Betting on You

The last 3 chapter damaged 😭

This book caught my attention when I was browsing the publisher's website. It sounded like a YA version of "How to Lose a Guy in 10 days," which I found intriguing. So I bought it. By the second chapter I was pretty hooked because the internal dialogue and verbal exchanges between the characters was pretty realistic and often hysterical, in my opinion. I loved how the guy always referred to the girl as "glasses."The emotion that tugged at me and kept me reading were their exchanges and vulnerability around how they felt about living with one of their divorced parents and how that impacted their life and their view of the world. So many homes consist of blended families now it's pretty much normal, but that doesn't mean it does not impact the offspring of the original parents. This novel showed that very well. The internal conflict was so well done. How they ended up being insecure about relationships also made sense. It's rare that I plow through a book and almost devour it, but in this case, I couldn't help myself. And the best part was the book made me think about things that I normally don't ponder. That's the sign of a good book, IMHO.On the negative side, there was a lot of swearing in their internal dialogue - especially his. But they didn't talk that way around parents and in situations where it wouldn't be appropriate, so in that sense it felt pretty realistic. I grew up in NY and f bombs were just the way teens talked even back in the 80s. That being said, I loved that the characters developed a deep emotional connection and it wasn't based solely on attraction. Also, there was no sexual content that would make it feel like a teen porno book. That was well done and shows that books can be compelling without all the smut. All that to say, bottom line...I really enjoyed this book.

Beschadigd aangekomen

Eine Sache über Lynn Painter ist, dass sie dir das Gefühl geben kann, du würdest während des Lesens einen Film schauen. Sie kann einfach so gut mit Worten umgehen und das war bei “Betting on You” nicht anders.Stell dir eine typische romantische Komödie vor, die du Abends auf dem Sofa einschaltest und bei der du dachtest, du lässt sie einfach nebenbei laufen, du dich aber dann doch vollkommen darin verlierst; du lachst und kicherst und schüttelst mit dem Kopf, fühlst all das Kribbeln, während sich die beiden Turteltauben auf dem Fernseher näher kommen.Bailey und Charlie könnten eigentlich nicht unterschiedlicher sein: sie ist ein braves Mädchen, das sich an Regeln hält und organisiert durch das Leben geht, Charlie ist eher der Typ, der Regeln zu missachten zu seinem Lebensmotto gemacht hat. Aber Gegensätze ziehen sich bekanntlich an, nicht wahr?Zum Inhalt will ich gar nicht viel sagen - ihr seht den Klappentext, der eigentlich schon das große und ganze zum Plot aussagt. Das Buch war nicht nur unterhaltsam, es war auch einfach schön mitzulesen, wie Bailey und Charlie nicht nur zueinander gefunden haben, sondern auch wie sie mit den großen Veränderungen in ihren Leben klar kommen und sich dabei gegenseitig stützen. Denn bevor es zwischen den beiden romantisch wurde, wurden sie Freunden - so sehr Charlie sich auch dagegen wehren mag.Wenn ihr also in der Stimmung seid, eine lustige und romantische Liebesgeschichte regelrecht mitzuerleben, dann zieht sehr gerne dieses Buch in Betracht.

After reading and absolutely loving Lynn Painter's other YA novels (Better Than The Movies and The Do-Over), I had the highest expectations for Betting on You: unfortunately, I ended up disappointed.First of all: maybe it's cause I read all of Painter's YA books in the span of 6 months, but most of her characters are starting to blend together for me. Bailey sounded like a mix of Emilie and Liz, just with different quirks/hobbies (books instead of romcoms), while Charlie was basically Wes, no differences except he was a bit more annoying. The focus on the main characters' issues with their divorced/estranged parents contributed to the deja-vu feeling I had for most of the book.I really didn't like the characters: not Bailey, our FMC, who was whiny and frankly immature for 90% of the books, not Charlie, the MMC, who didn't treat Bailey like he should've and HAS NOT redeemed himself in my eyes. But he was AN ANGEL compared to the sorry excuse of a best friend that was Nekesa.Finally, I felt like most of the issues and problems the characters faced were not realistic and exaggerated just for the sake of furthering the plot, somehow.I'm still going to read the next YA novel from Lynn Painter cause I feel like 2 out of 3 five stars are a good record (and I hope she'll calm down with the Taylor Swift and pop culture references), but I will not recommend this one in particular.

these books changed my life i wish they never ended help