I liked that we got to know these characters in the first smokejumpers books. This can be read as a standalone, but I think with it being a friend to lovers’ trope it is best to read them in order. The spice was there but the banter was not as good as the first book, although they had good chemistry. They had deeper conversations and I loved the road trip they did together. I loved Kayla in the first book and in this one just as much. Her confidence to sit down with Tony’s exes as he talks about the past relationships is something I would never be able to do myself. I liked how the events towards the end and really helped shape their relationship. While friends to lovers isn’t my favorite romance trope, I still enjoyed this one.

Thank you @entangled_publishing and @netgalley for the gifted copy.

Um, yes, hi, hello, Tony and Kayla are the cutest? They're also the dumbest (Tony) and I loved them for it because they were both had so much baggage that they couldn't get past and it both hurt my heart and made me adore them that much more.

This book was tender, it was funny, it was honest, and it was just absolutely delightful. From lovers to friends to friends with benefits, Tony and Kayla had quite a history and watching them deal with that over the course of a road trip was both hilarious and heartwarming because it was a lot to cover and there was no room to escape and then a dog got involved and it was even better.

This is a lot of rambling but just know that I adored this book (even if it was a bit long like its predecessor) and I absolutely fell in love with Kayla and Tony and I loved the moments we got with Willa and Grady and, while I wish there had been more time with Aislinn, I'm hoping to see more of her in the future. This book was a sweet and fun follow-up to The Two-Date Rule and I can't wait for the next in this series.

Tony and Kayla had a short term romance but it didn't work out so they decided to be best friends. Kayla is a photographer and Tony is a smokejumper who is away fighting fires for lots of days during fire season. Kayla is looking for love and marriage and knows that Tony, who dates lots of women all for short periods of time is not the man for her. Both decide that they are bad at love and that Tony is a commitment-phobe.. When she takes a trip to photograph old forest burn sites, Tony goes with her. They decide that they should meet some of Tony's old girlfriends to see how they remember him - was he a bad boyfriend or did he just not want to get in a committed relationship. The more time that the best friends spend together, the more that the spark between them grows. By the end of the story, we know if both of them are bad at love or if there is a committed relationship in their future.

I really liked Kayla in this story - she had a great career and worked hard to be a success. Tony wasn't my favorite character at the beginning but once I learned about his childhood, he became much more likable and I could picture the two of the together.

This is a cute romance with lots of passion and some lighter moments to balance it out.

Second chance and best friends to lovers wrapped into one! Tony and Kayla embark on a journey to settle the bet about his copious amount of exes and why. The photos, the dog, the banter, the chemistry are all things that made me love this book and not want to put it down.

I liked it, and the steamy scenes were definitely steamy. But, the balance of the pace felt off to me. We spent so long alluding to what could be Tony's relationship issue, but it all wrapped up very fast and very neat.

I know this is normally great however some of the issues tackled, i.e., decades of emotional abuse, would take far longer than 8 weeks to completely turn the tide.

Two Dates.
That's it.
That's all Willa allows herself socially. And it's worked, until she meets Grady, a smoke jumper and a guy she can't get out of her system with just two dates.
Grady isn't interested in walking away after a couple of moments with Willa and thankfully he doesn't. Otherwise we would not have this amazingly fun, flirty, sexy story about two people finding that the hard dating rules they set for themselves are more like guidelines.
And there are no rules when it comes to matters of the heart.

I appreciate the chance to read this advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

This is the third book of the Where there's smoke series by author Tawna Fenske.

This book seemed like a good fit for me but I couldn't get into it. I couldn't relate to the characters. Despite the fact that I wanted to persevere because it gets so many good reviews, I just couldn't.

A DNF around 1/3 of the way through.

I really enjoyed this introduction into this world and I just couldn’t get enough of it. I just so thoroughly enjoyed meeting these new characters and getting to go on their journey. I will most definitely be reading more wonderful books from this author.

Oh, what can i say?

This was sweet, steamy and I love the idea of someone seeking out my counsel on all the ways that they were the problem.

