Bet In The Dark Review

All Ellie Harris wanted was a life of her own.

In a shortsighted decision, she follows her high school boyfriend to college, only to get cheated on and then dumped. And to add insult to injury her overprotective family is suddenly clinging to her again, fighting to control every part of her life.

Bad luck follows her hasty decision and when her roommate steals her identity and leaves town, Ellie is left to clean up a gigantic mess.

Fin Hunter insists Ellie owes him seven thousand dollars from an online poker game and he is determined to get it from her. Determined to keep her family out of her life, Ellie agrees to work for Fin in his illegal online poker operation. He’s given her six weeks to pay off the debt.

Soon sparks are flying between them and the only thing keeping her from falling for him is the debt she still owes and the money she doesn’t have.

At the end either Ellie will have to pay the mistaken debt or bet in the dark that her feelings for Fin will be worth more than the money.

My Take:

Can I give this 10 stars??

Would I recommend to others:  yes and I already have!!

Appropriate for 14 and under:  maybe closer to 16

Language and sexual content:  mild on both counts

I don't even know where to start on this book!!  I will start off by saying, after reading Rachel's last book, I wasn't as excited as I normally am to read her stuff.  Honestly I didn't even read what this book was about before I started reading it, I just went for it.

I love the main character, Ellie.  She reminds me of myself in a lot of ways.  It was fun to witness her relationships with her family and her feeling lost and smothered by them.  I love that she was a little bit of a sarcastic, smart alec and would laugh out loud at some of the comments she'd make.  And then there's her relationship with Fin.  Oh my goodness, she had that boy wrapped around her finger and all by just being her sassy little self.  I absolutely LOVED the interactions between these two.  They reminded me so much of my relationship and banter with my husband, that I found I myself laughing pretty hard and sighing at other points.

This brings me to Fin.  I loved this boy/man.  I think I fell in love with him when he ate Ellie's Burgerwich, lol.  He was fighting the attraction he had for her from the start and it was hilarious to watch him fall under her spell.  He had the humor, the sex appeal, the good looks, the smoldering eyes...I could go on and on!  He was just the all around perfect man, in my eyes.  I think at this point he even won out over Kiran and Jericho. *gasps*

My other favorite character was Ty.  This guy was a big burly teddy bear that I just wanted to peel like an onion and find out all his layers.  I wasn't the least bit shocked when he pulled Ellie inside his office to talk to her.  I loved what he had to say to her, it was perfect.  And I could scream when she didn't listen and allowed her doubts to take over.  Anyway, another happy moment for me was dinner.  I loved the interactions between all members, especially the grandmother.  This part actually brought tears to my eyes, reminding me how much I missed my own sweet grandmas.  If you haven't read any of Rachel's work, this is a good place to start.  Run and grab it, I'm loaning to my husband next...he's gonna love it.  :)

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