Book Review: Sunny Disposition by Deanna Grey

Genres: Romance, Sports Romance, Hockey, College
Pages: 318
Format: Ebook | Kindle Unlimited
Rating:

Initial Thoughts

After reading All the Sinners Bleed I just wanted something cute, light, and fluffy. Something that wasn’t going to cause me emotional or mental trauma, just something easy and simple. I still wasn’t ready to get back into the fantasy romance/romantasy genre. So that’s how I landed on Sunny Disposition by Deanna Grey. It was on my TBR, and I imagine what drew me in was the fact that there was a tall black woman on the cover, which I appreciated the representation, and that it was a college hockey romance, which I dabble into time and again. I don’t feel as if I had high expectations, I just wanted to enjoy what I was reading.

The Plot (Spoiler-Free!)

Naomi is a video game streamer. Finn is a hockey player and Naomi’s stream moderator. They both have never met each other in real life and only know each other by their screen names. On the night they finally plan to meet in person to see if they can take their friendship to the next level, Finn gets into an accident and never meets Naomi. All hope seems lost until Finn finds himself with a new roommate, and he thinks she’s the girl he’s been crushing on via stream. Naomi has no idea Finn is her moderator, but she is determined to make her new roommate smile at least once. He seems so grumpy but with enough positivity and humor, Naomi is confident she’ll complete her mission.

What I Liked

Chapter 1 was definitely a hell of an opening and it didn’t go anywhere I thought it would. I hope this isn’t considered a spoiler because it does happen in the first chapter, but the amnesia twist surprised me. I liked that the FMC is a tall black gamer, as I am tall, black and enjoy playing video games from time-to-time. I also liked that this was a dual-POV book because I always love being able to read how the MMC is yearning for the FMC. There were some spicy moments too between the FMC and MMC that was well written. And also the chemistry and friendship between all the roommates was fun to read.

What Didn’t Work for Me

I hate to be the “too-woke friend”, but I had a hard time getting past Naomi being a black woman and part of her job was to clean up after a bunch of white guys. I thought it was giving The Help and it just seemed like an interesting choice on the author’s part. I’m fine with her living in the house, but why did she have to be the actual maid? But then as I was thinking about it, I wasn’t sure if all the boys were white. I know Finn and Henrik are, unsure about Sam and Lincoln.

I also hate to be nitpicky, but there were some misspellings that caught my eye such as:

• “Midquest” being spelled as “Midqust”
• “Bunch orders” instead of “Brunch orders?”
• “and and”

There’s also this subplot of Finn having access to some sort of evidence about something, and it’s mentioned a few times and there’s an opportunity for it to be resolved at the end but it’s only half way resolved and still leaves too many unanswered questions.

I thought some of the writing was starting to get a bit repetitive. There became this formula of Finn saying I’d do X if it let me see Naomi do Y. I just felt like that phrasing was overused and I would’ve liked to have seen Finn express his feelings in a different way.

I also think it could’ve been clearer what Finn does and doesn’t remember. It seems as if it’s conflicting at times and I think it could’ve easily been resolved if Finn was asked what was the last thing he remembered. Finn doesn’t remember his personality or his friends, but he somehow knows that Lincoln is “never one to push.” He has some childhood memories but then also doesn’t remember his family. I know memory loss can be a tricky, non-linear thing, but the way it was done in this instance caused confusion for me.

Final Thoughts

I had my critiques, but I do recommend this if you’re familiar with this genre. It was easy to read, with good pacing and a cute romance. It could serve as a good palate cleanser. However, if someone wasn’t familiar with the genre, this isn’t the first book I would rec. This book is part of a series of interconnected standalone, but I don’t think I will continue with it. Overall, I give this book three deer-stars.