A Modern Day Fairy Tale

Faith. Family. Fiction. Fun.

The Grump and the Girl Next Door by Ellie Hall: Book Review

  *Book received for consideration. All thoughts are my own.





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!

Ellie Hall is a USA Today bestselling author. If only that meant she could wear a tiara and get away with it. ;) She loves puppies, books, and the ocean. Writing sweet romance with lots of firsts and fizzy feels gives her joy. Oh, and chocolate chip cookies are her fave. Ellie believes in dreaming big, working hard, and lazy Sunday afternoons spent with her family and dog in gratitude for God’s grace.

This was such a fun read! I love a good meet cute, but this meet RUDE? Yeah, it was pretty great too! Let's just say, these two didn't quite hit it off! This certainly made things awkward when the discover they have co-inherited a rundown soda fountain and need to work together to fix it up. Despite being a shorter book, there is a lot going on in this story-- the romance, of course (which was super sweet and enjoyable)... but also a bit of mistaken identity, a treasure hunt, a mystery and some small-town meddling/drama! Yes, definitely a lot to love about this one! I enjoyed every part of the story and thought the author did a great job of making it all work together. Beyond that though, I found it also made me super excited to find out what was going to happen next in the series... truly the perfect introduction and I cannot wait for more! 

While this is the first book in THIS series, there were some Easter eggs from the Ellie Hall's previous books throughout the story as well. You can definitely enjoy without having read any of these, but I loved that she pointed out the connections in the end! 

The Grump and the Girl Next Door is a closed-door romance with kisses only and no language. 


Get your copy:  https://amzn.to/3VO3cm5

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