When Grumpy Met Sunshine was a heartwarming romance that definitely could have been better titled, IMO, Right off the bat, I'll say that I enjoyed the last 3rd of the novel so much more than the first 2/3rds. I unfortunately could not vibe with the writing style at all--between the paragraph breaks at every other sentence, the hard-to-follow along banter, and the awkward pacing of the novel, it was a struggle to get through Alfie and Mabel's story.

I constantly felt like we were jumping back and forth between the current scene on page and Mabel's unrelated inner monologues or background info dumps. This made me have a hard time keeping track of what was going on in the scene. It felt like my brain was getting distracted on every page. I think if even half of these inner monologues and info dumps had been removed, we could have had more room for better development between Alfie and Mabel.

The British slang and sentence structure was also surprisingly hard to understand, which was strange considering I've read several romance novels by British authors who use various dialects and slang and never had any trouble understanding what the characters were saying.

I did really enjoy Alfie and Mabel as characters, however. I love that Mabel is a plus-sized heroine! I've also heard that Charlotte Stein's male love interests are very tender and caring, and that was very evident through Alfie's character. Both he and Mabel were so sweet to each other. I would have really liked to see more about Alfie's backstory, especially more tidbits of what he decided to include in his memoir. The blooming romance in the latter half of the novel was probably the only aspect of the story that I enjoyed.

The cover of this book is adorable, and the premise sounds right up my alley. I was so excited to read it. I expected to love it. However, I’m disappointed to say the execution didn’t work for me and neither did the writing style. It was all telling and no showing and seemed kind of all over the place. By chapter five I still didn’t feel like I was getting to know the characters. Neither had any internal or external goals, motivations, or conflicts, and they seem to exist in a vacuum without any friends or family.

I gave it 50 pages, but I just couldn’t get into this book and DNFed. The story didn’t flow and it wasn’t enjoyable to read. As some other reviewers have said, it feels like an unedited draft.

This book had so much potential baked into its premise, but it just didn’t deliver. What a bummer.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

I wanted to start off and say thank you to SMP and Netgalley for letting me read this book for an honest review. I really wanted to love this book. The plot sounded so interesting to me but I think ultimately the writing style was not for me. I usually love banter back and forth but there was way too much for me in this book to enjoy it. Interesting plot but the story fell flat to me.

ARC Review:

I want to start of by saying thank you to Netgalley and St. Martins press for providing this arc and allowing me to give my honest review. I really loved the synopsis of this book and the overall plot however it took me a while to get while to get into this book. The first half just didn’t move for me and I couldn’t tell what was really going on until about 25%. Overall I give this book a 3.5 and can see myself revisiting this book in the future. Thank you again for the ARC opportunity.

loved this romance about a footballer and someone writing his story. I loved that they slowly found their way to each other and loved the heat and romance. I loved that they were both able to help each other and along the way find love.

This was a rollicking fun, sexy book. The main characters, a ghostwriter and a gruff footballer end up having to fake date to save their reputations, and get more than they bargained for.

The banter was absolutely top-tier, and I’m in awe at how easy Stein made it look. So much of this book was dialogue, and it flowed so naturally. I laughed A LOT, and it also delicately and heartwarmingly handled childhood trauma and not feeling like enough. It also read like vaguely-inspired Roy Kent fan fiction which I would absolutely read more of. Also, the consent!!!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martins Press for an ARC of this book.
I wanted to like this book so bad, the grumpy/sunshine trope is my absolute favorite and this book had a great premise. Unfortunately I had to DNF at 40%. I had a difficult time following along between the pages of internal monologues of the FMC and what was actually happening between the characters. on a positive note, there was some excellent and funny dialogue between the FMC and the MMC that had me cracking up. I just wish the book wasn't so difficult to follow.

I'm torn with this book. On one hand, I enjoyed it. On the other, it felt like it was missing something I just can't put my finger on.

I liked the characters and how they were thrown together. I had quite a few chuckles throughout the book. However, the author tried too hard to be finny for the first part of the book, and it fell flat. As the book progresses, she doesn't seem to try so hard and the funny just flows naturally.

The book was a little too long for the story being told. There are a few chapters that could be taken out of the book, and the book would be much better.

Overall, I wouldn't count the book out if you're looking for an opposites attraction book. At the same time, I don't see myself raving about this book.

