I Bet You

I Bet You was such a great book! I loved Ryker and Penelope!!

Their chemistry was amazing! I loved their connection, how their relationship developed and finally their honesty!!

Ryker was swoony and totally drawn to Penelope. I loved all the connections with all the characters in the book!!!

As always, an entertaining YA story, following her I Dare You yummy story about Maverick. In this story, we have Mav’s friend Ryker, who is the football quarterback in Waylon University. This football team has a bad habit, they press bets on anything they do, scripting them up in a bulletin board in their locker room and collecting when it closes. It’s almost a forced participation and it proves to be the undoing of Ryker . . .

Penelope hates football players. Her dad got her mother pregnant on their senior year at Waylon University, then he left to join the NFL and left them to fend on their own. Penelope’s mother was a professor of art in the University, so she never lacked love and necessities, but she did feel the lack of a father during her growing up years. And she gifted all football players with the same defect that her father had: knock them up and leave them.

When Ryker and his teammates bet on his getting a date with Penelope, he burned and crashed and Penelope ended with a Ketchup bath on her clothes. Since he’s a decent sort, he wanted to make amends and they end helping her land the guy she was interested in. The problem is that they realized they were really interested in each other, but there was another bet in the works related to Penelope and Ryker didn’t want that to affect their relation.

There was a lot of witty banter, a lot of funny moments, some name-calling, (baby llama) and a lot of steamy moments between Penelope and Ryker. There was also a secondary plot-line related to Penelope’s father and his new family that rounded up the story and gave it a lot of extra heart. Penelope was a great character, quirky and intelligent and was a perfect match for Ryker, who was a little bit cocky but also serious and kind. Their banter was hilarious and their feelings extra hot and tender. I got a kick out of Penelope’s wild imaginings of them both as the characters of a historical romance novel (think Lord Waylon and Lady Magnolia). Penelope has a thing for vampires and there are a lot of references to Twilight and Edward. But the moment that was priceless for me was when Ryker finds Dark Lover by JR Ward in her backpack and they comment on it. Blew my mind!

6 Hearts
I Bet You is Ilsa Madden-Mills’ newest fun, sexy, flirty, angsty, swoony romance! I absolutely loved I Dare You and you don’t have to have read that to thoroughly enjoy I Bet You, but you should because it was awesome! I know I said this in my last Ilsa review, but I have to repeat it. I don’t know how she does it, but every new hero of hers becomes my new favorite. I feel like such a hussy! It’s like the others just fade away into the recesses of my heart and the new one comes barreling forward and takes hold. Smiling and pressing and making me fall in love with him. Ryker, QB1, you stole my heart with your awkwardness, your fuzzy chest hair, your nervous habits and your romantic heart. Penelope put up a good fight! She’s so damn pretty and smart and has your number. She’s not a jersey chaser and she’ll always tell you how it is. She loves romance novels and vampires and you love football and girls. You have your work cut out for you! Ryker wants this girl. Penelope isn’t like any other girl he’s ever met. She doesn’t care that he’s the quarterback. She’s sexy, loves her colored lip balm, is tall as hell and there’s just something about her that calls to him. Penelope doesn’t even like Ryker. Sure, he’s sexy and built, has that dimple that drives her wild, and that hairy chest? She can’t help but love it and want to run her fingers through it. But he’s a player and men like him never stay. Right?! Except Ryker is being real. He can’t stop thinking about her. He misses her and he seems to be there when she needs him. How can he prove that she’s not just a bet? That she’s the girl of his dreams. He can’t lose her, not now. Wow, I can’t even express how much I LOVED this story! It’s just perfect. Ryker and Penelope made me laugh out loud, smile, sigh, yell, swoon, cry and just feel. I didn’t want to put it down once I started and I kept hoping there was more when I was done. They are one of my favorite couples of the year!

I’m not huge into sports romance but… I’m big into any story written by Ilsa Madden-Mills. Add in Penelope and how amazing she is. I saw some of myself in every single stage of my life. The things she comes out with, the smart and sassiness she throws out, but she’s also so giving and caring. Ryker is just this perfect football player! Penelope and Ryker had an instantaneous attraction. Ryker is like perfect. I didn’t know a football player could be as amazing as he was.

Ms. Madden-Mills always keeps me glued to her words. The way she builds her stories and the way she just words it. It was way more fast-paced than I expected for a sports romance. I found myself sighing at the incredible sweetness that is Ryker. Ms. Madden-Mills sure knows how to create her male lead characters. If you like a book that’ll have you feverishly turning the pages through the humorous banter (seriously these characters were fabulous), the heat kept me warm on these early fall days in Vermont. Just like every Ms. Madden-Mills book that I’ve read, I totally recommend I Bet You.

I received an ARC of this book with the hope that I would leave an Unbiased Opinion. I was not required to leave a review, positive or otherwise, and my opinions are just that… my opinions.

This author writes this best sports romance novel!!! It’s always a new exciting tale for another silly jock who just need some love.
It was easy to fall in love with these characters. The start of the novel gives a little mystery. You are not sure just exactly which way this could go.
Penelope is used to the football player taunting her since she wrote a bad article about him. She’s on his radar but the jury is still out if that’s good.
Ryker wants to know the bookworm who manages to get under his skin. Even using bets to get closer to Penelope.
The connection is instant but they fight it so hard. It’s an unlikely pair that gives all the feels and makes happily ever after seem reachable!

Perfect!! I love this book so much! The best way to my heart is a good sports romance – and I Bet You completed delivered!! Strong, Sassy and Sweet Heroine? YES! Penelope was amazing! Hot, Hunky, and Sweet? You betcha! Ryker was perfect! FIVE STARS!!

