Funny, heartwarming, swoony and now one of my favorite rom-coms of 2022! Who knew I’d get obsessed with a book centered around bingo night?! I loved Bet on It and can’t recommend it enough—it’s just the kind of book you’ll want to live in.

The mental health representation is so on point in this novel!! I appreciate that the first moments that we find our love interests meeting is during Aja’s panic attack at the Piggly Wiggly. Seeing how Walker and Aja both deal with anxiety throughout the novel is also great.

And a bingo sex pact? I’m so in.

I always love when older adults are side characters in romance novels, and bingo is such a fun setting that Aja feels at home in. The fact that Walker is her bingo buddy’s grandson is a great catalyst for a friendship(and more) after their initial meeting.

There was plenty of spice, and I appreciate any time we normalize mental and menstrual health in romance! Period cramps aren’t sexy, but they happen, and I liked that this story feels more real because of it.

This is one I intend to revisit and would highly recommend!

A story of sweet and steamy romance and lots of mental health rep! Overall cute but not a memorable one for me.

i liked the book! i thought the relationship with her and her grandma was super cute and the chemistry was cute

I loved this book! It was amazing to see two different characters with anxiety and how they dealt with it, worked on it, and supported each other through it. With anxiety myself it felt nice to be seen and know I'm not alone. It was also great to have a plus sized character who didn't worry about her weight. This novel is quite spicy and although enjoyed there was more than one sex scene I was anxious at some of the very public places they had it. But overall a great read that kept me hooked the entire time. The narrator was great at distinguishing voices without making them caricatures.

Thanks to NetGalley and MacMillan audio to provide me with the audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

A meet cute on the floor of the frozen foods section of a supermarket in the middle of an anxiety attack may not be what Aja Owens ever signed up for. Especially when she meets this handsome stranger again in the middle of the bingo hall she goes to every week!
If a cute romance with a very real representation of anxiety disorder in a dose of South Carolina sounds appealing to you, you'll have a good time!
I really enjoyed the narrator with her Southern accent, as she really brought the characters to life. Aja Owens was a really interesting character and I love how the author allowed her to create friendships too with a group of female characters (I loved the nail salon scene with the nail art detailed, as I love doing my nails myself!).
However, a few things in this book made me lower the rating for the book:
I really didn't enjoy the nickname that the male character gives Aja, and where it originates from (don't want to give spoilers, but that made me uncomfortable...). Same when he refers to the "sacred gift of our bodies"... might be a cultural thing I cannot understand as a French person, but I didn't like that either...

I also want to mention a couple of sex scenes that would have personally made me very anxious to be in, since they were in pretty public places and could have been discovered very easily. I don't have any anxiety attacks, so I cannot talk through this lens, but I found it a bit unbelievable that Aja Owens, who is very anxious just going to a dinner party with her new friends, would not have any anxiety in those situations ?
Finally, I wanted to talk about the scene where Aja is on her period and has really bad cramps. Props to the author for actually depicting that, but if I have bad cramps, the last thing I want is to have my lover see me like this... if it was my partner living with me, it would be different, but they are not together at this point in time, they just have a sex arrangement...

I would still recommend this book, overall it was a good time!

Thanks to Netgalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Macmillan Audio for the ARC and audioARC of this!

This was so cute! I loved that both main characters struggled with anxiety and panic attacks, I feel like that’s not something I see in a lot of romances. The whole thing was sweet as peach cobbler start to finish.

The narrator did a great job and was lovely to listen to.

Aja Owens has moved to Greenbelt, South Carolina to try to deal with her anxiety. The first time she meets Walker Abbott, she is having a panic attack in the grocery. Then he shows up at her weekly bingo night, the grandson of her one friend in town, and she knows he’s going to be a problem. For Walker, the only two good things in Greenbelt are his grandma and the local diner’s peach cobbler. Back in town to help his grandma heal after more than a decade away, Walker finds a third thing to like about Greenbelt: Aja. Knowing that Walker is leaving in a month, will the two take a chance on love or protect their hearts?

