by Jennifer Crusie

“Look, Mother, I am never going to be thin. I’m Norwegian. If you wanted a thin daughter, you should not have married a man whose female ancestors carried cows home from the pasture.”

I Enjoyed this very much. I definitely will be revisiting this talented author again soon. I do remember really liking Jennifer Crusie years ago, especially Welcome to Temptation. I think I got off her when she started writing with another author. I thought I had tried Bet Me before, but on this reading, nothing rang a bell! It was so good, I know I would remember it. I loved her humor and wit. The hero and heroine were both very likable, with a lot of baggage that made them the way they were. It added a lot of depth to the characterizations. I loved their friends. The conflict with their semi-horrible and horrible parents added tension and emotional involvement. I loved the way they stood up for each other and championed each other in the face of their emotional abuse.

“Look, I don’t mind you grilling me about what I do for a living,” Cal said. “Your daughter’s brought me home and that has some significance. And I don’t mind your wife asking about my personal life for the same reason. But Min is an amazing woman, and so far during this meal, you’ve either ignored her or hassled her about some dumb dress. For the record, she is not too big for the dress. The dress is too small for her. She’s perfect.” Cal buttered a roll and passed it over to Min. “Eat.”

And the epilogue was perfection.

The trajectory of the romance got a little stalled in the middle, but there were enough laughs and subplots to keep it interesting and entertaining. Bet Me is on a lot of lists of best Romantic Comedies written, and it fully deserves, 15 years later, to be considered a “classic” in the field. So many of the popular romance authors writing today pale in comparison. 

March 3, 2019