Thank you to @netgalley @stmartinspress and @macmillian.audio for a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

The Takeover reminded me of Richard Gere’s storyline in Pretty Woman, less the hooker. Jae owns a company that is known for purchasing other companies and selling them off in pieces. The company in question for this story is partially owned by someone from his past. Rather than taking over Nami’s company and selling it to pieces, he helps various stakeholders become the investors instead…and saves the day! Girl falls for boy. The story was not original, but it was still cute.

I mostly listened to this book and feel that the narrators are what kept me invested in the story. They did a good job making me interested in the characters.

3.5 stars

#books #bookishlife #booklover #readingisfun #iowabookstagrammers #iowabookstagram #netgalley #stmartinspress #macmillianaudio #netgalley #goodreads #ltbreaderteam #thetakeover #caratanamachi

I rlly liked this book, fun and fluffy , fast paced and interesting loved the relationship between the characters it was rlly intense but also very cute

More like a 3.5 ⭐️

This book was a fun, cute, and enemies to lovers read. Nami’s company is in financial trouble and Jae comes in as a shark trying to takeover her company. But Nami and Jae are old high school rivals and always pushed each other to the limits with their competitiveness. The banter between the two was really entertaining and I loved the Hell Ramen scene. I also especially liked that they added elements of life in an Asian family and I found it so relatable.

The downside to this book was that it was such a slow start and especially the beginning of Nami’s parts were boring. I almost put it down but was glad I didn’t because when it picked up, I enjoyed the book.

Thank you to NetGalley and RB Media for providing me a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

Absolutely loved the chemistry and banter between the MCs. The ramen scene was iconic, I loved it SO MUCH! Sort of a second chance romance coz they knew each other before, but can we just talk about their dynamic? I love how Nami reacts so aggressively to Jae and how Jae sees Nami as his drive and competition- a challenge to work harder.

But then there's some major issues in here. I hate the pacing; it was so damn slow I zoned out very often. So when we reached the third act, I was like "huh" and had to go back to relisten for context. But yea, it still doesn't make much sense to me so obviously I'm annoyed with the ending. To add to the mess, Nami continuously tells us how much she cares about her employees and her company. If she isn't telling us, she's telling another character. Classic example of telling not showing. I mean yea, I did see it, and yes, we get it why put so much effort?

I didn't love this, but I see how others might, and I too loved a good number of scenes, so I won't tell you not to pick it up, put keep your expectations low.

TLDR: Recommend!

I love a good enemies to lovers romance and this was definitely that. I loved their hate flirting and the hell ramen scene had me cracking up. Especially since Nami can't even handle a little spice. I love that kind of petty in a FMC. I also love when the guy falls first. It always makes me love the MMC a little bit more.

I really loved the diversity of this book. Not just in the main characters, but in all of the characters. And getting to see traditional aspects of other cultures merging with more modern views just made me hopeful that different generations can find a happy medium with one another. This story also gave a nice perspective of how your own perceptions of people can blind you to their truth.

For the audiobook, if you've ever watched The Emperor's New Groove, the male narrator made his voice sound like Kronk whenever the MMC was talking. I even looked it up because he sounded so similar. And while it might be a niche take, it made it hard to think of the MMC as this intelligent business man. I could only think of, "Ah! My spinach puffs!"

Also, in the beginning of the book, the narrators would switch based on the dialogue, not the chapter's POV. It felt a bit stilted, but I ended up liking it. But by the end of the book, they quit doing this. The narrator for the chapter's POV ended up doing both voices. The inconsistency felt a bigger issue than the dialogue being a bit stilted in the beginning.

Even with my critiques of the audiobook, I really enjoyed Nami and Jae's story. And I can't say too much, but within the story is a nice twist of who the hero of the book is. I really, really liked that it strayed from who you'd usually expect.

I really likes the enemies to lovers vibe and thought the banter was great. I think the overly descriptive info about the workplace took away from the story, for me. At times I was glad that I was listening to the audiobook so I could speed up the narration to get through it quicker.

