This book was fun and flirty and full of all things soccer. Grace is the star of the US Women's Soccer Team. She's been one for years....long enough for Phoebe to have a picture of Grace on her bedroom wall. Phoebe has always thought Grace was an amazing player and cute to boot. Now Phoebe has the chance to prove herself and land a spot on the World Cup team. The only problem is that she and Grace have serious chemistry while also trying to remain professional teammates.

I enjoyed Phoebe and Grace. Grace reminded me so much of Roy Kent. She's getting older and is the grump to Phoebe's sunshine. I liked that these were two women with real aspirational goals that both were willing to work hard for. It was refreshing to see two working women in a book where they were unapologetic about it and matter of fact about how much work they were willing to do to achieve their dreams. They both oozed confidence and yet balanced one another out. Phoebe is young, energetic and all over the place. Grace is more reserved and level-headed. They complemented one another well.

This is definitely an open-book romance that is well-written. I had fun losing myself in the world of women's soccer. I would say if you are looking for a fun, sapphic romance this would be a great one to pick up!

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and Macmillan audio for an ARC of this book. The opinions here are my own.

Everything about this book was fine it just felt like the enemies-to-lovers aspect was dancing on the bully-romance line in the first third a little too much for me personally which made it feel like a slog to get through at times. Overall a cute book with a cute romance!

Everything about this book was fine it just felt like the enemies-to-lovers aspect was dancing on the bully-romance line in the first third a little too much for me personally which made it feel like a slog to get through at times. Overall a cute book where lesbians say i love you after a month and then instantly talk about marriage.

[ Rounded Up 2.5 stars ] I was really looking forward to reading this story, but sadly it ended up disappointing.

I liked that "Cleat Cute" starred two polar opposites who are professional athletes that strike up a very spicy friends-with-benefits relationship. I liked how passionate Grace and Phoebe were about soccer (football) and their dedication to the sport. The stakes were rather high with Grace being injured and it being Phoebe’s first season as a professional athlete, all within a World Cup year.

I could be wrong but the impression I got from the synopsis differed from what happened. This wasn’t quite a rivals-to-lovers because it was never clearly stated why Phoebe was drafted, just assumed (before Grace’s injury being known) it was to replace Grace. I didn’t like Phoebe sometimes and had some issues with the development of the main characters’ relationship.

I connected more with Grace and liked how her character evolved throughout the story. Grace’s life has always been about soccer. Now at 26, she’s been playing at the level as a star athlete for over a decade. When Grace gets benched, she’s forced to take a step back and really examine her life up to now, and think about who and what she is without soccer since everyone only associated her with soccer. Phoebe’s presence (at times) alleviated some of the difficulty in answering those retrospective questions because, with Phoebe, Grace could be a person rather than a famous soccer player.

Although "Cleat Cute" is told from alternating points of view, it seemed more like Grace’s story than Grace-and-Phoebe’s story. Phoebe’s growth/goals were very minimal, barely developed, or came second to Grace’s. At least as it seemed to me.

While Phoebe does help Grace a lot in coming out of her shell and finding happiness within herself and for her life going forward, I don’t think Phoebe got enough page time to shine in this book. Her journey felt like the bare bones of a story: wanting to do well during her first year as a professional soccer player, making it onto the national and World Cup teams, and being better at relationships. Yet, I wanted more from Phoebe’s journey, which, overall, I think partially impacted connecting with her fully. Perhaps she was meant to be an agent of change rather than an actual main character…? Phoebe had a lot to offer, so I wish her character had been fleshed out more/differently.

There were more off-putting moments than great moments between Phoebe and Grace. They both acknowledged that they didn’t want a relationship but committed to an exclusive friends-with-benefits relationship. Both respectfully tried their best to make what was heating up between them work, but miscommunication and assumptions didn’t help either of them as they tried to get to know each other better. Too much teasing and not enough being honest with each other. Some vital conversations that needed to be fully discussed were too brief and replaced with make-up sex, which they were both complicit in. And it kind of felt like Grace got most of the blame during any conflicts she and Phoebe had.

