Jae Lee(MMC) is the VP of Corporate Acquisition for the large company Rainforest. He swoops in to takeover TOGGLE, which just so happens to be the start up company of his high school nemesis, Nami Reid(FMC). Nami is completely taken by surprise and is understandably upset. She’s beyond upset. She’s beyond furious. Nami feels that she’s lost far too many things to Jae Lee in high school, which Nami is clearly still harboring anger about. Nami has nothing but irritating memories of Jae and considers him an egomaniac. -and tells him so many times-hehe. But, also, because TOGGLE is Nami’s life, her company. TOGGLE is HER baby, she has built from the ground up. Nami is concerned for the other employees(they are her friends and she considers them a work family rather than just coworkers.) With all of these variables in play, it’s even more of a slap in the face that it is Jae Lee involved.

Jae and Nami are still as competitive as they were in high school. The incredibly witty banter between the two never stops. (Some of the best banter I’ve seen.) The insults and barbs are thrown left and right.
They each have their own compulsive need to be right, to win. Who would imagine that they would each be exactly who the other needed. Their chemistry is PALPABLE!

“The Takeover” definitely surprised me and surpassed my expectations. It was an absolutely delightful read. A fantastic story, with a terrific plot. The characters are well written, diverse and fit together so nicely within the company that they love as much as Nami. (Star Trek whiteboard, breakfast Mondays, frisbees, ping pong... The prank with Dell’s chair had me in tears from laughing so hard.) Thank you Cara Tanamachi!

This book really has it all. Never a boring moment. I love the author’s sense of humor. I was laughing throughout. However, she adds in the harsh realities of family dynamics and expectations. We see a bit of the seriousness of the corporate world, as well as, a small business “family”. There are failed and strained relationships, love and loss. Throughout the book, Jae and Nami have a love-hate/hate-love relationship. But, since this is a romance, we are guaranteed a hea(happily ever after) aren’t we? What kind of happy ending? How did they get there? Read the book! (Publication date January 30, 2024)
Be advised, this book flows nicely, there is no “good place” to stop. Binged in one sitting.
5/5

Thanks to st Martin for this amazing rom com, loved every minute of it , the story the characters and the whole setting of the book. Definitely one to watch out for

I have an affinity for enemies to lover stories and Cara Tanamachi did such a great job with The Takeover. It was so easy to get invested in the lives of Nami and Jae and really feel the burning hatred and steamy love. Tanamachi wrote both Nami and Jae in a way that was very easy to relate to with well written character background stories that rounded out who they are and gave insight on who they could become. The story was charming, the push and pull of the main characters was impressive and left me burning through chapters and strangely craving a steaming hot bowl of ramen.

My only wish is that once the characters got together, it was that I feel the story went a little dull and almost skipped to the end by glossing over a few weeks or months they were together before the big conflict. I wanted to see more between the characters and maybe some more push with the pull of attraction. Overall, I cant wait to read more from Cara Tanamachi, she is an author to follow for sure.

Nami has just turned 30, and she's being reminded every time she turns around that her life is NOT going as she planned. Her engagement is off, her startup (her pride and joy!) is about to lose funding, and she really wants to be happy for her sister, who's getting married, but she's fighting back jealousy. So her birthday wish is to find her soulmate, only the universe sends her her old nemesis Jae.

The chemistry and the banter between Nami and Jae is delightfully fun! The main characters and many side characters are beautifully written and well-developed. This was a really fun story to read. [I also really enjoyed the underlying conversation about the dangers of corporate America, but that's just me!] This is a gem if you love the enemies to lovers trope! 🌶️🌶️🌶️

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the advanced digital reader's copy (ARC) in exchange for an honest review!

From the moment I started reading The takeover, I knew this is going to be another 5 stars read for me. I loved how this book left me feeling so many different emotions. I giggled, cried happy tears and smiled a lot. Definitely loved reading it.

Loved this so much!! Thanks @netgalley for the chance to review The Takeover by Cara Tanamachi. Nami’s business was in trouble, and her arch nemesis from high school is planning to take over. Jae’s super handsome now, but still causing trouble for “by the book” Nami. Super cute, slightly sexy, and rather funny, this was definitely a winner!

This was not a bad book but it wasn’t a great book either. My biggest issue was that I struggled to connect with Nami. I felt like the author told us things about her, but didn’t actually show us those things. This made me feel very 2 dimensional.

This was cute, but unfortunately, I don't think it's all that memorable.

I liked the characters and the different representation we get, with a deeper look on how some cultures can affect how children are raised. I liked the banter between the leads, and I could genuinely feel they hated each other, yet slowly fell in love.

The pacing, however, was a little off. It was all good and fine until the last quarter, when everything neatly fell into place. It read like crossing things off a checklist - Toggle (check), Nami's mom (check), the main couple (check), etc. And I get it - Toggle is family, Nami has no other friends outside of it, and so on and so forth. It's constantly brought up and after a while it just felt repetitive and too much.

Sometimes, the book felt like it was trying to be serious and then shifting into something lighthearted, but there wasn't much of a transition so it went from serious conversation A to kind of weird, "funny" moment B. I still don't get the point of Chair Gate and - maybe because it's not really my humor - didn't quite care for the last couple of chapters. Plus, Nami's whole personality is developed on her Hall Monitor job in high school. First of all, what high school had a hall monitor? It's mentioned she volunteered for the job but does that mean she created a whole new job for herself? And throughout the book, this volunteer work she did in high school is used as her defining character trait: Hall Monitor Nami, no fun, stick-in-the-mud Hall Monitor.

The Takeover was an okay read, and I'm glad to have read it.

thank you Netgalley for the free ARC

I was not able to finish the book and therefore do not feel that I can give an unbiased review about the book, its plot, characters, or the author's work. I might revisit this book at a later time and finish it then, but not right now.

This book is the perfect friends to lovers story, Nami is a workaholic who loves her company and wants nothing more than to save her “family” from going under. Although the company doesn’t appear to have another way out Nami is hoping to find a way to save them. Enter Jae, the valedictorian who made Nami’s high school experience a nightmare. Jae and Nami are no strangers to battle each other however this is not what Nami expected. She wants to save her company but is Jae the only person who can help? Nami isn’t willing to give up her life long battle with Jae so easily. Will Jae be enough to save her company? Will Nami be able to able to find a way to work with Jae or will it be too late to rewrite the past?

I absolutely loved this book! It has a little bit of everything, enemies to lovers, forced proximity and I love the modern aspect of the tech company. It is easy to read and even easier to fall in love with. I blew through this book because I just couldn’t put it down. Also I could not get over the office chair being taken for ransom and the ramen eating scene. I reread that chapter twice because it was so believable and I loved how relatable the characters were. Highly recommend, I’ll be buying the authors other books!

Pick this one up when you are craving an early 2000s rom com fix! I mean this in the best way possible too...you know exactly what you're getting, you'll leave happy and satisfied and you'll laugh along the way!

3.5 stars = I liked it. I thought that The Takeover was a fun enemies to lovers romance. There's aways a fine line with enemies to lovers - the rivalry can't get too nasty or it doesn't work for me. Here, I liked the transition from enemies to 'more' began when the couple was forced to pair up for tennis and used all the competiveness cooperatively, instead of against each other. I also liked the tech elements of the story - though I can't believe it took me so long to clue into the fact that the leading man's company Rainforest was a stand in for Amazon - the author had to hit me over the head with a shipping box. I really liked the winning solution to the no win scenario for the leading lady's company and that the gray leading man does actually find his soul by the end.

ARC courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley. Expected publication January 30, 2024. This is an unpaid review

This read like any of your favorite rom-coms. Cara did a great job of intertwining laughter with her angsty story. Loved the banter and dialogue between all characters. You can feel the family love and how each of the sister's plays there role in the family, loved that the secondary characters found their footing and made their way. Great, fun, and quick read!

I was privileged to receive this book to read through NetGalley and it may be my most favorite book so far. I was so vested in this book from the get go, Nami and Jae are both Asian (so am I!) and it centers around Nami’s company she started, Toggle, and their families. I loved all the characters, especially the people who work at Toggle, even more the Toggle Chat and the chair adventures! I couldn’t stop smiling and giggling throughout and I devoured the book in 2 days (only because I work and have a 16 year old learning to drive, otherwise I probably could’ve read it in one sitting). A fun must read! Stay away from Hot Ramen!

I was so excited to read this one, but I felt let down by what to me seems like too much emphasis on the company culture. It’s all such obvious stand-ins for Amazon, etc. that it’s actually distracting, and I felt like I couldn’t get to know the characters.

I like it! Didn't blow my mind but it was a fun time.

The only trouble I had with this book was that I felt like they suddenly were in love. The transition was not smooth but aside from that Jae and Nami were nice to read.

Also, love the workers and that office is my dream workplace.

Just what I needed, a cute Rom-Com set in the tech industry. This was a fun read, but I think it bogged down a little bit because it was a little too much enemies and not enough lovers, in my opinion. Jae was just a little too extra with this cockiness and attitude, and Nani was just a little too flowers, rainbows, and "I'm not a regular boss. I'm a cool boss". I would definitely recommend this to my friends because I know a lot of them are going to love it when it comes out.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for allowing me to read this in exchange for my honest review.

I loved this book even more than I thought i would! I was looking for a fun, quick easy read and this was a great find! I was drawn in easily by the characters, a cute enemies to lovers romance where high school rivals meet up years later. Insert insanely hot ramen, and maybe feelings can change.. Cute, fun read. Definitely recommend!

I thought the cover was really cute and like when rom-com protagonists are in their 30s or 40s, so I was pretty excited about this book and it didn't completely let me down. It was awesome for a quick romance read, and I got through it quickly. I liked the characters and enjoyed the plot.

Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for providing me with an eARC of The Takeover in exchange for my honest review!

Enemies-to-lovers is one of my favorite romance tropes, so I was all for this book right from the start. Nami and Jae share banter that offers up a good amount of sharp humor, which kept things lighthearted, even during the relatively solemn beats. I'll admit that I don't think some of the drama is necessary, e.g. the material involving Nami's well-intentioned and overbearing mom, but I still had fun with the rest of the narrative. I was definitely skeptical at first in regard to how I'd feel toward Jae and his choice to take on a ruthless job for an Amazon-esque company. But his morally gray character ends up being a compelling and likable type who we can get onboard for when it comes to his and the workaholic Nami's love story. The office setting that it takes place in and the narrative's critique of greedy corporations are neat, too.

Overall, I'm officially rating The Takeover 3.25 out of 5 stars, which I'm rounding down to 3 stars. If you're looking for a solidly touching and funny romance read, you could go and pick this.