the love wager review ✨🌮

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"not just in love with you, by the way. i also like you more than anyone else in the world.."

✨ MINI SYNOPSIS ✨

discouraged by the lack of prospects, jack & hallie make a wager to see who can find true love first, but when they agree to be fake dates for a weekend wedding, all bets are off. as they pretend to be a couple, lines become blurred and they both struggle to remember why the other was a bad idea to begin with.

✨ MY THOUGHTS ✨

if you love when harry met sally, cats, dating apps, tacos, friend to lovers romantic comedies with a dash of fake dating, pride & prejudice references, dual povs, lots of witty banter, laugh out loud moments & a little hint of spice this book might be for you...💕🥰

alexa play friends don't by maddie and tae 🎶

🌟 RATING: ★★★★★
🥵🔥 spice scale: 🌶️🌶️

unpopular opinion, but i'm not a super huge fan of the friends to lovers trope, but this book was quite literally perfection!! jack & hallie are so fun, flirty, and gave me all of the warm fluffy feels. i loved watching their friendship blossom and turn into something more. their banter was hilarious, i was constantly laughing out loud. their chemistry was off the charts 💕📈 ugh plus, i'm a sucker for pride and prejudice references so jack's love confession in the rain will forever have my heart. please do yourself a favor and read this book as soon as possible..

thank you @berkleyromance for the free book. 💕

✨ Review ✨

A big thank you to @berkleypub @netgalley for this #gifted copy of #TheLoveWager !!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

📖 The Love Wager by Lynn Painter

A one night stand leads to a flirty friendship and a bet on who can find love first.

What is has to offer:

💋 Romance
👩‍❤️‍💋‍👨 Fake Dating
💨 Quick Read
🌱 Growth

Quick thoughts:

✨ Witty banter.
✨ A lot of text messages to read.
✨ Tons of chemistry.
✨ Likable characters.

A cute, quick read.

Overall thoughts:

📝 The writing was filled with skillfully executed witty banter. The story moved at a nice pace, really picking up in the second half.

💋 There were a lot of romance tropes explored here, including: insta-attraction, one night stand, flirty friends, fake dating, friends with benefits, one bed hotel room, and friends to lovers. It felt like this story had a little bit of everything but it all worked together.

🌶️ This one is mildly spicy. Not a ton of details are given but there’s enough to get your imagination going.

👩‍❤️‍💋‍👨 I’m singling out the fake dating trope bc it was my favorite one. 😂 It was definitely the climax of the story for me. The tension between the characters was intense.

💨 I read this one pretty quickly. I think reading through all the texts speed things up and then once you hit the mid way point the story really went by fast.

🌱 Character growth was a cornerstone of this story which was awesome. However, I don’t think it had a lot of depth to it. Even though ideas such as “wintering” and “hitting rock bottom” were brought up, I feel like they were an odd contrast to the lightheartedness of the story overall. They just didn’t fit.

💔 One thing I wish was different was the format of the texts in the story. They’re just piled on top of each other. It would have been nice to have them displayed in an unique way. I read the e-arc version so maybe it will be different in print.

💜 Like I mentioned above, my favorite part was the fake dating! Their chemistry at that point was just off the charts. I couldn’t get enough.

📚 This is a companion novel to Mr. Wrong Number so both novels have characters in the same world that overlap in each story but they can be read independently.

If you’re looking for a cute romcom then pick this one up!

While I wasn't the right match for this book, I can definitely see the appeal! It's fun, humorous, spicy, and includes many of my favorite tropes: forced proximity, fake dating, friends to lovers. And my personal favorite is third-person dual POV.

On paper, I should have loved this, and I'm super sad I didn't. 🥺 Perhaps it's because I read it on the heels of another Berkley Romance, Jane and Edward (which became an instant favorite) that it's possible I just wasn't able to appreciate The Love Wager without comparison.

Either way, we won't all love the same books and that's ok! I'm clearly the outlier here as this one has fabulous ratings and reviews. Lynn Painter is very loved by many so chances are you'll love it too! 💓

Thank you Berkley Romance for the gifted finished copy and eARC.

Top Pick! - 4.5 Stars ⭐️

“He didn’t know how it’d happened, but she’d completely taken over his brain. Every morning when he went for a run,she was what he was thinking about. And he spent way too much time every day trying to figure out what the hell to do about it. Because the bottom line was that even though he had feelings for her beyond friendship, it might not be worth it to do anything about it if that meant risking everything else they had.”

Hallie Piper’s life went down the drain when her ex-boyfriend dumped her, and after a one-night stand, she decides it is time to get her life together. She quits her part-time jobs, moves into her own apartment, and joins a dating app to find Mr. Perfect.