Overall, I wish I had enjoyed "Cleat Cute," but it fell flat for me.

Thanks again St. Martin's Griffin and NetGalley for the eARC to read in exchange for an honest review!

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced copy!

This one was everything. Funny, flirty, and everything a younger soccer obsessed me would have wanted. Plus. I’m a sucker for the grumpy sunshine trope- it just works okay!

Grace is an all business soccer captain who meets her match when newcomer, Phoebe, joins her team. I absolutely loved how Phoebe broke down graces walls while respecting her boundaries and communicating. It’s genuinely so refreshing to see. Not only that, but I was grinning at my kindle throughout the entire read. Loved it.

I'm a huge fan of this book. There aren't actually that many similarities but they give me SalKulti vibes. Grace and Phoebe are such a cute grumpyxsunshine ship. Phoebe being relentless in becoming Graces friend was adorable. She was worming her way into Graces heart. Grace was adorable and all she wanted to do was protect Phoebe even when she didn't know she wanted to. The funniest part to me was their miscommunication at the end. I just loved it so much.

I received an arc through netgalley.

It took me a few chapters to really get into this book, but once I did I was hooked and didn't want to put it down. I will say that I struggle with third person a lot. I was also a little worried because I'm not into sports and this is a soccer romance, but I ended up liking the soccer aspect and I will pick up more sports romances now. I really liked Grace right off the bat. Phoebe took me a while but I ended up getting attached to her as well. Watching these two teammates fall for each other was really sweet. Their internal monologue was really great to have. This book gets steamy, and there are comments made almost right off of the bat. I loved it! I go into books without really looking into what they are about, so I didn't know there was spice, and it was a pleasant surprise. Overall I will be recommending this book to people I know.

Meryl Wilsner has done it again. Cleat Cute is the perfect book for anyone who not only loves soccer, but sapphic romance as well. I couldn’t put it down and fell in love with Grace and Phoebe. A five star read all around.

I had read and enjoyed Meryl Wilsner's books before so I was looking forward to this latest one of hers. Unfortunately, I didn't feel connected to any of the characters.

Thank you @smoromance @macmillan.audio for a copy of this sapphic romance. I enjoyed the dynamics of this story especially with the women's World Cup earlier this year. I love that Phoebe is the newbie on the team and Grace is her idol that she grew up with. I enjoyed the neurodivergent representation as well. The sex scene are steamy. I did get lost in parts of the audiobook when there was a lot of inner dialogue and forgot whose POV it was coming from.

This book is HOT! Like five chili pepper emoji hot. If you are into steamy sex scenes between two soccer jocks who are super into each other, you will love this book! The romance plot is well paced, though I definitely wanted to shake both Grace and Phoebe as they continued to miscommunicate and try to hide their growing feelings. I enjoyed getting their different points of view. Grace is a young but weary pro soccer player who struggles with living up to her high standards and pleasing everyone. Phoebe has confidence, skills, and high energy, but has difficulty finding balance as she juggles her career, a second job, and her new thing with Grace. There's also neurodivergence rep with both main characters having undiagnosed disorders - Phoebe with ADHD and Grace with autism. These characters shine a light on the different experiences of pro athletes, especially queer athletes. I love that they each have a solid network of friends, family, and allies who support them.

Overall, a fun and spicy story that's sure to delight fans of sports romance!

