The Takedown

by Lily Chu

DEE KWAN’S SECRETS FOR A HAPPY LIFE:

* Always remain positive, no matter the cost

* Realize that every setback is a hidden opportunity

* Never, ever question whether any of these mantras actually work


For Dee Kwan, every day is the perfect day. No, really. She has a house she loves, a job she adores, and a ridiculously attractive “nemesis” who never seems to mind when she wins their favorite online game. How can life possibly get better? (It can’t, obviously. It can only get much, much worse.)

Soon Dee is forced to share her adorably cozy home with her parents and prickly estranged grandmother. Then she's tossed into the deep end, tasked with cleaning up a scandal for intimidatingly chic luxury fashion firm Celeste. If that weren’t enough, she discovers her hot-nemesis works there, too…and Teddy is nothing like the man she thought she knew.

Before she can cry foul, Teddy comes clean about his double life: he’s the heir to the CEO and he needs her help to make Celeste a better place—for everyone. But that means taking down the old guard—including his father—intent on standing in their way. Now in the center of a dizzying corporate coup, Dee is forced to decide whether she’s ready to stop watching the world through rose-colored glasses and instead face the truth: about herself, about her feelings for Teddy, and about what she’s willing to do to truly make a difference.

Genres: Romance, Audiobook, Fiction, Chick Lit, Contemporary, Contemporary Romance, Adult

384 pages, Paperback

First published November 2, 2023

About the author

Lily Chu loves ordering the second-cheapest wine, wearing perfume all the time, and staying up far too late with a good book.

The Stand-In, The Comeback, and The Takedown are released in audio as Audible Originals, and are performed by Phillipa Soo. Lily’s critically acclaimed books have spent multiple weeks at number one in Audible Top Plus Listens in the All and the Romance categories, and have been named in Audible’s Best of the year lists.

In print, The Stand-In was named Target’s Book Club Pick for May as well as an Amazon Book of the Month and Apple Best Books of May.

Translation rights have been sold for seven languages.

Reviews

[Maria · Rating 2 out of 5]

Two 30 somethings who are too scared to have real conversations with their parents. A frustrating read for anyone with a backbone.

Also, let's stop exposing our children, especially when they are biracial, to racists just because they're "family."

[Tim · Rating 2 out of 5]

At least I was able to make it through this one. If only the characters had more strength and bite it would be better. 4 of 10 stars

[Jamie (Books and Ladders) · Rating 3 out of 5]

The HR and Diversity consultant in me had a lot of issues with how the issue unfolded and resolved but it was a cute story nonetheless.

[Molly ♍️✨ · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was delightful and confirmed my personal mantra - if Lily Chu writes it, I read it - ideally the audiobook narrated by Phillipa Soo!

Dee was such a great MC, she has real-life struggles and insecurities that I think most women experience, even more so being biracial and second-generation. I loved her, her impulsiveness, her tenacity to make a change and how caring she is! Dee was fun but multidimensional to show life isn't always fun. Lily Chu really knows how to write complex female characters who reflect and grow throughout the story.

Teddy was great and the whole immersive gameplay meets cute was superb! Again, I loved how we got to see a flawed but loveable character in Teddy, it makes the story feel more real. The plot twists were great and I just adored seeing the romance progress.

The Takedown covers many big and important issues in an respectful way, I thought a list would be easier as there were so many...

- Generational expectations and pressures
- Racism within the family unit
- Racism at work
- Misogyny at work
- Racial passing
- Family relationships and dynamics
- Consumerism and company morals
- Workplace stress
- Workplace bullying
- Workplace plagiarism
- Job redundancy
- Morals

^^^ I'm sure there is stuff I missed but don't be put off by the quantity, Lily Chu excellently weaves all of these within the cutest romance!!

I listened to the audiobook narrated by Phillipa Soo and highly recommend it - it's included in Audible!

