Mi querido gruñón

The Darling Devils #2

by Alexandra Moody, Miriam Lozano Sobrino (Translator), Amaya Zorriqueta Ruiz (Translator)

Vuelven los hermanos Darling.

Vuelve el sports romance que te dejará sin respiración.

Paige lo ha tachado todo en su lista de cosas que hacer en el último año de instituto, excepto una cosa: nunca ha besado a nadie. Y la culpa la tiene su mejor amigo, Grayson Darling.

Grayson es el tipo duro del equipo de hockey de la escuela y tiene sus propios planes: besar a Paige. A él también se le está acabando el tiempo. Entrenar a Paige para que tenga citas podría ser su última oportunidad de demostrarle lo bien que estarían juntos.

Después de todo, la práctica hace la perfección, ¿o no?

Genres: Romance, Sports Romance, Friends To Lovers, Sports, Hockey, Young Adult, Hockey Romance

384 pages, Paperback

First published June 3, 2025

About the author

Alexandra Moody is an Australian author who writes romance novels for young adults. She lives in Adelaide with her husband, three children and naughty dog. When she’s not busy writing, you’ll find her reading or spending time with her family. She loves to travel, is addicted to caffeine and has a love/hate relationship with the gym.

For more information, visit: www.alexandramoody.com


or follow Alexandra on Instagram or TikTok: @amoodyauthor

Reviews

[Eden!]

THIS BETTER BE GRAY AND PAIGE!!

[madi]

⤷⊹ started: june 14th, finished: june 21st

i'm loving this series 🤭 rtc!!

— ⋆˙⟡ pre-read 𓂃˖ ࣪⊹

after rereading the first book i now have hope for this book 😌 and obviously i'm rereading this book with har!! hopefully we enjoy this book a lot more the second time around 🤭 i love you so much!! 💗

[har.]

┆ ⤿ 🏒 ⌗ started: june 14, finished: june 21

i'm loving this series more than i expected rtc

pre-reread 𓂃˖ ࣪⊹

giving this book a second chance because rival darlings was so good!! and ofc i'm rereading this with with my forever twin, madi! 💌 hopefully we both end up loving this and we don't end up dnf'ing it like the first time lol. i missed our buddy reads so so much, i love you!! 💗

[JudgyNerd · Rating 3 out of 5]

Called it. I loved Grayson like an unhealthy amount im so excited.

Friend: What r u thinking abt?

Me:


I can’t quite explain how much I loved this book and definitely need to properly review it!! But that scene where Grayson was all moody before the big game! Ugh 🤌I will have to say I was a tiny bit dissappointed because I had overhyped this book in my head a bit too much but at the same time i should have known.

[Belle₊˚⊹♡ (for keeps ∞♡) · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars! 🌟🌟🌟
(Spoiler-free)

This book was so cute and fluffy, but took me a good while to get into 😭 The pacing for this book was quite slow at times, which is the only reason why I’m giving it a 3 stars 🤫

There isn’t that much to say on this book other than I would definitely recommend this to younger readers! 🙂‍↕️

⭐️Rating: 3/5
📚Age rating: 12+
🔥Spice: 0/5 (clean 🐵)

📸💐Insta-Post: https://www.instagram.com/p/DM8aZDESB...


🎧Songs:

~Out Of My League~Fitz and The Tantrums

~From The Start~Laufey

~Falling Behind~Laufey

~the perfect pair~beabadoobee

~Glue Song~Beabadoobee

~You Belong With Me~Taylor Swift

~Jump then fall~Taylor Swift

~Sparks Fly~Taylor Swift

~Paper Rings~Taylor Swift

~So High school~Taylor Swift

~Close to you~Gracie Abrams

~Risk~Gracie Abrams
________________________

⛸️💗Preread:

Okay my rating for Rival Darling wasn’t the highest but I really enjoyed the characters and the setting of the story, so I’m intrigued with what she does for this book 🤭 I’m a sucker for Grumpy x sunshine so I have a feeling I’ll like this one!

[Val ୨୧ (BACK 4 GOOD THIS TIME) · Rating 4 out of 5]

WE 🫶 GRAYSON.

RTC


⋆.ೃ࿔*:･ Preread ⋆.ೃ࿔*:･

So... I absoloutley ADORED Reed in the first book, and a friends to lovers, Sunshine X Grumpy romance between his brother and his brother's best friend ? HELL YEAH.

[ray ৎ ⊹ ࣪ ˖ · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.75 stars 💌
ya contemporary romance┆13+┆mild language

⛸️ … mini review ᝰ.ᐟ
at first, i thought this was gonna be a solid 3 star read but the further i got into it the more i was frustrated with the characters being seniors and keeping secrets, annoyed by the repetitiveness, and the slow pacing. on top of that, i predicted most of what happened towards the end since it was so unrealistic. i do not seeing any of what happened in this happening irl. however, i did appreciate how the author has researched hockey since the disaster rival darling was, but that still doesn’t really matter if i didn’t care ab the characters at all, esp after that ending

⤿ like the first novel, this book felt very trope-y and longer than necessary. it was 405 pages on my kindle but if grayson admitted his feelings he’s had since elementary school this book wouldn’t exist

💗 friends to lovers
🏒 he gives her love advice
💗 hockey romance
🏒 clean ya
💗 miscommunication
🏒 grumpy x sunshine
💗 he scares everyone (…)

[Grace Quan · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars. 🍭

This is my favorite brand of friends to lovers so I’m not surprised that I enjoyed this one a lot. Childhood best friends where the guy has been in love with her for his whole life and she totally oblivious.

🍬The near perfect storyline is set in the backdrop of high school hockey which, in my mind, makes this book even more perfect. Of course I know nothing about actual hockey but you can bet I know everything about romance book hockey. And this book did a good job portraying that certain brand of romance book hockey that I love so much.

🍬There is something so sweet about falling in love with your best friend. Someone you know inside and out. But that also comes with so many complications. The fear of them not returning the feelings and losing them forever. It asks the question, “would I rather risk losing them, or stay miserable in the friend-zone??” That’s what makes these types of stories so compelling to me, there’s an aspect of risk that raises the stakes and makes me undeniably invested.

🍬The author does an incredibly good job writing realistic high school students. As a HS senior myself, the feelings of not having your entire future planned out and feeling stressed and inadequate about it are real. I’m definitely the target audience for this book and that’s one of the reasons I think I enjoyed this one so much.

🍬Also, this book navigates tricky family dynamics while not weighing down the sweet story. Again, the author writes such relatable and realistic characters, I just have to applaud her.

[saisha⊹(school ia) · Rating 3 out of 5]

3✧!!
╰grayson and paige my loves<3 mini review down below!🫶🏻

🎧 ~ fifteen+you are in love
“you can hear it in the silence
you can hear it on the way home
you can see it with the lights out
you are in love
true love”

“why would i kiss someone else, when i was waiting for you?”

⊹my thoughts!🩵

this series has been so adorable so far- which is NOT what i was excepting at first bc it’s supposed to be hockey romance lol but i still enjoyed this nonetheless!! grayson and paige were so cute in book 1 and i really was excited for this🤍 i wasn’t the biggest fan of the plot- bc grayson was ‘helping’ her get another guy which was lowk kinda weird when i was reading his chapters loll but it was cute nonetheless! paige definitely was a lil quirky but she grew on me as the book went on! and grayson ahh- what can i say??! he was so cute and it was funny seeing him get flustered around paige his bff!! speaking of which i rlly liked the best-friends to lovers in this it was done rlly well! and ofc seeing reed and violet🤭💐 i didn’t like this as much as book 1 but it was still fun! can’t wait for parker’s book next👀 xx hope ur having a great day and that all ur reads are serving💗

love,
saisha

- - -
⋆·˚ ༘ * ⛸️┆ pre-read!
book one was so cute aw! onto grayson and paige’s book im so excited💐🤍

[Darby Johnstone · Rating 3 out of 5]

🫧💕"𝙒𝙝𝙮 𝙬𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙄 𝙠𝙞𝙨𝙨 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙚𝙡𝙨𝙚, 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙄 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙬𝙖𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙮𝙤𝙪?"🌷🌸

✨𝟥.𝟤𝟧 𝓇𝒶𝓉𝒾𝓃𝑔✨ + 𝓂𝒾𝓃𝒾 𝓇𝑒𝓋𝒾𝑒𝓌 ✨ 𝔀𝓲𝓽𝓱 𝓛𝓞𝓣𝓢 𝓸𝓯 𝓰𝓻𝓪𝓶𝓶𝓪𝓽𝓲𝓬𝓪𝓵 𝓮𝓻𝓻𝓸𝓻𝓼

𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚛𝚝 𝚍𝚊𝚝𝚎 :) 𝟬𝟲/𝟭𝟲/𝟮𝟲
𝚏𝚒𝚗𝚒𝚜𝚑 𝚍𝚊𝚝𝚎 ;) 𝟬𝟲/𝟭𝟳/𝟮𝟲

( 🌷💓💗💖💕<333333)

AGHHGG this book was so cuteyyyy 🫶🫶. I LOVEEEED the setting. the characters. the vibes. The only thing that fell a bit flat for me was the friends-to-lovers to trope. I absolutely ADORED the yearning within the characters but after a while it felt a bit repetitive and slightly annoying.