Story: B-
Prose: C+
Characters: B
World: A
Theme(s): B
Enjoyment: B-

The Good:
Some very funny situations/moments. Obviously, the "big" one is the best, but there are lots of others, like when Grace comes back from brooding at the park to find Phoebe, with her suitcase, back from a trip and unsure what house Grace lives at but knows it's ~nearby~.
Good banter. What's a funny situation without some good banter? Although Phoebe brings the most energy to their back-and-forth moments, Grace often has a tidy, devastating one-liner up her sleeve.
Solid main characters. The contrast between energetic Phoebe who loves soccer and steadfast veteran player Grace who's lost her love for the game somewhere along the way is a great idea, and the resulting dynamic between them is delightful. Although Phoebe's point of view was a bit more fun to read, I found the nuance in Grace's personal struggle more compelling. Grace has a lot of things to figure out about herself and her relationship with soccer while she recuperates, and none of them are easy things to consider.
Fun supporting characters. The supporting characters have great characterization and it's fun when Grace and/or Phoebe spend time with them. I honestly wish we got a wee bit more time with them.
Spice. Very spicy–and more importantly, great spice pacing. Their encounters are spaced out nicely throughout the story.
Prose is readable. Prose is plain, straightforward, and very readable.
New Orleans. Wilsner's descriptions of New Orleans felt authentic.

The Bad:
Prose is mid. Although the one-liners and banter are still fun, Wilsner's prose is largely composed of dull, straightforward statements.
Third person, present tense is… a choice. Combined with some of Wilsner's other prose choices, Cleat Cute often borders on reading like a detailed summary rather than an actual narrative.
Waaay too many internal monologues. Yes: Some of the internal monologues are important to establish and build on their neurodivergence. The key word here being SOME. There are roughly three times too many, and they're all MUCH longer than necessary.
Could be tighter. Cleat Cute is ~103k words and not enough happens to justify that length. I mean, the entire first chapter could be scrapped and turned into a mini-flashback Phoebe has later.


YMMV:
Deals with big emotions. Deals with big emotions without incorporating heavy/scary subjects. I mean, Grace considering the future of her career is as heavy as it gets.
Summary is slightly misleading. So, the summary frames their dynamic as such: Grace has been sidelined due to an injury, newcomer Phoebe takes her spot on the field, Grace is drawn to Phoebe despite this and they start hooking up. (Hot, emotionally complicated.) But it's actually Grace and newcomer Phoebe start fooling around, and then Grace is sidelined and THEN Phoebe takes her place, which is so much more awkward.
ARC Issue. Hopefully corrected for publication, but Amanda is (very confusingly) called Amelia twice in a row.

Final thoughts:
Despite some fun banter and some very funny miscommunications, I found I often had to sort of remind/bully myself into reading. A huge part of my disinclination was Wilsner's prose: my last three reads were all RomComs with vibrant, voicey prose, and in comparison, Cleat Cute was noticeably bland. I also found the potential outcomes sort of black and white: either Grace's hip heals in time for the World Cup, or it doesn't. I feel like when we're asking "what's going to happen?" about the end of a book, there needs to be an unknown factor to hold my interest. While Cleat Cute DID have some strong positives–Wilsner does excellent with the spicy moments!–the end product is still a little bland and overlong.

I absolutely adored this book. I have been a huge soccer fan my entire life, and even played up until the age of 12, when I was sadly forced to quit due to health issues. Due to that, I found myself immediately connecting with grace as I was reading the book, and I really resonated with her character. I enjoyed the dual point of view, as you could see into both of the characters heads as you were reading. I loved the romance between grace and phoebe, and I was rooting for them the entire time I was reading.

I love sports romances. I love these characters. I love lesbians. I love Meryl Wilsner and her charm. I love ….

Thank you to St.Martin's Press for the eARC in exchange for an honest review

Ted Lasso, but Sapphic! The main characters are like Roy and Jamie if they became a couple! This was my first f/f romance and my first Meryl Wilsner read, but it will definitely not be my last. Adding soccer to my never ending list of sports romances I love!

Let's continue #sapphicseptember with a soccer saga! If you’re a fan of the sport and/or a fan of the city of New Orleans, I bet you’ll enjoy this book like I did. Grace, the serious captain, has been a US Women’s National Team star for a while, whereas Phoebe is a younger, fresh and fun new addition to the team. These two start as rivals then progress to “teammates with benefits” as the season progresses. With the World Cup approaching and Grace rehabbing from an injury, can these two figure out their relationship - both on and off the field?
Wilsner writes a great combo of realistic characters and situations with a good dose of steamy fun. Queer and neurodiverse characters provide excellent representation, and the writing is enjoyable and cozy - like a hug - in the best way.
Thank you to St Martin's Press for the advanced copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion. I won an Instagram giveaway for the physical ARC along with a finished copy of the author's previous release Mistakes Were Made aka the MILF book 🤣 I really enjoyed reading and reviewing that last fall and am happy to now have it on my shelves. If you haven’t read it, and you enjoy steamy queer stories - with an age gap - please check that one out, too.

