The Bet is a story about Jules and Remington- childhood best friends who were secretly in love with each other. That was until Jules leaves Remington; he’s heartbroken. A couple of years later, Jules returns and unfortunately it is not a warm welcome. Remington is bitter and wants revenge.

The Bet was an unnecessarily violent book which features a highly toxic relationship. In addition, it features an overwhelming and poorly developed spin on rape culture. There’s a trigger warning at the beginning book, but nevertheless, the book doesn’t handle this sensitive topic well.

This is a frustrating book, and there were several times where I wanted to throw it against the wall. The characters were terrible, especially Remington.

Remington spends the majority of that book bitter and upset that Jules left him. It’s honestly ridiculous considering Jules was 15 years old and had not choice but to move. The fact that he held that against her for so many years is immature. I understand that it was obviously a tough time for him, but again, her family was moving. What was she supposed to do?

His “pain" felt over exaggerated and his need to “ruin" her was alarming. I won’t provide spoilers, but there was a scene earlier in the book where I gasped out loud at his behavior. And to make manners worse, he never apologized to Jules.

I don’t care how many times the authors state or attempt to show it, Remington is not a hero. He doesn’t deserve redemption. He’s a toxic character, who doesn’t understand boundaries and is selfish.

A character in the hook summed it up best when he stated and I quote, “You are the most selfish, self-absorbed person I have ever met in my entire life. You never deserved her, never. She loved you, and you destroyed her. You literally could’ve ripped her heart out of her chest, and it would have hurt less.”

Final Analysis

The Bet is a story which attempts and fail hard at creating a sweet childhood to lovers romance. It’s frustrating and quite honestly offensive.