Review: TAKEOVER by Anna Zabo

Disclaimer: I consider the author a friend and have promoted her projects on my blog. However, I purchased this ebook for full price.

I’ve had this book on my Kindle forever, and while had previously read and greatly enjoyed another novel by Zabo, I wasn’t sure whether my love of her urban fantasy would translate to love of real-life romance. However, I recently interviewed her on my blog and one of her answers piqued my interest. A main character from the first book in this series also shows up each of the subsequent books, and I just had to see how that happens.

So I took my Kindle to bed, figuring I’d enjoy some fluffy romance as a change of pace from time-travel shenanigans and epic space opera. By the end of chapter 2, I was in tears. To be fair, I cry at everything (movies, books, commercials), but not because the writing was terrible, or the book was sad! But because I’d been so immediately sucked into this burgeoning relationship that the main characters’ intense emotions wrapped their fingers around my heart and wouldn’t let go.

I don’t know enough about romance genre tropes to be super critical in that regard, so I can only go by gut feeling here. This book sucked me in and I didn’t mind a bit. While Sam’s continued reticence to fully embrace his whole self became frustrating at times, I never once felt like he or Michael were caricatures or stereotypes. I especially appreciated how the romance was intertwined with business issues, and how the business-related plot kept me on the edge of my seat as much as wondering whether Sam and Michael would get their happily ever after did.

Though things tied up a bit neatly at the end, that wasn’t enough to put me off from wanting more. I immediately downloaded the next book in this series to read, and that’s probably the best sort of praise.

Rating: 5 (out of 5) stars. Cross-posted to Amazon and Goodreads.

Currently reading: “Roman Holiday” (a Chronicles of St. Mary’s short story) by Jodi Taylor