The Grump and the Girl Next Door

Title: The Grump and the Girl Next Door

Series: On the Hunt for Love #1

Author: Ellie Hall

Publisher: Ellie Hall

Genre: RomCom, Contemporary Fiction,

Source: Own

My Review:

I am a sucker for a good book cover. The Grump and the Girl Next Door by Ellie Hall fits the bill perfectly. This is the first book in her newest series, On the Hunt for Love.

The first part of the book confused me. It jumped around quite a bit and was hard to what was happening. It felt like parts of the story were missing. With the book not quite being a full novel, the story came across as not completely developed. However, there were some things going for it.

Read for:

 🪙meet rude

🪙grumpy/sunshine

🪙opposites attract

🪙fulfilling promises

🪙secret restoration

🪙treasure hunt

🪙mechanic/singer

🪙small town

🪙one-eyed corgi

Overall, The Grump and the Girl Next Door is a quick read and a cute escapism book.

★★★/5

Synopsis (Goodreads): 

A breakup and a breakdown were not part of the plan—my car. Not me. However, I’m teetering toward needing a tune-up because this grumpy mechanic has me running on empty.

When given the choice between making good on some savage song lyrics after my ex-boyfriend does me dirty or driving south, I take the risk—the one that probably won’t get me arrested. Here I come Hogwash-somewhere-or-other!

I was an aspiring country singer, trying to make my way in Nashville. A while back, a fan sent me a sweet note, old-fashioned style, on stationery. Reminding me of my grandmother, we became pen pals. I recently learned she passed away and left me her soda fountain—whatever that is.

Now I’m stuck in this rough around the edges town and it turns out I co-own the dump—it’s seen more storms than sunshine—with the grump next door. I’m not sure what to make of it or JQ after our meet rude, but watching the retired Navy SEAL flex his skills and his muscles isn’t exactly a hardship.

Fulfilling Nan’s wishes means we have to work together, but someone tries to get in our way and I learn not only does this small town on the bayou contain secrets, JQ has one too. Then again, he doesn’t know I’ve fallen—for him, not off the ladder while dusting cobwebs.

The problem is, it’s sunny on my side of the street and he has full cloud cover on his. But maybe together we can spot a rainbow—and it’ll inspire us to write a song of our own.

This swoony romcom is sweet, clean, and closed-door. Meet the one-eyed matchmaking corgi, go on a scavenger hunt, and find out if Lexi and JQ fix up the soda fountain. Read this southern, small-town romance today!