I received this title as an ARC on Net-galley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you St. Martin's Griffin for the copy!

The Good
Phoebe and Grace are awesome characters. I immediately liked their dynamics and how they contrasted with each other. It's a great grumpy x sunshine pairing. Phoebe is younger and much more bold and free while Grace is older and more closed off and struggling to connect. Their relationship was full of chemistry but also messy. I loved the journey Grace went on to discover what she really wanted and ultimately needed to become happy.

The Bad
Grace frustrated me so badly sometimes. I tried my best to understand her but her pat with Kelsey didn't seem like enough of a reason to project so much distrust onto Phoebe.

Format:
Ebook — Netgalley

The Rating
I give this book a 4/5🌟 rating. A great sapphic grumpy x sunshine sport's romance!

I typically enjoy Meryl’s work, but this one missed the mark for me.

Fantastic writing, as per usual. But the amount of internal monologue spoiled this it for me! I loved the premise of soccer, idols, and love. Especially enjoyed the suspense throughout this novel, but ultimately felt that the climax didn’t quite hit.

The spicy scenes were bountiful and read well, but often felt forced? The characters alone were fantastic and I enjoyed their development over the course of the read. Grace’s relationship with her family and her eventual opening up to them hit me right in a soft spot in my heart.

I enjoyed this, but was left with something to be desired. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC!

A spicy sapphic soccer romance was exactly what I needed. Happy sunshine Phoebe finally gets called up to play in the big leagues. Grumpy vet player Grace finds this newbie a little over the top. Fighting feelings and doing what you want are the top two things Grace is focused on during the season. Fall in love with these two and Meryl’s writing and finished it in the span of a day

Everything about this book should have been up my ally, Soccer, a grump and a sunshine. For whatever reason I just couldn't get into it.

What a cute and fun sapphic romcom! I was worried about the miscommunication trope, but if a book has to have it, this is the way to do it. It made sense and actually added to the plot in a very believable way.

A+++ for the very steamy steam
A+ for adorable characters I actually cared about and enjoyed together
A for the casual yet well handled neurodivergence
And a solid B+ for the soccer talk, which is a sport I don’t care about and yet interested me anyway.

Rating this book is difficult, I would say it’s a solid 3 for me. I was really hopeful, possibly unfairly so, after how much I liked Mistakes. This book is not the same. And that is ok.
There is a lot of very specific soccer talk that felt a little bogged down for me. I love soccer and even I thought it was a bit much.
I understand why some readers might not like Grace, she is different. I, however, very much understood this character. I wish the author ditched the ADHD thing with Phoebe and focused more on the neurodivergence of Grace.
At the end of the day did this book give me what I was looking for? Yes, a sapphic romance with soccer.

I really loved the premise of this book, and the characters were well-developed and super easy to root for. Overall, I had a good time, but I wanted there to be more legitimate conflict for the characters to "earn" their HEA. There were a few great opportunities for the characters to handle conflict in a way that would push the characters forward, but it seemed like every time they had an issue it was resolved with "you're hot, let's just make out," which is fun, but I definitely think these characters could have handled (and benefited) from more legitimate conflict.

Rivals to lovers? I’m all in.

I hate a miscommunication trope but this misunderstanding trope was so well done. These feel like fully fleshed real people.

And the spicy scene? Daaanngg best sapphic scenes I’ve ever read and some of the best all around.

10 points for not falling into the overly earnest lesbian relationship trap.

Rivals to lovers sapphic romance between two professional soccer players, a veteran and a rookie. This is fun and sweet with grumpy/sunshine vibes. Grace is famous and has been a pro for years. She's successful, but closed off and struggling beneath the weight of massive responsibility. Phoebe's dreams are finally coming true. She's been drafted to a pro team and she's going to get to learn from and play with her idol, Grace Henderson. Phoebe is outgoing, charming, confident, and impulsive, everything Grace isn't. But what they have in common is a pure love of the game. This is not quite a slow burn, but a building block romance that at its heart is about the trust and vulnerability required to let someone else in. It's a joy to see two believably opposing personalities make perfect sense together.

2.5⭐️

thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an earc!

wow, what a let down. this was one of my most anticipated reads of 2023 and i was so pumped to recieve an ARC - but this just fell so flat for me. warning: there are spoilers in this review, so read it at your own risk. you have been warned.

first, there was WAY too much inner monologue. i wish i knew the inner monologue vs. actions & dialogue breakdown because i just KNOW the inner monologue is way higher.

second, while there was disability rep in this (one fmc with autism, one fmc with ADHD), the way it was handled was just icky to me almost. the way grace just *assumed* phoebe a) had ADHD, b) had a diagnosis, and c) took medicine for it rubbed me VERY VERY wrong. like i had the chills because it felt so wrong. AND THEN, the fact that grace didn't even come around to her diagnosis of autism until the verrrrry end of the book felt like it was just kinda tossed in. like both of their characters felt ADHD- and autistic-coded, but the way it wasn't officially said on page/acknowledged until the end - i just didn't like that.