3.5 rounded down.

It was cute and funny - I laughed a lot, it was genuinely hilarious - and though there was a bit too much banter, especially when things were serious and the characters needed to talk instead of joke back and forth - I didn't feel like the amount of banter was enough to dislike the book.

The writing style didn't mesh that well with me. Usually, the length of sentences doesn't matter all that much, even though when I write, my sentences are (too) long and seem to have no end, but this one felt very clunky. Mabel would think something. And then another sentence that relates is written. And another. It would have been easier for me to read if the sentences had just been connected every once in a while instead of start/stop/start/stop.

The voice in my head that I can hear when I read lowers in tone at the end of a sentence, so when a sentence that could be connected stops and starts, it sounds very weird. (Just me?)

If you consider a relationship only real when both characters know they aren't faking - and admit it to each other - then this is a slooooow-burn. As in, to the extremes. The time skip felt excessive, too - isn't that a bit too long?

But overall it was enjoyable and cute and very funny.

thank you Netgalley for the free copy

THIS BOOK HAS IT ALL. A slow burn romance of will they won't they type feelings. And I am HERE FOR IT. I loved this book and I look forward to adding it to my bookshelves. I just wish it was published sooner!!!

Somewhat difficult to review, because it's clearly a well-written book (it's Charlotte Stein, of course it is), but the banter is bantering a bit too much in every chapter so much that all of the chapters feel like they're too long. The banter is great, but just overloads the chapter and almost seems a little too cute (very unlike other Stein books). The actual writing of the memoirs of the Roy Kent-coded character falls away until the very end, which is where I thought the conflict was going to come from, and her career aspirations aren't really dealt with. It's quite low-angst, which I love, and Stein writes fantastic sex scenes. It's a fun read, but a little lacking in some places.

Thanks to St. Martin's and NetGalley for the ARC.

I have mixed feelings on this one. On one hand: I laughed and highlighted so much of this book. The interactions and banter between Alfie and Mabel are all perfectly unhinged and hilarious. This whole book reads like the most ludicrus 80s romcom. But on the other hand: It's all from Mabel's POV which means there is SO MUCH of her internal monologue - sometimes paragraphs between his response to her next comment. It felt like what I assume living in a Gilmore Girls' head (but without all the selfish political incorrectness) must be like - just so much information. I also don't enjoy miscommunication and this entire book is just miscommunication layered on other miscommunications -- which I understand with fake dating there is always the assumed one of: Oh but they really do like each other and think the other isn't into them, but there was so so much miscommunication on top of that. I also found Alfie's complete lack of friends odd - I get that he's surly and grumpy, but over his 30+ years not one other person became his friend? Maybe we just didn't see any of them? But none of these are make or break problems, most just personal pet peeves as a whole it was a good book that I think just needs a bit more polish.

I think as this author grows as a writer their books are only going to get better so I will happy read whatever else they decide to write.

In this book, we are presented with two oblivious characters who cannot see the emotional connection between them because of their own flaws. The book is written in a way that once I was halfway through, I could not put it down. This is not because the storyline was astounding, but because I wanted to see if they ever saw each other as compatible and started a real relationship. In my opinion, the live text and Reddit posts at the end of each chapter detracted from the story line because they were not always in line with the insecurities of the characters.

Thank You NetGalley & St. Martin's Press for the ARC of [book:When Grumpy Met Sunshine|60230834] This was my first ARC.
I love the cover, the idea of the book, the banter between the characters, the build up to the spice and the spice. I really loved the last 40% of the book. I enjoyed the banter even when I didn't fully understand what they were saying.
At first I imagined the main character, Alfie someone like a Roy from 'Ted Lasso'. Underneath the gruff exterior was a sweet, respectful guy.
Mabel was relatable in the sense that she was the bigger gal that didn't think someone like Alfie could love her and how she felt like she needed to keep so much to herself.
Overall I give this a 3.5 star.
I had a hard time at the start getting into the book, but it was just because some of the sentences didn't seem to flow or make sense to me. Or, some of the words didn't make sense to me the way there were placed in a sentence. Sometimes I couldn't tell if they were words being spoken out loud or internally in the characters head. Once I got past that it was funny. I chuckled and laughed out loud at some of the banter.
The last bit of the book was fun and spicy.

