I really enjoyed this book. It was sweet, spicy, and emotional at times. It has anxiety and PTSD rep, which I found really well done. I loved Aja, and found her to be so relatable, especially when trying to make new friends as an adult in a new town.

This is my first book by this author, but it definitely won’t be my last.

I really wanted to like this book more than I did. Aja is a highly anxious individual with a lot of love to give and few friends. Walker is just there to be a good guy and incidentally falls for stressed out Aja. Their love is built on anxiety, pie, and bingo. It’s a standard cute story with nothing all that exciting to me. I tried to love it, but it was only okay. There was some good talk about mental health and anxiety attacks that I enjoyed. Overall, it was okay.

Aja and Walker are two very damaged souls who first encounter each other in the frozen foods aisle at the local Piggly Wiggly. Aja is having a panic attack and Walker recognizes it in a moment as it is very familiar to him. Next up, he is reintroduced to her while playing bingo with his beloved Grandmother, who raised him and is recovering from an accident. Both Aja and Walker are dealing with a lot of trauma from childhood and both literal works in progress. This is the last place that Walker wants to be as it’s the scene of his trauma and for Aja, it is a quiet small town of healing for her. They make a plan to be together for as long as Walker is in town. Clear, clean and for the time together, both agree that there is an end date on the calendar and they are not going to fall in love. All is good right? Not the read listen due to the subject matter, but worth it as it is written with respect to the characters and the mental health issues. And love!

Thank you Netgalley for the advanced reading copy! This was a very sweet love story that poignantly portrays the slow and nice complexities of falling for each other, while also having generalized anxiety. Anxiety can be a hard mental health concept to portray through a fun romance, but Slaughter gracefully portrays this through both of the main characters. Aja is new to the small town of Greenbelt, South Carolina when Walker comes back into town from Charleston to take care of his grandmother after a fall. Their attraction and chemistry is immediately clear. Neither want to do long distance, so they make a bingo pact, where when they’re visiting the main town bingo center and win, they can hook up. This book does a lot of tropes well in modern times: small town, where one character feels stifled and one is escaping the bustle of Washington DC, as well as friends to lovers, with both characters protecting their heart while falling for each other. Another great representation of this book is the joy and stress of making friends as an adult, but how crucial having a variety of relationships is to your well being. I recommend this book for fans of contemporary romance, a Black fat woman lead, small town, friends to lovers, and mental health and anxiety representation.

Bet on It is a wonderful story of two people, each with things to overcome, who find each other, start a fun relationship, and push each other to try new things.

Bonding over peach cobbler from the local diner, they make a pact at bingo. But feelings aren't supposed to be part of the hot passion between them.

A smart read, this book delivers with hot sex, authentic bouts with trauma and anxiety, healing, and unexpected love.

Received an ARC from netgalley

2.5 stars

Thank you Netgalley for providing me with this arc. Walker and Aja's story was an okay story. I thought the subject matter regarding how both characters deal with panic attacks or PTSD was something I haven't read before. The story focuses on Walker's reluctant return to his hometown to take care of his grandmother who recently broke her arm. He meets Aja while accompanying his grandmother's bingo game. The two have an instant attraction and become fast friends. Aja is new in town and is trying to make friends while also dealing with her panic attacks. One thing leads to another they end up sleeping together and make a bet that they will only continue their sexual relationship if one of them wins bingo. They end up really like each other and things get intense.

Something felt off about this book. Walker and Aja are supposed to be in their late 20s or early 30s and they felt like they were older. The way they both talk to each other sounds like a weird '90s movie. The sex scenes were so boring and felt overwritten. I didn't need the extra description of the sounds outside or the movement of the curtains or how the pillows felt. It felt too generic. I wish we weren't in both of their overthinking minds. they both kept assuming what the other was thinking without asking each other. They were guessing the whole time. It was exhausting. I wished we had more scenes of them building a real connection. I didn't believe that they fell in love or the intensity they felt for each. It didn't make sense.

