*ARC* The Wager - Review

The Wager (The Bet #2)

By: Rachel Van Dyken

Published: October 1, 2013 by Forever

256 pages

Source: Netgalley ARC, from publisher (Thanks!)

(Goodreads / Amazon $.99 / Book Depository)

Summary:

Lose a bet, lose your heart...

What is it about a junior-high crush that can send an otherwise intelligent woman into a tailspin? TV reporter Char Lynn wishes she knew. Jake Titus is too rich, too handsome, too arrogant: a trifecta that once lured Char into the best night-and worst morning-after-of her life. Now they've been thrown together in a wedding party. It's awkward, but survivable . . . until Jake stops acting like a jerk, and starts acting like the man she'd always hoped he could be.

If watching your brother marry your best friend is weird, being attracted to your best friend's other best friend is downright bizarre. Unfortunately for Jake, Char hasn't forgotten how he once tossed her aside. Worse still, Jake's already-nutty grandma is even crazier about Char. Cue meet-cute shenanigans and all manner of meddling, and somehow, Jake's falling. For Char. Now all he has to do is make her believe it . . .

MY REVIEW:
The Bet series follows 2 brothers, Travis and Jake Titus. Both extremely wealthy, coming from a family of incredibly successful business owners, they are also both flawed. Jake the most, because of his playboy ways. Once he was in high school and realized the power he had over women with not only his looks and charm but his money also, he decided one woman wasn't enough for him and thus started down the path of many one-night stands. Commitment is not something that Jake knows much about or cares to ever know. He likes playing the field, living for the next pleasure. Basically this lifestyle has given him not only a reputation of being a hot bachelor that many women (arguably trashy women) want a piece of, but he's also earned the reputation of a being a Class A jerk. {He was Jake Titus, for crying out loud. When he passed mirrors they got jealous if he didn't look at least once.} It his defense mechanism so as to avoid getting his heart broken. In his mind no commitment equals heart intact.

Char grew up around the Titus brothers, being best friends with Kacey, who was very close to them. She has always had a crush on Jake, even allowed herself to fall in love with him despite knowing his reputation and that only left her with a broken heart a year ago. She just hasn't seemed to move on from her feelings for him. {Char wanted love, excitement, a hero, a best friend.} And now she's thrust into a two week long relationship with him as she is the maid of honor and he the best man in his brother's wedding and they are having to work together to fulfill their duties in the wedding preparation.

Grandma Nadine knows whats best for her grandsons, whether they see it slapping them right in the face or not. She has no troubles at all intervening for their own good and yet again becomes the star character in this book. Her ways are unconventional and extreme but she has a knack for helping others see what's right in front of them. {...most of Grandma's plans involved pain, humiliation, manipulation..."}

This series of books aren't deeply emotional. But they are very entertaining. If you want a feel good, funny, sexy, fast read, then you'll enjoy this one!

Favorite Quotes:
Karma: It was finally coming for him. And it was in the form of an eighty-six year old woman with lipstick on her teeth.

Even if he wasn't a real celebrity, he still attracted women like rats to cheese.

Never forget that if it's not worth fighting for, it's not worth having.

"Because the very essence of you is what I crave."

Final Rating - 4 stars

This post is part of the ARC Thursday feature on Words Fueled by Love.