I knew I was in for a treat when I found myself laughing at the dedication page. Lynn Painter is a wordsmith and a banter extraordinaire. I fell in love with her writing with Mr. Wrong Number and was so happy to rekindle that feeling with her follow-up: The Love Wager. To be transparent, I had no idea this was a sequel as it is presented as its own story. While it is a stand-alone about Olivia’s brother, Jack – it does continue the story from Mr. Wrong Number so unless you are a fan of spoilers, I would read that one first!

“Hot Mess”. Not the words Hallie Piper would use to describe herself but after running into an old high school friend while bartending a wedding reception, those words keep echoing in her mind. It didn’t help that she was still recovering from being dumped by the man she thought she would marry, still lived with a roommate, and worked two part time jobs along with her full time to save money. This was her winter and she had a plan. What that plan didn’t include was getting sloppy drunk and hooking up with one of the groomsman at said wedding! Belly crawling out of the hotel room the next morning, Hallie decided her spring needed to start now (or she would die trying!) New haircut, new wardrobe, an apartment search later – Hallie felt like she was finally getting her life in order. Now she just needed to find that special someone to spend it with. At her good friend’s (who happens to be her second cousin) encouragement, Hallie signs up for a dating app. Playing the swipe game, Hallie can’t believe her eyes when she stumbles upon her hotel hook-up. Deciding she had nothing to lose, she sends him a message just to get a rise out of him. That quick poke of fun turns into a friendly competition of who can find love first. Fast forward through speed dates, first date disasters, and lots of tacos and Jack and Hallie find they are becoming the best of friends. The friendship is put to the ultimate challenge when Hallie needs a last minute date to her sister’s wedding. Having just told her family she had a boyfriend, Jack comes to her rescue as the fake boyfriend of her dreams. As the weekend progresses, Hallie is finding it harder and harder to not want that dream to become a reality.

While my reviews have a tendency to have spoilers, I try to refrain from quoting directly from the book; HOWEVER, there is one line in this book that caught me off guard and I laughed so hard, I couldn’t keep reading. I still find myself laughing when I think about it. It just goes to show how talented Lynn is and the quick wit and delivery she bestows on her characters. If you are curious about the line, I will give you a hint – Hallie and Jack are practicing questions for speed dating and it is the two lines Jack delivers in response to her question. Moving on, this book was a trope buffet! We start with the accidental hook-up/one night stand who run into each other, add on a friends to lovers element, throw in a fake dating, and top it off with a one bed situation. She was on a roll! I even love how they make fun that their situation was something out of a romance book.

I thought I loved Olivia and Colin together but Jack and Hallie are my new favorite duo. The way they playoff each other, one up each other, challenge each other – it is constant fun. I also love how quickly they have each other’s back and look out for one another. When Jack realized he had feelings for Hallie and was constantly trying to fight them for the sake of his friendship – swoon! He just wanted her to be happy and yeah, screwed up big time but he was fighting his own lack of trust with what happened with Vanessa and coping with his Uncle Mack. Same with Hallie – to see these two people who are clearly compatible and crazy about each other deny it because of their past only to act out on it under guise of a fake relationship – this was a disaster waiting to happen!

The almost moments – you could feel that chemistry coming off the pages! Lynn is more humor than heat so the super spicy, steamy scenes are glossed over but those almost moments, the close proximity, the possibilities – those are so good you don’t care about anything else!

I did feel for Jack when he was in Minnesota. When we are alive, we have a perception of how life and love is for us – our friends, our families, our connections. Only in death does the truth come out. For Jack to see both sides, the life his Uncle Mack thought he had and the easy dismissal of a man he idolized would mess with anyone’s head. I am happy he did realize (after almost making a gigantic mistake) that his loneliness was driving his decisions more than love. He didn’t want his Uncle Mack’s ending. My heart went out to Hallie too. For such a wonderful woman who owns a room and shines so bright, to have someone like Ben tell her she wasn’t enough leaves a permanent mark. To put that type of self doubt on someone is just cruel. To then have Alex turn around and dump her too – how can she trust love when it is so fleeting for her. No wonder why she is so cautious with Jack. Yes, her feeling were strong but as the only man who has ever seen and appreciated her for who she is, she couldn’t risk that.

One other thing, Hallie let too many people get into her head and that was her downfall. If she shut out the noise and thought about it, REALLY thought about it – she would have realized that Jack was fighting the idea of them the entire time. If he really saw her as the low hanging fruit, he would have pounced the first opportunity he had. Instead, he constantly restrained himself, said no, pushed away temptation, and told her consistently how much he valued their friendship and how he was not losing it screwing things up. That – that is what made this book a favorite for me. 

I wanted to read The Love Wager from the moment I heard about it and I can definitely say it lived up to the hype. Lynn is in true form – keeping the smile on your face, the burn from laughing too hard in your belly, and a great big dose of the feels in your heart.