Genre: Romance

I received this book for free from Avon, Avon Impulse in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Hemdeep Singh knows exactly what he wants. With his intelligence and determination, he has what it takes to build his own legacy away from Bharat, Inc. and the empire his father created. But when his brother calls him home, Hem puts his dreams on hold once again to help save the company he walked away from. That’s when he encounters the devastating Mina Kohli in the Bharat boardroom, and he realizes he’s in for more than he had bargained.

Mina will do whatever it takes to recover control of her mother’s law firm, even if it means agreeing to an arranged marriage. Her newest case assignment is to assist Bharat in the midst of a potential takeover. It could be the key to finally achieving her goal while preventing her marriage to a man she doesn’t love—as long as her explosive attraction to Hem doesn’t get in the way.  

As Mina and Hem work to save Bharat, they not only uncover secrets that could threaten the existence of the company, but they also learn that in a winner-takes-all game, love always comes out on top.

I absolutely adored My So-Called Bollywood Life when I read it last year so when I found out that Nisha Sharma was writing another book, specifically an adult romance, I was all aboard. When I found out the series would follow a wealthy Sikh Punjabi-American family, I WAS EVEN MORE EXCITED (which I didn’t know was possible but whatever.)

The Takeover Effect is a quick read. The pages just sort of fly by. That said, it did take me more than half the book to actually be invested in the characters and the plot. I don’t know if I can even point out a specific reason why this was but I didn’t really click with the book until shit hit the fan.

And when shit hit the fan, IT HIT THE FAN. I found myself incredibly invested in the plot and needed to know whether Bharat, Inc. would be saved and if Mina would finally get justice for the shit her uncles had put her through.

Hemdeep Singh is the prodigal son. After a falling out with his parents, he leaves the family company and starts his own law firm. When his father has a heart attack and the board of Bharat, Inc. is up to some sketchy shit, Hemdeep is forced to come back and confront his past.

Mina Kaur Kohli will do anything to become a partner at the law firm her mother built from nothing and her uncles stole from her. But does that include lying to the board of Bharat, Inc. about whether or not they should sell the company?

When these two ambitious souls meet, they are immediately attracted to each other. But conflicting interests get in the way and they have to figure out how to navigate their new, budding relationship while investigating who is leaking company secrets to competitors.

To be quite frank, I am not sure I was actually invested in the romance? I loved Hem and Mina as individuals but their insta-attraction and some of Hem’s more alpha qualities didn’t always work for me. He once got sort of riled up when they first met because his brother and her clicked??? WTF?? Bro, take a chill pill. Which is not to say I don’t love a good alpha male, but I don’t think alpha males should be defined by weird, jealous urges.

The Takeover Effect is a romance novel so maybe the fact that I wasn’t invested in the romance should have resulted in me DNFing the book but there was just so much going on plot-wise and secondary relationships that I found myself invested in the book overall. There were a LOT of secondary characters that I fell in love with and wish I could see more of and potentially even get to read full length novels about.

I also just loved how the characters’ identities as Sikh Punjabis was woven into the book. Both Hem and Mina connected to those identities differently though given the vast differences in how they grew up and I LOVED that we got to see such contrasts. I loved that the characters got to express their shared identity in different ways.

Overall, The Takeover Effect is far from perfect but it is such a great start to this series. I cannot wait to read more of the brothers (and potentially other characters???) down the road and hope that this book/series might even make it to the big screen one of these days!

3.5 Hot Espressos