The plot was cute and fun for a HS romance but overall not very original. Comparing to the first book, 𝓡𝓲𝓿𝓪𝓵 𝓓𝓪𝓻𝓵𝓲𝓷𝓰, I can’t fully tell which i enjoyed more but surprisingly (surprising based off of other reviews) i think I enjoyed Rival darling a bit more (at times. the ending was ANNOYING tho). What I liked about Rival Darling was how the Rivalry (hence the name) was a big part of the plot. This didn’t have that feel and hardly even mention a rivalry between the two schools like was mentioned in the first.

Moving on, I liked the characters specifically Grayson but i also liked paige! She was relatable for many reasons mainly because she had no idea what she wanted to do when she got older. Grayson was amazing for his protectiveness of Paige. Truly I could tell from reading that they were legitimately soul mates, but in a book lol. I only started to get annoyed (mainly with paige) when there were some obvious signs that they love each other.

Overall it was a cute book and i WOULD recommend!! Alexandra Moody has a perfect way of blending silly little rom coms with real life elements that i just ate up! the main reason im taking away 1.75 stars is for the pacing and plot (i liked the Rival Darling plot much better tbh) Its not necessarily a SLOW pacing but is isn’t as fast as i would have liked.




🌷💕💗✨pre-read: 🫧🫧💕🫶

AGHHH i am so ready for this one! High school romances have been really calling my name recently and I ate up the first book so in other words im hyped. And when you add friends to lovers in the mix…. It’s game on. 💕✨🤭

P.S. Why am i so obsessed with pink emojis right now??? 💕💗🌷💅🏼💖🌸🩷💓

[julia ⊹ · Rating 3 out of 5]

⟢ 3.5 stars ┊- no spoiler review ⋆
⤿ nobody gets me by sza
i don’t wanna see you with anyone but me?
nobody gets me like you..

⊹ “i’d already found my soulmate, but it was hard to pinpoint the exact moment i realized paige was it. perhaps i’d always known. when it came to paige, it had never just felt like her and me.
it had always felt like us.”

⫶ ⌗ ⛸️┊my thoughts -
⟡ this was so much better than the first one. since i didn’t feel connected with violet and reed in rival darling, i didn’t have high hopes for this one. i‘m glad i was wrong. this was super cute! grayson and paige were super cute. knowing grayson was obsessed with paige the whole time and seeing them develop feelings for eachother was adorable! 🙂‍↕️
grayson would actually do everything in this world for paige! he yearned so bad for her, this man waited 12 years for his first kiss so it could be with paige - payed attention to every little thing about her. i mean their first date was all the things she loved. now that i‘m kind of looking through the book again and seeing my notes i wanna cry, grayson is such a sweetheart. 🥹

⟡ i mean this book definitely isn’t world changing and the writing isn’t super insane but it’s nonetheless fun and cute.


🩰 - quotes

“we were only seven, but even then i’d been so struck by how pretty she was, i could barely speak”

“if it weren’t for my skills with a puck, i often wondered whether anyone would even know i existed. but i never felt invisible when i was around paige.”

“sometimes, when you stop looking ahead and focus on what’s right in front of you, that thing you’ve been looking for all along finds you.”

“it had come straight from my heart, where i usually kept all my secret feelings for paige locked tightly away.”

“the way i yearned for his smiles, how i relished his scowls, how i admired his strength of heart, and how i adored his quiet kindness.”

“my life simply wasn't complete without her.“

“perhaps that’s why i was so in love with her. i was like one of those stone gargoyles perched on the walls of old churches. an impenetrable statue glaring down at the world. but the second paige shone her light on me, i shed my stony exterior and came to life.”

“i was always more relaxed when grayson was near.”

“you don’t look at her like she’s just a friend.”
“of course i do.”
“no, grayson. you look at her like she’s everything.”

“i wasn’t sure if it was fate, luck, or destiny. but it felt as if the stars had granted me a whole sky full of wishes, because paige was finally mine.”

“but somewhere along the way, you became much more to me than just my best friend. i get butterflies when you enter a room and sparks on my skin when we touch. i’m happiest when i’m with you.”

“my feelings for grayson had grown roots. before i knew what was happening, they’d anchored firmly within me, knitted into the very fabric of my being.”