This was my second attempt at The Takeover—I had the ebook and wanted to like it, but I never got into it. I enjoyed the audiobook more, but the book was still mostly fine to me. I liked the rivals to lovers vibe, but there’s some goofiness in here I didn’t love, and some of the FMC’s character development frustrated me.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!

Nami and Jae have this explosive energy from the beginning that caught my attention! The beginning introduces that Nami and Jae went to school together. Jae was the popular kid in school and was voted "Most Likely To" for literally every successful/cool category where Nami was teased for her follow the rules behavior and was looked at by others as possibly a tattletale for anything rule breaking or partying. Nami's views of Jae from school carried on years later as they are forced to work together to help her work while Jae's views of Nami is a little less negative. He saw the attraction to Nami and believed if she could let go of the past and negative views, they would have been close in school.

Although I liked the enemies to lovers, second chance romance, and workplace romance tropes, I couldn't quite get past Nami's character. She was often looking at life with the glass half empty viewpoint and had many negative and annoying things to say about men and would point out the worst in Jae before looking at the positive. Her character did improve as the story went on, but it was something that stuck out to me from the beginning. I liked Jae's character and thought he was confident, charismatic, and funny. He was definitely a more relatable character.

Got to 20% and didnt finish. There were some trigger topics I was uncomfortable with and decided I should stop.

The Takeover is an addictive fun read. If your into enemies/rivals to lovers trope then this is for you! I'm not that familiar with the Author's writing but I like that the characters are culturally diverse but blends well which makes the story more interesting. The witty banter of the mc's are entertaining as well. And the ramen scene! Imagine you met your nemesis since highschool in your thirties only to find out that he will takeover your company which you put your everything in.

Loved the audio. Thank you NetGalley and to the publisher for the ARCs. I totally enjoyed reading this one.

ALC Review
The Takeover by Cara Tanamachi
Narrated by Donald K. Chang & Chieko Hidako

💜Enemies to Lovers
💜Workplace (ish) romance

The Takeover is a funny rom-com for fans of The Hating Game. Nami & Jae were rivals in school but haven’t seen each other since high school graduation. Jae works for the company that is offering to buy Nami’s company to help save it. Nami is very resistant to this, naturally. I liked the story and the supporting characters were great, except Del (seriously that guy, ugh!). I liked Nami & Jae together, even if they’re both pretty immature still. The third act breakup and resolution were pretty meh to me (but I don’t love third act breakups). I did really enjoy the narrators! Overall, a solid read!

Thanks to NetGalley and RB Media for the ALC!

Nami’s life is falling apart - her fiance ended their engagement, she’s struggling to be happy for her sister who is getting married, and now the tech company she helped start is getting sold, likely to a company that her high school rival, Jae works for. Their rivalry picks up right where it left off ten years ago, but their banter quickly begins to turn into a different kind of chemistry.

This was a fun enemies to lovers romance with some interesting insight into what it is like to work for a tech start up. The banter between Nami and Jae was top notch. I mostly listened to the audiobook of this one and enjoyed the narration. This book was a fun and cute read overall!

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press, RB Media, and NetGalley for the advance copy.

High school enemies meet again in a takeover scenario - Nami is surprised to hear from her old school nemesis Jae and wonders when she'll see him, not expecting it to be at her place of work. If you're into enemies-to-lovers tropes with a mix of relationship history, family dynamics, and business scenarios. I rooted for the characters and liked how Tanamachi brought them to life.

I devoured the audiobook in 2 days. Thank you to Netgalley and to RB Media for the ALC.

Thank you so much NetGalley and RB Media for my advanced copy and the chance to review it honestly.

On Nani’s 30th birthday, she is constantly reminded that her life has it gone as planned. Frustrated with her life, she makes a birthday wish, but the universe had other plans.

