Lynn Painter is absolutely everything. I know what I said, but her books are perfect. Characters? Perfect. Dialogue? Perfect. She proves it again here with Betting on You, and while the Taylor Swift references tickled me, the banter and characters warmed my heart.

I continuously recommend Painter's books to YA readers, YA librarians and teachers because she writes the novels that YA readers and teens deserve.

I'm very thankful for this arc in exchange for an honest review- my opinions are my own.

Thank you Simon and Schuster and Netgalley for my gifted copy in exchange for an honest review.

4.5 stars rounded up

Once again I love all Lynn Painter books. She is a fellow Swiftie who also lives in Omaha! It is so much fun finding the little references to Omaha in her books, but also references to Taylor songs. My favorite line was “karma was supposed to be a cat.” Karma is a cat is my favorite saying, so of course I was super excited.

These characters were easy to fall in love with, and I was rooting for them from the very beginning. This one really hit home with me as I have divorced parents and REALLY struggled when my mom was dating. I felt like I was transported back into time.

I also listened to this on audiobook with Libby and enjoyed both of the narrators.

Betting on You is a really cute YA rom com by Lynn Painter. I loved the character and I was really entertained with the storyline! Another hit for Lynn Painter.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Lynn Painter is the queen of YA rom com. I’ll admit that the first part of this book was a little slow for me but it didn’t take long until I was fully committed. I love Charlie. He is sarcastic and real, and the banter between him and Bay was so fun. The representation of teenagers dealing with divorce and new family dynamics was real and honest.

This was my first Lynn Painter, but it will not be my last! I so thoroughly enjoyed this story! All of the characters were so sweet and the story line was chefs kiss! I absolutely adored it and cannot wait to read more from her.

🎰 Betting on You by Lynn Painter 🎰

Rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 4.5/5

💭 Thoughts:
Lynn Painter writes the BEST YA books!!! I loved Better Than the Movies and The Do Over, and I’m adding this one to the list, too! 💗 The banter is top notch, and don’t even get me started on the T Swift references!!! I squealed each time 😂 The tropes in this book were some of my favorites (forced proximity, fake dating, and he falls first), and the dual POV sealed the deal! I felt warm fuzzies, and the characters were relatable to my younger self. I definitely recommend this one!

Thank you to Simon and Schuster Children’s Publishing for this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

An enormous thank you to NetGalley, Simon and Schuster Children's Publishing, and of course, Lynn Painter for providing me with an eARC of this novel. I am voluntarily leaving a review, all opinions are my own.

This book was so cute, I loved Charlie and Bailey so much and was rooting for them from the get-go. I can't quite give it that fifth star because I feel like certain things about the description were a little misleading. BUT, that aside, this book was so stinking cute and I loved the tension and the way the characters grew over the course of the book.

I honestly would've read more about these characters, they sucked me in and I wanted them to be happy. I loved that there was even growth with Scott, who was the entire reason they started "fake dating".

The characters and situations felt real- I could actually see so much of this happen in real life and I enjoyed that immensely.

I would highly recommend this to anyone who's a fan of romance, the cynic vs. the optimist, or the fake dating trope, it was a fantastic YA version of all of that.

If you are a fan of Lynn Painter's Better Than the Movies, you will love Betting on You. Painter combines many aspects of classic rom-coms like When Harry Met Sally and She's All That to tell the story of high school seniors Bailey and Charlie, irriating acquaintances turned to coworkers, turned to friends??? Read it, I know you'll love it!

I will follow Lynn Painter wherever her writing takes me and I was not disappointed with Betting On You!

I absolutely adored her other YA novels Better Than The Movies and The Do-Over and I can easily say this is a new favorite! Definitely one of my favorite reads of 2023!

Bailey and Charlie’s nuanced journey between love, protection and heartache felt so relatable and pulled at every one of my heartstrings. I think their dynamic may be one of my very favorites among the hundreds of romance books I’ve read.

Lynn just nails the dance between two broken young hearts! I highly recommend this book even if you don’t usual veer towards YA novels. It rises above genre and age to be crowned as one of her bests yet!

