Book Review: The Bet (The Bet #1) by Rachel Van Dyken

The Bet
The Bet #1
By: Rachel Van Dyken
Published:  April 29, 2014
Publisher: Forever Romance
Source: Publisher
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"I have a proposition for you." Kacey should have run the minute those words left Seattle millionaire Jake Titus's mouth. It's been years since Kacey's seen her childhood friend Jake, but the minute Jake mentions his ill grandmother, Kacey is ready to do anything for the sweet old woman. And if that means pretending they're engaged for her sake-so be it. 

 But Kacey wasn't counting on Jake's older brother Travis still being there. She calls him "Satan" for a reason: she's never forgotten the way he teased and taunted her. Yet when they meet again, Travis's gorgeous smile is a direct hit to her heart . . . and Kacey's more confused than ever. As the days pass, only one thing starts to become alarmingly clear-she never should have accepted Jake's deal . . .

The Bet Series:

My Thoughts:

I have been wanting to read a book by Rachel Van Dyken for some time.  My co-blogger, Mikki, loves everything that she writes, and myself and Mikki have very similar reading tastes.  When I saw The Bet, and read the synopsis, my curiosity was piqued!  This book sounded like it was going to be great!  

The Bet is about Kacey, and brothers Jake and Travis.  Kacey and Jake have been best friends since they were young children.  They did everything together and were inseparable.  Both of their families were also extremely close and spent holidays and vacations together.  Travis had a crush on Kacey since he was a young boy, but never seemed to be able to get out from under the shadow of his younger and very charismatic brother, 

Jake.  Instead his attempts to get her attention backfired throughout the years and pitted Kacey and Travis against one another.

Years later, Jake asks Kacey for a favor.  He needs her to be his pretend fiancee and spend the weekend with his family.  He tells her that his grandmother, Nadine, is very ill, and he wants to make her feel better.  With reservations, Kacey agrees to the favor.  Unbeknownst to Kacey, Travis too will be spending the weekend with his family, and things are about to get a whole lot more messy and complicated...

I have mixed feelings about, The Bet.  The beginning of the story was excellent!  We learn a bit about Kacey, Jake, and Travis as they were growing up, and this part of the story hooked me, and fascinated me.  The middle of the story slowed down a whole lot, and fell a bit flat for me.  I felt like it was a bit stagnant, and the story wasn't moving forward a whole lot.  There was a lot of verbal foreplay and physical chemistry between Kacey and Travis.  Yet, it took a really long time for anything to come of it.  My favorite character was Grandma Nadine.  She added a lot of humor to the story, and made things a lot more interesting.  The ending of the story was also very good.  It was a great transition in to the second book in the series, The Wager.  

I downloaded the sample of The Wager, and I am thrilled to say that it looks like it's going to be a really good story!  I was already laughing at Grandma Nadine's antics, and this story already seemed to be going way faster for me than The Bet did.   

My Rating:

I give, The Bet by Rachel Van Dyken, 3.5 humorous, Grandma Nadine's Clever Antics, Flirty, and Fun Stars!  I'm looking forward to continuing this series, and reading, The Wager, which is Jake and Kacey's best friend, Char's story.  I can already tell it's going to be a really good one!!!  Char is a strong, independent, and assertive woman.  I can't wait to see her put womanizing, arrogant, workaholic Jake in his place!!! 

Purchase At:

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About Rachel Van Dyken:

Rachel Van Dyken is the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today Bestselling author of regency and contemporary romances. When she's not writing you can find her drinking coffee at Starbucks and plotting her next book while watching The Bachelor. 

She keeps her home in Idaho with her Husband and their snoring Boxer, Sir Winston Churchill. She loves to hear from readers!

Website | Goodreads | Facebook | Twitter

Excerpt Reveal : The Dare (The Bet, #3) by Rachel Van Dyken

The Dare
The Bet, #3
by Rachel Van Dyken

Release Date:
July 8th, 2014

Synopsis:

From #1 New York Times Bestselling Author Rachel Van Dyken, comes the third and final book in the New York Time's Bestselling Bet Series... 

