thank you netgalley for the arc!!!

this book was one of the best lesbian romcoms i’ve read in a while!! i loved grace and i called Why I was so relatable to her so that’s something but also their relationship was fun and their banter was realistic in a way that some books just don’t get!
i also do agree that this is like ted lasso. i love ted lasso.
It’s giving Roy and Jamie but make it lesbians.

Unfortunately I wasn't able to finish this book, but honestly I think it was a matter of personal taste more than any objective flaws with the book. I wasn't invested in the romance and found myself getting irritated with Phoebe's character, which prevented me from getting absorbed in the story.

Really enjoyed this steamy LGBTQ+ rom com. Enjoyed the characters story arch and relationships with each other and other character. The banter between the characters feels fresh and realistic.

ARC generously provided by publisher and NetGalley in exchange for fair and honest review.

I love women’s soccer first and foremost. I have season tickets to my city’s team and I follow the league super closely. So this premise? Yeah. 100%. A soccer star gets injured and she strikes up a (reluctant at first) friends with benefits situation with the young rookie who takes her spot in the interim.

And yet this didn’t completely work for me the way I really wanted it to. I should have flown through this book and instead, I found it almost a chore to pick it back up and continue reading. I wasn’t super invested in this budding relationship, especially because the two women are on completely opposite pages. This is to the point where one is worried she’s starting to develop true feelings while the other firmly believes the two are in a Real Relationship. And every time when they should have been, you know, communicating, they instead had sex. Which, sure. But also… not the greatest romance if the characters themselves don’t know what’s really going on between them until quite literally the last few pages.

I don’t want to come down too strongly against this book because there were definitely things in there that I liked, but the further away from it I get, the more I only remember what kept me from loving it.

This is 100% a case of personal taste, but I didn’t enjoy this book in the way I had hoped to. The sex scenes were a bit too detailed for me and I wish I’d been more invested in the romance. I’m so happy to see other’s loving it so much, though! Sapphic romcoms deserve more attention!!

The cover of this one immediately captured me! The book itself was enjoyable. Phoebe is adorable, funny and everything I aspire to be! Grace is so hard on herself and she honestly broke my heart. Ultimately, this book was very warm and felt so familiar in the best. The world of soccer is one that I know well. I wish there was a tad less internal monologuing but that is definitely overshadowed but the well written absolutely SCORCHING HOT spice!

I really enjoying the authors debut, but was not a fan of her second book, Mistakes Were Made. I do love Wilsners writing style and her ability to make me root for her couples.

The description and set up really caught my attention and I loved how the story unfolded. Phoebe and Grace juxtapose each other but still have such incredible chemistry. I adored this story and getting to read a sapphic sports romance.

Definitely recommend for the WoSo crowd. Standard romance otherwise. Found the "lost bet kiss" catalyst near the start a little silly.

Thank you St. Martin's Press for the ARC for my honest review. Though I love the idea of a sapphic Bend it Like Beckham, this book was not for me. I didn't like either MMC and they read young to me. It was definitely lacking swoon for me.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the review copy of this title.

I really loved this messy, queer love story.

Meryl Wilsner never misses and Cleat Cute was no different!

The perfect mix of romantic comedy and spice, I could not stop reading until the very last page. And even then I wanted more.

Thank you NetGalley for gifting me an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review and opinion.

It really pains me to say that Meryl Wilsner’s Cleat Cute was not the romance novel for me. I really enjoyed their first two novels, Something to Talk About and Mistakes were made, so I was hopeful about Cleat Cute. Unfortunately, it didn’t deliver.

To start with the positives: I really enjoyed Phoebe and Grace as characters, particularly the ADHD and autism representation, which I felt very seen by. Phoebe in particular shone brightly in this novel and was the main reason I finished it. Also - the sex scenes were scorching hot and easily a favourite part of the novel.

That’s about where my positives end. For a novel advertised as a sports romance, there was shockingly little sports in this, which disappointed me. Additionally, this novel suffered from a lack of description and poor pacing. Huge swathes of time would pass in single sentences, making it difficult to keep track of where we were in the narrative. There was an abundance of telling versus showing in the form of POV characters listing off events that had happened instead of showing us, even in cases where showing would have been beneficial to the narrative.

