Thank you to Netgalley and St.Martin’s Press (St. Martin’s Griffin) for a copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

I was really looking forward to reading "Cleat Cute" and had high hopes for it. While there were a few moments I enjoyed, it ended up being somewhat disappointing.

In the beginning, the story captured my interest, but I lost it pretty quickly. One issue I noticed was that the book tended to tell instead of show. It relied a lot on the character's inner thoughts, which made it a bit dull. Trimming down these inner dialogues could have made the story move along better. The ending of the book was confusing. It left me feeling like some things weren't resolved, and important events should have happened earlier in the story. The ending didn't fit well with the rest of the book, and it felt incomplete.

I didn't connect with Grace's character. She seemed to have trouble understanding Phoebe, and she made a big deal out of small things. Also, relying so much on TikTok for information felt unrealistic and hurt the story's credibility. On a positive note, Phoebe's character was a highlight. She was relatable and likable, which was a nice change from some of the frustrations in the story.

In conclusion, "Cleat Cute" had its promising moments but also tested my patience. It had potential, but it struggled with pacing, character development and an unsatisfying ending. Despite my initial excitement, I ended up feeling somewhat let down by the overall reading experience.

SO FUN.

I found the pacing a little unsettling and the conflict resolution a little unsatisfying, but overall, this was really sweet and joyful and full of heart.

Thanks to St. Martins and NetGalley for this ARC!

I was so excited when I saw that I had the chance to read Cleat Cute because I have enjoyed all of Wilsner's previous work. This one was no different. The story of the rookie player Phoebe and the star of the team Grace was such a cute and fun (also spicy) read. I appreciated all the tropes that brought angst and miscommunications that come with new romances.

While I really liked the book, I do think that in some parts of the book dialogue was off for my taste and that some of the inner monologues that were throughout the book were lacking and seemed somewhat repetitive or long. I think this is a very good book for what it is, but I don't think that it has a special spark that would make me reach for this one over and over again

Cleat Cute is a sports romance featuring well developed, likable characters. Wilsner is no stranger to developing well written stories, she is a common name among sapphic readers.
Her talent is well used for a story like Cleat Cute, featuring younger characters. I did struggle with portions of this book but overall I really, really enjoyed it the writing is fantastic, the smut is perfect and the book flows beautifully. A full 5/5 stars for Cleat Cute.

OBSESSED!!! I think this is my favorite book of the year??? I am not a crier. I don't cry when I read. But this book made me bawl like a little girl. There is undiagnosed ADHD rep, there is anxiety rep, the girls both have complicated relationships with their families, and oh yeah... soccer gays.

I don't think this is a direct Ted Lasso inspired book. I don't think that Phoebe really fits into any character that is in Ted Lasso, but this book stands on its own.

I just... I have no words. This was perfection.

Trigger Warnings: cursing, drinking, sex, coming out

Representation: Grace: Lesbian, Autistic; Phoebe: Lesbian, ADHD; side characters: Nonbinary, bisexual, pansexual

Cleat Cute is a sapphic rivals to lovers rom com where two soccer teammates are at odds before falling in love as their team gears up for the World Cup.

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. 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 friends with benefits with this class clown she sees as her rival.

Phoebe Matthews has always admired Grace’s skill and was star struck to be training alongside her idol. But she quickly finds herself looking at Grace as more than a mere teammate. After one daring kiss, she’s hooked. Grace is everything she has been waiting to find.

As the World Cup approaches, and Grace works her way back from injury, the women decide to find a way they can play together instead of vying for the same position. Except, when they are off the field, Grace is worried she’s catching feelings while Phoebe thinks they are dating. As the tension between them grows, will both players realize they care more about their relationship than making the roster?

Is there such a thing as a perfect book!!?!? I absolutely adored everything about this book! I honestly don’t have any criticism! And the fact that this book published after the 2023 World Cup is just *chef’s kiss*!! The timing of publishing this right after the very tournament that occurs in the end of the book is perfect. I loved getting the chance to continue celebrating women’s soccer despite the tournament coming to an end.

