Hedging Your Bets

October 1, 2023

Noah West has fled to Willow Cove, NY, taking a risk to jump-start his life after everything he loved disappeared. His ill-considered choices, however, have made him vulnerable to an extortion scheme by a tax collector and head of the gardening club: make a garden that can defeat his annoying neighbor, Gillian Pritchard, in the annual gardening contest, or face financial ruin. Since Noah and Gillian didn't get off to the best of starts, it seems like his best, and only, solution. Gillian has perfected every bed, trimmed every tree, and artfully arranged every decoration and is also determined to take the top prize. She starts to second-guess her thoughts about her neighbor, though, after he rescues her from multiple bad dates. When Noah comes clean about the situation he's in, they both have to put their heads, hearts, and gardening gloves together to beat the gardening-club chair at her own game. VERDICT Denker returns to cozy Willow Cove (after The Rom-Com Agenda) with a fun take on small-town enemies-to-lovers romance.--Kellie Tilton

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November 6, 2023
Contentious neighbors find unexpected romance in this fun enemies-to-lovers contemporary from Denker (The Rom-Com Agenda). Gillian Pritchard has enjoyed “years of blessed solitude” since her divorce, loving her life in the comfortable and cozy town of Willow Cove, Ontario, where she cultivates a flourishing flower garden. Her few attempts at dating have gone poorly, however, bringing up insecurities about her weight and desirability exacerbated by her fat-shaming ex-husband. On the bright side, she feels this will be her year to place first in the annual community gardening competition—until Noah West moves in next door and starts pulling up the hedge separating their properties. Sexy Noah has returned to his family’s summer vacation town for a fresh start after a failed relationship. He and Gillian are immediately attracted to each other, but awkward encounters and misunderstandings leave them on the wrong foot. When Noah enters the gardening competition, Gillian fumes. As the competition heats up, however, these two realize they have more in common than either would like to think. The small-town drama is juicy and the couple’s chemistry is palpable throughout. These two are great together. Agent: Jordy Albert, Booker Albert Agency.

November 1, 2023
To Gillian, there is nothing more fun in a serious way than the yearly Willow Cove gardening competition. She's spent years since her divorce cultivating her garden in her spare time between online dating and working at the pharmacy. However, when new neighbor Noah buys the house next door as-is and immediately starts ripping up the hedge that's technically on his property, angry sparks fly. Noah is getting over a bad breakup and is hoping a new town and his newly purchased boating company will be a great change for him. However, the company is in more financial trouble than was originally believed, and now the only way to keep his new business afloat is to win the gardening competition. Denker's cast of lovable characters as well as Noah's adorable bumbling around curvy Gillian will delight fans of gardening and small-town romances.

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