I did not like this book, and I wish it wasn't the case.
I'm not a super high moral person, but I think a YA book shouldn't teach kids to gamble. And I absolutely hate when parents don't intervene on books - it's not realistic.

I was immediately drawn In to this book but unfortunately it did not keep me there. I found the story to linger where it didn’t need to and speed through what it shouldn’t have.

It was a cute coming of age love story about a guy trying to get the girl he loves. Sadly, she doesn't like his reputation and of course he makes a bet that he can get Alaina to fall in love with him.
Honestly, I don't think I've read a contemporary book from a male POV and also written by a male author, it was definitely intriguing.

It was a good read and would recommend to anyone that enjoys this genre of books.
Donnie is the "bad boy" he sleeps around, a love 'em and leave 'em type of guy that enjoys gambling. He's having fun but it's his senior year and his last chance to get to know Alaina, who happens to hate his guts and he doesn't know why. What's a guy to do? Chance and become a better version of himself; for himself, his parents and for Alaina. But Donald is going to hit some road blocks along the way and even a friend or two that want to see him fail.

I can’t definitely see what this book was trying to do and I appreciate that and the writing but something about the flow of the narrative just didn’t work for me. I definitely think you should check it out though if your looking for YA that’s really different and unique.

Donald Cerlino only cares about three things: money, getting girls, and gambling. His friends are so impressed with his abilities with women, they start calling him Don Juan. When senior year starts, he’s got a list of girls he wants to add to the growing number of notches on his headboard. So when his best friend, Thomas, bets Donald that his skills aren’t enough to nab the school valedictorian, Alaina Pizzo, Donald is up for the challenge. What Thomas doesn’t know is that Donald has had a crush on Alaina since kindergarten. Problem is, Alaina hates his guts.

When Donald’s feelings for Alaina start to show, Thomas begins to turn against him. Thomas wanted Donald to see the error of his ways when it comes to women, not abandon their friendship for yet another girl. The deeper Donald gets, the more he wants a future with Alaina, but that means revealing why he started talking to her in the first place. When Thomas starts threatening to tell Alaina the truth, Donald has to decide if he wants to lose the love of his life or his best friend.

Donald realizes he took a bet he can’t win. The great Don Juan may lose everything.

Easy read but I didn't connect with characters.

Really cute coming of age YA romance, I'd recommend this book because it is an easy read, great story and the characters are very likeable!

I must confess that I was lured by the delightful front cover when I chose to read The Bet Between Us by Brandon Moore and I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed reading it.

The characters were hilarious and I liked the honest dialogue between them that gave them reality. The writing was simple and easy to understand, making it quick read. What didn't work for me was that I didn't see the amount of chemistry between the main characters, Alaina and Donald, that I had been hoping for.

I really liked that the story was told from Donald's point of view, as the protagonists in romance novels are not usually the guys, so that was an interesting take for me.

The Bet Between Us is a good choice if you are looking for a light, easy, quick and romantic read about two teenagers who have both their similarities and their differences and form an unlikely relationship.

I received a complimentary digital copy of this novel, at my own request, from the publisher via NetGalley. This review is my own unbiased opinion.

Didn’t finish this one. I actually found myself pretty bored around 30%.. i don’t really agree that this is a romance considering it follows and underage teenager having sex with a lot of girls. Definitely not for me.

Thank you Netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The Bet Between Us is about relationship that got mixed up in bet between a few a friends and quickly got out of hand. This is a favorite trope of mine and I thought it was funny that the author mentioned She's All That which us probably the biggest pop culture reference for the bet/dating story.

Although I enjoyed the premise I felt like the book was bogged down by a style of writing that came off overly simplistic ("first I did this", "then I went here", "next this happened") and dialogue issues. For example, the conversations between Donald and his friends felt natural and realistic but between Donald and adults were overly sweet and over the top. And Alaina/Donald dialogue was just corny.

I wished there was a spin on the bet or that new territory was covered. In the end, the story unfolds exactly like you would think.

Thank you Netgalley for a copy of this ebook arc in exchange for an honest review.

At first I was kinda disappointed in the flow of the story but once it picked up, I fell in love with Donald and Alaina’s relationship. It was cute and adorable and the obstacles they had to overcome were realistic. It was great to see a relationship where they work together to make each other better.

When I requested this novel I was into the ideal of reading this novel but I discovered that I was unable to provide feedback on this book due to the series being archived prior to download and file/download issues. Again, I am sorry for the inconvenience of not being to review and thank you for taking the time to provide me an ARC of this novel.

I received an E-Arc for an honest review from Netgally.

I thought that this book was so cute. It didn’t start off the greatest for me but I ended up really enjoying this book.

