The is mocked amongst her school mates.

The Bet (Just the Way You Are) is a romance and pop-fiction book, written by Kimberly Joy Villanueva.

The Bet (Just the Way You Are) takes place during 2014 in Manila, Philippines. The main character of the book is, Sophia Taylor. Sophia is a sixteen-year-old girl, who lives in Manila, Philippines. She is selfless, determined, musically inclined, and grateful for all she has. Sophia comes from humble beginnings. She was born in the United States of America in a middle-class family. When Sophia was in middle school, her mother passed away, causing her father to spend all their family money on liquor. When her father went in debt, Sophia moved to the Philippines and stayed with her mother’s family.

Sophia was forced to work numerous jobs to earn money for herself and her brother, who is still in the United States of America. Sophia’s appearance is mocked amongst her school mates. She is known to be unattractive and unhygienic. However, she has the purest heart. She is willing to sacrifice all she has to provide for her loved ones. Another salient character in the book is Drake Sison.

Drake is a seventeen-year-old boy, who lives in Manila, Philippines. Drake is arrogant, wealthy, compassionate, and caring. He is known to be strikingly handsome and a “ ladies man.” In school, he displays a nonchalant demeanor. However, at home he is a sensitive young boy, who cares deeply about his family and friends. Drake’s father has multiple affairs with other women, causing Drake to loathe him.  Sophia’s seven-year-old brother, Matt, is also salient in the book.

Sophia works her hardest each day with the incentive of raising money to pay for Matt’s airfare to travel to the Philippines. Matt cares deeply about Sophia and hankers to see her. In the beginning of the book, Drake makes a bet with his friends. The bet is, “ whoever raises the least amount of money in the next day has to suffer a consequence.” The next day, Drake loses the bet. His friends are hysteric because this is the first time Drake has lost a bet. Drake’s friends devise a consequence they are sure Drake would loathe. They give Drake the choice of either spending time with his father or making the “ ugliest” girl in school, Sophia Taylor, fall in love with him in thirty days.

With ample confidence, Drake chooses the consequence of making Sophia fall in love with him. Drake tries all his ruses and tricks, but Sophia won’t show any interest. Sophia is vexed by Drake’s antics and implores him to stop. However, Drake refuses to lose the consequence.

Drake buys her chocolates, sings for her, embarasses himself infront of the entire school, and even gives her money, but Sophia would not budge. In fact, She is offended that Drake thinks so lowly of her. Sophia is becoming distracted in her workplace and in school, as Drake wouldn’t stop pestering her.

Fifteen days later, Drake has made slight progress by becoming friends with Sophia by helping her with homework. Sophia and Drake learn more about each other each day, changing their original perspectives of each other. They spend increasingly more time together, writing music, listening to music, and sharing music. Although Sophia feels slight infatuation for Drake, Drake begins showing great affection towards Sophia. Drake soon forgets about the consequence and hopes his friends do too.

Ten days later, Drake and Sophia are inseparable. Ironically, Drake has fallen in love with Sophia. In addition, Sophia begins to show affection towards Drake. However, his friends have not forgotten the consequence and plan to sabotage Drake. Drake implores his friends to negate the consequence, but they refuse. Since Drake and Sophia share mutual feelings, Drake’s friends find that it is the perfect time to expose Drake and their bet.

Sophia is revealed of the bet that Drake and his friends have made. She believes that Drake only befriended her to play with her feelings. Drake reasons out to Sophia and implores for forgiveness.

She ignores him for a while and soon forgives him. Drake and Sophia rekindle their relationship with no secrets. In addition, she is able to raise enough money for her brother’s airfare to travel to the Philippines.

The Bet (Just the Way You Are) is unoriginal, tedious, and repetitive. The storyline is overused and cliche. The ending is predictable and lacks depth. While reading the book, I found myself becoming bored as I already knew what might happen next. The book did not leave me hankering a sequel.

However, the author used amazing vocabulary to depict how the characters felt. My favorite aspect of the book is that it takes place in Manila, Philippines. In numerous chapters, I was able to picture myself in the story because I have visited many the places Sophia and Drake went to. The Bet (Just the Way You Are) is a great book for teenagers. Some teenagers may relate to what Drake and Sophia are experiencing at home and in school.

Furthermore, they can use the book as a distraction for any chaos happening in his or her life.