Jack Marshall can’t believe he finds Hallie Piper on a dating app after their one-night stand, but they strike up a friendship and make a bet. Whoever finds love first on the dating app gets something from the other. When neither finds a date in time for Hallie’s sister’s wedding, she and Jack pretend to be a couple, but things don’t feel pretend between them for long.

I loved the first book, and I loved this one too. There was great banter between Jack and Hallie, and we got to watch them go from strangers to best friends to lovers. The progression of their relationship felt like the most natural thing in the world. I was able to watch them develop feeling for each other and felt their wariness at acting on them because of their fear of losing each other when things didn’t work out. As Jack and Hallie figure out, love is worth the risk when that person is perfect for you. This series has been extremely entertaining and endearing. I can’t wait for it to continue and to dig into Lynn Painter’s backlist.

If you’re a fan of Meghan Quinn or Ilsa Madden-Mills, then give this series a try. I don’t think you would regret picking it up.

~ Michelle

This was such a cute and lighthearted romcom! A one night stand turned friends to lovers romance, and it was so fun! The “who can find love first” bet made it super entertaining, while also making you want to shake the characters and say look right in front of you!!! The banter was hilarious and I loved all the texts in the book, they always add so much for me personally. There was a lot of lack of communication towards the end, but it didn’t ruin the book or take away too much from the story for me. Overall just so fun and witty and would totally recommend.

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.
4.75 Stars

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.

Rating: 4.75 Stars, 4 Heat

“𝖧𝗈𝗐 𝗂𝗌 𝗂𝗍 𝗍𝗁𝖺𝗍 𝖨 𝗅𝗂𝗏𝖾𝖽 𝗆𝗒 𝖾𝗇𝗍𝗂𝗋𝖾 𝗅𝗂𝖿𝖾 𝗐𝗂𝗍𝗁𝗈𝗎𝗍 𝗁𝗂𝗆, 𝖻𝗎𝗍 𝗇𝗈𝗐, 𝗃𝗎𝗌𝗍 𝗅𝗂𝗄𝖾 𝗍𝗁𝖺𝗍, 𝖨 𝖼𝖺𝗇’𝗍 𝖾𝗏𝖾𝗇 𝗋𝖾𝗆𝖾𝗆𝖻𝖾𝗋 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝖻𝖾𝖿𝗈𝗋𝖾. 𝖣𝗈𝖾𝗌 𝗍𝗁𝖺𝗍 𝗌𝗈𝗎𝗇𝖽 𝖼𝗋𝖺𝗓𝗒, 𝗍𝗈 𝖻𝖾 𝖺𝗍𝗍𝖺𝖼𝗁𝖾𝖽 𝗌𝗈 𝖿𝖺𝗌𝗍?”
“𝖭𝗈, 𝗁𝖾 𝗌𝖺𝗂𝖽, 𝗌𝗂𝗍𝗍𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝖽𝗈𝗐𝗇 𝗈𝗇 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝖻𝖾𝖽. “𝖨𝗍 𝖽𝗈𝖾𝗌𝗇’𝗍 𝗌𝗈𝗎𝗇𝖽 𝖼𝗋𝖺𝗓𝗒 𝖺𝗍 𝖺𝗅𝗅.”

When jaded bartender Hallie meets the charming groomsman, Jack at at a wedding, sparks (and drinks) fly. But after a passionate one night stand, the two go their separate ways. After all, mere hours earlier Jack was nearly engaged.

But the chance meeting actually ends up being the deciding factor in Hallie getting her life back on track. So she quits the dead end job, makes plans to move out on her own, and even reluctantly signs up for a dating app. However, you can imagine Hallie’s surprise when she runs into Jack on the app, the very same one night stand she ran away from.

Hallie and Jack openly acknowledge their chemistry, but mutually agree they are better off as friends. Serving as each other’s sounding board, they go on many dates and consume a lot of tacos- all in the pursuit of true love. See, in lieu of a love match, they hatched a love wager- who will find true love first?

The Love Wager doesn’t cover any new ground that hasn’t been covered in romance novels before. It’s got the popular tropes of friends to lovers and forced proximity, as well as sarcastic, but flirtatious banter. AND YET…this book STILL manages to be completely engaging despite all of this. I’m not sure how Lynn Painter pulled it off, but I fell in love with the two people who were falling for each other. Sometimes you read a book and wish you could be friends with the author. This is one of those times. Amazingly I had never read any of Painter’s stuff before this, something I plan to rectify soon.

In a world of palatable romances, The Love Wager raises the stakes.

Jack and Hallie meet at a wedding where Hallie is the bartender and Jack is the best man. A one night stand quickly turns them into “wingmen” for each other to find their true loves.