I knew we would get our happily ever after but the ending didn't feel earned. The epilogue was cute.

2.5 stars

CW: panic attacks, mentions and descriptions of past child abuse and neglect, anxiety, PTSD, explicit sexual content.

I wouldn’t usually warn for sex scenes in books but based on several of this books low reviews some of y’all were not prepared for how spicy this book was. I throughly enjoyed those portions of the book even though public sex is not my favorite it was very well written.

As for the book itself I will say this is not a particularly easy read, the mental health issues of both of our main characters were very well written and realistic but didn’t make for a sweet fluffy casual read. I really enjoyed both characters, I loved Aja’s care, and confidence in her fat body despite her anxiety. But I particularly loved Walker. As someone who has worked with children in the child welfare system I thought his experiences and reactions were very honest and I loved that this showed an adult with those traumatic beginnings living a full and love filled life. I found it hopeful and sweet.

The book was a bit of a slow start for me and some of the pacing felt off but over all I liked it a lot and would recommend it.

This is an adorable quirky romance! I loved reading this! The characters were well-developed and the romance flowed so well! I loved reading this!

The relationship is cute but it was just a fraction of the book and the book itself was very boring. I love a good bingo night and totally relate to bingo-induced anxiety. The fear of mishearing the numbers had literally prevented me from claiming bingos I’ve won in the past. This book also deals heavily with general anxiety (both main characters) and PTSD (hero). It was really cool to see both characters understand anxiety and find solace in their shared (and also unique) experiences.

There just seemed to be way too much exposition and not much else left to propel the plot. For example, there was an entire chapter about her getting a manicure. It was important for her and the plot, but as a reader it just wasn’t fascinating. A lot of that chapter was just internal monologue, which reflects the book as a whole.

Like I said, the relationship was the best part but it really didn’t feel like the main part. I wanted more depth from the “falling in love” stage. Their first kiss was immediately followed by sex. Hot sex but very abrupt. That was at like 45% so it wasn’t quite slow burn. However, it felt like slow burn because it was all I really wanted to read about. After the initial bang, they made a sex pact and there was a lull in basically everything physical. This derailed the little excitement I was feeling from the afterglow of hot car sex.

I’m addition to car sex, there was another full scene and a half of one. The language was explicit and there were a couple different positions. I wanted more because the writing was great during the sex scenes. However, I think instead of having him runout after the second scene, and drop her off after the first, there needed to be more emotional impact from the sex scenes. They were hot but not very intimate.

I didn’t have issues really with either main character, and the third-act breakup was pretty well handled. I liked the overall concept, but found issues with the execution. I was never angry, but I also never felt much of anything. The bingo concept remains immaculate.

I enjoyed this one so much! I couldn't put it down and I was fully encompassed by Aja and Walker. Really liked how the author portrayed mental illness in this book with characters who are dealing with completely different things. The chemistry between these was like a match and gasoline (or in Walker's case, him and Minnie's peach cobbler).

This was my first Jodie Slaughter book and I really enjoyed her characters and smart writing. She did a great job illustrating the sexual tension as well as their anxiety. Aja and Walker had great chemistry and supported each other so well. I like all the side characters, sometimes in small town romance (especially those in the south) the townsfolk can lean towards caricatures, but that wasn’t the case here. I would have liked to seen Walker take the initiative to go back to therapy, since he kept saying he was going to start back up, in either the reunion or epilogue. The subject matter of anxiety and PTSD makes this story heavier than your average rom-com but no less enjoyable. This was a heartwarming read with great chemistry and representation. One small note: After Walker's first July 4th party where he was triggered, it says the following Monday at school everyone was talking about him. Given the pubic school system in South Carolina, year round school is basically nonexistent, so that detail took me a minute to digest.

