Book Review

The Takeover Effect by Nisha Sharma

The Takeover Effect is Nisha Sharma’s (My So Called Bollywood Life) first published contemporary romance novel, and focuses on three Punjabi Sikh brothers. This is the first in the series and the hero is the eldest brother. As one of my most anticipated books for the first half of 2019, I was eager to get started. While there are some really fantastic elements, I experienced confusion at the setup, a hero I didn’t warm to until late in the book, and fatphobia in the guise of a one-dimensional villain.

Hemdeep Singh, the prodigal son, has returned. He was in line to run his family’s company, Bharat, Inc., but left after a huge argument with his father and the loss of a long-term relationship. Now he runs his own law firm and seems to be doing well with tha.! When his father has a heart attack after news breaks of a corporate takeover for Bharat, Hem returns to help his brothers protect the company at all costs.

The board of directors at Bharat are interested in the offer to purchase from WTA Digital, as the company seems to be losing money after they went public with an IPO. Mina Kohli is brought on as part of an outside committee to assess WTA’s offer and advise whether Bharat, Inc. should accept the deal. However, Mina has ulterior motives. Her uncle, Sanjeev is the one who got her on the committee. Her task is to ultimately advise Bharat to take the deal. If she does, she’ll be made equity partner at the Kohli and Associates law firm without having to agree to an arranged marriage. If she fails, she’ll have to go through the arranged marriage set up by her uncles and father. The groom in question is the son of a lawyer at an immigration law firm. The marriage would mean a merger of firms as well.

If I seem a little confused at explaining this, it’s because I am. Business jargon and a company’s hierarchy are things that often go over my head. I never quite understood how Sanjeev was connected with Bharat nor how he was able to position his niece on such an important committee. The moving parts of who worked where, who held what position, and the links between them made for shady shit and the corporate espionage was far too tangled for me to follow. And because I was trying to work this all out, it really distracted me from the romance.

Confused

Winona Ryder is confused

Mina is a rockstar of a heroine. Seriously, I loved her. She’s tall with an obsession for high heels. I know that’ll be catnip for some of you. Her mother died in a drunk driving accident (her mom was the one under the influence) and since her death, Mina has tried to move heaven and earth to reclaim the legacy of her mother’s law firm. Mina’s uncles are running it haphazardly and this law firm is really her last connection to her late mom.

A majority of the time, Mina is surrounded by men, but I appreciated how she navigated those spaces. She was confident in her work ethic and the things she knew she could accomplish, while calling out possessive and sexist bullshit. There’s a scene where Hem’s brother, Zail, kissed Mina on the cheek to say goodbye:

She could feel Hem’s growl deep in his chest, like he was a damned animal.

“What was that?” she asked him after Zail slipped through the crowd.

“I didn’t like that he touched you.”

“Really?”

“Hell, Mina, you don’t have to sound so giddy about it.”

“It’s just so…cute.”

Hem grinned, and he stroked a fingertip over her knee and teased the skin under the hem of her short dress. “I don’t share.”

“I’m not a thing to share. Man, this is why avoiding dating is so much easier than dealing with man-babies. Now don’t get all grumpy just because your brother gave me a smooch.”

I just really liked her. When Hem mentions his ex, her first reaction isn’t jealousy. She recognizes that she doesn’t know the woman and it isn’t fair to judge a person based on Hem’s one-sided perspective.

Now Hem is another story. At times, he showed some great insight into who he is and what he’s looking for in a romantic partner. Most of the time, however, he was pushy and showy and kind of obnoxious.

At one point, his mother gives him advice on trying to find a woman who can accept all of him and just not parts of him. His previous girlfriend, Lisa, supported his ambitions, but he felt she never accepted his culture or his religion. He wants a woman that could accept “both sides:”

Both sides. The Punjabi and the American side. The traditional and the religious part of him that he cherished versus the corporate business owner.

Hem could also be incredibly tender and slip into a caretaker role when needed, such as when Mina confesses her apprehension about their attraction:

“…I’m so afraid it’s not real.”

“It’s real. Main tuhadi sari zindagi nu pyar karan di udika kara riha hum.”

I have been waiting to love you my whole life.

He can say and do things that make me melt! But (and there’s always a but) he’ll follow those moments with something like this:

“Good, but we need some space, Hem. If you stay here, we both know what can happen. Sex is going to cloud things.”

“Wait, you’re sending me away because we may have sex?” She was still punishing him, he thought. “I never took you for a coward.”

DUDE! The two of them are trying to build a case to send to the FBI on corporate espionage, with the main perpetrator being Mina’s uncle. There is some heavy chemistry between the two of them and I can’t blame Mina for wanting a clear head to get shit done. But instead, Hem makes it about himself, that she’s “sending him away” to punish him.

I could never figure out my feelings for Hem. Did I like him? Dislike him? Did he win me over in the end? Kinda sorta? The fact that I don’t have a solid answer about Hem as the hero is telling, though, isn’t it?

If you’re hoping this is a slow burn romance, it isn’t. From the moment Hem and Mina meet, each interaction is filled with flirtation and eye sex. Their romance is more about the strength in finding a partner, especially one that understands you and what’s important to you. While both Mina and Hem are Punjabi, Mina grew up without a mom or a large family. There are similarities, but also vast differences.

I cherished most the scenes wherein Hem meets Mina’s father, and Mina meets most of Hem’s family.You could FEEL how important family was and how both Mina and Hem valued those interactions. As someone who is a grump when it comes to family-centric plots in romance, my heart grew three sizes.

Grinch gif

A gif from How the Grinch Stole Christmas, where the Grinch's heart grows three sizes.

TW/CW for discussions of fatphobia

There was a book Sarah previously reviewed where the villain’s weight became sort of synonymous with his/her villainy. That review stuck with me and it’s something I’ve become more cognizant of when examining who the bad guy/girl is in a romance.

Though both of Mina’s uncles are terrible people, Sanjeev by far is the worst offender. He uses Mina as a tool and a bargaining chip. He gloats about his sister’s (Mina’s mom) alcoholism in front of dinner guests. He’s just a bad dude all around.

But every scene in which he appears, there is always a mention of his round belly. When Hem helps the FBI escort him out of the office, there is a mention of the “fat and rolls of wrinkled skin” on the man’s neck. Before we even get an introduction to Sanjeev, his office is described as:

She stepped into the corner office, ignoring the smell of stale cigarettes. The space was a pigsty with papers everywhere. There were discarded suitcoats and ties, dirty bowls and mugs, and an overflowing ashtray.

He’s always greasy, messy, and his “fatness” never goes unnoticed. My hatred for reading about him morphed from “he’s a skeezy bad guy” to “we get it, he’s fat and gross.” It made me feel…sad. And mad. This man’s “badness” was boiled down to his physical representation. Not the fact that he manipulated his niece or brother-in-law. Not the fact that he screwed over his sister to take over the law firm she started.

I began to dread having him appear, simply because equating fat with being wrong or bad or evil was really depressing me the fuck out, especially when having a “belly” or being soft wasn’t a physical trait of any other character.

There were two characters in The Takeover Effect that I loved. I’m looking forward to seeing more of them. The first is Mina’s best friend, Rajneet, who goes by Raj. She’s a sexually confident heroine who hides her identity and runs her multi-million dollar business behind a masculine nickname. I have a feeling she’s the heroine of the next book and she’ll be paired with the middle brother, Ajay. But she’s also an amazing friend to have in your corner. Mina’s quest in upholding her mother’s legacy is dictating every detail of her life and one of my favorite quotes in the book is this piece of advice from Raj:

“It’s not that easy, damn it. I’m doing this for my mother.”

“But what if this isn’t what she would’ve wanted? What if your mother’s hopes for your future were so much greater than hers?”

“Life isn’t about simplicity or happiness. Sometimes, it’s a straight-up fucking tragedy, and we have to deal with it.”

I am here for more scenes of Raj kicking ass and taking names. #TeamRaj

But the best–THE BEST–character in the whole fucking book–better than Raj, better than Mina–is the Singh brothers’ mom.

When Hem comes back to the family estate after being estranged from his father, the first question his mom asks is if he’s hungry and wants something to eat. Later, when Hem fucks up and has to go grovel to Mina, she gives him some advice:

Hem was across the room and opening the double doors when his mother called his name again. “Take her some food.”

“What?”

“Take her some food. She won’t turn you away if you try to feed her. It’s impolite.”

And she’s right. I will listen to anyone say anything if there’s free food involved.

Toward the end of the book, there’s a scene where she and Mina are on the couch and it’s so touching that I cried. I CRIED.

Scene mentions events later in the book

“Hem and Ajay told me a little about your family,” Hem’s mother said. “You wanted to make sure that your mother’s death wasn’t in vain. I’m sorry you’re no longer at the firm, but I’m sure she’s proud of you as the woman you’ve become, regardless of where you’re employed.”

“I’m starting to believe that.”

Hem’s mother picked up the cooling chai from the coffee table and handed it to Mina. She stroked a hand over Mina’s head again. “A mother knows. Trust me when I say that if she could see you today, see how you’re helping my sons because it’s the right thing to do, she’d be bursting with pride.”

“Thanks, auntie,” Mina said quietly.

“You are Hem’s, which means now you are mine. You may not like that after a while.”

Mina laughed, and the tightness in her chest eased. If there was one thing she knew about Punjabi mothers, it was that they didn’t hold back.

There are some unbelievably tender moments in this book that catch you off-guard. I was way less interested in the corporate takeover suspense elements than I was in the notions of family acceptance. Hem didn’t want to date someone who felt ashamed of his culture or who he was. Mina struggled with her feelings of abandonment, but yearned for people who would be there for her in times of need. There was a mature treatment of Mina and Hem’s failed past relationships. The relationships ended not because they were bad, per se, but because their previous significant others were clearly pieces to an entirely different puzzle.

Ultimately, this book has some growing pains, though I can be pretty forgiving when it comes to first books in a series. There’s some great sequel bait and I will anxiously be awaiting Zail Singh’s book. He’s a buff science nerd with a nice biceps, a beard, and a man-bun. There were enough bright spots and truly touching moments to keep me going, despite hitting walls with Hem and being really disappointed with the depiction of Sanjeev.

The good outweighs the bad in this one, but sometimes the bad bordered on make or break territory. Whether you finish or pick this book up really hinges on your tolerance for certain things and what you look for in your romances. I will, however, be continuing with the Singh family, as the family dynamics Sharma created are well worth revisiting.

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The Takeover Effect by Nisha Sharma

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  1. Lisa F says:

    This came pretty close to my experience with the book, though I liked it more than you did. The business jargon ran super thick, and the fatphobia reminded me of Unmarriagable, only even more unwarranted.

    Also it’s worth noting that this book comes out at the end of the month instead of the beginning! Amazon switched it about.

  2. Karen D says:

    Skipping this review for now because I’ve asked my library to order this ebook. Looking forward to coming back to compare notes after I’ve read it.

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