[emma · Rating 1 out of 5]

dnf.
no. freaking. thank. you.
having and RBF should NOT be your personality and having a best friend with one should not be yours!!! idc if you’re so sweet and small and petite and lovable SO PLEASE STOP MENTIONING IT EVERY PAGE. Anyways…. life’s too short to keep reading a book you’re not interested in so ✌️

[✞&#x1d473;&#x1d486;&#x1d499;&#x1d48a;☕︎ · Rating 4.75 out of 5]

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.75


HOLY CRAP….😍


I’m in love…🤭

Idk why I thought I wasn’t gonna enjoy this like I enjoyed Rival Darling BRO I LIKED THIS WAY BETTER THAN RIVAL DARLING👏👏🥹.


WE GET POOR SAD GRUMPY LOVESICK GRAYSONNNN AHHHHHHHHH🤭🤭🤭


I love how we saw Grays soft side and Paige’s grumpy side in their povs😍. I LITERALLY CANT STOP SMILING THIS BOOK WAS…EVERYTHING🥹.

I’m making myself write this review with it still fresh in my mind bc when I wrote Rival Darlings review I HAD ALREADY FINISHED THIS BOOK😭. So it was kinda hard to formulate thoughts with Gray and Paige on my mind when I was supposed to be focused on Reed and Violet😰👍.

The fact that Gray would literally do anything to make Paige happy had me smiling and crying at the same time😭😍. BECAUSE I WANT WHAT THEY HAVE AHHHHH👹. I’ll just have to survive off of my imagination bc I’m not allowed to date until college💔. I CAN LAST 2 MORE YEARS🥹 (no I can’t🤡).



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Characters ! ✨


Paige : OKAY SHES MY LITERAL TWIN😍. Like im not even lying when i say i have NEVER related to a book character THIS BADLY😭👍. Im considered what people call a dumb blonde- as in I don’t catch on to things very quickly🥺. So im a bit clueless when it comes to stuff like for example relationships😰🤷‍♀️. SO I UNDERSTAND HER STRUGGLE🥹. But…Paige had me SCREECHING bc CMON Gray was literally flirting with you and you push it off AS A GAME?!?!? PAIGE HONEY EVEN I KNEW WHAT HE WAS DOING😭💔. Other than that we have the exact same personality HAHAH I was laughing so hard when I read that she had drank a Red Bull and went crazy🤭. Bc that literally happened to me last Christmas, I had gotten an Alani and I drank it…I didn’t go to bed till like 2:00 am😍👍 and I was so chaotic and insane in the head that I’m not allowed to have another energy drink till im outta the house😭🙏. OKAY ENOUGH OF MY YAPPING….I LOVED her character SO freaking much😍😍😍.



Grayson : HE WATCHES ROM COMS WITH PAIGE TO MAKE HER HAPPY. AND HE ACTUALLY ENJOYS THEM. Which translates to…HOLY FREAKING CRAZY GREEN FLAGGG!!!🤭🤭🤭. I was absolutely screaming when he reference Miss Congeniality bc that’s one of my literal FAVORITE movies AAAHHH👏👏🥹. And guys…grumpy, quiet, introverted, shy guys aren’t usually my type…BUT I MAY HAVE UNLOCKED A NEW TYPE?!?😍 Usually, guys like Parker are my exact type but idk…Gray may be winning rn…we’ll have to see when I read Parker’s book🤭. AND THE FLIRTING…?!?!?!? *screams in ultimate psycho fangirl*🗣️🔥🔥🔥. AND HE WENT SHOPPING WITH HER. HE HATES SHOPPING AHHHHH👏👏🥹. AND I have a knee injury too from a sport🥺🙏…only difference is I haven’t rlly gone to the doctor- unless my dad counts- uh heh I might’ve done smth to my ACL BUT THATS NOT THE POINT😍. I absolutely ADORED him so much👏🥹.



Bonnie : She was a good friend…but kinda weird😭.



Reed and Violet : IM SO GLAD THEY WERE IN THIS BOOK AHHHH I LOVE THEM SMMMM😍🙏🙏.



Parker : CANT WAIT FOR HIS BOOK I LOVE HIM AH🥹🙏. He’s so freaking funny and I love how annoying he is :3



Cammie : I WISH HER BOOK WAS OUT BC I NEED TO KNOW MORE ABOUT HER🥺🙏. She’s lowkey terrifying😭.



Damien : I didn’t like him👹. WHAT KIND OF NICKNAME IS P…?!?!?🤡



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Quotes ! 🏒


Check out my Notes and Highlights if you wanna see A LOT of quotes from this book and my commentary <3

(IT GETS VERY CHAOTIC BRACE YOURSELF😭🥀)



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Overall ! ⛸️


By far my favorite in this series heheheeh🤭.


AND THE FLOUR FIGHT?!?!? I always die at a scene like that in a book or movie AH IT MAKES EVERYTHING BETTER HEHEHE😍😍🙏.


And the cute little nickname Pidge🥺🥺🙏 STOP THATS SO CUTE AHHHHHH🤭.

And I fr have Grayson on my baby names list in my notes app now bc I have unlocked a new love for the name🥹🥹🥹


I will admit…I did cry😭👍.

I CANT HELP MYSELF IT WAS TOO CUTE😭💗


And I was SO happy to find out there was not a breakup in this book BC IM TIRED OF THE SECOND BREAKUPS IF YK WHAT I MEAN👹.

Like I said in my review of Rival Darling it is confirmed…I am on a romance craze😭👍.

But it gives me smth to think about to take my mind off of SCHOOL STARTING NEXT MONDAY👹💔. Ugh I do NOT wanna start Junior year😭.

Anyway PLEASE GO READ THIS BOOK I BEG YOU🥺🙏.

Also can we admire the cover for a second? ITS SO CUTIE PATOOTIE AHAHHHHAHAHAHAH😍😍😍.


I would recommend this book to you if you enjoy…


💗 Grumpy x Sunshine

🏒 He falls first AND HARD

💗 Friends to Lovers

🏒 Childhood Friends

💗 Slow-Burn

🏒 Hockey

💗 Clean Romance

🏒 Sports Romance


*cue the happy sunshine music eheh*

*cue me stargazing while doing the worm AT THE SAME TIME👹*

✨🌙✨

🕺🐛🕺


OH! I also made a playlist for this book heheheh here’s the link if you wanna check it out😍🙏.


https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1NO...


And dw I make all my playlists clean so my Christian girlies aren’t jumpscared by explicit song lyrics🤭🤭🤭




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Post-read ! 💗

HOLYYYYYYYY CRAP. I. LOVED. THAT. SO MUCH AH!🤭 RTC😍🙏🙏

[EmG ReadsDaily · Rating 4 out of 5]

A deeply romantic, slow-burn, hidden feelings, friends-to-lovers story.

“I flirted with her and now I’m her flirting coach!”

Yearning. Flirting. Brooding. Jealousy. Playful banter. Simmering tension.

Grayson is often mistaken for a brute, due to his size and strength, although he is remarkably kind-hearted and thoughtful. Paige is driven and has ticked off everything from her senior bucket list, except for having her first kiss. Grayson has loved Paige since they were kids, although it takes Paige a little longer to realise what her feelings mean...

This is a sweet sports romance story, in a high school setting, written by Australian author Alexandra Moody.

If you are in the mood for straightforward romantic tension and playful banter, then give this a read!

This is the sequel to Rival Darling, the first story in The Darling Devils series.

[Bella · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the best YA romcom series. I loved Rival Darling and I was super excited when I found out there was going to be a second book in the series. I read this book in 2 days. Grayson and Paige’s story had me feeling all the feels I was giggling and smiling the whole time I loved reading how their friendship developed into something more. The humour in this book is golden particularly the Operation Shrek group chat and the GP nickname iykyk.

[sunshine.jamesonsversion {whats wrong with me} · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars
— ᨳଓ thoughts
AHHH !!!!!! this book was so good! i LOCKED IN reading this and I finished it in like a day (I was reading at 2 am but sHusHhHh).

so like I heard this one was everyone's favourite and yes, it was rlly good but ngl I was a teeeeeeensy little bit disappointed! ONLY A LITTTTLEEEE BIT I SWEAR. its just cuz everyone was saying this one was the best so I had like higghhhhh expectations but I still liked the 1st one better. DONT GET ME WRONG I REALLY LOVED THIS ONE TOO OKAY? I JUST LIKED THE FIRST ONE BETTER. BUT I STILL LIKE IT SO DONT FREAKING COME FOR ME

— ᨳଓ plot
so this is abt Grayson darling and Paige price and they're literally besties but gray has had feelings for Paige for a long time but is to scared to tell her. Paige wants to kiss someone before her senior year ends and gray ends up being her dating coach. imao I found this so funny that paige took it all wrong at the start !! I liked the plot and I was literally sooo happy that there wasn't any MISCOMMUNICATION BC IM SO TIRED OF 3RD ACT BREAKUP!!!!!!!!!!!!

— ᨳଓ characters

⮚Grayson Darling
he's so grumpy its so CUTESYYY! I could lwk imagine Paige making him be coquette imaooo
anyways the yearning and love he has for Paige is literally MWAH chefs kiss but sometimes I just wanted to smack him in the face and yell "JUST ADMIT YOU FCKING LOVE HER" because oh my GAWD were they both DAMN OBLIVIOUS and BLIND. LIKE IKIKIK THE POINT IS SUPPOSED TO BE THEY DONT SEE THAT THEY LOVE (as in like LOVE LOVE not friend love) EACH OTHER BUT I GENUINELY WANTED TO SLAP BOTH OF THEM SOMETIMES. the way he made his team eat the freaking muffins for PAIGE was so cuteee and I love how he literally would do anything for her, like shopping and BEING HER FREAKING KISSING COACH WHEN HES IN LOVE WITH HER AHHH

“She looked beautiful this morning, and the way she was smiling pierced the heavy clouds surrounding my heart. There was nothing I loved more than seeing her happy.”

as much as I love gray, this is another HAWTHORNE BROTHER situation (iykyk) and like the inheritance games, I love Reed more than Grayson, just like how I love Jameson more than Grayson. I LOVE ALL OF THEM OKAY BUT I LIKE REED AND JAMIE BETTER SO LET ME LOVE IN PEACE.

⮚Paige Price
trying to get ur first kiss before senior year ends is LWK valid bc ngl I would have probably done that too were I in her situation. I LOVE PAIGE SM AND SHES SO CUTE AND I RELATE TO HER A LOT!!! but girl u had ONE JOB and they were both SO BLIND and I think they both needed glasses because OMG THE PERSON SHE NEEDED WAS RIGHT IN FRONT OF HERRRR. she also deserved better and I'm glad her pitiful excuse of a mom fixed herself at the end because U GOTTA CARE FOR UR OWN DAMN CHILDREN

I bet her baking wasn't THATTTTTTT bad... heh heh heh....

“The way I yearned for his smiles, how I relished his scowls, how I admired his strength of heart, and how I adored his quiet kindness.”

⮚other characters

YES IK THAT REED AND VIOLET HAD THEIR OWN BOOK BUT I LOVED THEIR APPEARANCES IN THIS ONE

parker is sooo funny and I love him for helping paige

I love Cammie and shes lwk such a baddie and I cant wait to read abt her and Parker!

I didnt rlly like Damien and idk why he was even an OPTION like???

⮚end of review
this was lwk a short review but YEAH! I like reed and violet better but I still loved this!

THXXXX FOR READING


— ᨳଓ pre-read

OKAYYYYYY IM SO EXCITED TO READ THIS APPARENTLY THIS IS THE BEST OF THE SERIES LETS HOPE IT DOESNT DISSAPOINT

GO GRAYSON GET UR GIRL🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️

[Piper · Rating 3 out of 5]

It took me until about half way to get into this book. I was so bored but it did actually hook me. I just found the FMC annoying. Once I got into the book it was pretty good. It just took a while to get used to it. I was very happy there wasn’t a third act break up but still that end of book drama. I found the ending extremely cute too.

Paige - I wanted to repeatedly hit her in the head with a water bottle. I swear she was as blind as a bad. It was clearly obvious Grayson loved her, even if they’ve been friends for years, she should have been able to see the signs. Especially when people talk to her about it. So she was very frustrating. She also seemed very childish at the beginning. However, I think she did mature near the end and then I actually liked her.

Grayson - I liked him. He wasn’t my absolute favorite. He was still romantic, and sweet. I just kind of hated how he never corrected Paige when she thought the things he was saying was fake. However I understand not wanting to mess things up. The date he planned was adorable, you can tell he’d do anything for Paige. I love a guy like that.

Overall, not bad not great.

[Billie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I absolutely ate this uppp 🤭

[Allie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay im gonna sit on a rating but heres the review
Grumpy x Sunshine
Childhood best friends to lovers

I loved that we got a Reed x Violet cameo
I loved the characters because for me when I was reading Rival darling violets chapters were kinda boring to me but i LOVED paige’s chapters. (Not as much as i loved graysons tho)
I love that we got to see the softer yearning side of gray honestly.

This book had one of the most predictable plot lines i think ive ever read. The book was amazing dont get me wrong but I saw the sports journalism thing from a mile away(also it was so cool bc i wanna be a sports journalist so…yeah) Her foreshadowing was very obvious.