This was a cute story about a high school senior, Donny, who has quite a reputation with his classmates as a player and is known as DJ which is short for Don Juan. He hangs with his two best friends, is a really good student, ex-football player and just out to have fun.
He has been in love with a fellow classmate Alaina since he was in Kindergarten and after brief friendship early on in high school, she has stopped talking to him which has made him sad. They get paired as lab partners. One of his friends bets him $200 that he can't get Alaina to like him again, be his girlfriend. Donald doesn't want to take the bet but can't help himself. She seems to forgive him for his past transgressions and they become really good friends eventually moving towards romance. It is very sweet.

Donald a.k.a Don Juan. Basically, he got that nickname because he is a player. Anyway, I was at first annoyed with him - his attitude, his brag about how he can get any girls he wants, however, throughout the story, my perspective on him has changed. He became someone better and that's when I'm seriously rooting him for Alaina - the girl who he has been crush since forever but his not realize it until the bet from his friend comes.

The story is adorable, funny with the annoying character (at first) makes my reading fun although, during the middle part of the story, it's kind to be a bit draggy and kinda bored me a bit. On another note, DJ and Alaina have a good friendship and an adorable couple.

Overall, reading from male POV is something different from me and I kind of enjoy it and it is a cute and sweet story.

Rating: 3.5 stars

So, I started this book and thought, why not? I love romance and the blurb sounded really good. However, and it’s a big however, it felt as if the main character who was supposed to be a guy, spoke very feminine. I’ve never met a teen boy who used the word Giggle. It’s like the writer had trouble getting into the mind of a boy. The thought behind the start of this story was good, the deliverance was weak. I really try to give good reviews, but I also try to give honest reviews.

Review copy courtesy of NetGalley.

The plot summary sounded good for this book, but it was written in such a way I found it off-putting.

I saw this cover and thought oh this is going to be a really great book and was so excited to sit down and read about it. Even the blurb sounded very promising. But overall I was a little disappointed in this book.

I'm not one to give bad reviews because I usually like what I'm reading. But I just couldn't get into this book, there was no organic flow to the language in this book. The topics were not interesting, the characters were very selfish and self centered. Being from Jersey, do I know people like this? Absolutely. I can even hear them talking like this, but do I like it or condone their actions? Not really. This is 100% my opinion though, someone else might really like it. I just didn't.

I tried to finish as much as I could but the characters were just really getting to me.

I tried multiple times to finish this book. Each time I tried though,I couldn’t form a connection with the characters. Dispite the fact the protagonist was a fun,eccentric character that showed that’bad boys don’t have to follow the stereotype of only liking pretty,popular girls, I felt the way his crush was portrayed was too obvious. Of course I knew this was a YA romance,but my personal preference is to hint at the beginnings of a relationship,not state blatantly that you like them.

One of the other things that stopped me completing this novel was the protagonists girlfriend at the start. I understand her character was meant to be annoying and clingy,but she just didn’t feel real. People are more nuanced,no one is a full-on embodiment of one thing.

Overall a decent book that just didn’t captivate my taste. I hope others enjoy this read,as the plot is nice and creative.

3.5 Stars!!

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

First off - its not everyday I read a debut YA romance book by a male author told from a male POV. I think for that alone-Moore gets major props. As a reader- I feel we need to see more of this!!



This book is what you would expect from a teen/young adult realistic romance book. Secondly- can we talk about the cover??? Its Gorgeous!!



In The Bet Between Us, we follow Donald - AKA Don Juan. He gets the nickname by basically being a player and going from one girl to the next. He is very competitive and likes to make wagers for fun and of course, for the money. His friends convince him to take a bet to get the girl- Alaina, who despises him- to fall in love with him. What he is not expecting, is the feelings he's always secretly had for her, to show.

For a debut, I thought this was great. It was fun, and entertaining. I liked the authors writing style and the dialogue. I absolutely did not like DJ in the beginning of this book! He was basically a manwhore and all about himself. BUT- I am a huge fan of redeemable characters, those that start off so horrible that totally make you feel like you are reading a totally different character when they begin to change. We see a lot of character growth from him over the course of the book - that in turn-makes him redeemable.



The only issues I had with it was the chemistry between the two main characters, while I liked Alaina, I didn't feel like I got to know her very well, so the connection between her and DJ fell a little short for me. It also was a little predictable but it did not take away from my overall feelings of the book as a whole. I would love to see Moore continue to write more stories like this in this genre! I thought it was a fantastic debut- and I look forward to more books by this author!!

Just how is this labeled as a YA contemporary book?? I received an e-galley of this book through netgalley in exchange for an honest review and after seeing the cover, I immediately thought I would fall in love with it.

From the initial first meeting of Donald the main character.. I could not believe how absolutely self-centered and narcissistic this character was. All he cares about is gambling (underage gambling that no adult around him does anything about btw— THAT in itself makes it super unrealistic) and sleeping around yet somehow does a complete 180 when he “falls in love” with a girl who supposedly hated his guts.

The summary of this book made me believe that this would be a cute romantic contemporary but the fact of the matter was that this was a depiction of overtly sexualized high school students behaving and talking like they’re years beyond their actual age which just made me more than a bit uncomfortable.