Phoebe Matthews has just been signed to the New Orleans professional women’s soccer team, where she will play alongside several of her heroes, including Grace Henderson. Phoebe has idolized Grace for years and is stoked to play alongside her #soccercrush. But Grace doesn’t have any time or patience for a relationship, which she makes clear to Phoebe, who says she’s fine with a FWB situation. But as things heat up on and off the pitch, their perspectives begin to shift.
This was one of the cutest stories I’ve read this year. I love when queerness just IS. Both Phoebe and Grace already know that they are queer. Phoebe’s mental health issues became a central plot point for several chapters, which, as someone with the same diagnosis, was pretty off-putting. It felt like it was shoehorned in for representation’s sake. It had the feel of an intervention, which was just kind of icky for me.
The queer representation was excellent. There were married lesbians with a baby, an AFAB character who had had top surgery, and, of course, the main characters were sapphic.
While there were several sex scenes, they were all vanilla. No toys, no experimentation, just the facts, ma’am. I give it 2.5 peppers, primarily due to the amount of scenes.
Overall, I gave this 4 stars. While it had some issues for me personally, as far as my comfort and taste levels go, it’s a cute, fun read that is sure to get you into reading sapphic romance or out of a reading slump, whatever you need.

Listen, Meryl Wilsner really just gets my brain. The way they write characters is so pleasing to me, and I can't help but eat it up.

I loved Phoebe from the jump and the further into the story I got, I saw a lot of my own behaviors reflected back to me (ouch, Meryl) and it was SUPER eye opening. She was just such an affectionate, golden retriever of a character trying her hardest that I couldn't help but fall in love with her.

Grace being her super serious, straightforward-thinking counterpart worked so well. I loved their banter, and Phoebe literally pulling Grace out from behind the walls she built was so fun to watch.

The ending got a bit rough for me mostly because I got super anxious about the way Grace and Phoebe were communicating but not hearing what the other was saying, but I knew Meryl would pull it all together in the end.

Cleat Cute is just as romantic, funny, and steamy as you'd expect from Wilsner. A really fun sports romance read!

A lovely sporty sapphic romance novel that’s sure to delight all readers. I have read every other book by Meryl Wilsner, and they never disappoint their readers. The story’s pacing and overall detail truly made me care about Soccer. I loved the characters fiercely and rooted for them wherever I could.

Cute. Sweet.
And very very lovely.
Merl Wilsner is a voice of sapphic romance and I'm so glad that I get to read books about people like me when before I never could. Thank you!

I loved this book! I will pick up anything Wilsner writes, and this did not disappoint. You are immersed in the world of professional soccer in a non-intimidating way, and are quickly introduced to a loveable (yet quirky) group of players. There is stream, miscommunication, and conflict- all you need for a great sapphic romance. Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC!

Oh. Yes! This is another great book by Meryl Wilsner! Loved the characters and the reading about soccer lol!

I love Meryl Wilsner, but this book missed the mark for me right from the beginning. The characters didn't speak to me, and I'm not a fan of third person present tense. The book seemed a little clunkier in writing style than past books by this author. I still look forward to reading more from Wilsner.

Adorable.
What a sweet soccer sapphic romance. I loved the characters and the drama and the spiiiice. I’m not usually into sports but this this is what I’m into.

Phoebe wants to play soccer professionally and finally has an opportunity to get on a World Cup team with her childhood crush. They say don’t meet your heroes but in this case 👀 they both can’t stay away.

Lightly grumpy/sunshine more like serious/jokester
Loved.

Thanks to NetGalley and St Martins Press for an eARC.

I enjoyed my time with Cleat Cute, it was funny, with some steamy flirty moments. Overall I give the book 3 stars . Even tho I didn’t like the information dump at certain points in the book. I enjoyed reading it.

When I started this book I was hopping to get a five star read but the characters were quite grating and repetitive at times so I felt disconnected from them which therefore made me not lOVE the overall book. This book could definitely be a cute read for some people but as I am not in luv with how the 2 mcs treated each other. They both deserved better communication. Loved the representation tho so props for that<3

Cleat Cute, emphasis on the “cute.” A lot of emphasis on the “cute.” While it suffered from an excess of miscommunication, I had fun anyway, which was a surprise to myself as I had DNF’ed Something to Talk About several years ago. I’m glad I gave this book a shot.

