100 books like The Takeover

By T L Swan,

Here are 100 books that The Takeover fans have personally recommended if you like The Takeover. Shepherd is a community of 12,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of The Brit

Emma Perle Author Of Much Ado About Benedict

From my list on romance to make your toes curl and your heart race.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am a British writer and avid reader of a wide range of genres who’d harbored a life-long ambition to be an author. It wasn’t until I became addicted to seductive romance that I found my own writing flow. I love books that have the power to transport you. Indulging in an adult ideal for a few minutes (or hours) in a day, when your body reacts viscerally to the words on a page, makes you swoon, your cheeks flush and your heart race is my reading and writing heaven. I hope you will experience the same delicious escapism in my book choices as I have. 

Emma's book list on romance to make your toes curl and your heart race

Emma Perle Why did Emma love this book?

I want to include a fellow British writer in my list and JEM is my favorite for suspenseful steamy stories. The Brit is the first in the Unlawful Men series. Dark and broken, mafia anti-hero Danny Black is brooding and bad. He is not supposed to fall in love with the women he takes as ‘collateral’ in a deadly game of power. Rose Cassidy has learnt to be tough to survive. Danny sees her as the mirror of himself. Their twisted attraction is not for the feint-hearted but I loved it!

By Jodi Ellen Malpas,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked The Brit as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Pleasure has never been so deadly.

Rose Cassidy doesn't truly live; she just exists. Numbing herself to fear and pain is the only way she can survive in this cruel world. So when she's taken as collateral by the notorious Danny Black in a deadly game of power, she's thrown by the deep fear she feels rising within her. And, worse than fear, a profound desire. She's heard tales of The Brit. He's callous. Coldblooded. But no one ever said he was wickedly beautiful and darkly captivating. He sees past her mask, giving her a cruel sense of hope. But…


Book cover of Beautiful Bastard

Emma Perle Author Of Much Ado About Benedict

From my list on romance to make your toes curl and your heart race.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am a British writer and avid reader of a wide range of genres who’d harbored a life-long ambition to be an author. It wasn’t until I became addicted to seductive romance that I found my own writing flow. I love books that have the power to transport you. Indulging in an adult ideal for a few minutes (or hours) in a day, when your body reacts viscerally to the words on a page, makes you swoon, your cheeks flush and your heart race is my reading and writing heaven. I hope you will experience the same delicious escapism in my book choices as I have. 

Emma's book list on romance to make your toes curl and your heart race

Emma Perle Why did Emma love this book?

This was my first steamy romance read, the one that got me hooked on erotic romance and still one of my favorites. From the moment Bennett’s hand landed on Chloe’s thigh in the boardroom my pulse spiked and didn’t stop racing until the last page. Bennett and Chloe’s chemistry is a masterclass, enemies to lovers hot.  

By Christina Lauren,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Beautiful Bastard as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Chloe Mills is intelligent, hardworking, moments away from her MBA and starting a successful career. The only thing standing in her way is her boss, Bennett Ryan. He's exacting, blunt, inconsiderate and... completely gorgeous - a beautiful bastard. She's determined to ignore him, do the best job she can, and move on to her bright future. Bennett has been trying to ignore his gorgeous, infuriating assistant for months. He's never been one for a workplace dalliance, especially not with one of his employees. But Chloe is so tempting he's willing to bend the rules - or smash them, if it…


Book cover of Blindfolded Innocence

Emma Perle Author Of Much Ado About Benedict

From my list on romance to make your toes curl and your heart race.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am a British writer and avid reader of a wide range of genres who’d harbored a life-long ambition to be an author. It wasn’t until I became addicted to seductive romance that I found my own writing flow. I love books that have the power to transport you. Indulging in an adult ideal for a few minutes (or hours) in a day, when your body reacts viscerally to the words on a page, makes you swoon, your cheeks flush and your heart race is my reading and writing heaven. I hope you will experience the same delicious escapism in my book choices as I have. 

Emma's book list on romance to make your toes curl and your heart race

Emma Perle Why did Emma love this book?

Alessandra Torre (in my opinion) is at her best when writing sexy romance. Julia is an ambitious law intern who, on her first day at work, is warned to keep away from sexy, alpha Brad de Luca. The writing is fast-paced, addictive, and seduced me into barrelling straight into book 2 in the series. I particularly loved the massage scene involving Julia, which juxtaposed into a scene with Brad –illicit tension heaven! 

