Bet on It

by Jodie Slaughter

After striking up a bingo-based sex pact, two lonely souls find winning has never been more fun - and falling in love has never felt more complicated.
The first time Aja Owens encounters the man of her dreams, she’s having a panic attack in the frozen foods section of the Piggly Wiggly. The second time, he’s being introduced to her as her favorite bingo buddy’s semi-estranged grandson. From there, all it takes is one game for her to realize that he’s definitely going to be a problem. And if there’s anything she already has a surplus of, it’s problems.
In Walker Abbott’s mind, there are only two worthwhile things in Greenbelt, South Carolina. The peach cobbler at his old favorite diner and his ailing grandmother. Dragging himself back after more than a decade away, he’s counting down the days until Gram heals and he can get back to his real life. Far away from the trauma inside of those city limits. Just when he thinks his plan is solid, enter Aja to shake everything up.
A hastily made bingo-based sex pact is supposed to keep this…thing between them from getting out of hand. Especially when submitting to their feelings means disrupting their carefully balanced lives. But emotions are just like bingo callers—they refuse to be ignored.

• ISBN10: 1250821827
• ISBN13: 9781250821829
• Publish Date: 15 August 2022
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: St Martin's Press
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 320
• Language: English
• URL: http://melia.co.uk/page/detail/?k=9781250821829

Reviews

[Jeff Sexton]

Gen Z Mental Health Dang Near Erotica... Romantic Comedy? Up front, there was nothing technically wrong about this story - hence the five stars here. There is nothing for me to hang a star deduction on as objectively wrong here, and indeed there are several things to actively like. Such as the interracial romance in the South, where neither character tries to bring in bygone eras that were dead long before either of them were alive. As a Xennial / elder Millenial Southerner, this was genuinely refreshing to see in novel form, since so many try to depict the South as some racial tension hotbed that isn't actually present in reality. Or at least that's not what the *entire* South is, nor any that I've ever experienced in a lifetime of living here. So for fellow Southerners tired of so many novels looking down on us and trying to force depictions of us that aren't always accurate... give this one a try, I think you'll like it. :)

Now, onto the stuff that those same fellow Southerners might actually have more of an issue with.

For one, if you don't like hot and heavy, dang near erotica level sex in a book... this one isn't for you, no matter where you're from. If you prefer "sweet" / "clean" romances where the couple barely kisses or where anything beyond maybe heavy kissing is "behind closed doors"... this book isn't going to be something you enjoy. There are two sex acts performed essentially in public - one in a car in a parking lot, the other inside the Mayor's Mansion during a town festival (and on a couch in a room, rather than in some closet!). Along these lines, there was much talk of condoms and STI testing (at least at first), and again, these are some issues that I know some will LOVE being included but others will wish had not been, so either way you now know to expect them and can proceed according to your own attitudes on the subject. :)

For another, and this is absolutely one where your mileage may vary depending on any number of factors, there is a LOT of talk about mental health here, to the level of being fairly preachy at times - particularly in espousing a more Gen Z view of the field. Both of our leads suffer from anxiety, and at times it feels the focus of the book is on these issues rather than anything remotely romantic or even comedic. While it is absolutely refreshing to see these issues discussed so openly, and I absolutely love that a book featuring this is on the market, I also realize that it won't be everyone's cup of tea. So hey, better to skip the book because I warned you than to read it and leave a 1 star review complaining about all the "pansy ass whiny bullcrap" or some such that I know several people personally would absolutely complain about. :)

In the end though, this *was* a mostly fun, relatively light (particularly given its subject matter) romantic comedy, and it *does* work within that genre, just far from your typical entry there. As someone who constantly seeks new wrinkles I hadn't seen before, I enjoyed it from that side in particular. Very much recommended.

[Joni Reads]

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a free advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

When I saw this was about Bingo I was immediately intrigued. I have 5 different Bingo games on my ipad so you might say that I like to play Bingo. Add a Bingo storyline to a romcom and you can sign me up!

I thought that the mental health rep and the POC rep was really good. I liked that they didn't shy away from the main character being black. Sometimes when reading about a POC main character they tend to gloss over the fact but this book made it part of the storyline which I appreciated.

Our main character, Aja, has general anxiety and when we first meet her she is having a panic attack in the middle of the grocery store. You're really thrown right in to a very vulnerable moment with her so I immediately felt for the character.

The love interest is Walker- the grandson of Aja's Bingo partner who has come to care for his grandma after she broke both of her wrists in an accident. Walker has anxiety issues stemming from PTSD from his difficult childhood himself so he and Aja really connect and understand each other.

The spice levels of this book was amazing. No fade to black here which I loved.

So why only 3 stars? I felt like the book did a lot more telling than showing. I didn't feel fully immersed. There was no urgency to pick it up when I put it down.

And while I appreciate the mental health storyline I do feel like it wasn't executed well. While we first meet Aja during a panic attack she never suffers from another one on the pages of the book again. She mentions her struggle with anxiety quite a bit but other than being a homebody we don't really see it.

For a woman who has a panic attack in the middle of Piggly Wiggly over a box of Hot Pockets you would think that there would be more actual struggles in the book and there just wasn't.

I liked the characters, loved the Bingo storyline, the different rep that was featured in the book (did I mention Aja is also plus size?) and I would definitely read another book by this author. It just fell a bit flat for me overall so I rated it as three stars.

If you like romcoms with some good spice I do recommend that you check this out. Just check trigger warnings because of the mentions of panic attacks and anxiety that are mentioned.