Grace Henderson has been the star of the US Women’s National Team for ten years. When she is hurt and has to take a break from playing Phoebe Matthews takes her spot.

The World Cup is coming and Grace has to get better so she can play. She finds an unlikely friend in Phoebe.

I had a fun time reading and getting to know the characters in the book. The soccer bits weren't very accurate though and the internal monologue wasn't the most smooth either.

This was my first Meryl Wilsner novel, and they absolutely CRUSHED it!

I love seeing soccer more frequently in the sports romance genre. I also love seeing more diverse representation of not just gender, sexuality, or race but intersectional representation as well, and I feel like Cleat Cute does an excellent job of celebrating these characters and allowing them to be unapologetically themselves.

I played soccer for a long time, and I can see a lot of the people I love in the characters of this book, so Cleat Cute made me smile from start to finish (and blush quite a few times as well).

People, I got an ebook ARC of Cleat Cute back in March and COULD NOT put it down; I've also spent the last 6 months recommending it to anyone who asked for a sapphic romance, sports romance, or enemies-to-lovers romance.

From Phoebe's perspective, Grace has been living her dream as a professional soccer player, but in reality, Grace is under immense pressure from most people in her life, herself included.

From Grace's perspective, Phoebe is liked by everyone, but her disorganization and inability to be anywhere on time drive Grace up the wall. Little does Grace know that Phoebe is facing her own struggles.

Together, Phoebe and Grace help each other grow into their best selves and truly live their best lives– and help with other things as well.

Thank you, Netgalley and St. Martins Griffin, for a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

I’m not usually one to read about sports, but this just made sense.

The star-struck rookie had no idea that she would be able to ever meet her idol, let alone play on the same team as her!

This book was spicier than I was anticipating! Good spicy, though. My biggest hang up in this book is the miscommunication. Especially since most of the book does a good job curbing any miscommunication.
There is a lot of internal monologue- but honestly, I feel like it is an accurate portrayal of someone with ADHD…even we get tired of our own internal voice!

Read, if you like:
⚽️Sapphic romance
⚽️GrumpyxSunshine
⚽️ADHD rep
⚽️Soccer
⚽️Teammates to Bedmates

This book is about soccer, and it leans heavily on it. Even though I am not a soccer fan I loved the premise of this story and it will you draw you into that world without being lost in all the soccer lingo. This was my first sapphic novel and thought it was fun, witty, hot and had a lot of heart. I also loved the ADHD representation in one of the characters. As a person with ADHD, the internal monologue is spot on for someone with the diagnosis. Phoebe’s character reflects the everyday struggles and coping mechanisms someone has with undiagnosed ADHD.

This is the story of Phoebe and Grace. Phoebe is the new up and coming soccer player who was recently drafted by the New Orleans Krewe after graduating from college. Grace is a soccer veteran and captain for the Krewe and Phoebe’s idol growing up. Both get invited to a soccer camp held by the Women’s National Soccer Team where they meet and share a “sort of kiss” after Grace lost a bet. After that they can’t stop thinking about each other. However, navigating being teammates for the Krewe, as well as figuring each other out due to their personal quirks and miscommunications makes this book very entertaining. The sex scenes are quite graphic but very hot.

In this book you will find in this book you will find grumpy/sunshine and rivals to loves trope, ADHD rep, potential autism rep, LGBTQ+ topics and characters. Overall, a very well rounded and inclusive novel that I thoroughly enjoyed and highly recommend.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

4 Stars!

It's a lesbian soccer romance novel, what's not to love?! I absolutely adored this book. I've found that it takes me a minute to get into Meryl Wilsner's books, but once I'm in, I don't want to put them down! Once I hit about 20% I had to physically move the book to the other room or else I wouldn't be able to stop myself from reading.

At the heart of it, Cleat Cute is a soccer romance about 2 women who play on the same team (😉) and don't want a relationship, for their different reasons. The alternating POV really helps us get into their heads and understand them and their motivations for everything, from soccer to family to love. Set in New Orleans, we get to fall in love with a city as Phoebe does, and Grace reignites hers.

Phoebe is a rookie who just wants her chance, ideally she'd love to make it to the World Cup, but that's a little ambitious for someone in her first year of professional soccer, but when she gets the call to go to training, she cannot help her excitement. Once there, she starts training with her idol, Grace, who is the Captain of the Krewe, the team she'll be joining at the end of the month. This is better than anything she ever could've dreamed.

