Rating: 
Summary: Dessert for the mind
Review: I loved Jennifer Crusie's latest Lake Woebegone, where all the women are smart, all the men are adoring, and everyone is wealthy and beautiful. No matter how unrealistic her universe is, it's FUN. And funny. Crusie inserts jokes and it's not until later in your day (when you will still be thinking about the book) that you realize they were jokes. And hot. Crusie can write a sex scene that will leave you shaking without being crude or (particularly) explicit.
In short: Crusie writes "fiction for women" that does justice to both fiction and women. Read this book at the dinner table.
Rating: 
Summary: Delightful read with full figured heroine and devilsh hero
Review: I loved this book! The characters Min and Cal are delightful in their battle to fight their attraction and resist love. She has a controlling mom who has programmed her to hate her roundness. He is a serial dater with a determined Ex who wants him back. She is sassy and talks back. He gives as good as she does. The banter. The dialog. The sexiness without explicit sex- the friendships and depth of characters and cast make this one a must read and read again!Jennifer Crusie is the voice for single women over 30 who want the fairytale and the unreality of reality that goes along with it.Primo! And can I say bravo to Crusie for another book with a couple who are happy as non-breeders- this is so rare which is why they stand out. Not all women want kids- nor do all men. They do like Krispy Kreme donuts though!
Rating:
Summary: New Fan of Crusie!
Review: I'd never read any of Crusie's books, until I picked this one up at the store after it caught my eye. I have to say, I've already went out and bought a few more of her books, because if they're as good as "Bet Me"- I'm a new fan & I'm hooked!
We first meet Min Dobbs as her boyfriend is breaking up with her- in a bar- for not sleeping with him. Thank god her friends are there for support, and so are some good looking available men. Cal catches her eye and she's definitely interested, until she sees him talking to her now ex-boyfriend & making a bet that he can't get her into bed in 1 month! No longer interested in his good looks, out of spite she does agree to leave the bar with Cal. Only, this casual acquaintance seems to take a life on of it's own...and Min & Cal begin running into each other where ever they go. Their love/hate relationship becomes irresistable, even though both of them try to deny it.
This book was such a pleasant, fun read! Very quickly I became attached to the characters in the book, the friends of Cal & Min, their families, even their conspiring Ex's! I think this is one of the best romantic comedy books I've read in a long time. As another reviewer put it, the dialogue and situations in the book are realistic, they do not come off as contrived or fake- as some books do. I'd certainly love to see a movie version of this book- and like I said, I'll be reading much more of Crusie in the future!
Rating:
Summary: A Winning Book Recommended for all Chick Lit Fans
Review: Is there such a thing as a fairy tale romance? Does anyone ever live happily ever after? Actuary Minerva Dobbs finds out in BET ME, the latest in a string of Chick Lit books written by the popular author Jennifer Crusie. In this story, the focus is on a young woman who does not wear a size six dress nor cares about how she appears to the opposite sex. She is tired of the dating scene and of her criticizing mother, and is ready to move in with a cat. The story opens in a bar in New York with Minerva and her soon-to-be ex-boyfriend David breaking up. Apparently he is not happy that she has refused to have sex with him during their entire dating relationship, and he decides it's time to move on. Not that Minerva cares; she is actually relieved. She was tired of David's advice on how to lose weight and what not to eat, and wished that he could have accepted her the way she was. She leaves David and seeks out her two best friends, Bonnie and Liza, who are waiting for her at the bar. Min soon notices a trio of men across the way who are watching them. Three guys for three gals --- a perfect match. So Min decides to go over there and see what's up. As she approaches, she overhears them talking about her (in a rather unflattering way) and the man who has caught her eye is making a bet with his friends that he can convince her to go out to dinner with him by the end of the evening. On that note, Min runs back to her safe corner with Bonnie and Liza, and as the women wait, the man who caught her attention, Calvin Morissey, walks over to them, and subsequently asks Min out to dinner. Min accepts. What Min does not know is that David