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The Bet

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Drake Swift has never lost a bet with his best friend - until now. His punishment? Make a girl in school fall for him and then break up with her just as shes fallen for him. But who would be oblivious enough to fall for that? Her.

Enter Sophia Taylor - quiet, brainy, and unassuming - the perfect pawn for their game. And for Drake, that's all it is - a game. But is it? Drake finds that Sophia is quite more than he bargained for. Perhaps he has her figured out all wrong. The real question is, will Drake win the bet, or will Sophia win him over instead?

276 pages, Mass Market Paperback

Published October 17, 2013

156 people are currently reading
4887 people want to read

About the author

Kimberly Joy Villanueva

4 books216 followers
Kim believes her adventurous spirit led her to write stories. She likes to surround herself with books, making libraries and bookstores her regular milieu.

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5 stars
1,792 (60%)
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504 (17%)
3 stars
394 (13%)
2 stars
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102 (3%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 76 reviews
Profile Image for Vivienne.
29 reviews43 followers
February 7, 2017
I finished this in about what, about an hour? It's a short read and I read quite quickly but you want to know why the main reason I was able to read it so quickly?

It was really godawful.

Now, in general, I'm not a fan of Wattpad, it's not an aversion to amateur stories nor fanfiction (if you look at my AO3 account, you'd see that it's the opposite really) but because what I've read are quite bad. The prose was boring and the characters were as well. I'm not going to assume that this is true for the entire site but a fair amount.

SPOILERS FROM THIS POINT ON



Now for the plot itself. Well the premise in itself is terribly cliche and the development unsurprising, it might not have been so bad if not for the way it was written. Or well not as bad I suppose.

The whole bet thing, well it works just as well as FWB which is not very well. Drake falling in love with her was expected and performed in a very general way? I'm not quite sure how to say it. I'm trying to say that the emotions that both felt were very weak and general, there was no sense of deeper understanding. The progression of their relationship was also pretty bad? It didn't feel very believable but instead overly romantic and plastic or cliched.

Another reason why it was carried of so terribly was that not only was the plot weak but so were the characters. All the characters were pretty flat, adhering to a lot of overused tropes and badly pulled off ones.

The part that rankles me the most was Sophia's backstory. In the book, she was part of why her brother died and the author tried to show that she was and still is affected by it. Which is great! That's good!

But that's basically it. She tried but she failed. It felt like cry bait, because it felt very shallow and unconvincing. There was just a great lack of connection and humanity to the characters for me, though I suppose they were high schoolers-not all high school kids are that deep I suppose, and so a lot of attempts to try to get us to understand the character fell flat. If the author tried anyway which I don't even know man.

The writing itself, the prose, the words used, were also quite dull. There wasn't any good use of the intricacies of english language which is disappointing of course. Not only that but there are actually a few grammatical and punctuation errors which speaks a lot for its publisher.

Overall, I recommend not to even look at this book, much less read it as sad as I am to say it.

Where are the good young Filipino writers? And, more importantly, readers?
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Kara.
628 reviews17 followers
February 9, 2014
What did I just read? Sorry, but it was just asdfghjklwtf.

Why did it even get published.
Profile Image for Athaya Irfan.
187 reviews72 followers
September 9, 2016
Tolong jangan dilihat berapa kali buku ini telah dibaca selama masih dalam bentuk wattpad, karena jika kamu yang skeptis pada buku adaptasi wattpad akan menyia-nyiakan sebuah buku young adult yang sangat bagus.

The Bet mengisahkan dua orang muda-mudi yang sudah bersahabat sejak sekolah menggunakan pertama. Mereka adalah Drake Swift dan sahabatnya Andre. Lasa suatu ketika Drake kalah taruhan dengan Andre, sebagai hukuman Drake harus menuruti permintaan Andre. Andre menyebutnya sebagai tantangan, Drake ditantang untuk mendekati seorang gadis cantik dan pintar yang juga teman sekelas Drake bernama Sophia Taylor. Drake hanya punya 30 hari untuk merebut hati Sophia lalu menyatakan cinta pada gadis itu. Dan taruhan kali ini harus membuat Sophia jatuh cinta pada Drake dan menerima cintanya.

Jika Sophia menerima cintanya, Drake harus segera membatalkan pengakuannya dan mengakui kalau semua itu hanya taruhan semata. Drake yang punya harga diri tinggi menyanggupi tantangan itu. Dimulailah usaha merebut hati Sophia si gadis cantik nan pintar di kelasnya.

