This book is a grumpy x sunshine, enemies to lovers rom com. The two MC’s Gillian and Noah are neighbours.

It was ok, if somewhat predictable. I enjoyed the authors previous book (the rom com agenda) much more. In this book I felt that the MCs were a bit flat. There is chemistry between the two MC’s, but there wasn’t a gradual building of emotional attachment and mutual admiration that I enjoy in rom-coms.

In my opinion, the “old lady gang” who lived in the neighbourhood stole the show! I did appreciate the body positivity in this book, although I feel that the author kind of hit us over the head to make her point. I feel that a more subtle approach would have been more effective in getting her point across.

For me this book as ok, but not great. I enjoyed this authors previous book “the rom com agenda” much more. I will definitely be reading more by this author, but this book was just ok for me.

Thank you to St. Martins Press and Netgalley for providing me with an eARC of this book to read and review.

A rom com with a garden but I'm probably going to be the only one who found Noah immature and, frankly, rude - making him less than the rom com hero I was hoping for. Noah, after a breakup in California, impulsively sold his art gallery in California and bought a marina on the Saint Lawrence, apparently without checking the financials (seriously?). He also bought the house next door to Gillian, the town pharmacist and ace gardener who has been using dating apps. They clash when Noah pulls out the boxwood between their properties and then we're off though the ups and downs of life in a small town, complete with meddling neighbors, bad dates, and a bit of drama. This is meant to be a dual pov book but I never got a good sense of Gillian (who I was appalled by in the first chapter when she did the dance in front of the window- a woman living alone with a new neighbor? I'm not judging her morals just thinking about her safety) and I just didn't like Noah who conveyed much younger than he was meant to be. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. Over to others who might see something I did not.

After a recent break-up Noah West moves from California to Willow Cove, a small upper NY town, where he used to spend his summers. He purchases a local marina where he worked as a teen and his only family in town is his uncle. His next door neighbor is curvy Gillian Pritchard who is a pharmacist. Her garden is her bride and joy and she wants to win the annual garden competition. Their first meeting doesn’t go well when he rips out a hedge on his yard that is part of the yard’s garden design.

The story has cute moments, the gnome, and Gillian's supportive friends. I love the scene with Noah flirting and dancing holding the gnome. The older neighborhood busybodies are sweet but very one note with almost every conversation with Gillian being about her dating life. It is told from duel POV but I didn’t connect much as everything felt very surface level or one dimensional. And having an actually plotting villain makes that part of the plot silly. The story is closed door which is fine but I prefer more build up with more kissing and touches before the door shuts. If you enjoy small town, closed door romances with minimal angst this is entertaining and cute. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC and I am leaving a voluntary review.

Two feuding neighbours in the midst of a small-town gardening competition sounded like all sorts of fun. And it was! But it was nearly halfway in before I felt like the story truly started.

I liked the meet-cute and the initial bickering, but it shifted into a lot of time spent with Gillian going on numerous over-the-top, unbelievably terrible dates. It seemed like an easy means to paint Noah as perfect. The chemistry felt a bit forced because of that.

The latter half is where the story amped up the action and excitement for me. I adored the shady small-town politics and adorable meddling seniors.

A cute read, but unfortunately a very slow start. Though I will say, I was happily surprised by this being a closed-door romance! We don't get enough from publishers.

My thanks for the ARC goes to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press. I'm voluntarily leaving a review.

Genre: Romance, Romcom
Spice Level: Medium (closed door)
Language: Only a few swear words
Representation: Bi side character, Plus-sized main character
Tropes: Grumpy/Sunshine, Enemies to Lovers, Small town romance

The garden gnome is one of my favorite parts in this romance! Just pure funny. (You'll see what I mean when you read this book.)

Gillian and Noah are bound to be enemies when he pulls out the bushes that acted like a backdrop for her garden. And from there, they dig in deeper with garden competition, hating each other, and fighting…BUT then they're exhausted from it, and decide to be frenemies. Some would say frenemies looks more like friends.

I enjoyed the interplay between them, especially as they came to know each other better. First impressions aren't always right. And the more they get to know each other, the more I liked both of them.

This was a fun and breezy read. I recommend it for romance readers.

Happy reading!

Boy meets girl. Boy makes girl mad. Girl refuses to move on past boys blunder. Boy continues to try to make it up to girl. Girl refuses. Eventually things sort themselves out. Mainly because every romance needs an HEA.