was the one who made this initial bet with Cal. She also isn't aware that David bet Cal $10,000 that Cal could not get Min to have sex with him within a month. David thinks this is an easy win for him, since he is under the impression that Min simply is not interested in sex. But what David does not understand is that Min simply was not interested in David, period. Cal, on the other hand, has a reputation for never losing a bet. He does not take David's sex bet seriously, but nevertheless wins the $10 bet regarding dinner with Min, thanks to her eavesdropping just minutes earlier. She basically went out with Cal just to infuriate David. From that point on, the crazy up and down friendship between Cal and Min begins. The two are obviously attracted to each other, but they drive each other nuts. It's like oil and water. They talk, they tease, they flirt. But neither one wants to admit that there is anything going on between them. Bonnie and Liza notice that something exciting IS going on between the two, and so do Cal's friends, Tony and Roger. Soon, the six of them become regular buddies, with Roger and Bonnie falling in love, Tony and Liza "dating" but with no serious intentions for a commitment, and Cal and Min arguing, flirting and stealing kisses every now and then. Min soon sees another part of Cal's life --- his personal relationship with his family, his ex-girlfriend Cynthie (who is secretly plotting a way to get Cal back), and a childhood that left Cal scarred and scared about being a failure. Cal also meets Min's wacky family, including a sister who is having pre-wedding jitters, an overbearing mother and an overprotective father who may be having an affair with his secretary. BET ME is a winning book. Although this reviewer feels it went on a bit too long, Jennifer Crusie does an excellent job creating some very funny characters. We see each individual written into this story as someone uniquely important in his or her own right, yet integral to the love story of Cal and Min. There are subplots that surround the fairy tale; although at first this reviewer did not see the point in throwing in all of these characters, it all comes together nicely by the end of the book. BET ME is recommended for all fans of Chick Lit. --- Reviewed by Marie Hashima Lofton
Rating:
Summary: Fun Reading!
Review: Jennifer Crusie has a knack for fun and witty language! I read this story in 1 1/2 days. I was glad that, for a change, Cal, the gorgeous hunk was attracted to Minerva, a big boned woman who was not the typical dainty, naive and delicate girl even if he was pushed to notice her only because of a bet!
Rating:
Summary: 4 1/2 stars -- A fairy tale with an unlikely heroine!
Review: Looking over the reviews, "Bet Me" seems to be a book that you either love or hate. Personally, I thought that parts of the book were worthy of *10 stars*, but I *love* romantic fiction and am not looking for realism in a book like this one. Jennifer Crusie is *excellent* at adapting the fairy tale into a contemporary romance. I loved the characters of Minerva and Calvin--an insecure, chubby Cinderella with a sharp wit and her gorgeous, commitment-phobic Prince Charming.
Minerva Dobbs has just been dumped in the middle of a theme bar by her handsome boyfriend of 3 months because she will not sleep with him. She is more upset about losing her date to her sister's upcoming wedding than losing David (the boyfriend), but she is feeling pretty down on herself and on men in general. Her friends try to distract her with a gorgeous guy (Calvin Morrisey) standing across the bar from her, talking to David. When her friends goad her into approaching the hunk, Minerva overhears David betting Calvin that he cannot get her to sleep with him in the next month. Minerva thinks that she has heard Cal agree to the bet and starts fuming. When Calvin approaches her to ask her to dinner, an angry Minerva agrees, thinking that she will string him along until after her sister's wedding and then dump him. Cal cannot understand why all his legendary charm falls flat with a very prickly Minerva, and Minerva cannot understand why she finds Cal so attractive, despite all that she knows about him.
I loved the character of Minerva, a curvy girl on a low carb diet in a world full of skinny Minnies. Her insecurities were very real (but I agree with Cal, all that talk about not eating food was pretty boring.) Calvin was a wonderful literary creation--a gorgeous, charming, "love 'em and leave 'em" type who gets blindsided by his deep attraction to Minerva. So *unlikely*, I know, but that is what makes romantic fiction *great*! They both have awful families, intrusive friends, meddling ex's and some real insecurity issues.