Final Score – 4.5 Stars!

I finished this book in one sitting – literally stayed up into the wee hours – and I feel in complete love. Ryker & Penelope’s banter is at times adorable, sarcastic and flirtatious – you can’t help but to enjoy every second of it!

I definitely have to read the companion piece – I DARE YOU – I just want more of story that was fast paced, endearing, relate-able and flawless – from chapter to chapter the storyline naturally progresses.

Ilsa Madden-Mills is my go-to for sports romances & rom-com and with her latest book, I BET YOU, you’ll know what I mean if only you pick it up & start it! With characters that not only display a world of depth, but have laugh out loud moments of hilarity? How can you wrong? I highly recommend this book … and it’s Author!

Ryker and Penelope I loved them.
Ilsa has once again waved her magic pen and written characters that you cannot help but fall in love with! Ryker is a star football player that yes has had his fair share of lovely football groupies but the one that has always caught his eye is the feisty, smart Penelope. They crossed paths when she wrote a very revealing article for the school news regarding Ryker and some of his poor choices . She later cleared him of any wrong doing but now they seem to be mortal enemies …LoL .
Penelope has moved in her own direction her entire life, being raised by a single independent mom that not only shared a gift of writing with her but taught her to never settle. The college that she attends is all about the football and she knows all to well about that . Her real dad was a star player and is now a professor at the school but no one seems to realize that little fact since she doesn’t acknowledge it ! He has always tried but it never seemed enough and now that Penelope has list her mom he seems to be trying a bit harder.
When Ryker and Penelope get caught up in a Bet it is game on! She needs him to help her get her man and for some reason he just wants to help. Little do they know that neither one is prepared for opponent the other is ! They are sweet, sexy, and oh so amazing together !
Loved them !!
~~Michele McMullen ~~

I loved the first book in the series, I Dare You, and so I was very excited to read this next book in the series, and see which of the guys or girls we might have met in the first book that we’d get to see fall in love next. In this story we have Maverick from book 1’s friend Ryker, the quarterback. And then we had Penelope, who was a writer, that had written an article about the whole scandal from the last book, one that called out Maverick and Ryker both. She did also write an article later that was part retraction, part clearing up of what happened. I loved the dynamic between Ryker and Penelope.

Part of what I loved the most was Penelope herself. I mean, she was an unashamed fan of Twilight, just like I am. And it sounds like she dressed the same way I would. Ryker was funny, especially in his own little way of being awkward and not as suave around Penelope as he would be around other girls. There were two aspects of this story that you get from the synopsis that are well-used in romance or other stories, the dating to make someone else jealous when they really liked each other, as well as the bet to sleep with the girl before he comes to really like her. However, both of them were done in ways that to me were unique from the other stories I’ve read before, in that they weren’t carried out the same way and to the exact letter of what those storylines usually entail.

Then let’s talk about Ryker. Normally I’m not a fan of a lot of hair on guys, but there was something about the way Ryker was described, and even how Penelope called him baby llama that was endearing for me. It stuck with me so much that I was even thinking about him being a new favorite book boyfriend enough that when I saw knick-knacks with llamas on them when I was out shopping today I considered buying them. The fact that I was thinking about the story when I wasn’t reading it proves to me that it was one I’ll be recommending from now on. Which most of the books by this author that I’ve read are like that. As far as I know there are only 2 books in the series, but since this is a football team, and there were some other players, like Blaze for example, I’m hoping for at least one more book? You should definitely give this one a try if you like sweet, funny, new adult sports romances.

***5 ‘Baby Llama, Red & Vampire Bill’ Stars***

I absolutely loved I Dare You and couldn’t wait for the next book in the series to be announced. And when it was I was all kinds of happy that Ryker was getting his own HEA because he was one of my favs and I Bet You did not disappoint! It was a funny, sweet and smexy read with just the right amount of drama and adorkableness tossed in to keep me turning the pages until the very end.

I adored Penelope. Hard working, sassy, sweet and comfortable in her own skin. She does have a couple of hang ups, but I totally understood why and loved how she worked through them as the book progressed.

Ryker, Ryker, Ryker. I adored him. I really did. Underneath the smexy as hell QB1 godliness is a man with a sweet soul and a good and honest heart, even when his mouth is moving faster than his brain can process all that is truly going on.

Ryker and Penelope’s journey to their HEA was all kinds of fun. It’s a slow burn one with a dash of enemies to lovers going on with a nice dose of adorkableness added into the mix. The push/pull between them was interesting but through that, and the bet, I really enjoyed how they not only got to know each other but they came to realize and be open to there being more to their relationship than they thought possible. The big sinkhole in their journey was not unexpected at all, but even I groaned when it happened because it was one of those big, heavy sigh “really?!?” moments. Thankfully things got sorted out quickly and I loved how everything worked out for them in the end.

This was another fun and quick read that had me laughing out loud throughout. The drama in it wasn’t anything OTT and I really liked how all the issues worked themselves out. And that epilogue was all kinds of goodness! As for the secondary cast of characters, I loved Charisma, Margo, Blaze and Connor, but the true star of the show was Vampire Bill – he was kind of everything *BSEG*. Now it’s time to sit back and wait patiently (or at least attempt to) to see who the next book will be about!

Note: Though this can be read as a stand-alone, I do recommend reading I Dare You since the things that happened in it do get mentioned in I Bet You so you’ll understand why certain things are happening.

~ Copy provided by Social Butterfly PR & voluntarily reviewed ~