I CAN’T STOP SCREAMING ABOUT HOW CUTE THIS BOOK WAS. Easily my favorite contemporary romance I’ve read this year. I devoured it in under 24 hours and literally laughed out loud every time I sat down to read it.

Hallie and Jack have a one night stand and end up reconnecting on a dating app. The my decide to be each others wingman and the banter between these two is phenomenal! If you liked Josh & Hazels Guide to Not Dating even a little bit, I can promise you will LOVE this.

Yes, it talks about sex, one night stands, and getting railed (hahahaha inside joke). But the scenes are mostly fade to black or not very descriptive. So you can for sure recommend this to someone at church and not feel guilty about it.

Thank you NetGalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

Yesterday was the release date of The Love Wager by @lynnpainterkirkle and I'd like to thank her, @netgalley and @berkleyromance for the gifted ARC in exchange of an honest review.

The Love Wager was so much fun! Hallie and Jack are hilarious! I loved how they went from strangers to friends then lovers in a believable progression. Their text messages to each other, their wager to see who would find love first, their disastrous dates ( I'm still laughing about the twins! iykyk) and the fact that they could always count on meeting later for tacos when things went south, how they slowly realized what was in front of them the entire time.

If you're looking for a quick, delightful read, with a lot of banter, pinning, fake dating (my favorite part!!!!), and characters that will get you laughing out loud, swooning, and smiling like a fool, look no further: this is definitely it.

This is the very first book I read by Lynn Painter and I'm now a fan. Although The Love Wager can be read as a standalone, it is actually the sequel to Mr. Wrong Number, which I had no idea. lol But I've just bought the ebook to start reading it soon.

By the way, there's only ONE bed. 😉 You're welcome. Grab your copy now.

I loved so many things about this book! Here’s a few:

💕The banter between Jack and Hallie- I was hooked!
💕The bad dates they went on that ended in the two of them getting tacos together (if you read it- I’m with Hallie on Team Cheese on the Bottom of the Taco!)
💕Chicago Cubs 2016 team signed the baseball she uses as her collateral for the wager (I’m probably the only reader who felt bad for the guy she stole it from-as a Cubs fan I know this ball is a big deal!)
💕Strangers to best friends to lovers
💕Fake dating! Loved when they kept trying to “one up” each other!
💕Literally laughed out loud- and it’s hard to get me to actually laugh out loud! Like almost impossible!

In short, a fantastic read that I highly recommend! Can’t wait to read other books by this author!

I read Mr Wrong Number before this one and didn’t love it. So I was worried I wouldn’t love this one, but I loved it so much more! I think she has a super unique writing style that takes some getting used to. You’re not going to get a heavy story with an ending that wraps up nicely. You’re going to get tons of tropes that make up the story, and a super open ending where nothing wraps up. You’ll also want to throw all of the characters into therapy afterwards. I just find the love story in this book hard to believe. It didn’t feel natural, and I feel like it was an unhealthy relationship. But who am I to judge that? The writing was great, story not my favorite.

Omg I loved this book so much! Definitely one of my new favorite romances! The banter was hilarious and I couldn’t get enough of Jack and Hallie! Another ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ book from Lynn Painter! 10/10 recommend!

𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗟𝗢𝗩𝗘 𝗪𝗔𝗚𝗘𝗥 is the first book that I’ve read by Lynn Painter and I enjoyed it very much. This is a quick, lighthearted rom-com with great characters who you’ll definitely root for.

𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗟𝗢𝗩𝗘 𝗪𝗔𝗚𝗘𝗥 is perfect for those who enjoy:

💕Friends-to-lovers
💕Witty banter
💕Online dating
💕Fake dating

You should definitely prepare yourself for a taco 🌮 craving while reading this one! 🤣

BOOK REVIEW- ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

My thoughts: Thank you so much to @netgalley, @berkleyromance, @berkleypub, and @lynnpainterkirkle for an advance copy of The Love Wager in exchange for an honest review. Oh Hallie & Jack, you two have my whole heart. Everything about their story, their banter, their friendship, etc gave me all the feels and truly had me cheesing throughout the whole book. I adored this story and cannot wait to read more of this authors work! I don’t want to ruin any of the story but I will say, for all my rom com (and taco lovers) this one is for you! Pick this up on 3/14- I promise you won’t regret it!