This author has become an auto read for me! They have an amazing style and write stories for messy adult queers. The realistic discussion of sex and c*ming is so refreshing! I love seeing these two queer women be imperfect and have sex and play soccer and all the things! They are incredibly realistic and human. The author has such a skill for making relatable characters and making these characters the ones we all need to see represented. This book is an absolute must for everyone and especially anyone looking for themselves and their loved ones in a story outside their everyday routine.

I don't really have the words for how much I love this book. It is definitely one one of my favorite books of the year - maybe of all time.

I adore both of the characters, the relationship, the personal growth, the neurodiversity, New Orleans. This book has everything I could have asked for. The ADHD and autistic coded love is so well done, and seeing (undiagnosed) adult women learn about neurodivergence was so well done and just added to what is already a beautiful story. And a small note, but I also really appreciated how Pheobe immediately backed off flirting when she thought Grace wasn't interested - none of the "no means try harder" or "friendzone" angst or "its all in good fun" just respect for a boundary. I didn't realize how different (and appropriate) this reaction was until I read this and was surprised. There is a great cast of supporting characters and setting it in New Orleans pushed this book into another level.

If you love queer romance, especially sports romance, or are looks for more neurodivergence in romance, I highly recommend this book.

Super sweet romance from Meryl Wilsner. I'm not a huge sports romance fan but this one hit all the right notes with the sports elements and the romantic entanglements!

This is my second Meryl Wilsner book. This time around, I liked the characters, and I enjoyed it more than ‘Something to Talk About’ in terms of pacing. Phoebe is a sunshine character bordering on manic pixie dreamgirl territory, but her ADHD tendencies are actually DISCUSSED rather than just treated as quirks. Hooray! Grace is the grumpy childhood hero turned lover whose autistic coding gets acknowledged directly toward the end. Double hooray! The third person present-tense narration choice felt a little odd in places, but for the most part it worked.

Except.

The last third or so of this book hinges on a miscommunication (or lack of communication) trope, which drove me crazy. Especially because the narration style means that we as readers can see the whole thing clearly, and the plot required that the characters say and do odd things in order to maintain the miscommunication for entirely too long. For me, it unraveled after that. Reading almost a hundred pages of forced miscommunication didn’t make me want them together; it made me want them both to work on themselves. As a neurospicy person, I can see what Wilsner was getting at with the original miscommunication (Grace is bad at social cues; GIRL, SAME) but the way it dragged on and escalated reduced my enjoyment of the book significantly. That said, if you like miscommunication tropes, go for it.

Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read this book as an ARC.

Woohoo!! I finally read one of my ARCs and read it in enough time to post my review prior to pub date! Let’s get into it.

Before I get too far into this review, I want to preface this with, I had one set of expectations based off of the synopsis and I didn’t think that it was an accurate representation of the book. Unfortunately, it highly impacted my experience of the book.

This was advertised as a sapphic, soccer rivals to lovers. I personally felt like it was more of an opposites attract type relationship. I didn’t see the two FMCS as soccer rivals, more so just opposite personalities. With that being said, I did enjoy the steamy scenes, but outside of that, I didn’t really see their chemistry.

This book does have a lot of soccer references and abbreviations, so if you have that background, you’ll appreciate it! I unfortunately do not, so I was a little confused from time to time.

Overall, I was really excited for this one, but I felt like it wasn’t for me. I didn’t see the synopsis play out until the last ~35% ish and then the ending took a right hook that it gave me whip lash. Loved the steam and thought it was bingeable, but felt like the plot was all over the place for my liking :/

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the free eARC in exchange for an honest review. Pub date 9/19/23.

I'm having a really difficult time getting into this book and I think it's just not for me.
I find the writing style, with short sentences, almost staccato like, to be difficult for me to follow. Some more variation in the sentence structures would have helped me. I also felt like it was very inner-monologue-y and not much dialogue or description of character interactions. Maybe if it had been written from first-person POV, with alternating between the FMCs, it would be easier for me to read. I don't know.

I also didn't like that a kiss was part of a bet. That just makes me cringe a bit.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC. Opinions are entirely my own.