Personally I really struggled reading this book. I failed to connect to the main characters and I never really cared if they managed to start a relationship or not.
Their inability to communicate with each other really grew frustrating, especially since they are both old enough to be able to discuss things like adults and have mature conversations. At times these two felt more like 16 years olds. Plus you throw in a cheesy mustache twirling villain (basically an HOA narc) and you have the general gist of the book. Lots of communication errors and when they are talking one of them isn’t hearing the other one out.

I wanted to like this book a lot. I’m always looking for romances that aren’t typical and I figured this would be perfect. Unfortunately I didn’t care for the way the body positivity was handled and as I said before; neither of the main characters held my interest. I wanted a little bit more from both of them.




PS: you can’t make me root for a romance character who leaves behind their child figure 3,000 miles away.


PPS: closed door romance ahead

I am obsessed with Gillian and her garden!! How dare Noah, no matter how charming he is, come in with his construction company manufactured garden like that!

I love to garden so this book automatically appealed to me. Gillian is a divorced pharmacist who loves to garden. Noah moved across the country to get away from his ex. He settles in the same small town where he spent his summers as a teen and buys the marina. He gets into it with Gillian when he decides to rip out the hedge between the properties. Soon their fiery fights turn into steamy banter. As they both work on their gardens for the annual competition.

This was a fun closed door romance and I liked how Gillian was a strong FMC who had to deal with some spectacularly awful dates before warming up to Noah. Her dating escapades led to some great comedic relief. I found that their enemies trope was dragged out a bit to long in the book and we needed a bit more time to see them develop their relationship. The second half hooked me but the first half was a bit slow. Overall a well written book that I did mostly enjoy.

I think there is an audience for this one but sadly, I'm not a part of it.

There was nothing wrong with the book or plot or characters but something about it just didn't click with me. Maybe the grump was just a little too grumpy? There also didn't seem to much of a bridge between hate and love. For enemies to lovers, I need a bit more -something- to believe the transition.

I love a good enemies to lovers book! This one was so cute with the gardening competition.

Gillian and Noah are opposite in every way including their gardens. They decide to fight it out in a gardening competition.

I don't think Enemies to Lovers is the trope for me anymore. I just didn't find the "hate" part to be realistic – you hate a guy because he pulled out a hedge on HIS lawn? And despite all the nice things he did/said you still hated him?? I just don't buy it.

I also didn't love that every. single. conversation. with a side character was about Gillian going on dates. After the second conversation I just started skipping all of those because it was annoying to keep hearing the same thing.

Once Gillian and Noah got together it was fine and the ending wrapped things up nicely. Overall, it wasn't a terrible read – it was quick and easy – but not my fav from the year.

This is a well-written, low-angst, small-town romance featuring nosy neighbours and a gardening competition. It has an enemies-to-lovers vibe founded on a trivial disagreement.

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC I received. This is my honest and voluntary review.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This was a really cute rom-com but it left me wanting more. It was a quick easy read with great characters.

Thank you netgalley for allowing me to read this book.

Hedging Your Bets is an adorable, low -spice romcom for anyone who is a fan of enemies/rivals to lovers and small-town settings! It was a bit slow to get started, but once the interactions between Gillian and Noah began to pick up, I had a lot of fun. Gillian and Noah have nice banter and were easy to root for. I previously read The Rom-Com Agenda by Jayne Denker which introduced many of the characters that were featured in Hedging Your Bets, so it was nice to revisit Willow Cove, as well as see Gillian get her own turn at love.

I will say the animosity between Gillian and Noah didn't feel entirely earned, and the amount of time both characters spent in denial about their feelings felt a little drawn out. However, that didn't keep from enjoying the book and the story, and I will still recommend it to anyone looking for a sweet and easy romcom to read.

Thank you to Netgalley & St. Martin's Press for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review!

This was definitely a sweet and charming book. Definitely closed doors, only kissing, and a VERY SLOW BURN, enemies to lovers and oppositea attract kinda book. And im going to keep this short and sweet because I dont have a lot to say. Oh there’s also small town and duo POV.

There was a weird imaginary friend/vision thing going on with Bette Midler? i mean i guess it could be charming…but not my cup of tea. Regardless, the bones of the story was good! And the ending was sweet, so give it a read if you like small town romances.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

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.

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!