I had to give up on Bet Me by Jennifer Crusie. I adored her The Cinderella Deal, and expected a similar type romance, fun and predictable.

On the one hand, I was right. The two main characters Min and Calvin are so cute together. Of course, neither thinks the other is right  for them, but we know different. They enjoy each other, bantering, playing, relaxed even though Min thinks he’s only dating her because of a bet. It would be quite an enjoyable story if Crusie had kept these two and Calvin’s friends and dumped all of Min’s friends and family. They are the reason I had to abandon this one.

Min’s family is just mean to her. First, they think she’s overweight and are constantly harping on it. Thank heavens Calvin loves how much she relishes food and gets her to eat all kinds of goodies, from chicken marsala to brats to donuts. And they give the impression that they think she’ll never be able to attract, let alone build a relationship, with a decent attractive man. Hated them.

Her friends aren’t any better. First of all, they are both beautiful and Min feels like the non-attractive third wheel. I don’t believe they think she is, but they never seem to encourage her to feel good about herself. One friend, Bonnie, is just too saccharine sweet. The other, I think it was Liza, didn’t give Min any credit, didn’t think she was capable of making her own choices, taking care of herself around Calvin. She was sure that Calvin would break Min’s heart. I’m all for friends watching out for each other, but this wasn’t helpful from my pint of view, more demeaning.

Anyway, I only listened to about half of the book. I just couldn’t take it anymore. Maybe everyone realizes what a wonderful, beautiful woman Min is. Well, Cal already gets it, but I was referring to everyone else in the book. Hopefully. I’m sure that there will be a happy, romantic ending for Cal and min, it’s that type of predictable, in a good way, book, but I’m just not willing to put up with all the secondary characters to see how they get there.

12 hours, narrated by Deanna Hurst
Published February 10th 2004 by St. Martins Press

unfinished

I borrowed my audio copy from the library and the above is my honest opinion.

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