The Google Sheets API is so bad, a company built their own to make it easier.
REST API: https://docs.sheetsu.com/
The μg Project is a collection of free and open development APIs that are fully compatible with Google's GAPPS APIs but use different back end services. For example, rather than Google Maps there is a library which uses Open Streetmaps instead, but code written to use the Google Maps API won't know the difference.