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Living next to the Grump
I’m living next door to my brother’s ex-best friend.
He broke my heart when I was seventeen.
Now he’s grumpy, gorgeous, and raising his niece in his house next door.
I came back to Oakridge humiliated and jobless.
Just needing space to breathe.
Instead, I ended up in his kitchen. His hallway. His life.
It started with one meltdown. I calmed his niece, and he looked at me like I was magic.
Then came the stay awhile. Help him out. Just until things settle.
Now I sleep next to his room.
We argue. We clash. We test every boundary.
But I catch him watching me when he thinks I won’t notice.
And when he cancels a trip, I know he’s not pretending anymore.
He shows me sides no one else gets to see.
But my brother hasn’t forgiven the boy who broke me.
One wrong move, and he’ll tear us apart.
If I stay, I risk everything.
If I leave… I lose the only future that ever felt real.
He broke my heart when I was seventeen.
Now he’s grumpy, gorgeous, and raising his niece in his house next door.
I came back to Oakridge humiliated and jobless.
Just needing space to breathe.
Instead, I ended up in his kitchen. His hallway. His life.
It started with one meltdown. I calmed his niece, and he looked at me like I was magic.
Then came the stay awhile. Help him out. Just until things settle.
Now I sleep next to his room.
We argue. We clash. We test every boundary.
But I catch him watching me when he thinks I won’t notice.
And when he cancels a trip, I know he’s not pretending anymore.
He shows me sides no one else gets to see.
But my brother hasn’t forgiven the boy who broke me.
One wrong move, and he’ll tear us apart.
If I stay, I risk everything.
If I leave… I lose the only future that ever felt real.
272 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 23, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
dnf-2025
October 11, 2025the writing feels off to me
July 27, 2025
I throughly enjoyed this one.
It’s been 12 years since Ethan and Sophie have seen each other, now she’s back in oak ridge for standing up for a child that was bullied and she was in the wrong and not mental stable!??? The wrong kid bullied someone and his dad was the CEO and they used Sophie as the scape goat.
Now she must find her way in a town where she would never be back to. How Ethan and Sophie reconnect is her hat decides to go with the wind and now it’s in his yard and she tries to get it back without walking over, but how many times does that actually work? Ethan doesn’t recognize her right away but the moment she makes a comment about physics with her hat he knows it’s Sophie.
Then she finds out he has a daughter when she comes out from her nap after a bad dream… and she is stunned. She walks back to her house next door and stays there trying to pull her thoughts together.
Ethan has become the guardian of his niece after his younger brother and sister in law were killed in a tragic accident. He has no clue what to do, he trying his best but Mia has autism and with this comes sensory sensitivity as well as feeling overwhelmed at times. And sometimes she reacts and Ethan is unsure of how to calm her. The day comes for the home evaluation and Ethan is very unprepared and shocked that he’s missed such an important date for this. Mia has a freak out and Sophie walks through that door and calms her immediately. Now Sophie has become such a steady person in her everyday life and has connected with Mia like no other person has. Now when certain people visit like Ethan’s parents stating that she is a risk and what she involved with is a scandal but what they witnessed when they walk in the door when Mia isn’t told there are visitors coming before she does not handle being off schedule well and they witness Sophie bringing her back from a outburst and they are both shell shocked that this happens.
Ethan and Sophie now much work together because people think that Mia needs a more stable home and that Ethan isn’t fit for this job with his environment but jokes on them, this is the most stable thing after the terrible accident and the most stable people she has had and is beginning to rely on. Will this be enough to show child and youth services and will Ethan and Sophie finally get the happy ending they truly deserve?.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
It’s been 12 years since Ethan and Sophie have seen each other, now she’s back in oak ridge for standing up for a child that was bullied and she was in the wrong and not mental stable!??? The wrong kid bullied someone and his dad was the CEO and they used Sophie as the scape goat.
Now she must find her way in a town where she would never be back to. How Ethan and Sophie reconnect is her hat decides to go with the wind and now it’s in his yard and she tries to get it back without walking over, but how many times does that actually work? Ethan doesn’t recognize her right away but the moment she makes a comment about physics with her hat he knows it’s Sophie.
Then she finds out he has a daughter when she comes out from her nap after a bad dream… and she is stunned. She walks back to her house next door and stays there trying to pull her thoughts together.
Ethan has become the guardian of his niece after his younger brother and sister in law were killed in a tragic accident. He has no clue what to do, he trying his best but Mia has autism and with this comes sensory sensitivity as well as feeling overwhelmed at times. And sometimes she reacts and Ethan is unsure of how to calm her. The day comes for the home evaluation and Ethan is very unprepared and shocked that he’s missed such an important date for this. Mia has a freak out and Sophie walks through that door and calms her immediately. Now Sophie has become such a steady person in her everyday life and has connected with Mia like no other person has. Now when certain people visit like Ethan’s parents stating that she is a risk and what she involved with is a scandal but what they witnessed when they walk in the door when Mia isn’t told there are visitors coming before she does not handle being off schedule well and they witness Sophie bringing her back from a outburst and they are both shell shocked that this happens.