***

So sweett. Aku nggak bisa berpaling dari buku ini karena Drake dan Sophia berhasil membuatku luluh. Drake si cowok terkenal di sekolah dengan sejuta penggemar berusaha menaklukkan gadis introvert di sekolah yang ternyata selama ini menyembunyikan luka di hatinya.
Buku ini menyuguhkan kisah masa sekolah menengah atas yang tidak membosankan. Banyak kisah menarik yang dialami kedua karakter utamanya. diceritakan dengan dua POV, pembaca akan bergantian mengetahui kesegaran Drake maupun Sophia.

Drake yang semula dikenal sebagai playboy ternyata punya hati yang baik, dan prinsip persahabatan yang kuat. Dia bukan pria berandal yang suka mempermainkan wanita, dia hanya belum pernah merasa jatuh cinta sampai akhirnya cinta itu datang dari gadis yang jadi bahan taruhannya. Drake yang sudah bersikeras akan menuntaskan hukuman taruhan pada awalnya, kini menjadi dilema karena ia nantinya akan melukai gadis yang juga jadi cinta pertamanya.

Disisi lain, Sophia adalah karakter yang pendiam, tidak mudah terbuka soal urusan pribadinya dan masih menyimpan luka yang ia alami karena hubungan kedua orangtuanya tidak harmonis. Tapi seiring kedekatannya bersama Drake semakin dalam, ia sadar pria itu juga yang nantinya akan membuatnya terluka.

Aku suka sekali dengan buku ini dan kisah yang dibawanya, ringan dan kaya warna kisah anak sekolah. Alurnya terbilang lambat karena penulis mengenalkan masing-masing karakter dengan sangat detail. Menurutku hal ini wajar karena ada banyak cerita dan konflik yang ingin dimasukkan penulis dalam ceritanya.

Kalau kalian pembaca novel teenlit dan young adult, aku sangat recomendasikan buku ini untuk bacaan akhir pekan kalian :)
1 review
May 12, 2014
The Bet is an amazing book. It will spark your interest if you're into romance books. This book is about two teens, Drake Swift and Sophia Taylor. Drake lost a bet to his best friend Andre. This is the first bet he has lost so it's a big deal for him. The bet was for Drake to court a girl in a month and ask her out. However, after she says yes he has to tell her it was all a game. What happened between them meant nothing.
Sophia on the other hand, is quite clever. She discovers their deal and keeps quite until he plans to tell her. To make things interesting she plans to do the same thing to him. Make him fall in love with her and then admit that it was all a game.
Drake and Sophia are two completely different characters. Drake is cocky and real confident about himself. Sophia is shy and keeps to herself most of the time. One thing they do share though is their family issues. They both have a tough time home. This somehow connects them together. Somewhere between their secret plan they begin to fall for each other. As time passed by it seemed like nothing mattered except being with each other. It's really quite sweet. Drake stopped thinking about the bet. He wanted to call it off. What he felt for her was real. She had become an important person in his life. He didn't want to lose her over some bet, but he chose not to tell her anything. Sophia thought everything he would do was part of the plan so he never actually believed anything he said was sincere. She didn't want to be hurt.
Most people that have read this book say it's "too predictable". This book was written by a teenager. People didn't give her enough credit. I really enjoyed reading it. There are parts were not as interesting, but once you got over that it got better. It had many twists, which is what I liked the most. One thing I thought was interesting was how the author incorporated the characters own personal life. It helped me see where they were coming from. People say it didn't really connect to the main point of the story, but I think it did. It shows how well Drake and Sophia understood each other. It's an important thing because it one of the main points in the story was how they got to know each other for who they were. Overall, it all connected some way.
Profile Image for Lilac.
17 reviews
August 18, 2014
I got a copy of this book, thinking it's a great story to read. Nakita ko kasi sa Wattpad na marami siyang reads and lots of comments of adoration were there..so I was like, why not?


Sa totoo lang...this story is super cliched. Ok may bet, kunwari maiinlove doon sa babae tapos pagdating ng last day ng bet doon aamining pustahan lang ang lahat but somewhere down the road, magiging totohanan ang feeling ng lalake.


How many times have you seen this plot? Probably a thousand friggin' times on tv/movies.


