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garbage_mcsmutly's review against another edition
emotional
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.5
A decent enemies to lovers start but a bit boring overall. Plus the reveal of him only wanting to take over her company because he was bored made it hard to like him.
Also the female narrator lacked affect through most of the scenes.
Also the female narrator lacked affect through most of the scenes.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racism, Infidelity, and Misogyny
Minor: Confinement, Death of parent, Medical content, Medical trauma, Toxic relationship, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Two short mentions of the Japanese internment camps in Americafigsofpeach's review
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Misogyny
Minor: Death of parent
dearhaleynicole's review
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
"The Takeover" was a fast-paced, enemies-to-lovers romance that once I got into it and got to experience the tension between our main characters, Nami & Jae, I really ended up enjoying reading!
Overall, this was a quick, cute read. Though maybe a little predictable at times, I was really sold on Nami & Jae's enemies-turned-lovers story. It can be hard to bridge the gap of two characters not having seen each other in over ten years, but I thought Cara did a great job with setting up both characters and their motivations well. And making it feel like, for us as readers, that not a day had went by since they last spoke. Though in reality, so much has went on in their lives over the years that has shaped them into different people than they were in high school. All that, while still keeping what made them "spark" back then, "spark" again now.
Unfortunately, I did feel like it took me till about 20% of the way through listening to get into it (I should mention I listened to the audiobook). Though, I liked Nami's character for a lot of reasons (none short of her being a little nerdy and a former computer programer turned owner of a tech startup), it was a little hard to get through some of her initial POV chapters due to her slightly cringy inner monologue. The written phrasing at times just came off a little dry to me (i.e. "She put the boss in girl boss"), which took me out of the story a few times more than I'd have liked. However, once Jae entered the chat though with his POV and it wasn't just Nami, I did start to appreciate their dynamic and the banter Cara wrote between them. Their energy felt fresh and fun to read the remainder of the book and I ended up really liking them as a couple.
I would highly recommend this book to fans of enemies-to-lovers and workplace romance books like "The Hating Game" by Sally Thorne or "The Enemy" by Sarah Adams.
Thank you to NetGalley and RB Media for graciously sending me the audiobook to review in exchange for an honest review!
Overall, this was a quick, cute read. Though maybe a little predictable at times, I was really sold on Nami & Jae's enemies-turned-lovers story. It can be hard to bridge the gap of two characters not having seen each other in over ten years, but I thought Cara did a great job with setting up both characters and their motivations well. And making it feel like, for us as readers, that not a day had went by since they last spoke. Though in reality, so much has went on in their lives over the years that has shaped them into different people than they were in high school. All that, while still keeping what made them "spark" back then, "spark" again now.
Unfortunately, I did feel like it took me till about 20% of the way through listening to get into it (I should mention I listened to the audiobook). Though, I liked Nami's character for a lot of reasons (none short of her being a little nerdy and a former computer programer turned owner of a tech startup), it was a little hard to get through some of her initial POV chapters due to her slightly cringy inner monologue. The written phrasing at times just came off a little dry to me (i.e. "She put the boss in girl boss"), which took me out of the story a few times more than I'd have liked. However, once Jae entered the chat though with his POV and it wasn't just Nami, I did start to appreciate their dynamic and the banter Cara wrote between them. Their energy felt fresh and fun to read the remainder of the book and I ended up really liking them as a couple.
I would highly recommend this book to fans of enemies-to-lovers and workplace romance books like "The Hating Game" by Sally Thorne or "The Enemy" by Sarah Adams.
Thank you to NetGalley and RB Media for graciously sending me the audiobook to review in exchange for an honest review!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Grief, Death of parent, and Bullying
hanlov's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for giving me a free eARC in exchange for an honest review.
I am a workplace romance STAN, please trust me here. This blurb seemed so up my alley!! Nami has just turned 30 and the tech company she’s spent years building has lost funding. At her birthday, she wishes to find her soulmate, but the universe delivers her a hate mate: her high school nemesis Jae Lee, who also happens to be VP of Acquisitions at the company looking to buy Nami’s company. Is there more to their banter and passion than business and an old rivalry? Like, this sounds like something I’d love, however… it fell short for me. The parts that I liked: the banter was mostly fun and entertaining, the diversity, the family aspects, and some genuinely cute scenes. The negatives outweigh the positives sadly. The conflict comes from both of them holding onto wrong assumptions of each other for over a decade. Nami came off overbearing and selfish in her personal life and all the business aspects of her job (which we know nothing about) and there was very little rational thought from our FMC. She’s only driven by trying to beat her high school nemesis/bully from 12 years ago from tennis matches at work, ramen eating, beer drinking, dancing etc., it got repetitive and not believable. Jae works at a company that is a stand-in for Amazon and essentially just doesn’t understand that he grew up privileged and that he works for a company that only cares about the bottom line (shocker, that’s every company ever)? He has also been obsessed with Nami, the girl no one liked in high school and is now for some reason incredibly attractive? The writing just didn’t really work for me with the dialogue and info dumping for all the characters, and actions were overly descriptive. The third act breakup was just too cliche and shallow and the business resolution?? Are we joking?? Also, PLEASE free us readers from the clutches of overly quirky characters. I’m a big Star Wars and LOTR fan; I do not bring it into every conversation in my daily life like these folks somehow do. Chapter 25’s nerd presentation would probably get me fired lmao. And 30 year old characters acting so immature, I’m begging authors to free us fr. I don’t like cringing when I read! Also from a formatting aspect, anytime the characters texted, I was fighting for my life trying to figure out who said what and what was thought and what was text message, not sure if that’s the uncorrected proof or what but that bugged me.
If you need an easy to read romance with plenty of millennial humor, this might be perfect for you, but it didn’t quite work for me.
Content Warnings
Minor: Death of parent and Misogyny
befthhh's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
*I received an eARC of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*
High school rivals to lovers is one of my all time favorite tropes, and this certainly didn’t disappoint! Nami and Jae haven’t seen each other in 10 years but their chemistry is still aflame. I loved the dual perspectives, showing us that Jae has always found Nami attractive and intriguing, whereas Nami has to work through her “hatred” of Jae in order to see how well suited they are.
I thought the conflict was very believable, both between the main characters and with their families. I liked getting to know their coworkers, friends, and families. There’s is really nothing about this book I didn’t enjoy!
High school rivals to lovers is one of my all time favorite tropes, and this certainly didn’t disappoint! Nami and Jae haven’t seen each other in 10 years but their chemistry is still aflame. I loved the dual perspectives, showing us that Jae has always found Nami attractive and intriguing, whereas Nami has to work through her “hatred” of Jae in order to see how well suited they are.
I thought the conflict was very believable, both between the main characters and with their families. I liked getting to know their coworkers, friends, and families. There’s is really nothing about this book I didn’t enjoy!
Content Warnings
Minor: Death of parent and Grief
asteinke's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
This is a slow moving romance, I found it to be a little boring and it didn’t hold my interest
Content Warnings
Minor: Bullying and Death of parent
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