After matching on a dating app, a previous one-night stand raises the stakes and they make bets on who will fall in love first.

This was a cute idea, but felt very "missed communication" heavy, and that's a loss for me. The book was enjoyable but pretty forgettable.

This was a super fun, lighthearted read which I really loved. The two main characters are easily likeable and they have excellent chemistry from the get go!
The texting and friendship worked so well and the banter was laugh out loud at times. I found I got a little bored of the repeated dates early in the book and was glad when they jetted off to the wedding together. It was all nicely tied up in the end and left me with a smile on my face.

I loved Mr Wrong Number so i was very excited to be able to read this one. I love the way Lynn Painter writes relationships, the way she writes back and forth between characters, growing attraction, its all very believable.

I actually liked Jack in the first book, and i did in this one. I also liked Hallie, however there is alot of internalised misogyny happening with her, and Jack shes not like other girls her which gives me the ick.
Lynns writing style in this book also wasnt my favourite. I often felt confused whos internal monologue we were looking at. Whos voice cause honestly it was very similar in my opinion.

Im disappointed i didnt like it but.... next time.

Rate : ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre : Contemporary Romance
Author : Lynn Painter

After having a not - so great time with Mr. Wrong Number, I decided to give Love Wager a try after hearing good things about this book! I couldn’t wait to give it a try as it seemed right up my street and decided to take the plunge!

The Love Wager follows Hallie Piper, a girl who hasn’t had a great run with relationships and decides to give herself a new wardrobe and look before taking the plunge again. She ends up on a dating app and meets Jack, a guy who she had a drunk one night stand with. Making a bet, they decide to help one another in their quest to find someone but maybe love is a bit closer than they thought.

The banter between these two characters was extremely funny and I found myself enjoying their exchanges. The evolution from their meeting to what they become through the book was very entertaining. You could tell from the get go that these two were meant to be together.

I found the main female love interest, Hallie, a bit hit and miss for me. Some moments I loved her and I couldn’t stop reading her points of view and other times, I couldn’t really connect to her character. However, what I did enjoy of her character was her bubbly nature.

Jack, on the other hand, I adored! He always had Hallie’s best interest and always gave her an out if she needed it whenever they went out on their separate dates before helping with the wedding she had to go to. He was really cheeky and funny to read and I just loved him!

If you love fake dating, strangers to lovers and banter between interests, this is the book for you! It’s a fun read that keeps you entertained and a great book to read when you’re in that rom - com, cheesy romance mood! I can’t wait to read more!

CW/TW : Alcohol, vomit, sexual content.

Such a fun, engaging romcom. Lynn Painter has an amazing way with words that makes every piece of writing the best.

📚BOOK REVIEW 📚

The Love Wager - Lynn Painter

This book was a follow up to Mr Wrong Number but I didn't realise that when I went into this book. It didn't affect my enjoyment of the book and it was ok to read as a standalone, but I will go back and read Mr Wrong Number.

I'm definately in my romance era at the moment and I'm managing to read a lot of books which have been on my to read list for ages. I really loved this book. It was a lot of fun and both the characters just gelled so well. I love a lot of the tropes in this one and I've not read a "Friends to lovers" for awhile.

Hallie and Jack meet at Jack's sister's wedding and end up having a drunken one night stand. As they are both keen to get on the dating scene they are shocked to find each other on a dating app. They strike up a friendship and make a bet on who can find their perfect partner first.

As they go on the dating scene they keep each other up to date on their progress, often rescuing each other from potential disasters.

Hallie finds herself without a date and needing to attend her sisters wedding. Jack offers to step in and be her fake boyfriend but how much of it is really fake? As lines become blurred can they work out what their true feelings are for each other?

I loved this book. The chemistry was off the scales. And the banter and dialogue between the two was hilarious at times and their friendship was truly lovely to read as it progressed into more. I finished this book feeling so full and I just didn't want it to end. I really enjoyed it so much. It made my heart happy.

