Bet Me had a pair of horrible, horrible mothers. I finished the book a few weeks ago, and moreso than many other details, the utter heinousness of both the hero and the heroine’s mothers sticks with me. I’ve met supercilious and cold women like the hero’s mother, so she was at least someone who I believe exists on the planet, but Minerva Dobbs — our heroine — is cursed, having been born of the nastiest caricature of a human. If this story is to be believed, Mother Dobbs speaks never to her children other than to play Calorie and Wardrobe Police.
But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let me throw a little plot summary at you, from Goodreads: “Minerva Dobbs knows that happily-ever-after is a fairy tale, especially with a man who asked her to dinner to win a bet. Even if he is gorgeous and successful Calvin Morrisey. Cal knows commitment is impossible, especially with a woman as cranky as Min Dobbs. Even if she does wear great shoes and keeps him on his toes. When they say good-bye at the end of their evening, they cut their losses and agree never to see each other again.
But Fate has other plans, and it’s not long before Min and Cal meet again. Soon, they’re dealing with a jealous ex-boyfriend, Krispy Kreme donuts, a determined psychologist, chaos theory, a freakishly intelligent cat, Chicken Marsala, and more risky propositions than either of them ever dreamed of. Including the biggest gamble of all–true love.”
Mostly, this was a cute, fluffy story. I liked both Cal and Min as characters; they were both clever and funny without coming off as excessively quippy in the Sorkin-esque sense. The cast of characters was amusing as well, and with the exception of the obvious villains, they were given a surprising amount of depth in their personalities relative to the time they each appeared on the page. I was wary at some of the gender stereotyping that goes on, but nothing was outright offensive, just the typical gender essentialist dating advice that you hear from friends who are well-meaning but nonetheless haven’t discovered feminism.
I’m gonna be honest: I went into this expecting more sex, mostly because I like my contemporaries to be a little more on the erotica side, and I don’t really dip into the whole swath of contemporary romance that’s more “chick-lit” than erotic. So unfortunately, as sweet as this story was, it wasn’t really my style. Call me boorish and ban me to fanfiction.net if you must!
If you haven’t read it, you might like Welcome to Temptation. Same level of banter and characterization, but with more steam.
I’m not a chick-lit gal so I also was unimpressed with this book but can’t really tell if that is due to the book itself or the genre. Another title for the review could have been, “Love Through the Cloud of Fat-Shaming.” You totally nailed it, the Mothers are horrible and the relentless nagging about her weight was unpardonable. Who would spend time with somebody who was constantly commenting on what you ate? Ugh.
The repetitive callbacks to Chicken Marsala was also off-putting. We get it, you really like chicken marsala. You’ve learned to cook it and now are eating it on an almost daily basis. Fantastic. Now maybe you can expand your repertoire to other dishes?
That being said the author’s blog is FANTASTIC and through this book, I’ve become a huge fan of her blog (she writes about writing, story construction, etc – many of her posts are like a master class) and it’s well worth checking out.
God, the endless parade of Chicken Marsala. And donuts. This is DEFINITELY me being hyper-sensitive, but I was having a hard time deciding if the running theme of food and eating and Cal wanting Min to eat was about celebrating her appetite and her learning to accept herself, or if it was kind of just: “Min fat. Min like food!”
But was Min fat or did Min think she was fat? Was she just kind of luscious?
Speaking as someone who grew up with an insidiously fat shaming mother, I could relate to Min a great deal. Oh, the baggage. THE BAGGAGE.
I suspect ‘luscious’ is exactly what she was. Whether the book intended this or not, it rather illuminated conflicting messages out there about food and eating: on the one hand, eating will make you fat (therefore unattractive); on the other hand, eating is a euphoric and often sensual experience (see: Cal getting turned on by Min enjoying her dinner.)
I have continued this comment in many different ways, trying to expand on that thought in any number of tangents, but deleted them because, as I have just concluded, my thoughts on this subject are very discombobulated.
I like this one, but I don’t love it, though I understand why it was so popular. I agree that it lacked steam.
I personally prefer both Welcome to Temptation and Faking It to Bet Me, but having now read more contemporary romance from the late 90s, early 2000s, I can see why so many people adore this – Crusie just does it better, in my humble opinion than say, Susan Elizabeth Phillips, who is the other author of contemporary romance from this time period hailed as a fan favourite.
She does tend to have a formula. There are frequently slightly chubby heroines (which I’m all for), an adorable plot moppet of some sort, a lovable dog and overbearing parents somewhere in there. I suspect that if I’d read her books when they first came out, I would have loved them. As it is, I like them, but rate more recent contemporaries higher.
I bought it was interesting that I haven’t seen anything from Cruisie in a few years. I went looking on her blog and found this interesting post. http://www.arghink.com/2014/05/08/the-end-of-history-problem-in-planning-a-writing-career/#more-11647
Wow, what a great post! I’m sure she’s addressed it on her blog, but I can’t help but think that’s why some authors take on pseudonyms, even multiple ones, particularly if they’re in romance or other ‘genre’ fiction.
Argh, my thoughts ran away with me — what I’m sure she’s addressed on her blog isn’t the generalized topic of pseudonyms, but whether or not she’s considered using one.
I didn’t see any sign of that, but I didn’t look exhaustively.
That was a really interesting post in terms of her writing career, but more than that the “End of History” problem is making me think.
Wow that was good!
I’m assuming this is the book she refers to in the post?
http://www.amazon.com/Wild-Ride-Jennifer-Crusie/dp/0312533829/ref=sr_1_15?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1409278769&sr=1-15&keywords=jennifer+crusie
Ironically I AM interested in checking it out because it’s NOT chick lit. That being said she says it wasn’t marketed as a romantic comedy but I see the themes of a romcom littered throughout the Amazon description, “As her personal demons wreck her newfound relationship and real demons wreck the park…”
Or is it this book?
http://www.amazon.com/Dont-Look-Down-Jennifer-Crusie/dp/0312938519/ref=la_B000APUP3C_1_24?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1409278963&sr=1-24
It seems her collaborations with Bob Mayer don’t get rave reviews. I’m going to have to check one out to see if they’re deserved or, as she suggests, people disappointed because she’s deviating from the norm. Thoughts?
I thought both books had some ups and downs. I liked Wild Ride better than Don’t Look Down. Both have scenes I remember clearly. I’d go to the library for these and buy if you like them.