Nami is straight up not having a good time. Her fiancé cheated on her RIGHT before their wedding, her tech company (her baby) is going under, and she feels like her employees are her only friends anymore. What will she do without them?
At a “surprise” birthday party (thrown by her overbearing mother of course) she wishes for a soulmate.

Enter Jae, Nami’s childhood nemesis. Except now he’s head of the company coming after Nami’s baby. Also, he’s tall and hot and something about him drives her crazy in all the best, and worst, ways.

Cara Tanamachi plays out this rivalry (that’s as spicy as hell ramen) perfectly. I laughed, a lot. I loved Nami, and was rooting for Toggle the whole way through. The chair plot was HILARIOUS. I wish there were real pictures of that whole email exchange!!

This is the first Cara Tanamachi book I’ve read but it won’t be the last!!

it was an okay book, i didnt hate it or love it i would definitly read another book by the author hopefully the next one i will love. Thanks netgalley for letting me read this book.

Thank you, Netgalley for this ARC. First off I want to say that the diversity in this book is spectacular. The whole Rivals to Lovers is also something I absolutely love. This was a great read.

Thank you, NetGalley, for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. Super quick and easy to read. I haven’t read anything from this author before, so I was very intrigued. The chemistry between the MMC and FMC was there, along with the witty banter and the loveable (except when not) secondary characters. The only things I didn’t love were that the book's first part felt very “box check-y for diversity characters” and the 3rd act, as I feel it’s constantly being overplayed.

The real purpose of “The Takeover” is to show that “Bezoff vs. Musk” is an incorrect poll. They're both evil, they both only care about themselves and their money, and they both will rote in hell one day - although, my response about who's the most evil would be Musk, and not only for what he did to Twitter.

Nami and Jae are a perfect fit, the side characters are immaculate in their roles, the story evolves without drawbacks and it's full of interesting tech stuff - even if I still don't know what an NFT is.

But, in the small picture, it misses the spark.
At first, she's too repetitive: how much Toggle means to her, how much her employees are family to her, how hot is Chicago in the summer, how she had to always be the villain in her family because her sister wouldn't stand up for herself.
And then, fifty pages at the end, everything works out: he broke her heart but they talk about it and “fix” it, her sister makes up with her mom and the latter apologises to her daughters, and the company is saved by a miracle. They all get to have their happily ever after, forgetting the ugly truths about Nami’s past with her parents and every time her sister let her down, or about Jae’s father and the disapproval about being the eldest son but not getting married first, or also about what he’s gonna do now.

Looking back, the pace is what to fix, in my opinion.
But even like this, it's a cute and fun story about two former high school nemesis who realize they might be perfect for each other, after reconnecting for the wrong reasons.

Thanks to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley, who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest opinion.

First, I would like to thank Netgalley for providing the opportunity for me to read this book before it was published.
In the romance genre, hate to love is a troupe that I generally love. I am not surprised that I liked The Takeover at all. It has all the hallmarks of a quick romance novel. Both of the main characters are loveable. Nami, the female protagonist, has a lot of relatable qualities. She's feeling a little self conscious and is focused on work right now. Her recent breakup with her fiance cuts her really deep, though she never truly loved the guy. The main male lead, Jae, is charming and has some nuance. The entire story I was really rooting for them. After reading so many historical fiction pieces, fantasy novels, and Mangas, The Takeover was a great cleanser. Once I started reading it, I flew through it in a few hours. I recommend it to anyone who likes a fluffy, hate to love romance novel.

My Thoughts

My opinion of enemies to lovers romance plotting is a favorable one.

The love/hate relationship of Nami (Namby) and Jae with all encounters between characters felt natural and even at times was fun.

Nami and Jae share so many personality traits that they are not only a good match but as adversaries they also love to engage in what amounts to mental gymnastics that were thought out well by the author.

The technical aspects of this story were interesting but the characters,primary, secondary or even minor ones, had the biggest impact on its overall likability for me as I read it.

The plot progression was easily followed, the characters are all necessary for each new level of development, the premise is one which had me wondering how things would work out and I was satisfied at the end.

This was one of those books you cannot say too much about because it is very easy to over-share and ruin the experience for everyone else.

For myself it all worked well and I think that for those readers who it didn’t work for maybe the next book author release’s might.

[EArc from Netgalley]

On every book read as soon as it is done and written up for review it is posted on Goodreads and Netgalley, once released then posted on Amazon, Barnes and Nobles as well.

I wanted to like this a lot more for having such a diverse cast, but this was tough. The writing was so tell-y that it was hard to feel any investment in the story. Also, this feels like a case of a gen x-er trying to write millenials/gen z and it being very cringey. Her whole plan about getting her business up and running and all that by age thirty is just wildly unrealistic to me and won't resonate with readers who have graduated unskilled and are trying to make a living. Similarly, the fixation on high school didn't land. I needed a stronger basis for their enmity. Anyway I'm really sad to have disliked this but it made me feel nothing. I hope it finds its audience.

This is a cute and easy read about two high school nemeses who competed against each other and find themselves falling into the same routine 10-15 years later. There is good character development and it was nice to read about customs and mannerisms of Japanese and Korean families. Cute book that I recommend when you want some nice light reading.

I received this ARC from NetGalley and the publisher for my honest opinion.

We love diversity in books…this book took two classmates that fought each other for everything and let them fall in love. i love workplace romances and a good enemy to lover trope. It’s not your typical romance book and i loved it for that

This was such an enjoyable read and I'm glad I was able to read it with fresh eyes. I can see the patrons at my library loving this book and I will definitely recommend it to my patrons when it is published.