Who knew a friendship formed over bingo and peach cobbler could turn so steamy!!! Aja meets Walker when he comes home to help his grandmother for a couple months. The two bond over their mental health struggles, Walker has complex PTSD while Aja has an anxiety disorder that makes it hard for her to socialize. Knowing nothing could really come of a real relationship with Walker planning to leave after eight weeks, the two make a bingo based sex pact.

This book was SOOO steamy y'all and I LOVED it!! The chemistry between Aja and Walker was sizzling and the mental health rep was unexpectedly amazing too which I love seeing in a romance book. Definitely recommended for fans of books like A brush with love by Mazey Eddings or Playing for love by Jeevani Charikaand. Much thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my advance review copy!

I very much enjoyed Slaughter’s writing and the character work. Especially how thoughtfully she portrayed the mental health experiences of the MC’s and how supportive they are with each other. Oh and if you’re looking for a steamy no holds bar book than look no further as the attraction and chemistry is off the charts. For me the only drawback was that while there are some humorous moments, the overall tone is much heavier than I think of for a romcom, so keep that in mind when you’re reading. I will be reading more from this author in the future.

I received this eARC thanks to NetGalley and St Martin’s in exchange for an honest review.

the first time aja meets walker, it’s during a panic attack in the frozen food section. the second time, he’s introduced as her bingo friend’s grandson. after that, they can’t see to stay away from each other. both have trauma and anxiety they’re trying to overcome while making a bingo-based sex pact.

this was such a solid, middle of the road book for me. it was fine, but something was off. i liked the idea of having characters with anxiety and them working through it, but i could never connect with the characters.

it didn’t have a lot of romance in it and was an instant love situation. it was also topped with some conversations that seemed too juvenile for the main character’s ages.

overall, i don’t think this book was for me.

I love bingo. Throw in a bingo-based sex pact, and I was super excited for this book. I ended up having mixed feelings about it, though.

I thought the anxiety rep was incredibly well done as someone who struggles with anxiety. I especially liked Aja as a character. I also enjoyed the setting and the secondary characters like Miri and Walker’s grandma. The bingo-based bet was a lot of fun but felt like it was over a little too soon. (There are some inaccuracies with the game of bingo itself in the book. I’d imagine those will be fixed prior to publication, though.)

I guess I just wanted more romance. I definitely felt the attraction between the characters, but I never felt like they were really falling in love. I could have used a few more cute moments between them and moments of connection to make me believe these two were in love and not just lust.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

This was just so cute! The banter was top tier and the character were definitely lively. This probably one of my favorite romances I’ve read this year.

Aja moved to small town South Carolina to create a new life. Walker is back reluctantly to care for his grandma. They both know that there is no way for this to last…

Bet On It has wonderful cast of characters. Both main characters have anxiety disorders they manage. Aja is a black plus size woman who is funny, charismatic, confident and lovable. Walker struggles with PTSD and anxiety.

So why only four stars?
I wish the characters chemistry and personalities were prioritized over their anxiety disorders! I wish I had marked it but I felt in every chapter and sometimes multiple times it was stated that the characters couldn’t go into group setting or were uncomfortable. Neither character was good at boundary setting and that was disappointing for two older main characters!

One of my favorite romance reads this year! The chemistry oozed off the pages. I loved the way these characters bantered with each other.

This is poignant, lovely, sweet, and surprising. A lovely romance between two people who hurt. Because they each suffer from anxiety they understand each other's problems. Walker is a gentleman, never pushing Aja into anything she doesn't wish to happen. Aja is also being very careful, knowing Walker is only a temporary resident. Their evolution from bowling friends to lovers is so sweet.

This one blew me away. There was so much cuteness, sweetness mixed in with a lot of heavy emotions. What kept me reading was my connection to Aja and Walker. I liked them from the beginning but as the book continued I really cared about them. The pact was probably silly but it seemed to work with their special situation. I wanted them to throw it out the window but I understood they needed to create a barrier to heartbreak. They had nice balance of emotional and physical connection and lots of spice! I just could not put this down until they had the HEA!