Bet Me Paperback – August 2, 2011

One of my least favorite plot/device in a romance novel is "The Bet." (My other least favorite is the "pretend to be lovers until we fall in love." But that doesn't really apply here.) "The Bet" is just so annoying. It usually all plays out like She's All That where the hero yells "I made the bet before I knew you." It can rarely be pulled off well and believable. So, when I first stumbled upon this book in my Amazon Recommends list I automatically shunned it. Then, one of my favorite book blogs put together a list of favorite reads of 2010 and this book was listed. The blogger had nothing but good to say about BET ME, which intrigued me. How can a book with "The Bet" plot be that amazing? So, I cracked open the story with a huge prejudice that I was NOT going to like it. I was wrong.I won't go into a summary of the book. The blurb does it justice as well as several of the other reviews.What I enjoyed:1. Min--she's a 33 years-old actuary who calls it as it is. She's funny (without all the constant one-liners), snippy, flawed, and real. She's a real woman a few pounds more than thin, much to the chagrin of her mother. She's learning to standup for herself and to be her own woman instead of her mother's ideal. She cuts through the crap and gets down to what really matters.2. Cal--Handsome Cal's screwed up childhood and family life molded his known dating history of "love `em and leave `em." But, that's more to do with the women he dates than with what he truly wants in life.3. Min & Cal's friends--I loved the diversity of this group of people. They all were fully developed and complimented each other. They added so much humor, insight, and "romantic pushes."4. Min & Cal's family--I loved the dysfunctional family dynamics of both families and how that played into the storyline. It cracked me up to see Min's mom trying to butter up Cal's socially elite mother at such an inopportune moment. Hilarious.5. Showing, not Telling--the writing excellently SHOWED us the development of the characters, the development of Min & Cal's romance, the development of the secondary characters. Things weren't spelled out, instead we were given a full and beautiful picture. I loved the subtlety used.6. The Villains--the ex's played a huge role in this story. Even though they were the "villains", I understood their motivations. They weren't anybody I'd like to hang out with, but that's the point, isn't it? Both were demented in the head in a completely humanly possible way, which made them real and believable. When the villain is cartoony, it makes the story unreal.7. The Betting--what?! I liked the betting? What is the world coming to? Cal and his friends bet over everything. Min catches onto this early on (obviously) and totally turns the tables on them and plays on their bets! How does "The Bet" play out? Well, it wasn't "I made that bet before I knew you!" Ms. Crusie totally made it work.8. The Ending--I like my romances with a Happily Ever After. This one delivers with a big smile.What I didn't like:1. The Actuary--I'm not so sure an actual actuary will start spouting statistical information. It wasn't over board, and the information she spilled out pertained to the story.2. Chicken Marsala--it seems to be the only thing these two eat. I know this sounds petty, but really, they eat this EVERY time food is mentioned.I was highly entertained by this book and couldn't put it down. I didn't want to let go of the story and found myself re-reading it instead of stopping. I read it 2 times in 3 days.

