The Grump Next Door

A Later-In-Life Opposites Attract Novelette.

She likes her peace and quiet. He likes terrible jokes and spontaneous barbecues. They are not a match made in heaven… or are they?

Dottie Lambert has perfected the fine art of solitude. With her cozy house, a steady supply of chamomile tea, and a well-honed death glare reserved for overly friendly neighbors, she’s quite content living exactly as she pleases. But when Mark Turner moves in next door with his megawatt grin and incessant cheerfulness, her peaceful world is thrown into chaos.

Mark is everything Dottie can’t stand—loud, nosy, and perpetually cracking jokes that make her roll her eyes so hard she risks a sprain. Worse yet, he seems determined to befriend her whether she likes it or not. From his overenthusiastic wave every morning to the spontaneous neighborhood get-togethers he insists on hosting, he’s an unavoidable tornado of sunshine crashing into her perfectly ordered life.

But when an unfortunate run-in with an aggressive raccoon and an eyebrow-singeing food fight incident at the annual block party force them into an uneasy truce, Dottie starts to realize there’s more to her annoying neighbor than bad humor and an overactive social streak. Beneath the jokes and the boundless energy, Mark carries a past filled with unexpected heartache—one that unexpectedly mirrors her own.

As their banter turns from sharp to sweet and the line between nuisance and something more begins to blur, Dottie faces an uncomfortable truth: sometimes the person you least expect is exactly the one you need.

Hilarious, heartfelt, and delightfully grumpy, The Grump Next Door is a swoon-worthy romantic comedy that proves love can arrive in the most unexpected (and irritating) of packages.