Overall this was really good
I AM SO MAD I HAVE TO WAIT 3 MONTHS FOR PARKERS BOOK THO WHICH ITS ENEMIES TO LOVERS

IVE SAID IT BEFORE I WILL SAY IT AGAIN
IF WE DO NOT GET CAMMIES BOOK AND HER BOOK ISNT ABT HER FINDING A FIGURE SKATING PARTNER AND FALLING IN LOVE WITH HIM
I WILL COMMIT ARSON

have an amazing Monday lovelies,
-allie

[sage ౨ৎ · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 🥹🥹

[jo ❣︎ · Rating 4 out of 5]

bingeable and cute. literally bought the first book while reading this one. docking one star because the mmc growled once or twice but i hehehahaed my way through

[Yusra ☾ · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars

my heart feels so content 🤍

[maddy · Rating 3 out of 5]

🌷 Grumpy Darling — 3.5 ⭐

The chemistry between Paige and Gray was so sweet and natural, and Grayson's protective, sweet side had me kicking my feet. 🤭 🤭 Their history together was so adorable, and the dating lessons had so much tension, it was amazing, hehe. ✨

I really loved the humour, banter, and small-town hockey vibes, and enjoyed this one more than the first book in the series.

Paige was so lovable, and her character was really relatable to me. I loved watching her gain her confidence throughout the book and find herself.

Grayson was swoon-worthy, beneath his grumpy character, he is extremely caring and devoted to Paige, the way he supports her and struggles with keeping his feelings hidden had my heart aching for him. The pining was perfect.

Overall: A really sweet, heartwarming friends-to-lovers romance. If you're looking for a cute, feel-good romance that will have you blushing and giggling the whole time, this book is a perfect pick!! 🩷

[Allan · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars
Credit where credit is due, this was notably less cringe than the first book and the characters were slightly more likeable. That being said, this book reminded me of gum you’ve been chewing on for just a little too long, when it doesn’t taste particularly good anymore but has yet to become actively disgusting.

[۶ৎ ‧₊˚ ⋅Lexi (prev Nesta Archerson)⋅ ˚₊‧ ۶ৎ · Rating 4 out of 5]

⋆⟡ ꫂ᭪ ₊⊹⌇ 𝐆𝐫𝐮𝐦𝐩𝐲 𝐃𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐲 𝐀𝐥𝐞𝐱𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐫𝐚 𝐌𝐨𝐨𝐝𝐲 ˚˖𓍢ִ໋🌷˚
⤷〝𝙶𝚛𝚊𝚢: 𝙹𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝚠𝚎𝚊𝚛 𝚠𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚑𝚊𝚍 𝚘𝚗 𝚊𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚐𝚊𝚖𝚎. 𝚈𝚘𝚞 𝚕𝚘𝚘𝚔𝚎𝚍 𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚏𝚎𝚌𝚝. 𝙼𝚎: 𝙸 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚠𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚓𝚎𝚛𝚜𝚎𝚢. 𝙶𝚛𝚊𝚢: 𝙻𝚒𝚔𝚎 𝙸 𝚜𝚊𝚒𝚍 . . . 𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚏𝚎𝚌𝚝.〞



༉ 𝚂𝚝𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚎𝚍: May 12th, 2026
࿔ 𝙵𝚒𝚗𝚒𝚜𝚑𝚎𝚍: May 13th, 2026


⋅༻•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅∙∘☽༓☾∘∙•⋅⋅⋅•⋅⋅⋅•༺⋅

♪‧₊˚⌇𝐒𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐬
so high school - taylor swift
out of my league - fitz and the tantrums


⊹ ࣪ ˖⌇𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰
⤷ 𝚁𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐: 4.5/5

This was actually sooo cuteee loved it and I definitely like this more than rival darling.
The thing that pissed me off was that he growled like just whyyyyy ewww it gave me the ickk, and the fact it took Paige like 2/3 of the book to realise Grayson's feelings like girl are u oblivious or just completely clueless 😭😭


༉‧₊˚⌇𝐏𝐫𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝:
i decently enjoyed rival darling so i think i’ll continue the series, and plus i need to finish this before i meet her at the english convention that im going to

tysmmmm jazmin for ur help with the fonts/sizing <3

[✮⋆˙zoey ✮⋆˙ · Rating 5 out of 5]

love this book! it was so cute how gray was so head over heels for her!

[⋆˚°✩*˖ Gohnar23 (•˕ •マ.ᐟ ˚⟡˖ ࣪(inactive) · Rating 3 out of 5]

#️⃣6️⃣5️⃣7️⃣ Read & Reviewed in 2025 🌠☔
Date Read: Saturday, November 29, 2025

3️⃣🌟, eh, could have been shorter. Bra at least it's not trashy
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55th read in "Lush and Beautiful Reads" November🌃
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┊ ┊ ┊ ┊ ┊ ┊★˚ .• *
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┊ ┊ ︎✧
┊ . ˚ ˚✩
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The certainly is a pretty common book. Paige is a pretty common protagonist and Grayson (omg hi, we meet again Grayson but from another book). It's pretty common and predictable. Hockey......fmc not having kissed anyone. Greyson is pretty dense but he somehow became like this dating coach 😆😆😆😆. It's certainly a silly and fun book. It's pretty mid to be honest, i didn't find anything revolutionary and pretty much unique but at least it's not one of the worst books that i've ever read.

