BLURB:

Nathan Sanders didn’t earn his reputation as the grouchiest player on the Appies hockey team by chance. So when Summer Callahan breezes into his life with her flirtatious smiles and endless charm, he responds like he always does: he completely ignores her.

But Summer is intrigued by the surly defenseman, so when a viral social media post requires her to step in and fake it as Nathan’s girlfriend, she jumps at the chance. She’s convinced the ones with the hardest shells are often the softest underneath, and she’s determined to prove it.

But Nathan doesn’t crack so easily. Despite their obvious chemistry, he makes his lack of interest in a relationship—any relationship—perfectly clear. But the longer they pretend, the less fake everything seems, and the more Summer starts to fall.

She can only hope her fake relationship doesn’t lead to real heartbreak.

MY THOUGHTS:

This is only the second hockey romance book I’ve ever read! Shoutout to NetGalley for sending me the ARC, by the way. I have to admit, I had to look up the blurb for Collide by Bal Khabra (the first hockey romance book I ever read thanks to NetGalley) because I could have sworn I read about a Summer in that book too, and I was wondering if it was a continuation of some sort. Turns out I was wrong, totally different people here. Yes, Summer is a common name, not trying to compare the two, but I couldn’t help but do it anyway because the name threw me off. Both Summers are actively involved with the hockey teams in their book and fall for the most popular hockey player on the team. Anyway, let’s get back to Romancing the Grump before I provide a full discourse. (I’ll just compare the two in a separate blog post).

I heard that Romancing the Grump is part of a series, but I haven’t read any other books from it. After finishing it, I get why the author went with “Grump” for the title, but I didn’t really see Nathan as much of a grump, you know? And the chemistry between Summer and Nathan just didn’t hit me like I hoped. I was expecting more tension, but it was still a cute story with no spice. So, if you’re after a romance without all the steamy stuff, this is the one. But I was hoping for a bit more sizzle between Nathan and Summer. Something was missing there. Building that up a bit more would’ve been awesome.

I really loved all the hockey references in this book! I’m not a big hockey fan at all (I barely know the teams), but actually getting the vibe of the sport from the book was pretty cool. The author did an awesome job incorporating more of that aspect. Perhaps, this aspect helped make up for the lack of spice.

I really loved the whole “fake dating” thing in this, but honestly, I felt like Summer and Nathan needed more spark. It just didn’t click for me, and I was completely surprised when Summer ended up falling head over heels for Nathan. Like, what? What did I miss?

So, picture this: they are in the dark pantry, and I’m thinking, “Yes, this is it! The moment we’ve been waiting for.” But nope, it’s just a tiny moment. A quick touch on the elbow, maybe the waist…and then, nothing more. The slow burn was seriously slow burning!

Despite this, overall, I’d say this book deserves a solid three stars. It’s a cute and light story, after all.

Fun Fact: The book is also up on Kindle Unlimited!

Happy Reading Folks!