14 Grumpy/Sunshine Romance Books to Make Your Day

After Savannah discovers that her husband has been cheating on her, she gets all her ducks in a row to be able to support herself after she serves him divorce papers. The first step? Get a job. She hasn’t worked in over a decade, but that makes her perfect for assisting grumpy business owner Taurus. No matter how much he tries, she won’t let him get her down. 

So. You know The Sound of Music? You know the personalities of Captain Von Trapp and Fraulein Maria?

That’s this book. But with ducks.

Ben is a vicar who isn’t necessarily hired to take care of the kids at the estate up the hill, but somebody has to corral the hooligans that are driving away their caretakers. So he does that, until their widowed father returns from being at sea. And then…well. You know the story. Minus the Nazis. 

Maybell is…a dreamer. Literally. When we first meet her, she’s living in her daydreams, building her own coffee shop AU. But when she inherits land and property from a relative, reality comes crashing straight down. It doesn’t help that her inheritance isn’t just hers; she has to share it with the estate’s groundskeeper, Wesley. He’s reserved to a fault, and very much has A Way To Do Things. But if they want to be able to move forward, they’re going to have to figure out how to get along. 

Mika loves making videos on social media, where she pretends to be a non-witch being a witch. But she actually is a witch, and she is down on her luck. When she gets a mysterious invite to care for and teach a group of young witches at a remote estate, she isn’t certain what to think, but takes the job. And then she meets the surly librarian who doesn’t trust outsiders. 

There are doctors like Sebastian, and there are doctors like Sara. They don’t get along, and that leads to consequences neither of them expected. When an incident at their hospital leads to them having to see each other even more regularly in counseling…and reluctantly learning more about each other and what they want. 

Grayson and Amelia couldn’t be more different. She is a little flighty, and uncertain about many things. He knows exactly what he wants, and can be exacting in his quest to get it. When he seeks her out to come work for him on his telegraph, she can’t help but say yes. And as they learn to understand each other, nothing will be the same for them. 

Joy is the epitome of her name. She finds joy in everything and is a joy to be around. Then she ends up on a long weekend vacation with her BFF (who she is secretly in love with), BFF’s new hopefully-girlfriend, and hopefully-girlfriend’s BFF — the last of whom is the grumpy one. Fox knows that there are multiple reasons for him to be on this trip with three other people, but he would love to just…not be. Unfortunately, Joy is there to wear him down — and convince him to pretend they’re becoming an item to make Malcolm realize the one for him has been right there all along. 

Charlie is more quiet than grumpy, but the dynamic between him and his new fellow pitcher, Reed, is a close variant. Charlie doesn’t know how to tell people that he’s getting a divorce. In the meantime, there is a very not-quiet relief pitcher who needs a place to stay and a friend. The two become fast buds and also other things that surprise them. 

When Garrett arrives in Wyoming, there’s snow falling and even more on the ground. If it weren’t for Spring, he might not have made it anywhere near his destination. The grumpy, fascinating woman, who wears trousers and owns her own ranch, allows him to convalesce at her home while he waits for her brother, doctor Colton Lee, to come back to town, but there are a lot of things that could get in the way of his recovery…including Spring herself. 

Lucy Parker has a few great Grumpy/Sunshine pairings, but Battle Royal stands out. Sylvie was kicked off of the popular baking competition show where Dominic is a judge after a minor incident with a flying unicorn cake. Now, that same show has invited her to be a guest judge, on top of her regular duties as the owner of a bakery…right across the street from Dominic’s own shop. And when they discover that there’s going to be a royal wedding, they’re both ready to get the commission. (It sounds like there’s a lot going on, but it actually reads pretty seamlessly.)

When Hollyn’s work reviewing entertainment blows up to the point that her bosses want her to start making videos, her social anxiety goes into overdrive. She has Tourette Syndrome, which causes her to have visible tics that she is incredibly self conscious about. But if she doesn’t go in front of the camera, she loses her job. Luckily Jasper, who is excellent at improv, is there to help her. 

This is the second in Denise Williams’s connected novella trilogy, featuring two academics who spend quite the layover together. Months later, they discover that not only will they be working together, but they’ve had a rivalry for ages before. Still, a call to work together on a long-term college tour means they have to figure out how to get along. 

When you hear that a book is about a honey badger shifter and a bear shifter, you think you know which one is going to be the grumpy one.

You would be wrong.

Grizzly shifter Berg is a sweetheart. Charlie is…an unholy terror, to put it lightly. She will do anything for her family, including blow shit up at the drop of a hat. It also includes accepting help from someone nowhere near as feral as she can get, all to ensure the safety of people she loves more than anything else in the world. 

Mercy is a maid working for Eliza Hamilton, helping her to organize the stories she’s collecting from soldiers who fought and otherwise worked with her late husband during the Revolution and establishment of the country. She is prepared for almost anything — except Andromeda, who comes to New York in her grandfather’s stead. The woman is everything Mercy isn’t, and the two of them have to overcome more than expected to try for love.

(If you want more of a growly type of grump from Alyssa Cole, check out A Duke By Default.)