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The Grumpy Player Next Door, by Pippa Grant


Synopsis: I, Tillie Jean Rock, am not in love with my brother’s teammate. Sure, he might have those biceps and that “I am the grouchiest of grouchy bears” smolder, and he might shovel snow off his driveway next door wearing nothing but boxer shorts and rubber boots, and he might be running a side business feeding all the stray goats in town, but studliness is only skin-deep.

And I might flirt with him every chance I get, but I swear it’s only to annoy my brother.

And him.

Because Max Cole?

Under all of those glorious muscles and chiseled cheekbones and searing glares beats the heart of a heartless devil.

I could no sooner fall in love with a guy who treats me like a kid, and judges me at every opportunity, and sets an army of garden gnomes loose on my yard, than I could fall in love with my grandfather’s pet parrot.

But I can definitely annoy him. I can one hundred percent get on board with annoying him.

That’s what you do when you don’t like your neighbor, right?

But you know what they say about love and hate…

It’s a very thin line.

Especially when the real reason I’m not in love with Max Cole—that he’s incapable of love—might not be true at all.

Rating: 4.5 stars

Review: This delightful story about ray-of-sunshine Tillie Jean and growly bear Max is a tiny bit heartbreaking and a whole lot heartwarming. These two are in epic denial about their feelings for each other. She’s spent four years torturing him by flirting incessantly, and he’s spent four years compiling a very impressive mental list of all the reasons he hates her. On paper, they shouldn’t work together, but in reality (yes, I get the irony), they are perfectly combustible and exactly what the other needs. I adored these two hot messes and devoured every word of their equally embarrassing, torturous, and hilarious journey to their much-deserved HEA.

This book is part of the Copper Valley Fireballs series, and each book so far has been outstanding. I love baseball, so maybe I'm biased, but I have loved being immersed in this Fireball world. Max is a starting pitcher who is dealing with anxiety, which adds another dimension to this story. And that's the heartbreaking part of the story, because it's a very real struggle for so many people and definitely for professional athletes who feel tremendous pressure to perform. My heart broke for Max, and then it quickly warmed as he began to recognize how TJ helped alleviate his anxiety: "She's the calm to my storm. The joy to my fears. The belief to my doubts." This grumpy, growly bear fights it until the very end, but once he gets his head out of his booty, the swooning is intense.

This series is available on Kindle Unlimited or for a very reasonable cost, and it is well worth your time. 

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