Thank you @berkleypub for the free book and @prhaudio for the audio version as well. My thoughts are my own.
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GENRE: RomCom
PUBLISHER: Berkley
DATE RELEASED: 3/14/23
320 pages
7h 1 m
Narrated by: Kristen DiMercurio & Zachary Webber

SUPER SHORT SYNOPSIS: After a one-night stand Hallie and Jack become best friends and they make a wager about who can find REAL love first. The story becomes hilarious as they often choose to date at the same restaurants and then meet afterwards to commiserate about how hard it is to find the “right one”! I especially enjoyed the speed dating and later, when they became a “fake couple” for a weekend wedding!
 
MY THOUGHTS:
This is a light-hearted friends-to-lovers troupe with good character development, an amusing plot, and lots of good-natured banter. It is a fairly quick read; I read it in one night. I also checked out the audio version and it was particularly enjoyable with Kristen DiMercurio and Zachary Webber bringing the characters to life.

This cute book would make a great rom-com movie!

Add this one to your summer beach reads if you enjoy:
*fake dating
*strangers-to-friends-to-lovers
*likable characters
*witty banter
*some spice

The Love Wager is a one night stand-to friends- to fake dating- to lovers romance. The novel starts with Hallie Piper, the protagonist having a one night stand. After Hallie decides she wants to get her life together, she finds herself on a dating app and ends up matching with Jack, the man she had a one night stand with. Hallie and Jack become friends and make wagers on who will find their one true love first. Not so spoiler alert: they are each other's one true love.

I really enjoyed The Love Wager. As the first sentence of my review might have revealed, this book has tons of common romance tropes. In my opinion, they were done well. This story is fun, funny, and entertaining. The characters were very likable. As Hallie and Jack dated other people, I was 100% rooting for them to get together and that’s proof that this story was successful (in my opinion).

There were some phrases that got used a lot that were an inside joke between the characters. It got a little repetitive, but it wasn’t too terrible.

I will definitely be going back to read the first book in this series and I’ll be looking out for Painter’s next romance release!

After a one night stand with the attractive groomsman from the wedding she was a bartender for, Hallie Piper decides to change her ways. She quits her part-time gigs and joins a dating app to find true love. But her first match just so happens to be Jack, the handsome groomsman. The two ultimately decide to be each other's wing people in their quest to find true love, and even make a bet on it. The journey brings the two close together - they are becoming best friends and denying their attraction to one another is getting harder. So who will blink first? The book is a fun and easy read you will find yourself sucked into right from the beginning!

3.5 Missed Out Stars
I missed out on the first book, Mr. Wrong Number! This is the follow-up, which has the premise of two people who have "an experience" together...doesn't go so well, and decide separately to go on a dating app to have a fresh start in the world of dating. Surprise, they are a perfect match for each other.

Both decide to "be friends", help with the dating experience and end up in the end...a perfect match for each other....but will they see that...

I will read anything Lynn Painter writes because she is queen of the rom-com and funny situations. Highly highly recommend.

This one didn't work for me! I enjoyed Better Than the Movies, so I was excited to find another Lynn Painter romance with a killer premise. The Love Wager is fast-paced, Christina Lauren-esque, and it has a *lot* of texting between the MCs, which I LOVE. But overall, the book reminded me most of The Hating Game, just without all the....hating? There's a lot of "she's sooooo tiny" (derogative), some frustrating (and unnecessary) miscommunication between the MCs, and the dialogue often reads in a way that is both awkward and cringe-inducing. I'm not sure if I'll give Painter another try, but I'm nonetheless grateful to have received this ARC!

I am so picky when it comes to rom-coms. I usually get bored or something falls flat, but this is certainly not the case with this adorable series! It has the perfect amount of humor, tropes, and warm & fuzzies. And the banter!! The banter *has* to give in order for me to completely swoon.

My personal favorite in the series is Mr. Wrong Number (how can you not love a modern-day You've Got Mail story) ugh SO GOOD! Not to mention the enemies-to-lovers (which can be so hard for me to believe in a rom-com) was perfect. And who can resist a forced proximity brother's best friend!? I sure can't!! Anyways, it's amazing.

The Love Wager was equally adorable. Friends-to-lovers can be another hard trope to convey because a lot of the time communication can come into play, but for me, it really worked!

This is the perfect series if you're looking for a fun adult rom-com without too much spice (I want to say there are 2 open door scenes in both and do not go into heavy detail)

This was my first Lynn Painter book and I really enjoyed it!

