I really enjoyed this one! It was witty, and I really loved the grumpy/sunshine vibes. Alfie wasn't my favorite at first, but really grew on MD. Mabel was super duper charming and so uplifting. I may have shed a few tears while reading this 🤣 definitely pick up a copy of this one! I'll be buying it for my shelf

This book was like reading about a senile five year old. I’m all for grumpy and sunshine, but this was not that. The amount of miscommunication in this book felt like child’s play. Which makes sense considering like I said before. Both characters read like toddlers. I’m going to go off on a limb here and assume that I am not the target audience for the book as I had to DNF it halfway through.

If I were to choose two quotes from the book to sum it up, these would be them:

“Just imagine you are talking to a serious five year old”

“Like somebody’s grandad from a mining town where everybody was miserable”

I have no qualms with the author, however, I just don’t think this book fit up my alley.

oh my heart, this was such a sweet and soft book. this was so funny, endearing and soft in all the best ways. it was a true grumpy/ sunshine book and the title is so perfect for it. alfie was such a closed off male character and his growth throughout the book was so beautiful to see. i love how mabel's love for him encouraged him to be honest and love every part of himself. i also adored mabel, she felt so relatable and she was so fun to read about. the ending of this book was so gorgeous too and nearly made me cry.
thank you to st martin's press and netgalley for this arc.

Overall I really enjoyed this! But I had a bit of a hard time connecting with Alfie - because his personality in the public vs in private was SO drastically different. At times it didn't feel fully believable, especially it showing so quickly with Mabel. I also felt like during the middle of the story, them working on his memoir gets completely lost. It's hardly mentioned and it gets forgotten that was why they were meeting all the time to begin with. On the other hand i did really enjoy Mabel as a character. She felt very relatable. Overall I still enjoyed it. It's very light-hearted and I am always a sucker for a fake dating trope!