⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
🌶️.5

Thank you to NetGalley for a free advance review copy, I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I was really excited to read The Takedown - I loved the premise of the book as I hadn’t come across a romance novel previously involving a CIA operative for the FMC (especially a tall FMC, she’s 5 foot 9!). I had SO many questions - would there be a fall out with Sydney’s sister if she found out about Sydney’s job and who Johnny really is? Is the sister involved in Johnny’s criminal activity but playing innocent? Did Johnny purposely target the sister for a relationship to get at the CIA/Sydney in some way? And the romance with Nick - Sydney is supposed to “pretend” to fall for him but obviously she actually will. Will it work? Is Nick doing the same thing from his side? Does he know Sydney is CIA? Will they have a happily ever after?

The plot itself and the build up was really well thought-out and well written. There were a LOT of unexpected twists and turns - this story literally kept me on the edge of my seat, and made me doubt my own predictions. Everything all came together at the end, and was just the perfect conclusion to an action-packed rom-com.

Spice level is fairly low. There are a couple of scenes which are quite tame (but are not fade-to-black), so I’d rate it as 1.5 chilli spices at most.

The only downfall was the formatting of the eBook. I’m unsure if the ARC I received is a final version of what would be published, but the formatting really needs some fixing. Paragraphs, sentences and some words themselves are broken up and start on new lines and there are no proper chapter breaks which sometimes disrupted the flow of the story. Simply for this reason, I’d rate the book 3.5 but it would be a 4 if the formatting was fixed.

Carlie Walker, author of 'The Takedown' is a well educated author having studied at University of North Carolina, in America and both Oxford University and City University in England. This is the first book for adults she has written having previously written eight books for children and young adults. For me her strongest writing was conveying the emotions of the romance of central characters Sydney and Nick. A most enjoyable read. Thanks to Orion Publishing and NetGalley for the chance to ARC this book

Sydney Swift is a CIA agent finishing an assignment in Europe. She is lent to an FBI handler because her sister is unknowingly (she hopes) engaged to Johnny, a crime Lord’s son. She returns to Grandma Ruby’s house which is her childhood home and is surprised to meet body guard Nick. Younger sister is so thrilled to see Sydney she decides to move up the wedding to Christmas Day only a week away. This is a fun romantic comedy with sparks and witty banter flying between Nick and Syd. I laughed out loud at a lot of their silly dialogue. Sydney is a good agent but along with that comes trust issues. How much does Nick or her sister know? Throw in a grandma and an aging dog and there is a lot to enjoy in this as the mystery unfolds.

It does slow down slightly in the middle, but twists and turns get it moving again. Love the strong bond between sisters even though they’ve been out of touch. The author is successful YA writer Carlie Sorosiak and this is her first adult novel. I hope it wont be her last. Thank you to NetGalley and Orion Publishing Group for the ARC and I am leaving a voluntary review.

I found this novel similar to others I have read. There wasn't anything too special about it sadly. Just couldn't get into it.

The Takedown was so much fun to read!
Sydney, had to go undercover CIA agent for the wedding of her sister and Johnny, her criminal fiancé. She then falls for Nick, Johnny’s bodyguard but is all as it seems with Nick?
With a countdown until Christmas, she had to solve the crime and take Johnny down before a major heist happens .
In the midst of it all, she had to navigate living with her family!
This book was a delightful blend of humour,, suspense, and romance, I really enjoyed it.

I just reviewed The Takedown by Carlie Walker. #TheTakedown #NetGalley

The plot of this book was like nothing I've read before. I decided to give the book a chance because it was romance and I was intrigued by the description, I'm so so happy I read this book. The ending was complete worth it and the romance in this book was *Chef's kiss*. Like what other people have said, the first part was a little hard to get into but the second half of the book i scaled through, the writing was amazing and I'm glad I stuck with it. Thank you to Orion for allowing me to read this eARC, I look forward to reading more books : )

This took me a while to get into and even though it picked up in the middle I ended up skim reading the last couple of chapters. Sydney and Nick were decent characters but I struggled to get invested in the romance because Sydney’s guard was up for like 80% of their interactions which makes sense given the plot but threw the chemistry off a little. I did get invested and wanted to know how things would eventually play out with Nick/Sydney, the spy thing and the Johnny of it all. I also enjoyed the relationship between the two sisters, Grandma Ruby and the pupper. Overall 2.5 ⭐️

Such a unique book, I loved the plot, and oh my god the characters were so amazing!! I definitely will be recommending it!!

The Takedownby Carlie Walker

A very well written book a fast moving romance thriller. A very quick page turner from first to last page. Great character ,humour ,tension many twists and a few steamy moments. A little different and thoroughly enjoyable read. 4.5/5

Sydney, an undercover CIA agent, was assigned to investigate her sister's criminal fiancé upon her return home.
Little did she know that she would develop feelings for his bodyguard. It had been years since she had been back, and Sydney had forgotten what it was like to be herself.
To her dismay, she discovered that her sister was engaged to Johnny, the heir of a notorious criminal family. The FBI approached Sydney, requesting her assistance in bringing them down.
With a countdown until Christmas, she had to solve the crime and take Johnny down before a major heist occurred.
In the midst of it all, she had to navigate living with her family and manage her growing affection for Nick, the bodyguard.
This book was a delightful blend of humor, suspense, and romance, which is why I am grateful to have had the opportunity to read it.