Grace has been playing professional soccer for a decade, and even though she's only 26, she's a veteran in the sport. She trains hard and works hard and soccer is her whole life. So when she sustains an injury, everything changes for her as she tries to figure out what the future may hold for her, both in her sport, but also in the feelings she's definitely not developing for a teammate.

I absolutely loved the growth we see of both Grace & Phoebe. I definitely have a soft spot for Phoebe, but seeing how Grace comes into herself is really one of the best parts of the this book.

I screamed and cried (not too much) and smiled a hell of a lot, and this book just truly made me feel happy. There was so much chemistry and just getting to see them both on the field and off, it was truly an amazing story to follow.

I definitely recommend this to anyone interested in sapphic romances, and also anyone who loves sports romances! This is such a cute, steamy contemporary romance that I think anyone can enjoy!

You're in for a treat! Cleat Cute by Meryl Wilsner has off the charts chemistry between a warm-hearted chaotic rookie & the reserved veteran captain on a women's soccer team. Sexy, engrossing, & accessible for soccer newbies too. Loved it!

4.5 <3

this was like a sapphic version of everything for you by chloe liese and i loved it so much. meryl wilsner is such a great author and they're easily climbing their way to being one of my auto-buy authors :')

Grace Henderson has been a star of the US Women’s National Team for ten years, even though she’s only 26. But when she’s sidelined with an injury, a bold new upstart, Phoebe Matthews, takes her spot. 22-year-old Phoebe is everything Grace isn’t—a gregarious jokester who plays with a joy that Grace lost somewhere along the way. The last thing Grace expects is to become teammates with benefits with this class clown she sees as her rival.

Phoebe Matthews is too focused on her first season as a professional soccer player to think about seducing her longtime idol. But when Grace ends up making the first move, they can’t keep their hands off of each other.

As the World Cup approaches and Grace works her way back from injury, a miscommunication leaves the women with hilariously different perspectives on their relationship. But they’re on the same page on the field, realizing they can play together instead of vying for the same position. With every tackle the tension between them grows, and both players soon have to decide what's more important—being together or making the roster.

The perfect blend of funny and steamy, Meryl Wilsner’s Cleat Cute is about being brave enough to win on and off the field.

🥅⚽️ Happy Release Day! ⚽️🥅

This was such a fun loving tale with Phoebe Matthews with her high energy coming in to a new soccer team and Grace Henderson being the veteran all-star player who doesn’t want her trying to take her position.

While Phoebe has always admired Grace she also can’t hide that she is also attracted to her. Grace is hard to read though and is all business when it comes to her playing on the field.

They were such a good fit for each other, balancing out each other’s strengths and weaknesses.

When Grace is sidelined with an injury and fearing how and when she will get back Phoebe works to prove she doesn’t want her spot. They are better when they are playing together on and off the field.

This has great representation of anxiety, undiagnosed ADHD and autism. I love that they were there for each other and broached the topic to help them.

I received an arc for review, all opinions are my own and given freely.

That's it Meryl Wilsner is now an auto buy author for me!

This was the perfect nostalgic sports romcom I didn't realize I needed this week. The Sports aspect reminded me of all the 90s sports movies, the romance reminded me of For the Love of the Game. I loved Grace and Pheobe, they were great main characters to follow. Watching them meet at camp and then become more than just teammates was fun to watch.

More than that, I loved reading about "introverted" Grace and "ADHD" Phoebe and how their opposites attract really worked for them. Their friendship felt genuine but more than that their romance was Steamy with an absolute capital and bolded S. I was invested far before that but the steam was a great addition to this.

Top marks for Wilsner talking about neurodiversity and mental health were a great addition here. There were many moments that I felt seen and heard in a lot of what Wilsner was writing. Grace and Pheobe figuring out their neurodiversity together and being supportive of one another was wildly important. It wasn't there to be a diversity point it was there because it was necessary, and it was never a problem to be neurospicy--which let's be honest is beautiful in of itself because there are so many people who are but will never admit it.

