Eloise and the Grump Next Door

Oakley Island Romcoms, Book 1

By: Emma St. Clair, Jenny Proctor

Narrated by: Stephanie Rose, Rock Engle

Length: 9 hrs and 22 mins

Publisher's summary

I’m not sure which is worse: the lawyer handling my grandmother’s estate or the attack pelican living on the screened-in porch. Just kidding—I’ll take the pelican any day.

After graduation, I thought I’d be off to grad school, doing research on my favorite poet. Instead, I’m renovating my late grandmother’s home and posting about the process on Instagram. Talk about a detour…

But here I am. Turning Gran’s beach house into a bed and breakfast; a process that would be a lot easier if I didn’t have to deal with the grumpy lawyer living next door. It doesn’t help that the night Jake and I met, I got a little tipsy, and he had to carry me back to my hotel.

But the longer I stay on Oakley Island, the more I feel a connection to my childhood and to my grandmother. This isn’t the life I dreamed of, but dreams can change. Especially when new dreams include a future with Jake. On the outside, he might be pricklier than a puffer fish, but I catch glimpses of a delicious, cinnamon roll center.

Did I mention the tattoos he hides underneath those crisp button-down shirts? Yowza.

When I’m suddenly presented with the academic opportunity of my dreams (former dreams?), my picturesque life on Oakley starts to unravel.

A part of me wants to stay. If only a certain tattooed grump didn’t seem so determined to send me away…

Eloise and The Grump Next Door is a grumpy sunshine, closed door romantic comedy. The Oakley Island Romcom series follows three very different sisters as they renovate the house they inherited and find love on the island along the way. Each book will have sizzling chemistry but no spice.

©2022 Emma St. Clair and Jenny Proctor (P)2023 Podium Audio

Cute

Cute story. The love story was cute. Sisters were great. The bird was great. it was a funny twist.

Narration was very stilted.

I love these two authors, but the book did drag on a bit. Still. I'm excited for the next book in the series.

Loved it!

It was one of those books you can’t stop listening too. You fall asleep too. Hope they come out with Merritt’s story soon!

Cute story, poor performance- forced.

Predictable. Cute storyline with some strong girl attitude and charm. Narration was the worst I’ve heard in a long time. It has potential but fell flat.

Cute - more for a young adult

It was OK. More for a teen or very young adult. Ending was weird. If there is a sequel, it’s not interesting enough to capture my attention enough to want to find out.
The storyline moved slowly and repeated the same thing.

So funny!

I listened to the audio version of this book. The dual narrations by Rock Engle and Stephanie Rose were good, but that of Rose was a little overly dramatic for me. It was still very fun to listen to.

The story of Eloise and Jake is an enemies to lovers and age gap tropes story. It takes place on Oakley Island where Eloise and her sisters inherit property that according to the will, they must update and convert to a B&B. Eloise is tagged to stay and get things underway, because her life is kind of on hold. She discovers that she is going to be overseen by the grump that lives next door. He's a hot grump, but a grump none the less.

This is just a hilarious story. I loved the pelican, but my favorite scene had to be the one in which Jake (the grump) rescues Eloise from the ocean. I'm sure the narration made this even better than the book!

Close door contemporary romcom (kisses only)

I have read and enjoyed books by both Emma St Clair and Jenny Proctor, so it was really fun to listen to this collaboration. I'd find myself trying to figure out which one wrote different parts of the story. I couldn't tell because it was seamlessly woven together. There were definitely some laugh out loud moments in this one!

This is the first book in a series set on Oakley Island. The books each feature a different sister. I will say this can be read as a, especially since it starts the series. The characters for the upcoming books are introduced in this story.

I have the ebook, but I personally do better listening to books. I thought the narration for this was good. I am a seasoned audiobook listener and often speed up the narration. I think I listened to this one on 1.3x because that's what Audible was set to from a previous book. I didn't feel that the voices were rushed at that speed and they didn't drag either.

This story has an age gap between the main characters. That isn't usually a trope that I'm drawn to and so in my mind I tend to ignore it. The female narrator had a voice inflection that seemed younger than the male narrator. I don't know if that was intentional or not, probably not since the same 2 read the next book, but I thought it helped me remember there was an age difference.

I listened to this book in one day since I was able to listen while working. I already have purchased the next book in the series to start tomorrow.

Great story and characters

The only problem I had was the voice for Jake. He doesn't sound brooding or grumpy enough.

Really good

This book was cute. It’s a slow burn with no sex scenes. So, if you’re looking for that type of book, this one isn’t for you. But, if your looking for a cute rom com w/a HEA this book is for you. The narration was really well done. I just wish they would have the girl read the girls parts and the man read the male parts. That way it sounds more like a conversation and not just each narrator doing a chapter for each character. With that small complaint I would recommend this book. It was well written, flowed well, and didn’t loose my interest. I was a little frustrated with the main male character, but that’s the way he is written, to be frustrating. I will be buying the second book in the series. Will see where this author takes us.

Beautiful work

I loved all the characters especially Steve & Liam. Performers did an excellent job. Can’t wait for book 2.