I just reviewed The Takedown by Carlie Walker. #TheTakedown #NetGalley [NetGalley URL]

Rating: 3⭐️

Summary:
Agent Sydney Swift returns home with a clear mission: prevent her sister's marriage to a criminal, extract FBI intel from the charming bodyguard, Nick, and avoid romance. As Sydney struggles to gather evidence on her sister's fiancé, she starts battling growing feelings for Nick, while still trying to save her sister.

What stood out to me:
The romance, the plot, the banter and Grandma Ruby.

My thoughts:
I struggled with the first half of this book, but am soooo happy I continued reading as the second half was great! I loved the romcom vibes of this book and didn’t expect most of the twists. The main reason I didn’t give this book a five star rating is because I found the action slow to start and the set up a bit long. But all in all if you don’t mind a slower intro then I highly recommend this book as I considered the second half of this book to be at least a 4.5 ⭐️ if not 5⭐️.

Thanks to NetGalley and Orion books for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review

DNF at 44%

I've been lucky enough to get approved for an ARC of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review of the book.

I can totally see how someone would enjoy this book but it just really wasn't for me. The way this author wrote was just wasn't for me.

The entire way through what I read I just did not care how it ended at all. None of the characters appealed to me

I was super excited to see this on NetGalley - a spicy spy romcom with a strong kick ass female lead? Yes siry, sign me up! 🕵️‍♀️

We follow Sydney who is returning home for the holidays to spend time with her family… and to investigate her sister’s new fiancé as she’s a spy who works for the CIA/FBI and the fiancé belongs to a known mafia family 🤯

Nick is the bodyguard of the fiancé - he’s a great character 🌶️ Though we don’t see much of his bodyguarding role so don’t go into it expecting too much of that trope! This is more of an enemies to lovers, one bed, Mr and Mrs Smith at Christmas kinda vibe 🎄

It is a funny, spicy romcom that’s a super speedy read, however it all happens over the span of about a week and the pace of the book is very go go go. Though this may be more of a me issue as the “instant love”/super quick to fall trope isn’t my cup of tea.

I do recommend it for a quick, fun, spicy read that feels quite different/unique. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review 🙏

A compelling romance set in the middle of a dramatic family, a speedy wedding, and danger around every corner. This book was a hoot, honestly, completely outrageous at points but only in the best ways!

It took me a while to read just the start of the book. The beginning was very busy and I honestly didn't feel like I knew anything about anyone. It was a lot all at once which just did not vibe with me. With the pace and the limited amount of time this is set in, it is just a lot faster of a book than I was expecting I guess, so maybe a me issue rather than the book's issue. I did ultimately DNF the book.
(On the plus side though, I did particulary like Grandma Ruby, she was the most standout character from what I did read!)

A standout positive of The Takedown is that Carlie Walker had an interesting and exciting premise for a romance novel. I loved the rom-com combination of mafia and secret agent, and my guilty pleasure in romance is the body guard trope! You can never go wrong with a protective love interest, which meant I did really like Nick.

I enjoyed that Sydney was a strong protagonist, she was independent and knew what she wanted. I also adored her protective streak with her sister. Family relationships in books are always so lovely to read about and are an extra bonus in romance novels.

My main issue, and the reason I did not finish this book at around the 40% mark, is due to the Christmas setting. This is a fault of my own as I should have done more research into reading a Christmas book in July but I just could not get into the plot and the consistent Christmas references really threw me through a loop.

I would gladly read from Carlie Walker again, her writing style and ability to create, and maintain, genuine chemistry between love interests was enjoyable and easy to read. I haven't posted the review on Goodreads, because it feels unfair to leave a review for a book I didn't finish, and didn't dislike per say, but didn't love. The two stars are an estimate for what I would have given the book had I finished the last 60%.

5 ⭐️

This was so fun!! I think maybe the heist plot-mystery could have been a little tighter, but on the whole I really enjoyed this. The romance was great, the emotional stakes were good, and the added suspense was just enough for this to still feel more rom-com than rom-sus.

Give me all the romance books about spies please!!

A fun and steamy romance. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and it had me hooked from the outset.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of the book in exchange for a review.

This book offers a very chaotic narrative with Sydney’s thoughts being constant and jumpy throughout, making it difficult to follow. I would have liked to see more interaction, especially earlier on in the book, as we seem to only really have Sydney’s internal chattering and I wasn’t finding it very compelling. I mostly kept reading out of an interest in knowing who, if anyone, was a guilty party in this book. Sydney wasn’t written as a very good spy so I didn’t find that element of the plot very believable. The culmination of all the events at the end provided a lot of action and unravelled some mysteries so it was perhaps the most compelling part of the story but unfortunately, this book wasn’t the one for me and although the plot made me intrigued about the book, the execution didn’t meet my expectations.

I received a free copy of this book. All views are my own.

I've never read a spy romance before but now I'm wondering why not, because this was so much fun to read. It felt like the best kind of action movie, which you watch at Christmas all cosied up with your family. Just pure enjoyment.

Sydney and Nick had spectacular chemistry, and I loved the twists and turns that the plot took them on. My heart though, my heart belongs to Grandma Ruby and I'm afraid it always will do now. We love a badass Grandma around here.