My Favorite Grumpy/Sunshine Romances
Who doesn’t love a good opposites attract story? (Hmm, probably the grumpy characters I’m about to list below…)
Well, I must have a little sunshine in me because I’m a sucker for them, and since we’re living in an age of tropes, there are a lot of great names that specify this dynamic exactly. Grumpy/sunshine has long been a favorite pairing in romance fiction, and more recently in social media, we’ve seen the black/cat golden retriever pairing take off as people describe not only book characters, but also their own IRL relationships.
Whatever you call it, there’s something about this dynamic that is just such a pleasure to read. I love seeing two unexpected characters get thrown together and realize that, despite all their differences, they understand each other so well. Their differences don’t keep them apart but help them become the best versions of themselves.
I hope you’ll enjoy this list of some of my grumpy/sunshine, black cat/golden retriever pairings in books, movies, and TV shows.
(And yes, I will be shamelessly promoting my own grumpy/sunshine romance, too!)
Let me know in the comments which ones I’ve missed — I’m sure there are plenty!
- Parks and Rec (Andy and April)
These two are basically what I think of when I think of the golden retriever/ black cat combo. He’s friendly and open and trusting; she’s jaded and snarky and fiercely protective. On paper, it shouldn’t work, but it really, really does. These two are gold onscreen together.
2. The Hating Game by Sally Thorne
Lucy is so adorably sunny that she bursts right off the page. Her office nemesis/one true love, Josh, is Mr. GrouchyPants. Their banter is so good that you know within a few pages they are absolutely meant to be together. This novel by Sally Thorne is one of my favorite rom coms, and the movie version is pretty cute, too!
Who doesn’t love Emilia Clarke and Henry Golding? In this sweet and snarky 2019 Christmas movie, Clarke plays a cranky shop worker who is struggling to get her life back on track after a heart transplant. Then she meets human golden retriever Tom, played by Golding, who inspires her to have a better outlook on life. (“Look up!”) This one is great for all the holiday feels.
4. It Happened One Summer by Tessa Bailey
A cheery, ditzy socialite meets a crabby, gruff fisherman — and somehow it totally works! The chemistry between Piper and Brendan is unreal, and she is such a fun and refreshingly unique character.
If you’ve followed me for any amount of time on social media, you know I absolutely love this movie that is a meta action-adventure rom com extraordinaire. It is an absolutely bonkers movie and I have watched it approximately a million times, in no small part due to the matchup between Channing Tatum’s sunshine to Sandra Bullock’s grumpy. Chef’s kiss!
6. Get A Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert
After a near-death experience, certified grouch Chloe wants to cross some items off her bucket-list, so she enlists the help of her apartment’s handyman, Red. Even though Red looks like a tough guy with his tattoos and long hair, he is a total sweetheart, and he and Chloe find themselves in each other. A must-read!
Has there ever been more chemistry in a scene than this one when Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer first dance together? Sunshine-personified nun / nanny Julie Andrews and grumpy-pants military man Christopher Plummer are the perfect match for each other, and well worth the almost 3-hour runtime of the film.
8. The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood
Olive is so nice that she’ll create an entire fake relationship just to ensure her best friend’s happiness. Adam is so mean that all the graduate students in his program are terrified of him. Naturally, they are made for each other. (But really. These two are cuuuuuuuuute.)
Literal cartoon Disney princess Giselle and actual stereotypical — cynical divorce lawyer Robert absolutely shouldn’t work together, but these polar opposites balance each other out perfectly. Amy Adams is perfect as Giselle, and she and Patrick Dempsey are adorable together.
And last but not least, my own humble offering to the grumpy/sunshine list -
10. Nun the Wiser by Lissa Sharpe
Matilda is paralegal who’s been hardened by life. Kimo’s a cinnamon roll / secret millionaire who thinks she’s the best thing since flip-flops.
When I set out to write Nun the Wiser, I had the challenge of writing an enormously prickly heroine, Matilda, who guards her heart fiercely. I love an alpha male as much as the next gal, but when I thought through someone who could help Matilda break down her walls, I knew it would have to be someone with the biggest, kindest heart. That’s how Kimo Kapono was born.
This guy… I mean, I’m the one who wrote him, and he still somehow managed to charm the Hootie and the Blowfish out of me. I hope he does the same for you!
Read on for more info -
Matilda Markov is ready to put her former nun days behind her and experience all the worldly pleasures she can. (ALL the worldly pleasures.) But when she feels her friend group starting to slip away from her, just like she’s lost so many people who were close to her before, she takes some bold action to try to keep everyone together. If only she can anticipate everything that could possibly go wrong, always, she might be able to keep her life from falling apart.
What she doesn’t see coming from a million miles away? Kimo Kapono, the surfer-dude/secret multimillionaire with a heart of gold who treats her like a lady, pays off her student loans, and who can’t seem to keep himself from getting kidnapped (repeatedly). Kimo is the golden retriever to Matilda’s black cat, and he’s determined to win her heart — -or get thrown in the back of a van with tinted windows trying.
Beneath her prickly exterior, Matilda is terrified of letting someone in, and even more terrified of losing someone she loves, again. She’s always known she’s not the kind of person who gets a love story — snarky bitches who’ve locked away their hearts rarely do. Luckily Kimo’s not afraid to get creative. If he can’t find the key, he’ll just use a jackhammer…
‘Nun the Wiser’ is a full-length contemporary romance and can be read as a standalone. It is Book #2 in the Bad Habit Book Club series, Seduction in the City World, Penny Reid Book Universe.