When her boyfriend David dumps her three weeks before her sister's wedding, Minerva Dobbs mostly feels annoyed. She knew there was a reason she never had sex with the man. In a quirky show of support, her two best friends convince her (goad, really) to take the gorgeous hunk that she sees talking to her ex by the...horns...to show the weasel up. The only problem is when she gets close, slipping in from behind them, she overhears David betting the handsome beast Calvin Morrisey that Cal can't get her into bed within a month!Min's not a thin, hot redhead like her best friend Liza and she's not a petite blonde cutie like her other best friend Bonnie. No, Min's under no illusions. She's chubby, she hates her body, and the only risk she takes with her statistics-minded self is on shoes that express far more personality than her boxy, conservative clothes. She's just been dumped and she's feeling a bit vindictive after hearing about that bet, so when Cal approaches her not five minutes later, she's intent on making him pay a little for being the shallow, callous jerk he is.Cal thinks Minerva Dobbs is the worst date he's ever had, but he doesn't lose bets he makes. He bet that idiot client of his back at the bar that he could take Min to dinner and by God, that's what he's going to do. Sure, he knows David was drunk, and there was no way he'd ever agree to any bet to get a woman into bed, not even for $10,000, but he didn't hold it against him. He'd maneuvered the man and the bet to take the caustic and snippy Min to dinner (woah, when she smiles at his friend Emilio she's like a whole other person...but she's still snippy) and then he'd walk her home (seriously, how come she's so nice to Emilio? Cal knows he's more charming than Emilio but she's not being nice to him), wish her a good life (oh, wow, she's got the sexiest shoes - and toes) and never see her again (despite the fact that the way she eats food is the most erotic thing he's ever seen).Cal and Min couldn't be more wrong for each other. Cal's a superficial hit-and-run player and Min is a practical actuary who spouts statistics about...everything...all the time, hates her body, and thinks happily ever after is a fantasy for suckers. But they keep running into each other. And despite the pummeling his ego takes from Min's caustic wit...and despite the headache from all the eye rolling that Min does to combat charm boy's superficial smarm, a spark is born...and then flames...and then an inferno. The romp is long and riddled with potential disasters, but it's the most fun either Cal and Min will ever have. Bet me.What a light, fun read this was! I'm not saying that just because chicken marsala is my favorite meal of all times, either, though that certainly didn't hurt. After a particularly dark reading experience just prior to this, I went looking for something that would make me smile and warm the chill from the last book. I found Bet Me and couldn't be happier that I did.Full of quirky, funny characters and zany, endearing situations, I quickly fell for Cal and Min, despite their peccadilloes - or maybe because of them. Cal, the darling, starts out like a superficial (but charming) guy who's tired of the dating scene and just wants some peace and quiet in his life after his last girlfriend tried to race him to the alter. Min is sharp as a tack and intelligent, but her body image sucks and she dresses to hide the curves her mother's been nagging about since her childhood. To say I know someone just like Min - and her mother - would be a gross understatement.Together they're an incendiary mix of humor, heat, and frustration and their evolving relationship is adorable, with deeper undertones that start to show themselves as the reasons for their initial character traits start to become apparent. Crusie does a fantastic job of keeping the message light, but there are a few good messages there for women who put too much emphasis on body image for their self esteem.The message stays light, and the book is firmly entrenched on the more humorous side of romance, and I, for one, am very grateful. For a long book, it read very quickly, as the narrative is butter smooth and the dialogue fast, intelligent, and wickedly sharp. There's not a lot to complain about here if you're looking for a nice bit of brain candy.There are one or two aspects that kept my appreciation for Bet Me in the four star range, like the blow up at the wedding that seemed a bit out of character for Cal and Min so it sort of felt like conflict for conflict's sake instead of organic story development. So, too, a big confrontation scene at the end including both sets of parents, which went way beyond ridiculous. Who acts like that? There were a few other issues similar to those, issues that didn't bother me too much as long as I kept my tongue firmly planted in my cheek, but they did prevent me from rating the book higher.That's okay, though. It didn't keep me from downloading a few other titles by Crusie and it won't prevent me from going back and rereading this one. I enjoyed Bet Me. Very much. And it was just the fun, light romance that I desperately needed when I needed it.Originally reviewed for One Good Book Deserves Another.

Amazing, sweet, just amazing!!! Such a cute and witty romcom!Loved the writing (even the bits that are a bit silly plots) and how the characters move like real people! Love how we get to hear about what’s happening around the main characters that also drives the story! (Love the bonkeredness of some of the “side stories”).Love how he falls for her and it isn’t about how she looks or her size (though he’s into how she looks, it doesn’t feel like it would be differently described if she was thin like how it can sometimes be in other books), it feels like he falls for her as a person how ppl normally do. Love how even though he’s described as handsome and “ladies man” it isn’t in an overt “alpha dude” way, he feels like a regular person too!Love the side character dynamics!This was just a really nice, cozy read!!Some triggers to disordered eating, fatfobia from family members and internalized fatfobia.

Loved everything about it! Found myself smiling non-stop and couldn't wait to get out of work to finish it! Can't wait for the next book!

Character descriptions and development was weak. Good and fun banter but I felt it lacked punch and needed a bit more depth.