While I did mention Hedging Your Bets being a cozy read, it’s not always that way. The book follows Gillian, a pharmacist and enthusiastic gardener who is hoping for her chance at first place in Willow Cove’s gardening competition. Her dreams go sideways when her new neighbor, Noah West moves in and completely destroys a major part of her garden. From there, these two can’t stop bickering.

As much as I enjoyed it, it was clear that Gillian and Noah were having misunderstanding after misunderstanding. I just wanted to smack their heads together and tell them to get a grip. It did take a while but the two started to warm up to each other. From there, it felt like both of them melted into puddles of goo and couldn’t help but glance longingly at the other and wish for a kiss which was just delightful to read.

Getting back to the garden competition, Noah ends up with an unexpected opportunity to best Gillian and save his own skin. While the idea is a little predictable, I enjoyed how Jayne Denker decided to tackle this. It could have been a huge blow-out fight in the third act of the story but it wasn’t. It gave Gillian and Noah a chance to talk, understand and grow closer which is so rare these days.

Hedging Your Bets might be low-angst, but the characters are dealing with a lot. Gillian is divorcing and trying to date which results in many jerks. She’s also targeted constantly for being curvy by someone in the town with a lot of power. In addition, Noah is reeling from a big breakup and being away from his ex’s son. Despite that, the two grow close and it’s just amazing to watch unfold.

As far as romances go, this was one of my favorites but I do feel like it could have done with a sparkling more of something. I don’t know what it needed but I could have done with something to spice the plot up. Maybe it needed a sex scene or a big fight or something, but there was a disconnect for me. All in all, it was great aside from my one complaint.

I enjoyed this book and found it to be fun. It started off as an enemies to lovers, which isn't always my favorite trope, but I liked it here. I liked the slowish burn and seeing the two characters getting closer over time. I liked that both Noah and Gillian had past relationships and I enjoyed learning about their history and how it influenced their present.

Overall I would give this book 3.25 stars.

I got this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!

Fun and intere, fresh story and lived the two main characters. This rom com was cute and nice to read , very refreshing.

As this was my first read from this author and I just have to say that I adored this book. I love that the book takes place in a small town in Upstate New York and not the city this time I love a little change. The characters throughout the story find themselves whether it was moving to find something better or getting over a breakup. Their Journeys were refreshing. I love how the story moves nice but it's also slow burn so you're able to keep up while wanting more.

3.5 stars rounded down. This ended up being a sweet closed-door romance. The first ~60% and the last ~40% felt honestly pretty different, and the last 40% changed how I felt about the book (in a good way).

Hedging Your Bets takes place in Willow Cove, a charming small town on the water, and it comes with all the typical small town shenanigans (meddling old lady gangs, terribly small dating pool, Taylor Doose-style person who runs too many things in the town, etc.). Gillian is a pharmacist and gardener who has her heart set on winning the town's gardening competition and is reentering the dating pool after divorcing her husband who didn't like that she was mid/plus size. Noah is new to town, having left California after a breakup, and he buys the house next to Gillian sight unseen as well as the marina in town when his uncle, who lives in Willow Cove, tells him about it. Gillian and Noah have several meet-disasters, resulting in a "he/she is so annoying and I hate him/her but also he/she is hot and that makes me even more mad."

I'll start with the things I liked about the book. The meddling old lady gang was hilarious. They always appear, and they always know everything, and this particular meddling old lady gang was generally helpful.

I also generally speaking liked Gillian and Noah's dynamic. When they were bickering, there were some good pranks that were played. And once they finally admitted they liked each other, they were sweet. There wasn't any miscommunication, and there wasn't a third act break-up, and they were silly and funny and nice to each other.

On the other hand, there were times that they were mean to each other, and it wasn't in a cute enemies-to-lovers kind of way, which was less enjoyable to read about. And in the front half of the book, part of why I wasn't enjoying reading it as much was the presence of a villain who was genuinely bad.

The back half of the book definitely made up for the front half, so it ended up being nice to read. But the front half was definitely a slog for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for providing me with an eARC of Hedging Your Bets in exchange for my honest review.

Cutie little small-town, slow burn, enemy(ish)-to-lovers, closed door romance.

We follow our FMC, Gillian-pharmacist and gardener extraordinaire- as she navigates day-to-day life in the sleepy little town of Willow Cove. And life is going well for her until Noah West moves next door-highly opinionated and suffering from a wicked case of allergies-and rips out bushes that were part of her garden design. This is the beginning of their little feud, but we also see them battling with being secretly attracted to each other.

This was pretty slow burn, the majority of it was spent with them bickering back and forth, and Gillian trying (and failing) to date men via dating apps. I didn't LOVE Noah and Gillian together; I didn't feel like they had great chemistry, but I enjoyed the build up to them getting together. The friend group dynamic in this book was my favorite part. I love their love for each other, and their interactions and protectiveness and banter with each other. The one part of this that I just really didn't like was her "Inner Bette" voice. She is described as some sort of phantom that talks/interacts with Gillian, giving her dating advice, and judging her, which was weird to me. I don't feel like her character added anything beneficial to the book. Thank you to Netgalley for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review!

I’m so excited NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press gave me the opportunity to enjoy this fun and funny book from Jayne Denker in exchange for my honest review.
Gillian and Noah, both freshly single, find themselves living next door to each other in Willow Cove. I found this closed door romance to be cute and entertaining, but the sometimes dragged out enemies-to-lovers had me a bit annoyed at times. The very many Willow Cove residents did add colorful flair. I appreciated Denker’s plus-size protagonist and the authentic experience that went along with a woman daring to live a happy life in a larger body.
If anyone is looking for an enjoyable rom-com, I will be suggesting they add Hedging Your Bets to their TBR list.

I really enjoyed The Rom Com Agenda last year so I was really excited for another trip to Willow Cove and the group of characters I loved there. This book focuses on Gillian and her new neighbor, Noah. Overall, I thought this one was just okay. There were some cute and funny moments (the little old lady neighbors were adorable!) and I did like when the enemies FINALLY turned to lovers, but the story didn’t really grab me the way The Rom Com Agenda did. The garden competition, which seemed like a HUGE deal in the synopsis and beginning of the book, felt like an afterthought towards the middle of the book to the point where I forgot it was happening. Both Gillian and Noah were interesting characters, but there was nothing that made me feel especially connected to them. This was just a middle of the pack book for me. I’m assuming there will be a third Willow Cove book and if it’s centered on Delia and Gray, I will absolutely read it!


Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an advanced digital reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book was just okay. I wouldn’t say it’s bad and it may be just what a gardener, small-town, clean romance lover might like. But I found the character’s inner Bette phantom distracting, didn’t like how the main character Gillian seemed to be completely gorgeous and a beautiful person inside, but would be made to feel as ugly due to her size by less than ideal dating app individuals. It was a bit ridiculous. So, while I did finish this book and the predictable ending was nice, it wouldn’t be one I would recommend not read again. I did like that the romance wasn’t a vulgar one.

I received this ARC from the publisher for my honest opinion review.

I was really excited to see another offering from Jayne Denker since I loved The Rom-Com Agenda so much. I don't usually like sweet romances, but that one hit all the right notes for me. In Hedging Your Bets, we return to the same town with several of the same characters. Unfortunately, overall, this one was a miss for me. I feel like it had so much potential and the elements were almost there, but then fell short in my opinion.
Throughout the story, the main FMC talks to a spirit (?) that she refers to as her inner Bette. This was cute the first time, but not the eleventy-billion times after that or when she started manifesting in real life. Unnecessary and a bit weird.
I was all in on the MMC back story with his ex and Aiden. But then that didn't really go anywhere and there was a random weird call to Aiden in the middle of the story that also didn't seem to have a purpose. This was never really fleshed out or explained well.
The slow burn "fighting" in this enemies to lovers trope (which is one of my favorites when done well) went on way too long and then jumped straight from I hate you to I love you in a few chapters. After the FMC was basically a snobby b-word to him the entire time.
And why couldn't MMC suddenly not say "I love you" at the end? This seemed like a stall tactic to get more words/pages in or to prolong the will-they/won't-they. It was never really clear why he had issues with saying that until all of a sudden he couldn't.
I live in a small town as well and although we do have some high flying personalities, the things the one woman was trying to get away with were not only mean and egregious but illegal. And everyone just continued to let it happen? I find this highly unlikely and as her antics continued to escalate, they just seemed more and more ridiculous.
I did enjoy hearing about the bad dates. Those were humorous if not a bit cliche. We've all been there. The writing is still lovely with some nice turns of phrase and unexpected descriptions.
The two main characters don't really even get together (definitely no "action") until around 80% which... I love a good slow burn... but that was a REALLY slow burn. And with a closed door romance, there wasn't even that much pay off until the very end. I guess overall I didn't really feel the chemistry between them.
Overall, this was an okay romance. I didn't feel compelled to keep turning the pages, but it was a fast easy read with little intense drama. I'm hoping the next book in the series will live up to The Rom-Com Agenda.
Thank you to NetGalley, the author and the publishers for provided a free ARC copy of this book for my honest review.

I just love reading a good Grumpy/Sunshine book…
Gillian the beloved townie(yes it’s a small town romance as well) is a cheerful, loving woman who is divorced and trying to get herself out there, on dating apps. As she’s meeting horrible men who seem to want someone thinner, her new neighbor moves in and soon becomes her enemy(yes this is also an enemies to lovers also). Noah West just moved to Willow Cove, from California, after a rough breakup. Just on a whim he buys a house and the marina he worked in as a teen. When a gardening contest brings out the worse in both, Noah and Gillian, the competition is on.