third, the miscommunication made me want to throw the book SEVERAL times. i am not an absolute hater of the miscommunication trope, but this book overdid it way too much. LIKE JUST TALK DAMN IT, you are f*cking adults.

fourth and final, i could not feel ANY chemistry between phoebe and grace besides the fact that they wanted in each other's pants. like zero, zilch, NADA romantic chemistry, and i just didn't believe they were actually gonna stay or end up together.

honestly, it is a bummer that this one didn't hit like i wanted it to, because i LOVE meryl's other books and their writing style + this one was a SOCCER ROMANCE?!?!!? that's my favorite sport to read romances on ESPECIALLY when it's sapphic. so yeah, i don't recommend, but it may work for you.

⚠️: mental illness, ableism, bullying, alcohol, toxic relationship, panic attacks/disorders, injury/injury detail

Two things I love most in life: soccer and sapphic romance!

Another smash hit by Meryl Wilsner, Cleat Cute is the perfect balance of rivals to lovers with a bit of humor and plenty of spice sprinkled throughout.

A great read for soccer fans and those who are new to the game, it’s the perfect book to get anyone excited about women’s sports with an added dose of romance!

Cleat Cute is a cute and spicy sapphic soccer rom com!

Phoebe completely crashes into Grace’s scheduled life, and it is opposites attract in the best way. Grace is the seasoned and stoic veteran while Phoebe is the energetic and ambitious rookie. They complimented each other very well. I immediately fell in love with both main characters and was rooting for them the whole book. Their relationship slowly grew throughout the book, and as the title says, it was extremely cute! It was great seeing both of their walls come down for each other. This book was a dual POV, which helped the reader understand both of the main characters and their struggles better. There was wonderful representation, and both main characters were neurodivergent.

A special side bar here - Graces struggles with being injured and being sidelined was written so heartbreakingly beautiful. Wilsner did a wonderful job capturing the feeling of letting your team down and struggling with being left out, even if it is of no fault to the player. It was a delight watching Grace grow and take charge of her life and figure out what she wanted to do.

I loved the backdrop of New Orleans! The food, the parades, the city lights, it was all spectacularly fun. I loved diving into the world of Louisiana Krewe FC.

Now for some things that didn’t quite work for me. The first being it felt like I was constantly slogging through the characters inner thoughts throughout the book. It was a lot of telling and not showing and it really slowed the story down for me. This is more of a personal thing but I would have loved to see more soccer! This story was more of one which focused on the characters and it just had soccer as the backdrop of how the characters had met and interacted.

Cleat Cute releases this fall on September 19th, 2023. Thank you St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the review copy!

Content warnings: alcohol consumption, sports related injuries, classism, sexism, some misogyny.

Rep: Main characters: Grace is cis, white, and lesbian (SAID ON PAGE!!!) and bb is leaning she is autistic, too. Phoebe is cis, white and lesbian (ALSO SAID ON PAGE!!!!!) and has ADHD.
Side characters: several BIPOC characters, several queer characters, non-binary side characters, trans side characters. It's very well rounded in that regard.

the easiest way for me to describe this books is as bend it like beckham if jess and jules had ended up together (which they DEFINITELY should’ve!).

A Sapphic soccer story? Say less. The premise was promising and the plot was actually smooth and interesting despite it being fairly simple and low-stakes. While the pacing I thought was really great, I have to say that I definitely got lost in the nicknames of supporting characters, while at the same time not getting to know enough of them, and the MCs clearly not having that strong of relationships with them. At one point I am not sure Fish and H aren't used interchangeably? I couldn't tell who was married and talking. The establishing of ages at the beginning was rocky and hard to follow.

While Phoebe and Grace navigate the FWB to girlfriends pipeline, I thought their relationship misunderstandings were natural, which is really hard to do. I could have gone for more rounding out of their characters and less exposition. This does take place over a relatively short amount of time, so it doesn't allow for the space for them to grow in our heads as much as I'd like. The lack of dialog or action really bogged me down in their thoughts.

It was a fun, quick read, but I don't understand the Ted Lasso comparison, as these are two successful players (one a rookie, one a veteran) on winning teams (US National and their league team). Not a ton of heart pouring into them to pick themselves up but their bootstraps.

I do like the writing style, I just would like it to have happened over a longer period of time, and with more character action, whether that be through conversations with other players or each other, but it's so lite on the dialog that it gets to be a trudge in places.

Wow, I really loved Cleat Cute! You should read this book if you love a steamy sapphic romance, sports romance, and neurodivergence rep. I've read all of Meryl Wilsner's books, and Cleat Cute is easily my favorite of theirs so far.