[thea. · Rating 3 out of 5]

⤿ 𝟐.𝟓𝟓 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐬 ✩.⋆

This woman. This woman was torturing me exactly 80% of my ebook. EIGHTY PERCENT of i-love-her-but-i-can’t-tell-her AND i-love-him-but-i-can’t-tell-him. Istg the only two reasons why are you not reading a one star review are bc of the banter between the characters and the last 20% of the book (which were very bingable🤭).

Honestly i think this book could be definitely shorter - pace was really slow and the whole plot was basically set on him teaching her how to flirt and stuff and it was all just so repetitive there were definitely the parts that i enjoyed like playful arguments between brothers or their whole family watching a hockey game - as i said the banter was bantering but the whole plot was just kind of drab and monotonous.

ᝰ.ᐟ„No, Pidge. That was my first kiss too.” “But . . . What? Who?” She blinked. “How is that possible?” “Why would I kiss someone else, when I was waiting for you?”

Paige was such a sunshiny character sooo positive and kind and her friendship with violet was theree (i love how the whole series is interconnected) and she was in a phase of life when she didn’t know what she wanted to do in future, what path in life to take, which college to choose, in what she excelled at and that was so relatable😭 - I have the same issue and i could at least a bit relate to her which made her character development slightly better.

Grayson aww he’s our classy grumpish softie - such a gooey marshmallow under that Devil Darling grumpy cover and i just loved him but overall i didn’t felt that alexandra gave us a lot of character development or personality and it felt like i was being told what are they doing and not like i was right next to those characters and I was experiencing both happy and sad moments of their lives with them.

┆ ⤿ 💌 ⌗ romance
⟡ i have to admit that this part of the book was actually really cute and those last 20% were amazing - and the fact that it was still ya and still a hockey romance? That takes a hell of a talent to write WITHOUT SMUT. Nothing groundbreaking but if i was reviewing those last twenty percent it would definitely be a (by far) higher rating.

——
Ngl i was ready to hate it but… it wasn’t THAT bad :) RTC
——
I was manifesting theirs book through the whole Rival Darling book (… uhm, more details = my review💀) and i’m manifesting ever more for this book to ACTUALLY HIT - so honey please don’t let me down😙

[Raven Bork · Rating 4 out of 5]

As someone who’s currently struggling with figuring out my path in life, Grumpy Darling hit way closer to home than I expected. From the very first chapter, this book had me hooked. It gave me everything I love in a YA romance: best friends to lovers, slow burn tension, swoony hockey boys, found family vibes, and SO. MUCH. PINING.

I didn’t just read about Paige — I was Paige. Her uncertainty about what she wants to do, the pressure from her parents, the feeling of being behind while everyone else seems to have their life sorted out… I felt every bit of that. And watching her try new things, even if they didn’t go as planned (RIP muffins & possibly a mouse 😭), reminded me that it’s okay not to have it all figured out yet.

Grayson is this grumpy, broody, emotionally constipated hockey player who is secretly soft only for one person — Paige. And Paige? She’s sunshine personified — chaotic, sweet, a little bit of a disaster in the kitchen (RIP to that poor mouse), and the literal definition of golden retriever energy. Watching her move into Grayson's house and turn his world upside down was hilarious and heartwarming.

What I loved most was how Alexandra Moody captured the depth of a longtime friendship teetering on the edge of something more. The way Grayson protects Paige — even from afar, even from himself — ugh, it HURT in the best way. Their banter was adorable, the tension was chef’s kiss, and every glance, every almost moment, made me SCREAM internally.

Also, shoutout to Parker for being the absolute best chaotic little brother who calls out everyone’s nonsense while secretly being the biggest softie.

This book made me feel seen and gave me so much comfort, not just with the romance, but with where I’m at in life right now. So if you’re figuring things out, doubting yourself, or need a best-friends-to-lovers story with all the feels, Grumpy Darling is for you. 💌

[Finlee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Grumpy x sunshine, best friends to lovers, he falls first, slow burn, hockey, dating coach, and HE GOES SHOPPING AND WATCHES ROM-COMS WITH HER?! Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, and yes.
I’m really enjoying this super fun highschool series so far, even if it’s cringy and predictable. I’m really looking forward to the next one!

(The only thing I’d have younger YA readers note with this series is that there is a lot of underage drinking which was very unnecessary as well as some mild cussing that doesn’t have anything to do with the main story, just is at parties and whatnot).