Reviews with content warning for Alcoholism - Wanna Bet?

Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

Wanna Bet? by Talia Hibbert

72 reviews

tdotrenae's review against another edition

lighthearted tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

Omg yet again, Talia put her foot in a book!! This story is about Rahul and Jasmine and their friends to besties to roommates to lovers live story. First of all, I love love love these characters (even tho I spent a week mad at Jasmine around page 266). Rahul spends SEVEN years in love with Jasmine and in control of himself and his feelings. However, when she moves in… phew Rahul adopts a tiny bit of Jasmines carefree spirit and bends some of his own rules. Rahul and Jasmine are perfect foils of each other and complement each other in every way.

I thoroughly enjoyed the story so much so that I got really wrapped up in the plot. Where I had to take a break because I was really upset with Jasmine (as a friend would be). This story has it all: diverse characters, steamy scenes, an intricate yet fun plot, very thick tension between the main characters and much much more.

I really enjoyed the writing of this book and the imagery that Talia creates is beautiful. I feel like it’s so easy with her writing to imagine the characters in real life. 4.5 stars because even though I really really got upset with the characters that meant I was really into the book and so I love that.

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readingwithtemperance's review against another edition

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emotional lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Jasmine absolutely infuriated me while simultaneously making me want to give her the biggest hug. I loved her though and I can absolutely understand her pain/why she is the way she is. I saw a bit of myself in her. Mommy issue abandonment twinsies and all that.

I am just so incredibly proud of her for doing the work and taking care of herself. And for TRYING.

And for admitting she needs help and taking that help and applying what she learns in therapy into her every day life. Ngl i do wish we got to sit in for some of those sessions.

Rahul was so kind and patient with Jasmine. It warmed my heart how much he deeply cared for her and wanted her to be happy above all else.

That man WAITED for SEVEN years. Not even waiting for HER to feel the same. But just BEING THERE and being the absolute best friend ever. MY HEART.

The ending was so so sweet.

I loved the 7 years later/getting to see their son. And to watch them have such a mundane and intimite moment and just still be so head over heels for eachother.

I was sobbing at how beautiful it all was.

What more could you want than to build a life with your best friend?

Talia I love you so much. I swear you do no wrong.

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bladebailey's review against another edition

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emotional funny reflective relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Talia Hibbert writes mature, messy romances with beautifully flawed and well rounded characters. Rahul, a strict health nut who doesn't drink alcohol for religious reasons and works with numbers for a living, contrasts perfectly with the wild and free Jasmine, who exhibits borderline alcoholism and loves to eat whatever she wants. They share their traumas often, Rahul grieving the recent sudden loss of his beloved father and Jasmine struggling with long term abandonment issues prompted by her mother's apathetic disconnect. The Roommate Risk rectifies a major problem I tend to have with friends to lovers romances, because I see it happen way too often that the one who's been pining longer (often the man) feels entitled to a sexual and romantic relationship regardless of the other's resistance, whether it's from lack of interest or emotional baggage like Jasmine. Rahul absolutely doesn't do that, and in fact bluntly states that he knows he's not entitled to Jasmine's time, body, or affection just because they've been friends so long and he suspects she might want him. He knows it's his problem, not hers, and he lets her come to her own conclusions on her own time. I definitely recommend Hibbert as a whole, but this may be among my favorites of her catalog.

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mayareadsxo's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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weelasswithabook'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? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

CW graphic sexual content, parental abandonment, death of a parent, alcoholism/alcohol dependency

🌟 Friends to lovers
🌟 BIPOC Interracial romance
🌟 Forced proximity/flatmates
🌟 Cinnamon roll hero

🌈 Queer heroine
🌈 Black heroine
🌈 Muslim hero

She just never misses, does she?

I absolutely adored this friends to lovers novel about two best friends who have been forced to room. Rahul has is BAAAAAAD. If you live for a pining hero, then this is right up your street.

Sometimes a friends to lovers after a decade of pining can give "he's friends with her because he thinks he has a shot", but this was done so expertly that it was clear he was trying his best, he never pushed boundaries or disrespected her, and he genuinely continued to be her ride or die bestie.

Jasmine broke my heart, not gonna lie, her sense of self worth and being deserving of love tore me up. But she was just so good and she just couldn't see it 😭

This had such a perfect balance of sweet and tender moments, gut wrenching sad moment, hella spicy moments, and laugh out loud moments. It's hard to fit all of that into less than 400 pages without letting something drop somewhere, and it had it all in abundance. Plus a mini insight into codependency between friends and/or lovers was thrown in there too.

You need to read this if you love a solid friends to lovers book, where the friendship is literally a genuine friendship. If the prickly heroine and cinnamon roll hero due is your favourite combo, it's also ideal because they're so unbelievably different, but they just work so well!!!

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kristin_boren's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Certainly not my favorite Talia Hibbert but by no means bad. Rahul is simply TO DIE FOR! And even though Jasmine is selfish and frustrating I was rooting for her to figure it out the whole time. Talia is one of the best in the biz and I stand by that.

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liyah375's review against another edition

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emotional lighthearted relaxing fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This book is so cute. I was blushing and kicking my feet the whole way. Friends to lovers is so tricky because you have to find what has kept them from being lovers and Hibbert has done that beautifully. We love a man who pines (Rahul) and a woman allowed to be messy and imperfect (Jasmine). I loved watching Jasmine define love and relationships. I'm not a betting woman myself, but I'm willing to take a chance on anything Hibbert ever writes.

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jillkaarlela's review against another edition

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emotional reflective medium-paced

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

2.5

This book is giving “Me to You” by Grace Enger, but not in a good way. (With Rahul as the narrator/perspective of the song)

Age rating: 18+ (7 steamy chapters, 3/5🌶️)

This was by far my least favorite of Talia Hibbert’s books. I am just not a fan of “reformed player”/commitment-phobe trope in this instance, the FMC only sleeps around and she starts wanting the MMC again but only as friends-with-benefits even though she knows that’s not what he wants because he actually wants a relationship. She just can’t have both him as your best friend and casual hookups because he can’t be casual about you and you know that, so you can’t have both. She wants all of the benefits of dating (more than just hooking up) but not calling it that. There were just a lot of instances where she seemed cavalier with him and I didn’t love that. She was also just very emotionally unavailable, in my opinion, throughout the story. She also doesn’t seem like a very good friend in general, she can be quite selfish, self-centered, and flighty and it makes me so annoyed. Because of these issues with the dynamic between the FMC and the MMC, I didn’t really find myself rooting for her, and I was mostly just trying to finish the book, which was very disappointing for me. I’m not saying this book was bad at all, it was just very much not for me.

CW: grief, death of parent, alcoholism

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reads2cope's review against another edition

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4.5

Wish I had read this rather than listened to it, but the audiobook was available from my library (LOVE YOU LIBBY) before the eBook. The book was read by an older white British man (Matthew Lloyd Davies/Cornell Collins), despite the two POVs being a Black British woman and a British-Indian man in their late 20s. The narrator made Rahul sound like an Indian grandpa. The Indian accent was actually offensive - not only was it pretty clear that Rahul grew up in England, but the accent was inconsistent and strange. I thought it couldn’t get worse, but then I heard how he voiced Rahul’s mom and whatever that accent was that he gave Pinal. However, I love Talia Hibbert, so I powered through and totally enjoyed the story and characters. I plan to reread as a physical or eBook in the future!
I normally take a star off for a third-act breaks up, but this one was handled so well I was almost convinced they needed it!

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faemh's review against another edition

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Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

eh. this was ok. very angsty, nowhere near as enjoyable as the brown sisters books

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