By Alessandra Torre,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Blindfolded Innocence as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

"I'm not sure what you have been told about me, but I'm not nearly as bad as they make me out to be." His deliciously deep voice carried a little bit of ego. 

I'm sure you are exactly as bad as they make you out to be…. 

Brad De Luca is used to getting whatever and whomever he wants. The premier divorce attorney in town, he's a playboy who's bedded half the city—including his own clients. And when the newest intern at his firm poses a challenge, his seductive prowess goes into overdrive. 

Pre-law student Julia Campbell is fresh off…


Book cover of Then You Happened

Emma Perle Author Of Much Ado About Benedict

From my list on romance to make your toes curl and your heart race.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am a British writer and avid reader of a wide range of genres who’d harbored a life-long ambition to be an author. It wasn’t until I became addicted to seductive romance that I found my own writing flow. I love books that have the power to transport you. Indulging in an adult ideal for a few minutes (or hours) in a day, when your body reacts viscerally to the words on a page, makes you swoon, your cheeks flush and your heart race is my reading and writing heaven. I hope you will experience the same delicious escapism in my book choices as I have. 

Emma's book list on romance to make your toes curl and your heart race

Emma Perle Why did Emma love this book?

I am a fan of K Bromberg (famous for the Driven series) and her all-the-feels writing. I picked this book because it is my favorite of her stand-alone romances. I'm definitely a sucker for a cowboy and when they are alpha, sexy and swoop in to save the day, it is the perfect cocktail to lose yourself in.

By K. Bromberg,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Then You Happened as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

An all new standalone romance from New York Times Bestselling Author, K. Bromberg


Book cover of The Secret Teachings of Plants: The Intelligence of the Heart in the Direct Perception of Nature

Liz Koch Author Of Stalking Wild Psoas: Embodying Your Core Intelligence

From my list on re-wilding our relationship with life.

Why am I passionate about this?

As both an international somatic educator and conceptual artist, I have explored direct perception through the sensory system for over 45 years. Focusing on human potential and core awareness through the portal of the neuro-core tissue called Psoas, I am the author of The Psoas Book and Core Awareness: Enhancing Yoga, Pilates, Exercise and Dance. I have come to appreciate that fostering personal integrity requires changing our language of the body from an object to a dynamic living process. To restore our core coherency, humans must wake up from our mechanistic separateness to once again be innovative organisms dancing in reciprocity with a living, dynamic Earth.

Liz's book list on re-wilding our relationship with life

Liz Koch Why did Liz love this book?

This book offers a response to a deep longing to be in the world with childlike curiosity. It encourages our direct perception of life through the energetic heart field. Although it is meant as a knowledgeable guide for listening to and communicating with plants, it elicits a poignant call during a time of profound alienation. Encouraging the letting go of top-down linear thinking, Buhner offers a step-by-step somatic path for decolonizing the soul. I discovered by exchanging the word “psoas” for “plant” the book easily becomes a personal guide for increasing our core awareness as it inspires opening the heart by rooting into a reciprocal relationship with the living Earth. To me, re-wilding my relationship with the deepest aspects of self is vitally personal and imperative if all life is to truly flourish. 

By Stephen Harrod Buhner,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Secret Teachings of Plants as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

All ancient and indigenous peoples insisted their knowledge of plant medicines came from the plants themselves and not through trial-and-error experimentation. Less well known is that many Western peoples made this same assertion. There are, in fact, two modes of cognition available to all human beings--the brain-based linear and the heart-based holistic. The heart-centered mode of perception can be exceptionally accurate and detailed in its information gathering capacities if, as indigenous and ancient peoples asserted, the heart's ability as an organ of perception is developed. Author Stephen Harrod Buhner explores this second mode of perception in great detail through the…


Book cover of Pump: A Natural History of the Heart

Roy A. Meals Author Of Muscle: The Gripping Story of Strength and Movement

From my list on friend your body’s marvelous machines.

Why am I passionate about this?

I've been in love with biology since first playing with earthworms and marveling at the sprouting of radish seeds as a five-year-old. Further interest and curiosity led me to positions as nature counselor at summer camps and an eventual college degree in biology. Medical school was at times tedious, but the efficient, compact, durable mechanics of the musculoskeletal system totally engaged my interest. A residency in orthopedic surgery and a fellowship in hand surgery were natural follow-ons. My other passion is a love of teaching, taking a learner from where ever their understanding is presently and guiding them to what they need to know next. And they should have fun in the process.

