3 stars!

This book was cute and I enjoyed the theme of the gardening contest.

I did find it hard to keep track of all the different friends (that may just be a me problem).

I did enjoy the representation of the dating difficulties as a plus size woman.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC.

HEDGING YOUR BETS is filled with gossipy neighbors, a gardening competition, and an enemies-to-lovers romance that is just so precious! I adore all of Ms. Denker's books and this one is no exception. The characters from Ms. Denker's Willow Cove series make appearances, with Gillian, the pretty pharmacist, this time as star. Gillian is an avid gardener and has not yet won the town's gardening competition, since she unfortunately endures a vendetta from the head judge. Also, Gillian is a divorcee' and is on dating apps. One awful date after another leaves her jaded. When a hunkalicious man moves in next door, Gillian is hopeful. Maybe he is her match?

Noah West, suffers a rough breakup, is extremely grumpy and moves to Willow Cove. He is the new owner of a marina and proud owner of a house. He lives next door to a curvy, pretty lady. Noah is irritable after sweating and pulling out an ugly shrub. Noah is smitten with the snappy kitten as they argue over a hedge he unknowingly destroyed that was part of Gillian's garden plan. Now he's made an enemy with his dishy neighbor.

After Gillan meets her new neighbor turned nemesis after he uproots a beautiful boxwood bordering her garden, she loses hope in the male species. The war is on between them, Gillian is angry, Noah is spiteful, which makes for strained interactions. However, Noah is conned by the head judge to enter the garden contest and Gillian is furious. As they garden, side-by-side, bickering, bantering, and more, they forge a friendship. Is it possible that Gillian and Noah will fall in love with each other?

HEDGING YOUR BETS is a highly entertaining, grumpy meets sunshine, with small-town vibes, nosy neighbors, that perfectly combine in this winning new novel from my favorite author. Gillian and Noah fight over their gardens, social lives and more. However, there is an underlying romantic thread that brings them together, sneakily. Ms. Denker does a spectacular job of flushing out a rousing romance of will they or won't they get together? I often wondered if Noah and Gillian would put down their boxing gloves long enough to get to know one another. This is a delightful, delicious, doozy of a story that you will love!

Hedging Your Bets by Jayne Denker brings the reader back to Willow Cove and includes cameos from other characters from the author’s previous novel, The Rom-Com Agenda. Gillian is a pharmacist and avid gardener, who although not due to lack of effort but instead vendetta from the head judge, has yet to win the local gardening competition. Noah moves in next-door and immediately, unbeknownst to him, makes a change to his backyard. An ongoing banter battle ensues between the two. Cute book set in a small-town filled with gossiping neighbours, a close friend group and some healthy (gardening) competition.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for offering me a copy of the eARC of this book, as well as NetGalley and the author, in exchange for an honest review.

A fast-paced enemies-to-lovers romance that features two neighbors caught up in a gardening competition. Some fun characters and situations in the book, but there were enough moments of knee-jerk meanness between the two love interests that I just wanted to bash their heads together and tell them to stop being idiots. And I try REALLY hard not to call people idiots, so I hope that conveys my level of frustration.

Thank you, St Martin's Griffin and NetGalley, for providing an eARC of this book. Opinions expressed here are solely my own.

Loved, loved, loved this story of Gillian and Noah and their wonderful town. I appreciated the honest reflection on dating as woman who isn’t a size 0. Great dialogue. Sweet story. No 3rd act break up … and honest reflection between characters! What a novel concept.

This was a thoroughly entertaining and banter-y new neighbours + enemies to lovers + grumpy/sunshine + small-town romance ahh 😭 and the cover is so accurate?? The book is exactly what the cover is, they're neighbours, they have numerous fights about their gardens, and these fights do end up bringing them together time and again. If you're looking for a cheery read, I'd definitely recommend this!

TWs - fatphobia, divorce (past), a sudden breakup (past and present), professional sabotage, blackmail

-- ty to the author, the publisher and Netgalley for an advanced copy!

I received this from NetGalley last week because I reviewed her earlier book. It doesn't come out until next January - was a delightful stand alone that can also be seen as a follow up to her earlier work.

Gillian has been divorced for a few years now but hasn't been able to dive into a new relationship until this summer when she begins going on a lot of "dating app first dates." She's also working on her garden for the annual summer competition. Then Noah moves in next door, rips out the hedges that line her garden, and makes a way into her heart - when they aren't battling!

It's a sweet love story!

Thank you soooooo much netgalley, the author and the publisher for the advanced review copy if this book💗
"I voluntarily read and reviewed the book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.”



Beautiful, fun🥰✨💞

really good romance in a small town and two neighbors who end up falling in love. Love the friends and the old ladies that are watching them. Loved that she is dating different guys and things work out for noah. Good romance .