This novel also hinges heavily upon miscommunication. If this trope bothers you, I don’t think this is the novel for you. I have more of a tolerance for miscommunication as a trope than some folks; after all, it’s very true that humans in general suck at communication and issues are not often resolved in one conversation (if the conversation even happens). My issue here is that it still needs to make sense and/or be interesting from a reader’s perspective, and in Cleat Cute’s case, it personally did not hit that mark for me. The combination of poor pacing and too many subplots given too little time mixed with miscommunication just made this a confusing and frustrating reading experience for me - even if I did completely resonate with the main miscommunication plotline as a fellow neurodivergent person who has found myself in a similiar situation.

All in all, this one was a miss for me and I can’t recommend it. If you REALLY like sports romances or are seeking books with neurodivergent main characters, this may still be worth checking out for you. I’ll still be on the lookout for Wilsner’s next book since I really enjoy their other writing and not every book is going to be for everyone.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for an advance review copy. All opinions are my own.

If I’m being honest, I requested this book because the cover pulled me in! This book was beautiful. Meryl did a fabulous job intertwining both soccer and the developing relationship between Grace + Pheobe without one over-powering the other. The ride-or-die vibe of the team made my heart burst and I really appreciated the way ADHD and autism were represented here. There was a lot of internal dialogue and miscommunication between Grace and Phoebe, but there was purpose and Meryl made it WORK! My favorite part was the transformation and inner journies of both Phoebe and Grace from beginning to end.

I’ve been wanting to read one of Meryl’s other book, Mistakes Were Made, and now I’m convinced I’ll love anything they write!

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martins Griffin for an ARC copy in exchange for an honest review.

I love reading about women in sports. It is so rare to have a sports romance that has a female player and it is even more rare for them to be sapphic. I love that this book also shows that sapphic novels can be sexy with strong women. This author may become a go to sapphic author for me. I felt so much for the characters. I was swooning and kicking my feet the whole time.

I really liked this story but I lacked a connection with one of the main characters, Grace. I feel I would have enjoyed the book better if it was from one POV.

Such an enjoyable read!! I really liked this book and was so happy I was given the opportunity to read it here at netgalley. Made me laugh out loud multiple times. One of my favorite books in 2023.

Cleat Cute is everything you could ever want from a soccer romance. Tension at practice? Yes. Sex in the locker room? Yes. Actually acknowledging that games happen and sports are played? Somehow also yes.

Phoebe Matthews is a young phenom new to the (coded) USWNT. Grace Henderson is the still-incredible veteran player. I'm not sure if this is truly a 'rivals-to-lovers' story... 100% it wasn't going to be Grace cut to get Phoebe her spot. She's only 26! However, it's a "we're platonic but we're going to have friendly sex OH WAIT FEELINGS." book. I love the focus on elements of neurodivergence (ADHD and Autism) without it being so much on the diagnosis.

It's sweet. It's spicy. I love how the miscommunication doesn't feel as YOU ARE OBVIOUSLY BEING DUMB HERE as it can in many books.

I kind of want to go read it again.

Thanks to St. Martin’s press for this ARC! Cleat Cute is an adorable, SPICY story of teammates Phoebe and Grace who navigate their own personal hangups as they gravitate toward each other. They make such a cute couple!

This dual-POV romance is full of fun for soccer fans, but even if you’re not it’s a really nuanced story that emphasizes the diversity and passion of these athletes that have magnetic chemistry. While the miscommunication trope does play into this tale, it’s a really fun steamy read.

I couldn’t put this down, any free time I had was spent reading this! I really enjoy it. The characters were relatable, the relationship was fun, I liked how it developed. The only thing I didn’t enjoy was how it felt like the story dragged a bit. The pacing was just a little slow for my taste but it’s not bad at all. It’s a really good book if you are looking for a queer romance that is fun, cute, and sporty. The dual POV was nice, I liked that we knew what both characters were thinking.

Unfortunately SMP still has not spoken up about any of the demands set by the SMP boycott. I will be withholding my full review until that has changed