I have mix feelings for this book; I went for the cover and I ended up looking like a clown. Gillian is plus-size, loved her personality, but I don't think she ended up lovong herself at all by the end of the book. There was banter between her and Noah about their gardening contest. It became annoying at some point. Hedging your Bets is a closed door story, and I love those, but didn't give me any feelings of chemistry between Noah and Gillian, nada, zero. The narration was wonderful, not complain in that department.

What a charming and funny story! I thoroughly enjoyed Jayne Denker's adorable romance, Hedging Your Bets. This one had me chuckling from the very start... when Noah pulls out Gillian's "hedges" lol, gah, too cute.

The audio version of Hedging Your Bets is nicely performed by Katelyn Levering and Nick Mondelli. Their voices add great depth to these characters and really fit the lighthearted humorous tone of the story.

This is a cute rom com. I found some of the dialogue unrealistic, and the MMC was a bit insufferable at times but it would be great if you need a quick palate cleanser. Also I major plus was the plus size representation

“𝚆𝚑𝚎𝚗 𝚜𝚖𝚊𝚕𝚕-𝚝𝚘𝚠𝚗 𝚗𝚎𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚋𝚘𝚛𝚜 𝚐𝚘 𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚍-𝚝𝚘-𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚍, 𝚋𝚎𝚝𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚛𝚝 𝙷𝚎𝚍𝚐𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚈𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝙱𝚎𝚝𝚜.”

💛💛💛 / 5

🌶️ / 5

»»————-✼————-««

Review:
A huge thank you to NetGally, the author and the publisher for #gifting me an ALC copy of this beautiful romcom!

I loved this fun filled romcom! Who doesn’t love a small town, enemies to lovers, neighbour wars with a gardening competition? No one that’s who! If you don’t you should go read one now, you’ll feel 1000x better after I can almost guarantee!

I’ve never read anything by Jayne Denker before but this was a great first read and I’m hoping to go back and read more from her, especially books set in the same town as Hedging Your Bets! I love that it’s an interconnected standalone and we get to read the stories of Gillian’s other friends!

I really enjoyed the banter and tension between Gillian and Noah. I liked the slow burn, but didn’t realise until it happened that this was a closed door romance, nothing wrong with that, but I was coming of the back of several spicy reads so was a wasn’t what I was expecting!

I liked that we had some plus sized rep, I was a bit put off by all the fat shaming, like seriously this poor woman can’t even work without customers or patients side eyeing her and calling her unhealthy. The head judge of the gardening competition has a vendetta against her primarily due to her appearances. All of her dating app dates comment on it as well, some try to make their comments sound positive but really they’re just rude shits who need to jump off the marina.

Audiobooks are easy for me to listen to and digest, I find it much easier to concentrate to and I don’t find myself skimming to speach (I mean obviously I can’t anyway but I don’t feel the need to!), I think I like the fact I can do other tasks at the same time! Anyway I don’t have any of my usual complaints about there not being enough speech😅

Anyway cute cosy romcom! Definitely and easy read and the audiobook was an enjoyable listen!

For lovers of:
- Plus Sized FMC
- Enemies to Lovers
- Small Town Romance
- Gardening Competition
- Neighbour Wars
- Gnomes

Heading Your Bets
Jayne Denker

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4/5 book
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 5/5 audio

I absolutely love a good clean romcom, this was one of them. Enemies to lovers, nosy neighbors, witty banter, and quirky characters, what’s not to love.

The main characters, Noah, and Gillian, they were great together once they got past all their groveling. Gillian has dumb luck with love, and Noah was cautiously protective of her. I loved the garden gnome. This book was funny, but it had some deep moments as well. The characters were real with each other, and I appreciated that.

The narrators brought the characters to life. I loved hearing their banter. It was incredibly believable. Fantastic job, I would definitely listen to anything by these two again.

The story was good. The premise was fun and enjoyable to read. However, I found the characters to be a little all over the place. At times the came across as petulant and immature and the amount of miscommunication was frustrating to read. That said, their playful sides and when they got together the characters seemed to miraculously be well developed.

The side characters were an excellent balance to the main characters. They brought the perfect level of comedic relief with good timing.

The pacing of the narration was good, however there were inconsistencies in accents. Sometimes there was a slight accent, sometimes there wasn't.

On paper I should have loved this book, but unfortunately I could not connect with the characters.

Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Hedging Your Bets is a clean, enemies to lovers rom com that takes place in a small town featuring a plus sized female lead. While the book featured quirky characters in a small town setting, the setting felt like it was written by a person who hasn't lived in a small town and based her setting off of media stereotypes. I also felt like the characters lacked depth. So much of Gillian seemed to focus on her being "overweight." I believe in representation but this just didn't feel well done. Again, it seemed as though the book was written by someone who is not overweight. Or perhaps it is just that myself and the author have had very different life experiences. However, I can definitely say that the author doesn't garden because I can guaruntee that any dedicated, hardcore garden like Gillian was supposed to be would most certainly have dirt under her nails during gardening season! Perhaps the author was inauthentic or perhaps I just couldn't relate to our main character despite being a plus sized gardener who lives in a small town.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the Audiobook ARC!