I loved the rep of seeing a heroine and hero who both deal with anxiety, and the friendships Aja developed with some of the other women in town. I enjoyed the flirting between Aja and Walker, but so many of the things they did together made me cringe. I recommend the book for those who like spicy romance.

Many thanks to NetGalley for providing me an audio ARC of this book.

I may have requested Jodie Slaughter’s novel Bet on It because I needed an audiobook to read but I thought it sounded like a really lovely romance. As a white woman who does not have diagnosed anxiety, I enjoyed the different perspective the novel gave me. As an avid romance reader? Well, I didn’t particularly care about the rest of the story.

Here’s the book’s description:
The first time Aja Owens encounters the man of her dreams, she’s having a panic attack in the frozen foods section of the Piggly Wiggly. The second time, he’s being introduced to her as her favorite bingo buddy’s semi-estranged grandson. From there, all it takes is one game for her to realize that he’s definitely going to be a problem. And if there’s anything she already has a surplus of, it’s problems.
In Walker Abbott’s mind, there are only two worthwhile things in Greenbelt, South Carolina. The peach cobbler at his old favorite diner and his ailing grandmother. Dragging himself back after more than a decade away, he’s counting down the days until Gram heals and he can get back to his real life. Far away from the trauma inside of those city limits. Just when he thinks his plan is solid, enter Aja to shake everything up.
A hastily made bingo-based sex pact is supposed to keep this…thing between them from getting out of hand. Especially when submitting to their feelings means disrupting their carefully balanced lives. But emotions are just like bingo callers—they refuse to be ignored.
I didn’t really understand the bingo bet Aja and Walker made. It seemed like they were children trying to use bribes to get what they wanted but also stop them from having too much of what they wanted (sex, I mean sex)? They’re adults and I found the whole “bet” thing immature (and confusing). Of course I knew they’d end up falling for each other and using the bet as an excuse to keep themselves from getting hurt but I also knew it wouldn’t help and they’d end up together in a Happily Ever After moment. Usually, I don’t mind knowing the way a romance is going to go but I have to care about the journey to that HEA. I didn’t care here and it was unfortunate.

I also just didn’t quite get the chemistry between the two of them. Maybe I missed something important, but it just sort of seemed like there was some physical attraction and that was that. There was an emotional-ish connection as they both had mental health challenges (I want to say anxiety and panic attacks, and maybe depression and also PTSD but I didn’t make notes and don’t have a copy to check). I appreciated that part of the story but it felt separate to everything else somehow. It kind of felt like I was reading about the diagnoses, not human characters.

Also, I’d love to never have a woman’s thighs be mentioned so much ever again in any novel I read. I got it the first time Slaughter mentioned Aja’s legs. She wasn’t a teeny thing (and I loved that). But there was no need to bring it up non-stop, especially by Walker.

The novel was narrated by Angel Pean and I felt she did a good job (but, honestly, I could be wrong - I've put this book out of my mind quite a bit). But from what I remember, she helped me be as immersed as I could be with this story and I’ll definitely keep my eyes out for other books she narrates.

Bet on It should have been a fun romance with great representation from under-written points of view. Jodie Slaughter nailed the rep but the rest of the story? Not so much. Maybe I’ll read another from her, maybe I won’t. Life’s too short for “fine” books!

*An advanced listening copy (ALC) was provided by the publisher, Macmillan Audio, via NetGalley in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*

I am so glad I picked this up on audio. It was fantastic.

Bingo and peaches aside, the story was entertaining and sweet. Stubborn as both characters were, I enjoyed the will they, won't they a lot. A big bonus was mental health awareness that was involved in the story. It wasn't the book's theme, but the author thoughtfully worked it in as a part of both MC's traits.

Aja Owens meets Walker Abbott while she is having a panic attack in Piggly Wiggly. The two run into one another again at the local bingo night. They both feel a pull towards one another but at the same time they are each still processing their own individual traumas and agree that starting something serious would be a mistake.....so what do they do? Enter into a bingo-based sex pact of course!

I was here for all of the steam in this book! With the heavier issues that the two MCs are dealing with and their individual character development I'd say this one felt a tad more contemporary romance than full on rom-com, not a bad thing.....just an observation. If you are already a fan of Jodie Slaughter's work you will likely enjoy this one as well! I still need to check out Get a Life Chloe Brown.

Rating: 3.5 stars

Special thanks to @macmillanaudio and @netgalley for the ALC of Bet On It for review purposes. All opinions are my own.

I really enjoyed this one. The anxiety rep, the romance, the characters, the friends, the love, the setting. I do love bingo! The two MCs with their own demons finding love with one another was beautiful. I enjoyed this story immensely and will be looking out for more books by Slaughter in the future. Audiobook was amazing to listen to while reading along with the book. I really enjoyed the narration. Her voice was smooth as velvet in my ears.

Thank you to @netgalley and @macmillian.audio for a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Woooo! This book is spicy! The connection between Aja and Walker is electric! They make great love interests for this story. But beyond that, the representation of mental illness and anxiety is a big topic in this book for both main characters. For different reasons, they are able to identify and connect over their common issues. The anxiety they both face have impacted their lives in big ways and the author covers it in a tasteful way.

The narrator wasn’t my favorite the my enjoyment for the story kept me listening.

4 stars

cute book. it’s predictably sappy though enjoyable. it’s exactly what you would expect from this type of novel.

I did not like the narrator. Her voice was too slow and breathy. When I tried to speed the audiobook up her voice ended up sounding robotic.

I also cannot stand when a book is dual POV but there is only one narrator. There really should have been a narrator for the MMC.

The 3 or 4 chapters I listened to I really enjoyed the story, but the narrator is just not for me. I will switch to the ebook version so I can finish the story.

I experienced this book as an audiobook. I really really loved it. Aja was so lovable--Walker, too. And also, I want peach cobbler. But I love a good story where the two main love interests agree not to catch feelings, but it's always inevitable and I always wait in anticipation for that moment! I loooved this book and I would highly recommend it to anyone who wants a fun feel-good romance!

I knew I was going to love this as soon as I heard there was Bingo in it. If you know me, I have a Reading Journal that has a page where I play TBR bingo. I love Bingo anything, so it was a no-brainer that I got my hands on this. And Lordt I was not wrong that I would love it.

Another thing that caught my eye about this book besides the Bingo was the rep in it. There is Mental Health/Illness Rep and the female main character is fat and Black. Literally all I needed to know. I even bought it before I finished it because this sounded so much like me lol I don’t remember feeling so seen in such a long time. I mean from the panic attacks, to the body shape, to her being Black, to the Bingo. It was just all me. And it was done in such a tasteful way. I can’t lie, I was a little scared because I was afraid to see too much of me on the page. Like it just wouldn’t be right. But Slaughter knocked it out the park and I was so grateful.

The romance in this was spicy and sweet at the same time. Because BAY=BAY that freaking car scene?! Sheesh! I had to pause my audio and go take a walk lol It was definitely not the type of scene I was expecting when I started this. And I loved the way they both tried so hard to act like the other didn’t mean much to the other. It was so much fun to watch them realize that they were head over heels for each other. But that means it also crushed me when the third act break up came up.

After listening to this audio, I realized the narrator was Angel Pean, someone I’ve actually listened to before. And recently lol So basically it was easy to listen and enjoy her. Just as with her others, she is great with changing voices and making sure we know the difference between all characters. Especially his grandma. I thought it was pretty cool how she was able to show some age in her voice compared to the others. She is a true talent.

This book was such a surprise. I loved so much about it. If you liked Talia Hibbert, this is one for you. From the romance to the spice, it was definitely a book I wasn’t expecting to love so much. I hadn’t really heard anything about it. I decided on this off pure vibes alone and I don’t think I could have gotten any closer to my reading tastes lol I hope y’all love this as much as I did.

I wanted to love this one but it fell short for me. I didn't feel connected to Aja or Walker. I liked Walker's grandmother and his friends the best. This was an okay read for me.

Great summer romance read. I loved the characters but wished there was more of a “small town” feel to it. The representation of mental health issues was done very well. I can’t wait to read more from this author.

As someone with anxiety, I can usually relate to and appreciate the representation in novels. This one is a bit heavy handed and it took me out of the story. I would definitely try this author again because there is potential.