This book was everything I expected and more from Lynn Painter. I loved the banter between Charlie and Bailey. It was such a fast-read and I enjoyed every minute of it. The fake dating trope and best friends to lovers? Yes please.

Thank you Simon & Schuster @BookClubFavorites #BookClubFavorites for the free book.

Right after her parents divorce, Bailey meets Charlie on the plane to her new home in Omaha. Charlie, another teenager with divorced parents is as grumpy and cynical as they come and the two could not be more opposite. Fast forward a few years and Bailey and Charlie are coworkers and are still polar opposites. But as they spend more time together, feelings begin to develop and things get complicated quickly.

Lynn Painter does it again with another 5 star read. Between the sweet romance, the laugh out loud moments, and all the Taylor Swift references, I was in love with this book from beginning to end. The banter was incredible and the romance really captured that sweet innocence of a first love. I also thought the storylines and feelings surrounding having divorced parents was done really beautifully. I LOVED having both POVs and getting into both Bailey’s and Charlie’s heads - it made both characters feel more relatable and real even when they might have seemed like they were being jerks from the other character’s POV. There was so much to love about this one and it brought me so much joy while reading.

Thank you to the publisher for a gifted copy of this book.

3.5 stars

This was not my favorite Lynn Painter book but still enjoyed it. Certain aspects felt repetitive and maybe YA just isn't for me anymore. Excellent banter per usual and love the mash up of themes from 𝘚𝘩𝘦’𝘴 𝘈𝘭𝘭 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵, 𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘏𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘺 𝘔𝘦𝘵 𝘚𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 & 10 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘐 𝘏𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘈𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘠𝘰𝘶.

Another amazing read from Lynn Painter.

I was hooked from the first chapter and loved how Charlie and Bailey’s story evolved throughout the years. How they meet, how fate kept putting them in each other’s orbit, was giving me all the butterflies.

Cue Taylor Swift’’s - invisible string please!😍

This is such a sweet YA romance and I know people are going to fall head over heels with these too. The end had me completely swooning, and shedding some happy tears for their HEA.

I just loved this one so much. 🤍

💞 Book Review 💕

Wowwwww was this book swoony! I adore a YA romance and Betting on You by @lynnpainterbooks is one of the best this year. Thanks to @simonteen and @netgalley for the ebook. I loved it so much, I bought my own copy and cannot wait to get the Barnes and Noble edition in the mail!!

✔️ Friends to Lovers
✔️ Opposites Attract
✔️ Fake Dating

-summary-
Bailey and Charlie meet by chance at an airport and talk briefly about having divorced parents (they both agree it's the worst) and how guys and girls can't actually be friends (his stance, while she disagrees). A couple years later, they meet again - this time as coworkers where they needlessly each other but yes, do actually become friends. The more time they spend together, the more they are attracted to each other but neither are sure about their own feelings, the other's feelings, and if a relationship is even a good idea. This is the When Harry Met Sally YA retelling of my dreams.

-thoughts-
This book was a ball of sunshine and you will smile and laugh your way through. That said, Lynn does an excellent job of getting to the emotional truth of characters too, so all the bumps along the way felt authentic and the swoony ending was well-earned.

My fave romance authors also really know how to write heartbreak and their books elicit a physical response. Here, there were a few scenes where I felt an actual pang in my heart when the characters were choosing self-preservation and hurting the other in the process. Alternately, I had that chest-full-of-bubbles feeling during any falling in love scene.

5⭐️ - pick this one up!

Steam 🔥 (great makeout scenes hahah!)
Banter 🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️
Swoon 💕💕💕💕💕

This book had way too much going on for me. I adore Taylor Swift but she appears on nearly every page of the book. Kinda irked me because it just became repetitive. Overall this was okay.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster Children's Publishing for the E-ARC

All thoughts and opinions are honest and my own.

This felt like a bit of a 90s throwback to me, with its references to When Harry Met Sally.


I liked the portrayal of a teen stuck in between divorced parents. But I wonder if actual teens will relate to this story and its characters. The book featured slang, scenarios, and attitudes that seemed much more geared to adult readers like me. Maybe setting it in the 90s would have solved this problem!

