Author Groupies: Review of The Wager by Rachel Van Dyken

The Wager

Rachel Van Dyken

The Bet Series Book 2

Rating: 4 Groupie Stars!!

Buy NOW:

The Bet, Book 1: Amazon Link

The Wager, Book 2: Amazon Link

SYNOPSIS:

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 . .

REVIEW:

My first thought about this book is I LOVE GRANDMA NADINE, and I so need a Grandma Nadine in my life.

Grandma smiled brightly, "How lovely! It seems your whore arrived."

"Excuse me?" (Aileen aka the whore)

"Sweetheart, I'm the one with hearing aids, not you. I called you a whore. Would you like me to spell it for you, too?" "W-H-O-R-E"

This book made me laugh A LOT and it also made me cry, but I loved every minute of it. I was already a fan of Rachel Van Dyken after The BET and was looking forward to Jake Titus getting his story and finding love. This series keeps getting better, and I can not wait for the next installment! I love that we also got more of Kacey and Travis in this book, we even got a few chapters in their point of view. I loved that Grandma FORCED Travis and Kacey not to have any "relations" or "charades" in the weeks before their wedding. Their wedding takes place in this book and it is very emotional and beautiful.

Now on to the main story, Jake and Char's story. Char is a news reporter, who's career isn't where she wants it to be. Char has been in love with Jake since she met him but now hates his because he broke

her heart not once but twice. The first time he broke her heart was at summer camp in middle school when her didn't standup her when another girl was making fun of her. Jake is a manwh**e and goes through women very quickly never getting emotionally attached. A year before Jake and Char see each other and it ends in a drunken one night stand with Jake leaving a thank you note on a pillow for Char in the morning, this is the second time he broke her heart. Fast Forward a year and that's where the story begins on a plane. Char and her sister Beth are on their way back from a mini vacation and Jake and Grandma are on their way back from Travis and Kacey's engagement party. Char is not happy to see Jake and decides to throw a cup of water on his lap and yell that he peed his pants and needs a towel. Some how this leads to talks about bombs, being zip tied, and a peanut allergy reaction. Grandma seeing the interaction between Jake and Char decides to play secret match maker. Grandma also makes a WAGER with Travis and Kacey that Jake and Char will be together by the wedding, and if she wins she gets to sing at their wedding. The things Grandma does to "force" these to together are both sweet and hilarious. You really get to learn more about Jake and why he is the way he is, and I definitely fell have for him right along with Char. I loved Char and her sweet but feisty personality. There is so much fire between Jake and Char, both in arguments and sexually. You cannot help but root for them to find each other and a HEA. Both characters grow so much throughout the book to be better, stronger people, especially Jake. He realizes what he is missing in his life and that is Char.

He’d never tire of her, ever. Maybe his Grandma knew him better than he knew himself. After all, it had taken a hell of a lot of plotting for him to pull his head out of his ass, and he knew, sooner or later, he’d have to thank Grandma all over again for her manipulative ways.

“I love you… I am in love with you.I want everything with you, all of you…”

“I’d miss you—if I’d never met you, I’d still miss you, because I’d know there was some part of me that wasn’t present.”

LOVED this book and cant wait for the next book in the series, the epilogue does a great job of setting up the third book in the series!