Trope Rec Tuesday: She’s Grumpy, He’s Sweet

Trope Rec Tuesday: She's Grumpy, He's Sweet
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To explain a little about what this post will be about, every Trope Tuesday post starts with the same introduction. In every romance book you read there are tropes or archetypes you find inside its pages. You can also see them in shows, movies, plays, etc. Every type of entertainment and media. Romantic tropes are everywhere, and they are fabulous. I adore them and I always tend to find my favorite ones in romance books so I can enjoy them even more. Trope Tuesday is a weekly column where I share books that I know people will enjoy with a specific central trope.

What is a trope? Urban Dictionary explains it best: “​Despite the erroneous definitions already published here, ​trope on ​the interwebs really refers to an often overused ​plot device​. It can also be described as another variation on the same theme. TV shows, movies, comics, games, anime’, & books are full of tropes & many rabid fan-sites now name & track said tropes with a self-explanatory title for each one.” We can name a few: accidental pregnancy, best friends to lovers, sibling’s best friend, marriage of convenience, and so many more. Your favorite couples? They probably got a trope too! It’s always so nice to realize or find out your favorite romance trope and keep searching for books with the same theme. So really? I’m just helping you find that new favorite book of yours. If ever you want a post on a trope I haven’t done yet, do drop me a tweet at @thebookvoyagers and let me know!

I know, I know. I’ve already written a Trope Tuesday article with the grumpy/sunshine trope. But I am 100% sure that they all feature couples where the hero is the grumpy one while the heroine is the sunshine one. It’s very common for this trope to be this way. I think people find it very cute that the heroine is going to melt the hero’s heart and be the only one who makes him smile. 

But this time around, I’m mixing it up and actually giving you romance books that have a GRUMPY heroine and the SUNSHINE boy who falls for her. Let’s find the heroines who respond with one-word sentences and are cold as ice. Let’s find the heroes who can’t help but resemble overly energetic Golden Retrievers, alright? 

Always Only You by Chloe Liese

This is the second book in the Bergman Brothers series where a big Swedish-American family is center stage! It also features opposites attract, slow burn and a forbidden sports romance. If you aren’t excited about all of that, I don’t know what to tell you.

Ren Bergman, hockey star, has been in love with Frankie, the team’s social media manager, for so long. He’s just waiting for the right moment to tell her. But it seems there is no right moment because Frankie prefers to maintain a distance with any player in the team and that includes Ren. She’s going to keep hidden that she is secretly a softie, and that she is autistic. 

Man vs. Durian by Jackie Lau

Soft, cinnamon roll hero falls for the prickly, grumpy heroine. Jackie Lau is a master of writing this trope and you can see this perfectly in Man vs. Durian. I also love that most of her books are foodie romances because she describes delicious food perfectly. 

Peter meets Valerie when she spills her durian ice cream all over him. And he hates durian. So as you can see, this doesn’t start off well for either of them. But this chance meeting is the perfect opportunity to ask him to be her fake boyfriend so her mother gets off her back.

And I will also include grumpy heroines that might not have sunshine heroes. I just want to always include them because sometimes the same people who call them “unlikeable”, also call grumpy heroes “swoony.” Just know that I’m definitely staring at you.

A Girl Like Her by Talia Hibbert

Talia Hibbert is also really, really good at writing grumpy heroines and I think she has more in some other books but let’s talk about A Girl Like Her, a neighbors to lovers romance that will sweep you off your feet. 

Our heroine is used to being the town’s pariah, so she’d rather not interact with any of them. She likes it that way and prefers to spend her time in her apartment with her comic books. There is just one little charming, sexy problem… and that is her neighbor, Evan Miller, a tattooed teddy bear who is very soft and cinnamon-y roll on the inside.

One Day to Fall by Therese Beharrie

The thing about One Day to Fall is that it has a grumpy/grumpy relationship. And to be quite honest, I don’t usually see this dynamic in romance. I think this is the only one that comes to mind when I think about it, so I, for sure, am going to include it in this list.

Sophia is supposed to be by her sister’s side during the birth of the newest member of the family. But she cannot be there, with all of her suffocating relatives, so she escapes quickly. She hails a taxi but finds out too late that the man at the wheel is just as grumpy as she is. Throughout the day they will share secrets, family situations and talk about the undeniable attraction they have for each other!

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1 thought on “Trope Rec Tuesday: She’s Grumpy, He’s Sweet”

  1. Love the recs! I’ve read the chloe liese one and it was really good, the whole Swedish family thing is also a huge bonus.
    I have the Talia Hibbert one so I’m excited to get into it, I’ve read her brown sisters books and she writes romance sooo well.
    Definitely going to check out the other 2 because that one sounds amazing, never read 2 grumpy ppl together

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