This is an opposites attract, grumpy sunshine sapphic sports romance--all tropes that worked so well together!

Phoebe and Grace were both great MCs, and I'd be hard-pressed to pick a favorite. They had great chemistry, and I loved how Pheobe pushed Grace's buttons. I loved how they both approached their relationships in different ways and (sort of) balanced each other out.

This book is STEAMY and I adored it! Wilsner's sex scenes are always so well-written. Other than "baby girl" as a pet name, everything else worked for me--especially the first scene in the locker room.

There's also some well-handled neurodivergent rep in this book, on the pre-diagnosis side. I enjoyed seeing how the diagnosis came to be, and would have liked to see it explored a little earlier.

Cleat Cute will have you smiling the whole time. It's definitely one I recommend!

Cleat Cute by Meryl Wilser
Contemporary sapphic (F-F) sports romance. New adult.
Phoebe Matthews gets her greatest wish and is drafted to play soccer on the U.S. Women’s National Team. She develops a crush on the Captain of the team, Grace Henderson, and the two start a relationship as they manage life, career and outside pressures.
I alternated between an ebook and a audiobook. I preferred the audiobook in this instance for the two narrators that keep the story moving.
🎧 I listened to an audiobook version of this story narrated by Dana Varden and Zim Avaltrades. Each did the chapters from their character POV. The voices are close in tone and rhythm while different enough in pitch that you can hear when the POV changes. Both did a great job portraying a twenty-something female with changing emotions and career concerns.

New adult romance is not a regular genre for me as I don’t appreciate the angst or roller coaster confidence issues. I was pleasantly surprised by the two women and their specific personalities as they kept their professional lives separate from their personal issues. Phoebe kept her joy of playing front and center even while other parts of her life were chaotic.
I would recommend this for any romance reader that likes a bit of sports and teamwork in a story. And passion, because that’s included as well as an hea.

I received a copy of this from NetGalley and the publisher.

I knew going into this book that I would love it as I love Meryl Wilsner's writing. But GOSH, Cleat Cute was so freaking good. Phoebe and Grace were such good characters that were passionate about two things, soccer and each other. This book filled the sapphic whole I had in my heart. This book was so fun and I loved every minute of Grace and Phoebe's story. I loved the grumpy x sunshine in this book, it fit their characters so well. I loved reading about their growth as individuals but also as a couple. Grace and Phoebe learned a lot about themselves and their passions. I appreciated that there were mentions of undiagnosed ADHD and autism in adults, and discussions of the struggles of being diagnosed as adults. I loved the friendships we saw throughout the book, between Grace and Phoebe and the friendships they had with their teammates. I also appreciated the lack of third act breakup, while there were conflicts throughout the book, there wasn't a breakup. It showed how they valued communication in their relationship no matter how hard or uncomfortable it might have been. I really love Meryl Wilsner's writing and their characters. They do such a good job writing characters with great depth to them, while also showing how emotions and seriousness are not bad traits to have in characters. I loved this book so much and will not stop recommending it to anyone that's close to me.

Cleat Cute 5/5⭐️

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC of this book!

Here’s a fun fact about me: I played soccer all four years of high school! I’m also queer. Therefore, I can only assume this book was made for me. I am THE target audience! ⚽️

Also, this was my first Meryl Wilsner book, and it was beyond incredible. Grace and Phoebe are utterly perfection. Their relationship is so passionate and will suck you in from the very beginning. I cannot get over it!

This book has:
-grumpy x sunshine
-teammate with benefits
-neurodivergent rep

If you’re looking for a sapphic, sports romance you need to read this book! 10/10 recommend! 🤍