Gillian is a pharmacist and garden enthusiast. Every year she enters the town garden competition, but this year, her obnoxious new next door neighbor Noah intends to give her a run for her money. They immediately start off in the wrong foot with each other, and become rivals and enemies quickly.

This is a sweet companion novel to The Rom Com Agenda. The stories are loosely connected but could also be read as standalones. The tropes in this one were so much fun- enemies to lovers always makes for great banter and this was no exception. I enjoyed Gillian being an unapologetic curvy woman and her insight into the way she is treated by both men and women because of her size. The garden gnome storyline was cute and I enjoyed their antics to get on each other’s nerves, while clearly caring about each other. If you love plants, friendly competition, enemies to lovers, and closed door romance, this is the book for you!

Thank you to Jayne Denker, St. Martin’s Press, and Netgalley for the arc in exchange for my honest review.

she was cute! i definitely flew through this one and while she was enjoyable it was nothing to write home about. i liked the characterization of our two leads and they had some good chemistry, but the story itself has been done before many a time overall

certainly wouldn’t want to dissuade others from picking up this book though!

This was perfection. I loved every page that I read and I can't wait to see what the author comes out with next. It was intriguing, entertaining, and overall a great read.

Rating: 3.5 stars

“Hedging Your Bets” follows Noah, a recently single guy who moves to Willow Cove to run the marina and Gillian, his next door neighbor, as they bicker, garden together, and ultimately fall in love.

I liked this book overall. I thought the cast of characters were fun and I loved the representation of being a fat woman in the dating scene. However, I feel like the two main characters were not fully fleshed out and Noah’s issue saying I Love You felt sudden and easily worked through.

Hedging Your Bets was exactly what I expected from a cute romcom. I enjoyed the challenges that Gillian and Noah shared and the process getting them to their HEA. The story really captured my attention.First time reading a book by this author but it won’t be my last.

A special thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press & Wednesday Books for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Jayne Denker continues her Willow Cove/Thousand Islands universe of the sweet and adorable “The Rom-Com Agenda” featuring Gillian of Eli’s makeover team. Gillian is professionally a pharmacist, but her passion is her garden, something she’s worked on for five years in order to win the competitive annual garden contest. Unfortunately, new neighbor and marina owner Noah initially took a dislike to the property line boxwood hedges that were in his yard, but were part of her “borrowed landscape” garden design of multiple flower beds and romantic spaces. Oops. Even though Noah is immediately mesmerized by Gillian and the town consensus is that she’s a wonderful person, her gardening rage towards Noah makes for awkward neighborly interactions. And when Noah gets conned into participating in the garden contest with an anti-romantic, hard lines, modernistic design, Gillian despises him even more.

This is obviously an enemies-to-lovers romance (low spice) and a lot of time is spent on Gillian’s incredibly awful dating experiences, many which Noah witnesses and cannot understand how she’s found these one-date only idiots. The build-up is funny and sweet; you can’t help rooting for these two and there’s a marvelous cast of supporting characters. It’s an easy and enjoyable book with great small town vibes. 5 stars!

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for a free advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review!

Literary Pet Peeve Checklist:
Green Eyes (only 2% of the real world, yet it seems like 90% of all fictional females): YES We have a green-eyed gardener as the main character!
Horticultural Faux Pas (plants out of season or growing zones, like daffodils in autumn or bougainvillea in Alaska): NO There’s immense pressure in a book where gardening is a romantic plot device to get it right!

A cute love story. Gillian is a successful pharmacist and proficient gardener. She is beloved by many and friends with almost everyone in Willow Cove. Noah is an artist/former art gallery owner who seems to have given up on his dreams and makes an impulsive decision to buy a new house and marina in the town he used to visit as a teenager. Noah is also Gillian’s new next door neighbor. Gillian and Noah do not get off to a good start and keep running into each other outside of their homes and all over town. As they reluctantly get to know one another, they each discover there is a lot to like about the other person…

I would say this is more of an insta-lust/slow-burn in disguise as an enemies-to-lovers romance. There are plenty of charming moments throughout the novel and the garden competition plot was lots of fun. I think Noah’s averse reaction to online dating/Gillian’s dating life was strange and it was never explained. I also did not feel Gillian’s Bette Davis hallucinations added anything to the story and may have detracted. Finally, I wish the fabulous neighborhood ladies and town gossips (Judy, Annette, Carol, etc) had more scenes - they were hilarious!

This can be read as a stand-alone though if you have read The Rom-Com Agenda, you will have more backstory on Gillian and her friendship group. Recommended to anyone looking for a sweet romance featuring plenty of meddling albeit well-intentioned friends and neighbors.

Thank you very much to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advance copy. I’m looking forward to the next Willow Cove story (Delia’s and Gray’s perhaps?).