Grumpily Ever After (Coming soon!)

Grumpy-Sunshine: a romance trope where two characters with opposite personalities fall in love.

• Grumpy: A pessimistic character who is often curmudgeonly
• Sunshine: A positive and upbeat character

I’m sure I’ve written a few stories (out of 30 published books) that feature this trope, even if I can’t think of one right now. Maybe Unbroken? Thea would be the Sunshine and Hunter the Grump? Maybe Mac and Colton in Nothing But Trouble (written under my romance pen name, Scarlet St. James). Mac would be the snarky sunshine and Colton the broody, grumpy one, at least at first.

But the real story lies in my personal life.

Mr. Grumpy Pants - Hubs (more specifically, curmudgeonly)

Mrs. Sunshine Chatter Box - Me (someone’s gotta do it)

Now, I’m not talking about all facets of my personality, of course. If you ask my sister, I’m the rigid, always serious older sister.

Instead, I’m talking about love stories. About my grumpy husband who gripes like he’s 60 years old but hasn’t even hit 40 yet. Who dies a little inside each time someone uses the word “literally.” Who points out every time something is implausible in a movie.

 

Don’t get me wrong.

 

My husband is the best person I know. Beneath his grumpy persona, is a man who would give a stranger the shirt off his back. He would step out of a line he waited an hour in the blazing hot sun so he can help a woman who looks like she’s getting heatstroke. He’d stay with her in the shade for an hour until she could drive with no family to help her, and call her throughout the day to check in on her afterward.

He’s the guy who would propose to me in Big Sur, on a cliff at the ocean, shocking the shit out of me after eight years together. He’s also the guy who would propose to me again a year later, and say something like, “Napa sucks, it’s too expensive. If we’re going to do it, let’s do it right… Wanna get married in New Zealand instead?”

YES, PLEASE!

He’s also the guy who would drop what he’s doing to help a friend work on their truck, or meet his work crew on a weekend with coffee and donuts at 5am to do something nice for them, even though he HATES coffee.

But as amazing as he is, he’s still a grumpy-ass curmudgeon, and Mrs. Sunshine (that’s me!), I try to balance him out. It’s a natural dynamic between us, but it works.

You’re likely wondering why the hell I would tell you any of this. Well…

We had a conversation the other day that went a little bit like this:

ME: “I think it would be really fun if we did a podcast together. We could call it Grumpily Ever After because, you know, I write romance, and you don’t read at all, AND you’re grumpy all the time.”

HIM: Glaring, he says, “I’d rather eat a brazil nut.” *which he’s deathly allergic to*

ME: Chuckles (because he always makes me laugh). But I let it go… for now.

HIM: (moments later he steps back into the room) “Do I get my own mic?”

ME LAUGHING SO HARD because clearly he’s interested in the idea. “You can have whatever mic you want.”

Well, he came home last night with his fancy mic he researched for two weeks and finally found on Let Go. So, I guess that means it’s official!

The Pogue House has a podcast coming your way - Grumpily Ever After.

It’s going to be so much fun. Most importantly, I think it will be a great way to meld the parts of our lives that are separate. Me, an author who is always writing or reading, and him, who never writes or reads anything for pleasure and thinks words like “romantasy” is the dumbest thing he’s ever heard.

I hope you’ll join us for the ride!