Hedging Your Bets is a cute closed door romance where neighbors turn to rivals in a local
garden competition.
My favorite part was following along on Gillian’s series of terrible dates with her app matches.

The audiobook was reviewed; that option was not available as an edition selection when this review was posted. Rounding up to 4 stars, probably between 3 and 4 stars. A male (Nick Mondelli) and female narrator (Katelyn Levering) were used in the audiobook, as the point of view alternated at each chapter. They did a great job with narration.

Gillian is a gardener, and her new neighbor is ... not. So this is an enemy to lovers, very closed door, romance.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher Dreamscape Media for approving my request to review the advance listen copy in exchange for an honest review. Publication date is 09 Jan 2024.

Feuding neighbors and small town romance. We have Gillian who is ready to put herself back out there after her divorce but there is one small problem ... her small town. There isn't many new faces or people who she doesn't already know. She finds herself on bad date after bad date through online dating when she gets a new neighbor, Noah, who instantly gets off on the wrong foot.

One thing I will say that I didn't really like about this book was that the conflict felt so small that I felt it could have been talked through a little quicker. I felt like there were a few too many little things that made the story unbelievable. The small town politics are one thing but what the dislike and feud was over felt like a little too much. Also, the discussion/thoughts of Gillian's body felt a bit out of place for me. It felt like in trying to have body positivity in the book they were losing part of the message in the way that they talked about our character and her own thoughts. I love a plus size or curvy main character and so initially I was really excited to see the representation but I think I have read books that have handled this topic better.

That being said I felt like the second half of this book picked up the pace and ramped the story up. I enjoyed the meddling small town and the dynamic between Gillian and Noah.

I would recommend this book to anyone who wants a small town low stacks romance. Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read this story.

A fun small town enemies to lovers, opposites attract romance. It was a basic closed door romance. Quick and simple read. Not a lot of depth to it but was a fun fast read.

3.5 Small town, Enemies to lovers 💗💗💗

Noah reminds me of my husband - impulsive & irritating 😂
While I am a planner, get it all done now type.

Thanks to NetGalley & Dreamscape Media for this ARC for an honest review.

Gillian - happily divorced & navigating her way through dating apps with fat shamers and lackluster men has left her with no desire to do anything other than work in her garden.

Noah - After a rough breakup Noah spontaneously buys a house he hasn't seen & a business he hasn't looked into. Moving to Willow Cove, the same small town he spent summers in as a teen.

New neighbors Gillian & Noah clash almost immediately. When a gardening contest brings out the competition, dueling plant arrangements and fiery banter ensues. But is it possible that beneath all their differences, they might just be perfect for each other?

Hedging Your Bets
By: Jayne Denker
Narrated by: Katelyn Levering, Nick Mondelli
Publisher: Dreamscape Media
Release date: 01-09-24

I listened to the audiobook and the narrators were entertaining and animated. Cute story but I absolutely hated the inner Bette parts.

This was such a fun read! The gardening, the old ladies, the tension…
After going on countless dates with lackluster guys who fat shame her, Gillian is just about fed up with dating. As a result of her frustration, she puts loads of energy and time into her hopefully award winning garden.
Noah just had a bad breakup and has moved next door to Gillian. Their first meeting doesn’t go so smoothly as he might have destroyed part of her garden and offered her a gnome as an apology gift… yikes.
The two continue to argue and banter and when Noah faces a major roadblock in his new business he finds himself entering the garden competition which puts himself up against Gillian…
When Gillian sees Noah struggling to make a garden worth any placement in the competition, she opts in to help him out. But will they be able to keep their hands in the soil and off each other?

This was a great read. I thought the characters were charming and I found myself laughing out loud during many parts. I also liked how this book deals with some serious topics while also being a light read. I thought Gillian’s way of dealing with dates and other people body shaming her was very well done and I loved how Noah never made her feel negatively about her body. He’s also completely obsessed with her and this is something that I also loved.
I enjoyed their banter and I think they have amazing chemistry. They were fun to read about.

I rated this book 3.5/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️.✨

Thank you @NetGalley for the advance audio copy of this one! It was a sweet and easy read and the perfect thing for me to listen to in the aftermath of the holiday chaos.

