Jack is a dreamboat!!!

A drunken one night stand finds two people going from friends to lovers in the most dreamy way. Jack and Hallie had the best time as friends, as each outing has drawn them closer together but neither could see what was right in front of them LOVE. Their witty banter was romance perfection!

The Love Wager has definitely cracked the list of favorite romance reads of all time. Never has a couple been more ideal for each other than these two. I was also schooled on the taco, cheese on the bottom. What's the point of cold, hard cheese? GENIUS

RomCom YES as you'll be laughing out loud!

Thank you Berkley Publishing / Berkley Romance for the advance reader copy.

Quick Stats
Age Rating: 18+
Spice Level: 2/5
Over All: 4 stars
Plot: 4/5
Characters: 4/5
Setting: 4/5
Writing: 4/5

Special thanks to Berkley Romance and NetGalley for an eARC of this book! All thoughts and opinions reflected in this review are my own.

This is my first Lynn Painter book, but it won’t be my last! The Love Wager was fun, tropey, and fast paced. A dual POV romance, it’s part one night stand that’s not so one night, part friends to lovers, part love bet, part fake dating, all fun.
This is a light hearted read, and it was easy to fly through. There was nothing about it that particularly stands out or lends it to having any sort of last impact on me after reading, but it was a good time, and there was nothing in the book to speak bad against it, either.
Admittedly, the third act break up/miscommunication trope was more painful than they usually are in my opinion. However, that was only a few chapters, and it does end up resolving nicely.
I also want to mention that despite this being marked as book 2 in the Mr. Wrong Number series, it can easily be read as a standalone. I have not read book one, and I wasn’t confused at all. There are overlapping characters, so there may be some easter eggs/cameos that went over my head, but it was plenty clear and enjoyable either way.
This is one of those books where I just don’t feel like I have a lot to say. It was fun! You should read it!

The Love Wager by Lynn Painter, book two in the Mr. Wrong Number series, is a one night stand, friends to lovers, fake dating, bets, and one bed story with all the feels. The wit, the humor, the sarcasm, and the back and forth banter was just perfect.

Hallie is bartending the wedding when she unwittingly precipitates the breakup of the best man and his girlfriend. Fortunately it turns out that he's not all that upset about it; and their commiseration over the events of the night lead to an amazing one night stand. Though they part without exchanging contact information, they are matched on a dating app, they both joined. Hallie sends Jack a message as a joke, and a friendship begins, with them making a wager to see who finds true love on the app first. They are super compatible as friends, and since neither one wants to date a one night stand they decide to be each other's eternal wingmen. They start planning concurrent dates at the same place and time so that they can meet up afterwards for tacos to debrief. When Hallie starts getting serious with another guy, Jack has to decide whether he should take the plunge and let her know how he really feels. There’s only one teeny, tiny problem. After weeks of fun and flirtatious texts and calls, one or both of them just might have some actual real feelings growing, and neither of them is prepared to risk their friendship to find out. When they decide to pose as boyfriend and girlfriend at Hallie’s sister’s wedding for the benefit of her family, it’s not the alcohol that’s blurring the lines this time.

Ms. Painter wrote an enjoyable, humorous, delightful story full of snark and sass and a lot of laughs that should not be missed. She provided a tale rich with sizzling chemistry, family dynamics, clever humorous banter, lots of laughs, and strong secondary characters giving Hallie and Jack the confidence to go after having a happy future together. I highly recommend The Love Wager to other readers.

I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book.

Review: I loved loved loved this book! Seriously, it was so good. The whole time I was reading it, I kept thinking this would make a perfect romcom movie, it was just so easy to picture in my head. This book made me laugh, made me giggle, and made me just so happy. Hallie and Jack were perfect main characters, and I loved reading about how they fell for each other. Overall, I highly recommend this book!

I received an e-ARC from the publisher.

The Love Wager comes out tomorrow and it is just adorable. It is the follow up to Mr. Wrong Number - this time about Jack (one of the roommates from the first book) and Hallie. They have a one night stand at the wedding of Olivia and Colin and after becoming strictly friends, make a wager as to who can find love first. There are hilarious bad dates, witty, sarcastic and flirty banter, pop culture references and just pure sweetness. Of course it is predictable but there is comfort in seeing how it all unfolds. It was like a warm hug with some 🔥.

The Love Wager by Lynn Painter
Rating: 4.5 stars
Steam: 2 chilis
Pub date: 3/14

Every book I read by Lynn Painter becomes my new favorite! I always know that when I pick up one of her stories, I’m going to get whip-smart banter, loveable and endearing characters I want to root for, and a heartwarming love story that I’ll return to again and again.

