by 
Title: Bet The Farm
Author: Staci Hart
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Format: Audiobook
Source: Scribd
Rating: ☆☆☆/5
Bet The Farm by Staci Hart will form the basis of my thesis on the “dynamics of enemies-to-lovers as the most ridiculous trope ever”.
This is the second enemies to lovers book I have read (first was “Hate Notes” by Vi Keeland and Penelope Ward,) and to say this was a let down would be a very big understatement.
I avoid enemies-to-lovers on a whole because the stories turn out mucky and are entirely too chaotic, but for all the hype surrounding the trope, I haven’t been wowed by it yet.
It was giving “Boys Before Flowers” vibes and, frankly, was quite painful to read.
There’s always something dark hovering above relationships like this, but I can’t put my hands on it.
Let’s not even talk about the way characters are all too ready to slip back into their former behavior once the ball drops.
Imagine being with someone that willfully neglects to regulate their emotion and being privy to their incendiary actions all the time.
I understand the hype though. There’s something cathartic about two people with so much pent up rage unleashing themselves in the bedrooom, breaking beds and tearing their clothes while chasing their climax.
It’s very hot, I know. But how healthy is it to be in a relationship where your partner is all too ready to sling hateful insults and make annoying comments at you?
That said, I think it’s a no-brainer that I didn’t like this book.
Jake (male protagonist) was overly selfish and made so many hurtful remarks to Olivia (female protagonist) and she, in turn, made excuses for him.
So what if he’s in debt up to his eyeballs and is still mourning? That doesn’t give anybody a right to be intentionally mean to other people.
He constantly talked condescendingly to her, rubbished all her plans, and was just nasty to her on several occasions.
What irked the most was that whenever they would have one of their blown-up fights, she would crawl back to him to apologize. Imagine!
He talked to her with so much hostility and the author tried to make up for his silliness by making him ultra-romantic in the epilogue.
The only good things about the book were the narrators’ voices. The male narrator’s voice was crispy and rich and the female narrator’s voice conveyed just that right level of bubbliness.
It was very fun to listen to their bickering. Boy, did they bicker.
I listened to the audiobook and I don’t believe there were any quotable lines but I liked that the inner monologues did not swallow the plot.
All in all, the book was well written but it just wasn’t for me.
I couldn’t get into the story enough to care for any of the characters and they were too annoying for me to keep up with them. It’s perfect if you like enemies-to-lovers.
