This was the second book for this author that I read, and I loved it just as much as the first one. It has wonderful representation and is charming.

As someone who cared about soccer for one weekend and never before or since, I will say first that you definitely do not need to care about soccer to care about this book. Soccer is of course the backdrop, and it's important to both of the main characters, but none of it is so detailed that it loses readers who aren't soccer fans. As a theater person rather than a sports-of-any-sort person, I could still relate to a lot of this book. In fact, I would say this book is more about neurodivergence than it is about soccer, which is a big win for me personally.

I loved the characters a lot. Their banter made me laugh, and I smiled a lot through most of their interactions, whether it was in a this-is-funny way or a I'm-so-happy-for-these-characters-connecting kind of way. I definitely felt like I could understand why they liked each other, which is the most important thing for me in romance. I loved how seriously they took each other, pretty much from the beginning. I would not have been mad if some of the side characters got more page-time as well because they were all lovely, but I get that it's not their story, so.

I will say that most of the conflict seemed to stem from miscommunication, which can be frustrating and isn't usually my favorite, but it was so understandably in-character that I actually didn't really mind it here. It never felt contrived, and it was resolved quickly enough that it didn't make me wonder how they would ever be able to make a relationship work moving forward. I also have to say, the way the final misunderstanding was resolved was fantastic and it actually made me cackle.

This was definitely my favorite romance I've read in a while, and while I'm not actually a huge romance reader, this was definitely one to remind me why I like coming back to this genre.

I ate this up. Sat down and read it in an afternoon, and had the absolute best time. Did I cry a lot because I get super emotional about women's sports? Yes. Probably more than the average person reading this book will cry, but it's a thing. Don't watch the Olympics with me. At this current moment, being very excited for the USWNT at the World Cup, and then reading THIS? I'm lucky I didn't drown.

As an extrovert and a Capricorn, I identified with both of our leads - Grace and Matthews. Yes, her name is Phoebe, but there's this whole thing about how Matthews seems to capture her in a different way. Grace is the veteran player, a star since she was a teen, private, closed off, serious, afraid of betrayal, and afraid of being hurt. To the point that she has avoided romantic relationships and basically hidden her sexuality, and lucked into a lot of the friendships she does have. Matthews is the rookie - the wild, falling apart flirt who could make friends with inanimate objects. She grew up idolizing Grace, as well as crushing on her, but neither expected the immediate chemistry between them. The banter is SO GOOD, and I found myself smiling at my screen quite often.

Grace has finally met someone who isn't put off by her surliness, maybe even likes it, and Grace found someone who thinks she's worth the time and energy to help her be more organized and on time. I think it's important that the potential neurodivergence of both characters is a later plot point - both autism and ADHD are often undiagnosed in adolescent girls, and I love that this lovingly highlights the chance to help yourself as an adult.

And oh, the spice. As a pan person married to a man, I literally asked myself why because damn, I wanted to be doing what they're doing. The psychological exploration of pleasure with a partner is also fantastic here - the concept of taking care of each other, of relaxing and letting go, of enjoying the pleasure in the moment instead of chasing the "achievement" of orgasm - it really explores some of women's sexual hang ups but making it sexy instead of introspective.

Can I also mention that we get to read about female (as well as some non-binary team members) performing at the height of their sport, the dedication, hard work, struggles, and strategy that they go through is incredible. It focuses on some of the real problems and successes. The fact that most PROFESSIONAL female athletes also need to work second and third jobs to survive, then go on to represent our country, taking names and kicking butt? That should make you mad.

This won't though. It's spicy and adorable.

The start of the FIFA Women's World Cup felt like the perfect time to start this ARC.

I adored every page of this book. It has equal parts plot and "plot." Phoebe has you rooting for her from the start, in both her athletic and her romantic endeavors. This story also does a nice job of touching on issues such as socioeconomic background, mental health, neurodiverse persons, and being queer.

Both Grace and Phoebe experience a lot of growth throughout the story, and what I didn't expect was for both of them to be neuro-diverse (or at least written so). Grace was especially relatable to me as someone who was a "gifted child" and is only in adulthood realizing there's more to life than your job and that you are allowed to set healthy boundaries for your own happiness.

I LOVED this book. I love sports romances in general, but this one was even better than most I’ve read lately.

Phoebe Matthews has been working to get onto the Women’s World Cup team since she was a kid and getting signed to the New Orleans Krewe is the first big step to getting there. What’s even more exciting? Her idol, Grace Henderson, is the captain of the Krewe. As often happens in romance novels, they inevitably succumb to their mutual attraction despite their opposite personalities and many, many outside pressures.