My First Book by Meryl Wilsner and I'm blown away!
It had my favorite Features:

Soccer
Grumpy/Sunshine
Veteran/Rookie
Childhood Idol
Little to no relationship drama

I loved Phoebe and Grace together. They seemed an unlikely pair but Phoebe with her joyous personality melted Grace's defenses and made her fall in love with her. I loved their interaction which was so fun.
Despite being a sports romance the soccer parts didn't shadow the romance.
Overall an enjoyable read and in my opinion, it would be better with fewer inner monologues. Sometimes they disrupt the story's pacing. but it didn't make me skip those parts.
I did wish for a longer Epilogue.
Thank you Netgalley for providing an arc copy

i wanted to like this book so bad. the premise is cute, and i’ve been a huge soccer fan my entire life.

but i found the characters flat, and maybe i could have pushed through it, but it seemed like the writing was a lot of telling instead of showing. i couldn’t find the chemistry between the two convincing enough.

i might have enjoyed this a little bit ago when i was reading romance nonstop, but now i’ve been more in a fantasy reading kick. but i think i would still want to recommend this to people who want a diverse romantic book.

This book is perfect for anyone who is rightfully obsessed with the US Women’s National Team. It’s the perfect sapphic fanfic. I really enjoyed this book. I liked Grace and Phoebe. It was fun seeing relationship evolve from celebrity crush to teammates to friends with benefits to more. This book delivers a better twist on miscommunication, because while there is some scenes with it they work out to communicate and understand where their assumptions went wrong. Honorable mention to the full team because there are some fun personalities that I wish we could to see more of. This would totally make for a great series- think A League of Their Own but make it soccer. I would definitely recommend this book!

*I received the ARC for free from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.*

Absolutely amazing sapphic soccer swooning. This made me watch the World Cup. A whole world of women's soccer knowledge in this book and plenty of sweat earned. Such a cute romcom, very sexy.

Fun, sapphic read about professional soccer players.

I love soccer! And most of the talk about it in this book I could relate to, since playing at a higher level. But some of it is petty and drama filled, which - yeah there's some of that IRL too. I loved the fact that the author included second jobs & financial struggles.

The 2 main characters, Grace and Phoebe, each had their own issues but seemed easy for them to get together.
Grace is introverted, and the captain of the professional team Phoebe or "Phenom" was drafted to in New Orleans. There are some New Orleans city scenes but I wished there were more.
Phoebe is extroverted to a fault. They get together, a bit of opposites attract, and it's spicy. The back and forth between the two of them is excruciating but not in a good way. SO much inner dialogue that is unnecessary. Half of the book could have been cut and it would be much better.

ADHD rep was good!

This was such a fun read and I really enjoyed it, but I found it underwhelming compared to the other works I'd read by Meryl Wilsner. I still would recommend it to my friends but it fell flat in a lot of ways, especially toward the end. The pacing for the development of the relationship was off — first it was really slow, then it sped up way too much.

This was a really nice read. A first from the author. I would definitely read it again. The story kind of reminded me of two famous soccer players that I shall not name but I feel like I know.

So happy I got an ARC for this book so I could read it during the Women’s World Cup. I wish it was already out so everyone else could experience it the same way! From a marketing perspective I do think the timing of the release date was a major missed opportunity and mistake on the publisher for not releasing this during the World Cup

I liked that it is opposites attract rather than your typical grumpy/sunshine dynamic. The contrast between the two of them has substance. Type A introvert and a Type B extrovert felt more believable than normal grumpy sunshine dynamics. Those usually come off almost cartoonish, but I could picture Grace and Phoebe as people I know. The neurotypical journey and representation was a great addition as well.

I appreciate how well they communicate even though they’re different.

I will say the book was a little slow and hard to get into l at first. The best part of the book is the sweet spot right as they’re getting together and the beginning of their relationship and then it just kind of because redundant and low again. Their inner monologues were very repetitive. The author seemed to tell us everything rather than show us.

However, I still loved it. I loved how the author was able to create two very different characters, show how they contrast and clash, without ever demeaning either of their personalities or characteristics. The story was cute and I loved the queer, neurodivergent, and soccer rep. Would recommend!

Thank you to the publisher, author, and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest rating and review.

2/5

I wanted to love this book so bad! It’s sapphic fiction about soccer. Given that the World Cup is currently ruling my life, it felt like the perfect time to read this. But, wow oh wow, this book was not for me. I liked that the book was about soccer, and I appreciated the spotlight on the fact that many professional women soccer players have to have a second job. And that’s a comprehensive list of everything I liked about the book. The two main characters were unlikeable, one more than the other. The one was so incredibly obnoxious, I cringed every time I had to read dialogue from her or read her inner monologuing. There was no believable chemistry between the two mains - one second the one character was annoyed by the other and the next second they were joking up and infatuated with each other. It was also so so repetitive. Each time the book switched perspectives, it was just the same inner monologue and creating somethings out of nothings. Overall, I was very disappointing.