This book made me a proud fan of the grumpy x sunshine trope! Engaging characters and heartwarming moments made it a delightful read, even without spice. Summer's determination to make Nathan smile added depth, and their interactions were pure gold. Nervous about her new job, Summer agrees to be Nathan's fake girlfriend for PR reasons, hoping to connect with him. Nathan, drawn to her warmth despite his past, begins to question his reservations about relationships. This light, enjoyable read left me smiling.

Grumpy x Sunshine will always be my fave!

Really enjoyed this cute easy read,

Tropes: forced proximity
Grumpy x sunshine
Fake dating
Thank you so much net galley for the arc!

Grumpy hockey players?!?! Sign me up!! I really enjoyed everything about this book, as an avid hockey romance reader, there wasn’t much that made romancing the grump stand out from the rest of them. However it was still enjoyable!

This book was an absolute delight—light-hearted, entertaining, and filled with just the right mix of drama and fun to keep me hooked from start to finish. Even though I didn't realize it was part of a series when I picked it up, it works perfectly well as a standalone. There are no major spoilers, so you can easily go back and enjoy the earlier books if you get attached to the couples.

The pacing of the story is spot-on, keeping you engaged without feeling rushed. The characters are well-developed and relatable, each bringing something unique to the narrative. Their interactions are charming and often humorous, making the book a joy to read.

Overall, this book strikes a wonderful balance between heartwarming moments and playful drama. If you're looking for a feel-good read that will leave you with a smile, this one is definitely worth picking up. I can't wait to dive into the rest of the series and see what other adventures await!

I received an arc of this book in exchange for an honest review

2.5/5 ⭐️
0/5 🌶️

this book was okay. i didn’t completely hate it but it felt like a 200 page book you find in a little free library that you pick up just cause it was free.

i did like the characters, i just feel like we were missing major character development and a genuine connection between them. like where did the love and romance come in? it felt like 2 platonic friends who had a love confession at the end.

it would have been nice if once nathan started accepting his feelings, we got more tension buildup between them until it finally snapped.

i think it needed to be longer. both the story and the characters needed more depth. i just didn’t feel emotionally invested at any point.

the dialogue was decent and i liked the premise of the story!

Overall, I enjoyed this book. I would definitely recommend it especially to my hockey romance girls. It definitely had some background stories going on which were interesting but I felt were a little dragged out to be honest. It was entertaining but felt like I was playing trope bingo, I love a lot of different tropes but sometimes it can be too much to try to hit each one. What really kept my attention were the characters. I loved them all! I kind of felt like I was missing parts of the backstory, but then I realized it was because I was! While not necessary, they should be read in order because of the mild spoilers. I enjoyed the dual POV because if not how would we know anything about Nathan! He didn't give much information in the dialog his POV was needed and I think well done. It was a bit long, but it was definitely a sweet ride.

Spoilers Review Below:
I felt like I trope baited, "Romancing the Grump" definitely felt like I was going into a Enemies-to-Lovers trope, which we got in Chapter 1, but never again. It was more of a "Omg he hates me" and "Omg she thinks I hate her but I just don't know how to use words" The ML was quiet and protective but not mean at all, yeah the first encounter was leading us to believe this would be their relationship but It was more of a Friends-to-lovers than anything else. I mentioned it being a trope bingo, and 100% stand by it, it almost ruined the story for me but if I ignore that aspect I enjoyed everything else, other than the half baked plot points. Would I call it cozy? No, it was too long to many extra plots to be cozy. Would I call it sweet? Yes, which is great because we don't have many of those. I'm happy I read it, and I might explore the other couples because they almost all seemed like main characters.

Thank You, NetGalley and Victory Editing NetGalley co-op for allowing me to review this ARC.

Please note, this is posted to Goodreads and Amazon.

YES YES YESSSSSS. 10/10 ⭐️ stars. Jenny Proctor will forever be one of my favorite authors. This book had me blushing and kicking my feet. There’s just something about a grumpy hockey player that has me in a chokehold. 😩 SO GOOD. Nathan and Summer have my heart and I love them so much.

Summer is leaving a less than ideal work situation to step into a whole new world as the in-house legal counsel for Tik Tok famous Appies hockey team.

Nathan is known as the broody member of the Appies. And he has gained quite the fan following, some even want to take it too far to #TameTheBroodingBeast.

So to protect Nathan from these feral women, the Appies social media manager suggests Summer pose as his girlfriend. After all, they obviously have great chemistry.

Summer starts to fall for Nathan for real, but Nathan has his walls up for reasons he'd rather not hash out. Can Summer get past his gruff exterior and uncover his soft side?
_____

I love Nathan and Summer. I adore when characters are upfront about who they are and what they want in a relationship and Summer is so forward and I love especially seeing a female main character being so clear in how she communicates.

Nathan is a complex character, but I love when love makes a grump turn into a bit of a marshmallow.

One thing I continue to love in this series is the comradery. In this book in particular we get the friendships of the players, the connections the hockey girlfriends/wives have, and we even get a glimpse at the brotherhood of the Hawthornes from Jenny's previous series.

If you haven't read a Jenny Proctor book yet, jump in here and then you will definitely want to go back and read more!
_____
This is a closed door, kisses only rom com. It is part of a series but can be read as a stand alone.

📙Available on Kindle Unlimited

Thanks to the author for the gifted book. A favorable review was not required, all opinions are my own.

I loved the narrative of this story. Instead of a woman searching for anyone to love her; she LOUDLY shows she WANTS to love HIM. Idk the switch up worked for me and I ate this book up so fast. goodbye slump and thank you Jenny!!!

This one is a grumpy/sunshine trope and I loved how the writer dragged it out! It's not my preferred trope but I still somehow read multiple books with that trope.

I just adored everything about Nathan and summer. Their banter was top notch! I was gigging and kicking my feet. There were multiple kind and delicate moments woven all over also that just had me adoring these two even more.

Content: clean, drinking/alcohol. Some kissing, I'd say a teenager could read this.

All in all it was cute, but not big on closed door.
I received my copy from the publisher/author, JPC releasing, via NetGalley.

This was sweet but I didn’t feel like I truly got to know the characters well enough to be able to root for them. I liked the dual point of view and use of their text messages to drive the plot. It was nice to see the Hawthornes again though.

I’ve recently become addicted to hockey romances and this book is no exception! I found the closed door aspect very refreshing as in a lot of hockey romances I’ve read I’ve found the spice has overtaken the actual storyline. This book gave me all the warm and fuzzies and I cannot wait to read more by this author!

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author Jenny Proctor for letting me read as well as review this advanced copy of Romancing The Grump.

"He’s a grump and happy to stay that way. But can her sunshine melt the ice around his heart?"

Romancing The Grump by Jenny Proctor is a four star hockey romance that releases to the public on Tuesday April 23rd 2024. This novel is the second book in the standalone interconnected Appies hockey romance series. Truthfully this is the first book I have read by this author and I absolutely loved every second of this book. The book follows the romance story of the main characters Summer and Nathan. They had me rooting for them throughout the whole book, in addition to giving me all the feels. Summer is sassy, a ray of sunshine, supportive and all around lovable. Compared to Nathan who is known for displaying a grouchy side of himself but secretly has a nice/ wonderful personality. Through and through I am a hockey romance girly to my core so I 100% loved this book. They had great tropes throughout the books, which are:
- Grumpy/ Sunshine
-Secret Golden retriever
-Hockey Romance
-Romance

This was such a fun book! As someone who loves ice hockey and romance I’ve been loving the increase in these types of books recently. The main characters of this was so sweet and likable and I was rooting for them the whole way. I think there’s lots of grumpy meets sunshine books out there and I do find them quite repetitive but there was something different about this. The way that they interact of each other was never in a demeaning or nasty way and I think this helped The romance bloom.

This boy ok was so great! I loved the character development, the pop culture references, and the romance! It was such a fun read and definitely got me hooked on hockey romances and Jenny Proctor!

Great Sports Romance book which had a happy ending . i recieved this as a arc from netgalley and it was great , one of the best books i read so far this year .

I liked ROMANCING THE GRUMP but didn't love it. I loved the grumpy x sunshine trope - Nathan was the perfect grump!

I enjoyed the little glimpses of kindness that Nathan showed Summer and could totally see how she fell in love with him. I struggled with the second hard more because Summer started to seem a little desperate, and I got sick of Nathan's continued reminders that it was fake.

I also liked that there was no 3rd act break up - a refreshing twist!

Overall a good romantic comedy that is easy to read

Thanks to NetGalley and JPC Publishing for the ARC! Opinions are my own

I loved this book so much! Nathan and summer were so perfect for each other. I love a good grump and nathan didnt let me down. This was so heartwarming and romantic. loved it.

Thank you Netgalley for allowing me to read and review this book. These opinions are completely my own.

Another goal for Appies creator Jenny Proctor. I adore this series and how wonderfully she has managed to give each character a unique character that makes us love them. I'm always happy to see a new novel

This book was so freaking cute not going to lie. I loved the chase and avoid between then two main characters. I don't think I will ever read a book where there is fake dating involved and will not like it. Loved it here although the fake part wasn't so fake from the beginning. They were both attracted and interested in one another but they were just fighting it off due to personal reasons. The writing was well done and it felt really easy to read and it was pretty slow burning in the way that you want to see how they will end up together. I also liked how we (very unusually) stopped the 3rd act breakup which was refreshing since that is mostly caused by miscommunication and both characters in this book, thankfully, knew how to communicate!

I am deducting half a star for the epilogue-it felt really rushed and made the main character look a little pushy- and another half a star for it having absolutely zero spice and because I think I prefer when the chasing is mostly done by the mmc instead of the fmc but both of these are clearly personal preference so ignore it if you're looking for what this book promises.

I received an ARC from netgalley in exchange of an honest review. Thank you so much to Jenny Proctor, NetGalley, and JPC Publishing for the gifted copy !