Friday, April 26, 2013

REVIEW: THE BET BY RACHEL VAN DYKEN

"I have a proposition for you..."
Kacey should have run the minute those words left Seattle millionaire Jake Titus's mouth. Instead, she made a deal with the devil in hopes of putting her past behind her once and for all.
Four days.
She could do four days!
But she wasn't counting on Jake’s older brother Travis being there to witness their farce of an engagement.
One thing is for certain.
One brother is right for her.
One wants a lifetime.
And one is in league with the devil.
She should have gotten Jake’s signature in blood.


Kindle Edition, 240 pages
Published March 26th 2013


Where to Find The Bet: 

Where to Find Rachel Van Dyken: 

***3.5 Stars***

This is the perfect book to read after you've experienced what Courtney and I call a "book hangover" (those books that linger with you and won't let you go)...here's why:

1) The grandmother. She's is hilarious. I've established on almost every review, I think, that I'm a huge fan of strong female leads. In this book, she's it. She has the wisdom of her years, she has no problem saying what's on her mind, and she's not afraid to manipulate situations to her benefit. She totally steals every scene she's in and I found myself eagerly waiting for her to show up and give her two cents on things.

2) The brothers. Their sibling rivalry was not quite what I expected--in a good way. There was the resentment that most siblings feel toward each other...you know, the one where you see the shortcomings of your sibling but you feel like no one else does?. It wasn't too intense, almost a friendly sibling rivalry if that even makes sense. It was this rivalry that started the race to when over Kacey's affections, and thus the bet, to begin with. They were funny and warm and evenly matched in their jabs at each other.

3) Kacey. She seemed like the perfect girl next door heroine. She had no idea how beautiful she is, no idea that she's the object of Travis's affections, she's also hard working, insecure about relationships, and in need of some help--hence her need to the situation she agrees to with Jake, the guy who jilted her and her former best friend. In addition to all of this, she was funny. I loved her interior running commentary about all of the things going on around her. 

If you need a funny, light read to erase a 'book hangover', I promise you this is a superb choice!



**4 Stars**

After reading the blurb for The Bet I honestly had no idea what to expect, but being a huge Rachel Van Dyken fan I knew I had to read it ASAP! Never in a million years did I expect it to be a romantic comedy. And trust me, Shelley is right, we definitely were in need of something to pull us out of our book hangover, and this came at exactly the perfect moment! 

1) Grandma Nadine. She was a freaking hoot. You never knew what was going to come out of her mouth and the scenes with her going over to the neighbors house just made me laugh so hard. If there is anything grandchildren do not want to know, it's that their 70+ grandparent is still "active." Their mortification was priceless. On the other hand though, she totally played them. Jake, Travis, and Kacey all thought that they were forging their path and having to go it alone a lot of the time, but really Grandma was always one step ahead of them. She is now the official reason I recommend this book. I hope I have as much spunk as her when I am her age! 

2) Travis and Jake. Having read Rachel's Seaside series (I LOVE IT, GO READ IT!) I had a feel for how she does love triangles involving siblings. This was nowhere near as heavy as Alec and Dimitri's issues, but it was still a lot of fun seeing them rediscover their relationship with each other as well as navigating their feelings for Kacey. Jake...oh how I wanted to smack him upside his beautiful blonde head. He definitely had some growing up to do, and needed Grandma to re-teach him a lesson on how to treat women, but that journey as well as navigating where he went wrong with Kacey was a sweet thing to read. Travis...poor guy. He started out as a little boy having a crush on Kacey doing that "I'm mean to you because I like you" thing. Problem was that she never got the memo that he didn't hate her. His part of this story was a lot different than Jake's but, well, I was 90% rooting for him. When you get to the scene with the eggs...you will probably laugh yourself silly like I did. 

3) Kacey. Poor girl has not had an easy few years. And Jake hasn't made them any easier, whatsoever. That she agreed to his hair-brained scheme at all was a miracle, but doing it for Grandma made it an offer she couldn't refuse. I thoroughly enjoyed her giving the guys hell, but also liked her journey to finding herself and what she really wanted. She never wanted to be away from the only "family" she had left, and circumstances, ahem* Jake, made her think that she couldn't. She was funny, and her insecurities were not a turnoff for this story, which was nice. Her character felt genuine. 

The Bet is perfect for a vacation or lazy day read, or like we've said, pulling you out of that love/hate relationship we all have with book hangovers. It was fun, quick, and made me laugh. 

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