Boring Beth Lynn has always lived up to her nickname... until she wakes up in a hotel bed next to a sexy as sin state senator she re-connected with at a wedding the previous night. 

The biggest problem? She can't seem to remember anything about the night before except for crying into a box of cookies, and she's pretty sure Grandma Nadine slipped something in her drink. And what should have been a one night stand turns into a six day adventure when Grandma whisks them off to Hawaii to save them from the ensuing media firestorm. 

Jace isn't looking for commitment -- he believes he made that clear when he left the wedding with Beth. Then again, he can't remember much of anything other than the way her skin felt beneath his hands. Now he's stuck with her at some lame couple's retreat and trying his hardest to fight the attraction only a woman like Beth could invoke. He doesn't think it can get any worse. 

But one spider attack... A donkey ride from hell... And an unfortunate episode with Viagra tea -- and there's one thing Jace knows for sure: He should never have agreed to Grandma Nadine's suggestion in the first place. 

Because if this isn't paradise, and it isn't a vacation -- that only leaves one option. 

Survival. 

But to make it through alive... they might lose their hearts in the process. 

Genres: 
Romantic Comedy, Friends to lovers, Vacation Romance, New Adult Romance, Funny Stand Alone, Bargain Books, Humorous Romance

Excerpt Reveal Hosted by:

InkSlingerPR

The Bet Series

The Bet (The Bet, #1)

Goodreads|Amazon|B&N|iBooks

The Wager (The Bet, #2)

Goodreads|Amazon|B&N|iBooks

The Dare (The Bet, #3)

Goodreads|Amazon|B&N|iBooks

Excerpt

“Beth!” Jace knocked on the door. “If you’re done freaking out, we need to go.” 

“Right.” I wiped my wet cheeks and clenched the dress in my hands. It wasn’t magic. If anything, it was just a reminder that I was exactly where I’d been when I’d graduated in 2000. A loser. A loser with a small rack who preferred math and science to Facebook. 

“Beth, I’m serious. It’s not looking good.” 

“Keep your pants on!” I yelled, irritated that he was making me hurry. With a curse, I pulled on the dress, put my wet hair in a quick pony tail, and opened the bathroom door. “What’s the big hurry?” Jace held up his phone. It said Grandma Nadine. 

“Hello!” a loud voice yelled. “Jace! Beth! Hurry! Grandma has this all figured out.” 

“Famous last words.” Jace nodded. “But we have no choice.” 

“No choice?” I repeated. “What? Is the mafia after us or something?” 

“Worse.” “I highly doubt that.” 

“Look.” He pointed to the TV. Reporters were in front of a hotel, looking excited as hell. 

“The news?” I asked. “Why is that worse than—” 

“Special reports say the senator took a prostitute back to his room at midnight last night and has yet to check out! Which raises the question, has the senator truly put his murky past behind him? Sources close to the senator’s ex-fiancée say the cheating scandal from two years ago nearly destroyed him. One more scandal won’t bode well for the youngest senator in state history. Could a trust issue in his personal life have a reflection on his public one?”

“That’s enough.” I grabbed the remote from Jace’s frozen hand and threw it onto the bed. Great. So not only had I lost my virginity to a politician, but now I was a prostitute. I reached for his cell phone and growled into it. 

“We’ll have words later.” Grandma snorted. “But get us out of here first.” 

“Say the magic words.” 

“Uh, please?” I nudged Jace out of his paralyzed state. 

“Not those words.” I closed my eyes and allowed visions of my calm and sterile office to bring back the peace into my body. That didn’t work. I needed to think about Vampire Diaries. Damon Salvatore. Damon Salvatore. Damon Salvatore. And happy place found! 