The Love Wager revolves around Hallie and Jack, two strangers (besides one brief encounter..), that have a terrible time dating. Separately, they decide to get on a dating app, and guess who they find (I will let you guess). They become quick friends and decide to help each other. They schedule lots of blind dates at the same restaurant so they can save each other when things go south. The longer they hang out, the harder it is to deny their true feelings and line soon become blurred.

What a sweet and funny book. Hallie and Jack were great main characters. Their banter had me laughing out loud.

My only issue with the book was that I didn't really understand they why. The reasoning for some the Hallie and Jacks decisions were mentioned but I wish we would have gotten a deeper dive into the reasoning. Truly, I feel like this book could have been 50 pages longer and it would have been perfect!

I’m new to Lynn Painter but loved Mr. Wrong Number so I had to check this one out. Good thing I did because this one was even better! Such a great story with lovable characters. Can’t wait to read more from this author!

The whole concept of this book was adorable. There were so many tropes in this one, done to perfection. I fell in love with the whole book almost immediately.

I love the way Hallie and Jack met, it was cute and funny at the same time. I enjoyed that we got both of their points of view it helped build on emotions. The banter between the characters was stunning.

Overall, this was a sweet, charming, funny, engaging read, that left me wanting more. This was the first book I’ve read by this author and I can’t wait to read more!

a fast-paced, witty rom-com following hallie and jack, who, after a drunken one-night stand, decide to place a bet on who can find love on a dating app first. with fake dating, the one-bed trope, and great chemistry between the characters - this was a great romance! looking forward to whatever lynn painter writes next.

After an ill-fated one-night stand at a wedding, Hallie and Jack connect again months later on a dating app. Both are trying to get their lives back in order, so they wager a bet over who's going to find true love first. Through many taco dates and some fake dating, Hallie and Jack soon realize that who they were looking for might have been right in front of them the entire time.

Hallie and Jack's chemistry was fantastic the entire book. I loved how their friendship helped each other heal their wounds and believe in love again. I was rooting for them the entire time. Plus, I was hungry constantly, because...tacos.

I listened to the audiobook, which had dual narrators. They were both fantastic and kept me listening to hear what would happen next between the pair. It's a quick listen, running 7 hours.

If anyone can make me love a friends to lovers trop, it's Lynn Painter. The Love Wager had me hooked from the very first lines. It has amazing dialogue, witty banter, and laugh out loud comebacks. I loved the group text messages and Hallie's quirky roommate. The cat cameos were everything. This one was just pure fun to read!

Loved it!! Ended up buying the hard copy I loved it so much!! I have a few of Painters books but I haven’t read them. Absolutely picking up her others after reading this one…the banter in it was fantastic and I highlighted and tabbed so much!

overall 5.0 I loved this romance pick! Loved the banter and dynamics between Hallie and Jack. Friends to lovers, fake relationship, one bed, etc. I loved it all!

Such a fun rom-com. This kept me entertained from start to finish. Loved the chemistry and this trope is my fave! Well done!

I was a bit hesitant about reading Lynn Painter's newest book, The Love Wager. I was disappointed by her previous adult romance book, so I was kind of nervous reading this one.

The Love Wager was a bit surprising for me. I truly enjoy reading it. Did I expect it to knock my socks off? No, I did not. I kind of expected to like it or dislike it. And surprisingly, I enjoy reading it. It had the potential to be a great romance, but it fell flat. I don’t know how to explain it. But let’s talk about the cuteness of this book. 

I genuinely enjoy reading about Hallie and Jack's friendship with each other. Yes, they may have hooked up in the beginning, but they are becoming close friends with each other. May it lead to disaster when they spend more time with each other? Yes, it will. And it will be entertaining to read. Close friends always become something else, you can’t deny it.

I have been loving my rom-com's lately and Lynn Painter does such a great job of building characters and creating the TENSION. I look forward to reading her next book!

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an arc for an honest review!!

I adored The Love Wager! The characters were so lovable and I found it to be such a quick and entertaining storyline. Looking forward to reading more Lynn Painter in the future!

Love a fake dating trope!

God I love a friends to lovers trope! Especially best friend ones!! I loved Lynn's "Mr. Wrong Number" and "The Love Wager" was no different!

Loved Mr. wrong Number and was excited for this story based off Jack. Lynn’s books are such quick reads and so hard to put down. The characters are so quirky and I absolutely loved the banter between Jack and Hallie. The banter between the characters is what makes her books so much fun to read.