He’s too grumpy. She’s all sunshine. But together they might fit just right.
Single dad Declan Lowery is trying to have a peaceful holiday with his son. That is until Natalie Taylor plows into his front gate, all sunshine and Christmas cheer. While his son is delighted by her quirky fun, Declan knows he should find her a way home. He’s a famously grumpy ball player-he’s not running a damn bed and breakfast. But they’re stuck together while they wait for the storm to pass.
Soon she’s baking cookies and tempting him to take a bite. And Declan’s list for Santa becomes a taste of her sweet lips and a chance to thread his fingers through those golden waves.
The Grumpy Bear should never fall for Goldilocks, but when the snow clears it might already be too late.
Author note: Goldilocks and the Grumpy Bear is a stand-alone grumpy sunshine Christmas novella between a single dad professional baseball player and a quirky high school history teacher. May contain lots of laughs, holiday cheer, and Metros baseball fun. Kacie West is a pen name for the author duo Jenni Bara and AJ Ranney
Review:
Such a sweet–and hot–holiday romance!
Goldilocks and the Grumpy Bear is a snowed-in, grumpy-vs-sunshine romance that is loosely inspired by Goldilocks and the Three Bears (to be followed by several more similarly inspired novellas–yay!). Two author friends, Jenni Bara and A.J. Ranney were inspired by the pen name used by a character in Bara’s More Than a Hero , Kacie West, to team up and give the “author” some stories. This is the first, and for readers of Bara’s Becoming an Evans series, the hero is a Metros teammate of Corey, Marc, and Ryan. Don’t worry, though–even if you haven’t met a single Evans yet, you’ll still enjoy this fun holiday story.
The grumpy/sunshine trope is becoming one of my favorites, and it lends itself perfectly to a holiday romance where the two seemingly incompatible main characters are stuck together thanks to Mother Nature’s warped sense of humor. And making one of them into a “grumpy papa bear?” The icing on the gingerbread cookie, of course. Declan and Goldilocks–I mean, Natalie–are really cute together, and I loved that both of these single parents were so good at being there for their children but still managing to find time for themselves. (Well, Declan needed a little more help with this thanks to his toxic ex, but Natalie had everything ironed out there for everyone by the end.)
My only real complaint (other than how a character from an established series is writing about characters who know/work with/are friends with characters in that series–don’t think too hard about it, lol) is that I wanted this to be longer 😉
Rating: 4 stars / A-
I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book.