Noah and Gillian clash from their first meeting. Will it an enemies to lovers situation or will all her bad dates have put her off. Looking forward to the next book of the series.

The cutest flirty meetcute with a second encounter turned awry. I seriously could not stop reading from page one I was hooked. Love me a small town with all the meddling older ladies. Noah and Gillian are the best enemies turned friends turned lovers, I laughed and I had a great time.

As a fan of Jayme's previous book, The Rom-Com Agenda, I was excited to get to read this one. It unfortunately fell a little flat for me. The enemies-to-lovers trope is always a good one, but this just lacked development and missed the mark. As a clean romance, there just wasn't enough there to convince the reader that these two could make the jump to love. Too much was left behind closed doors, and I am just never going to be okay with pointing out that a woman is "bigger" over and over again. As a gardener, I loved the gardening storyline. I also loved revisiting the group of friends from the previous book. Overall, it was an ok read, but not something I'd pick up again or recommend people run out and read immediately.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the Advanced Reader Copy in exchange for my honest review.

I really liked this book, it was different than anything else I've read which was a breath of fresh air. I will be recommending this to my friends, and auto buy this author!

Hedging Your Bets is a charming, closed door, rom-com. If you need a cozy winter read this might be for you. I loved the gardening aspects of this book.
Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for my review copy of this book.

Thank you Netgalley and publishers for the ARC in return for an honest review.

This book was good. It kept me entertained but wish there was more. The first part was slower but got better towards the end :)

If you enjoy gardening, opposites attract and good ole friends to enemies you will enjoy this sweet book!

I loved Rom-Com agenda and this was the perfect next step for Jayne Denker. You can never go wrong with an enemies to lovers and this was a home-run.

I really liked this opposites attract, dual POV, small town, enemies to friends to lovers next door neighbor romance that sees two feuding small town people competing to win a gardening contest and slowly realizing they actually like spending time together. I loved how unapologetically fat and fabulous divorced pharmacist and avid gardener, Gillian. Especially when she decides to dip her toes in the online dating world, going on a series of first date duds while also trying yet again to win the town gardening contest.

Meanwhile, Noah is new to town and fresh off a break up with his old girlfriend and her son. Noah has no kind of green thumb and zero interest in the gardening contest until the woman who hates Gillian blackmails him into competing to rig the contest. I really enjoyed watching Gillian and Noah's friendship develop. They feel comfortable enough to get vulnerable and share some deep secrets with one another.

My only real complaint was that this was a closed door/fade to black story and there didn't seem to be much build up before all of sudden they were together. Good on audio and recommended for fans of books like How to love your neighbor by Sophie Sullivan. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital and audio copy in exchange for my honest review!

This was one of those books that I thought I was really going to like. But this one just really missed the mark for me. I did not like the plot of this book I thought it was childish. It was also a closed door romance which I do not think was a great idea, this lacked a lot of spice for a romance book. I would not suggest this.

I didn't vibe with the book but that doesn't mean someone else won't.

I usually like small-town romances, (the community characters especially the older ladies were funny as hell)

Yet the way Gillian and Noah were at each other's throats felt a little overkill that even though I knew they were supposed to be together I had a hard time believing it.

They both were scorned before but some of their reactions to each other made it harder for me to see them together in the end.

I did like the resolution though!

This book was just okay for me. It wasn’t a stand out story and I found I just pushed through. I don’t mind a closed door romance and this was done okay. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC. All opinions and thoughts are my own.

If you are looking for a cure clean rom com, then Jayne Denker is for you. I love her characters, their interactions, and the whole story. There are more characters in this world and I really hope that we will get their stories as well!!

I did find that the story jumped in a bit quickly at the beginning, almost expecting you to already know things about the characters, but once I caught up with the pace I was hooked. I will definitely pick up anything else that Denker writes!

What do you do when your hot new neighbor is also not easy to get along with? Gillian is happily single and just casually dating after her divorce. She loves to spend time in her time in the yard and is hoping to win a local gardening contest. The last thing she needs is her hot new neighbor ruining her chances. Noah is new to to town after a very messy breakup. Noah and Gillian do not get along right away and start to compete against each other. Their fiery banter leads to some tension as they compete against each other. This one was pretty cute but I just never fully got on board with Noah and Gillian.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Hedging Your Bets was a fun rom com read, perfect for fans of:
- small town. neighbours romance
- enemies to lovers
- garden competition
- garden gnome

The banter between Noah and Gillian was great, creating undeniable chemistry between them, and the side characters were hilarious. Loved this one and recommend to others!

I really wanted to like this book as someone that can appreciate gardening, however, I felt like the plot was disconnected, It didn’t feel like it was focusing on one major plot point, but a bunch of different issues at once. It also didn’t feel like the book flowed and that the romance came very quick and towards the end of the book.

DNF at 42%. I really wanted to like this book. Enemies-to-lovers and forced proximity are some of my favorite tropes, and I was excited to read a romance centered around gardening! It was a great plot idea and could have been a read I really enjoyed. But there was a lot of miscommunication throughout the book and both characters seemed to snap and blow up at each other for absolutely no reason. Their reactions, both in anger and attraction, were very overblown and annoyed me so much that I couldn't keep reading. I hope other people can enjoy this book since the plot seemed fun, but it was not for me.

This was such a cute cozy closed door romance with enemies to friends. Honestly the love story was adorable but I loved all the supporting characters even more. Carol, Annette, and Judy were so fun!! I enjoyed their antics from spying to inviting Noah to brunch to their showdown with Louise. Noah and Giliian made such a great couple even when they didn’t see it. I really enjoyed how each encounter layered onto the last until they were head over heels for each other.

A pretty cute rom com. Easy to read and the side characters were fun. Really enjoyed the senior citizen lady squad. The main characters seemed to actually fancy each other which is more than I can say for most of the rom coms I’ve read lately.

this was really cute and did a solid job with the slow burn enemies-to-lovers trope. i was entertained by each of Gillian’s online dating misadventures, and i loved all the characters and their small-town, close-knit relationships (especially the nosy neighbour lady trio)

i did find it a bit slow pace-wise but i’m also typically someone who leans towards fantasy with romance and not “just” romance reads. the author did a solid job showing and not just telling the FMC’s lived experience as a plus-size woman dating and living in a world not designed for her success

Such a fun follow-up to The Rom-Com Agenda. I loved revisiting the quirky crew from the town of Willow Cove and meeting new friends. Sparks flew between Noah and Gillian and with Denker's witty dialogue, it was a very charming ride.