The 52 Book Club: 2026 Challenge discussion
2026 Challenge
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23 -- Grumpy Sunshine Trope
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The Heart of Winter According to Google this book works and it is on my TBR so I planning on reading it.
Assistant to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer
All Rhodes Lead Here by Mariana Zapata
I would love some help with this one. I need creativity. I don't enjoy romance or fantasy. I love A Man Called Ove, so something similar would be great. Any ideas?
BTW, I loved The Heart of Winter by Evison.
The Storied Life of AJ Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin made me think a lot of A Man Called Ove.
The Story of AJ Fikry was a good read. I'm reading A Man Called Ove for this prompt.
Thanks for the idea, Megan.
I decided I would go with a Romance as that isn't a genre I read a lot of and I will be reading ~ The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood
The Pumpkin Spice Cafe by Laurie Gilmore
Nine Month Contract by Amy Daws By A Thread by Lucy Score
The Unlikely Yarn of the Dragon Lady by Sharon J Mondragon
The Love Haters - Katherine CenterThe Shippers - Katherine Center
The Suite Spot - Trish Doller
I read The Christmas Tree Farm by Laurie Gilmore, one of her Dream Harbor Series books. Free on Kindle Unlimited, and although not my cup of tea, it breaks up the more heavy selections on my list. ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Does anyone have any mystery/thriller suggestions for this prompt? I am not feeling a romance book.
I don't know if this will work, but based on the description I'm going to try this book on my Kindle: Last on the List. If it doesn't work once I read it I'll find something else
I chose Five Brothers by Penelope Douglas. Let's just say I wasn't a fan of this one.
Done and Dusted by Lyla Sage - Finished 2/1/26
“The Hippopotamus Pool” by Elizabeth Peters is an amazing mystery book with great characters! Emerson is called “ The Father of Curses” by the people who work for him in Egypt and Amelia is a spunky, enthusiastic woman who always looks at the bright side of situations. Together, this husband and wife team, work as archeologists and solve crimes. Wonderful books. This is book 8 so I suggest you start with book 1 in the series.
Mmm, this is one genre I don't normally do - but found a book to cover this - Sunshine for the Mountain Man: A Grumpy Sunshine, Ex-Military Mountain Man Steamy Romance
The Woefield Poultry Collective by Susan Juby
I chose Network Effect by Martha Wells -- I think Murderbot & ART are a great example of grumpy-sunshine together.
Completed: Winter Solstice by Pirateaba
Just started reading On The Brink of Bliss by A.L. Jackson.
I read The Porcupines, which was not for me.
I read Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt
The 52 Book Club: 2026 Challenge
Books mentioned in this topic
The Deal (other topics)The House in the Cerulean Sea (other topics)
A Cat Café Christmas (other topics)
Network Effect (other topics)
A Deadly Education (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Matt Coyne (other topics)Ali Hazelwood (other topics)
Leigh Bardugo (other topics)
Fredrik Backman (other topics)
The grumpy sunshine trope is a popular pairing in romance novels where one character is moody, surly, and cynical (grumpy) and the other is cheerful, bubbly, and upbeat (sunshine). This is a subset of the “opposites attract” dynamic and follows along as the sunshine character slowly softens the rough edges of the grumpy character.
While this trope is most commonly found within the romance genre, it can also be found within other genres like fantasy, science fiction, historical fiction, and contemporary fiction.
It does not have to be a romantic pairing and may feature a cynical character paired with an upbeat character as platonic friends, co-workers, individuals on a quest, etc. (For example: A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman is a grumpy/sunshine friendship). This trope may also be part of the main plot (romance) or simply a secondary plot point like in Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo.
Here is our Goodreads List for this prompt