This sucks.

I’m sorry

But this book review is not going up. I can’t in good conscience promote a book published by a company that allows a person in their marketing team who spews vile and hateful things.

Both Netgalley (when I reached out for guidance) and St Martin’s press (in the MONTHS that they have known about the situation) have been silent on the issue.

So I will be silent about this book.

If all my friends are not welcome at the table, if they aren’t safe at the table, why would I want to be there?

Gillian and Noah have a knack for annoying each other but they also have fantastic chemistry. Compromise is the lifeblood of any relationship.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 (3.5)
Steam Level: 🔥🔥 (closed door scenes)
Trigger Warning: brief mentions of fat shaming and divorce

Now that she's recovered from her divorce, Gillian Pritchard is trying out online dating in the hopes of getting a second chance at love. When Noah West moves in next door, he becomes an instant thorn in her side when he threatens the beautiful garden she's cultivated in her backyard. As Gillian dates one disappointing prospect after another, Noah keeps weaseling his way into her life. But it seems that Noah isn't as bad as she first thought, and soon Gillian begins to develop feelings for him. Maybe the man she thought she hated is really her true love in disguise.

After reading this author's debut novel, I was looking forward to heading back to the fictional town of Willow Cove for another sweet romance. I liked the sort of enemies vibe between Gillian and Noah and how they slowly overcame their initial dislike of one another. Unfortunately, the beginning was just missing something for me, which kept this from being a 4 star read. The second half was really sweet and had some great interactions and a natural progression of feelings between Gillian and Noah. They each had difficult breakups in the past and had to trust that their feelings for each other were genuine. And I liked how there wasn't a third act breakup! I'm pretty sure we'll be getting one more romance in this series, so, even though this one fell a bit short, I would love to read the next book by this author.

Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

It was cute and funny. The initial snarky banter was pretty good!
Probably won't remember about this for days to come.


Thank you Netgally & Publisher for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

This was a cute small town, enemies to lovers romance! The book gave off a cute and cozy vibe throughout which is always nice!

This book is a grumpy x sunshine, enemies to lovers rom com. The two MC’s Gillian and Noah are neighbours.

It was ok, if somewhat predictable. I enjoyed the authors previous book (the rom com agenda) much more. In this book I felt that the MCs were a bit flat. There is chemistry between the two MC’s, but there wasn’t a gradual building of emotional attachment and mutual admiration that I enjoy in rom-coms.

In my opinion, the “old lady gang” who lived in the neighbourhood stole the show! I did appreciate the body positivity in this book, although I feel that the author kind of hit us over the head to make her point. I feel that a more subtle approach would have been more effective in getting her point across.

For me this book as ok, but not great. I enjoyed this authors previous book “the rom com agenda” much more. I will definitely be reading more by this author, but this book was just ok for me.

Thank you to St. Martins Press and Netgalley for providing me with an eARC of this book to read and review.

A rom com with a garden but I'm probably going to be the only one who found Noah immature and, frankly, rude - making him less than the rom com hero I was hoping for. Noah, after a breakup in California, impulsively sold his art gallery in California and bought a marina on the Saint Lawrence, apparently without checking the financials (seriously?). He also bought the house next door to Gillian, the town pharmacist and ace gardener who has been using dating apps. They clash when Noah pulls out the boxwood between their properties and then we're off though the ups and downs of life in a small town, complete with meddling neighbors, bad dates, and a bit of drama. This is meant to be a dual pov book but I never got a good sense of Gillian (who I was appalled by in the first chapter when she did the dance in front of the window- a woman living alone with a new neighbor? I'm not judging her morals just thinking about her safety) and I just didn't like Noah who conveyed much younger than he was meant to be. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. Over to others who might see something I did not.

After a recent break-up Noah West moves from California to Willow Cove, a small upper NY town, where he used to spend his summers. He purchases a local marina where he worked as a teen and his only family in town is his uncle. His next door neighbor is curvy Gillian Pritchard who is a pharmacist. Her garden is her bride and joy and she wants to win the annual garden competition. Their first meeting doesn’t go well when he rips out a hedge on his yard that is part of the yard’s garden design.

The story has cute moments, the gnome, and Gillian's supportive friends. I love the scene with Noah flirting and dancing holding the gnome. The older neighborhood busybodies are sweet but very one note with almost every conversation with Gillian being about her dating life. It is told from duel POV but I didn’t connect much as everything felt very surface level or one dimensional. And having an actually plotting villain makes that part of the plot silly. The story is closed door which is fine but I prefer more build up with more kissing and touches before the door shuts. If you enjoy small town, closed door romances with minimal angst this is entertaining and cute. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC and I am leaving a voluntary review.

Two feuding neighbours in the midst of a small-town gardening competition sounded like all sorts of fun. And it was! But it was nearly halfway in before I felt like the story truly started.

I liked the meet-cute and the initial bickering, but it shifted into a lot of time spent with Gillian going on numerous over-the-top, unbelievably terrible dates. It seemed like an easy means to paint Noah as perfect. The chemistry felt a bit forced because of that.

The latter half is where the story amped up the action and excitement for me. I adored the shady small-town politics and adorable meddling seniors.

A cute read, but unfortunately a very slow start. Though I will say, I was happily surprised by this being a closed-door romance! We don't get enough from publishers.

