Hello! Quick note before the list, because it explains the slightly odd English: I’m a French reader and this blog runs in French. Today I want to talk about one of my favourite tropes, grumpy x sunshine.
Although if I’m honest, the part I actually love is the opposites attract underneath it (in French we say les opposés s’attirent). Two people so different that the story starts off badly, because neither of them can picture being compatible with the other. And then…
So here are my twelve favourites. Contemporary, cosy fantasy, paranormal, danmei, science fiction and two very dark ones at the end, all with the same starting point.
Pick your grumpy x sunshine MM book by mood
Funny, British, fake dating
Feel-good, roommates, nothing hurts
You want to laugh out loud
Cosy fantasy, kind to you throughout
A real murder investigation underneath
Found family and a long series ahead
Ridiculous sci-fi romcom, tentacles included
Arranged marriage in space, quietly devastating
Epic danmei, the version everyone talks about
The grumpy one is the devoted one
Cruel fae world, slow burn, no comfort
The grumpy one is an actual monster
The books in this selection
- → Boyfriend Material · Alexis Hall
- → Leo Loves Aries · Anyta Sunday
- → How to Vex a Vampire · Alice Winters
- → The House in the Cerulean Sea · TJ Klune
- → Madison Square Murders · C.S. Poe
- → Hell & High Water · Charlie Cochet
- → It’s Not Unusual to Be Loved by an Alien · Chloe Archer
- → Winter’s Orbit · Everina Maxwell
- → Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation · Mo Xiang Tong Xiu
- → Heaven Official’s Blessing · Mo Xiang Tong Xiu
- → Mortal Skin · Lily Mayne
- → Soul Eater · Lily Mayne
Easy ways into grumpy x sunshine MM romance
Four books where the trope is doing what it does best and nothing else is competing for your attention. Contemporary or close to it, funny, and none of them will leave you stranded halfway through a story.
Boyfriend Material
Luc is the son of two rockstars, permanently one tabloid photo away from losing his job. What he needs is a respectable boyfriend, fast. Oliver is a vegetarian barrister who has never done anything embarrassing in his life, and who agrees to the arrangement for reasons of his own. They fake it. It stops being fake somewhere around the middle, and neither of them notices at the same time.
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Leo Loves Aries
Theo is a Leo: guarded, convinced he already knows exactly what he wants and who he wants it with. Jamie is an Aries: loud, spontaneous, in the flat before anyone thought to ask Theo’s opinion. There is a wedding to survive, an ex hanging around, and a horoscope Theo has decided to take far too seriously.
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How to Vex a Vampire
Finn is the first human ever hired by the Vampire Related Crimes unit, and he is thrilled about it. His assigned vampire partner is not, and spends the first half of the book trying to make the job unbearable enough that Finn quits. Finn turns up the next morning anyway, with a story about his underwear nobody asked for.
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The House in the Cerulean Sea
Linus Baker is a caseworker for the Department in Charge of Magical Youth. He follows the rulebook to the letter, lives alone with a bad-tempered cat, and has never once made a decision that surprised anyone. He is sent to assess an orphanage on a remote island, where six unusual children live under the care of Arthur Parnassus, who is warm and open in a way that Linus has no idea how to respond to.
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Grumpy x sunshine MM books with a case to solve
The forced work partnership is the natural home of this trope, because neither of them can walk away from the other. Both of these have a real investigation running underneath, so the romance has somewhere to hide while it builds.
Madison Square Murders
Everett Larkin works cold cases for the NYPD. He has a perfect memory, no patience, and no interest whatsoever in a partner. A storm brings down a tree in Madison Square Park and turns up human remains with a Victorian death mask. Detective Ira Doyle is assigned to help, is relentlessly easy-going about it, and does not leave.
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Hell & High Water
Dex Daley put his last partner in prison and gets reassigned to the THIRDS, a unit where humans and shifters work in pairs. His new partner, Sloane Brodie, wants nothing to do with him and says so. Dex decides this is a problem worth solving, and goes about it with more strategy than anyone expects from him.
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Grumpy x sunshine in sci-fi, fantasy and danmei
An alien in Las Vegas, a diplomatic marriage in space, and two Chinese fantasy epics. Very different books, but all four move the grumpy character outside ordinary human range, which changes what the gap between the two of them actually means.