Hallie and Jack have a steamy one-night stand after Jack’s sister’s wedding. When Hallie army crawls her way away out of the hotel room the next morning, she takes it as a sign that she’s hit rock bottom and needs to get serious about her dating life. She joins a dating app to help her search for love and finds that Jack is also using the app. Unable to resist, she sends him a message, and they quickly become friends. This leads to them making a bet (a love wager, if you will) to see who can find love first.

There is so much to love about this one! It bears repeating that this book has the BEST banter I have ever read, and I laughed out loud multiple times. I loved everything about these two, from their terrible first dates to hilarious text exchanges to their taco nights together.

Read this if you like one-night stands, the guy falls first, friends to lovers, slow burn, fake dating, only one bed, and a sweet and steamy romance. There is a bit of miscommunication towards the end, which is typical and usually not my favorite, but in this case, it made their HEA that much sweeter. I can’t wait to see what Lynn Painter does next! Thank you so much to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing for my advanced copy to read and review. The Love Wager will be available on 3/14.

Thank you to @berkleypub @netgalley and @letstalkbookspromo for the #gifted copy of the book.

I just added Lynn Painter to my auto buy authors list! First time having read her book and I absolutely adored her writing style. I had a lot of belly laughs while reading this book! I didn't read Mr. Wrong Number so this works as a standalone.

Friends to lovers trope, fake dating, one night stand and tacos oh myyyyyyyyy. Hallie is bartending a wedding when she meets Jack, the brides brother. After a drama filled evening, they end up in bed. Hallie is embarrassed by what happened and Jack has made a complete mess of his life. Both end up on the same dating app. They come up with a friendly wager to see who will find love first.

If you are like me and read a lot of heavy stuff and need something to break it up, choose this book! I will definitely being checking out her backlist!

I loved this delightful book, it grabbed me from the very beginning and delivered throughout, I was sorry it had to end! It has all the tropes I love: slow burn, friends to lovers, and forced proximity.
Hallie and Jack meet at a wedding and then find each other on a dating app. They make a bet - who can find love first?

They both make dates through the app, but schedule them at the same time so if things don’t go well, they can go out for tacos together afterwards. They’re determined to just stay good friends only, until Halle needs a date for her sister’s out-of-town wedding.

I love the romance between Hallie and Jack. It’s is a slow burn, but they’ve got mad chemistry. They’ve spent so much time together being just friends that they haven’t realized they’ve both developed stronger feelings.
I highly recommend this delightful and funny book, 5 stars.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed as in this review are completely my own.

I love Lynn’s writing. She does such a fantastic job of including fun banter, comedic moment, and emotions

Lynn Painter is one of my go-to authors when I’m craving a hilarious and heartwarming read and her latest rom-com, The Love Wager, is all of that and more.

When the story opens, Hallie Piper is working at a wedding, tending bar. When Jack, the sexy best man, comes up to order a drink, Hallie hits it off with him, a little too well apparently, because they end up in a hotel room together. Hallie ends up belly-crawling out of the hotel room in a desperate attempt to avoid an awkward post- one night stand encounter, and she decides at that moment that it’s time to make some major life changes. She creates a profile on a popular dating app, hoping to meet her true love, and who does she see almost immediately as she’s scrolling for possible matches? Yep, you guessed it, Jack! Hallie messages him through the app, mainly just to mess with him, and the two of them end up actually becoming friends and actually putting a little friendly wager on which of them will find love first.

This story was just so much fun! Friends to lovers is a trope I enjoy anyway, but Painter really leveled it up when she added the one-night stand into the equation to make it more along the lines of a lovers to friends to lovers romance. Hallie and Jack were also both so likeable and had tremendous chemistry (no matter how many times they each tried to remind themselves that they were only platonic friends). I loved how they would set up their respective dates at the same place so that if things didn’t go well, they could give each other an out and escape to go get tacos together. The taco “not dates” were adorable and it was so much fun to watch these two clearly grow more and more attracted to each other, and more concerned for each other’s happiness and well-being, the more they hung out together. At one point, Hallie takes Jack to an event as her fake date and I was practically giddy watching the two of them interact because they had more chemistry than any of the real couples who were there. I was rooting so hard for them to see what I was seeing and just get on with it already, haha!

The Love Wager is a romance filled with heart and humor that has once again cemented Lynn Painter’s place on my list of auto-buy authors. 4 1/2 stars.