Wilsner did a great job of writing these two very distinct personalities. I loved both these girls so much. Another thing I loved? She absolutely knocked it out of the park with the neurodivergent representation. It was subtle and well done throughout.

Overall, definitely one to keep on your radars and I’ll be recommending it far and wide. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the eARC in exchange for an honest review!

A fun, cute romance read. I liked the main characters and all of the soccer elements. Perfect book as the Women's World Cup is starting

Grumpy sunshine, meeting your idols, sapphic, friends with benefits, neurodivergent characters. If you love sports romance with two wildly opposite characters who are lusting over each other, pick this one up.

Meryl Wilsner writes a playful romance about one soccer legend and a just-out-of-college rookie whose entire lives revolve around soccer. That is until a secret friends with benefits shows them some things are more important than their spot on the team. It's all about the little trials and triumphs. Not only is Phoebe completely new to the city and a professional soccer team, but with the low wage from the team, she's making do working two jobs as well as trying to earn her spot on the national women's team. On the other side, Grace finds herself benched and forced to face the reality that she's not happy with how the people in her life view her as just a soccer player.

Told from two perspectives, this romance is full of funny team camaraderie, touring New Orleans during Mardi Gras, and burning hot spicy scenes. There's a slight discussion about ADHD and Autism that I thought could've been better wound throughout the entire story. However, Phoebe's energetic nature and Grace's introspective trials made for a cute sports romance on the surface with a deeper meaning to think about after.

[3.5 stars] So excited to have received an ARC of Wilsner's highly-anticipated new sapphic romance! I've read both their previous books and loved 'Mistakes Were Made', so could not wait to get into this. I enjoyed the strong personalities of the two main characters and appreciated how the (many) spicy scenes between them were written.

Though as someone who doesn't watch sports, much of the football (soccer) jargon went over my head - someone who is more into the sport may appreciate those parts more. In the team settings, it felt like there were too many infrequent side characters, making it hard to keep track of who each one was and anything about their personalities, which sometimes made scenes with side character interactions confusing. And I wish the neurodivergence aspect was discussed much earlier in the story since it felt like it was added as more of an afterthought and could have potentially added so much to previous scenes.

Despite a few issues, this was an enjoyable read with thoughtfully-written characters, and plenty of spicier scenes, which I'm sure Wilsner fans will definitely expect and appreciate.

This was my first Meryl Wilsner book and it was a solid 4 star read. I enjoyed the characters and that we got a balance of their personal lives and their team lives. There was a good amount of spice without taking away from plot development and it was overall an enjoyable read. I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves a good queer romance or enjoyed Ted Lasso!

Cleat Cute by Meryl Wilsner
Pub day is 9/19 🎉

I'm not sporty at all, and sports romance isn't generally a favorite category for me, but make it queer and suddenly I'm interested!!

Phoebe Matthews is the newest player for the New Orleans professional women's soccer team, the Krewe. She has looked up to the team captain, Grace Henderson, for years and had her poster on her bedroom wall growing up (a celebrity romance micro-trope I love!!!)
As they gear up for the upcoming World Cup, the two become closer, work out a little friends with benefits arrangement, and oops--catch feelings!!

What I loved:
⚽️ The grumpy x sunshine dynamic was chef's kiss. Phoebe was so adorable to me. I love a sunshine who can't shut up! Grace was sometimes a tad meaner than I like 'em, but for the most part, I liked these archetypes for this story.
⚽️ I really loved the New Orleans setting. I've wanted to go to NOLA forever now, and the king cake, beignets, restaurants, and Mardi Gras moments made me even more excited to get there someday.
⚽️ This book reminded me of one of my favorite romances, Everything For You by Chloe Liese, which is also a soccer teammate romance with one MC being the other one's idol and the idol being in physical pain or injured.
⚽️ I love that Grace's character arc leads her to figuring out what boundaries are needed for her to enjoy the game again.
⚽️ The chemistry between these two, the flirting, the bets, and the steam were all so well done. Hot hot heat! I love Meryl Wilsner's writing!

What didn't work for me:
⚽️ While the chemistry was there, I wasn't always convinced that Grace liked Phoebe as a person. Eventually we see more hints that she does; missing her, desiring her in her space, telling her that she loves her quirks etc. But for too much of the book I wanted Grace to admit warmer feelings--even just to herself.
⚽️ It's a bit messy. I felt overwhelmed by the conflicts. And if the reader is going to be put through these conflicts, then they should have been more resolved. The experience was like, "oh no, that's not good. That's going to be a big problem for them." And after two lines of dialogue that does *not* even begin to clear things up, the characters decide to smooch and let it go. 🤔 I think I would have been more convinced about their HEA if they were given some kind of honeymoon period. In the short beats of this plot where you could call it honeymoon, the conflict looms too large. The reader is always aware of a huge miscommunication that will inevitably blow up, among other smaller unresolved conflicts between the characters....

Overall, I felt so invested in the first half, but I wasn't a huge fan of where the second half went. *I cared a lot* though and couldn't put it down, so even though there were issues for me, I still highly recommend giving this a try if you like sapphic sports romance!! (3.75/4 stars)

I thought it was a pretty sweet and funny romance books.

The writing style was very engaging and easy to follow. I love it!!

I LOVED this book so much it had the perfect levels of cuteness, romance, sports, and spice. I loved the character development and how although they both started as somewhat on dimensional, especially phoebe grew on me as we learned more about her and how her actual relationships dynamic shifts w Grace as she is able to top Grace and gives grace the room to be taken care of for once. i think their relationship was perfectly balanced and my only complaint is that I would love to have a sequel and if not them, maybe one of their fellow queer teammates in the same world. Overall 12/10 one of the best wlw books ive ever read

thank you to netgalley and the publisher for the arc in exchange for an honest review

this is my first meryl wilsner novel and i liked it! good sapphic romances are hard to come by, especially spicy ones. i did become kind of a skim reader during the sports scenes but that’s typical for me.

overall it was a pretty good book! nothing life changing, but a fun read 😊

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

Honestly this book had me at baby-girlifying the Grumpy character.

Really loved the dynamic of the romantic interests- hyperactive chatty red headed sunshine girl and the reclusive fame hating grumpy one. And honestly, worth mentioning, I’ve never been into soccer before and don’t honestly know much about rules or positions, but this book made those bits easy to follow and interesting.

Very inclusive book with lovable background characters. Good split of sports ambition, identity struggles, family struggles, even some financial struggles, and romance (obviously). Could totally see this becoming a series about various players on this national team!

Thanks for the story, totally recommend this!

Okay okay okay—you all NEED to add this sapphic romcom to your TBR immediately. It’s cute, it’s spicy, and the main characters were so fun to read about!

CLEAT CUTE easily gets five stars from me for so many reasons. Here are just a few:

🏳️‍🌈super queer!!
⚽️ it’s about two pro soccer players
🌶️ SO much spice, loved it
🧠 MCs dealing with undiagnosed neurodiversity
🌗opposites attract

And the best part? It comes out on September 19, which is coming up fast! Make sure you preorder it so you can read it as soon as it arrives on your doorstep ❤️

Ended up really liking this especially compared to their previous book! I thought the setting was so cute and I thought that the plot and characters really were fun to interact with. The sex scenes took a back seat (don’t worry there is still smut), and the author showed that they could write more than them. Thank you to NetGalley.

I don't read a lot of sports romances but this one had me hooked from the beginning. I loved the dynamic between our two main characters and watching them grow in their relationship. There were some aspects that fell flat for me, like the lack of plot due to focus on the romance and characters.

I received this copy through NetGalley in exchange of an honest review.
I do believe this is the first soccer centered/sports centered book I have read. This is not an area I have a lot of knowledge in, but that did not matter in the reading of the story. Even having never seen more than a couple of clips from a soccer game, in my life, I was able to get excited with the team about play time and easily pick up on the lingo. The relationship in the story is sweet, with a lot of communication issues. I guess that is realistic to real life, but man did I want to shake them a few times when I could see where the communication was lacking and the inevitable problem it was going to lead to. Over all this is a sweet and easy story filled with strong/driven characters. If you enjoy that and romance with misunderstandings then this could be a read for you.

3.5

If your looking for
~ wlw relationship
~ sports romance
~ grumpy x sunshine
~ talking about their problems
~ spice
~ a fun time

I would definitely recommend cleat cute. It was such a fun time reading because not only was it a romance but it dealt with Grace and Phoebes personal problems. And them working together to make sure each other is understood and cared for. It was honestly a warm hug ❤️

Some cons tho was that starting chapters it took me a while to figure out who’s pov were in and also there was a lot of inner monologue to the point where it kinda bored me but I do see why it was there but it dragged sometimes after a while.

This book made me want to start watching woman’s soccer for real because this book played out like a movie in my head.

Thank you St. Martin's Griffin and netgalley for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

thank you st. martin press and netgalley for giving me an arc in exchange for an honest review.

rating: 4 stars

THIS WAS SO SO FUN AND EASY TO READ, like, soccer lesbians??? professional soccer lesbians on the national team??? YES YES. Its everything I was expecting. I love i can always trust Meryl to actually use the word LESBIAN.


THE REP WAS SO GOOD.

Lesbians, trans, nb, pan, bi, adhd, autism, it has everything and it does it beautifully.


PLEASE READ THIS!