I really enjoyed Gillian and Noah’s story. I just loved the older noisy neighbors! I also really enjoyed the friend group in the book, I feel like several books could come out of this one.
I really liked the dating aspect in the book and the issues that Gillian ran into. Especially cause it happens more than people would like to admit. Gillian might not of, but I loved Noah from the beginning.

Hedging Your Bets was a very cute and cozy romantic comedy set in a small town in upstate New York. I liked the previous book in this series so it was great to see some of the same characters pop up in scenes here and there and also meet some new people in the small town. Gillian and Noah clash right from the start when Noah arrives to town leading to some fun banter as they progress from enemies to friends and finally to lovers.
Noah very clearly took on too much when he moved across the country to take over a marina he had worked at when he was a teenager, only to find out that the marina has more debt than expected and realistically he has no idea what he is doing. Gillian is very happy in her life between her job as a pharmacist and her love of gardening. Her trials into the world of online dating were painful to read at times. She is a character that you definitely want to root for throughout the book after she gets out of a toxic marriage and seems to have her appearance judged constantly and way too harshly. Overall, Hedging Your Bets was a really fun and light read. I'm excited to read more from Jayne Denker. Thank you to St. Martin's Press/St. Martin's Griffin and NetGalley for the chance to read this novel.

I received a DIGITAL Advance Reader Copy of this book from #NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book was fine but I found the middle section of the book way too slow and it bored me. But that's not to say that I disliked the book I just put the book down a lot more often than I normally do.

The meddling grannies were the best part about this book. They were great.

2.5 stars rounded up

This is a sweet enemies-to-lovers story. I liked the growth the two characters showed, and I also appreciated that they had great communication and understanding once they got together.

It wasn't my favorite read for the following reasons:
1. It read spicy at first (in terms of their attractions/fantasies about each other), but it was fade to black when the characters got together. Spice isn't a requirement for me in a romance novel, but it surprised me based on what I was expecting.
2. It took nearly all of the book for the characters to show they even liked each other much less were interested romantically in one another.
3. The dialogue felt stilted in places, and some of the things the male character thought/said made me cringe.
4. I wasn't entirely convinced even by the end that they would work out based on how much they disliked each other at the start, which I recognize is hard to pull off with this trope, but I wanted it to come together better.

Overall, I enjoyed the read and would recommend it, it just didn't stand out to me as one of my favorites!

“Hedging Your Bets” by Jayne Denker
A Fun Read, for certain sure!
I thoroughly enjoyed my time in this story. It is a romantic story with a humorous side. I loved the feeling of community and the power of friendships; made me want to be a part of this family of friends and relatives. Happy Reading ! !
Note: This review expresses my honest opinion.
I received an ARC of this story from the publisher via NetGalley

This was a cute and cozy read for me. I loved the slow burn trope, and that there was a competition between the two main characters! This is lighthearted and perfect for a sweet afternoon read.

This didn't have a third-act breakup. That might be a little bit of a spoiler, but not really. I think it actually worked for me. It was different. I feel like Denker still managed to insert tension with the whole garden competition at the end without leaning on miscommunication or secret-keeping or any of that. I also knew to expect, from reading this author before, that there would be a fade-to-black sex scene. I enjoyed the fat representation, the fun friend group, the sassy, spit-fire FMC, and just in general had a good time reading this. I'm looking forward to maybe finally getting Gray and Delia in the next one? That would be awesome.

Thank you so much to NetGalley for providing me with this free ebook for my review!

DNF at 61%. I tried pushing through this book but I was not invested in the characters at all. I felt like they had no chemistry and their crush on eachother was really forced. I hated both Gillian and Noah’s characters a lot and found them both really terrible at communicating their issues.

I don’t know if the story got better after they finally got together but I really couldn’t push myself to read any further.

This was a nice cozy romance and pretty much closed door. I liked the premise of the story. Our FMC Gillian is a pharmacist who on the side loves gardening and runs in the local garden competition. She is determined to win this year even though her so called nemesis is a judge. Then comes our MMC Noah who becomes her new hot neighbor who comes out grumpy but just got out of a 2 year commitment and upended his life with a new business and moving across the country. The two end up becoming enemies and compete in the garden competition. This was a nice quick light read and I would recommend for someone looking for that.

A huge thanks to Jayne Denker, Netgalley and St. Martin's Press.

This book was cute. I was exciting to give a different genre a try. I did find it slow at times and Gillian and Noah fought in most of the book. I just couldn’t connect with the characters which made it harder for me to finish the book.
Thank you NetGalley, Jayne and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC!