Will the new guy in school be the one to win the bet and thaw the ice queen? Maybe. But only if he doesn’t fall for her first.Conner and his stepsister are new to town, new to Talmore High, and very new to this whole step-sibling situation. As of three weeks ago they were only children…and now? Well, now their parents’ newly wedded bliss is wreaking havoc with both of their lives. Not that … with both of their lives.
Not that Conner is worried. He might be the new kid but he’s never had a problem being the big man on campus. Until now. No one at this school seems to have gotten the memo that he’s beloved. The girls aren’t swooning and the guys are looking for any excuse to kick his butt back to California. When his stepsister throws out the challenge, it’s a no brainer. If he can make head cheerleader Rosalie “The Ice Queen” Farlow fall at this feet, he’ll have it all.
But then again, if he wins the bet…he’ll lose her. And what’s the use of having it all if he loses the only thing that matters?
Author’s Note: Though this is the first book of a duet, the romance is standalone and features a satisfying, swoonworthy HEA. The timelines of these two books intersect, however, so be sure to read book one first to avoid any spoilers!
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Maggie Dallen is a masterful champion when it comes to writing YA high school romance, and it is tales like Charming the Cheerleader (The Bet Duet, Book 1) that show why. A wonderful standalone novel (despite the misleading “duet” reference), it’s both a great romance and a neat tale of reinvention: Rosalie having changed from dork to cool when she changed school, Connor on his unanticipated change from cool elite to slacker with his school move; the neat change in the bare acquaintance to sibling family dynamic for Connor-Harley, and Harley’s clearly pending tie up with Tristan (really just hinted at; this book is truly a standalone as promised). All of these changes make fine ingredients for storytelling and, wow, does this author do a perfect job of it. Easily highly recommended.
G-rated YA romance with family drama
Rosalie, Connor and Harley are all 16-year-old high school juniors. Harley is Connor’s stepsister and is the protagonist of the second book in this YA romantic duology. Both books are stand-alone, HEA romances, but since Harley is introduced in this book as an important subcharacter, it will definitely enhance the experience of reading her novel by reading this one first.
Connor’s father abandoned him and his mother years ago, and his mother has very recently remarried. Her husband’s daughter is Harley. Connor and Harley are experiencing a difficult adjustment to being step-siblings, and Connor is uncomfortable with having his stepfather underfoot and sucking up most of his mother’s attention. Worse, because of his stepfather’s job, their blended family has had to move across the country, and Connor and Harley are both struggling with starting a new school.
It is shocking to Harley and Connor at the new high school when they find themselves entirely reversing their former social standings. Connor is extremely handsome, flirtatiously charming, and played in a rock band at his former town. This combination at his old school made him enormously popular. In contrast, Harley had spent her entire adolescence to date as a classic, shy, introverted, loner geek who had no interest in living a social whirl such as Connor reveled in. Unfortunately for Connor, he unknowingly commits social suicide his first day at the new school by flirting with an off-limits girl, a gorgeous cheerleader named Rosalie. Her ex-boyfriend, a star of the football team, has labeled her an ice queen and, for the last year since the breakup, has bullied any other boy in school who might want to date Rosalie into staying away from her. The ex starts spreading awful rumors about Connor, such as saying that he’s a homeless drug dealer, and the whole school ridicules him.
In contrast, Harley has attracted the romantic interest of the handsome quarterback of the football team, Tristan, and as a result has found herself overwhelmed by the open-armed welcome of the most popular teens in school.
The shock of losing everything that matters most to him has Connor suffering from the worst kind of culture shock. But he finds himself attracted to and intrigued by the mystery that is Rosalie to such an extent that he is determined to get to know her better, no matter the consequences. Not only that, though Connor has never had a real girlfriend before, he is interested in Rosalie to such a degree that he is actually quite serious about her.
Rosalie’s main goal in life is to keep her head down and avoid conflict as much as possible. To her, life as a popular person in high school is an exhausting tightrope walk and anything but fulfilling. On top of that, her parents’ marriage is breaking down, and she has to stuff down her own feelings of abandonment while she attempts to keep their home life as stable as possible for her much younger twin brothers.
After her bad experiences with her ex-boyfriend and the way her father has cheated on her mother, Rosalie doesn’t trust the male of the species. It is obvious that Connor is trying to win her over, but she doesn’t trust his motivations. And even if she wanted to go out with him, her ex and her best friends, who are fellow cheerleaders and the resident Mean Girls of the school, would never support her doing that.
In addition to the main romance plot, this engaging YA novel contains compelling, YA, social-drama and family-drama plots.
