Didn't hit the same as Mistakes Were Made for me but it was still a fun spicy romance that I would recommend to the sapphic romance readers.

This book was made for me. A redheaded soccer player with ADHD and an Autistic soccer player, wlw romance... and add a little bit of spice? Pretty sure this is a biography of my life in a different universe.

Definitely one of those books where you will either love or dislike it, but thankfully, it got pretty close to the hype for me and I ended up rating it closer to 4.75 stars.

The author did a great job of including representation on label, and not just in name, but with a larger context and depth that made it very realistic.

Grace is the tried and true veteran. Phoebe is the hot, young newbie on the team. Can they work together to make sparks fly, on and off the field?

I'm a huge fan of both women's soccer and rom coms, so how could this one miss? Overall, it was a super cute story with great characters. I thought the characters were well-rounded and overall thought this was a huge HIT.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

What a sweet and steamy book! Enemies to lovers is one of my favorite tropes so this sports rivals to lovers storyline checked a lot of boxes for me. It kind of had a The Cutting Edge vibe - one ice queen, one golden retriever, lots of anger that's actually attraction. So fun! I loved Mistakes Were Made by this author and Cleat Cute did not disappoint - I highly recommend.

"𝘎𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘦𝘯𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦, 𝘗𝘩𝘰𝘦𝘣𝘦'𝘴 𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳, 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘶𝘯𝘯𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘶𝘱 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘴..."

I would say, overall, I really enjoyed this book! It's very open door and spicy! LOL

I DO tend to get a little frustrated with the miscommunication sometimes, when it goes too far, BUT in this instance, I forgave it because it was there to add to something further along in the story.

Also, I truly, truly understand both of the FMC in different ways - Grace when she's not willing to trust that someone could possibly be interested in her FOR her, and Phoebe, well, with everything else LOL

Thank you @stmartinspress, @smpromance and @netgalley for the advanced copy in exchange for this review!
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I was so excited for this one as it was one of my most expected reeds of this year, but it was too slow. It felt like I had been reading all day, but I was only at 51%. I love Merryl but there was just nothing happening in the book.. I decided to not give the book a review given that it was just published and it just wasn’t for me, but doesn’t mean other people won’t like it.

First book I've read by the author but it certainly won't be the last.
Wilsner's writing easily pulled me into this romance with the backdrop of soccer. Love and soccer are front and centre but neither overwhelms the other. Grace, the veteran player now injured is faced with a newbie player in Phoebe. Two players but only one position on the national team. Who will win, the upstart or the veteran? If only it was that simple! I was treated to a fine romance between Grace and Phoebe with the game of soccer beautifully interspersed in the storyline. Location descriptions and events were on point but I loved the connection, growing feelings and caring, the emotional ride and back and forth between two women who shouldn't click but eventually do. The book cover works too!!
A sports romance that hits the spot.

Honestly I just didn't love this. I wish I did (hi it's wlw), but it just wasn't what I wanted. The characters were sweet and the book itself is steamyyyy, but I didn't love the way it was written and the soccer element (which I can admit is a me thing as I don't typically love sports books). If you were a fan of Meryl Wilsner's other books, this is a great one to pick up still!

I was anxious to dive into CLEAT CUTE after not loving MISTAKES WERE MADE - but I really wanted to give this author another shot. I REALLY enjoyed CLEAT CUTE - it’s steamy, fun, and perfect for fans of sports romances. The reason why this one wasn’t quite a five star is the inner monologue of the main characters got to be a bit much and lots of telling, not showing. However, this book is sexy, with endearing characters and I think this book will be a hit with sports romance lovers.

*4.5 stars

So, I hate sports. Like seriously not even a little bit interested in them. But Meryl Wilsner writing a sports romance is enough for me to put aside my reservations and pick up the book. And, of course, it was amazing. The spice level is definitely more on the Mistakes Were Made side of the scale than the Something to Talk About side, not that i’m complaining. I’m not even mad that the miscommunication trope showed up.

Mark your calendars for September 19 because Cleat Cute is a must read!

i am a woso advocate who loved mistakes were made, so reading this was a no-brainer, and i’m so so grateful that I received an ARC! i almost wish there was more soccer in this, seeing grace and phoebe in action was truly something and made me realize how much I love sports in books! the romance and the yearning of it was so so fulfilling (and the SPICE? wow!) the only thing that brought my rating down was how grace and phoebe were as individuals — lots of assumptions from both of them about others sexualities, mental health, etc. and I didn’t really leave those scenes feeling positive. overall, i liked this book, but i was wanting more from it.

This one was just ok for me. I'm never a big fan of miscommunication and the internal monologues got to be too much.

This was a really fun sapphic romance that was surprisingly steamy! I loved the chemistry and opposites attract set up of Phoebe (a literal flirty golden retriever) and Grace (the reluctant grouch but secret softy). Their vibes were immaculate and together they had amazing scenes and banter that had me grinning ear to ear.

What lost me a bit was each of their backstories. I didn’t feel emotionally invested in either one and it didn’t feel like either was very solidly laid out. Phoebe’s diagnosis comes far too late and doesn’t seem to be really explored much. As for Grace, her struggles with her identity and soccer and all that comes with it at times felt solid but overall left me a bit confused. Does she really love soccer? If she’s made it her defining trait her whole life and that’s how she wants it, I don’t really understand how she feels so bad about her family supporting her soccer dreams so much. It just felt a bit convoluted and like the author was trying too hard to give each character their own character growth / personal drama, but it just didn’t tie up well.

Overall this was super breezy and fun, I’m excited to see more queer sports romances being released.

Rating: 3.5/5, rating up to 4.

i recently got into WoSo and was so happy when i saw meryl wilsner had this coming out. this book was sooo good i loved the grumpy x sunshine trope but it was also great to see how three dimensional these charters are with such real inner issues.

I sadly didn’t finish this book. Although I have enjoyed other books by Meryl Wilsner this one fell short for me. The plot and characters were good though.

This book was just okay for me. I loved the LGBTQ+ representation however the story fell a little flat for me. It seemed like a lot of miscommunication and sex and not a whole lot of story.

A super cute sports romance that all romance lovers should read. Wilsner teaches a master class on characterization through Grace and Phoebe. They’re flawed but so lovable that you cannot help but root for them and love them. The book has an amazing balance between fluffy and cute while also touching on deeper topics.

I’m such a sucker for all of Merly Wilsner, and this book was so adorable and everything feels and I need to get myself a hard copy stat. She does such a great job of interweaving characters into real life feelings, and nothing ever feels too unrealistic, I can’t wait to see what she has next and all the sapphic love to come :)

Loved this book! It was such a cute Sapphic rom-com!
The story was wonderful and im a sucker for a grumpy/sunshine trope.

Loved that it was a soccer romance too!

Thank you Griffin and Netgalley for this ARC copy

This book was a solid four stars for me. I really liked the chemistry between the main two characters, and the unique complexities of each of them (thank you for flawed female characters and compelling ADHD and maybe autism rep). Here I am once again reviewing a sports romance where one or both of the MCs are emotionally immature but I am you know what? It checks out. It works because of course everyone would think that Grace should have it together with her age and experience but she's been playing professionally since she was 16, was burned in an early relationship and has no actual life experience with relationships. So while miscommunication does not always work for me, in this case it was actually comically plausible and was a great device to keep the tension going. I'll also flag that the "rivals-to-lovers" trop is usually a stretch but I think in this case it is a very low-key rivalry, even if it is mostly one-sided.