Gillian and Noah are the absolute definition of ‘opposites attract’. This book is dual POV so we get inside both Noah and Gillian’s heads and I really enjoyed that. I loved that this one didn’t only focus on the tension and developing relationship between Gillian and Noah but really focused on both of them finding themselves and their footing as individuals too. Gillian seemingly came to terms that her size is not a determining factor in a relationship and Noah decided to follow his heart my making career moves that best suited him.

Both characters really came full circle in this one. The secondary characters are supportive and really are the cliché ‘found family’ everyone needs in their lives. Nothing life-changing in the pages of this one, but still a fun and breezy read!
Review:⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

This was a fun read!! I was a little confused as to why the main character needed to have a spirit in her house. It wasn’t really needed. But the enemies to lovers trope worked well in this one!

This book was painfully boring. The first half was extremely slow. Around 50% through the plot is finally established, weak though it is. What we essentially end up with is new neighbors who get off on the wrong foot who are of course secretly attracted to each other but occasionally bicker.

Gillian considers herself overweight but healthy (and I would not mention this if it wasn't her entire personality in the book). She is an avid gardener and takes the gardening contest very seriously. Noah moved to town on a whim after being left by his serious girlfriend. While he pines over her for like four seconds, he immediately gets over it when he realizes his new marina (yep, dude bought a marina on a whim) is in trouble. Through a nefarious old lady in town Gillian and Noah they become pitted against each other in a gardening contest. While this is supposedly the crux of the book, it really doesn't get as much attention as the myriad of terrible dates Gillian goes on. While some are laugh out loud funny, they are also highly unrealistic and the sheer number of dates she goes on (almost a new one, daily) in the supposedly small town she lives in, and the fact that she keeps putting herself through these terrible dates didn't make any sense.

I was just extremely bored and could not wait for this to end. The narrators were fine, not great. If you like slow burns, I guess? But sadly this was not for me.

Hedging Your Bets by Jayne Denver was a very cute, very PG Hallmark-y listen.

Gillian is a once married, happily divorced single pharmacist that keeps striking out on the dating apps.

Noah West strides into town after a bad breakup. He purchases a business and the home next door to Gillian.

When Gillian is not handing out the drugs or perusing the online dating sites, she enjoys spending time in her garden.

Gillian’s new neighbor, Noah, messes up her hedges and infuriates her. And this happens right before the annual garden contest!

As you can guess, after a whole lot of run-ins and a whole lot of tension, the two realize they are a match made in hedge heaven.

This was a very cute listen. Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for this advance listen in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

DNF at 36% this book sounded so promising and the beginning sounded interesting, with the small town, enemies - lovers. But this just wasn't for me. The main characters sounded so immature and the writing didn't really fit my taste.

I got this as an audiobook, and I really liked the narrators. They did a good job,

🌟Audio Book Review🌟

🎧📚 Hedging Your Bets by Jayne Denker

Gillian may have terrible luck with men, but her gardening skills are on point. Too bad the head of the town's garden club seems determined to deny her first place in the garden show.

Noah has just returned to town after years away and a terrible breakup. He's just starting to think that things might be looking up when a series of misteps lands him on Gillian's bad side and under the thumb of the head of the garden club.

Sparks and witty banter fly as Gillian and Noah go head-to-head in the gardening competition. But can these neighboring foes work together to beat an even bigger opponent?

Hedging Your Bets was a fun romp in the world of gardening and small town America. I loved going on Gillian and Noah's journey. They had me laughing out loud and feeling like a fly on the wall.

Jayne Denken writes banter so well! Katelyn Levering and Nick Mondelli's fantastic narration really brought these characters to life.

The audiobook of Hedging Your Bets will be published on January 9, 2024

Thank you, NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for this ALC.

Lighthearted & enjoyable read. This book took the enemies-to-lovers trope and executed it in a fun way that really matched the vibe of the book. Well-rounded and mostly-relatable characters make this book such an easy read! My only complaint was that I, as the reader, spent just a little too much time hearing about the FMC's weight; While I understand that it is something that may be important to the FMC as a character and her overall character development, there were a few extra mentions of it that felt a bit unnecessary. Overall, however, I really enjoyed this book!