"This is the way the world ends, she thought. Not with a fight, but with a single word left unsaid"
[author:Charlotte Stein|3200938]

This was a fun summer read.

DNF @ 22%

Although this book had a fun premise, I found the premise extremely lacking. I love a good grumpy/sunshine and of course the title of this book very explicitly sets your expectations. However, I found this book just wayyyy too on the nose. I found the main characters to be like caricatures. Furthermore, this entire book has been an extreme example of telling and not showing. My largest gripe with this book was that the author's humor simply does not mesh with mine.

Simply but, I did not like either characters at all. By virtue of the name, the author declares the FMC as Sunshine and the MMC as Grumpy. Yet through what I read of the book, neither of the characters demonstrated such traits, although the author will constantly say 'he looked surly' or 'she is all rainbow and flowers'. Despite these broad statements, I really couldn't see this demonstrated in their actions. While yes, a sunshine/grumpy does not have to universally act happy/surly. besides surface-level appearance (e.g. the way they dress), i dont think either of the characters embodied the traits at well. Also each characters are the tropiest epitome of the Rom-Com Archetype: the FMC is klutsy and the MMC is a hulking, broody guy. Also, I'm not an expert so I deffo can't be trusted, but it seems to me that the MMC shows some clear signs of being on the autism spectrum....and through the first 22% of the book, It isn't addressed at all and doesn't seem like it will be.

My biggest issue with this is the humor of the book. It's clear the author wants to put the 'com' in 'rom com' but like excuse me telling me something is funny DOES NOT make it funny??? On multiple occasions something extremely inane and boring will occur and then one of the characters will burst out in laughter and be like haha so funny....but....it's not...... It's more situational humor and at best it's the humor of a ten year old child, the banter is simply missing for me.

Take this convo: "i have hairy hands" "you only have like three hairs" "are you kidding me i have three million hairs" "no if you had three million hairs it would be so heavy you would need a shovel to move that around" *laughing ensues*

Or...the FMC is creeped out by the fact that you can't actually look into the MMC's windows and see what happens, she thinks it's weird cuz "what if he's just smearing spaghetti all over himself....none of us would know' Excuse me no it would be WAYYYYY weirder if you could see completely into his house???

This book just did not vibe with me at all......

Maybe for someone else, just not for me... I found the main character's inner voice to be highly annoying. It was a struggle to read. That said, the premise is cute, so hopefully others enjoy it.

I wanted to love this book. I love the grumpy sunshine trope. I think the elements were there for a good book, but everything was out of proportion - the banter, the characters personalities, the pacing. It was just all off. And while I consider myself an Anglophile, I found it hard to understand some of the nuances of English culture when they were mentioned.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Griffin for providing me the ARC to review.

This just was not for me. I felt like hardly anything happened at all, this was just a long book filled with entirely way too much internal dialogue.

And the romance between the two characters felt more awkward then sexy. Which was such a bummer… a plus size heroine, fake dating, mutual m*sturbation… seriously all the things that sound like the making to one of my favorite reads. Unfortunately I struggled to even get through this one. But I committed to reading the arc, so I did not DNF. If I had just picked this up on KU, I probably would have stopped 20% in though.

Book review of When Grumpy Met Sunshine 🌞 by Charlotte Stein
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Thank you so much, @netgalley, for this early release and @stmartinspress
I really liked this book and talk about steamy! Wowza!
@alisondavis71, you need this one when it comes out February 6, 2024!

This is a romance and laugh out loud funny book about opposites attraction. There were times I was laughing so hard, my hubby just shook his head!

Mabel Willicker has been tasked to ghost write a memoir for Alfie Harding. He's a tough, grumpy, larger than life, retired footballer (soccer for us crazy Americans). He dates super models, gets in fights at the local pub, and really just hates talking about himself. Mabel is a ray of sunshine 🌞. He finds himself bickering back and forth with her as they get to know each other. Cue the sexual tension. When I say it turns steamy, I mean steamy! I liked it, though, and you are rooting for Mabel the whole time. She is your curvy everyday woman, and you can't help but love her!
#crazybooknerd
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#netgalley
#stmartinpress
#whengrumpymetsunshine

Cute story. Great cover. I enjoy writing and football so it was a good mix of those things with a romance thrown in! Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. Four stars.