Reviews with content warning for Mental illness - Betting On You

Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Betting On You by Lynn Painter

9 reviews

blackveilbeccy's review

emotional funny lighthearted slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This book and its characters really grew on me by the end. At the beginning, I struggled with the cynicism of MMC Charlie and the whininess of FMC Bailey, but their character development and friendship over time was lovely. I felt very sorry for Bailey as

a child of divorce who had two selfish (in different ways) parents

- some of that, especially with the subplot relating to her mother, was handwaved away. This book kept a lighthearted tone despite some of the serious subject matter, and the wide variety of side characters worked well. I didn’t like it as much as the last Lynn Painter book I read, but I still enjoyed it.

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thebankofbooks's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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kottengoesbork's review

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emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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rachrreads's review against another edition

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medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No

4.75

I received an eARC from the publisher via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Bailey begins a new job at a space themed waterpark when she notices one of her coworkers is someone she hoped she’d never see again. A few years prior, Bailey sat next to Charlie on a plane to Nebraska. Bailey’s parents were mid-divorce and Charlie offered a cynical view of the world, which vastly differed from Bailey’s view. The two begin to work together and Bailey finds herself enjoying her time with Charlie.

When Bailey’s mom starts to see someone new post-divorce, Bailey is not ready for her life to change. Bailey enlists Charlie’s help to push her mom’s new boyfriend out of her life. Despite what feels like a growing friendship, Charlie insists they’re just co-workers— even going as far as saying men and women cannot be friends. To prove his point, Charlie bets Bailey that another pair of coworkers will hook up. Bailey disagrees with him, insisting they are just friends.

One thing that I wish would have been explained more was Charlie’s life. He clearly deals with some sort of mental illness— whether it be anxiety or something else and the author glosses over this other than when it can be used to move the plot/relationship forward. Further, we never meet Charlie’s mom or sister who he apparently lives with.

There was a lot of tropes and cliches that happened in this book but I ate up every minute of it.

Read if you like:
• When Harry Met Sally
• Friends to lovers
• Fake dating trope
• opposites attract

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abby2207's review

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Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

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katievallin's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

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beckyyreadss's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I wanted to read this book because I love Lynn Painter’s work and when this was announced, I knew I would want to read it as soon as possible.

This book has two points of view. The first is Bailey. She has started a new job at a hotel waterpark and she is less than thrilled to see an old acquaintance is one of her co-workers. Bailey met Charlie a year ago on a long flight to Omaha, where she moved after her parents’ divorce. Charlie’s cynicism didn’t mix well with Bailey’s carefully well-behaved temperament, and his endless commentary was the irritating cherry on top of an already emotionally fraught trip. Now Bailey and Charlie are still polar opposites, but instead of everything about him rubbing Bailey the wrong way, she starts to look forward to hanging out and gossiping about the waterpark guests and their co-workers – particularly the two who keep flirting with each other. Bailey and Charlie make a bet on whether or not the cozy pair will actually get together. Charlie insists that members of the opposite sex can’t just be friends, and Bailey is determined to prove him wrong. The second point of view is Charlie, he is determined to deflect the growing feelings he’s developed for Bailey. He is terrified to lose her if his crush becomes known. What doesn’t help is his agenda is Bailey and Charlie’s “fake dating” in order to disrupt the annoying pleasantries between Bailey’s mum and her new boyfriend. Soon, what Charlie was hoping to avoid becomes a reality as Bailey starts to see him as not only a friend she can rely on in the midst of family drama – but someone who makes her hands shake and heart race. But Charlie has a secret which involved Bailey and another bet Charlie might have made. Can the two make a real go of things or will Charlie betrayal too much for Bailey?

This book was so fluffy and fun. I love the aspect of fake dating and the whole young adult one bed stuff was great. I loved Charlie’s POV and I wish we had more of Charlie’s POV. This book was such an easy read and the dual POV made it a quicker read. I like the progression of the friends-to-lovers as it seems more realistic than books I've read in the past – both of them denying that they couldn’t have feelings for each other, ignoring them, and then getting over it and accepting it, to admitting their feels. As a kid of divorced parents and have stepparents, I loved the rep though now I appreciate the fact that my parents lived close to each other because I couldn’t think about doing a flight on my own under the age of 15. I loved that Scott was honest and open towards the end.

I wanted more. I would have loved more light being shed on Charlie’s overthinking/TUMS bit – I felt like it got mentioned with his mum, Bailey didn’t question it and then that was it. I would have liked to see more from Charlie’s household because we didn’t see much expect that he doesn’t like to be home. I get it was mainly focused on Bailey, but sometimes I felt like Charlie’s POV was just needed to move the story alone rather than a more depth of a character.

I will always read Lynn Painter, but I think I will always prefer her new adult books rather than young adult books because I felt like the bet bit of it was just unnecessary – not the bet with Bailey and Charlie but the bet between Theo and Charlie – the She’s All That reference of a bet. Plus these kids were giving me a headache sometimes.

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vj_thompson's review

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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dianaschmidty's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Lynn Painter can do no wrong! This book felt like if you combined Better Than the Movies, Mr. Wrong Number, and The Love Wager into one book, and since those are three of my all-time favorite books, that was a very good thing!

I loved having this book being dual POV! I feel like I wouldn’t have liked Charlie as much if I hadn’t fully understood his motives for his decisions throughout the book. He was such a fun and witty character that I instantly liked him. I also really liked Bailey. She reminded me a lot of myself when I was in high school.

Bailey and Charlie had amazing chemistry! They had my heart fluttering so many times throughout this book! I was almost giddy at certain moments at how adorable they were. I thought the mixture of fake dating plus being two friends that have feelings but refuse to admit it even to themselves worked perfectly in this book! I also loved how they were there for each other! They would each drop literally anything for the other and I loved that for them!!! The way that she didn’t even ask questions about his anxiety and just helped in any way that she could was so sweet. And him just straight up dropping anything at any point to come to her rescue (which happened like three times) was adorable!

The only thing that I didn’t love was how Bailey’s mom treated her. There was never a conversation about Scott being added to Bailey’s life and it felt like her mom crossed a boundary. It would have been fine, except that I didn’t love that Bailey never really confronted her mom about it, but I guess that’s realistic. I also wished we could have seen Charlie’s interactions with his family and had Bailey be there for him with his family like he was for hers.

Overall, I am a little obsessed with this book and it just reaffirmed why Lynn Painter is my favorite author!

Thank you to NetGalley, Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing, and the greatest romance author, Lynn Painter for providing me access to this book.

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