The dialogue was snappy and very witty and the plot quite clever. I loved the slightly mystical touches (minor accidents befall the H/H when they deny their love to others) and the fairy tale references in the plot (a shoe is lost, a "wolf" approaches a woman in a red hooded sweater, a kiss "awakens" a sleeper) that underscored that Cal and Min were "meant to be". Food was used as a metaphor and plot device a bit *too* much for my taste (ha!)--enough already about Chicken Marsala, donuts, bread and butter! I admit that I did love the scene in which Cal seduces a kiss out of Min on a picnic table with the help of a Krispy Kreme donut (the donut acting as a metaphor for the kiss itself--both forbidden *bliss* for Min!) My other quibble with the book was with the epilogue. Min complains near the end of the book that nobody ever writes stories about happily ever after--and she is right. While everyone agrees that the heroine should get the handsome prince at the end of a good romance, "happily ever after" means different things to different people and is best left to the reader's imagination (I think anyways...)
In summary, "Bet Me" is a sexy, light, humorous romp with an engaging hero and heroine. I think that Jennifer Crusie is a *wonderfully* talented author and would also recommend "Welcome to Temptation" (a book by JC that I liked even more!)
Rating:
Summary: Unexpectedly Excellent
Review: Okay -- wow, this was good! I have never read Crusie before, so I was expecting just another semi-generic chick lit novel. I've never been so glad to be disappointed! I think this is the most perfect chick lit book I have ever read. It was hilarious, for one -- the one-liners just kept coming the whole novel through. And they were *good* one-liners, funny, smart, sexy, and witty. The characters were fabulous -- well-drawn, quirky, likeable (the good guys), deliciously unlikeable (the bad guys), intelligent, and fully fleshed-out. These were people I wanted to get to know and hang out with, the kind of people I could see myself being friends with. And the plot was utterly absorbing. Once I started, I couldn't put the book down. Literally. I stayed up until 9:00 in the morning finishing this thing; by the end, I was so tired I could barely keep my eyes open, but I kept on reading instead of doing the sensible thing and, y'know, sleeping, because I just *had* to know what happened next. It's been a while since I've been that caught up in a book. I'm going to have to check out Jennifer Crusie's other novels, because that was really a lot of fun! Oh! I forgot to mention the best part! The overweight heroine doesn't lose weight to win the heart of the hero! Not only is she as fat for the happily-ever-after ending as she was for the beginning, but the hero kept feeding her all the way through the novel because he liked the look on her face when she ate something yummy. I was starving when I finished _Bet Me_ -- people kept eating pasta, chicken marsala, and Krispy Kreme donuts! I've been waiting a long time for a book that said you don't have to be thin to be happy, and actually *meant* it. Thanks, Ms. Crusie!
Rating:
Summary: Bet you you can't put this one down!
Review: This book goes at it from the very beginning and although we can guess what is going to happen for the most part, it will hit a funny bone and make you wanting more!Our characters will step out of the book and won't go back in! I read this book in one sitting!
I love Min. She is without a doubt wonderful normal character. I love shoes so I couldn't help but like her! This book is full of laughs and will make you hungry also!You won't regret picking this one up!
Rating:
Summary: IGNORE The NAY-SAYERS!!!! THIS IS A WONDERFUL READ!
Review: This is an absolute gem of a book. Min is everywoman and the way she deals with so many of our issues is, well, just
inspirational. Although Min was never a doormat, it's great fun watching her flex her muscles as she gradually realizes that she doesn't have to put up with all that stuff cluttering up her life -
an obnoxious boyfriend, a toxic mother, her own negative body image, well-meaning yet interfering and slightly loopy friends.
She's just learning to know and love herself when Cal comes into her life. And what a perfect reward for all her pains Cal is - better than Krispie Kremes. (Vegas Here I come) *ahem* Min and Cal's relationship is so skillfully developed that
I didn't even notice how long Crusie made us wait for one of her famous "hot" scenes until it finally happened. And the dog we've come to expect is in this case a cat - but what a cat. I just loved this funny and wickidly sharp book and I know it's one I'll read again and again - especially when the old self-esteem needs a boost! Well said....Diana
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