“I can’t read minds. What words do you want me to say?” Grandma chuckled. 

“Why, thank you, of course!” 

“For?” 

“How was he?” She giggled like a school girl. 

“Men with power seem to have a special type of—” 

“Thank you!” I all but shouted. “Now get us out of here.” 

“Roger.” The phone went dead. I looked to Jace for help, but he seemed to be fighting a losing battle with his tie as he tried to pull it from his neck. 

“Stop.” I swatted his hands away. “You’re going to hang yourself if you keep doing that.” He shrugged. “What?” I loosened the tie. “No snappy retort?” 

“Not feeling snappy,” he said dryly. I slapped him. I never said I was good with emotions. 

“What the hell was that for?” 

“Singing Katy Perry.” I grinned. “Now snap to it, Mr. Senator. We’ve gotta make it out of this hotel without that skinny bitch reporting it on the evening news.” 

“Grandma?” 

“The reporter.” 

“You understand my confusion,” he added, just as someone knocked on the door. “Stay here.” 

“It feels like a bad movie,” I whispered to myself as I chewed the nail polish off my thumb. 

“Shit.” Jace looked through the peephole and then said shit about five more times before slowly opening the door. Why was he so upset? Why the hell would… 

“Aw, shit.” I repeated. Because there really wasn’t any other word that existed in the English language that would fit as well. So I repeated it again. As did Jace. Grandma shrugged and pulled off her sunglasses. “Let the fun begin!”

Trailer

About the Author

Rachel Van Dyken is the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today Bestselling author of regency and contemporary romances. When she's not writing you can find her drinking coffee at Starbucks and plotting her next book while watching The Bachelor. She keeps her home in Idaho with her Husband and their snoring Boxer, Sir Winston Churchill. She loves to hear from readers!

Facebook|Twitter|Goodreads|Website

Trailer Reveal : The Dare (The Bet, #3) Rachel Van Dyken

The Dare
The Bet, #3
by Rachel Van Dyken

Release Date:
July 8th, 2014

Synopsis:

From #1 New York Times Bestselling Author Rachel Van Dyken, comes the third and final book in the New York Time's Bestselling Bet Series... 

Boring Beth Lynn has always lived up to her nickname... until she wakes up in a hotel bed next to a sexy as sin state senator she re-connected with at a wedding the previous night. 

The biggest problem? She can't seem to remember anything about the night before except for crying into a box of cookies, and she's pretty sure Grandma Nadine slipped something in her drink. And what should have been a one night stand turns into a six day adventure when Grandma whisks them off to Hawaii to save them from the ensuing media firestorm. 

Jace isn't looking for commitment -- he believes he made that clear when he left the wedding with Beth. Then again, he can't remember much of anything other than the way her skin felt beneath his hands. Now he's stuck with her at some lame couple's retreat and trying his hardest to fight the attraction only a woman like Beth could invoke. He doesn't think it can get any worse. 

But one spider attack... A donkey ride from hell... And an unfortunate episode with Viagra tea -- and there's one thing Jace knows for sure: He should never have agreed to Grandma Nadine's suggestion in the first place. 

Because if this isn't paradise, and it isn't a vacation -- that only leaves one option. 

Survival. 

But to make it through alive... they might lose their hearts in the process. 

Genres: 
Romantic Comedy, Friends to lovers, Vacation Romance, New Adult Romance, Funny Stand Alone, Bargain Books, Humorous Romance

Trailer Reveal Hosted by:

InkSlingerPR

The Bet Series

The Bet (The Bet, #1)

Goodreads|Amazon|B&N|iBooks

The Wager (The Bet, #2)

Goodreads|Amazon|B&N|iBooks

The Dare (The Bet, #3)

Goodreads|Amazon|B&N|iBooks

Trailer

About the Author

Rachel Van Dyken is the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today Bestselling author of regency and contemporary romances. When she's not writing you can find her drinking coffee at Starbucks and plotting her next book while watching The Bachelor. She keeps her home in Idaho with her Husband and their snoring Boxer, Sir Winston Churchill. She loves to hear from readers!

