Book Review
Hedging Your Bets by Jayne Denker

Rating: I liked it!

This was a pretty medium paced read with a cute storyline. Gillian is a strong, independent, garden loving, pharmacist who frequents the dating apps. Noah is a recently single artist that moves next door to Gillian. These enemies don’t take very long to become frienemies and they also don’t take long to become lovers from there. 😜

There were a few different conflict points in this book but none felt super substantial to me. Gillian is a great plus size rep that has struggled with men in the past because of it, but honestly she was great at being herself. So even that conflict just felt a little light.

I loved the garden competition and the group of nosey old lady neighbors. They were hilarious. Sometimes I felt like there were a bit too many characters to keep track of, but by the end it was easier. I also felt like some of the side characters had storylines introduced but not expanded on. Which is fine, but sometimes seemed irrelevant to bring up.

Read if you like
🌷 Garden competitions & Gnomes
❣️Enemies to lovers
👵🏻 Sassy old lady neighbors
🏡 Small Towns
🚪 Closed door romance

Thank you to NetGalley for this early ARC!

I found this book on NetGalley and the cover absolutely drew me in. I've never read anything by the author, but the gardening, plus-sized heroine, and battling neighbors sounded promising. I received an ARC copy in exchange for an honest review, and as the 2 stars indicates, it was okay.

I had an exceptionally hard time getting into this book. It is a slow-burn, closed door romance, that was less enemies to lovers and more bad first impression that you can't move past. Neither protagonist is particularly likable or relatable, and to me, the entire book would have been better if told from the POV of the chorus of neighborhood busybodies talking about the hot young neighbors. THAT would've made me laugh and keep reading. There was so much potential, and it just fell flat.

However, if the author writes about about Louise Marsh and her rise to power, I'd totally read it.

*ARC Review*

This book was a slow read for me. I just could not get into it. I usually love a small town romance but found this one slow and did not click with the characters. I found the two main characters to be quite annoying and did not really care what happened with them (is that too harsh??). I liked the body positivity aspect of the story and the strength of the female main character. I did not like the extortion theme and found its relation to a gardening competition to just not make sense. This one wasn't for me.

rating: 4⭐️
spice: 0🌶️

tropes:
- enemies to lovers
- close proximity (neighbors)
- small town
- competition (gardening)

thoughts:
this was a cute and fast paced, closed door rom-com! this follows characters we met from Jaynes previous book, “the rom-com agenda” Gillian and newcomer Noah!

Noah upends his life and moves across country to start over. Gillian is having terrible luck on dating apps but when her neighbors point out a new face… maybe there is hope? Noah moves in next door to Gillian, who he finds beautiful and charming… until he rips out the hedges that separate their yards… then it’s war.

the rest of the novel follows their journeys of figuring out life and somehow doing that brings them back together 💕

you should read this if you enjoy cute meddling neighbors, closed door romance, fun gardening competitions and a great group of friends!

thank you St martins, netgalley and jayne for this advanced copy!

This was a cute story overall. It seems to be part of a series but works as a stand-alone read. Overall, I enjoyed the connection and banter between the main characters, which follows the enemies to lover trope story line. Their relationship has its typical back and forth of incidents that builds throughout the storyline with some well-meaning help from good friends and nosy neighbors. There are some elements, such as the inner-monologue the main female character has with herself or her imaginary friend, that were somewhat distracting however. The moment when the main characters connect happens a bit too early in the storyline causing the ending to feel drawn out and end rather flat. Overall, it's a great read for anyone who enjoys a mild (not spicy) love story.

Overview: Gillian clashes with Noah, her new (and attractive) neighbor who endangers her chances of winning the annual neighborhood garden competition by removing a hedge between their yards.

Thoughts: What a fun and light-hearted read! Both Gillian and Noah were such likable characters (with depth!). I absolutely loved the chemistry between them, and their banter had me cracking up. The neighborhood busybodies and Gillian’s friends were equally entertaining. AND there is a garden gnome. Who doesn’t love a garden gnome! I enjoyed this one so much that I will definitely check out Denker’s other books.

Take home message: This is a hilarious small-town (and closed-door) romance, which features a dynamic plus-sized heroine and a fun cast of supporting characters. Perfect for those who love the enemies-to-lovers trope and low-angst reads.

Thanks to NetGalley and St Martin’s for this digital ARC!

Thank you to Jayne, St Martins and NetGalley for my ARC copy in exchange for my honest review!

This was a funny and sweet romance book with plenty of banter and romantic tension. It was a little hard to get into the plot at first, but once the action picked up it was very entertaining!

One of my favorite things about this book was all the side characters we get to meet. From her awesome group of friends to the hilarious gang of old ladies, I truly enjoyed the relationships beyond just the FMC and MMC.

While it was a great read, I didn’t find myself highlighting or marking anything memorable to save for later. I did like the gardening contest plot point, and that was primarily why I picked it up. I’d recommend it to people looking for the unique topic but it didn’t stand out to me as a top book I’ve read.

Hedging Your Bets is an enemies-to-lovers, small town, low-spice romance. I really liked the story but wish it had more spice. The romance was a bit blah and boring. There were a couple of "window" scenes that were absolutely hilarious, and I wanted more of that.
It wasn't an exceptional romance for me, but it was still a fun, quick read that I would recommend to others looking for something light and easy.
Thank you to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

"𝘏𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘴𝘢𝘺 '𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶'. 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘶𝘱 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦, 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘬𝘦 𝘶𝘱 𝘪𝘯 𝘥𝘦𝘧𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘪𝘻𝘦. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘕𝘰𝘢𝘩 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘴𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘻𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘴. 𝘋𝘪𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘰𝘧 𝘴𝘢𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘵."


