Thursday, March 23, 2023

Review - - The Love Wager

The Love Wager
by Lynn Painter
Publisher: Berkley
Release Date: March 14, 2023
Reviewed by Santa




Hallie Piper is turning over a new leaf. After belly-crawling out of a hotel room (hello, rock bottom), she decides it’s time to become a full-on adult. She gets a new apartment, a new haircut, and a new wardrobe, but when she logs onto the dating app that she has determined will find her new love, she sees none other than Jack, the guy whose room she snuck out of. 

After agreeing they are absolutely 
not interested in each other, Jack and Hallie realize they’re each other’s perfect wing-person in their searches for The One. They text each other about their dates, often scheduling them at the same restaurant so that if things don’t go well, the two of them can get tacos afterward. 

Spoiler: they get a lot of tacos together. 

Discouraged by the lack of prospects, Jack and Hallie make a wager to see who can find true love first, but when they agree to be fake dates for a weekend wedding, all bets are off. As they pretend to be a couple, lines become blurred and they both struggle to remember why the other was a bad idea to begin with.


Santa Says:

The Love Wager by Lynn Painter was a hit for me from the first page! A solid five stars filled with witty banter as Hallie Piper and Jack Marshall text their way into each other’s hearts. There were several times where I laughed right out loud! They hooked up at a wedding where she was a bartender and he very narrowly escaped becoming engaged to a shrew. You would think that was the end of their story. Hallie certainly wasn’t looking for more coming off a horrible break up with a man she was sure was going to propose to her. Her life was stagnating and she needed to get her life together.   

Friends decide to set her up on a dating app and as she is scrolling through she discovers Jack is also on the app. They agree not to date one another but start acting as each other’s wingman eventually meeting up after their dates. They become fast friends and best friends. But there is always something simmering underneath it all. I felt like shouting ‘Come on!’ They even make a bet as to who would find true love first. Oh, this is going to end well. 

It takes a lot for Jack and Hallie to finally admit they really love one another. That it could be more than a hook up at that wedding. They decide to pose as fake boyfriend and girlfriend for her sister’s wedding. There’s no way that would never cause them problems. Not even when there’s only one bed involved. Favorite romance trope alert! I was cheering for them just before it blows up spectacularly!  

Fear not, Lynn Painter brings them into an impasse that is painful to witness and gets them right out of it. Their happily ever after scene is sigh worthy and beautifully written. I am very excited for this writer. I am going to add her first book Mr. Wrong Number to my TBR list. And I look forward to her next book, too.  

 

 


2 comments:

  1. This sounds like a cute story. Thanks for the review and the introduction to a new to me author.

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  2. Great review! Can’t wait to read this one

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