The Wager by Rachel Van Dyken

2 Stars

Find all of my reviews at: http://52bookminimum.blogspot.com/ Meet Jake Titus . . . . It’s manwhore little one. Jake is a manwhore. Jake’s idea of a good time has always been doing as little work as possible while doing as many chicks as possible. When Jake is fired from his family’s company and forced to interact with childhood friend Char leading up to his brother’s nuptials, Jake starts to think it might be time to grow up, get his shit together and maybe even find a way to get the girl. Maaaa Find all of my reviews at: http://52bookminimum.blogspot.com/ Meet Jake Titus . . . . It’s manwhore little one. Jake is a manwhore. Jake’s idea of a good time has always been doing as little work as possible while doing as many chicks as possible. When Jake is fired from his family’s company and forced to interact with childhood friend Char leading up to his brother’s nuptials, Jake starts to think it might be time to grow up, get his shit together and maybe even find a way to get the girl. Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn . . . . In case you aren’t aware, I’m kind of a superfan of Rachel Van Dyken . . . . Not really. Well . . . . maybe. Anywho, I bought this for wicked cheap in paperback from Barnes & Noble thinking it would be a definite winner since I seriously luuuuuuuuurv most everything I’ve read by this author, and her over-the-top zany romcoms generally fill the void in my cold, dead heart. The problem I had with The Wager was Jake . . . . Jake was a character in The Bet (which I loved). His role there was to play the disgusting manbearpig counterpart to his dreamy brother Travis in order for the leading lady Kacey to clearly see who would be the better option for the long-run. Book 2 picks up with Travis and Kacey getting ready to tie the knot and Jake getting a gal for himself. But Jake is THE. WORST. so this redemption arc just didn’t work for me. The timeline was too scrunched together for him to come to terms with his assholery and I couldn’t ever let myself like anything about him. This is going to sound super crazy, but I highly recommend reading this second book before the first . . . . I’m serious. If I had not been aware of Jake’s backstory I think there’s a chance I could have liked him in this one. Also, there were plenty of other things to appreciate. Mainly in the form of Grandma . . . . I adore that little matchmaking lunatic. Chalk this one up in the “hubs didn’t get no play” column. You’d think after 20 years of marriage he’d stop relying on sexytimes books and go with the surefire method of getting me in the sack . . . *shrug*