[Robin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dee Kwan always tries to look at the bright side of life. When she finds out her parents and grandmother are moving in with her, she goes along with it. When her boss sends her to work as a Diversity Consultant with a new client, she decides to make the best of it. When Dee discovers that her online gaming buddy, Teddy, is working at the same company she is consulting with, she bites her lip and figures she'll handle whatever happens. What happens is she discovers that this company has a lot of problems, namely management who hire and promote white males over everyone else. There is also a designer on the staff who treats everyone like garbage and may be stealing other people's designs. Since management isn't listening to anything Dee is telling them, she eventually teams with Teddy to take down the offending designer.

I wasn't a big fan of this story. Most of the story was about Dee's job as a diversity consultant and taking on racism and sexism in the workplace. I liked that Dee and her associates tried to dig up proof that a designer was stealing his work from other unknown designers. I thought the romance portion of the book was rather weak. It just didn't work for me.

The best part of this book was listening to the audiobook narration by Phillipa Soo. She did a spectacular job with a story that just didn't work for me. My rating: 3 Stars.

[Christa · Rating 4 out of 5]

So this book was almost a DNF in the beginning because the FMC’s internal monologue is SO TOXIC. The embodiment of toxic positivity, which is big ick. Her mom? EVEN WORSE…. BUT I ended up LOVING this book because the FMC mindset shifted out of “I can will everything to be amazing” to “it’s okay if it’s not amazing and I’m gonna handle this the best way I know how”

Also she’s a diversity consultant trying to break the status quo in her industry of “we give them suggestions but they probably won’t do anything”… she said WTF NO THIS ISH NEEDS TO CHANGE

The love story is a cute subplot as in all of Lilys books. She does an amazing character development, good mental health rep and overall just well rounded characters l. (Even though the miscommunication troupe DRIVES ME BONKERS)

No spice. S3x mentioned but nothing on page.

[luce (cry bebè's back from hiatus)]

after coming across the dreaded “let out a breath i didn’t know i’d been holding”…i’m officially setting this to the side. i already wasn’t taken by the novel in general, in particular the author’s decision to overemphasise her characters “thing” (in the case of the mc and her mother their thing is toxic positivity)

[CapesandCovers · Rating 3 out of 5]

i wish i had liked this more than i did, but Dee's perspective was lowkey difficult to read and i honestly think that her (written) voice sounded super similar to Ariadne and Gracie's which didn't help either. it definitely wasn't a bad book - it's just not what i had been hoping for. honestly, i might have just dnfed it earlier on because of Dee's attitude, but Philippa Soo's narration kept me interested, she's so good at this.

[Kate McMurry · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots and lots of business scenes

To me it felt as if over 70% of this book consists of scenes at Dee Kwan's miserable job. Her slow-burn romance with the CEO's son, Teddy, comes in as a distance second in dedicated page space.

Fans of work-focused women's fiction might enjoy this book. Unfortunately, I personally find such plots boring.

I obtained free access to the audiobook version of this novel through my Audible membership. This is the third book by this author that I have experienced through Audible and, so far, I haven't been fond of any of them. This book is my least liked of the three. Apparently I am not the intended audience for this author's books, given that I'm not a big fan of women's fiction.

On the positive side, the audiobook narrator, Phillipa Soo, does an excellent job.

[Melanie · Rating 2 out of 5]

In all honesty this book was a disappointment to me. I have really enjoyed Lily Chu's previous books, so when I found a new one I was excited to read it. I appreciate the fact that Chu has Asian or half Asian characters as we need more diversity in books. My biggest issue with the book is what does Dee actually do? At one point I thought she was a diversity consultant, however, she never seems to do much with helping to hire a more diverse workforce in the company. I did hear the term corporate espionage, but identifying it didn't really seem to be her job either. This book just didn't capture my interests as her others had.

How did this book find me? I have enjoyed the author's other books.

