Bet Me
76. Jennifer Crusie, Bet Me
Min (short for Minerva) Dobbs is a slightly overweight, risk-averse actuary who’s just been dumped by David, her jerk of a boyfriend. While enjoying a girls’ night out at a local bar, her friends convince her to approach an extremely attractive guy named Cal Morrisey. But when Min finally summons the courage to walk up to him, she overhears the end of a conversation between him and David - a conversation in which the two men make a bet on whether Cal can get Min into bed within a month. Seething, Min decides to make Cal pay by stringing him along and then dumping him after four weeks. However, the more time they spend together, the harder it is for them to fight their attraction and compatibility.
I’ve heard so many glowing recommendations for this book that I just had to try it, and I’m glad to say I wasn’t disappointed! This book is great for what it is - a fun, lighthearted romantic comedy. Cal and Min are a wonderfully quirky couple, with their quick-witted banter and love of the Elvises (she likes Presley, he prefers Costello). I also found myself genuinely caring about the secondary characters, from Min’s and Cal’s best friends to their dysfunctional families. While I normally hate “epilogues” in books, I loved the last few pages of this one because I actually wanted to know what would happen to these characters. There were a few things I didn’t like, most notably that Cal fell for Min awfully fast, which seemed unrealistic. There’s also a lot of talking about food, which was charming at first but got old eventually. Still, I’d definitely recommend this book to anyone looking for the perfect beach read. It even reminded me of a modernized version of the great Hollywood screwball comedies!