Overall, this was a super cute romance that left out all spice whatsoever. A mild 'enemies to lovers' type story of neighbors who grate against each other at first but learn that they have a heck of a spark.
It was fun to listen to while I ran errands and took care of chores around the house, nothing offensive or an issue. A fade to black intimate scene after basically one or two kiss descriptions.
However, this was *just* cute and wouldn't be a book that I would return to for a multiple read (or listen). Not much depth or interest to revisit the world with different characters.

After moving back to his hometown, Noah takes on a new business and unexpectedly finds himself competing in a gardening competition. He quickly becomes an adversary to his neighbour Jillian, a recently divorced pharmacist trying to navigate the hazardous world of online dating. Sparks fly in this light, small town romance.

I found Noah and Jillian’s relationship so refreshing. They felt more mature, and the development of their relationship and the way they communicated felt authentic. While the story could have easily leant into well worn tropes, subplots relating to both Noah and Jillian’s personal and professional growth, and their other relationships felt reflectively crafted by the author. I was surprised to find myself invested in the gardening competition!

I’m so glad I enjoyed this as an audiobook. The dual narration added depth to the story, and the narrators brought banter and wit of the main characters (and the meddling older ladies and friends) to life.

Thank you Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed are my own.

i loved this book, it was so cute and fun. It could have maybe been a little faster paced but overall the storyline made up for it. The characters were all so fun and i loved all the drama.

🪻💐🪴Hedging Your Bets💐🪴🪻
If you’re looking for a light, heartwarming, comfort read, then you’ll enjoy Hedging Your Bets.
✨Absolutely adorable Romcom
✨Meddling Elderly Neighbors
✨Dual POV
✨Enemies to Lovers/Rival Garden Club ✨Neighbors
✨Fantastic Narrators
✨Charming Small Town
✨Nature/Gardening
✨Closed Door
✨Grumpy/Sunshine/Opposites Attract
Cons: Could be realllllly slow in places. But, that makes it great for a before bed wind down listen.

⭐️Disclaimer: I received this book as an arc. All opinions are my own. Thank You NetGalley & Dreamscape for a chance to read this book.⭐️

This is a cute, fun, closed door romance. The story starts out a little slow, but picks up in the second half. I enjoyed the dual POV. I always enjoy that added insight into both characters. I will say the story didn’t feel new or different to me. It felt very similar to another romance with feuding neighbors as the main part of the plot.

The narration was engaging. I liked that the book is narrated by two separate people. I felt the voices matched the characters well.

Overall, it’s a cute story for those that enjoy a closed door enemies to lovers romance.

Maybe in the 3.5 star range?

I received an advanced listener copy of this and I appreciate that so much. These are my honest thoughts:

I enjoyed the story. It was cute and had a good plus-sized rep. I liked Noah. I loved the neighbors turned enemies turned friends turned lovers. Listening on the audio, there were a LOT of names and characters (I know nothing about this universe but I'm guessing we see glimpses of past couples?). I couldn't keep their names straight. Same with the nosey neighborhood ladies and the people on the garden contest board and family and date names and, and, and, etc. Might have enjoyed it more if I read it with my eyeballs, but it was long even on audio.

Both audio narrators were solid. The closed-door story was good. The garden competition and gnome were fun parts of the story. Liked, but didn't love. Solid 3.5 star read.

Cute story, will probably add this to my library’s collection, most likely digitally. The characters did change their opinions of each other rather suddenly, but that is expected.

I received this audio book as an ARC. While it’s not something I would normally read, it was very cute. The characters are charming and it is a typical chic-lit story. I could see myself listening to it on vacation as it’s easy and fun.

3.5 stars rounded to 4 for the sake of this rating system

This book had such great potential but it ended up falling a little flat for me. I was excited for the enemies-to-lovers trope that ended up only existing for a few pages before the MMC decided to grovel to a grudge-holding FMC. I listened to the audiobook and the narrators were good, at least.

The Pros:
• I loved the gardening aspect b/c I love gardening lol

The Cons:
• The MMC was kind of weird and all over the place
• The old ladies were annoying
• The FMC's friends were annoying
• Small-town aspect was *too* small

Thank you to @netgalley and @Stmartinspress for a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. Thank you to @dreamscape_media for a free download of the audiobook.

I wanted to love this enemies to lovers romance, but in the end, it was just fine. The writing was good, but the storyline just seemed bland to me. The book was still cute and I would recommend it to people who prefer a mild spice read.

3 stars

#books #bookishlife #booklover #readingisfun #iowabookstagrammers #iowabookstagram #netgalley #stmartinspress #dreamscapemedia #ltbreaderteam #smpinfluencers

This was such a weird and quirky story. Never have I read a book where a garden competition is the center of the drama. It was a quick read/listen, and was really fun.

I received an advance copy. All thoughts are my own.

Enjoyable. Cute and fun story. Great characters. Really liked Gillian and Noah both on their own and as love interests. Narrators suited the characters.

Thank you NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the arc.