Review

Grayson Darling has a fearsome reputation, on and off the ice. He’s a talented ice hockey player, a dominant enforcer on the verge of signing a college scholarship deal… if he can keep his dodgy knee a secret for the next two weeks. Paige has been his best friend since childhood. Unlike stormy Gray, she’s sunshine, lollipops & rainbows, and Gray has been in love with her for years… but too scared to tell her in case he loses her.

Paige, meanwhile, has her own problems. Her workaholic parents are putting pressure on her to apply for colleges, but she doesn’t know what she wants to do. So she’s made a bucket list of things she wants to do in her last year of high school, hoping she’ll find something she likes enough to build a career around. But at the bottom of the list is a first kiss. She’s never been kissed… maybe because Gray’s always been lurking around glaring at any boy who he doesn’t think is worthy of her (and that’s everyone).

After her first attempt to flirt at a party ends in nervous disaster, Paige enlists Grayson as her dating and relationship coach. She feels comfortable with him, so she figures she’ll up her game by practising flirting with him. Grayson accepts, hoping that flirting with her will change her view of him as ‘just’ a friend. Oh… and Paige’s parents have gone away on business, so Paige is staying with Gray’s family for a couple of weeks.

What could possibly go wrong?

*

This is a very cute and wholesome ice hockey romance which is nonetheless sizzling with romantic tension 90% of the time. It’s #2 in the Darling Devils series, and #1 (Rival Darling) is selling like hotcakes in the library. This one will definitely be the same. In fact, I think it will be even more popular.

It’s a reasonably simple narrative, told from the more-or-less alternating first person perspectives of Gray and Paige, but well executed, with great pace, tension and sweetness, as well as a touch of humour. And the author is Australian! She’s performing a great service for school libraries by providing us with these school-suitable ice hockey romances!

Absolute page-turner, suitable for year 7 & up.

> Content info — spoilers, enter at own risk!

Paige’s parents are workaholics, frequently away on business; they put a lot of pressure on her to figure out what she wants to do; at the end of the novel, Paige’s mum loses her job; the emotional situation between Paige and her parents resolves positively; Gray has a knee injury which he’s anxious about and hiding; Gray is a bit of a jealous and overprotective guy, with a few moments where he looms threateningly over people, but it’s laughed off and nothing happens — he’s secretly very gentle and self-sacrificing (except on the ice); at the party Paige’s friend gives her two shots of tequila for Dutch courage — this makes 17 year old Paige tipsy; Paige and Grey fall asleep in the same bed a couple of times — completely innocent, no funny business; a lot of flirting and a few kisses; 3 or 4 swears (I think they’re all “shit list”); some very mild sexual innuendoes; Gray is concussed in the climactic hockey game scene and has to go to hospital, with fears for his health (he’s fine). Overall, the book’s values (honesty, tenderness, being true to yourself) are very wholesome, with heartwarming family scenes and positive endings for all. Main & minor romances are mlw.

*

Moody, A. (2025). Grumpy Darling. Electric Monkey.

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