From the publisher:
Head and heart collide in a story of polar-opposite rivals that’s anything but trivial in this game show romance from Midnight Duet author Jen Comfort.
Answer: From the Latin word for crossroads, this is knowledge so common as to be obscure, the pursuit of which engages millions daily. Question: What is trivia?
Trivia is the magic in the mundane, the connection in the commonplace, and Maxine Hart’s second-favorite pastime. A self-proclaimed Brooklyn street rat and a high school dropout, Maxine has never been a fan of formal education, but thanks to her ADHD “superpowers,” she’s a glutton for knowledge—and a good fight. And when Maxine enters the trivia game show Answers!, her brilliance, coupled with her penchant for big bets, devastates her competition. Even record-holding, 76-time-winner Teddy Ferguson.
Or was it their kiss the night before they faced off that threw the buttoned-up professor off his game?
Now, Maxine and Teddy cross paths again in a high-stakes tournament against all-time Answers! winners, including undefeated champion Hercules McKnight. With nothing in common but an insatiable appetite for knowledge and a desire to win, Maxine offers Teddy a deal: combine their strengths to shore up their weaknesses. She’ll push his tolerance for risk and improve his buzzer speed, if he’ll find creative ways to fill in the gaps in her education.
Except neither one of them foresaw just how scintillating learning could be…
“Sensual, funny, and heartwarming, this brings the goods.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“A sizzling and smart rivals-to-lovers romance…” —Kirkus Reviews
“Comfort goes ‘to the Max’ with her plot choices, bold and hilarious banter, and full-on smoldering sexual tension, featuring two completely opposite yet perfect for each other trivia nerds. Patrons will want to buzz in early to get their hands on this wonderfully campy rom-com.” —Library Journal (starred review)
https://amzn.to/4arx0ZV
I was really expecting to love this book – the reviews were uniformly good, and I’ve been a Jeopardy fan since the Art Fleming days. I did end up enjoying it, but I had to struggle through the first half. I kept putting it down and looking for something else to read, and that is never a good sign. But eventually I got into it and raced through the second half of the book, which I enjoyed. I especially loved the little Jeopardy! easter eggs, like the name of the announcer, “Gilbert Johnson.”
The basic premise is enemies-to-lovers with an added twist – they are competitors in a game show called Answers, which is the author’s legal dodge to skirt using Jeopardy!, which I’m sure would have had some consequences. Each chapter is titled with a category, an answer, then a question, and that was a fun surprise. But the book was really about these characters; Theodore, a buttoned-up, conservative, bow-tie-wearing, Oxford-educated man, and the woman who broke his 76-game winning streak, Maxine, a high school dropout who suffers from ADHD. They have distinctly different playing styles, but that isn’t the biggest issue. From the moment Theodore laid eyes on Maxine, he was smitten, and that distracted him enough to make things more difficult.
They’ve both been approached about a tournament of champions type event, and have several weeks to prepare. The show is bringing back one of their first big winners, and no one has ever come close to catching him so Maxine and Teddy are intrigued. Teddy has some bad history with him, too, and that factors into it as well.
When Maxine shows up at Teddy’s house looking like she’s moving in, he is initially horrified. But she determines that the two of them can take down the former champion – she needs help filling in her knowledge gaps like geography, and he needs help getting faster on the buzzer and making less conservative bets. Sex seems to help both of them get to their goals.
I loved the ending of this book even though it required a complete suspension of disbelief, which I sometimes find annoying, but not here. This is a sexy, funny story set in a game show that I love, and the happy ending make the struggle to get there worthwhile. If you’re a Jeopardy fan, give it a try!
Note: Amazon.com offered this book for free as part of their Prime monthly Kindle giveaways. They are also the publisher.
4/2024 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch
WHAT IS LOVE? by Jen Comfort. Montlake (April 1, 2024). ISBN: 978-1662516443. 351p.
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