The Collegio Pittsburg's student voice since 1916
Alyssa Tyler editor in chief
As the semester hits its peak my brain cannot process any classical or complex books right now. That said, I decided to keep it light and simple with a contemporary romance. The Love Wager by Lynn Painter was an insanely cute novel.
The novel opens with Hailee Piper, a part time bartender working her tail off to ‘glow up’ after her break up with longtime boyfriend. She happens to be the bartender for Jack’s sister’s wedding. Jack and Hailee end up chatting, but here comes along Jacks girlfriend Victoria. Victoria assumes the worst, throws wine in Hailee’s face, then gives the fakest apology after realizing that Jake was going to propose.
Jake and Victoria go outside, Hailee wonders what her life has turned into, and when they come back in, Jake is single. Later Jake requests Hailee and they both drink their feelings away, which leads to Hailee crawling out of Jakes hotel room the following morning.
Hailee decides she must get it together and downloads a dating app. Who is on there too? Jake, of course. The two begin messaging each other, poking fun at each other and becoming close friends. As they both go on dates together, they decide to make a bet. Whoever can find love first gets either a trip to Paris (Hailee’s choice) or a baseball signed by the World Series Champions.
They both attend speed dating (which fails atrociously), find the best way to order tacos, and Jake realizes he doesn’t want anyone else, only Hailee.
This book is so sweet, it was a very lighthearted and simple read. There was every classic trope in the book, from only having one bed, the guy falls first, any romance trope you can think of is in here.
The characters are amazingly written, it is so easy for the reader to fall in love with all of them. From Ruby (the extremely eccentric roommate) to Hailee and her sarcasm, or with Jakes ‘tough guy’ persona.
Overall, I gave this book 4.5/5 stars. As I continue to do these reviews, I need to make a separate grading scale for romance novels and for other novels. For romance, this is 5/5. But my inner book snob struggles to give any book with cartoon characters on the front a full 5/5 stars.
The book does have some mild cursing and some mature content, so I would not recommend this book for anyone under the age of 14.