The Takeover was a fun and quick listen. I received this as as ALC and was able to get through it pretty quickly. I found it to be well paced and I enjoyed the banter. I thought the narrators did a good job and I can’t say they swayed my opinion of the book one way or another. I do have two gripes… the first one is that I didn’t care for the high school nemesis aspect of the story because at 30, we really shouldn’t care about what happened in high school anymore. And the second gripe was that the last part of the book did not do it for me. It brought a four star read down to a three star read for me. As always, take my opinions with a grain of salt because I see some raving reviews! The Takeover is out today, 1/30/24!

Happy reading

Nami wishes for her soulmate on her 30th birthday but instead the high school boy who was practically her arch nemesis is brought back into her life. Jae Lee was the one guy who could get under her skin and still does. Now instead of stealing the valedictorian title from her, he's trying to steal her company she's worked so hard to build.

The Takeover is a fabulous enemies to lovers romance that stole my heart. The character development and relationship growth between Jae and Nami is just perfect. They have spicy chemistry, smart witty dialogue, and tender moments that keep you reading well past your bedtime.

The Takeover by Cara Tanamachi
4/5 Stars
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

•••Spoiler free review below•••

The perfect mix of rivals to lovers and workplace romance, The Takeover will have you equally rooting for our main characters to one up the other. Nami and Jae spent most of high school competing. After going their separate ways for college and beyond, their paths are now intersecting again when the company Jae works for puts in an offer to purchase Nami’s start up. Nami is determined to not let the purchase go through and Jae is thrilled to have a worthy competitor back in his orbit. Told in dual POV, I think you will enjoy both of these overachievers and the potential romance that will ensue.

Read this book if you like:
-high school rivals all grown up
-workplace
-dual pov
-witty banter

The Takeover will be released January 30th and if it's not already on your tbr, it should be!
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Special thanks to RB Media for sharing a free copy with me in exchange for my honest opinions.

A quick listen with some really fun banter, but overall... just not great. I'd give it 2.5 stars, but goodreads doesn't allow that. The two main characters are still stuck in High School even though they're both 30 and have gone to college, grad school, had jobs, started companies, etc. Nami (FMC) is super repetitive and not very likeable except when she's with her colleagues. She's super caring and loving toward literally everyon in her life except Jae (MMC) because of a high school rivalry, which she actually had no basis for. There was a lot of fun banter and a few stand out moments, but the book fell flat. Their relationship went from enemies to talking about marriage in less than 4 minutes of the audiobook, I almost got whiplash. The 3rd act breakup was so ridiculous, she's livid about everything (some justified, mostly not) and he does a complete 180 to win her back (while putting in minimal effort). I didn't dislike the writing style, but the characters were not for me.

Thanks to NetGalley for the audio ARC.

This was ok, I think it wasn't for me.

It was a struggle for me to get through to be completely honest. I found it frustrating at times.

The two main characters are a little cringe. Both are still upset 12 years later about high school and speak in weird ways (Jae calls himself a "wolf" and others "pigs" and also still calls Nami a rude nickname, Nami using millennial/zoomer speak). I'm still not 100% sure what Nami does at her job besides calling everyone family and stalking Jae on social media.

I wasn't fond of the third-act breakup, I always hate them though. Nami seemed to be asking too much and not stopping to think about everything.

Thank you RB Media and NetGalley for the ARC of The Takeover. What an enjoyable read. Nami was a badass business woman! You could feel the love and passion she had for her company and employees. I want to work at Toggle! The hate banter she has at the beginning of the book with Jae was off the charts. You could feel the sexual tension brewing. The high school enemies to 30 something soulmates was a perfect story for them. Both Nami and Jae’s characters did a lot of growing during the book, so in the end, they came out better people because of it. Solid 4.5 stars. Would absolutely recommend!

Loved Nami and Jae Lee's story. I love enemies to lovers troupe. Love how they competed in high school and how to competed to eating hat Ramen and she went toe to toe with him. A great rom com!