thank you smp for the advanced copy! i enjoyed reading cleat cute and continue to love meryl wilsner as a writer. i'm marking this as 3 stars but would give it more of a 3.5/3.75 rating.

wilsner's writing is strong in this book, with witty banter, great sex scenes, and sensitivity about neurodivergency. the soccer team makes for fun secondary and tertiary characters, the dialogue feels real, and grace's self-acceptance is enjoyable to read. i wish there had been a few more physical descriptions of grace, and there were a few times i was too worried about the miscommunication of whether or not they were girlfriends and got pulled out of the story a bit. i think that i liked that phoebe thought it was cute that grace didn't know they were dating? i expected that to be a bigger deal. i'm still thinking about it.

i am including book in my monthly reading wrap up but will not be posting a review of it specifically, because i am still waiting for smp to denounce anti-palestinian rhetoric. i will continue to read meryl wilsner's books and am glad we have people like them writing romances. thank you again for the opportunity to read this!

I LOVE SPORTY GAYS SO MUCH !!! i could literally screech about it forever.

this was my first Meryl book and i'm excited to read the other two!!!

this book was fun, funny, sexy, and so sporty spice. i also loved all the little louisiana tidbits about where to get the best food!!

what Grace did for Phoebe near the end had me swooning 😍

& the only reason i gave it 4.5 stars and not 5 is that it took them a Little too long to make actual moves. they were sleeping together and all that but it just seemed like it took Grace So Long to trust and open up. which isn't a bad thing always! just something this time that i didn't totally gel with.
plus, there's something Grace mentions about herself, a potential self revelation, that would make more sense if it's true.

But. i absolutely loved watching them get to know each other and get Feelings and watch Phoebe break all of Grace's walls down.

i loved Phoebe!!! so much!!!

and i love the team's relationships. and i looooove fun teammate nicknames.

anyway i loved it. give this one a read!!!

I DNF’d at 50%. I’m always here for a sports romance. A soccer romance is just a major bonus. I think my expectations for this were just too high. I loved the characters, just couldn’t buy in to romantic feelings between the MCs.

Meryl Wilsner is one of my go to author for sapphic romances! I didn't realize how much I was into soccer girls until this novel! The past and current timelines kept things interesting and showed just how into each other they were. I loved that there was neurodiverse rep in this already diverse romance. The steam was great as well - not something that Wilsner has ever struggled writing, in my opinion.
If you enjoy spicy, sports romance and looking for a good diverse read, you cannot go wrong with this novel!

Cleat Cute by Meryl Wilsner is the first book I've read by this author. This book has an adorable premise and features rivals-to-lovers, friends-with-benefits, forced proximity, and opposites-attract. I struggled to connect with the characters, but I believe others will enjoy this book. I will not be posting this review on my social media account.

I genuinely did enjoy this book! However the spicy scenes and dirty talk just took me out of cuteness. If I have to hear Phoebe call grace babygirl one more time I will loose it. Not only that but this book was just a little too long for my liking. It could have been shorter and just more streamlined. It was still a good book and I would love to read more from the author!

Sapphic rivals on a soccer team? Sign me up! It was fun read! Thank you so much to the publisher and Netgalley for letting me read this early!

I liked this book.
I don't really like sport romance I didn't realize that until recently.
Didn't have anything to do with this book just not my cup of tea.

I really loved this book at first! I loved the tension and the building and the sassy yet sweet nature with which the 2 main characters communicated. But as the book went on, I lost interest. I personally didn’t enjoy the “baby girl” Thing, but beyond that, it just didn’t feel very realistic to me anymore for some reason. As it got to the last 25-ish% of the book, I found myself wanting to skip parts to speed things along but I didn’t

DNF at like 15%, never gave a review whoops, but it seemed a little juvenile for my tastes, that’s definitely a me problem though. I liked the concept and had good things about it.

I loved this book, the characters and plot were fun but I think may be too heavily invested in the sport side of things for most readers

A very interesting read. Thank you to the publisher for allowing me to read this book. It wasn't really for me, but I am sure that it will be loved by the right audience.

A spicy tension filled sapphic take on Bend It Like Beckham. I really like Phoebe and graces dynamic and chemistry. It was palpable from the get go. As someone who hates sports I don't know why I go into sport romance novels thinking I'll all of a sudden like sports. So it's always dicey if they talk about the sport to much then I'm out but if it isn't the main focus and almost background noise I'm good! This book bordered the line heavily. There were moments where it almost lost me but then reeled me back in. All in all I enjoyed this book and cant wait to read more from this author.

I'm super conflicted writing this review. If you're a die hard soccer fan (me) hoping for some on the field action, I think you're going to be disappointed. They don't even play a game together until the book was almost over.

That being said this is a well thought out SUPER spicy love story. I loved Grace so much as a character. I think the depth of her development was a highlight

One of the things I love most about sapphic romance in particular is that more communication happens. When the characters argue or disagree there is reasonable reactions and work toward resolution. While the book doesn't completely escape the miscommunication trope it still does it in a way that is more wholesome than annoying.

Representation: lesbian MCs, sapphic romance, ADHD MC, autistic MC, non binary side character, trans masc side character

This book was very gay!!! I absolutely loved it and I need Meryl to just keep writing silly gay books forever, please and thank you!

Meryl Wisner is my favorite romance writer and this book did not disappoint! They are fun and spicy and very well written!

2.75

This book was given to me for an honest review. For the past couple of years, I've been getting into lesbian romance novels last year was the first ive read more than 10. So anyways, i was intrigued by this book not only for the cover but for the plot. I thought i would get into the whole sport thing but sadly i was wrong
I didnt like any of the characters. They got hella boring. It was a snooze fest between them. I had to listen to this on audio and i had to speed it up just not my cup of tea

Thank you so much NetGalley for the Arc! || Two words: Lesbians and Soccer!!! Two of my favorite things put together and you have this great book that I just binged instead of working!!! The character dynamic was amazing, the side characters were amazing, and I just loved how dumb and silly they were! Truly such an enjoyable book!! Meryl Wilsner did it again!!

Love, love, love a good lesbian read and this one was it. The sports, the banter, the steamy sex scenes. Yes, yes, yes. I thought Meryl Wilson couldn't top herself with Mistakes Were Made, but she did. She really did. Loved this read and looking forward to more from this author.

“Lesbian is important to me," Phoebe says. "The world likes to act like it's a porn category, not an identity. It took me a while to realize it wasn't. I want other girls like me to know it's a beautiful word.”

A sapphic soccer romance with friends with benefits? Sign me up.

When Grace Henderson gets sidelined with an injury, a newbie Paige Matthews takes her spot on the field. As Paige is everything Grace isn't, tensions rise during the season. After she's called back to play, will Paige and Grace be able to work together to win the World Cup? Or will their relationship go down in flames?

The grumpy-sunshine dynamics of Grace and Phoebe made this for me. Their relationship was just ok. I really enjoyed the soccer aspect, but felt the characters needed more between them. Their relationship was lacking, and I felt their chemistry didn't work and was forced by the end.

One thing I will say, her mentions of autism and ADHD at the end almost made me DNF this near the end. It just rubbed me the wrong way, and the one line is not in good taste.

Overall, a decent sapphic sports romance that I would advise you read with caution.