[Becky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Exactly what I expected. Lily Chu's third book in what seems like as many months (although maybe it's years) is adorable and lots of fun. Dee is a fantastic character, and her growth throughout the novel is probably exactly what a lot of us need - not the least of which is to let go of what we've been taught about how to deal with stress and learn what's healthiest for us. For a book focused on racism and sexism in the workplace, this was so easily digestible, even if you're not as Smash the Patriarchy as some of us. I appreciate the way Chu approached modern racism in the workplace - it's not all white hoods and separate drinking fountains. It's subtle a lot of the time - talking over someone, giving promotions and credit for ideas to white men (and women, but a lot of the time it's men) who didn't earn them, jokingly dismissing wrong pronunciations of names that don't fit a white-standard default, cultural appropriation being passed off as appreciation (i.e., no one identifying with that culture is consulted nor is care taken to honor and respect it, but the "artist" thinks the representation they're attempting is cool... or "exotic" *cringe*).

So for all of these things to not only be represented in this book, but serve as the main plot foundation, it is almost alarming how light the book is. It is, after all, a romance. Dee is a delight - a trivia-loving DEI consultant whose meet-cute with the very sexy, respectful, and artistic fashion exec/designer Teddy happens while playing a trivia-based scavenger hunt game. And bonus, they kind of already know each other because they've been chatting as they battled for the top two spots for years. So cute, but then - oh no! Their relationship must be paused when Dee is hired as a short-term DEI consultant for Teddy's company after some bad press concerning their lack of diversity.

It's got that forbidden love thing, some family drama, a secret investigation, a random trip to Paris, and some truly adorable date nights, all without getting too heavy (in terms of the writing, the plot, and the romance - don't look here if you're searching for spice). The writing gets maybe three stars, but the characters - especially the Perfect Boyfriend Teddy (who cooks Dee's favorite foods and designs her a whole wardrobe, all while being completely respectful and hot!) - bump it up to a four star read. Highly enjoyable.

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. I liked this. Soooo many Toronto scenes in this one, even more than compared to her other books! Having just returned from a Toronto trip, it made it pretty fun to read!
I learned a lot from this book about diversity consulting. Fascinating stuff.

[Karsyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Lily Chu's books! The chapters are pretty long which tends to take me a while to get through, but overall they're really fun reads for me. The plot in this one especially was very interesting and kept me engaged. I think Dee might be the character I relate to the most from Lily's 3 books I've read, as she desperately clings to always being positive, even in situations where it's okay to sit in the negativity. That was something people always said about me growing up... "how are you so positive!" well... because I'm avoiding what I should be dealing with 😅 Dee finally learning that lesson was wonderful for me to see, and a great reminder that it doesn't make you a bad person to have negative thoughts or feelings, and they are perfectly valid. 💜

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

No spice. Good strong characters, no woe is me.

[Ali · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not my favourite Lily Chu book, but I can respect that I probably wasn't the target audience for this one. I did enjoy our MCs relationship and personal development throughout the book, and the questy/trivia aspect was fun!

[ESGAP · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 creo que al estar esperando este libro a diferencia de los otros de Lily Chu me hice altas expectativas, ademas que me encantaron sus libros pasados.
En una parte amo lo predecible sus clichés siendo muy “cheese“ pero esta vez me falto el romance de celebridad y no el hijo de un CEO.

[EP · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lately, I find myself picking books with unsurprisingly annoying protagonists (if you read the blurb), then getting frustrated with how annoying they are. Whose fault is this? (I know, it's mine, obviously. I wish I had someone else to blame though) Dee generated some pretty mixed emotions in me. Her toxic positivity (inspired by mom) grated. Her professions of competence ("I got this") felt baseless. When she did do something well (besides her online puzzle game), I was surprised. I simultaneously thought her character grows out of its toxic positivity mold unbelievably quickly but also that the book pacing is too slow. I'm impossible to please, apparently? I did like that Dee does outgrow it though (with veerry gentle nudges from Teddy - a total cinnamon roll hero), but overall I found the pace of the book quite slow. The romance proceeds quickly (felt mostly solidified before 50%), and then the corporate espionage part of it dragged on for the rest of the book.

