"When Grumpy Met Sunshine" by Charlotte Stein is a delightful and unconventional love story that is sure to warm even the coldest of hearts. Set in a quaint small town where everyone knows everyone else's business, the story follows the unlikely pairing of the grumpy and reclusive Daryl and the endlessly sunny and optimistic Sunshine. Stein's writing is as quirky and endearing as her characters, drawing readers into a world where opposites truly do attract. The banter between Daryl and Sunshine is both hilarious and heartwarming, and their journey from reluctant acquaintances to unlikely friends to something more is a joy to witness. But beyond the romance, "When Grumpy Met Sunshine" is a story about the transformative power of love and acceptance, reminding readers that sometimes the most unexpected connections can lead to the greatest happiness. With its charming characters and feel-good storyline, this book is sure to leave you with a smile on your face and a warm, fuzzy feeling in your heart.

I really wanted to like this, but could not get into it. Had to DNF. Great concept of a book, but just wasn't intriguing enough from the start to pull me in and hook me.

The blurb sounds hilarious and something I would dive head first for in terms of storyline and tropes. The title itself had me rushing to get this book. The cover is also adorable and really drew me in. I would pick this book up without reading the blurb truth be told. However it did sadly fall flat quite quickly for me. I understand many people love this book and I am an outlier. I found the miscommunication and immature conversations to be too much for me to enjoy. I ended up feeling frustrated for what I read of it. I thought perhaps an audio version of this book would bring the characters more alive for me and be more entertaining. I found that to be the opposite in my case. I had a hard time listening with the accents and dialects.

I will absolutely try other books by this author, but for me this one didn't quite work out. Some people love the drama of miscommunication, but I find it to be a cheap distraction and not an enjoyable book escape.

Many thanks to the author, publisher and netgalley for the opportunity to read and review. Due to the mostly negative review I have decided to not share reviews publicly on multiple locations.

I really was not a big fan of this one - the dialogue was rambling and I had a hard time caring much about the MCs.

Fake dating trope, grumpy sunshine trope? SIGN ME UP. I absolutely loved the start of this book, I thought it was funny, and was definitely my vibe. Things changed a bit in the second part of the book, specifically after things get heated.

I wish that this had stayed strong throughout, but this is not enough for me to say goodbye to reading Stein's books. Great first entry to this book, ready to read another!

First of all, this book is hilarious. Retired football player, Alfie Harding, is know as being a grumpy taciturn man, gorgeous, but grumpy. He has been coerced into writing his memoir, but hasn't been able to satisfactorily put pen to paper, so plump but cute, cheerful ghostwriter Mabel Willicker is hired to help him. He is drawn to her and her cheerfulness from the start, but he is also extremely awkward with people, so she doesn't pick up on it. As they start to work together and he opens up to her as he never has to anyone else, they find they both strangely have a lot in common, alcoholic fathers and inferiority complexes. Because of the NDA, they are forced into a fake relationship which turns really, but Mabel's fears push him away. Are they meant for each other or not?

The characters are well developed, each with their own foibles. The dialogue between them is hilarious. However, I took off 1 star because I didn't understand the British slang and didn't care for the foul language.

I read an advanced readers copy provided by the publisher via NetGalley.com. this is my unbiased and voluntary review.

Sunshine and grump is one of my favorite tropes, so this was one I just had to request! While the story was cute, it didn't stick with me long-term. I read it in March (it's the beginning of May now) and I can't quite recall enough to write a helpful review. I do think the memorability of a book is helpful for future readers to note, though.

I do remember that these two characters had fun chemistry from the start, and I loved their awkward getting-to-know-each-other interactions.

I love most of the book, the tropes were spot on for me - I liked the banter, but felt at some points it was off. While I found it fun and enjoyable, Alfie and Mabel were adorable, but the writing felt choppy at points and the time skip threw me off. Overall, it as a fun time (my #1 requirement) and I look forward to reading more by this author!

The book is worth a read for a fun, enjoyable, cozy read - and the spice was wonderful! It's a great book to cozy up with - like a fun lifetime movie!

I usually love a good enemies to lovers trope but this one fell flat for me. Mabel and Alfie were totally oblivious and half of the story wouldn’t have happened if either of them just said how they truly felt in the first place. Honestly, the characters annoyed me and I was counting down until it was over.

Super sweet contemporary romance. I disagree with the Cinderella comments in the marketing, but love the characters.

The title is a bit on-the-nose, but overall a light, fun and enjoyable read. Sports romance is having a bit of a moment, so if you're hooked on the sub-genre this is a solid option.

I loved everything about this, from the start I was hooked and laughing out loud. Alfie and Mable are just the cutest ever! I really liked how raw and real this felt, it was like a fairytale but with real life moments. As much as I love to read romance fiction, I also like to read realistic romance in fiction books, this was full of second guessing, emotions that are hard to handle for both main characters and so much doubt which is so real in life.

This was such a fun, fluffy romance that had me laughing, crying, hoping and dreaming. I loved the so much.

I felt like these characters were kind of chaotic, which made reading this very difficult for me. I actually DNF’d this!

This book wasn't my favorite but I really enjoyed the audio! The narrator made the book fun and enjoyable!

Thank you to the publisher for the e-copy.

An opposites attract romcom between a retired soccer player "footballer" and his ghostwriter. Lots of banter, spice, and the use of the F word.

I really wanted to like this one, but honestly it was just okay for me. I don't really know what else to say. I loved the plus size rep, but the whole book is from the FMC POV and it gets to be a lot. I do think this author has potential, but this book just wasn't great.

This book had me along the roller coaster of emotions as I laughed, cried and got just as hot and bothered while I too fell in love with both Mabel and Alfie as they discovered their similarities hiding behind personas that they didn’t particularly like. I envisioned Mabel being played by Nicola Coughlin of Derry Girls and Bridgerton fame. She just like Mabel are adorable and funny, like a cupcake as Allie had once described Mabel. I’m not sure who would make a great version of Alfie but he reminds me of a bear, a big teddy bear, who looks scary at first but really a softy at heart. The author’s writing pulls you right in with Mabel’s doubt and fears and inner turmoil, I felt like I was Mabel. I absolutely adored this book and look forward to seeing what else the author has written.

“When Grumpy Met Sunshine” is exactly what you’d expect, a grumpy character meets a sunshine character.

Between fake dating and accidental unrequited feelings, this book has everything. There is also plenty of spice, much more than I expected from the cutesy cover.

If you are a fan of banter and fake dating, this is the book for you.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this advanced copy. I enjoyed it.

I love the fake dating trope, but felt like this one was all over the place while also moving really slow. The first half of the book focused on them creating a working relationship and learning about each other, while the second half seemed to only focus on the sexual part of the relationship. You don’t hear anything else about the book once they agree to the fake relationship, until the final chapter and the epilogue. It felt like the second half of the novel lost al character development that they were moving through and turned more into a miscommunication trope than a fake dating trope.

I loved this book! Mabel is hired to ghostwrite for ex-footballer Alfie. He’s always grumpy and she’s one of the bubbliest people to ever grace the book world. They have a large series of miscommunications that are the driving force of the book. It was a nice read with a plus size MFC.

Hired to ghostwrite notoriously cranky Alfie’s football (soccer) memoir, Mabel stands her ground every chance she gets. As they work together, she starts to discover that the character they play up in the media is not the most accurate picture of Alfie.

Those unfamiliar with Charlotte Stein’s writing style may find it a bit jarring, but once you get comfortable with it, you can appreciate the spitfire dialogue and emotional connection between the characters. Filled with heart and humor and heat, When Grumpy Met Sunshine is a fun contemporary romance.