A review by romancingthereader
The Grump Next Door by Brighton Walsh

reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Whew, it's great to be reading Brighton Walsh again. I was sold on this before it even had a title, and let me tell you why.

📕 𝗕𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗜𝗻𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: The Grump Next Door by Brighton Walsh

📙 𝗦𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀: The Steele Brothers of Starlight Cove character series. Book 1.

📗 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗗𝗲𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘀: E-book ARC on Kindle.  🆓️ on KU.

📘 𝗚𝗲𝗻𝗿𝗲: Small town romance

📔 𝗧𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗲𝘀: Sports romance (football), single mom, found family, grumpy/sunshine, toys as teammates, brat tamer.

 📖 𝗦𝘆𝗻𝗼𝗽𝘀𝗶𝘀: Atlas and Sutton share one incredible hour together. The next day, she's showing up on his doorstep with her teenage daughter, ready to rent his guest cottage. The grumpy football coach wants nothing to do with the women next door - except all he does is worry about their safety and happiness.

🌟 𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄: I feel like when I first started reading Brighton Walsh, I called her writing small town on sexy steroids. And I stand by that.

This is the start of a new series, but in so many ways, she nailed what she is good at - writing two characters with tension and chemistry that jumps right off the page. Her last series was also based in Starlight Cove, and it was nice to be in semi-familiar territory but with a completely different set of main characters. I loved the setup of four brothers - each of them was so well developed in book 1 that I know I am sticking around for the long haul.

You don't often see really well written teenage daughters, and I loved that aspect of this book too. Laurel was a funny addition, and also brought out a side of Atlas I loved. I enjoyed how he ONLY thawed to Sutton and her daughter, not another soul around him. 

The spice in this book is over the top good. It's the kind of stuff I imagine blushing about if I ever read out loud. Not in practice, if you get my drift, but in the tone and the talk - it definitely stands out. I won't lie - I am QUICK to apply for her ARCs because I am obsessed with getting my hands on anything she writes.

 𝗥𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴: 5/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 

 𝗦𝗽𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝗟𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹: 4/5 🌶🌶🌶🌶 

 𝑰 𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒆𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒏 𝑨𝑹𝑪 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒃𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒊𝒏 𝒆𝒙𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒂𝒏 𝒉𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒓𝒆𝒗𝒊𝒆𝒘.