Facebook|Twitter|Goodreads|Website

Cover Reveal : The Dare (The Bet, #3) by Rachel Van Dyken

The Dare

The Bet, #3

by Rachel Van Dyken

Release Date:

July 8th, 2014

Genres:

New Adult/Contemporary Romance

Cover Reveal Hosted by: InkslingerPR

Add to Goodreads

Synopsis:

Boring Beth Lynn has always lived up to her nickname… until she wakes up in a hotel bed next to a sexy as sin state senator she re-connected with at a wedding the previous night.

The biggest problem? She can't seem to remember anything about the night before except for crying into a box of cookies, and she’s pretty sure Grandma Nadine slipped something in her drink. And what should have been a one night stand turns into a six day adventure when Grandma whisks them off to Hawaii to save them from the ensuing media firestorm.

Jace isn't looking for commitment — he believes he made that clear when he left the wedding with Beth. Then again, he can't remember much of anything other than the way her skin felt beneath his hands. Now he's stuck with her at some lame couple’s retreat and trying his hardest to fight the attraction only a woman like Beth could invoke.

He doesn’t think it can get any worse.

But one spider attack… A donkey ride from hell… And an unfortunate episode with Viagra tea — and there’s one thing Jace knows for sure: He should never have agreed to Grandma Nadine’s suggestion in the first place.
Because if this isn’t paradise, and it isn’t a vacation — that only leaves one option.

Survival.

But to make it through alive… they might lose their hearts in the process.

Pre-order: Amazon |iTunes |B&N

The Bet Series

The Bet (The Bet, #1)

Goodreads

The #1 New York Times bestseller...

"I have a proposition for you." Kacey should have run the minute those words left Seattle millionaire Jake Titus's mouth. It's been years since Kacey's seen her childhood friend Jake, but the minute Jake mentions his ill grandmother, Kacey is ready to do anything for the sweet old woman. And if that means pretending they're engaged for her sake-so be it.

But Kacey wasn't counting on Jake's older brother Travis still being there. She calls him "Satan" for a reason: she's never forgotten the way he teased and taunted her. Yet when they meet again, Travis's gorgeous smile is a direct hit to her heart . . . and Kacey's more confused than ever. As the days pass, only one thing starts to become alarmingly clear-she never should have accepted Jake's deal ...

Purchase At: Amazon | B&N

The Wager (The Bet, #2)

Goodreads

From the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller, THE BET

THE WAGER

Lose a bet, lose your heart...

What is it about a junior-high crush that can send an otherwise intelligent woman into a tailspin? TV reporter Char Lynn wishes she knew. Jake Titus is too rich, too handsome, too arrogant: a trifecta that once lured Char into the best night-and worst morning-after-of her life. Now they've been thrown together in a wedding party. It's awkward, but survivable . . . until Jake stops acting like a jerk, and starts acting like the man she'd always hoped he could be.

If watching your brother marry your best friend is weird, being attracted to your best friend's other best friend is downright bizarre. Unfortunately for Jake, Char hasn't forgotten how he once tossed her aside. Worse still, Jake's already-nutty grandma is even crazier about Char. Cue meet-cute shenanigans and all manner of meddling, and somehow, Jake's falling. For Char. Now all he has to do is make her believe it . . .

Purchase At: Amazon | B&N

About the Author

Rachel Van Dyken is the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today Bestselling author of regency and contemporary romances. When she's not writing you can find her drinking coffee at Starbucks and plotting her next book while watching The Bachelor.
She keeps her home in Idaho with her Husband and their snoring Boxer, Sir Winston Churchill. She loves to hear from readers! 

Email me: rachelvandykenauthor@gmail.com

Website | Facebook |  Twitter  | Goodreads