Review: [...]
Rating: 2 out of 5
Date: 02 11, 2014
BROKE MY HEART!Oh boy … this one is tough to write! The Bet was not one of my favorite books, but I gave it three hearts because of its happy ever after ending. When Ruin came along I decided to give this author one more try and it became one of my favorite recent reads. Because of Ruin, I ordered The Wager, hoping for yet another surprise. My surprise was this was the longest book I ever read – and I’m not referring to number of pages or word count. Did the same Rachel Van Dyken who wrote Ruin – write this implausible, repetitive, confusing, ridiculous story?This is Jake and Char’s story. Jake and Char have a bit of a past – from Junior High School. Char can’t seem to let go … until they meet later in life having a “drunken Jake” one night stand. Jake barely remembers the night. Char … is simply heartbroken. For some reason no one in this very tight community of people knows that Kacey has asked Char to be her maid of honor until they all end up on the same plane together. Then there are calls of a “bomb” on the plane. Never funny anymore Rachel!! For some reason the Air Marshal force feeds Jake peanuts – and he goes into anaphylactic shock!  What?? And all of this puts Grandma into action – setting up Char and Jake. Grandma spends most of the book putting Jake and Char together in crazy settings – performing their wedding duties as best man and maid of honor. Since when do the best man and maid of honor dance a special dance at a wedding reception? I always thought the bride and groom take the dance lessons. But not in this book! I thought the grandmother was a hoot in The Bet, but in this installment her actions are just so over the top – it’s unbelievable! I laughed out loud, and not because the story is funny. The characters have no substance, and I found it impossible to care about any of them. The monologues were looooonnnngggg and repetitive! Finally, the entire plot was so … I’m still scratching my head over this one! Rachel – did you really write this story?