So why does this book still get four stars? I love that 1) the female MCs in all of this author's books are mostly relatable and have a cool hobby that I want to do (create a calendaring/organizational app?? play IRL puzzle games and know too much trivia??) 2) the male MCs in all of this author's books embrace fashion and beauty and things that you might not typically see in a traditional rom-com (alpha male, roar). 3) Dee is a DEI consultant (sounds like the WORST job), which the author uses for effective commentary on society. 4) there is strong Asian representation in terms of MCs and associated storylines of dealing with racism with family members, workplace, etc. I will continue to read anything by this author!

My thanks to the publisher for providing an ARC via netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

[Jen (mrs-machino) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mixed review on this one. I loved the hero, Teddy, and the puzzle game they played together was a fun story thread. The heroine’s job as a DEI consultant was unique, and the micro-aggressions she and her boss were subjected to felt very real.

The heroine Dee was insufferable at times. Even though she was clearly very smart some of her decisions made zero sense, like when her boss told her over and over what to do and she’d completely disregard it. Some of the side characters were much more compelling, like Alejandra the designer, or Vivian her boss.

The book also felt very padded, with too many details about what they ate and wore and saw. I can name at least five different types of cheese they ate at different points in the book, for example, and every single outfit with the coat was explained in detail.

[Anniek · Rating 3 out of 5]

I ended up with mixed feelings about this. I loved Dee and Teddy, and I loved Dee's journey of learning to stand up for herself and how she doesn't have to be positive and grateful at all times. But, and this is very much a me thing, I wanted less workplace stuff and more romance. Workplace stuff tends to stress me out, and there was such a focus on that here, so this book just wasn't a great fit for me.

[Raven · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5

This isn’t a bag read. For me, I was bored in the second half. I lost interest in the main characters and wanted way more romance build up. I didn’t feel the giddy feeling that I usually have when reading romances.

As always with this authors books, I loved the descriptions of the settings. As someone who grew up in Toronto, it felt like a warm hug. Especially in this book with the “questy” game the characters played. I wish the characters continued to play the game throughout the book. I think I would have been more interested.

[Brittney · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book wasn’t what I was expecting.

It was better.

The Takedown tackles DEI (and the lack thereof) in the fashion industry, racism in interracial relationships, toxic positivity, and so much more in this wide spanning romance.

An easy five stars for Lily Chu.

[Germaine Irwin · Rating 2 out of 5]

I dunno with this one. I’m wavering between a 2 and a 3 maybe because it was much better than The Comeback?! But it was a pleasant read, nothing earth shattering but not annoying either

[Sharon Mariampillai · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great Read

This was an enjoyable read. This is Lily Chu’s third book that I read and I really liked it. In this book, we meet Dee Kwan, our female lead, who is a people pleaser. She works as a consultant and was tasked to resolve a scandal within the fashion company, Celeste. This book was great. I thought Dee was a great character. In the beginning, I thought her personality was a bit boring, but then she transformed as the story progressed. Gone was the people pleaser, and here arrived a more confident Dee. A person who knows her true worth and that was special to read/listen to. Philippa Soo did a fantastic job narrating this story. I thought Teddy was another great character. I thought that they had real chemistry and it really showed through. I am not wait to read more books by Lily Chu. She writes her stories with lessons that can inspire us. In this book, she tackled misogyny at work, racism at work, and toxic positivity (people pleasing). I cannot wait to read her next book. Overall, a great read.

[Julie Shuff · Rating 4 out of 5]

There were some parts that worked out conveniently well for her (especially as a consultant who could realistically be fired/let go at any time), but I liked the chemistry between her and teddy and her growth arc. While it is a romance novel, the side characters are well fleshed out and the workplace drama the couple faces is also a driving part of the story (actually plot).