Rating: 4.5

Hallie Piper and Jack Marshall are one of my top romance couples of 2023. I've loved Lynn's previous books and I will read anything by her. The Love Wager is definitely one of my top romance books of the year. The story kicks off in such a hilarious way that I was hooked from the start. They had so much chemistry right off the bat as one night stands to friends to trying to be more. Their banter via text was so fun to read and seeing them try to find their soulmate when they both knew they already had found their person in each other. They had the sweetest epilogue as well. I'll be telling all my friends to read this one!

Many thanks to Berkley Romance and Netgalley for the eARC of The Love Wager in exchange for my honest review.

Hallie Piper is determined to make better decisions for her life. A one-night stand turned into much more once she started to take control of her life. She has even logged into a new dating app where she hopes to find her soulmate. The one-night stand she had was with Jack Marshall, and they both are now on the same dating app, and have promised not to date each other, but they stay in contact via text where they will each share their progress.

They even make a sweet wager as to which of them will find true love first, and they set a prize for the winner. However, with Hallie’s sisters wedding coming up, and agreeing to be fake dates for that wedding, things quickly change. Fake dating is not working for them.

The Love Wager follows Mr. Wrong Number where Jack was a secondary character. In fact, Jack is Olivia Marshall’s brother from the first book in the series. I enjoyed both books, and the continuity was quite smooth, and it was quite enjoyable how the sharing of many text messages rather improved the communication with each couple in these first two books in the series.

Many thanks to Berkley and to NetGalley for this ARC for review. This is my honest opinion.

After getting dumped by her long-time boyfriend and having an embarrassing one-night stand, Hallie decides to get her life together and join a dating app in the hopes of finding a date to her sister’s upcoming wedding. But, lo and behold, one of her first matches on the app is her one-night stand, Jack, who is Olivia’s brother and Colin’s best friend from Mr. Wrong Number. After deciding that they have no interest in dating each other, Jack and Hallie decide to place a wager on who can find “the one” first. Whilst Jack and Hallie bond over tacos after every bad date (which happens more often than not), they start to wonder if “the one” has been right in front of them all along. The line between friends and lovers starts to blur after Hallie enlists Jack to be her “fake” date to her sister’s wedding.

The Love Wager is interconnected with the first book in the series, Mr. Wrong Number, but can also be read as a standalone, and it’s a delightful contemporary rom-com told from a dual point of view. The fake dating reminded me of The Spanish Love Deception by Elena Armas and the friends-to-lovers romance was reminiscent of People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry, so if you’re a fan of either of these novels or tropes, you should definitely check out The Love Wager! Themes present include love and heartbreak, family, fate versus freewill, growing up, communication or lack thereof, commitment, and death. I think that the “Don’t you think the possibilities of love are worth the risk?” from the book nicely highlights the moral of Jack and Hallie’s story.

When I started this book, I didn’t know that Olivia and Colin (from Mr. Wrong Number) would make appearances in The Love Wager, so that was a nice surprise! Comparing the two, I actually seemed to enjoy this book more as Hallie and Jack’s “love wager” was easy to be intrigued by and you become invested rather quickly! It was also easy to read and get into since it flowed nicely, the plot was engaging, and the page count wasn’t overly long. Without spoiling too much, my personal favourite parts were Jack and Hallie’s laugh out loud texting banter and their “fake” romance during Hallie’s sister’s wedding in Vail, Colorado, plus who can ignore the inclusion of the swoonworthy “guy falls first” trope!

On a slight downside, a fair amount of the plot was set at a wedding (Jack and Hallie meet at Olivia’s wedding and Jack and Hallie’s “fake” relationship takes place at Hallie’s sister’s wedding); so, if you’re not a fan of weddings, then The Love Wager might not be for you.

Overall, The Love Wager was an enjoyable read and perfect for fans of books with the friends-to-lovers, fake dating, or “he falls first” tropes.

Happy pub day to The Love Wager by @lynnpainterkirkle. I’m so grateful to @prhaudio for the free audiobook so I could listen while I wait for my preorder to arrive!

I will read anything Lynn Painter writes and can pretty much guarantee I’ll love it. The Love Wager is no exception. Bartender (among other jobs) Hallie Piper decides to turn over a new leaf after belly crawling out of the hotel room of a one-night stand from a wedding she worked. The guy is Jack Marshall (Olivia’s brother from Mr. Wrong Number and while it isn’t necessary to read that one first I can’t think of a single reason why you wouldn’t want to—and this book does have Olivia and Colin cameos). Of course the two run into each other again, and of course they make a “love wager” (hence the title!) on which of them can find lasting love first (hint: they think it won’t be with each other). Hijinks like speed dating ensue, and it’s probably obvious to everyone but these two where this love wager is going.

