Bet in the Dark by Rachel Higginson

SO after reading Rachel Higginson's Star-Crossed Series, I was pretty hooked on her writing! 
So when Bet in the Dark came out I totally wanted to read it so being me I tried to win it a couple times and ummm yeah that was a no-go because I have the worst LUCK in all the world. 
BUT then this amazingly talented loving author messages me and tells me she would gift me this book and I was all like WHAAATTT??? Your joking right??? No way!! That was soooo effing awesome!!! 
So now here is the review for:

 Bet in the Dark

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 Thoughts

So we meet Ellie when she is coming home and finds out that her wonderful, loving, roommate (insert sarcasm) has sold all her furniture and was now entering rehab for a gambling addiction. 

*HOoOOWW Convenient you little cum guzzler..* 

So now she has no furniture in her living or dining room, no roommate to help with rent AND she was behind on rent anyway.. OH but the HITS keep coming when she finds a brooding, taller than average, muscular man in her living room as she walks in. 

You wondering who he is???

WELLL

He is a student at the University who happens to run an illegal poker site and he proceeds to tell Ellie that she owes him...

7 THOUSAND Dollars!!!

Yeah her roommate did that as well, but try telling the ever sexy, charming, illegal gambler, Finn that..

He doesn't believe her and he wants NEEDS the money back for reasons he won't share with her. 

So they eventually reach an agreement and she helps him out but in return he can't tell anyone about it because she doesn't want her older brothers to find out because they are overly protective and HOT.. (but thats just my opinion). 

They are so overprotective that she can't do anything on campus without them knowing about it. I thought it was sweet that she had brothers who would defend her honor and look out for her like that but I was also not the one who had to live through it so I would probably be annoyed as well.

"Once, in an emergency, I asked the girl in the stall next to me if she had a tampon I could borrow and later that night Beckett texted to congratulate me on not being pregnant."

Yeah as you can see they are THAT perceptive with her life.. 

Anyway, she starts to work with Finn but she is also more aware of him than she previously took notice of. 

He's hot but he is also a big man-whore on campus.
The one night stands were what he was used too and when Ellie's brothers find out she is hanging out with him, they go ape-shit crazy trying to get her to tell them what she is doing with him. 

Drama. Drama. Drama. 

It was different that regular college-age told stories because there were some hot make-out scenes but no sexy time scenes that left me a lil disappointed because the sexual tension between the main characters were damn near combustible and electric.
The romance wasn't rushed, it was slow and had build up and even when you were frustrated with the main characters because they weren't doing it like rabbits, you were still devouring it to see what was going to happen next..

Fin was claiming me again, with every single touch, both light and hard. He was owning me, making me his and I was allowing him to.

The brothers added comic relief, while Ellie added a sarcastic approach.
She annoyed me throughout the story because she was so damn stubborn but it also added to her character and by the end of the book you are in love with her and the rest of them.
She learns to stand up for herself in all aspects of her life and by the end she has grown into someone that you could be friends with.

One of the best things about this story, besides the obvious romance aspect, was the fact that Ellie had family who were her backbone and they were all pretty close knit.
At first you don't see that and you are left confused about Ellie's attitude towards them but you eventually start to see that her family is amazing and not a lot of stories have strong family backgrounds so its a nice change.

This book was full of humor, sexual tension, well-rounded characters, heart breaking and heart warming scenes 

BUT

It was also full of frustration, rip your hair scenes, and the ending left me wanting MORE but I really liked every single minute I read.

I give this book a 4/5 and I recommend it to everyone who loves a good romance build up, drama, stubborn character that you grow to love, a strong family unit and everything in between..

Here is the link for the book on Amazon: