I absolutely LOVED this book. Wilsner does a great job of building chemistry along with friendship through the book. Although I am not a huge fan of miscommunication tropes, the miscommunication done here was so unique and funny to me while being so obvious to the reader that it wasn't as frustrating. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes sapphic romance, sports romance, or who is missing the olympics coverage. I'm sorry I waited so long to read it!

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Ehhh, this was fine. I think this novel has good bones and good intentions, but I didn't love the execution. Lots of internal monologuing, characters who verged on deeply unlikable, and a lame take on enemies to lovers.

What a wonderful sapphic romance. I loved the communication between the two characters. A little drama toward the end was unnecessary, but overall I really enjoyed this one and will look for more by the author.

A hot LGBTQ+ romance about soccer? Yes, PLEASE! The characters and their romance were so cute. But the competitive professional soccer environment? Adds to it!

This was a very fun, sporty, steamy, queer romance! Grace and Phoebe fly off the page. My slight ding is I was questioning the miscommunication in the back half but it didn’t hinder the read at all. Really enjoyed the book!

For all the girlies who watched Bend It Like Beckham.... and thought screw that weird coach guy the girls should end up together... this is for you.

I really LOVED cleat cute. The character's were sooo relatable, so much so that Meryl actually got me to like the miscommunication trope. Not my favourite and I know a deal breaker for some people but honestly the miscommunication did not feel shoe-horned in just to create conflict.

Instead, it was a natural progression of 2 people who communicate differently, with different life experiences just trying to date. It was hilarious and real. Their miscommunication was furthered by the fact that they are both undiagnosed neurodivergent people (Autism and ADHD) and their differing communication needs just added to their confusion with each other. As a neurodivergent person the way these characters were written was perfect and pretty accurate in terms of my own experience. The spice is also on point, feeling perfectly sapphic and not like a category on p*rnhub which can sometimes happen in WLW fiction (not that I expected it to be with a queer author writing it).

I loved the portrayal of celebrity vs passion, and the diversity of the characters and their coming out journeys. There was no judgement for how people and who people chose to share their identities with, and yet a complete celebration of queerness in all its forms.

Great read to end pride month!

I’m already a Meryl Wisner fan from Mistakes Were Made.

So I had high hopes going into this enemies-to-lovers sapphic romance.

And it did not disappoint! I think it’s safe to say I will read pretty much anything Wisner puts out. This was a really fun story with witty characters and swoon worthy moments.

Grace has been a star of the US Women’s National Team for ten years, but when she’s sidelined with an injury, Phoebe takes her spot. When they end up playing for the same professional team, they end up in a teammates-with-benefits situation.

I enjoyed this one - the audiobook was well done! I love a sports romance, so this was a fun take.

I love Meryl Wilsner! Their sapphic books will forever have my heart. I grew up playing soccer so this was honestly the perfect book for a soccer lover! Loved the Autism and ADHD rep as well. I felt there was quite a bit of whiplash throughout the book. The spice wasn’t consistent or frequent enough and the pacing in general just felt a bit off for me. I felt like we didn’t really get resolution with some sticky points in the book i.e. Phoebe’s family treating her poorly and it clearly bothering her and the terrible Krewe coach. I was left wanting a bit more I think. Will still forever read anything Meryl Wilsner writes.

this book was cute and fun (i read it in 36 hours) but not exactly what i was expecting. i’m in my women’s sports era (though i barely know anything about soccer tbh) and i needed something people be cute have good time, in general and especially bc the PWHL MN drama has been so disappointing.

since i listened to this so quickly here are many of the thoughts i had.

- kind of a pet peeve of mine when sports books don’t have much about sports. in a way this whole boon was about soccer and woso politics, which im here for, but there were hardly any scenes of actual soccer games - there was a MAJOR game and the whole thing basically happened in a paragraph and they only told you what actually happened in the game after it was done.

- there was less sports content than i expected and so there was also room for a lot more, and more detailed, sex than i was expecting lmao. i am talking sex scenes that spanned across chapters. i don’t have a problem with this, but for some reason i thought this was a YA book before i read it and then it super wasn’t.