With Betting on You, Lynn Painter has proven yet again that she is a rising star in the YA romance field. In this enemies-to-lovers, grumpy/sunshine, opposites attract love story, Type A-personality Bailey first encounters laid back, wittily sarcastic Charlie in the Fairbanks, AK airport as each of them is embarking on a flight away from their fathers after spending the summer. For Bailey, her parents’ impending divorce is new and she’s leaving the only home she’s known to move to Omaha. For Charlie, it’s just the latest solo flight of many. Bailey is relieved when they land and she has seen the last of bothersome Charlie. So when she runs into him two years later, she surprised to realize that he’s maybe not as bad as she remembers. A year later, as they’re entering their senior year at different high schools, they end up working at the same resort, slowing building a friendship (although Charlie persists in referring to them as co-workers, not friends, because he believes boys and girls can’t BE friends without it becoming more and he’s not willing to risk it). They bond over crazy guests, absentee fathers, and heartbreaking exes and strengthen their friendship by frequently touching base via text. So when they end up faking a relationship as a way to break up her mother’s growing relationship (she wants her mom to be happy, but doesn’t want to lose the life they’ve built which has provided the healing comfort she needed post-divorce), will the forced proximity and practice kisses prove Charlie right and will he be willing to risk losing his best friend if he gives in to his feelings?

Painter has chosen to use a dual POV format which brings so much depth and insight to the story. Beneath Charlie’s cynicism and snark is a very wounded young man who believes that happily-ever-afters don’t exist, so having him voice his fears and justifications for his actions is key. Like her debut novel Better Than the Movies (featuring Charlie’s cousin Wes), we see the grown-up version of the “pulling girls’ pigtails in the playground” scenario play out and, despite Charlie’s misguided efforts, the intense chemistry and enviable friendship can”t be denied. If you’re a fan, check out Painter’s website for bonus material on both books. Highly recommended.

Betting on You by @lynnpainterwritesbooks was one of my most anticipated YA books of the year and it was such a fun read! I’m so grateful to @simonandschuster for an e-arc, but I definitely needed to have a physical copy as well. I preordered over the summer, forgot, and preordered it again, which is a first for me, and it’s fitting that first should happen with a Lynn Painter book, since I always love her books.

Bailey and Charlie first meet in an airport, and a few minutes later, on an airplane, and they immediately dislike each other. Bailey is a little more type A and Charlie seems to enjoy not following any rules and pushing all of Bailey’s buttons. The one thing they do have in common is that their parents are divorced, but it’s newer to Bailey than it is Charlie, and he scares her with warnings of what her future holds. They meet again years later at a movie theater, and then again a few months later at their first day of work at a waterpark. They become friends, and, in an attempt to scare Bailey’s mom’s new boyfriend away, eventually agree to fake date.

Here’s all you really need to know. There’s super fun banter throughout the book and a lot of built up swoony-ness while both characters try to deny their growing feelings for each other. In reviews, this one is being compared to She’s All That and 10 Things I Hate About You, but to me it felt like an homage to When Harry Met Sally, from the multiple meetings, to their instant dislike and subsequent friendship, and Charlie even espouses the “women and men can’t be friends” philosophy from the movie.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone looking for a fun YA romcom. It delivered on everything I was expecting. That said, I do wish Charlie had made a few different decisions and that we had gotten a little more of his family history. While reading, I was actually expecting some kind of reveal that might have explained some things about him that never came, but I still enjoyed every moment.

Per usual, BETTING ON YOU was full of Lynn Painters cute banter so it pains me to say this is her least favorite book for me ☹️

𝐈 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐝:
-YA enemies to lovers/fake dating
-Taylor Swift references galore 💯
-relatability of divorced parent dynamics

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐠𝐠𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡:
-soo much drama
-unnecessarily long
-bored in the middle bc not much happened

While it may not have been a winner for me I still look forward to reading all of Painters work in the future ☺️

Thank you so much to Netgalley & Simon and Schuster for the arc in exchange for my honest review.

Why is there so much language in this book?? This book felt like it was written for adults not teens. There was just too much content in this that shouldn’t be in a teen book and the amount of language just isn’t okay. Sleepovers between guys and girls, language, and there was a whole plot that just didn’t sit well with me. We added a copy to our library but this isn’t one I can recommend to teens.