What a delightful couple! I loved Hallie and Jack so much. I truly enjoyed how, though they had already slept together, their friendship developed organically and became so strong that neither one wanted to ruin it with romantic feelings. I loved their “fake dating” and witty banter. Their chemistry flew off the pages and I definitely will be having a book hangover now that their story is over.

Well, this was a super fun meet cute and I thoroughly enjoyed listening to this one! Hallie and Jack were amazing and all the tacos. I love how they went through dating apps and speed dating and still didn't realize they were the ones for each other.

A fun read and great audio!

⭐️4.5
🌶️ Open Door, Mild Details

💕 Romantic Comedy
💕 Strangers to Friends to Lovers
💕 Slow Burn
💕 Fake Dating
💕 Only One Bed

I am convinced that Lynn Painter just can't disappoint me.

The Love Wager follows Jack and Hallie - this couple is so much fun in this book! After a one-night stand full of chemistry, these two become fast friends and end up betting on who can find 'true love' the fastest. Little do they know that 'the one' is right in front of them. After a turn of events, they end up fake dating at a destination wedding and sparks fly. ✨

I am so glad that this book had dual POVs because I LOVE mutual pining - like these two are trying so hard to resist their feelings for one another and it was everything. The fake dating trope and only one bed immediately had me hooked, but I honestly loved the way their relationship developed throughout the book!

Definitely recommend THE LOVE WAGER if you're looking for laughs, love tacos and cats, or need a feel-good read. 🫶

I CAN’T STOP SCREAMING ABOUT HOW CUTE THIS BOOK WAS. Easily my favorite contemporary romance I’ve read this year. I devoured it in under 24 hours and literally laughed out loud every time I sat down to read it.

Hallie and Jack have a one night stand and end up reconnecting on a dating app. The my decide to be each others wingman and the banter between these two is phenomenal! If you liked Josh & Hazels Guide to Not Dating even a little bit, I can promise you will LOVE this.

Yes, it talks about sex, one night stands, and getting railed (hahahaha inside joke). But the scenes are mostly fade to black or not very descriptive. So you can for sure recommend this to someone at church and not feel guilty about it.

Thank you NetGalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

Yesterday was the release date of The Love Wager by @lynnpainterkirkle and I'd like to thank her, @netgalley and @berkleyromance for the gifted ARC in exchange of an honest review.

The Love Wager was so much fun! Hallie and Jack are hilarious! I loved how they went from strangers to friends then lovers in a believable progression. Their text messages to each other, their wager to see who would find love first, their disastrous dates ( I'm still laughing about the twins! iykyk) and the fact that they could always count on meeting later for tacos when things went south, how they slowly realized what was in front of them the entire time.

If you're looking for a quick, delightful read, with a lot of banter, pinning, fake dating (my favorite part!!!!), and characters that will get you laughing out loud, swooning, and smiling like a fool, look no further: this is definitely it.

This is the very first book I read by Lynn Painter and I'm now a fan. Although The Love Wager can be read as a standalone, it is actually the sequel to Mr. Wrong Number, which I had no idea. lol But I've just bought the ebook to start reading it soon.

By the way, there's only ONE bed. 😉 You're welcome. Grab your copy now.

I loved so many things about this book! Here’s a few:

💕The banter between Jack and Hallie- I was hooked!
💕The bad dates they went on that ended in the two of them getting tacos together (if you read it- I’m with Hallie on Team Cheese on the Bottom of the Taco!)
💕Chicago Cubs 2016 team signed the baseball she uses as her collateral for the wager (I’m probably the only reader who felt bad for the guy she stole it from-as a Cubs fan I know this ball is a big deal!)
💕Strangers to best friends to lovers
💕Fake dating! Loved when they kept trying to “one up” each other!
💕Literally laughed out loud- and it’s hard to get me to actually laugh out loud! Like almost impossible!

In short, a fantastic read that I highly recommend! Can’t wait to read other books by this author!

I read Mr Wrong Number before this one and didn’t love it. So I was worried I wouldn’t love this one, but I loved it so much more! I think she has a super unique writing style that takes some getting used to. You’re not going to get a heavy story with an ending that wraps up nicely. You’re going to get tons of tropes that make up the story, and a super open ending where nothing wraps up. You’ll also want to throw all of the characters into therapy afterwards. I just find the love story in this book hard to believe. It didn’t feel natural, and I feel like it was an unhealthy relationship. But who am I to judge that? The writing was great, story not my favorite.

Omg I loved this book so much! Definitely one of my new favorite romances! The banter was hilarious and I couldn’t get enough of Jack and Hallie! Another ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ book from Lynn Painter! 10/10 recommend!

𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗟𝗢𝗩𝗘 𝗪𝗔𝗚𝗘𝗥 is the first book that I’ve read by Lynn Painter and I enjoyed it very much. This is a quick, lighthearted rom-com with great characters who you’ll definitely root for.

𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗟𝗢𝗩𝗘 𝗪𝗔𝗚𝗘𝗥 is perfect for those who enjoy:

💕Friends-to-lovers
💕Witty banter
💕Online dating
💕Fake dating

You should definitely prepare yourself for a taco 🌮 craving while reading this one! 🤣

BOOK REVIEW- ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

My thoughts: Thank you so much to @netgalley, @berkleyromance, @berkleypub, and @lynnpainterkirkle for an advance copy of The Love Wager in exchange for an honest review. Oh Hallie & Jack, you two have my whole heart. Everything about their story, their banter, their friendship, etc gave me all the feels and truly had me cheesing throughout the whole book. I adored this story and cannot wait to read more of this authors work! I don’t want to ruin any of the story but I will say, for all my rom com (and taco lovers) this one is for you! Pick this up on 3/14- I promise you won’t regret it!

Rating: 4.5

Hallie Piper and Jack Marshall are one of my top romance couples of 2023. I've loved Lynn's previous books and I will read anything by her. The Love Wager is definitely one of my top romance books of the year. The story kicks off in such a hilarious way that I was hooked from the start. They had so much chemistry right off the bat as one night stands to friends to trying to be more. Their banter via text was so fun to read and seeing them try to find their soulmate when they both knew they already had found their person in each other. They had the sweetest epilogue as well. I'll be telling all my friends to read this one!

Many thanks to Berkley Romance and Netgalley for the eARC of The Love Wager in exchange for my honest review.

Hallie Piper is determined to make better decisions for her life. A one-night stand turned into much more once she started to take control of her life. She has even logged into a new dating app where she hopes to find her soulmate. The one-night stand she had was with Jack Marshall, and they both are now on the same dating app, and have promised not to date each other, but they stay in contact via text where they will each share their progress.

They even make a sweet wager as to which of them will find true love first, and they set a prize for the winner. However, with Hallie’s sisters wedding coming up, and agreeing to be fake dates for that wedding, things quickly change. Fake dating is not working for them.

The Love Wager follows Mr. Wrong Number where Jack was a secondary character. In fact, Jack is Olivia Marshall’s brother from the first book in the series. I enjoyed both books, and the continuity was quite smooth, and it was quite enjoyable how the sharing of many text messages rather improved the communication with each couple in these first two books in the series.

Many thanks to Berkley and to NetGalley for this ARC for review. This is my honest opinion.

After getting dumped by her long-time boyfriend and having an embarrassing one-night stand, Hallie decides to get her life together and join a dating app in the hopes of finding a date to her sister’s upcoming wedding. But, lo and behold, one of her first matches on the app is her one-night stand, Jack, who is Olivia’s brother and Colin’s best friend from Mr. Wrong Number. After deciding that they have no interest in dating each other, Jack and Hallie decide to place a wager on who can find “the one” first. Whilst Jack and Hallie bond over tacos after every bad date (which happens more often than not), they start to wonder if “the one” has been right in front of them all along. The line between friends and lovers starts to blur after Hallie enlists Jack to be her “fake” date to her sister’s wedding.

The Love Wager is interconnected with the first book in the series, Mr. Wrong Number, but can also be read as a standalone, and it’s a delightful contemporary rom-com told from a dual point of view. The fake dating reminded me of The Spanish Love Deception by Elena Armas and the friends-to-lovers romance was reminiscent of People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry, so if you’re a fan of either of these novels or tropes, you should definitely check out The Love Wager! Themes present include love and heartbreak, family, fate versus freewill, growing up, communication or lack thereof, commitment, and death. I think that the “Don’t you think the possibilities of love are worth the risk?” from the book nicely highlights the moral of Jack and Hallie’s story.

When I started this book, I didn’t know that Olivia and Colin (from Mr. Wrong Number) would make appearances in The Love Wager, so that was a nice surprise! Comparing the two, I actually seemed to enjoy this book more as Hallie and Jack’s “love wager” was easy to be intrigued by and you become invested rather quickly! It was also easy to read and get into since it flowed nicely, the plot was engaging, and the page count wasn’t overly long. Without spoiling too much, my personal favourite parts were Jack and Hallie’s laugh out loud texting banter and their “fake” romance during Hallie’s sister’s wedding in Vail, Colorado, plus who can ignore the inclusion of the swoonworthy “guy falls first” trope!

On a slight downside, a fair amount of the plot was set at a wedding (Jack and Hallie meet at Olivia’s wedding and Jack and Hallie’s “fake” relationship takes place at Hallie’s sister’s wedding); so, if you’re not a fan of weddings, then The Love Wager might not be for you.

Overall, The Love Wager was an enjoyable read and perfect for fans of books with the friends-to-lovers, fake dating, or “he falls first” tropes.