the beginning, and as I read the book, I couldn’t wait to see those sparks ignite.

I did go into The Takeover with a preconceived notion about Nami. In The Second Your Single, she is portrayed as a Bridezilla with control issues. It wasn’t until the end of the book, when Sora needed her, that I saw who she was. So, I was a little shocked by how much I initially liked her.

I wasn’t a massive fan of Jae. Honestly, he came across as super arrogant. I wouldn’t say I liked how he got enjoyment over taking over Nami’s company. But then he started hanging out with Nami and became more human (if that makes sense).

I loved the secondary characters in this book. They were excellent, and they had Nami’s back. There was an amusing secondary storyline involving Del (who was a dink), his costly office chair, and a chair napping by someone on staff. It was hilarious, and I loved how it ended (and everyone in the company got involved). The lesson learned from this: don’t piss off your employees because they will get you back.

My review:

As I stated above, I went into reading The Takeover gingerly. I remembered Nami from the previous book and was very interested in how the author would portray her. It took me about a chapter before it registered that this wasn’t the Bridezilla from The Second Your Single. I decided to drop anything I felt about Nami then and went into this book, determined not to hold her to the first impression I had of her. I am glad I did because Nami in this book was excellent.

The main storyline follows Nami and Jae as they battle it out over the acquisition of her company. I enjoyed the witty and often snappy dialogue between Nami and Jae. But I also liked the personal relationships that Nami had. She cared for her employees, and if that meant dipping into her savings to pay for Breakfast Monday to make them happy, she did it. Her reaction to Jae was what I thought it would be (big rival from high school). I was surprised, though, when she started having feelings for him. I shouldn’t have been because this is a romance, but I was.

The romance angle of the story was interesting. Like I said above, I was surprised at and by it. Mainly because Nami was so nasty to Jae and vice versa. But hate is often a cover for love, and that was the case here. I liked the gradual build-up in their relationship (it wasn’t sudden or a surprise). The same goes for when they started their sexual relationship. It wasn’t a surprise (I knew it was coming). I wasn’t a massive fan of the sex scenes. It didn’t do it for me, which is the only complaint I had for this book.

The end of The Takeover was interesting. I loved how the author resolved Nami’s company issues. It was something I should have seen coming (the reason was mentioned a few times), and it delighted me! I also liked the resolution to Nami and Jae’s relationship. I can’t say anything except they did get their HEA.

Many thanks to St. Martin’s Press, St. Martin’s Griffin, NetGalley, and Cara Tanamachi for allowing me to read and review this ARC of The Takeover. All opinions stated in this review are mine.