Roy's book list on friend your body’s marvelous machines

Roy A. Meals Why did Roy love this book?

Since zoologist Bill Schutt previously wrote the very popular Cannibalism, A Perfectly Natural History, you might expect that his more recent expose of the heart would be equally wide-ranging, engaging, and touched with macabre. It is.

With clarity and wit, Schutt describes circulation from worms to bats to whales along with the curious adaptations that explain why frog hearts can freeze solid and resume function and why the blood of horseshoe crabs is favored by researchers. Schutt not only describes this living pump across the animal kingdom but also through time as philosophers and scientists have pondered, and eventually discovered, its true function.

If you have an interest in biology, history of science, or your own inner workings, Pump will make your heart throb.

By Bill Schutt,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Pump as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

"Fascinating . . . Surprising entertainment, combining deep learning with dad jokes . . . [Schutt] is a natural teacher with an easy way with metaphor.”—The Wall Street Journal

In this lively, unexpected look at the hearts of animals—from fish to bats to humans—American Museum of Natural History zoologist Bill Schutt tells an incredible story of evolution and scientific progress.

We join Schutt on a tour from the origins of circulation, still evident in microorganisms today, to the tiny hardworking pumps of worms, to the golf-cart-size hearts of blue whales. We visit beaches where horseshoe crabs are being harvested for…


Book cover of The Heart and the Bottle

Robin Hall Author Of The Littlest Weaver

From my list on picture books for healing from loss.

Why am I passionate about this?

All my life, books have been a safe space for me to explore emotions, recognize that what I’m experiencing is universal, and see that we can cope with difficult situations. As I pursued my MFA in Writing, I studied and wrote books that address heavy topics in hopeful ways. As Matt de la Pena says, “I can’t think of a safer place to explore complex emotions … than inside the pages of a book.” The picture books I have chosen address the heavy topic of loss in sensitive, hopeful, and empowering ways. I hope these books will touch your life as much as they’ve touched mine.

Robin's book list on picture books for healing from loss

Robin Hall Why did Robin love this book?

Oliver Jeffers is a master storyteller. Like the girl in this story, when I lost my father, I wanted to build walls to protect myself from the pain of grief so my heart could never hurt so much again. It took time to find a way to open my heart again and continue to find wonder.

Reading The Heart and the Bottle felt like reading my own story, like Jeffers understood me. With sparce text and simple, but poignant, illustrations, Jeffers clearly shows the process of healing from loss.

By Oliver Jeffers,

Why should I read it?

4 authors picked The Heart and the Bottle as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 4, 5, 6, and 7.

What is this book about?

Award-winning picture book star Oliver Jeffers explores themes of love and loss in this life-affirming and uplifting tale.

Once there was a girl whose life was filled with wonder at the world around her...
Then one day something happened that made the girl take her heart and put it in a safe place. However, after that it seemed that the world was emptier than before. But would she know how to get her heart back?

In this deeply moving story, Oliver Jeffers deals with the weighty themes of love and loss with an extraordinary lightness of touch and shows us,…


Book cover of Reckless Memories

Willow Aster Author Of True Love Story

From my list on to warm your heart on a cold winter’s night.

Why am I passionate about this?

As well as being an author of romance and an upcoming thriller, I am an avid reader. I’ve been passionate about books since I was a little girl, and I read a ton every year…often reading several at any given time. Books are my favorite pastime and my favorite subject to talk about, hands down. I did a podcast for several years—Living in the Pages—where I talked to authors from all over the world about their books and their process in writing. My TBR (to-be-read) list is never-ending.

Willow's book list on to warm your heart on a cold winter’s night

Willow Aster Why did Willow love this book?

Reckless Memories is the first book in the standalone Wrecked series. Ford and Bell will capture your heart with their second chance at love. There’s angst and tension and a swoon-worthy love story brewing amidst suspenseful moments. If you love a good romance with Nora Roberts’ feels, you’ll enjoy this story!