As with any Lynn Painter book, the banter is fabulous. Both characters are insanely fun and there are a lot of tacos. I listened to this one in practically one sitting (or technically standing since I was cleaning) because I couldn’t bear to part with the characters until I got my HEA. Even then it was kind of hard to leave them behind.

This book is full of great tropes. Friends to lovers. Fake dating when they decide to pretend to be a couple for a wedding. Just one bed. Because it wouldn’t be a romcom if there were two beds. And I loved every minute of it. I’d recommend this book to anyone looking for a super fun romcom.

Lynn Painter has officially become one of my favourite authors. This is the third book of hers that I’ve read this year and I am absolutely obsessed! I feel so incredibly blessed to have been able to read The Love Wager before its publication. Though it is technically a sequel to her book, Mr. Wrong Number (which I did not read and absolutely must!!), this book can be read as a stand-alone. As far as I can tell, the two books have character crossover but they follow different couples’ love journeys. While The Love Wager follows Jack and Hallie, Mr. Wrong Number follows Jack’s sister and best friend 😱 we hear a bit about them in the second book, and I definitely thought that dynamic was interesting, so I would love to read about it firsthand - and it wouldn’t hurt to learn a bit more about Jack prior to this second novel.

Lynn writes some of the CUTEST romcoms that I have ever read. Her characters and their stories have me genuinely THRILLED! Also, she writes some swoony and hilarious banter between love interests! I cannot get enough of it - ever. The Love Wager starts with a meet cute and quickly turns to a friends-to-lovers, with a fake relationship and only one bed in the mix. It has a little of all the best things! I cannot wait for the world to read this one!

𝚁𝙴𝙰𝙳 𝚃𝙷𝙸𝚂 𝙸𝙵 𝚈𝙾𝚄 𝙻𝙸𝙺𝙴/𝙻𝙾𝚅𝙴/𝚆𝙰𝙽𝚃:​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​
◾️ 🌮🌮🌮
◾️ Friends-to-lovers
◾️ One bed (forced proximity)
◾️Fake dating
​​​​◾️All the LOLs
◾️Dual POV; 3rd person
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𝙼𝚈 𝚃𝙷𝙾𝚄𝙶𝙷𝚃𝚂: I freaking love Lynn Painter so much! This is my 3rd book from her, and it would have been a 5 star if only it wasn’t written in the 3rd person. I prefer 1st person point of view in romances especially when it’s a dual POV.

The MCs Hallie and Jack were cracking me up throughout the book with their banter while also making me feel all the chemistry crackling between them! Lynn has a way of just combining the perfect amount of character buildup, spice, and plot which has her down as one of my auto-buy authors now.
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This is book #2, but can be read as a standalone since it’s just interconnected with the MCs from book #1. However, I highly recommend that you read Mr. Wrong Number first as there are some Easter eggs in The Love Wager which I always love finding in interconnected series!

Really enjoyed this Rom Com! It was light and funny and I couldn't put it down. The banter in this one was excellent as well.

I had no idea this was a sequel so I will be checking out Mr. Wrong Number soon because I loved this one so much.

Basically- two people meet at a wedding and then spend the night with each other then they wind up on the same dating app and they start discussing their dates.

This one is available today and I recommend it if you like rom-coms. I don't feel like I missed out on anything not reading Mr. Wrong Number first.

Thanks to @letstalkbookspromo @berkleypub @berkleyromance and @netgalley for a copy of this one for our buddy read!

The Love Wager by Lynn Painter – Book Review

Fans of alternating points of view, slow-burn romances, fake dating, and witty banter will enjoy Lynn Painter’s latest. The Love Wager, Painter’s follow-up to Mr. Wrong Number, employs all of these for a charming friends-to-lovers romantic comedy.

When Hallie Piper finds herself waking up from an impromptu hookup after a bartending gig, she decides it’s time to get her life together. She draws up several “adult” goals for herself, including that of finding true love. And who does she first meet on a dating app but Jack Marshall, her one-night stand?

When Hallie and Jack get to messaging, they strike up an unexpected best-friendship. They also decide to strike a wager, betting on who can find love first. The “love wager” leads to a lot of shared tacos, first-date horror stories, and friendly flirtations. And when Hallie is unable to find a date in time for a family wedding, Jack offers to step into the role of her fake-boyfriend–but their pretending leads to a lot of real feelings, and both begin to wonder: Will they be able to remain best friends once the wedding weekend is over?

A testament to Lynn Painter’s skillful romance writing, Hallie and Jack’s chemistry jumps off the page. I do think Hallie’s feelings for Jack could have used more fleshing out in writing her point of view; it was hard to get a grasp on what she was feeling about Jack except during the scenes in which they interacted. Those scenes are enough, however. Their banter is lively and sparkling, betraying their mutual attraction and providing a strong backbone for their developing romance.

Bolstering the tried-and-true romantic tropes in the novel, Painter adds to the mix strong and likable characters in Hallie and Jack, who are extremely easy to get attached to. The Love Wager lives up to Painter’s hype. It’s cute, funny, and endearingly romantic.

The Love Wager will be released today, March 14. You order the novel here. Our thanks to Netgalley and Penguin Random House for the advanced reader’s copy.

Lynn Painter writes banter like no one else. Please always write books with texts and sarcasm and one liners that make me laugh out loud while reading. I binged this book late at night while waiting for the washing machine to get done and I just kept doing the laundry. Way late into the night. It had all the best tropes. It was super low angst with no secrets and conflict that actually made some sense. I adored the friendship between Hallie and Jack and could not stop reading as they found love with each other.

4.5 Stars

I adored this book and couldn’t stop reading! From Hallie and Jack’s first encounter I was hooked. I loved their chemistry and witty banter. It was the perfect friends to lovers book filled with flirtation, sexual tension and tacos. I highly recommend!

Read if you enjoy: friends to lovers, fake dating and the one bed trope.

This was a sweet, feel-good, laugh-out-loud romance novel! I loved Hallie and Jack’s meet cute, and their chemistry felt so believable 👩‍❤️‍💋‍👨 It was refreshing to read about a non-problematic male protagonist. I absolutely adored Jack! Hallie and Jack complemented each other so well and their witty, sarcastic banter was a blast to read, especially over their endless taco meetups 🌮

This book had…
💕Fake dating
💕Dual point-of-view
💕Dating apps
💕Only one bed trope
💕Friends to lovers

I disliked the miscommunication (this seems to always happen in romance novels but it never ceases to irk me) and a somewhat predictable ending.

Overall, this was a really great read and I’d recommend it if you’re looking for some light-hearted romance! 🫶🏻

I rated it ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Read if you like: friends to lovers, fake boyfriend, one bed trope.
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This book was so cute and just what I needed! I loved the chemistry between Hallie and Jack. Both are on a journey to find love, so to encourage each other, they make a bet on who is going to find true love first. But the more time they spend together, the more they realize that they might have already found it.
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This had so many great tropes in it and the plot was fast paced enough to keep me engaged the whole time! If you’re looking for a great feel good romance then this is it!
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Thank you Berkley Publishing and Netgalley for the gifted copy.

Lynn Painter provides the perfect rom-com escape in The Love Wager, a trope-driven romance that will remind readers why they love the genre as they laugh themselves to tears. Hallie and Jack hit it off while she's tending bar at his sister's wedding and they spend a passionate night together before she sneaks out the next morning. That night kicks off a fresh start for Hallie, but when she spots Jack's profile on a dating app, she sends him a purely friendl message. After commiserating about the dating scene, they agree to wing-person for each other and as extra motivation to keep slogging through the dating mire, Jack and Hallie make a bet--whoever falls in love first gets an amazing prize.
With humor and charm, Painter cleverly reveals her characters' compatibility as they go on many failed dates, provide support and generally have a good time together. By the time Jack agrees to go with Hallie to her sister's wedding as her fake boyfriend, readers will be itching for the two to finally figure it out. Painter builds a foundation of friendship under the characters' immediate physical chemistry and while their pent-up attraction does bubble over into a couple of open-door scenes, the focus is always on how Hallie and Jack make each other--and readers--laugh. As Jack and Hallie find their happily ever after, readers will feel like they won The Love Wager.
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Reviewed for Shelf Awareness. An edited version of this review will run there around release date.