double jeopardy of love
Maxine Hart is a trivia buff. Her ADHD brain likes to jump from subject to subject, so learning trivia is second nature to her. It’s far better than sitting in classes and memorizing whatever the teacher is going to test on. So in her Brooklyn neighborhood, she is a regular at the pub quiz, and she’s ready to take on the champion of the Answers! game show, Teddy Ferguson.
Teddy is a college professor, highly educated. He enjoys trivia, but he is good at it because of this strong educational background. He loves to sit and study and can spend hours in the library. But the first time he met Maxine, he was a goner. She knocked him off the show after his 76 game run, and he wasn’t even all that upset.
The next time they met on the show, Teddy took Maxine down, ending her run. And then they were both invited back for a tournament of champions, up against the other big winners on Answers!, including the most winning champion, Hercules McKnight. Maxine knows that this is not a typical competition, and she can’t win without help. She has to turn to the only person who might be able to help her with the weak parts of her game. And that person is Teddy.
Maxine shows up at his doorstep and makes a deal with him—if he can help her with the holes in her education, then she can help him with the weaknesses in his game. He may know his facts, but Maxine knows how to compete, how to ring on the buzzer, and how to bet on those Daily Duplex questions. It was Maxine’s hand-eye coordination and her willingness to bet big that had kept her winning streak going as long as it had. But it was going to take more than that to beat Hercules.
Teddy can’t say no to Maxine, so when she moves all her stuff into his house—including her pet snake and her gaming setup—he is helpless to stop her. And as they start to work with each other on their weak spots, there is a spark between them that they both feel helpless to resist. But they only have weeks before they have to take down Hercules, and it will take everything they’ve got to win that battle.
Of course, if they can raise their individual games to the point where they can beat Hercules, then Maxine and Teddy are faced with the truth that only one of them can win the game show. As they stand there, putting their hearts and minds on the line for the biggest win of their lives, what will that final answer be?
What Is Love? is a rom com that goes right to the heart of Jeopardy! fans everywhere. While author Jen Comfort is quick to say that the show in the book is not Jeopardy!, it is clearly a love letter to the show and to all of its fans. This steamy love story is quite a ride, and that ultimate tournament is just one twist of many as these characters risk everything for what they love.
I bought the audio book of What Is Love?, narrated by Scarlett Everdeen and Rock Engle. I thought they did a good job with their respective characters, but I thought it was a little strange that while the characters had accents, which could be heard in dialogue and inner thoughts, the rest of the narration was told without the accents. However, when Teddy was speaking in a Maxine chapter and vice versa, both narrators did an excellent job of matching the characters’ accents. That style of narration was not something I have ever noticed before. But I also have a preference for novels in first-person, where any accent in question would be used throughout, as it’s all told by a single perspective.
I really enjoyed What Is Love? I wouldn’t recommend it for teenagers, as some of the steamy scenes are extra hot, but I did love the sensitivity Comfort showed to those with ADHD who might struggle with conventional education the way Maxine did. The game show aspect was a lot of fun, and once you got to know the characters better, there were a lot of lovely surprises hiding in their stories. I think romance readers and game show fans will enjoy this book, and that is my final answer.
Egalleys for What Is Love? were provided by Montlake through NetGalley, but I liked it so much I bought the audio book myself.