Warning, you will want to listen to T Swift and watch Pride and Prejudice while eating tacos after reading this book!
Hallie and Jack have a one night stand at Olivia's wedding after a spectacular breakup (his) and they reunite later in order to help one another get their lives in order. Hallie thinks that night was her rock bottom, her breaking point and Jack wants to get serious about finding "the one", so they devise a plan to help each other out. They will both go on a dating app, get dates and who ever can find the love of their life first, wins a vacation.
When things don't go well on the dates, they devise an escap plan to the taco joint across the street and they end up there a lot, until one of them finds a date that they don't actually need escaping from.
This book has a lot of my favorite things, T Swift, Pride and Prejudice, a hero who is pining for his girl way earlier than she knows he is, one bed and even some fake dating thrown in there. I really loved Hallie and Jack and their tension and chemistry. There were a few miscommunications that hd me wanting to scream at them both, but I had faith that they would find their way back to one another in the end. 4.5 stars because I am still thinking about it the next day.
Thank you to Berkley, Lynn Painter and Netgalley for an early copy.

Lynn Painter has become an auto-read author for me. I LOVED Mr. Wrong Number and this book did not disappoint. She writes the best dialogue and banter, even when we're reading text conversations. I love books with a texting element and Painter does it really well.

What I loved about Jack was how caring and thoughtful he was, and always very mindful of Hallie's feelings. He was a genuinely good friend to have. With Hallie, I was happy we saw her pull her life together quickly. A lot of contemporary romance features girls who take the whole book to really "get it together" but Hallie was smart and felt like a very real character. She wasn't a MPDG but she also wasn't too serious.

This was also a bit of A+ fake-dating and friends-to-lovers. Two tropes that I often overlook and am always pleasantly surprised by.

Lynn Painter is my go to for light, giggle inducing romantic comedies!

The Love Wager is fake dating, one bed, and friends to lovers (though they already banged once at the beginning). The premise of being wing-people for each other and having fallback taco eats after their failed Wednesday dates was really sweet.

I personally always enjoy when both parties are trying to hide their feelings because other has made it "clear" nothing can happen, but then *tension* comes to a boil. There are a couple open door scenes and in locations that could almost be public should someone open the door at the wrong time.

I picked this up Sunday evening, finished it early Monday morning and greatly enjoyed my time with both Hallie and Jack. I completely forgot that this book was about Olivia's brother from Mr. Wrong Number so I was pleasantly surprised when I started reading. There is some miscommunication, or rather withheld information, so tread carefully if that irks you.

First of all, this book’s so wholesome without even trying… and Hallie, the woman that you are omg.
The story begins with Hallie working as a bartender, meeting Jack at a wedding and weeeellll, was it messy. At first I was a little bit afraid about Jack being hung up on his ex bc duh the man was about to propose to a different woman! but that’s not the case at all (fortunately).
Jack’s looking for a real connection, he has his own struggles as so does Hallie, so it was nice seeing how the two of them dealt with those and grew as characters. By the way, when it comes to the moment where the title makes sense… gosh, I love it. The whole development of Jack and Hallie’s relationship felt natural, not rushed and their banter was absolutely hilarious. They went from strangers to friends to lovers, and all the moments in between were entertaining…. Oh boy, I may even dare to say the angst was perfect, I mean, we romance readers deserved a book where the man had to suffer a tiiiiny bit and fall first, not that easy. Hallie knew though, deep down, that Jack had something the rest didn’t.
I loved the humour on this book, although sometimes I wanted it to stop tbh because that’s just me, I have a hard time finding books funny without annoying myself at some point. I laughed every now and then while reading, so no regrets.
Thank you to Berkley Publishing and NetGallery for the ARC 💖

Read if you love:
🤣 Books that make you LOL
🤷🏼‍♀️ Chaotic FMC
🔥Steam and Tension
🌶️ Hookups to More
❤️ Friends to Lovers

Just as I devoured Mr. wrong Number, I absolutely devoured this one too! Lynn Painter is definitely my go to Romcom writer as she does it with such effortlessness that makes it so I can’t put her books down!

I love that her female main characters are all a bit messy and chaotic and real! It makes the humor so much better and unputdownable!

I also love that her male MC’s are hot and tender and dreamy steamy boyfriends! I definitely have a new book boyfriend in Jack!

Thank you Berkley for my AR copy of this one! I was so excited to read it in advance of its release! I can’t wait for more from Lynn!

This was. unexpectedly cute.

Hallie Piper is turning over a new leaf. After belly-crawling out of a hotel room after a one night stand, she decides it’s time to become an 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.