A quick summary: Veteran soccer star, Grace Henderson, has her life turned upside down when rookie upstart Phoebe Matthews, joins her on the national team and her club and brings her personal brand class clown-meet-hard workers. When Phoebe starts her professional soccer career alongside her teenage idol Grace, she is star struck but determined to learn from the veteran player and become her friend. They begin a friends with benefits arrangement that grows into more, while Grace battles with injury and questions about what she loves in her career as an athlete.

Some of the things I loved:
1) The steamy but wholesome sex scenes—and there are plenty of them 🔥🔥🔥
2) The way that the characters' neurodivergence was incorporated as part of what makes them who they are, while also driving the story in a meaningful way. I felt like Meryl Wilsner hit a great balance of portraying diversity overall in this book—it's present in so many parts of the story, but it's not tokenized or preachy.
3) The sports background! I'm not a huge sports fan, so take my two cents with a grain of salt, but I loved the way soccer was used as the backdrop for the story. It was exciting to see Phoebe's career take off.
4) Finally, the miscommunication trope used well! There are several instances of miscommunication in this book, but the resolutions are all so well done.
5) All the queer rep <3

Thank you to St. Martin's Press for an eARC through NetGalley. It was such a pleasure to read this book during pride month and I can't wait for others to get their hands on it! Opinions are my own and provided voluntarily.

This was such a fun read!
The dual POV allows the reader to really understand both FMCs and furthers all of their many miscommunications. I did enjoy Phoebe and Grace and their unique personalities though. They remind me a lot of me and my fiancee because they were so different and function in such opposite ways.
The representation in this was really fantastic and appreciated.
With the minor characters, I got a little confused. There were so many first names, last names, and nicknames being used interchangeably so I found myself having to wrack my brain to remember who was who.
This was my first spicy sapphic read and it certainly won’t be my last. The author did a wonderful job of describing intimate moments with care and in a realistic way.
Even though this was about soccer, I don’t think you need to be a soccer fan to enjoy it! It was super comprehensive and fun.

I really, really wanted to love this book because I loved the author’s previous book, Mistakes Were Made, but this one just didn’t work for me. There were great parts and spicy parts with lots of potential for some drama but none of it came to be!

Cleat Cute is a sapphic rom-com about Phoebe and Grace. Phoebe has just been drafted onto her first professional soccer team and Grace is the captain and someone Phoebe has idolized since she started playing soccer. The two start a “friends with benefits” situation and it just goes from there. The “will one tell the other she has feelings for her and thinks she’s her girlfriend” had so much opportunity for some angst and drama and I kept waiting for it to happen but it just never did.

That said….Holy hotness! That scene in the locker room between Phoebe and Grace! Damn! And I did enjoy how the two main characters complement each other. Phoebe is the loud and ridiculous one whereas Grace is the more reserve and, well, graceful one.

Overall, I’m giving this a 3 star review but giving it 5 stars for the spicy bits! This book had a lot of potential but just missed the mark!

This one was so so so cute (and spicy). I have never cared for soccer but after Ted Lasso ended there was a hole in my heart. Cleat Cute definitely filled that hole. I loved both Phoebe and Grace, their easy friendship, and their love for their sport/team. I wish we had gotten a little more of them playing together but otherwise I had so much fun with this one.

Cleat Cute
Written By: Meryl Wilsner
Published By: St. Martin’s Press
Release Date: Sept 19 2023

Thank you St. Martin’s Press and Netgalley- all thoughts and opinions are my own.

I find myself to be very picky when it comes to sports romances but I can never get over the ones that have LGBTQ main characters. It makes my heart giggle so much. This was such a good read and I was smiling so hard in so many parts of this book. I wouldn't have normally picked up a book about soccer but this one was good, and really exceeded my expectations.

I definitely recommend this book to anyone who likes sapphic romance, sports romance, or age gap romance!

"Cleat Cute" by Meryl Wilsner is, without a doubt, their best work yet. From the moment I picked up their first book, I became a devoted fan, and this latest novel solidifies their place as a master storyteller. Grace and Phoebe, the delightful and flawed characters, instantly captured my heart. Wilsner's talent for crafting love stories between clueless individuals is on full display here, and it's absolutely endearing. They're so adorably foolish.

The soccer aspect in the book is impeccably executed, with numerous references to real-life WOSO events, making it a delightful read for soccer fans. But even if you're not familiar with the sport, the narrative structure remains accessible and engaging.

As always, Wilsner effortlessly weaves together various identities and life circumstances, seamlessly integrating them into the captivating plot. The world they've created is vividly descriptive, immersing readers in a fully realized setting. And let's not forget the scorching, touching, and enlightening sex scenes that are a signature of Wilsner's writing.

In summary, "Cleat Cute" is an absolute home run. It's hot, funny, romantic, and engaging—a perfect blend of all the elements that make for a remarkable read. Whether you're a fan of Wilsner's previous works or discovering their writing for the first time, this novel is a must-read.