"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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#bookstagram #booksta #books #booksbooksbooks #avidreader #ilovereading #thetwistedlibrarian #professionalbookworm #whatsnikkireading #book4of2023 #hedgingyourbets #jaynedenker #willowcoveseries #enemiestolovers #oppositesattract #foundfamily #noseyneighbors #gardeningcompetition #stmartinspress #netgally

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!

3/5 Stars

I had a fun time with this read, I will admit that the first 15 ish % was a bit rough for me and didn't keep my interest. Gillian felt relatable and I could see similarities in her thoughts on online dating and dating apps. However, most of my dislike came from all the talk about weight. Gillian is written to be "curvy", it's even brought but that men look at her because they are "chubby chasers". Nowhere in this book does it tell us what that looks like, the description of her was so general it's not even funny. This is a repeated topic in the book. While I understood some of the feelings here as I am plus-sized, I just think it was used to much. I did like her and Noah's relationship, it was cute but could've used more angst. Overall It was a fun time and I would recommend giving it a read but just keep realistic expectations.

Another very cute and sweet title from Jayne Denker - I really enjoyed The Rom-Com Agenda last year and would definitely highly recommend anyone who also enjoyed that to pick up this one as well! Anyone unsure, this is one to not miss out on.

An excellent rivalry of neighbors who are hate at first meeting because of a total misunderstanding, but come to an eventual understanding and before long, actually enjoy each other’s company. That is… until they get pitted against each other in the local gardening competition, amongst other things happening around the neighborhood…

A good time had and I would certainly recommend to all.

I received an advance copy from NetGalley, St. Martin's Press (St. Martin's Griffin), and this is my honest feedback.

This was a cute story, but it wasn't for me personally I don't think I'm the right target audience for this book.
Although I couldn't necessarily relate to the characters, I did find it an easy and entertaining read.

Thank you Netgalley for approving this Arc.

Happy publication day!!! I read Jayne Denker’s book Rom-Com Agenda as an ARC last year and fell in LOVE with her style of writing and the characters. Lucky for me, I got Hedging Your Bets as an ARC and BOY was I pleasantly surprised to realize the female main character was my favorite side character from Rom-Com Agenda!!

Gillian is a plus sized, strong lead character, but has the same insecurities I’ve dealt with as a woman in a bigger body too. I could really relate to her and loved seeing her grow!

Noah is a lovely male lead and I can’t complain about their banter! I just adored everything about this couple!

If you plan to read this (which you should!), make sure to read Rom-Com Agenda first!! You won’t regret it!

This book was cute, but a bit blah. The main characters had good chemistry, but they were so uninteresting alone. It almost felt like something was missing, or that the author was hinting at some underlying issues but didn't feel confident in writing about them.

For example, there are several lines that hint at the MMC having ADHD or something similar, but nothing ever comes of it - just a few off-hand comments about his inability to focus. And the FMC has dealt all her life with prejudice about her body size - even going so far as to having the 'villain' of the story actively hate her due to her 'developing' at 15. To be honest, I 'developed' at 9/10 so I fail to see it happening later as being a reason for a grown woman to hate on a teenage girl, but I digress.

I think the story would have benefitted by delving deeper into either aspect, and how it affects their relationship - because both clearly did. Instead it focused more on the garden contest - and not even in a metaphorical way, although it really did try.

The story had lots of potential; it just failed to hit the mark. That being said, I did enjoy the side characters very much, and thought the descriptions of the FMC's many blind dates to be amusing. For those two reasons I am giving this book three stars instead of the two I think it really deserves.

Enjoyable enemies to lovers romance placed in small town scenery.

I read a lot of romances so after reading the blurb, I've expected a litte different story. In general I enjoyed it but something was missing to me. Plot twist and story line was well thought but, I couldn't dive in, the book sucked me in very late - maybe around 60%. There were push and pull between main characters, BUT smth was missing.
Author created great tension between them, but I really needed a little more spice to feel emotions bewteen Gillian and Noah.

Jayne Denker’s Hedging Your Bets is a cute enough Enemies-to-Lovers romcom centered around feuding neighbors whose competitive sides come out during a gardening contest. It’s a decent story and Gillian and Noah are both likable but I actually waited several days before deciding how to rate this one. The issue is that over the last week or so I read a couple of other romcoms featuring the same trope which I enjoyed more and didn’t want to make a snap judgement, directly comparing it to those other reads. So after sitting with this one for a few days now I do think this one is better than average so I’m hitting it with 4 stars. I’d like to thank St. Martin's Press, St. Martin's Griffin, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review an eARC of Hedging Your Bets.

https://www.amazon.com/review/RSAUPX50FKIR4/ref=pe_1098610_137716200_cm_rv_eml_rv0_rv

This one was a bit too slow paced for me.

It’s marketed as an enemies to lovers rom com, but we don’t get to the actual romance until we are more than 3/4 through the book.

The feuding went on for far too long, and it felt filled in by Gillian’s dates that didn’t really add to the story as a whole.

I did enjoy the characters and their stories, but I think it could have focused on the gardening and their bonding over that instead of the awkward spats that they would have.