Review: Bet Me by Jennifer Crusie

Title: Bet Me

Author: Jennifer Crusie

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Release Date: January 2004

Rating: 4/5 Stars

 

Yes, I realize that this book is older than most book bloggers, and that everyone my age read this ages ago. Nonetheless, I finally just read Bet Me and, you guys, I get it. I get why so many women cite this as the book that got them into romance, and I get why it’s often referenced when it comes to book recs. It’s even aged pretty well, considering it came out before social media really took off (sorry, Friendster). So, in case you are like me and incredibly late to this party, Bet Me centers on the lives of Minerva, or Min, Dobbs, an actuary who doesn’t want to find the one but may be forced into discovering him anyway, and Cal Morrissey, a super handsome, successful so-called womanizer with a penchant for making ten dollar bets with his friends. They are both fresh from break ups when their paths cross, and their lives and the lives of their friends and families become instantly intertwined. Min thinks she overhears Cal accepting a bet that he can get her into bed for ten dollars, and she decides to mess with him and accept his offer to dinner, and hopefully at least scoring an instant wedding date out of the arrangement. Hilarity ensues and romance abounds. There’s Italian food, there’s a stray cat, and lots of descriptions of shoes that would have been considered very fashionable in the early 2000’s.

Shout out to my fellow olds who know where this is from!

Since this is a pretty well-known book, I won’t delve too deep into the minutiae of the story line, but will mention what appealed to me most. This book struck a balance between being funny, and being emotionally poignant, but not in a cheesy way. Even though some out-there things happen (it is a romance novel, after all), I still found the characters to be believable and their actions made sense throughout the course of the story. When they messed up, they realized it and figured out how to make it better. Even the ‘bad guys’ of the story: the exes, both Min’s ex David and Cal’s ex Cynthie are not portrayed as evil and the other characters don’t hate them, even though they plot and do terrible things to keep Min and Cal apart. They aren’t completely villainous, which is so easy to do in romance-landia. At times when Cynthie and David are plotting I may have yelled “Give it a rest!” out loud at my Kindle, but it’s a good sign when you talk to your books, right?

How I felt whenever Cynthie would insist she was about to win Cal back

 The only thing that I don’t think aged very well is how Min’s weight is treated. It kind of reminded me of Love Actually, a film I despise btw, wherein an average-sized woman is constantly referred to as "the fat one" and Hugh Grant's character falls in love with her anyway. Now, Min isn't treated quite that abysmally and overall she learns how to feel comfortable in her body, but the focus on her weight was kind of hard for me to read. It honestly sounded like she was maybe a size 10 and that was considered some kind of travesty. However, this was mostly coming from flawed characters, like her mother, who is basically a terrible person throughout the book. On the positive side, it was nice to read about her going shopping and picking out clothes that made her happy instead of trying to look thinner. Still, major eye roll that a man inspires this change in her. I do realize that this book was written during peak Atkins obsession, so the whole no carb-obsession that Min has makes some sense. Even so, I think if this book was written today, the way that Min's weight is described and discussed would be more sensitive (I hope).

It was also a little strange that Min was so adamant about not taking Cal seriously. Most of the conflict stems from her not believing someone who looks like him could like someone who looks like her, and she doesn't want to get emotionally invested (and hurt). She calls him the devil so many times, I lost count. Luckily the fates were on their side, otherwise who knows whether she'd get her HEA. She really needed therapy, or maybe a yoga class or something, because emotionally she was all over the place. Actually, Cal was also emotionally damaged because surprise surprise he also has awful parents, so pretty much both of these people needed to do some work on themselves before participating in a fully functional relationship. But I digress.

Despite its' flaws, this book still makes me feel like cheering

Overall, this book is kind of like contemporary romance junk food. It’s got the impossibly handsome hero falling for the notably average heroine, lots of inane conflict that could have been resolved if people communicated better, awesome female friendships, and choosing to be with someone who deserves you and treats you right instead of whoever is there. Even the frustrating aspects of the story don’t take away from it being a fun, feel-good read. If you like rom-coms like 27 Dresses and that one movie where Deborah Messing hires a prostitute as a wedding date, this book will feel very familiar and comforting. I would say this is an awesome sick day read.