This Rec League came from Amelia in the SBTB Podcast Patreon Discord. It arrived because of a bonus episode discussion between me and Sarah on grumpy/sunshine pairings.
This Bone-Us grumpy/sunshine convo brought me back to THE BOOK I imprinted on as a baby romance reader: Too Hot To Handle by Victoria Dahl.
Hero goes into a perfunctory grovel thinking ‘she’s too nice not to forgive me’ and the heroine says, “who the fuck do you think I am?” —it completely flips the dynamic of the book because she’s like, ‘I’m not this way because nothing bad has ever happened to me. being happy and seeing the best in people is a choice and you’re a weak ass little bitch.’
Anyway, perennial rec-please because I’m ALWAYS looking for that.
Amanda: I think this is such an interesting distinction, that the “sunshine” character has adopted this optimism out of like…spite against the horrors around them.
Sarah: Ok I am not 100% sure this fits but my brain is saying Talk Me Down by Victoria Dahl is a good fit.
I know the comments are going to be replete with genius suggestions and I’m going to smack my forehead a lot. I love this character trait.
Watch. There will already be a portmanteau for this character that I didn’t know about. It’ll be like tweedragon or happymad.
Please publish all that because someone will craft the perfect portmanteau and name the perfect title for this question.
Please give us all your suggestions in the comments below!
