Bet Me
Jennifer Crusie · 2004
The romantic comedy as perfected art form. Min and Cal's relationship begins with a bet and becomes a genuine, funny, moving love story. Crusie writes banter with the precision of a watchmaker; every scene advances both plot and character. Literary readers who don't read romance consistently cite this as the exception they made.
The case against
Crusie stacks the deck. Both exes are cardboard villains who exist to be told off, fate gets invoked whenever the plot needs a shove (the snow globe, the Elvis soundtrack), and every third scene pauses so someone can comment on Min's body before the book scolds them for it. The banter is genuinely great; the machinery creaks.
Romance · the Pro canon
The case for it and the rest of the canon open with Pro.
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