I cannot recommend this enough and feel like the Bend it Like Beckham fans would absolutely love this! 4.5/5 rounded up to 5 stars

Sex in the shower. I repeat; SEX IN THE SHOWER, and on the….well just read the damn book. It’s absolutely wild that every book by Meryl Wilsner is a hit. There is enough soccer for the sports sapphics, enough sex for the non-sports sapphics–so don’t pass this one up! I was never ready for it to be over and I could have read another 100k words about these two. Let’s pause for a minute though so I can say:

HOLY F***ING NEURODIVERGENT REPRESENTATION!!!! It was so clear, but so nuanced that I’m convinced this is an “own voices” story or Wilsner is one hell of a researcher on the topic. Who am I kidding…it’s probably both! The acute and systemic ways Phoebe struggles and thrives with ADHD are accurate in experience as well as observation. Her feelings about her own ADHD are familiar, frustrating, exhausting, and empowering. It was clear to me very early in the story that Grace was autistic, but I wasn’t sure if that was intentional. The way her storyline and self-discovery fit right alongside Phoebe’s was simply irresistible.

Some of my favorite quotes:
“Maybe this isn’t a metaphor. Mathews is actually just sharing facts about mushrooms.”

“Grace follows rules–not only rules like don’t disobey authority but rules for interactions, for conversation. So much of the world seems like it has to happen a certain way.”

There is so much packed into this book! It reads like a coming of age in adulthood story that just proves: there is always more to know about ourselves; we get to decide what we want in life; and, it’s okay to let people see the real you.

After singing the praises of Meryl Wilsner’s last book (MISTAKES WERE MADE - which you should read), I was SO excited to get my hands on a copy of their newest book. CLEAT CUTE is, to me, the perfect romance novel. It has 2 really complex and unique characters, tension, great supporting characters, and the perfect mix of interesting plot and steamy scenes. Finishing this book is leaving me with overwhelming feelings of joy and appreciation for the romance genre. This book is GOOD.

Also, as an adult woman with ADHD, I felt so seen by Phoebe’s character. I don’t think I’ve ever read a romance novel where one of the MC’s has ADHD (I know they exist!) and just the little comments about how her mind is never quiet or her time management issues really meant a lot to me! Thank you for that, MW. 🫶

More lesbian sports romance in 2023, PLEASE!

Huge thank you to @smpromance @stmartinspress for the advance copy and to @macmillan.audio for the advanced audiobook. I read about half physical and half audiobook and would recommend both formats. The audiobook is GOOD and has two narrators for the alternate pov which we LOVE.

This is a sapphic soccer romance following two different characters. There is a great balance between soccer and romance in this book, allowing to see both of the characters grow in their own way. I really enjoyed the soccer aspect of this book, there isn't too much where if you do not like soccer you'll be lost, but just enough soccer references and info that if you do follow soccer it makes you smile!

This was a really enjoyable read! I'm not a big soccer fan or sports romance fan, but I am a sucker for a sapphic Meryl Wilsner novel.

This book is rivals- to FWB- relationship featuring neurodivergent MCs. I enjoyed that there was a main romance plot as well as an external WoSo plot with the national team.

I do wish there had been more expansion on the external plot- it really only gets resolved in the epilogue. There was also some conflict with the soccer coach that was never fully resolved either. Additionally, I wish the epilogue had been more focused on the main couple.

Meryl Wilsner does it again with this absolutely adorable book about Phoebe, a young woman being drafted to a professional soccer team, the same team where Grace, her hero/crush plays. Unfortunately said Grace has been burned in the past and has no intention of letting anyone close again for fear that they're going to use and hurt her. Soccer balls and sparks fly but can Phoebe convince Grace that she is interested in her as a person and not as a leg up in the soccer world?

I really enjoyed this book, I couldn't put it down! I've loved every Meryl Wilsner book so far and this one does not disappoint.

I’m not gonna lie, this one lost me for a bit in the middle. I really enjoyed the first couple of chapters, and then I felt stuck in a Groundhog Day situation until about the last 20%

There was so much to like and love about this story: the representation, the humanness of the characters, the soccer storyline, the friendships, etc.

I just wanted it to delve more into that and less into how much grace and Phoebe miscommunicated and didn’t understand each other.

Loved the concept, it brought me back around at the end for sure, but could have done some more developing/editing in the middle, imo.

Thanks to NetGalley, as well as the author and publisher for this ARC in exchange for my honest review!

