Book 3 - Bet Me by Jennifer Crusie

Bet Me ~ Jennifer Crusie

Bet Me opens on a breakup between Minerva Dobbs and the guy she's been dating for two months, David. He's telling her that it's over between them, and her inner monologue while he's going on and on about why it's over is all about kicking his ass and watching him drop dead in various ways. She won't sleep with him and he's tired of waiting for her to make their relationship work. She realizes as he's speaking, that she really doesn't care, other than the fact he was supposed to be her date next month to her sister's wedding and now she's going to be stuck looking for a date.

Later that night she is dared by one of her two best friends to go talk to this tall, gorgeous man in the bar and she overhears him and her just-broken up ex making a bet about whether tall, dark and handsome can get her into bed within a month. She goes to storm off but instead decides to give him a run for his money, so to speak. That starts the book off down its path.

The path it takes is a very fun path. Yes, it's sort of formulaic; girl meets boy, girl hates boy, boy tries to charm girl, girl falls for boy, boy falls for girl, exes tries to break them up, parents hate both, etc, but it was such a fun read and the formula was tossed on its head a couple of times. Minerva is a chubby woman and desperate to lose weight to fit into her bridesmaid's dress and her mother harasses her all the time about it, but that story line isn't heavy-handed or hokey. It's really sweet and funny throughout the whole book.

I breezed through the book, and was actually disappointed when it ended, and it was really enjoyable. I was able to read it in one sitting of about an hour and a half (which really says something with 5 kids running around) so it's not a heavy or deep book, but it's a very fun read and one I'd grab again in a pinch. I'm curious to see if her writing holds up in other books and realized that I grabbed another book of hers out of the library  at the same time without realizing it so now I'm really curious about her other works. It would be the perfect stuck-in-an-airport or beach read. Fluffy but fun, romantic but not over the top cheeseball.