Man, I'm such a sucker for a good enemies-to-lovers! ❤️

This is my second Jayne Denker 'Willow Cove' ARC and I have loved every minute of both visits!

I absolutely adore Gillian and Noah! And I love Gillian even more as someone who is also on the... well-endowed... side! LOL

Throw in an AMAZING found-family group, nosey neighborhood ladies, lots of failed online dating dates, and a top notch gardening competition... and you've got yourself a tasty little, closed-door 5 Star read! 😍

Huge thank you to one of my favorite publishers @stmartinspress and @netgalley for the advanced copy in exchange for this review!
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Denker writes a lighthearted and enjoyable book about two neighbors who simply do not see eye to eye on anything. She uses the characters of Jillian and Noah to effortlessly move the book from beginning to end that is set in a small town. There are nosy neighbors who insert themselves into daily life - invited or not - and the four nosy neighbors of this story are fun, funny & caring plus they have a few tricks up their sleeves.

Jillian is a pharmacist, loves her nosy neighbors, absolutely loves gardening and plans on winning the local gardening competition. Jillian does not like her new neighbor. She does not like inserting herself back into the dating pool. Old feelings about body image resurface with her dating experiences.

Noah rolls into town with a grumpy face and attitude. On impulse - back break ups make people do crazy things - he bought a house - located right next to Jillian - and a marina that ends up drowning in more issues than he imagined. Noah has no interest in gardening or competitions. Noah does find interest in Jillian and Noah falls first.

The Garden Gnome - well, he plays a role in the book that is entertaining, Just know, never, never give one to a serious gardening enthusiast!

Such a lovely read and listen! Make sure to pick it up!

This was a cute romance! I really enjoyed the banter between Gillian and Noah, and I especially enjoyed the gnome that kept making an appearance. While I also enjoyed a lot of the side characters, it did feel like there were too many to keep track of, and I often found myself confusing who was who at times.

I appreciated that there was no miscommunication trope in this one and that they were pretty solid in their relationship once they eventually got together. I will say though that I didn't fully get why they were enemies at the start and the reasoning just seemed a bit flimsy for me.

It wasn't an exceptional romance for my taste, but it was still a fun, quick read that I would recommend.

Thank you to Netgalley and St Martin's Press for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

This was cute, its not like a change your life or blow your mind type read, but for a cute little palate cleanser, I enjoyed it. It was a firmly closed doors, enemies to lovers small town read. Can’t see myself owning or re-reading but totally recommend to someone who wants something nice and light with melding old lady neighbors.

I unfortunately didn't end up finishing this one. The writing was just okay, but I also didn't care much for the characters. I thought the MMC was a little too rude, and I wish the FMC was a little less polite given everything she continues to go through.

Not sure if I'll read from this author again, maybe I could try depending on the plot.

Sigh. I really wanted to like this book, but the characters were just not it for me. Gillian was super frustrating because it felt like she wanted to hate this man for absolutely no reason. I totally get the beginning argument, but after that it was just silly. It felt less like enemies-to-lovers and more like siblings to lovers somehow.

I don't want to say much more and ruin this one for anyone else. This had a great premise and I loved the body positivity (yay for curvy girls!) in this, but overall it wasn't for me.

Hedging Your Bets is an enemies-to-lovers, small town, low-spice romance. I really liked the story but wish it had, well, more spice. There were a couple of "window" scenes that were absolutely hilarious, and I just wanted more of that as well. What I loved was that the MC Gillian was a pleasantly plump single pharmacist... something that I can totally relate to, lol. So I definitely recommend this book for all my lady pharmacist colleagues as no one writes us as romantic leads!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.

I really enjoyed this story! The banter was perfect and the innuendo was fun! A bit more than I am used to, but not excessive. I only had a problem with the language and if that doesn’t bother you, then listen to this beautiful story. The characters help each other SEE one another and I loved that! Enjoy!

Thanks to Net Galley for the ARC, all opinions are my own!

Firstly, thank you NetGalley for this ARC!

I really enjoyed this story. There were times when I felt that the annoyance and fighting between the two characters was a bit much and there were a couple of parts that dragged a bit, but overall I really enjoyed the story!

Noah is a newcomer in a small-town that he used to go to in the summers, visiting his uncle. He moved there for a fresh start and moves into a house next door to Gillian.

If you read The Rom-Com Agenda by Jayne Denker, you have already met Gillian. She is a spunky, fun, passionate person and she loves her garden! Gillian enters a yearly gardening competition in Willow Cove. She never wins though because the head of the gardening committee is a nasty woman who has never like Gillian. Gillian is also using dating apps and going on first dates with different men, all of whom don’t make it to a second one. Then she meets Sebastian, who is promising…until he isn’t.

I loved the first book in this series and this one did not disappoint either! I will say I want a huge fan of the Louise character, but over all it was a really cute story.

Opposites attract in this enemies-to-lovers romantic comedy of feuding neighbors and dueling hearts from Jayne Denker, the author of The Rom-Com Agenda. When small-town neighbors go head-to-head, better start Hedging Your Bets .

This is my first Jayne Denker novel, so I went into this one blind and not really knowing what I was getting myself into. While the plot was cute and I liked the romance, it seemed pretty formalatic as far as rom-com, romance books go. I would still recommend this book for someone looking for something with this specific plot, but for me it fell a little short.

A special thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press & Wednesday Books for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. I will post my review online on goodreads/socials when the SMP reviewer boycott is over.

I found this book to be a little juvenile but it was cute at the same time. I really loved the premise of the story!