Phoebe Matthews is the talkative jokester that just got drafted to play with the New Orleans Krewe.
Phoebe is star struck by Grace Henderson, she finally gets the opportunity to call her idol her captain. But Grace quickly realizes how opposite they truly are. Grace is the serious captain that’s strictly here for business. After one dare, these two opposites realize how quick they attract.

Thank you NetGalley and Meryl Wilsner for the ARC. I absolutely adored Grace and Phoebe’s relationship. The story was cute and fluffy. As a soccer player, it was nice to finally read a soccer romance that revolved around soccer and romance equally. Although I enjoyed the plot and the cute relationship between the characters, I do wish it wasn’t in third person. I had a hard time staying focused with all the internal monologue. I felt like there was a lot of saying instead of doing. Aside from that, I do recommend this book, it was fun and cute!

4ish stars

I’m not a big fan of soccer or sports in general (or books about them), so I wasn’t sure how I’d feel about it being the major backdrop of this sapphic romcom, but I decided to give it a try because I read and enjoyed a previous book from the author (and because I loved the cover). I did like the book and the co-protagonists; I was rooting for them. Wow, though, do they just launch right into the vivid sex scenes; I don’t know why the first one caught me by surprise, but I was expecting a bit more lead-up to it. Not necessarily a bad thing, but a point to note. Overall, the book was sweet, serious, and funny, filled with soccer, sex, drama, and fun. I’m sure many others will also appreciate it.

The title alone made me know I was going to enjoy this book! This is the sweetest, sexiest grumpy/sunshine romance I've read in a long time. Phoebe Matthews is a professional soccer rookie drafted from an essentially unknown college. She loves the game, loves life, loves sex, and loves her family. This character is so fun and full of joy- I completely believed her. Grace Henderson is a 26 year old soccer veteran and superstar who started playing professionally while still a teenager, and while she still loves the game she has lost a lot of her joy because she keeps doing what she "should" do as a veteran and captain. The two women meet and while they couldn't be more opposite the sparks fly almost immediately. Grace in particular fights her desire and feelings because she has been hurt before, but when an injury sidelines her she is forced to examine herself and her supposedly casual, "friends with benefits" relationship with Phoebe.

The pacing of the plot felt a little slow at times and I found it dragging just a bit in the middle, but overall I really loved this book. There is ADHD, autistic, trans, non-binary, and lesbian representation that is all very thoughtful and authentic. The characters feel real, like they are out there living in the world, and author Meryl Wilsner is a master of dialog. I found myself grinning and tearing up at various points, and the sex scenes are plentiful, non-repetitive, and hot.

Thank you NetGalley, Meryl Wilsner, and St. Martin's Griffin for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own. If you're a fan of sports romance and LGBTQIA+ themes, this book is a no-brainer. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

This book had me missing my soccer days, but oh so happy that I am a lesbian.

Cleat Cute is a sapphic romance between two soccer players on the same team. Phoebe Matthews has grown up loving soccer and looking up to her idol Grace Henderson. When she gets the call up to the January camp for the U.S. Women's National team, she can't believe it. Upon arrival, she quickly makes an impression on Grace. Phoebe is everything Grace isn't, and everything she shouldn't like. Phoebe's loudness and skill with a soccer ball quickly endear her to Grace, who tries to do anything but let her in. When a bet is lost and the two share a brief kiss, nothing is the same. Unable to push past the obvious attraction, Poebe sets out to do the things she is best at; getting the girl and scoring the goal.

This book. This Book! I loved it. It brought my sapphic soccer heart joy. the characters were so well fleshed out and the representation they brought was incredible. having them both identify as Lesbian but in their own ways is so important. It shows how being queer is not the same for everyone, and that a person's identity is unique to them. The Autism and ADHD representation was also very good in my opinion. It felt very realistic without being too stereotypical.

The only drawback for me was the miscommunication. I have a personal vendetta against the miscommunication trope, so this brought it down from being a perfect book to me. Looking over that, I hope that this book can bring queer joy to everyone that reads it.

I received this arc from NetGalley and Griffin in exchange for an honest review.

I normally hate the miscommunication trope and this book is full of it but both Phone and Grace were so endearing in their own ways it almost made sense. Phone with her ADHD that she’s been trying to handle on her own and Grace with her anxiety and self-worth being tied to soccer were both so relatable and fun. Both felt grounded and you empathized with both of their plights and frustrations. I’d definitely recommend picking this up for a fun, flirty, sapphic, soccer rom com.