This has all the romance and angst you want, but also the deeper issues of family drama and abuse were handled delicately.

Enjoyed it this lovers to friends to lovers.

I'm convinced that Tawna Fenske can decide to write just about any kind of romance, and I'll enjoy the read. Just a Little Bet is like a "days of girldfriends past" road trip journey with your best friend/chief tormenter.

Tony, commitment-phobe extraordinaire, are setting on a road trip for her photography project when they decide to multi-task. Tony things he's a bad boyfriend, Kayla is convinced there is sometime more at play and that he has the potential to do better. So they place a bet on it, and venture off to find Tony's exes to do some research.

Oh, my, this was an entertaining read. Lots of light and fun moments, with some more serious issues thrown in along the way (all handled with tremendous sensitivity). At the heart of this, we have two friends that discover a lot about themselves and each other, on the road to a lasting love.

I do love a good friends to lovers story. This one started out and continued to be pretty slow for my taste, but the last 15-20% was really good so I'm glad I persevered.

I liked how Kayla helped Tony do some pretty serious soul searching. I also liked how Tony was a champion for his brother. But it was a little too much of a self help story for me most of the book.

If you enjoy road trips and a lot of self reflection you might really love this book.

I received an advanced than of this book through NetGalley. This is my honest review.

Received a copy of this book for review. Overall it is a good read for me. Love the chemistry between the main characters. Love all the characters. What I love is that each of them does make a difference to the story as it developed. Like to read how the characters In the story are interrelated to each other. It make the story more exciting to read. The setting of the story is nice and is fit nicely to the story.Story plot are well penned out, with a slight twist to it in the end

This is a super fun read. I really enjoyed this one!

Many thanks to the author, the publisher, and Netgalley for my ARC. All opinions are my own.

Just a Little Bet is part of a series but easily read as a standalone without missing out on anything. This story focuses on Tony and Kayla- two former lovers turned friends who are on a road trip. The trip has multiple purposes including Kayla taking some pictures and Tony meeting his ex girlfriends to find out why he is unsuccessful at love. It is a bit predictable with the relationship but very satisfying. There might be some trigger warning needed for those who have been in abusive parental situations.

I typically enjoy this author's books and while I liked this one fine, it wasn't magic. Both MC's were likeable, Tony a bit less so, but they were pretty basic and I didn't feel a spark for them individually or for them together. There was something missing there that didn't work for me. When we got a bit too deep into Tony's insistence that he was a victim I had trouble pushing through to the end. I absolutely understand abuse having gone through trauma of my own, but instead of showing, we were told time and time again not just about abuse itself, but Tony's stunted growth because of it. It was just too much and the story suffered because of how it was integrated into the romance. Overall it wasn't a bad story, just not my favorite when I know this author can produce some really quality stories that I re-read often.

i thought this book was really good and really ctue. it's full of likeable characters and that makes it even more amazing!!

Just a Little Bet is the second book in author Tawna Fenske’s Smoke Jumpers series and it was a very good story, but fans of Fenske should know that this was not a light rom-com that she’s known for. I liked this book, but at times it was a bit heavy mainly because I wasn’t expecting that when I picked it up. I did appreciate that the characters showed great personal growth throughout this book which in turn led them to the love they both wanted.

Kayla and Tony are best friends, they had a romantic relationship about one year prior, but it ended and they’ve maintained a steady friendship. On a night out with friends in which Tony breaks up with yet another girlfriend, he drinks more than he even does and ends up making a couple of confessions to Kayla. When she suggests he accompany her on a road trip where she intends to photograph some former burn sites he worked on and at the same time they revisit some of his ex-girlfriends to try and figure out is he’s “a lousy boyfriend” as he claims or a “commitment phobe” as she claims, he agrees and off they go not realizing that along the way they will learn so much about themselves, each other, and life in general.

I enjoyed this book quite a lot; Kayla and Tony had fantastic chemistry, but it was their friendship that was truly special. I enjoyed watching Tony’s walls breakdown the closer they got and seeing Kayla discover that it was okay to want the things she did and she could have it all. They had some fun times, there was quite a bit of unrequited lust before they succumbed and their inner dialog was amusing. Tony had some big time baggage stemming from his childhood and it has affected the way he looks at love, marriage, and quite frankly life. I felt Kayla was pretty well rounded, she feels a bit jealous of her sisters who have found love and are happily married and while she thinks she’s an awful person for being jealous, I think really it was more envy of something she wanted for herself but hadn’t been ready for until recently.

This book did deal with some pretty heavy issues and even Tony meeting with his ex-girlfriends at times were a bit heavy, but it also led to him opening himself up and dealing with his past so he could move forward in the future he wanted and deserved.

Just A Little Bet by Tawna Fenske was a friends-to-lovers/second chance romance that was well written, packed with emotion, and completely satisfying.

**Disclaimer: I was provided an advance reader copy by the author in exchange for my unbiased review and opinions**

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

This the second book on the Smokejumper series, but can be read as a standalone. Although it is part of this series, there's not a lot of fire/smokejumper theme as it takes place while the hero is off work.

**Warning**: Although Ms. Fenske is known for her romantic comedies, please be aware this title delves into heavy life situations, so it's not going to be light and fluffy. If that's what you're looking for right now, you might want to read this at a later time.

We met Tony and Kayla during Grady and Willa's story, book #1. Although they dated for a hot minute, they are now best friends. Kayla is a photographer set for a road trip for work and she invites Tony along. But something happens before that road trip that changes the relationship dynamic between them. Kayla seems to have it all on the surface, except what she wants the most. This push and pulls causes friction with her well-intended family, even though there's a lot of love between them. Tony seems to go through girlfriends like they're going out of style. If he's such a good guy..why does this keeps happening?

In this book, we have two very flawed individuals trying to do the right thing by them and by their families. But what happens when those childhood scars don't stay buried in the past?

I tend to shy away from books that skirt too close to reality because who the hell wants reality in their fantasy? But one of the things I adore about the romance genre is how it isn't afraid to tackle the heavier issues and even educate us on how certain situations should be handled. How it really should be done. This book is a perfect example of that and it's something that Ms. Fenske does well: showing us the way without being preachy. I feel like I say this with every book she publishes, but I have to say this is the best book she's ever written (so far!)

This book has light depictions of domestic violence, both physical (teen) and psychological (spouse). These themes can be triggering for some readers (myself included), but Ms. Fenske handled them with such care I was able to read this book in its entirety. I wanted to keep reading.

The character arc of the protagonists is perfect. We see how they start, unsure and insecure and we see their evolution and how being with each other and having each other's back has made them better. And isn't that the goal of romantic love? Having a partner that encourages you to be a better human? While we witness their hurt and sadness, we get to see how love wins. I don't know about you, but that's what I want from my romance novels.

5 squishy stars for Just a Little Bet and Tawna Fenske

Just a Little Bet by author Tawna Fenske held promise from the synopsis. Kayla and Tony were stand out characters with Insta chemistry.
Review copy received from Entangled Publishing via Netgalley

Tony and Kayla are good friends and former lovers. After witnessing another Tony-breakup, Kayla makes a bet with Tony: she thinks he's afraid of commitment, while he thinks he's just a bad boyfriend. Tony agrees to meet with his exes while they're on a road trip in order to see who's right about the bet. The only thing either of them thinks they'll get out of it is a bottle of whiskey for whoever is right, but Tony and Kayla have both changed a lot since they dated.

I enjoyed reading Just a Little Bet. The characters were interesting and I really rooted for Tony to figure his shit out. I realize this defeats the purpose, but things would just be so much easier Tony had just gotten some therapy when he was a teenager. I found parts of the story repetitive, but overall I would recommend this book if you enjoy romances that involve some self-help, cute dogs, and family drama. Despite the fact that Tony is a smokejumper, the story didn't focus on his job; his co-workers and friends are brought up, but not elements of his actual job.

This is the second book in a series and you don't have to read the first to understand this one.