Mostly a fade to black situation, so nothing too spicy on page but there are definite allusions.

[Karl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Goood easy reads. This one the issue resolved so quick and easy didn’t feel like real life. But that’s why we pick cozy cute books sometimes!

[Katelyn Martin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was pleasantly surprised by this book overall. I started it on a whim because it was narrated by the amazing Phillipa Soo. While it was ultimately part of the plot, the over the top optimism of the main character was a bit annoying and I felt like for characters who were supposed to be in their thirties they were a little more naive than I would expect. But it was ultimately a fun story with cute romantic tension/closed door romance.

[Mia Mann · Rating 2 out of 5]

found myself cringing more and more as the book progressed and honestly my biggest problem with it was that our Asian main character lived with her parents and they didn’t freak out about her disappearing to Paris with her secret boyfriend or even wonder where she was 😂 I will still read and enjoy everything that Lily Chu writes and Philippa Soo narrates because, duh.

[Daniella FS · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

[Sydney · Rating 3 out of 5]

DNF - didn’t mind the book, just got bored

[Ashley Ware · Rating 3 out of 5]

⭐️⭐️⭐️
Overall the book was good but I don’t feel like it was the authors best work. Many of the characters really got on my nerves. It seemed like they were written in an over exaggerated form because the author wasn’t sure if the reader would be able to pick up on the point she was trying to make with each character. I also was just not super invested in the main storyline. I don’t know if there just wasn’t enough time to build up to it or there were too many other storylines that distracted from the main one but I just didn’t feel as if I could really get into the book fully. Ex. The París trip seemed to be just a random thing that really didn’t amount to anything. The designer they went to see ended up being frankly rude and not likable “I didn’t do it for you, but you’re welcome.” Just the way his whole character was handled was not the best imo.

The main character. I wanted to like her so much. But she really really bothered me. I want to start by saying we’re all allowed to be selfish. But we were presented with a character that was so “unselfish” that she could never stand up for herself. It was people pleasing to an incredibly unhealthy level. I do appreciate that there was some character development on that front. However, it just seems like she spent a huge amount of time worried about herself and how’s she is perceived. It felt a bit like she (the MFC) thought everyone should just accept her at her word that she knew best / had the best intentions or just listen to her even if she didn’t have the complete story. In short, she appeared to think the world revolved around her. I know we all tend to think of ourselves first, but it was incredibly frustrating to read over and over how she was frustrated that people she hadn’t known long didn’t just accept her based off of her word and know her intentions were the best.

I also really just did not like the MMC. I found him to be very one-dimensional. It didn’t make sense to me why Dee would be into him at all expect for the fact that they had the same hobby and she found him attractive. It seemed he very rarely came up with solutions to even the smallest issues.

I really didn’t like the way the author almost threw in a 3rd act miscommunication/breakup trope just for the sake of doing it. It didn’t feel natural to the characters and was created just to add some extra tension. I also really really did not like that after this happens, Teddy asks for space to sort through his emotions and she just plan does not respect that. I understand that the author probably wanted to have the cute hobby thing come back into play but I feel like it could have been done in a way that wasn’t her being disrespectful towards his boundaries. If it had been reversed no one would want Teddy and Dee to end up together because he would have ignored Dee’s boundaries. Just because Dee wanted to hear from him and it was hard *for her* she texted him then made up the questy clues. Which made it feel like it went against what I feel like Teddy would have done for him to actually do them.

Though I appreciate the author wanting to have the reader fully invested into the book by describing the food and setting in a lot of detail, it felt way overdone. Don’t get me wrong, I love food as much as the next person. But. We didn’t need an exact “this character had this, the other character had this and the main character had this” each and every time. It almost felt like a good review.

If you’ve made it this far, you have more patience than I do so thank you haha there were plenty of good moments or scenes in this book. I don’t think I’ll reread this one but overall it covered important issues that I wish were more talked about in society & I really like the dynamics of her family and the growth that happened there.