Aja moved to the small town of Greenbelt, South Carolina for a quieter home to get a handle on her anxiety, but so far her only social interaction happens every Wednesday night at bingo with the over 50 crowd. Walker couldn't get away from his childhood trauma in Greenbelt fast enough when he graduated from high school, but when his Gram breaks both her arms, he comes home to help her around the house and at to play bingo for her on Wednesday nights, where he meets her bingo friend, Aja.

I thought this was an incredibly good small town romance with devastatingly accurate descriptions of anxiety. Some of Walker's lines were a little cheesy, but I enjoyed it overall.

Good writing, good characters, good pacing, good romance ... but the problem is that "good" is the only word that comes to me. I was really excited for a romantic standout, but this book just stayed solidly "good" all the way through. Nothing wrong with it, but nothing particularly impressive!

Would recommend you pick this up before your next beach vacation! This will be a good summer read for so many people.

• review •
bet on it | jodie slaughter

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

dude, this book was good.

I’m loving these romcoms lately that take place outside of the typical locations. a bingo hall filled with old people? yes please.

there’s so many things I enjoyed about this book. first off, the plus size representation. @janinesbookcorner reviewed a book a little while ago where she said she was excited for that same representation, but she found it ended up lacking. it only described the mc as curvy, and made it abundantly clear that she eats healthy and exercises plenty. this one doesn’t do that. aja is plus size. she knows she is. walker knows she is. yet he thinks she is heaven on earth. she wears what she wants. eats what she wants. and looks good doing it.

second, the mental health representation. bro.
ava has anxiety.
her entire story is one of the most realistic depictions of anxiety I’ve come across.
walker has ptsd.
his entire life revolves around controlling his surroundings in order to keep it at bay.
they don’t magically get better when they meet each other. bc that’s not what happens in real life. no, they aren’t cured. but they do help each other through those moments when it feels like the world is closing in around you.

what else…
oh the 🌶. yep. yep, I’m a fan. ok.

also, their love story is just stinkin adorable. honestly. I connect with both of these characters and I love them more than anything and I just want them to be happy. walker is an angel.

ALSO, chosen family. that shit gets me every time.

thank you netgalley, and st. martins press for the advanced copy. bet on it comes out on july 12th and I can’t wait for you all to read it!

A small town romance with a mental health focus, this was a great steamy read. I love how Aja moved to the small town to deal with her anxieties while Walker wanted to leave as quickly as possible which created the resistance of their attraction. I adore the fun bingo setting and how the slow burn between the two. I appreciate seeing both of their journeys and how they came together. The narrator was great with doing both Aja and Walker's voices.

Thank you @netgalley for both a copy of ALC and ARC of this book.

I absolutely loved this book! I found it hard to put down. I highly recommend reading it! You won’t be disappointed.

When Aja has a panic attack in a piggly wiggly and is comforted by a random stranger the last thing she expects is to see him at her weekly Bingo game. Things from there escalate as they spend more and more time together. While they try to be just friends it seems impossible for them to avoid each other.

The mental health representation was so good it definitely had me tearing up a couple of times because it was just that good.

The way Aja and Walker’s relationship developed and they were able to support each other and help each other was so sweet. The way that they loved each other was also just so great. The depictions of friendship were also great, though I did want to see so much more of it, it did feel like it was on a MUCH lower importance. While I love a romance I think the importance of depicting friendships and healthy ones at that are also important.

The writing was good, through there were a couple of phrases throughout the book that made me cringe a bit (no more than like 3-4 though).

The book did seem to give a lot of credence to forgiving family and those who hurt you, which I can sometimes get behind, but it did seem a bit too much here in my opinion.

Overall though it is a good read that I would recommend!

Read For:
🧠 Anxiety Rep
🧠 PTSD Rep
🧠 Small town romance
🧠 Friends to Lovers
🧠 Body Positivity

Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for the opportunity to review. All thoughts are my own!

TW: Substance abuse; neglectful parenting

I thought it was ok. The good aspect was the main characters having real flaws like panic attacks and anxiety and the mental health concerns based on situations that trigger. Didn't really feel the love between Aja and Walker as they seemed more two people with issues who were thrown together by circumstances, she being the Bingo partner of his grandmother who came to take care of because of her injuries. I wanted to see more of a connection.

I recommend this book for fans of Casey mcquiston and Emily Henry. This book was the perfect mix of sweet and spicy. I love how the author portrays mental health. I have anxiety myself so I relate to the main characters. I was rooting for Aja and Walker from start to finish.

I never expected that love could be found at a weekly bingo game and neither did our main character Aja. She has recently moved to a new town to get away from the chaos of big city living and to help improve her mental health. However, she is finding it hard to make friends in the small town of Greenbelt where everyone seems to know everyone, except her. The one activity she goes to each week is bingo where she regularly sits with a lively older lady, Ms May Abbott. When Ms May’s grandson returns to town, Aja finds him to be an unexpected confidant, and an attractive one at that.

I really appreciated the mental health representation in this story, especially that both love interests had mental health struggles. The bumps in the road that always come in a romance novel were realistic to me with that in mind.

My one complaint was that the smut parts took me out of it at times. Nicknames annoy me in those settings. Also, location is essential in my opinion and the location choices in this….

But overall, I enjoyed this book for its spunk and representation and could see myself reading more of the author’s books!

“she made him feel as at home as the cobbler did”

Bet On It by Jodie Slaughter – (Contemporary Romance, July 2022) c/o Netgalley – Aja moves to the small South Carolina town of Greenbelt. Walker is back in the town he grew up in, only to take care of his grandmother. The two meet and end up making a bingo-based sex pact. Yes, as in the game that the two play weekly and sometimes biweekly. The main character is a plus-sized woman. While I feel like the author wanted to showcase this aspect, it sometimes felt overdone. Aja suffers from anxiety which I thought was explored well. Warning, the sex scenes are pretty steamy.

Bet on It was such a cute rom com!
I absolutely loved this book !
Friends to lovers trips with bingo and an excellent mental health representation.

Fun , flirty characters with a great plot .

Yes please ! I appreciate the focus on anxiety!

Very cute but nothing mind blowing. I'd say it's a good next read for fans of the Brown Sisters books. I wanted more BINGO!

A romance based around bingo with mental health representation, I'm in! Also, yes to books starting with content warnings!! 👏

The mental health representation was so well done. In my opinion, the author did a great job of describing anxiety attacks, anxiety and complex PTSD. I also loved that the MC was plus-sized. However, there were times I was cringing throughout the audiobook including the whole sex pact aspect, any spicy scene & every time Walker said "peaches" 😬 parts of the book just felt so awkward!

Thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press & MacMillan Audio for advanced copies in exchange for an honest review!

This one was just pure fun! Aja first meets Walker in the frozen section of the Piggly Wiggly when she is the midst of a panic attack and he recognizes exactly what she is going through and is a pro at walking her through it and then out the store. A few days later she then meets him again when at Bingo he walks in accompanied by her bingo friend and finds out he is her grandson. There is definite chemistry between them and soon a "bet" is established between them. When either of them wins a game they can have sex but only if they win, no kissing because that could lead to more. Oh, they are doomed since they definitely have sparks and both want more. These two are just perfection. Both have similar anxiety issues and know the triggers so are able to work together well. I recommend this one and since I not only read this one but also had it in audio you know I enjoyed it.

If you’re looking for a little bit of sugar and a whole lot of spice this is for you!⁣
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This was such a sweet, new friends to lovers, small town romance; centered around bingo nights with the elderly and two characters struggling with different anxieties.⁣
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Overall this was such a fun rom-com, I loved the banter and swag, the friendships Asia and Walker had with each other but also with their friend groups, the insecurities they had and grew from and the love and family surrounding them. ⁣
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Oh and man do I want some peach cobbler now.. 🍑 ⁣
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⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⁣
Thank you for an ARC for my honest review!

Fun and spicy. Its going to click with a lot of people, especially those who love Talia Hibbert. The bingo pact was a bit over the top for me, and sometimes they characters came off a little bit awkward, but ultimately it was a fun read and had good mental health representation.

2.5 rounded up. This was cute and all but it did not feel like a romance. I wanted a romance with an adorable bingo bet and mental health rep on the side. This was all mental health rep with romance and bingo on the side. It was more so a lesson on how Jodie Slaughter thinks a relationship should be between two people with anxiety and ptsd. Yes it was sweet but my god it was annoying. You can validate someone’s emotions and feelings without it being in every single sentence/paragraph and basically taking over the whole story. You can have two characters relate to each other’s emotions without it being on EVERY. SINGLE. PAGE.

