Rom-Com Review

 

I’m not sure which is worse--the lawyer handling my grandmother’s estate or the attack pelican living on the screened-in porch. Just kidding--I’ll take the pelican any day.

After graduation, I thought I’d be off to grad school, doing research on my favorite poet. Instead, I’m renovating my late grandmother’s home and posting about the process on Instagram. Talk about a detour …

But here I am. Turning Gran’s beach house into a bed and breakfast--a process that would be a lot easier if I didn’t have to deal with the grumpy lawyer living next door. It doesn’t help that the night Jake and I met, I got a little tipsy, and he had to carry me back to my hotel.

But the longer I stay on Oakley Island, the more I feel a connection to my childhood and to my grandmother. This isn’t the life I dreamed of, but dreams can change. Especially when new dreams include a future with Jake. On the outside, he might be pricklier than a puffer fish, but I catch glimpses of a delicious, cinnamon roll center.

Did I mention the tattoos he hides underneath those crisp button-down shirts? Yowza.

When I’m suddenly presented with the academic opportunity of my dreams (former dreams?), my picturesque life on Oakley starts to unravel.

A part of me wants to stay. If only a certain tattooed grump didn’t seem so determined to send me away …

Eloise and The Grump Next Door is a grumpy sunshine, closed door romantic comedy. The Oakley Island Romcom series follows three very different sisters as they renovate the house they inherited and find love on the island along the way. Each book will have sizzling chemistry but no spice.

Check it out on Amazon 

Review

First of all, this cover is adorable. And it looks like summer, which I need to last as long as possible. Also, I was curious about one of my favorite rom-com authors, Emma St. Clair, writing with another rom-com author who I really need to read more of, Jenny Proctor. Their authors' notes say they don't even remember who wrote what, and I honestly can't tell either. It kind of weirds me out how two authors could have written this, it was so cohesive.

Anyway, this romance is really enjoyable even though I'm not much into age gaps, but I do love the grumpy/sunshine and the next-door forced proximity. Eloise and Jake especially were fun characters to read as they tried to ignore their chemistry as embarrassing situations keep throwing them back together. And the whole lovable town is hard-core shipping them, too.

I felt for both the characters as they wrestled with their own inner demons, her with insecurity over her youth and him with the ghosts of his childhood coming back to haunt him. Though I was somewhat annoyed with Eloise for thinking things weren't happening because he thought she was young, and not because maybe he's a gentleman or has standards?

Other than that, it was a fun romp and a sweet, summer rom-com perfect for fans of both rom-coms and summer.

 

Note to more sensitive readers: there are strong romantic themes, but it doesn't go past making out.

Check it out on Goodreads