By Catherine Cowles,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Reckless Memories as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

I loved him before I knew what the word meant. From skinned knees to first dates and everything in between. But he was never mine to love.I settled for friendship, even though I always wanted more.That was before. Before he ripped my world apart and didn’t bother sticking around to help me pick up the pieces. I knit every last shred back together all on my own. And I’ve all but forgotten his name.Now, he’s back, and everything is torn apart once more. But he’s not the only one doing the tearing this time. And there might be no stopping…


Book cover of Tell Me How Long the Train's Been Gone

Douglas Field Author Of Walking in the Dark: James Baldwin, My Father, and Me

From my list on lesser-known books by James Baldwin.

Why am I passionate about this?

I have been writing about James Baldwin for over twenty years and have been reading him since my teens. My father saw the writer debate the conservative polemicist William F. Buckley Jr. at the University of Cambridge in 1965, and I’ve been hooked since he told me about that event. I’ve written three books on Baldwin, scores of articles, and book chapters, and I co-founded the journal James Baldwin Review a decade ago. It's been wonderful to see Baldwin gain popularity over the last decade, and I hope that more people continue to read his essays, novels, plays, and poetry. 

Douglas' book list on lesser-known books by James Baldwin

Douglas Field Why did Douglas love this book?

I remember reading a review of Baldwin’s fourth novel in the New York Times, which described this book as “a disaster in virtually every particular—theme, characterization, plot, rhetoric.” Ouch. For me, this novel, though uneven, is an important work in which Baldwin explores his commitments as a queer activist and artist, something that most reviewers missed at the time. 

During the Civil Rights Movement, Baldwin was nicknamed “Martin Luther Queen,” and he received vicious broadsides about his sexuality from the likes of the Black Panther leader Eldridge Cleaver. Tell Me writes back to Cleaver and his cohort. As I’ve found with all of Baldwin’s writing, it’s worth sifting through some of the weaker writing to find passages that surprise and delight. “[If] one can live with one’s own pain, then one respects the pain of others, and so, briefly, but transcendentally,” Baldwin writes, “we can release each other from…

By James Baldwin,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Tell Me How Long the Train's Been Gone as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In this tender, impassioned fourth novel, James Baldwin created one of his most striking characters: a man struggling to become himself.

'Everyone wishes to be loved, but in the event, nearly no one can bear it'

At the height of his theatrical career, the actor Leo Proudhammer is nearly felled by a heart attack. As he hovers between life and death, we see the choices that have made him enviably famous and terrifyingly vulnerable. For between Leo's childhood on the streets of Harlem and his arrival into the world of the theatre lies a wilderness of desire and loss, shame…


Book cover of The Dream Daughter

Linda Wisniewski Author Of Where the Stork Flies

From my list on time travel dealing with women’s issues.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m an avid lifelong reader who became a librarian, my dream job that kept me close to books and everything about them. I’ve seen so many changes in women’s lives since then. My oldest known ancestor was a woman born in 1778. What was her life like compared to mine? What would she think of me? In my time travel novel, I try to answer those questions. I’m drawn to stories that deal with universal women’s themes – family, love, fulfilling work, inequality, domestic abuse, motherhood, sisterhood, daughterhood – the list seems endless, as are the many ways authors use time travel to explore them.   

Linda's book list on time travel dealing with women’s issues

Linda Wisniewski Why did Linda love this book?

Carly is pregnant but her baby has a fatal heart defect. Her brother-in-law knows how to fix this: travel from 1970 to a future time where fetal surgery will save her child’s life. And the portals are all over the place! All you have to do is find one on his computer, go there and step off a roof or ledge. The scientific explanation for this is so believable I was half-convinced it’s real. Of course, it’s not that simple. What will a mother do to save her child? This brought back all the sleepless nights when my kids were sick or going through tough times. Mothers do what we have to do.

By Diane Chamberlain,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked The Dream Daughter as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The Dream Daughter is a page-turning and unforgettable story of love and hope from bestselling author Diane Chamberlain.

When Caroline Sears receives the news that her unborn baby girl has a heart defect, she is devastated. It is 1970 and there seems to be little that can be done. But her brother-in-law, a physicist, tells her that perhaps there is. Hunter appeared in their lives just a few years before - and his appearance was as mysterious as his past. With no family, no friends, and a background shrouded in secrets, Hunter embraced the Sears family and never looked back.…


Book cover of The Brit
Book cover of Beautiful Bastard
Book cover of Blindfolded Innocence

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