I love a good rom com. This one has everything: Fake dating, friends to lovers, one bed...like my favorite troupes done well. The spice was open door...but not too many details...in case you wanted to know lol

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

Guys, I’m pretty sure I said this about Mr. Wrong Number, but I’m gonna say it again THIS is why I fell in love with romcoms. The banter. The fun. The laughing out loud. The sexy times that, while great, don’t take over the whole book. I absolutely adore Lynn’s writing and can’t scream type loud enough about it. Her books bring me back to the classic 90s romcom movies 💗

What to expect:
•TEXT BANTER!!!
•LOL funny moments. So many!
•One night stand - that turns into:
•Friends to lovers
•Fake dating
•Funny bad dates
•Previous book updates
•Tacos(the food you dirty birds)
🤗ONLY ONE BED
🔥Open door, mild descriptions

This level of superb banter should probably be illegal.

| The Love Wager ARC Review |
By Lynn Painter

“𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘐 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯’𝘵 𝘴𝘢𝘺 𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘺, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘐 𝘢𝘮 𝘴𝘰 𝘪𝘯 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘺𝘰𝘶. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘺𝘰𝘶, 𝘣𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘺. 𝘐 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘦𝘭𝘴𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥. 𝘠𝘰𝘶’𝘳𝘦 𝘧𝘶𝘯𝘯𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘶𝘭, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘦, 𝘧𝘶𝘯𝘯𝘺, 𝘢𝘸𝘧𝘶𝘭, 𝘰𝘳 𝘸𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘶𝘭, 𝘺𝘰𝘶’𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭.”

The Love Wager has wiggled its way into the top spot on my all time favorite contemporary romance reads list, and I’m not quite sure anyone will ever be able to top it. The chemistry, the banter, the TENSION. I can’t tell you the last time I read banter and on page chemistry this well done. One of the easiest 5⭐️ ratings I’ve given.

The Love Wager is a shot of serotonin that works it’s way deep into your heart, but makes a couple of pit stops on its way to put a stitch in your side and a giddy smile on your face. Below are a few of my favorite things from this masterpiece of a book.

✨One night stand to friends to idiots to lovers
✨Fake dating
✨Only one bed
✨He falls first
✨Epic love confession
✨Jack Marshall, your newest book boyfriend
✨The kind of love we all long for (and makes us extra appreciative, if we already have it - poor hubs, I was attached to his hip after reading this)

Full disclosure, I made the mistake of reading my girl Angie’s review before writing my own and I echo almost all of her sentiments, so I’ll point you in the direction of her Goodreads to finish this up. 😘

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5405043352

The Love Wager comes out on March 14th, and trust me, this one is worth a preorder. 🖤

𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘓𝘺𝘯𝘯 𝘗𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳, 𝘉𝘦𝘳𝘬𝘭𝘦𝘺 𝘗𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘎𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘱, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘕𝘦𝘵𝘎𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘦 -𝘤𝘰𝘱𝘺. 𝘈𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴, 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘰𝘸𝘯.

So I didn't have the greatest experience with the first book in this series, Mr. Wrong Number, but decided to pick this one up because I do remember liking the author's writing style, even if the story itself wasn't for me.

Fortunately, I enjoyed this one MUCH better! There were a few things that I didn't like, hence the star rating, but I still enjoyed the story and the characters overall.

My favorite part was honestly the witty banter between Jack and Hallie. They were so funny and I just really loved their relationship.

So if you are like me and weren't super enthusiastic about the first book in this series, give this one a chance - it might surprise you!

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for providing the ARC.

Here for the follow up to Mr. Wrong Number!

Although not technically a sequel, Painter delivers us back to that setting, only this time focusing on Jack, Olivia's brother and Colin's former roommate. While in the first book, it was true that Jack loved his sister and demonstrated that love, I always kind of got the impression that he was a bit of a tool. I was pleasantly surprised to see that wasn't the case, even if he is a bit thick.

And Tiny Bartender Hallie, who is sweet as pie and gives as good as she gets is the perfect counterpoint to Jack. All she wants is to fall in love with her best friend, and when Jack slides into that role, it becomes very easy for her to do so.

One thing that Lynn Painter excels at is banter. I am a firm believer that roasting your partner is a love language and these two have it in spades. There are times when I could not stop laughing at the commentary between Jack and Hallie. It is the best part of the book.

However, I do not like miscommunication and I feel like this book was kind of rife with it. Both Jack and Hallie weren't able to communicate their feelings effectively and that was the primary source of conflict. And while it did get resolved quickly, both of them well super thick about the whole thing.

Overall, it was a great book with great characters and great dialogue. I thoroughly enjoyed myself.