- “soccer and kissing girls are phoebes two favorite things, but she’s not focused on girls right now” FAMOUS LAST WORDS

- also phoebes confidence was wild to me and in some soccer situations maybe almost broke my suspension of disbelief. how do you go from getting called to national team camp, thinking it is a prank, to showing up a WEEK later making a bet you will beat the star veteran player at the beep test. and aside from her confidence as a player she was also very confident as a person and with her (flirting/sex) game etc, but she basically had constant inner monologues she had about how good she was at flirting which was annoying

- i loved grace as a character and that grew as the book went on. i LOVE a 26 year old character for obvious reasons. i would literally read a whole prequel about her life before this season or a sequel from her pov about what her life looks like with a different balance between soccer and everything, or her how her perspectives on fame, relationships, friendships, queerness, neurodivergence (? that seems to be the direction the book was heading) has or has not changed since coming out. also i’m obsessed with her home/chill with cat/cozy pillows/pen and paper puzzles on the couch/energy. that’s the dream.

- i wish there was more of the other characters and relationships - grace and her dad and other soccer teammates/friendships, phoebe and literally anyone in her life besides her brother?

- it was good that this wasn’t YA because i loveeee reading books about people in their 20s and i still feel like they are sometimes hard to find!

This was a really fun romance -- soccer gays for the win! I really enjoyed the way these two characters, on the surface so different from each other but with a great compatibility, came together and fell in love. I also loved the neurodivergence aspect!

I really enjoyed this read, much more than mistakes were made. The ADHD rep was refreshing and accurate and this book was very readable. I loved the personalities of both of the MCs. I will not be posting any reviews or marketing on social media for this book until St Martin's Press speaks up about the Islamophobic comments a content creator made on social media.

First of all, this book just isn't rivals to lovers. It's opposites attract with one misunderstanding on the side of one person.

Second, I love messy characters, but with the basis laid, I don't really think these two are making it. They mostly focus on sex and I'm happy to see young lesbians have sex in a book, but I also need them to talk about their lives.

Third, for a book about soccer, there wasn't enough of it! By the time there was a n actual play-by-play game, I was confused because we hadn't spent enough time on the field. We also barely spent time with the team, forging friendships with them or even talking to them, which seems weird in a team sport book.

2.25 stars. Would recommend for people who like a lot of sex in their romance as well as imperfect characters.

Cleat Cute by Meryl Wilsner was such an interesting read. First off, I love a sports romance, this one was particularly fun because of the underlying enemy/friend to lover tone. I also appreciated the neurodiversity representation and the challenges that it brought to their relationship. Although I did scream at them to communicate a few times, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Spicy as always, can’t recommend enough.

This book just wasn’t for me.. the spice just wasn’t spicin and i just didn’t connect with the characters. I am a fan of this author so maybe it just wasn’t it for me this time.

This was SPICY!!! Wow! I really enjoyed it. It is still on my romance bookseller favorites endcap. It’s a fun read

Equal parts charming, funny, and genuine, Cleat Cute hits the spot just right. The romance was everything and I LOVED the portrayal of neurodivergence. And a resounding hell yeah for the spice! Add Meryl Wilsner to your auto buy list.

This book was good. The story follows Phoebe and Grace, two professional soccer players. Grace has always been Phoebe’s idol and they finally meet during a soccer camp for the national team just before starting to play for the same team. One thing leads to another and they start seing each other casually. They are complete opposite which is fantastic for the grumpy/sunshine trope that it creates. I loved the progression of their relationship, but it felt redundant at some time. There was more telling than showing which I did not hate, but did not love either. Overall it was cute though.

Thanks to NetGalley for an arc of this book.

Unfortunately this book didn’t really check any of my boxes as a reader. The bantering was fun and the tension between the two protagonists was entertaining but the rest of the book didn’t do much for me. It’s definitely not bad, though—I just don’t think it worked for me.

A witty and charming sapphic sports romance book. Finally more queer sports romance getting published! This was delightful, and I liked the ADHD rep.