Unfortunately, this book just wasn’t it for me.

I love enemies to lovers romances (and workplace?? A perk!) but I just didn’t find myself loving this one.

Things I enjoyed:
- banter between the characters (majority when they were enemies)
- hell ramen scene (I laughed out loud at some parts)
- fast-paced, quick read
- the tennis scene

Things I didn’t enjoy:
- the whole take-over process and how it played out. I did not particularly enjoy how the resolution emerged because it seemed so…. Strange to me? It also happened super quick at the end
- I didn’t get the references to Star Wars/Star Trek whatsoever
- hall monitor references ALL the time!
- the name rainforest for the company 💀
- I still don’t really know what Nami did for her job?? It was such an integral part of the story, and all I really knew was that it was a fun place to work and that they had whiteboard debates
- the texting parts. I know this is an ARC, but I got confused about what was a text and what wasn’t with how it was formatted. It wasn’t consistent, either, so I’m hoping that it gets fixed before print.

I think this book needed a bit more angst to draw out the enemies to lovers plot, too. Or maybe I’m just an angst-loving girl?

Overall, it was a cute, fast read but it wasn’t really anything special to me.

And finally - thank you so much to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review!

Cute, quick read filled with quick-witted banter. The characters bring to mind the bickering couples from the movies who end up together. There is a lot of backstory, family, and so much to love. Great book. Curl up on a lazy afternoon and enjoy!

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press, St. Martin's Griffin for an e-arc in exchange for an unbiased review.

Thank you, NetGalley for the copy!

This was a story I didn't expect to get invested in, however I liked reading about the business aspects of Toggle, Rainforest, & Joust. Some aspects I wasn't here for (preference wise) and that's ok. Wasn't the biggest fan of Nami or Jae, but I did like their character development. I did enjoy the little familial aspect with Nami and Toggle. The banter between Nami and Jae (especially through text messages) did have me chuckling quite a bit. Additionally, we learn more about Jae and Nami's families & some of their issues. This was a quick and fun read!

The humorous aspects of this book make it deserving of five stars. There is so much to love and laugh about in this story. The 9th circle of hell ramen challenge was hilarious! Other funny moments/aspects -- Nami's dance moves; Grandma Mitsuye on pain medication; the saga of the Wegner chair; the Toggle atmosphere/office culture; the names of the tech companies in the book and the real-life companies they are intended to represent. And of course, the love/hate relationship of Nami (Namby) and Jae. Fierce competitors in high school, and always ready with a biting insult, they will pick up where they left off when their paths cross again in the business world. However, they will discover that beneath that fiery hate is actually quite a bit of admiration, and dare say it, love. But can their newfound affection overcome the threat that Jae and Rainforest pose to Nami and Toggle?

And if you enjoyed, "The Second You're Single", you will be happy to see Sora and Jack playing a role in this book, as Sora and Nami are sisters.

I had the privilege of reading a galley copy of The Takeover by Cara Tanamachi. This book was a lighthearted story about High School rivals Nami and Jae, and their re-introduction after over 10 years have passed.

This book was very enjoyable, I found myself looking forward to any down time so I could pick it up again. The story was fast paced, but not too fast, and all of the encounters between characters felt natural and fun. I would often laugh out loud at some of the crazy scenarios our main characters would find themselves in due to their competitive relationship.

I do think that while I enjoyed the pacing of the book, the resolution of the main conflict was resolved with a very swift turnaround. I do think that the actions that were taken to resolve the conflict were a good start, I do think more conversations/work could have been done to result in a complete 180 degree resolution.

Again, I very much enjoyed my read of The Takeover and would recommend it readily to anyone looking for a story along it's themes.

I would like to preface this review by saying I am not the biggest fan of the enemies to lover trope so take my opinions with a grain of salt. However something about this story intrigued me and unfortunately I found Nami and Jae's relationship and interactions insufferable until they reached the lovers part of the story . That being said my only other qualm with the story was the dialogue and over all writing style used . It made it hard for me to get into the story at first but I was able to get through because I really didn't feel like DNF'ing this. book. I would still recommend giving this story a read because of the lightheartedness and y love for workplace romances.

I loved this book. It was such an addictive read. I loved the enemies to lovers aspect and it had great characters. The main characters were well-written to me and you will literally fall in love with the main characters since the beginning. If you like enemies to lovers, you should give this book a chance! The chemistry between them is AMAZING! I fell in love with the story, plot, and the characters.

Rated : 4.5 Stars!

Romance

Solid effort for a sophomore novel.

Jae Lee and Nami were "mortal" enemies as teenagers and fate has brought them back together. Nami never liked that Jae had everything handed to him on a silver platter and thinks that he is selfish. Jae has never been challenged by anyone as much as by Nami, but he doesn't like her need to "police" every situation.

Nami's company has gotten very successful but are at a turning point. Jae's company wants to buy Nami's, but his company is the big bad wolf who will probably lay off all of her team. They are forced to constantly interact with each other and the sparks fly; not all of which are due to irritation.

The story moves along nicely, and the relationship arc feels natural. They have the "big fight", and the relationship gets strained. My only complaint with this novel is how things progress after the fight. It's feels like the resolution comes too quickly. Otherwise, I enjoyed this novel and would read this author again.

Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for my ARC of this novel.

This was a cute read! I really enjoyed the characters and the hate to love ! I adored the characters and their families!