nuggetsreads 's review for:

The Grump Next Door by Brighton Walsh

3.5

emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

---

This is one of those books that can actually be described really well in tropes, and usually that would be a bad thing for me, but Brighton Walsh somehow made it work. So, here are the tropes:

-          One Night Stand

-          Single Mom

-          Grumpy x Sunshine

-          Forced Proximity (He turns out to be her landlord)

-          Fake Dating

-          Small-Town Shenanigans (festivals galore)

-          FMC has a stalker (mild)

This book was tropey, but the tropes fit into the story well. Instead of writing a story around the tropes, it felt like they just fell into the story as tools rather than crutches.

The pacing was good, with nothing feeling too rushed or too dragged out. There was insta-lust, but that was quelled once they actually met in the daylight and Atlas proved to be that classically grumpy-for-no-reason MMC. While it did annoy me that he was being unnecessarily mean, I liked that Sutton matched his energy and we got very clear explanations of why he built his walls so high.

The supporting characters were really great, especially Atlas’ mom and Sutton’s teenage daughter. Sutton and her daughter, Laurel, definitely had a Lorelai/Rori thing going on, which only bothered me when it seemed like they were too friendly instead of having a parent/child relationship. There were multiple times where Sutton went to Laurel for relationship advice and Laurel seemed more mature than her. While that might make sense if they were completely alone in the new town, it didn’t make much sense here because Sutton had an adult female friend in town that she could have leaned on instead.

That being said, I really liked the overall dynamic between Sutton, Atlas, and Laurel. Watching them grow into a little family unit was super sweet, and Laurel and Atlas’ relationship always made me laugh.

If you’re a fan of Brighton Walsh’s Starlight Cove series, you’ll probably really like this, as it takes place in the same small town and follows different family of brothers. Overall, a fun read.

ARC provided by The Smuthood PR.