Beg, Borrow, or Steal Quiz: 20 Questions with Answer Key
Think you know every twist and turn in Sarah Adams's 2025 romance Beg, Borrow, or Steal? This 20-question quiz spans the entire novel, from Emily Walker's carefully guarded secret to Jack Bennett's long-hidden identity. You'll find questions on plot and sequence, character motivation, theme and symbolism, and synthesis—plus a complete answer key with explanations. Before you begin, revisit our full book guide, browse frequently asked questions, or read our ending explained for deeper context.
The quiz mixes multiple-choice and short-answer formats. For multiple-choice, select the single best answer. For short-answer, provide a concise response based on the novel's events.
Part 1: Plot and Sequence (Questions 1–8)
1. In Chapter 10, what does Emily accidentally do while drunk after Madison cancels her planned visit?
A. She texts Jack a love confession
B. She sends her explicit romance manuscript to Principal Bart instead of a literary agent
C. She posts her manuscript on social media
D. She deletes her entire novel
2. What is Jack Bennett's secret career identity?
A. Former Olympic athlete
B. Bestselling mystery author writing as AJ Ranger
C. Undercover FBI agent
D. Wealthy tech entrepreneur
3. When Emily learns Jack is moving into the house next door, what does she immediately do?
A. Welcomes him with a homemade pie
B. Spreads word through town gossip Mabel that Jack is unwelcome, ensuring the community freezes him out
C. Puts her own house on the market
D. Ignores him entirely for weeks
4. What interrupts Emily and Jack's passionate first kiss inside Bart's closet?
A. The police arrive
B. Bart returns home a day early from vacation
C. Emily's phone rings
D. Jack's mother calls in tears
5. How does Jack's father Fredrick publicly betray him?
A. He sues Jack for using a pen name
B. He goes live on Instagram to announce Jack is AJ Ranger without Jack's consent, framing it to take credit
C. He publishes Jack's unfinished manuscript online
D. He tells the media Jack plagiarized his novels
6. What does Emily do when she discovers Jack's father has publicly exposed Jack's secret identity?
A. She calls Jack to confront him about keeping secrets
B. She drives home as fast as she can to comfort and protect him
C. She posts a social-media defense of Jack
D. She contacts Jack's literary agent Johnny
7. What does Jack confess about his college years regarding Emily?
A. He secretly sabotaged her grades out of jealousy
B. He stayed late at the library not to study but to ensure she walked safely to her car after dark
C. He wrote anonymous love letters he never sent
D. He was the one who spread rumors about her after her breakup
8. How does Emily retaliate when Jack's late-night renovation hammering disturbs her?
A. She calls the police
B. She hoses his window with water while standing outside in pajamas and cowboy boots
C. She bangs on the shared wall with a broom
D. She leaves a scathing note taped to his door
Part 2: Character Motivation (Questions 9–13)
9. Why does Jack keep his author identity as AJ Ranger a secret, even from Emily?
A. He is embarrassed by the mystery genre
B. He wants to prevent his narcissistic father from co-opting his success and to avoid a new competition with Emily
C. A non-disclosure agreement with his publisher forbids disclosure
D. He believes the novels are not well-written enough to claim
10. (Short Answer) Emily and Jack share undeniable chemistry, yet Emily resists a relationship with him well into the novel. Identify at least two specific reasons rooted in her backstory.
11. Why did Jack choose to move back to Rome, Kentucky, after his broken engagement?
A. The school district offered him a significant promotion
B. He remembered being happiest while teaching in Rome and had envied the town's tight-knit community
C. His mother begged him to return for her emotional support
D. He inherited a house from a distant relative in Rome
12. (Short Answer) What does Emily's secret romance novel represent in her life, and why does she keep it hidden from everyone—including her own family?
13. Before giving Jack permission to critique it, Emily notices the sex scene in her manuscript bears no editorial notes. Why does Jack withhold feedback on that scene?
A. He never read that chapter
B. He needs Emily's explicit consent before critiquing it, respecting her boundaries around intimacy
C. He thought the scene was flawless
D. He was too embarrassed to write any comments
Part 3: Theme and Symbolism (Questions 14–17)
14. (Short Answer) What do Emily's red cowboy boots symbolize, and what does she reveal about them during her motorcycle ride with Jack?
15. What do Jack's glasses represent within the novel's thematic arc?
A. Merely his poor eyesight, with no deeper meaning
B. His vulnerability and authentic self—the part his ex-fiancée Zoe cruelly mocked and Emily fully accepts
C. A deliberate disguise to separate AJ Ranger from Jack Bennett
D. A fashion statement intended to impress Emily
16. (Short Answer) The novel opens with an Audrey Hepburn epigraph: "The best thing to hold onto in life is each other." How does this epigraph foreshadow the central theme Emily and Jack must both learn?
17. When Emily puts on her late grandmother's vintage 1950s red dress during girls' night, what does the dress and her accompanying "housewife persona" represent?
A. A costume she plans to wear for a school play
B. A performance of a perfectly controlled identity—a mask that conceals her true emotional pain from her sisters
C. A family heirloom with purely sentimental, non-symbolic value
D. Her grandmother's unfulfilled wish that Emily marry young
Part 4: Synthesis (Questions 18–20)
18. (Short Answer) Both Emily and Jack hide their true selves throughout much of the novel. Compare their methods of concealment and explain what these differences reveal about their respective emotional wounds.
19. (Short Answer) The small town of Rome, Kentucky, functions as more than a backdrop. Discuss at least two specific ways the community actively influences the plot or the protagonists' growth.