#thelovewager #paperback #books #lovebooks #lovetoread #comfortread #willdefinatelyreadagain #greatfunread #hearthappy #suchagoodbook

Oh wow…….. my first book by Lynn Painter and now I’m immediately looking up the rest of her backlist work! Absolutely loved this book, read most of it in one day and spent most of the time grinning like an absolute idiot over Jack and Hallies friendship and fake relationship! I just adored Jack, what a sweetheart, loved the txt banter between them. Should he have been straight with her over his conversation with Alex, absolutely, but I forgive him as he’s just head over heels for his best friend!!!
I cannot wait to pick up another Lynn Painter book!!

This was a really fun easy read. I love reading romances and this one certainly lived up to the hype

I LOVED this book. Another Lynn Painter solid read. With a couple that has so much chemistry and banter. I thought the build up of the relationship between Hallie and Jack was amazing and how their relationship came to be. Such a great read and the writing as strong as always!

You cannot help but root for them. It is a bit silly and predicatble at times but what's wrong with a bit of silliness and romance anyways? I am a sucker for a good romcom and you just want these two to see what everyone else does and get together already!!! Sweet, easy to read. Non taxing and fun!!!

A great laugh out loud, curl your toes from the cuteness and speed read because this book is impossible to put down. This book is exactly what I needed to get out of my reading slump.

I loved seeing the friendship between Jack and Hallie naturally develop into something more, but there was a LOT of miscommunication in this book. It might have cut the book short by about 100 pages, but it was incredibly irritating for them not to just tell each other how they felt from the start.

There was also a lot of repetition in this book. We're told twice within three pages that Jack and Olivia, the bride from the wedding at the beginning of the book, are siblings. It felt unnecessary to me.

The ending felt rushed, the chemistry was off at times, and I didn't enjoy any of the other "dates" Jack or Hallie went on.

Ok so I am so crazy behind on ALL my reviews..So get ready for a lot of them over the next few days!!

I loved this so so much, it was so fun and light, I loved the conversations between the lead and the whole friends to lovers will always get me! Lynn Painter is a total auto buy for me, I can’t wait to read something new from her!

The blurb -

After yet another disastrous date, Hallie Piper decides it's time to grow up.

She gets a new apartment, a new haircut, and a new wardrobe. But when she logs into an app to find new love, she matches with none other than Jack: the guy the wrong kind of sparks had flown with just weeks earlier.

Agreeing that they are absolutely not interested in each other, Jack and Hallie realise that they're each other's perfect wing-person - and join forces in their searches for The One. They even place a wager on who can find romance first.

But when they agree to be fake dates for a wedding, all bets are off.

Because as they pretend to be a couple, they struggle to remember why dating for real was a bad idea to begin with . . .

*ARC from NetGalley ✨

I couldn't get on with the characters - which is a me problem, not the writing. 3 stars because i couldn't get into it.

I will be coming back to this book in the later time as for now it was unfortunately a dnf. I was not in the mood for the genre.

This was a cute romance book but not quite a rom-com as advertised. I did not find myself laughing very often when I compare it to Painter’s debut adult romance Mr Wrong Number, which was hilarious and definitely fits the rom-com category better than The Love Wager.

The Love Wager was my first book from Lynn Painter and I really enjoyed it, I love a fake dating trope and Hallie and Jack are so full of chemistry!

Mr Wrong Number was an easy read that was fun, without being too serious, this follows a similar path. If you're looking for an easy beach read it'd be worthwhile

I really enjoyed this book. It was my first by Lynn Painter and definitely won't be the last. I loved the characters and the storyline. Would definitely recommend.

Lynn Painter is fast becoming one of my go to romcom authors. As predictable as the endings are the best bit is the journey they take to get to it!! Love Wager is like watching a romcom film and it keeps you enthralled throughout. I’m so excited to see what else Lynn brings out