Choosing a trope of the week is hard. Largely because I am such a mood reader that I am constantly all over the place. But after some reflecting; It feels right to kick this off with grumpy x sunshine.
Who doesn't love a grumpy curmudgeon mmc and the sunshine fmc that balances them out.
He's mean to everyone but her-tell me you don't love that, I think as humans the desire to be the exception or 'special’ is ingrained in our DNA. Maybe that's why this trope hits so hard?
I'm not qualified to truly psycho-analyze the human psyche- but I certainly have some opinions.
Everyone and their mom (yes mom, especially you) has read a grumpy x sunshine book, but here are some honourable mentions:
1) The Love hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood (in honour of the movie) Adam Carlson is perfection - he's sooo broody, It's delicious. Olive is so quirky and a little silly, it's amazing - If you haven't read it yet, I highly recommend. A well known secret is The Love Hypothesis is a little reylo fanfic which is fun and we love it!
2) Heartless by Elsie Silver. Daddy Cade is in the house and he is NOT F***ing around. Cade is no nonsense, he's got a kid to worry about and he does not have time. Willa is the perfect balance. This is my favourite of the chestnut springs books-read it to find out why!
3) Assistant to the villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer. The villain is sooo annoyed (but secretly enchanted) by everything Evie Sage does. Maehrer started a Tiktok series about 'what It's like being the sunshine assistant to the morally grey villain' and what we have learned is that he might look grumpy, but he's obsessed with her.
This trope is used a lot and I swear it just keeps getting better.