Ethan and Sophie now much work together because people think that Mia needs a more stable home and that Ethan isn’t fit for this job with his environment but jokes on them, this is the most stable thing after the terrible accident and the most stable people she has had and is beginning to rely on. Will this be enough to show child and youth services and will Ethan and Sophie finally get the happy ending they truly deserve?.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Did Not Finish
May 3, 2026DNF at 39% — this needed editing, not publishing
This one is frustrating in the worst kind of way, because the premise actually had potential — small town, grumpy neighbor, emotional layers, a child in the mix — all things that usually work for me.
But the execution?
Completely breaks the story.
The writing feels disjointed to the point where it genuinely reads like it was stitched together from separate pieces — like a workshop exercise where everyone adds a paragraph and no one checks continuity. Scenes don’t flow into each other, information appears out of nowhere, and entire emotional steps are just… missing.
For example, one chapter ends with the FMC hearing a child call the MMC “dad,” and then the very next chapter she somehow already knows the child’s name, knows she’s autistic, and is actively stepping in to help. No interaction, no discovery, no conversation shown. It feels like a full chapter was skipped.
And this isn’t a one-time issue.
At some point, the MMC is leaving for a week-long business trip. We see him in the morning heading to the airport, flight in two hours — and then, almost immediately, he decides to turn back and somehow it’s already night. There’s no sense of time, no transition, nothing grounding the scene in reality.
That same lack of structure carries into the characters.
They don’t react like adults — they react like overstimulated fifth graders. The FMC’s brother throwing a full tantrum because she returned home and the neighbor (who literally lives next door) knew about it is so disproportionate it becomes absurd. It pulls you out of the story instead of adding tension.
The MMC isn’t any better. The level of drama he attaches to leaving for a short work trip makes it feel like he’s heading into something tragic, not… doing his job. It’s inflated emotion without substance, and after a while it just becomes exhausting.
Nothing feels earned.
Not the emotional beats, not the relationships, not the stakes. Everything jumps from point A to point C without letting you experience point B — and when a story depends on emotional connection, that’s a fatal flaw.
I tried to push through, because the idea itself had promise.
But at 39%, I was still confused, disconnected, and honestly a bit irritated.
So I called it.
This didn’t need more drama — it needed structure, continuity, and a proper edit.
This one is frustrating in the worst kind of way, because the premise actually had potential — small town, grumpy neighbor, emotional layers, a child in the mix — all things that usually work for me.
But the execution?
Completely breaks the story.
The writing feels disjointed to the point where it genuinely reads like it was stitched together from separate pieces — like a workshop exercise where everyone adds a paragraph and no one checks continuity. Scenes don’t flow into each other, information appears out of nowhere, and entire emotional steps are just… missing.
For example, one chapter ends with the FMC hearing a child call the MMC “dad,” and then the very next chapter she somehow already knows the child’s name, knows she’s autistic, and is actively stepping in to help. No interaction, no discovery, no conversation shown. It feels like a full chapter was skipped.
And this isn’t a one-time issue.
At some point, the MMC is leaving for a week-long business trip. We see him in the morning heading to the airport, flight in two hours — and then, almost immediately, he decides to turn back and somehow it’s already night. There’s no sense of time, no transition, nothing grounding the scene in reality.
That same lack of structure carries into the characters.
They don’t react like adults — they react like overstimulated fifth graders. The FMC’s brother throwing a full tantrum because she returned home and the neighbor (who literally lives next door) knew about it is so disproportionate it becomes absurd. It pulls you out of the story instead of adding tension.
The MMC isn’t any better. The level of drama he attaches to leaving for a short work trip makes it feel like he’s heading into something tragic, not… doing his job. It’s inflated emotion without substance, and after a while it just becomes exhausting.
Nothing feels earned.
Not the emotional beats, not the relationships, not the stakes. Everything jumps from point A to point C without letting you experience point B — and when a story depends on emotional connection, that’s a fatal flaw.
I tried to push through, because the idea itself had promise.
But at 39%, I was still confused, disconnected, and honestly a bit irritated.
So I called it.
This didn’t need more drama — it needed structure, continuity, and a proper edit.
July 6, 2025
This heartfelt story had me all caught up in the drama and cheering on Ethan and Sophie. He broke her heart as a teen and because of it he lost his best friend her brother. Now she is back in town living next door to him. when his niece has a meltdown Sophie comes through and calms her causing Ethan to offer her a job. Their time together heats back, but everything is on the line because if her brother finds out will it change everything, they have put back in place between them.
July 10, 2025
This book will pull on your heart strings. Who can resist an early childhood teacher fired for standing up for a bullied child, a man struggling to care for his autistic niece, Mia, said niece whose world has been turned upside down when she has a hard time living with the world to begin with. Oh, throw in a messy past, overstepping parents, a pushy ex-girlfriend, and the stress of business. A lot of balls to keep in the air, but Sophie and Ethan manage.
May 13, 2026
The story kind of happened to fast didnt let me get attached to the caracters except for the child.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews