3.5 STAR REVIEW The Bet by Rachel Van Dyken

3.5 Stars!

The Bet is a cute story about two childhood best friends who have an unusual type of romance. Unusual is the key word. I read the book with a couple of hours and could not put it down. I just had to know which brother Kacey ends up with. I really wasn’t sure… you have the fairy tale of the best friend since childhood and ending up HEA together or the brother who hide his real feelings from her for years but truly loved her from afar... all possible great endings. Jake and Kacey have a great friendship, they know everything about each other, and Kacey is part of Jake’s family who his family adores. In high school the two begin dating but it’s not an “I love you forever” type romance. In college Jake and Kacey sleep together only Jake leaves without a word and their friendship comes to an end. Kacey is absolutely devastated, she loved Jake and he left her right after she lost her virginity to him with no explanation. Two years go by and Jake is now a successful, rich business man who sleeps his way from stripper to stripper. Kacey is still hurt more than ever over Jake and has not moved on. Suddenly, Jake reappears in Kacey’s life offering to pay off her college loans if she pretends to be his fiancé’ in hopes to get his playboy image off the magazine covers to help his company. All she has to do is return to their hometown and stay the weekend at his parent’s house. Problem is, besides the obvious history between Jake & Kacey is Travis, Jake’s older brother. Kacey always called Travis Satan, he tormented her, teased her, threw rocks at her until suddenly he just started to completely ignore her, problem is Travis has always been in love with her too. I was instantly a Travis fan; I did not enjoy Jake at all. I hated how he played with Kacey’s emotions and dragged her along for years and years. Once they went back to their hometown and he brought his “girlfriend” along for a booty call I knew Jake was not going to win Kacey’s heart and be the man she deserves. Jake, ugh grow up! I hate men like you! The real winner of the book, besides Travis of course is their Grandmother. I totally was picturing Betty White in this role; the grandmother was hilarious and stole every scene she was in. I enjoyed it reading The Bet and would recommend the read, especially for only 99 cents. I thought some of the story didn’t really make sense and left a few holes. I would have liked a little more focus on why Jake was the way he is, especially towards Kacey and for her to call him out on it a bit more and figure out why he left her and stopped talking to her after they had sex. Travis stole my heart, especially after reading the scene of Kacey watching the old family movies and his Christmas present to her she never knew about…. So precious! I give The Bet 3.5 Stars

#35stars #review #bestfriends #adultcontemporary