20. Which statement best synthesizes the parallel between Emily's and Jack's secret writing journeys?
A. Both treat writing as a casual hobby with no deeper emotional significance
B. Both hide their writing out of fear—Emily fears judgment and inadequacy, Jack fears his father's exploitation—yet each ultimately finds courage to pursue an authentic creative life through their relationship
C. Both achieve immediate publishing success without any setbacks or rejection
D. Both permanently give up writing by the end of the novel to focus on teaching
Answer Key
Part 1: Plot and Sequence
1. B. After Madison cancels her visit, Emily drinks wine, spirals emotionally, and impulsively submits her explicit romance novel to conservative Principal Bart Killick instead of a literary agent—triggering the central crisis Jack helps her resolve.
2. B. Jack reveals in Chapter 3 that he writes bestselling mystery novels under the pen name AJ Ranger, a secret he guards to escape his father Fredrick's shadow.
3. B. In Chapter 4, Emily weaponizes Mabel's visit by confirming Jack's single status and declaring him unwelcome, knowing the gossip will spread overnight and turn the town against him.
4. B. Bart returns from his mountain vacation a day early, forcing Emily and Jack to hide in the closet. His movements upstairs interrupt their escalating intimacy.
5. B. Fredrick goes live on Instagram—without Jack's knowledge or consent—to announce Jack's identity as AJ Ranger, framing the reveal as a proud father-son collaboration to claim credit for himself.
6. B. Emily sees the flurry of texts from fellow teachers about the Instagram reveal and drives home as fast as she can, furious at the violation of Jack's privacy and determined to protect him.
7. B. During their intimate night in the truck bed, Jack confesses he stayed late at the library in college to ensure Emily walked safely to her car after dark—revealing his long-hidden protective feelings.
8. B. In Chapter 6, Emily storms over in silk pajamas and red cowboy boots and, when Jack ignores her knocks, hoses his window—only to find him appearing behind her, shirtless and smirking.
Part 2: Character Motivation
9. B. Jack hides behind "AJ Ranger" to prevent his narcissistic father Fredrick from taking credit for his accomplishments and to avoid triggering a new rivalry with Emily, who he already competes with as a teacher.
10. Emily's resistance stems from two key wounds: first, her college boyfriend Liam did not break up with her because of distance but because he wanted to date other people—a humiliation she buried for years. Second, her parents were killed by lightning when she was eight, leaving her as the family's emotional pillar. This compounded fear of abandonment makes her equate love with eventual loss.
11. B. After his engagement ended and he realized he had no genuine friends in Nebraska, Jack remembered being happiest while teaching in Rome. He had always envied the community's closeness and decided to move there to build meaningful connections.
12. Emily's novel represents escape and control. She started writing after her grandmother's death, when grief was consuming her family and her siblings no longer leaned on her. The fictional world is the one place she has "full, bright, and unwavering control." She hides it because she is terrified of judgment—especially as a second-grade teacher writing explicit romance—and because she lacks confidence in her creative voice.
13. B.** Jack explicitly tells Emily he needs her permission before commenting on the intimate scene, demonstrating his respect for her emotional and sexual boundaries—a marked contrast to the transactional experiences that made Emily feel like a "side character."
Part 3: Theme and Symbolism
14. The red cowboy boots are Emily's self-described "seasonal treat"—something she buys purely for joy. They symbolize her hidden playful, spontaneous side that she suppresses under rigid routines. When she admits this to Jack during the motorcycle ride, it represents her growing willingness to let him see beyond her controlled exterior.
15. B. Jack hid his glasses because his ex-fiancée Zoe was cruel about his appearance. When Emily tries them on and later insists he keep them on during their most intimate moments, the glasses become a symbol of full acceptance—the authentic, unpolished self Jack can finally reveal with her.
16. The epigraph foreshadows that the novel's central truth is that human connection—not independence, control, or emotional armor—is the ultimate source of security. Emily clings to routines and avoids vulnerability to protect herself from loss, while Jack hides behind charm and a pseudonym. Both must learn that authentic, vulnerable connection heals rather than harms.
17. B. Emily dons the dress and a 1950s housewife persona to deflect her sisters' probing questions about her well-being. The performance allows her to hide her emotional hangover from the previous night with Jack and her deeper loneliness, reinforcing how she uses curated identities to avoid genuine vulnerability.
Part 4: Synthesis
18. Emily conceals through performance: she projects competency, fixes everyone's problems, and never cries in front of others (except Jack). This stems from losing her parents at age eight, which forced her to become the family's unflappable emotional pillar. Jack conceals through charm and secrecy: he deflects personal questions, hides his writing behind a pseudonym, and buries his feelings—a survival strategy learned from a narcissistic father who taught him his emotions were irrelevant. Both must unlearn these defenses to build a genuine relationship.
19. First, the town's gossip network actively drives the plot: Emily weaponizes it to freeze Jack out, and later the community independently reverses course and embraces him, forcing both characters to confront shifting loyalties. Second, Rome represents the belonging both protagonists crave—Jack returns specifically seeking this community, while Emily's terror of losing her place in it (as her siblings grow independent) fuels her fear of change. The town's final embrace of both characters mirrors their acceptance of each other.
20. B. Emily hides her romance manuscript from everyone, terrified of exposure and rejection, while Jack hides behind a pen name to escape his father's toxic influence. Their deepening relationship gives each the courage to step into the open: Emily submits her novel and secures a book deal eleven months later, while Jack publicly claims his author identity and confronts his father.