At ang pinaka-cringing part is hindi man lang nagkaroon nagalit si Sophia kahit kaunti. Kumabaga yung dating kasi is: "A ok. Pinagpustahan nila ako. cool". WTHECK? Well even though she reacts like this, it still won't make the story better for me dahil isang malaking cliche pa rin saken to.


To sum it up, hindi ko irerekomenda ang librong to. Pwede ka ngang magpakwento sa isang friend ng summary nito and that'll be enough for you to know what this is about.
Profile Image for Minty.
9 reviews
January 26, 2015
I finished this book at late 2013. My first pop fiction book and I didn't like it much. Drake was sweet. A bit too sweet. Sophia, I didn't much relate to her.
Profile Image for aahana.
33 reviews20 followers
March 4, 2015
Didn't like it :3 At least it was better than Must Date The Playboy. Slightly, but better.
Profile Image for leann.
29 reviews4 followers
September 6, 2017
I don't even remember why I continued reading this novel, but I suppose I wanted to write a review badly. ( This is my first time writing a review (rant?), so please bear with me! ) I don't expect much, since it *is* a Wattpad story.

-----

The plot idea was decent, but the way it was executed was poor. The story was very cliche, and there were many grammatical errors (i.e. "'Peach looks good on you'. Ironically, I was wearing a peach blouse today). Many parts/chapters were unnecessary, and the author over-dramatised them.

[For example, I felt as if Sophia's (and Drake's) backstory were too minor to have chapters about it. I didn't think they weren't important to the story, and they were immediately solved within one chapter. Sophia's ex, Skye, was mentioned in the middle of the story, and what he did had left her heartbroken and scarred(?) of relationships. She finally told Drake about their past, but he was inconsiderate to her feelings, and started joking around and being cocky, yet she was perfectly fine about him acting so. She then quickly got over Skye in that same chapter she was sad! I felt extremely unsatisfied with how that problem was solved; there was no solution! The same thing happened with Drake's story of his parents, where his father cheated on his mother. When he told her and his sister, Driana, about his discovery, the mother said it was okay because they had made a vow at their wedding and she still loved him. I could not agree with her speech, and it wasn't exactly a valid argument, since he had broken that vow the moment he went behind her back with other women.]

The characters were very dull and there was little character development. I could not connect with any of the characters and it was difficult to sympathise with how they were feeling.

The novel overall was a bore and I honestly feel as if I had lost a few brain cells reading this. I don't see how this could've been published?? (I may or may have not been biased, since I extremely dislike clichés).
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Vanessa Kay.
916 reviews22 followers
September 16, 2016
Oh my goodness! I can't believe I wasted my time reading this story. Well, technically, I ditched the whole story. I'm sorry for what I am going to say about this book, but I just want to be awfully honest.

I wouldn't have thought of reading this story but after watching the trailer of the film adaptation of this book, I hurried and searched for this story in wattpad. The plot sounded so cliche but what sparks my attention was the actor and actresses who portrayed the film adaptation. And you know me, I have a habit of reading the story first before watching it. But dang! I just wasted 2 hours of my life with this awfully written story.

I've only read the wattpad edition of this book, so I’m already aware of any spelling and grammar issues, but dang! It’s so so so intolerable. The writer’s style of writing is so damn plain and shouts amateur in it. And the characters?! They’re so hard to picture out. And surprisingly, it was written in English which is not what I expected. I thought it’s going to be written in Tagalog for obviously, the author is a Filipino.

The plot is so cliché’ and the whole story is so so so predictable. Dang! Can anyone think of another scene that we haven't watched or read yet? And the name of the characters, obviously, the author is a die-hard Taylor Swift fan.

To sum it all, I’m not recommending this book to anyone.

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Profile Image for Robin.
186 reviews13 followers
August 13, 2015
Okay. So this book had a nice storyline, a good start, and at the begining interesting writting style. But then something happened. It became boring and very very common. I cannot honestly say that I saw any character development and if there was any, it happen so fast that it didn't make any sense. For example how did he fall for her? he was all 'no was I'm to cool to fall for anyone' and in the next chapter was I love her. Like what? How the hell??? God knows...

Then the girl was immature. Plain. Immature. She wanted revenge, how original! And a revenge she didn't really take. if I was the writter I would play around with some ideas, but no. nothing happened. You know what with happen from the start. And do not mistake me, I'm, the kind of person who peeks at the end before it starts to read a book, I like that classic stories, the once that you know what will happen, it relaxes me because in our lives nothing is predictable. But hell, if you take a storyline that other have use 1000 time make it damn good, hook me up, make me want to turn the damn page even though I know what will happen. But that did not happen. so yeah...
Profile Image for Amity.
7 reviews14 followers
December 29, 2013
I read this book last year, back when I was a newbie on Wattpad, and I must say that this is one of the best books on the website. It's simple, lighthearted, and just... well, sweet. It revolves around the lives of Draky and Pie and the love that comes between them. There are some scenes that I found a little "filler" that doesn't contribute to the plot that much, but the flow is good - neither dragging nor rushed. However, the downside of the book was that it has a lot of telling, not showing; I couldn't feel the characters' emotions that much. When I found out that the book was published, I was totally excited that I roamed the entire mall just to find the book... but as I read the printed version, I was a little bit disappointed since there were several missing/wrong punctuation in some parts. I STILL LOVE THE BOOK, though. More power to the author! :)
Profile Image for Lona Yulianni.
237 reviews16 followers
September 3, 2016
I used to expecting this novel would be as good as A&D which I read in Wattpad before. Temanya sama, yaitu teenlit, tapi entah kenapa ketika baca The Bet ini terlalu terasa cheesy dan remaja-banget-banget. Personally, saya suka cerita tipe-tipe begini: cowok populer dan cewek gak populer-taruhan-fall in love; Entah kenapa saya agak kurang "in" sama novel ini.
Satu hal yang saya rasakan banget ketika baca novel ini adalah adegan-per-adegannya yang kurang mulus, jadi ketika saya baca terkesan buru-buru dan loncat-loncat.

Tapi semuanya termaafkan dengan ending yang lumayan oke buat saya..... dan ya just it-was-okay.
Profile Image for ⚰️.
7 reviews
March 30, 2014
This is an easy read and I give it four stars!

The first thing when I saw this book on Wattpad, I though it was a book about soulmates due to the fact that the book cover is a girl who is holding a rosary. (That's just me)

When my sister got a chance to go to Manila, I told her to buy this book.

Now that I have the book, I read a few chapters and I already love the characters. They are so relatable it's like I'm watching a romantic movie. There are plenty of romances, dramas and humors. That's why I like this book.

To make it simple, this book is literally amazing!
Profile Image for sky.
652 reviews80 followers
Read
September 15, 2016
DNF at 20%

dapet bukunya dari giveaway enggak juga sih, tapi pokonya dapet dari penerbitnya. ini dari wattpad juga, diterjemahin gitu ceritanya. kukira kalau terjemahan aku bakalan kuat baca kali ya, tapi yaampun klise banget. kalo dulu jaman-jaman SMP gitu kayaknya aku masih suka cerita macam begini, tapi sekarang udah engga. udah bukan jamannya lagi baca cerita macam begini. mana sempet baca endingnya dan ... urgh. nope. nope. makasih banyak. untungnya ini dapet gratis, bukan beli sendiri, xixixixi.
Profile Image for Sabrina Marielle.
10 reviews1 follower
November 19, 2013
Actually, when I first saw this book I first notice the cover and the title..It's too catchy. I know what to expect in this story but still I bought it.. Why? Simply because stories like this is timeless. No matter how cliche it looks like, it is still fun to read. Less drama than other books.. "Magaan" as I called it. It's not that hard to take. So for those people whose looking for books to read for past time.. I strongly recommend these types of books.
Profile Image for Ria Divina.
27 reviews
August 12, 2016
I loved the story! Though the turnout of events were expected... I loved how Kimberly Joy Villanueva expressed their thoughts. :)) Thank you for this book. :)
Profile Image for Zoe.
126 reviews
October 28, 2018
"We can't help who we fall in love with. It's even surprising when you find out that everything you want is not going according to plan."


2.5
I first read this book during my Wattpad phase when I was 13. Clearly, at the age of 13, my critical reading skills were pretty poor, and I'm 100% sure I would have rated it 5 stars (it's in a reading list I made at the same age called "perfect reading"). I think it was the story I read after I finished It All Started With An Apple, and I was head over heels with this book, and I remember spending ages talking about it with a friend. I remember loving this book just as much and Sophia and Drake were an amazing couple which I looked up to.

3 years later, I've moved on from my Wattpad phase and onto more published and complex works. However, after reading Unrequited, I felt like I just wanted to read a nice quick contemporary, and felt intrigued to remember the Wattpad story which I loved all those years ago and went on to get published.

First of all, I think the 2.5-star rating is based purely on sentiment value and enjoyment from the book. I won't judge the writing too harshly, as it was the draft that I read again, and so if I'm not prepared to pay, then I'll take what I've been given (which is 100% fair), so sentences with funny structures, missing words and incorrect grammar isn't having a role in this assessment. My only actual criticism for the writing is showing not telling, Villanueva told us a lot of what happened, rather than showed.

However, I think the main downfall of this novel is that the story: the characters, the plot, the relationships between most characters, was quite two dimensional. Many side characters acted the way they did out of plot convenience rather than that's what their character would have done in that situation (i.e. Cassidy) , some were left a bit open-ended (Skye was pretty random I felt, even with all the build-up), and quite a few secondary characters fell flat (i.e. Chloe, Sophia's parents, Auntie V, even Driana, Park and Andre at moments).

The plot was creative but pretty straightforward. We all knew how the story was going to end at the end of the narrative, and I guessed . This book lacked plot twists and relied too heavily on the characters to push along the story, rather than the plot.

But it was only quite short, I read it rather quickly, and I did enjoy it, so if you're looking for entertainment from something quick and sweet, rather than something extremely dense and high-quality, I'd recommend this story.
23 reviews4 followers
Read
May 23, 2017
Plot: In the book Drake thinks he can get any girl he wants that they are just playthings. And he'll be able to just use them as he pleases and his best friend wanted him to actually make a girl fall for him,but not just be a plaything. When he chooses a girl he doesn't chooses wisely he chose a girl that looks a the details in things and notices thing others don't so when he chose Taylor, she knew he was up to something. He doesn't realise it yet she is too and it's amusing to see karma blow up in his face when he does realise it. It's interesting to see when he planned to hurt her, he never even got close. He definitely wasn't planning on falling for her.

Personal Response: I think it's awful how they think that they can just use her for their games. And not even giving her any empathy of how much they could hurt her but, I'm happy that she didn't get hurt and that it blows up in his face he actually fell for her and she didn't care she knew that karma would get him and it did.

Recommendations: I would recommend this for people who like dramatic books. It did get a little predictable but overall it was a really good book and I think mainly teenagers should read it because they'll be able to respond and relate to it a lot better.
Profile Image for yare.
264 reviews1 follower
July 17, 2021
Brings memories bc I'm pretty sure this was the first wattpad story I read. Also I was reading it on the family computer in the middle of my kitchen. For some reason I remember a movie going with it.

5 stars bc nostalgia ✨
Profile Image for Mavis Ros.
550 reviews15 followers
November 2, 2017
Here's a fact: This was my first ever pop fiction book.
Profile Image for Downey Salvadore.
37 reviews4 followers
August 23, 2020
Suka woy. Apalagi udah dibikin film. Yang main Liza Soberano ❤️ sama Enrique Gil ❤️ Makin sukaaaa
Profile Image for Carolina Tedjapranata.
70 reviews
May 23, 2017
Kita tidak bisa menentukan dengan siapa kita jatuh cinta. -hal. 290


akhirnya kebeli juga novel The Bet satu ini karena benar-benar penasaran dengan kisah Sophia dan Drake haha


i'm seriously envy with Sophia because there's always someone who care of her in every situation. Drake makes me gone crazy. He can sing and it's so romantic when he sang for Sophia💜 walaupun semua diawali soal taruhan tapi endingnya....(baca sendiri ya!) bikin ngiri 😂 really recommended for all of you who like to read high school romance story❣
Profile Image for Lelaina.
13 reviews
March 5, 2017
it's not that great and it's not that bad either. It's cliché, but it has a nice story plot.
1 review
February 16, 2017
Before I read this book, I already watched the movie of The Bet " Just The Way You are ". The title of this book is actually caught my interest. " Bet" first thing that comes in my mind something a bit foolish, game, and love. The two main characters in the story are very interesting, Drake can be stupid but, he's the sweetest and coolest guy while Sophia or Pie, the girl that makes me want to to scream when she cries out. I laughed hard with Draky and Pie's quarrels, with Andre's funny comments and also Parker Sophia's ex. I also liked the way Sophia convince herself to not fall in love with Drake and to lose on the bet but she can't stop it anymore. It is predictable but, a page turner. No matter how cliche it looks like, it still fun to read.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 76 reviews

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