Get a Life, Chloe Brown did chronic pain rep perfectly. Chronic pain was a part of her life, her family knew and Red was learning but Chloe didn’t need to bring it up 24/7 because she lives with it. It’s apart of her life that doesn’t need to be discussed all the time. But in Bet On It, it was not like that and it got annoying and repetitive. Everyone I know, including me, all suffer with anxiety, ptsd, a few with bipolar disorder and bpd but we don’t talk about it 24/7 like these characters do. I wanted a romance, not a demonstration on how a relationship “should” be with people with mental health issues.

Pros:
•The characters acknowledge their mental issues
•They acknowledge each other’s mental health issues and validate their ways of coping
•They both go to therapy
•Aja is trying to do things outside of her comfort zone even though they give her anxiety (making friends)
•Walker is a man who doesn’t hide his emotions and is aware of toxic masculinity but would rather seek help
•There’s examples of ways to acknowledge your partner’s emotions without triggering them or making them feel worse
•There’s characters setting boundaries


TW: anxiety attacks on page, ptsd triggers, gambling, parental figure with a drug addiction, child neglect, sex on page (barely)

This was a cute story! The Bingo setting may sound wholesome, but don't be fooled - this story was very spicy! The mental health rep was hard to read at times, since I struggle with panic attacks, but there was a clear content warning at the beginning of the book and I appreciated that. That being said, I can say firsthand that the panic attacks were portrayed very accurately. I also believe the other serious topics included in this book were handled well. This was enjoyable.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this eARC. My review has been written honestly.

This was such a good book! I really loved both of our main characters, and I enjoyed that we got to see a lot of their lives outside of the romance. One of my favorite parts of this book was the discussions around anxiety and mental health. Both of our MCs dealt with anxiety and different mental health issues, and therapy and ways to deal with and cope with those issues was a major topic. They really wanted to support each other and their mental health was never a taboo topic between them. I personally love it when a romance incorporates some heavier topics like this, so that was a huge win for me.

I also absolutely loved that we had a fat female MC in this book. Not only that, but her size was never ever a point of conflict. She never said she felt self conscious, or that she though people wouldn't like her for her size. She simply was just that size. Plus, the way the Walker described her in those chapter was always so beautiful. This was such great representation and the fact that it wasn't used as a conflict was amazing.

The only reason I am not rating this book higher is because I never really felt that much tension between Aja and Walker. Yes, Walker was only in town for a few weeks, so I get that they didn't want to start something, but he only lived like 2 hours away, so for me that wasn't really a very convinced "forbidden" romance situation. I did think the bingo sex pact was really fun though, and the steamy scenes were great!

Overall this was a fun book that also tackled some serious topics and had great representation. I can't wait to see what this author writes in the future!

This is super a case of "it's not you, it's me." I was the most excited for this book, but there was a lot more focus on mental illness than I was anticipating and as someone who was going through a bit of a mental health crisis when I was reading this, it was not great timing.

Let's talk about the things I did like. Even though it was a bit triggering for me, I actually think it's awesome and really important to see the type of anxiety and PTSD rep that we get in this book. I loved that Aja was a plus-size woman who was confident and beautiful, and Walker never thinks of her as anything but a sexy goddess. The friendship between Aja and Walker's grandmother was incredibly wholesome, and honestly just the idea of a story rotating around bingo is super charming.

That said, I didn't really feel the spark in the relationship. The sexy times were hot, but I just didn't believe it. Perhaps that's because it really starts with insta-lust and then develops into more, but that's not for me. And I was also really annoyed and frustrated by all of the other people—including a woman that Aja had JUST MET—commenting on their relationship and needling them about having sex when they were still trying to just be friends. Have they never heard of boundaries? While I really appreciated Walker's love of Aja's body, it did start to feel a little fetishy for me at times, as a fellow plus-size woman. Overall, I think the writing was just not for me, and coupled with the heavy topics that are on the forefront here, this one ended up not being my favorite. But I do think that there will be people who DO love it, and knowing the mental health focus up front will make me better able to handsell this one.

CW: toxic familial relationships, mental illness (anxiety/PTSD)