The Bet by Rachel Van Dyken

4 Stars

Because of you Kace. Everything I do, everything I’ve done in my life, it’s all because of you.

The Bet is a quick, light, no-fuss, no-muss, light tension kind of read. If you are in that kind of mood, then it does its job!

Kacey and Jake were childhood best friends. Jake and Travis are brothers and Travis is older by 2 years. Jake asks Kacey to spend a weekend with him and his family and pretend to be engaged so Jake’s sick grandmother can be happy and pull through with her health.

The fake engagement also benefits Jake on a business standpoint because it makes him look more grown up and less like the play-boy figure he presents himself as. Kacey agrees when Jake offers to pay off Kacey’s school debt, even though she loves the family, she isn’t fond of Travis.

I didn’t read the blurb prior to reading, but The Bet was new and I saw positive reviews so I decided to jump right in.

To be honest if I did read the blurb I probably wouldn’t have read because I am not fond of stories where the love triangle is between the Heroine and two brothers. However, there’s a clear villain and Hero towards the middle part of the book, which I like. I need a bad guy people!

The Bet is a very short and a light read. If you just finished reading a long dramatic book and need something happy and easy, I would suggest this book, because sometimes you just need giggle and smiles, not pull-your-hair-out reads all the time. I cherish my reads.

I liked Kacey, even though she can be off-putting at times. There are no flash backs, but plenty of past stories are retold (something I like), so when Kacey kind of explains some of the stuff she has put up with in the past, I was kind of thinking really? You put up with this? Why? But we need our flawed Heroines right? Overall, her character is likeable!

Jake and Travis each have their own hiccups. Sometimes I wanted to slap Jake in the face and sometimes I thought Travis was kind of emasculating, however and as said before, there’s a clear winner. So YAY!!!

The story is told within a 3-4 day span, which you would think it would drag out, but not really. The writing flow is pretty fast-pace and there are plenty of laugh out loud moments (and yes, I did laugh out loud at many moments).

So, if you need something quick and light, read The Bet