The Love Wager by Lynn Painter

Romantic Comedy. 2nd in a series but completely stands alone.

ARC Received from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review. This post contains affiliate links.

When I chose The Love Wager by Lynn Painter from Net Galley, I didn’t realize that it was 2nd in a series. In fact, I never even realized until after I read the book and added it to Goodreads. So obviously, The Love Wager stands alone just fine. But let me tell you, I will be grabbing the first book in this series, Mr. Wrong Number, very soon, because if it’s anywhere near as good as The Love Wager, I will love it.

I adore books with texting, letters, e-mails, etc (aka epistolary novels). It is by far one of my favorite storytelling techniques and The Love Wager had lots of it. I think it would even be better in audio! I loved Hallie and Jack’s meet-cute. Hallie has a few jobs, one is selling jewelry, and she happened to sell Jack an engagement ring. That night, Hallie is bartending at a wedding and sees Jack and mentions that she remembers him—he quickly shushes her, but not before his psycho girlfriend comes over and accuses him of cheating with Hallie.

Well it was a self-fulfilling prophecy because after he dumps her, he ends up doing exactly that. Hallie sneaking out the next morning made me laugh-out-loud, and from that moment on, I was hooked. I loved how she was so real, funny, and kind of a hot mess. The whole situation made her decide to get her shit together and change her life. Part of that is going on dating apps to try and meet ‘the one’. When she opens her app, who is the first person she sees? Jack. So they start messaging.

They decide they are better off friends, but they both want to find love, so they bet on who will find a good match first. They each go on a lot of dates, and whenever they don’t work out, they meet each other for tacos. You can bet there are lots of tacos! But when Hallie needs a fake date, the lines between them begin to blur again.

In most friends-to-lovers stories, the couple is already friends when you begin the book. Sometimes I really miss that meet-cute. But in The Love Wager, we get to see them become friends, then become more. I loved their banter, their texting, and their chemistry! It was just a great feel-good romance.

Likes:

The banter made me literally laugh out loud.
All the messages back and forth, even when they were right next to each other.
That we got to see them become friends first.
All the names for a barf bag (lol).
My notes are all “they are so much fun”, “I can’t stop smiling”, “I love this”.

Dislikes:

It was a little predictable in its format.
I never really understood why they didn’t want to date each other after they already had great sex.

The Down & Dirty:

This was my first Lynn Painter book, and it will absolutely not be my last! The Love Wager had everything I love in a book. I loved both the hero and heroine and their whole friend crew, they made me laugh out loud, and it just made me feel good overall. I couldn’t ask for more in a book, and I can’t wait to explore her older books.