My thanks for the ARC goes to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press. I'm voluntarily leaving a review.

Genre: Romance, Romcom
Spice Level: Medium (closed door)
Language: Only a few swear words
Representation: Bi side character, Plus-sized main character
Tropes: Grumpy/Sunshine, Enemies to Lovers, Small town romance

The garden gnome is one of my favorite parts in this romance! Just pure funny. (You'll see what I mean when you read this book.)

Gillian and Noah are bound to be enemies when he pulls out the bushes that acted like a backdrop for her garden. And from there, they dig in deeper with garden competition, hating each other, and fighting…BUT then they're exhausted from it, and decide to be frenemies. Some would say frenemies looks more like friends.

I enjoyed the interplay between them, especially as they came to know each other better. First impressions aren't always right. And the more they get to know each other, the more I liked both of them.

This was a fun and breezy read. I recommend it for romance readers.

Happy reading!

Boy meets girl. Boy makes girl mad. Girl refuses to move on past boys blunder. Boy continues to try to make it up to girl. Girl refuses. Eventually things sort themselves out. Mainly because every romance needs an HEA.

Personally I really struggled reading this book. I failed to connect to the main characters and I never really cared if they managed to start a relationship or not.
Their inability to communicate with each other really grew frustrating, especially since they are both old enough to be able to discuss things like adults and have mature conversations. At times these two felt more like 16 years olds. Plus you throw in a cheesy mustache twirling villain (basically an HOA narc) and you have the general gist of the book. Lots of communication errors and when they are talking one of them isn’t hearing the other one out.

I wanted to like this book a lot. I’m always looking for romances that aren’t typical and I figured this would be perfect. Unfortunately I didn’t care for the way the body positivity was handled and as I said before; neither of the main characters held my interest. I wanted a little bit more from both of them.




PS: you can’t make me root for a romance character who leaves behind their child figure 3,000 miles away.


PPS: closed door romance ahead

I am obsessed with Gillian and her garden!! How dare Noah, no matter how charming he is, come in with his construction company manufactured garden like that!

I love to garden so this book automatically appealed to me. Gillian is a divorced pharmacist who loves to garden. Noah moved across the country to get away from his ex. He settles in the same small town where he spent his summers as a teen and buys the marina. He gets into it with Gillian when he decides to rip out the hedge between the properties. Soon their fiery fights turn into steamy banter. As they both work on their gardens for the annual competition.

This was a fun closed door romance and I liked how Gillian was a strong FMC who had to deal with some spectacularly awful dates before warming up to Noah. Her dating escapades led to some great comedic relief. I found that their enemies trope was dragged out a bit to long in the book and we needed a bit more time to see them develop their relationship. The second half hooked me but the first half was a bit slow. Overall a well written book that I did mostly enjoy.

I think there is an audience for this one but sadly, I'm not a part of it.

There was nothing wrong with the book or plot or characters but something about it just didn't click with me. Maybe the grump was just a little too grumpy? There also didn't seem to much of a bridge between hate and love. For enemies to lovers, I need a bit more -something- to believe the transition.

I love a good enemies to lovers book! This one was so cute with the gardening competition.

Gillian and Noah are opposite in every way including their gardens. They decide to fight it out in a gardening competition.

I don't think Enemies to Lovers is the trope for me anymore. I just didn't find the "hate" part to be realistic – you hate a guy because he pulled out a hedge on HIS lawn? And despite all the nice things he did/said you still hated him?? I just don't buy it.

I also didn't love that every. single. conversation. with a side character was about Gillian going on dates. After the second conversation I just started skipping all of those because it was annoying to keep hearing the same thing.

Once Gillian and Noah got together it was fine and the ending wrapped things up nicely. Overall, it wasn't a terrible read – it was quick and easy – but not my fav from the year.

This is a well-written, low-angst, small-town romance featuring nosy neighbours and a gardening competition. It has an enemies-to-lovers vibe founded on a trivial disagreement.

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC I received. This is my honest and voluntary review.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This was a really cute rom-com but it left me wanting more. It was a quick easy read with great characters.

Thank you netgalley for allowing me to read this book.

Hedging Your Bets is an adorable, low -spice romcom for anyone who is a fan of enemies/rivals to lovers and small-town settings! It was a bit slow to get started, but once the interactions between Gillian and Noah began to pick up, I had a lot of fun. Gillian and Noah have nice banter and were easy to root for. I previously read The Rom-Com Agenda by Jayne Denker which introduced many of the characters that were featured in Hedging Your Bets, so it was nice to revisit Willow Cove, as well as see Gillian get her own turn at love.

I will say the animosity between Gillian and Noah didn't feel entirely earned, and the amount of time both characters spent in denial about their feelings felt a little drawn out. However, that didn't keep from enjoying the book and the story, and I will still recommend it to anyone looking for a sweet and easy romcom to read.

Thank you to Netgalley & St. Martin's Press for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review!

This was definitely a sweet and charming book. Definitely closed doors, only kissing, and a VERY SLOW BURN, enemies to lovers and oppositea attract kinda book. And im going to keep this short and sweet because I dont have a lot to say. Oh there’s also small town and duo POV.

There was a weird imaginary friend/vision thing going on with Bette Midler? i mean i guess it could be charming…but not my cup of tea. Regardless, the bones of the story was good! And the ending was sweet, so give it a read if you like small town romances.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.