It’s Not Unusual to Be Loved by an Alien
River has believed in aliens his whole life and is delighted to be proved right. Kai is an alien living quietly in Las Vegas who would very much like to be left alone. River works out what he is, Kai’s tentacles accidentally trigger a Mating Ritual, and neither of them handles the situation with any dignity.
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Winter’s Orbit
A treaty is about to lapse, so Prince Kiem, the empire’s least serious royal, is told to marry Count Jainan, whose previous husband died a month ago. Kiem talks to everyone and charms most of them. Jainan answers in as few words as possible and flinches at things Kiem cannot account for. They are also, it turns out, the two people standing closest to a murder investigation.
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Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation: Mo Dao Zu Shi, Vol. 1
Wei Wuxian died hated by the entire cultivation world for the things he did with demonic energy. Thirteen years later he wakes up in someone else’s body, in the middle of someone else’s mess. Lan Wangji, the most rigid and correct man alive, recognises him almost immediately and says nothing about it to anyone.
Heaven Official’s Blessing: Tian Guan Ci Fu, Vol. 1
Xie Lian has ascended to godhood three times and been thrown back down twice. He returns to a heaven that finds him embarrassing, with no followers and a shrine nobody visits, and goes back to work collecting scrap and hunting minor ghosts. Hua Cheng is the most feared ghost king in the underworld. He has been keeping an eye on Xie Lian for eight hundred years.
Dark grumpy x sunshine MM romance
Both by Lily Mayne, and both much harsher than everything above. The grumpy one here is dangerous in a way the book never takes back, and the sunshine one survives on stubbornness rather than optimism. Check the content warnings first.
Mortal Skin
He has watched the Folk at the edge of the forest since he was a child. At twenty-one they come back for him, and the Unseelie Queen wants him on her lands. The one sent to collect him is her son, a black-eyed prince everyone in the village tells him to stay away from. He does not stay away from him.
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Soul Eater
Monsters rule what is left of America. Wyn the Soul Eater crosses the Wastes every three years to kill, and a military unit tries to stop him. One soldier survives, and Wyn does not know why he let that happen. He takes him along instead, without any plan for what comes next.
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Twelve books with almost nothing in common except the shape of the thing at the centre. If you want somewhere obvious to start, Boyfriend Material for the funny version, The House in the Cerulean Sea for the kindest one, Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation for the enormous one, Soul Eater if you want it to hurt.
Know a grumpy x sunshine MM book I have missed? Leave a comment, I update this list as I read. The rest of the blog is in French, so this English corner is still small, but it keeps growing and I am glad you are here.
Grumpy x sunshine: frequently asked questions
What is the grumpy x sunshine trope?
Two characters at opposite ends of the temperament scale. The grumpy one is closed off, blunt and convinced he prefers being alone. The sunshine one is warm, open and moves into his life without waiting for permission. The trope is a variation on opposites attract, and the appeal is watching someone who had decided not to need anyone find out he was wrong.
Is grumpy x sunshine the same thing as slow burn?
No, but they turn up together constantly. Grumpy x sunshine describes the pairing. Slow burn describes the pacing, meaning the tension builds for a long time before anything is resolved. They pair naturally because a character with walls takes a while to lower them. Leo Loves Aries, Winter’s Orbit, Mortal Skin and both danmei on this list are slow burn. How to Vex a Vampire is not.
Where should I start if the trope is new to me?
Boyfriend Material is the easiest entry point: contemporary, funny, low heat, no series commitment. The House in the Cerulean Sea if you want the gentlest possible version, soft on the page. How to Vex a Vampire if you want paranormal and comedy instead. Save Soul Eater and Mortal Skin for when you know you like the trope, because they are much darker than the rest.
Which of these are standalones?
Boyfriend Material, Leo Loves Aries, The House in the Cerulean Sea, Winter’s Orbit and It’s Not Unusual to Be Loved by an Alien each finish their couple’s story on their own. How to Vex a Vampire, Madison Square Murders, Hell & High Water and Soul Eater open series but resolve the romance. The two danmei and Mortal Skin genuinely need the full series, so do not start those expecting a conclusion.
Why does the grumpy one so often turn out to be the softer one?
Because the grumpiness is usually protecting something. In most of these books it comes from a specific event rather than being a personality setting, so the walls coming down means something concrete rather than a mood improving. It also makes the sunshine character the one doing the real work, which is why the good ones give him a spine instead of just an unlimited supply of cheerfulness.
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New to the genre? Start with the map.
