The cover of this book was the first thing that caught my attention because I love bingo, and it’s a tradition in my family to play on Christmas and New Year’s Eve. However, what truly made me want to read it was the blurb. Stories that involve mental health are my favorite, and this one was a very beautiful, special one.

Before I begin with my review, I want to encourage everyone to check the trigger warnings at the end of the caption, and also on Jodie’s website. Every topic dealt with in this book is treated with care and while it’s very raw and real at some points, it doesn’t feel triggering. This story will help people without anxiety to understand people who suffer it, and I think that’s very important.

The romance was intense and wonderful. Even though there was a time limit for them, Aja and Walter can’t help falling in love because they understood each other deeply. This isn’t a story about healing thanks to love, which, in my opinion, is wrong. This is a story about learning to trust someone else with your pain and letting them be there for you while you hurt. Both Aja and Walter deserved this beautiful, pure connection, and everything that happened was perfect for them. Theirs was one of the most deserved happily ever after I’ve seen since I started reading romance.

I strongly recommend this book if you feel like it could be for you. I wish it came out sooner so everyone could read it ASAP. You’re in for tons of southern accents, the sweetest peach cobbler, beautiful, accepting friendships, bingo nights and great steam mingled with deep, emotional conversations.

TW: PTSD, generalized anxiety disorder, parent neglect, drug abuse, panic attacks.

Rating: 4.5/5
Steam: 2.5/5

Thanks to St. Martin's Press for my advance review copy!

A spicy rom-com with anxiety/PTSD/mental health rep! truly wonderful and emotional story that centers around bingo. The first time Aja meets Walker she is having an anxiety attack in a grocery store. Walker does a simple act of kindness and stays by her until the attack passes. The author does a great job talking about how anxiety can effect different parts of your life. It was such a feel good and relatable book for me. I wish I had friends like Aja’s and Walker’s. The friends and family in this book are so loving and supportive.

I received this book complimentary from NetGalley but all opinions are my own.

This was so sweet! I really liked both Aja and Walker. I love the trauma history and just the story of it all! It was well written and sweet. I enjoyed this one.

This is just as much a book about living with mental health issues (specifically anxiety & PTSD) as it is a lovely romance, and I think that is so important. I loved watching this story unfold and getting both Aja and Walker’s insight into not only their feelings for each other, but also how they approach the world around them. Plus, Jodie Slaughter brought some heat in this one! I don’t think I’ll ever look at peach cobbler and not think of this book.

Because of the nature of going in depth with the characters’ respective mental health issues, this is a little heavier read than I anticipated, but it was still extremely enjoyable & that just added a layer that I believe needs to be expressed more often in romance novels!

This book is more than just a sweet romance. Which of course it really is that too. But I like how the author deals so realistically with panic attacks and mental health issues in such a positive way. Also. The characters are just so funny and feel like people you want to hang out with.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a review copy.

Looking for a contemporary romance with a bingo-based sex pact and a main character with an anxiety disorder? This is the book for you! Slaughter is a new to me author- I enjoyed reading this one.

This book! Fiction featuring people who live with mental illness is increasingly common, but few books have captured it so accurately or with as much sensitivity. Even better, the romance at the book's heart is charming. And the smut. It's...verrrry smutty. All in all, a terrific find.

I was so looking forward to this new book! Unfortunately it fell a bit short for me and felt like it was missing something perhaps. That said, I support the author and will definitely check out her future novels.

Fun, sexy, and emotional, I loved this debut! The characters felt so real, and the author's gentle and honest portrayal of anxiety was not only poignant, but life-giving!

This was a wonderful book by a fabulous new to me author. I enjoyed the characters and plot in this story and I absolutely will read more books by this author.

I really enjoyed Bet on It. I liked the fact that the main characters both had issues that they had to deal with, and they both handled them respectfully without it becoming a "thing." Some parts were personally hard for me to get through, but overall a good read.

Side note: My name is Aja and my family has called me Peach since I was a little, so *that* was a little weird, lol!

I liked that fact that Aja and Walker are not your typical mainstream characters but have real lives and real problems.
The author makes their story relatable and the bingo twist made me laugh out loud.
The fact that the happily ever after does come but only after the two main characters resolve issues around broken family relationships and the anxieties that just living life can bring makes for good read.

Bet on It is my first read from Jodie Slaughter. This book is a romance and it discusses mental health. I always appreciate that in a romance, it makes it really relatable to me. Despite the heavy moments, this was still overall a fun and light read. I will say though that the characters were kinda awkward to me. I just didn’t connect with them very well. There are steamy parts as well, definitely not a closed door romance if that matters to you. Overall would recommend. I liked it but it wasn’t my favorite.
This review will be posted on my social media closer to publication date. Thank you and and the publisher for the advance copy.

Loved this romance, the book discusses mental health issues, supporting your partner, and still managed to be steamy and fun to read.

I really enjoyed that this story featured main characters with anxiety, panic attacks and PTSD. We get to see how two characters take care of their own mental health issues and continue to be mindful of their own needs when interacting with others, including family and friends. Aja is new to her small town and loves to play Bingo. The routine of the game helps her focus and reduces her anxiety. Walker ends up at Bingo one night because he's in town to help his grandmother recover from a fall. These two quickly have some tension between them and realize there might be more between them.

I really enjoyed the discussions about mental health, therapy, and anxiety/PTSD support throughout the book. There were some great topics discussed and some healthy ways of coping with flair ups as well as ways to support a partner through those times. While the relationship seemed to develop quickly (almost but not quite insta-love), I appreciated the way that they reevaluated their relationship in order to establish healthy communication between them and take care of their mental health. Overall, a fast and enjoyable light read. This is an open door romance and features a few open door scenes. I also really love the cover design of this book with its cute Bingo card and Aja and Walker illustrated on the front!

Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts are my own.

I really enjoyed this book. I like how Walker and Aja understood each other and I also loved how they managed to find their own fun in a boring small town. The intimate scenes were hot and the story had great character development. I definitely recommend this book.

While I really liked the premise of this book and the representation of people living with anxiety and panic attacks I ultimately had to DNF at 30%. The conversations between the main character and the love interest felt very flat to me and it felt very unlikely to me that they would develop believable chemistry. I did enjoy the meet-cute setting at the Bingo hall. May have just been the right book at the wrong time for me!

There were some unique twists to this rom-com. Both of the main characters deal with anxiety, and that is a main theme in the book. (There is a content warning at the start of the book for those that need it.) The other unique part is the setting of the bingo hall! I can definitely say I've never read a book set in a bingo hall. This book was fun yet serious, and I liked the ending.

I enjoy contemporary romance for the relatable characters and the increasingly more diverse characters as well as honest portrayals of other issues. Here, we have a POC main character who suffers from anxiety. Liked the characters and the story. The sex scenes here are pretty spicy
🌶 🌶🌶1/2

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me a free ARC in exchange for an honest review. This book is my first from Jodie Slaughter, but it's definitely not going to be my last. I loved everything about this book. It was so cute and funny while still being steamy and packing an emotional punch. I loved both the main characters so much, and I really felt their connection to each other and their chemistry. One thing I really appreciated was their individual mental issues with anxiety and panic attacks that they needed to overcome. Both Walker and Aja deal with anxiety and panic attacks, and I liked how they worked through their issues on their own and had a healthy relationship with each other without fully relying on the other to fix their problems. I absolutely loved the body positivity in this book as well. Aja was just so unapologetically fat and that didn't make her any less beautiful in her own eyes as well as the eyes of the people around her. I've rarely seen this portrayed so well in other romance novels, and it was so refreshing to see.