Thank you to Dreamscape Media for providing this audiobook for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

If I had to pick one word to describe this book, it would be cute. Cute storyline, cute character interactions, cute cover, all the cute. It is a low-spice (fade to black), super light, enemies-to-lovers (though I use the word enemies very loosely) story that features gardening, nosey neighbors, funny interactions all while the characters are overcoming fear to love again because of some poor former lovers. The narrators were excellent! Usually one tends to outshine the others, but these two were very evenly matched and enjoyable.

This is my first book by Jayne Denker and I have to say it was a very cute romantic comedy that isn't overly complicated but not just surface level either. Gillian and Noah are two neighbors who end up in an enemies to lover trajectory over their adjoining gardens. There are a lot of fun side characters throughout the story, including the old biddies of the neighborhood who witness these two neighbors growing to love each other. I loved that there was never a simple miscommunication plot device used. All of the sticking points in their relationship are more thought out and these two are great at communication (even when they don't like each other). The antics surrounding the gnome are my favorite funny moments. The only downside to this book, for me, was the "inner Betty" alter ego that Gillian speaks with in her head. Thankfully, as the book progressed Betty spoke up less, but she was never really needed to keep the storyline moving in the first place. Additionally, I enjoyed the dual POV and that the audiobook used two different readers for Noah and Gillian. (The audiobook is not yet available on Goodreads as a book edition yet.)

Thank you to Dreamscape Media and Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I think there is a certain group of readers that will really enjoy this book. It has dual points of view which I tend to love especially in an enemies to lovers trope so you can see that switch in both of their feelings as it happens. The book has great representation with a realistic female lead that isn’t a tiny woman and also deals with the challenges that reality brings to her dating life when others are cruel. I liked the small town vibes and found the garden club competition concept unique. The spice level though fell in an odd spot for me. I think it was too spicy with innuendo, lusty thoughts and what felt like casual intimacy for sweet romance readers and probably too closed door for spicy romance readers. It also had strong language that could turn off sweet romance readers.

I listened to this on audio and thought the narrators both did a great job with the narration.

I received an advanced copy of this audiobook via NetGalley. The thoughts and opinions in this review are my own.

Content Notes: Innuendo/lusty thoughts, closed door romance, divorce, fat-shaming, strong language

This gentle, no spice, low-drama rom-com is ideal for someone who just wants a sweet story about a couple of people who get off on the wrong foot and fall in love.

What's great about this book is what it doesn't have:
- miscommunication as a plot device
- 3rd act breakup
- unreasonable fawning over biceps and height
- size as the MC's only quality
- mean enemies to lovers

I would've enjoyed a little more about plants and less about Gillian's desperation to find the love of her life on dating apps (although some of those dates are hilariously bad!) but the cast of colorful and nosy neighbors make up for it. Overall, this was just plain nice.

Thanks to Netgalley, the author, the narrators, and the publisher for providing a copy of this audio in exchange for my honest review.

A sweet small town, lighthearted romantic, enemies to more comedy with a lovely happily ever after. A wonderful cast of funny, kind, some nosy, crafty, loving characters that all want the best for Gillian, except for just one who has had it in for her since she was a teenager and hasn’t relented for one moment. Her first encounter with her new neighbor Noah does not go well when he destroys some of her well tended and beloved garden shortly before the big garden contest in town. Let the games begin! Nice narration added to the listening experience. Upgraded to 4 from 3.5 stars if half stars were available.

With a two star rating, I shouldn’t have to write too much. This enemies to lovers romance sounded and looked cute but was pretty boring. Gillian and Noah are neighbors in a town inexplicably full of old people. Gillian is a master gardener and devotes every spring to winning the town gardening prize. Noah, through a bizarre encounter with a random townswoman, is forced to compete against Gillian in the competition. His virtue wins out in the end, as the enemies do in fact turn to lovers. I didn’t even catch who won the prize because this book is just silly. The positives I can point out-dual narrators on the audiobook and the female MC is overweight, which brings a body-positive message. There is no 🌶️ in here whatsoever. I was hoping I’d like this book more.