Book Review + Tour: The Takedown by Carlie Walker
Welcome to The Takedown Blog Tour
Contemporary Romance lovers rejoice: we have a brand new novel set to steal your heart this autumn! Today is my tour date for the brilliant The Takedown by Carlie Walker, a sparkling rom-com journey through a captivating world of CIA agents, sisterhood, cute dogs, heists and stolen hearts! (Did I mention it’s set at Christmas?!) Prepare to become smitten with loveable characters and a plot to set your heart racing. . .
The Takedown by Carlie Walker
Published: October 3rd 2023 by Orion Books / Berkley
Rating: ★★★★★ (5)
Genre: Adult // Contemporary Romance
Quick Thoughts: It took me on a wintery, picturesque adventure of special agents, unwavering love and humour for days. Carlie’s an author to watch!
About The Book:
He wants to take her out.
She wants to take him down…
Sydney’s mission is simple:
1. Stop her little sister from marrying a notorious criminal
2. Seduce his bodyguard to gather intel for the FBI
3. Definitely do not fall in love…
Agent Sydney Swift is going home for the holidays. She’s just discovered that her younger sister, Calla, is engaged to Johnny Jones – the heir to the nation’s most notorious crime dynasty – and she’s determined to stop their perfect winter wedding at any cost.
But gathering incriminating evidence on Johnny isn’t as easy as she’d hoped, especially as her biggest obstacle is Nick, his infuriatingly handsome and charming bodyguard!
As Sydney spends more time with Nick, lines begin to blur, and while seducing him to gather intel was bad enough, falling for him is even worse. Soon Sydney is faced with a difficult decision – one that certainly wasn’t covered in her training…
First Thoughts
I’ve been wanting to read The Takedown ever since I knew it existed, and was so grateful to be asked to be on the blog tour. I knew it would be perfect to take on my very first plane ride to Scotland to read in between adventuring across the country!
My Review
Sydney Swift lives by a simple mission as a CIA agent: trust no one, get the job done, don’t let her personal life and work life mix, and never let people get too close. But when she gets flagged by the FBI to carry out a special mission because of her little sister’s fiance, who just so happens to be from a crime family, it throws her life into disarray. Not only did she not plan on going home to Maine for Christmas, but now she has to stop her sister Calla marrying Johnny Jones, the heir to a dangerous criminal empire that could threaten her safety for life if they get married.
But one thing Sydney doesn’t anticipate is Nick, Johnny’s bodyguard and best friend. He’s inquisitive and hard to read, and when Sydney gets instructions to seduce him for information, lines begin to blur that were very solid before. And when she realises that she’s read the situation all wrong, trusting Nick comes slightly easier—and so does letting her guard fall as their intimacy and chemistry becomes palpable. But with an impromptu Christmas Wedding on the horizon, impending doom looms sooner than Sydney anticipated. Suddenly lying to her sister and Grandma seems like the last thing she needs to do when they could get hurt. Only, with plans in the air and trust shattered all around, Sydney finds herself throwing her own morals out the window for the ones she loves to save the day.
Overall, The Takedown was everything and more. I began reading it in Edinburgh airport, thinking of it the entire flight and back at our hotel, desperate to read more. Sydney was such a likeable, deeply complex character that had this striking POV that made me instantly warm to her. The connection (and intense chemistry!) she had with Nick was off-the-page-epic, and I was immediately a Syd + Nick stan. I loved the sister bond between Calla and Sydney, and the close relationship they had with Grandma Ruby (and Sweetie Pie!) I can’t put into words how much I adored this book. Exhilarating, romantic and completely additive, The Takedown took me on a wintery, picturesque adventure of special agents, unwavering love and humour for days. This is one of the best novels I’ve read all year—I am absolutely certain Carlie is an author to watch. Five stars doesn’t seem enough.
About The Author
Carlie Walker attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she first majored in Peace, War and Defense, a feeder program for intelligence services—before realizing that she is way too anxious to be a spy. Having gone on to study at Oxford University and at City, University of London, she worked briefly in publishing before becoming the bestselling author of seven books for children and young adults. She has a registered 250-pound dead lift, volunteers in a cat shelter, and used to spend her Saturdays practicing Krav Maga. She lives in Atlanta, Georgia, with her husband and their American dingo.
Have you read The Takedown?
If you haven’t, don’t forget to add it to your TBR!
Let me know in the comments or on twitter @LittleMemoirs!
happy reading!