I liked both Connor and Rosalie very much and enjoyed experiencing the evolution of their relationship from strangers, to friends, to romance. Connor and Rosalie are both struggling with self-esteem and trust issues, and their personal growth from distrust to trust is a sympathetic and moving journey. I especially appreciated that this book is written from the dual point of view of both Connor and Rosalie, which allows the reader to get to know both of them intimately.
There are many important subcharacters in this book, but none of them overshadow the main plot, which is the romance. I particularly enjoyed Connor’s relationship with Harley as they maneuver the treacherous waters of becoming a blended family and figuring out how to be functional step-siblings and potentially friends.
This book is mostly G-rated. There is no physical contact beyond some kissing, and no bad language. At one point Rosalie does nurse a beer, thus engaging in underage drinking at a party, but it is not a wild bacchanalian revel with everybody getting drunk and crazy.
I rate this book as follows:
Heroine: 4 stars
Hero: 4 stars
Subcharacters: 4 stars
Romance plot: 4 stars
Family drama plot: 4 stars
Social drama plot: 4 stars
Writing: 4 stars
Overall: 4 stars
Harley and Conner are new step-siblings and have moved across country to start a new high school one month into the fall semester leaving the small town where they grew up. Harley is nervous, a studious and nerdy pupil that has already gotten and studied her class list. Conner is a rock star, especially popular with the girls and teachers, even though a slacker in class. But things don’t go as Conner expects. His new school is all about the football team and the cheerleaders who blackball him, the guys starting rumors about him being a druggy just out of jouvy. He picks the ‘Ice Queen’ cheerleader to hit on first; not well received. But Harley challenges him to woo her and invite her to homecoming. He accepts the bet; if he wins she has to go with the quarterback to homecoming, if he loses he has to share his car with her. The bickering siblings sit together at lunch with a weird nerd, as Conner takes one step forward and two back. This is a good read with all the teenage angst imaginable, but it does have a happy ending with Harley’s story with the quarterback to follow.
Conner has it all…he’s good looking, musically talented, has the girls and he’s BMOC! That is until his mom gets remarried to a nerdy outcast classmate’s dad and they all move across the country! Thinking he’ll fit in at his new school with no problem, he’s shocked when no one wants to be friends with him the “the bad seed” from California…least of all, popular cheerleader Rosalie aka “The Ice Queen”! After a bet with his step-sister Harley, he’s determined to get Rosalie to go out with him…no matter what it takes! Things go from bad to worse when “The Ice Queen” finds out he’s be playing her…or has he? Great YA read!
Charming the Cheerleader by Maggie Dallen is the first in a two book series. The book is fun, lighthearted, everything you would expect from a Maggie Dallen YA read. Ms Dallen does a excellent job going over issues like moving to a new school, being a step sibling, having step parents, and of course working on the journey to HEA. You won’t want to miss out on this one..
From hero to zero…?
Well, at least it must seem that way for Conner, who not only gets to move to a new place with a brand new patchwork family* including his former-classmate-now-stepsister Harley; nope, he also experiences a quite drastic status change from almost rock god at his old school to pariah. Hitting on one of the cheerleaders on your first day – especially this one particular cheerleader – might do that to you.
While Conner and his “but everybody likes me – why don’t *they* like me?” confustion were fun, I really adored Rosalie – the cheerleader in question deserved so much better than being labeled the resident “ice queen”.
I truly enjoyed these two getting to know each other and overcoming their misconceptions – all of that, of course, in Maggie Dallen’s usual sweet, funny, and swoon-worthy style.
* Actually, this exploration of their newfound family dynamics is my favorite part of the book – beside the romance, duh! 😉 That being said, I’m now really looking forward to reading Harley’s side of the story!
Refreshingly different
-‘I’d been playing a new role that I’d been cast in—the quiet ingénue. Erika and Allie’s new sidekick and Danny’s cute little girlfriend. The freshman cheerleader who had it all…’-
-‘The guy was like a walking contradiction. He looked intimidating yet approachable. Cocky yet humble. Terrifying yet so utterly compelling.’-
What I really liked most about this book is that the cheerleader isn’t a mean girl. She’s incredibly shy and introverted. And the new guy is hot but the rest of the school immediately ostracizes him instead of all the girls going after him. He hangs out with the weird, slightly creepy guy and his new his stepsister who is unpopular, although the football hero wants her… it’s so the opposite of cliché that it’s very refreshing and I applaud the author for that. Nicely done!
Another Solid HS Romance from Dallen. This one perhaps has a bit more internal drama than many of Dallen’s stories, but overall is typical of her style – short ish (less than 200 pages on this one apparently) and Hallmarkie. She dives deeper into the issues her characters are facing – including new schools, new families, and other new dynamics – than she usually does, and it works well here. Very much looking forward to seeing more in this world. Very much recommended.