This author does it again with this book. The last one I read from her had me blushing from beginning to end. This book did the same but this time a little more, we have Phoebe who is a wild card, she’s hella fun, and she finally gets drafted into the soccer team of her dreams working alongside her idol Grace. This is like grump/sunshine romance trope I adore, if don’t nicely and this was IT!!!!!! Grace being the grump of course, lol she’s composed, a planner, the captain of the team, she’s very private and Phoebe is just different. It was amazing seeing Grace come out her shell, it was even more amazing, seeing her support towards phoebe and how phoebe takes that support. This book had it all for me. But the STEAM YA’LL!!!!! The steam is always something to appreciate. Meryl does it again!

Thank you Netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book.

✨ Review ✨ Cleat Cute by Meryl Wilsner; Narrated by Dana Varden; Zim Avaltrades

This book was the absolute cutest! Rookie Phoebe Matthews and long-time soccer star Grace Henderson meet up at a training camp for the women's national team before their season will start on the same New Orleans women's team. Grace is cool and collected and Phoebe is a ball of chaotic energy, but as Phoebe arrives early for the pre-season they begin to build a friendship. Despite their very different backgrounds, they start to hit it off, and this story is just so adorable!

I loved how this book also explored neurodivergence in adult women -- both Phoebe and Grace have certain traits that lead to them exploring these things. I thought it was shared positively and in a way that was relatable!

The book is also just a really lovely celebration of queerness in women's sports communities!

Overall, I loved this read, and didn't want to switch from the audio to the ebook because the narrators were just so good at hooking me into the story!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 (4.5)
Genre: contemporary f/f romance, sports romance
Setting: New Orleans and with the national team's training
Length: 10 hrs and 53 mins
Pub Date: 19 Sep 2023

Read this if you like:
⭕️ women's soccer + queer relationships
⭕️ friends to lovers
⭕️ New Orleans and delicious food

Thanks to Macmillan Audio, St. Martin's Griffin and #netgalley for an advanced e-copy of this book!

This was one of my most anticipated release this year as I adored Mistakes Were Made. I was so disappointed by this book. It felt incredibly repetitive and just one massive miscommunication over and over and over. The whole obsession/stalking was super weird to me as well.

I liked this a lot! I am not usually drawn to books that heavily feature sports but this book did work for me. The only thing is that I couldn't super relate to either of the main characters as I can't imagine being THAT driven and focused on one thing (soccer in this case), my personality just is not like that and I have no experience playing team sports. That being said, I enjoyed getting to know both Grace and Phoebe and I thought their romance was sweet and perfect with the right amount of spice. I also really appreciated the representation of neurodiversity in the book - it's a bit of a spoiler but one of the characters helps the other to discover a potential diagnosis and the way this part of the story was told really hit me. I loved a lot about their relationship and the story was just overall a joy to read.

Did not finish book. Stopped at 56%.
I was really excited about this book. It looked so good and there were parts that were pure. 🔥🔥🔥 It had so much fun dialogue and the spicy was so good.

I just couldn’t get behind all of the internal monologues. The story would drag for pages of nonsense. It was to much for me. I just wasn’t having a good time.

I was given a ARC of this book in exchange for my review.

Gah I wanted to connect and love this one so much but it fell short for me unfortunately. I’ve played soccer my whole life so it wasn’t the soccer setting or terminology but rather after a strong opening, the plot just seemed to stall.
I connected with the undiagnosed ADHD/Autism representation and really liked/connected with Phoebe but overall found the connection between Grace and Phoebe to be immature and forced. The steamy scenes are well-written and super spicy but because I wasn’t invested in the couple’s connection they also fell flat for me. The heaps of miscommunication was what finally rounded out the shortcomings for me as well. Love the author, love the idea, and I think others will still connect and enjoy this book, but it was not a home run for me. Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for my advanced copy in exchange for my honest feedback.

I thought the premise for this book was so cool but the actual book left me underwhelmed. I had a lot of trouble connecting to Grace’s character. She felt very one note to me. I felt like her chapters just talked about how much pressure she was under over and over. I also thought the ADHD plot line came in way too late.

I did not vibe with this book being written in third person present tense. I was so annoyed by the constant use of the characters names I almsot DNFd the book. I ended up mostly reading this ebook version because the audio was basically intolerable for me.

The book itself was fine, I liked the story line and the characters, I just couldn’t get past the writing style choices.

Thanks so much to the publisher and to Netgalley for providing me with an e-ARC copy of this book! I will get to writing and doing a full review of this on my primary reviewing platforms once my thoughts are finalized.