I wish I could rate When Grumpy Met Sunshine higher because I desperately wanted to like the story. I kept reading, hoping that it would level out and get into a rhythm that would warm my heart.

This book had so much promise, as I love romance, grumpy and sunshine, fake dating, will they/won’t they, celebrity/normal relationships. However, every scene seemed to have pages upon pages of dialogue and banter which completely slogged the pacing. There was a lot of spicy language which after awhile became tiresome. And then, the dirty talk scene. Way too much.

The ending…I won’t post any spoilers, but I’ll just say I was incredulous at how long and drawn out a conclusion it was.

The author does have a great sense of humour, and I liked her characters (a plus sized female which was awesome). I just felt the execution of the story didn’t work.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and Netgalley for the advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review.

When Mabel Willicker is asked to ghost write the memoir of high profile footballer Alfie Harding, she does her research. He's a great footballer, not so great with people, though. His fans love him, but his tendency to say whatever pops into his mind, coupled with a slight lack of patience, is a bit of a problem. Her first meeting with Alfie didn't go to well, but after spending time with him Mable sees the Alfie he shows to the world is hiding the real man underneath. When circumstances throw them into a fake relationship, things get a little out of hand. Mabel is sure she isn't the kind of woman most of Alfie's fans expect him to date. Yet, through fighting off the haters, the lovers, and the bloggers, Mabel and Alfie discover they may have more in common than they realize.

This is a grumpy/sunshine, slow burn romance that just teems with humor and emotion. The characters are witty and charming in their own quirky way. While I thought the slow burn went on just a bit too long, the banter between Mabel and Alfie kept the story from becoming pedantic. The banter is also how we learn the who the characters really are. We find Alfie isn't so much grumpy as he has difficulty expressing what he really means to stay. While at first Mabel answers Alfie with a customary snark. As they come to know each other, though, both begin to discover the real person beneath the facade. These are two characters whose insecurities keep getting in the way of accepting the feelings they have for each other.

This book culminates in some really poignant moments that had me in tears. While the story slowed down for a few chapters about two thirds of the way through, the very well written and emotional climax was well through pushing through.

This one started out really slow. I am not a fan of slow burn unless the pace of the book is faster but this one just kind of plodded on. The romance was super sonic cute and I enjoyed the 2 main characters but I felt the story didn't move very far and lulled in places.

I don't regret reading it though.

if you like slow burns with witty banter, you will likely love this one;

Sassy, steamy, and full of reader-favourite rom-com tropes, this was a fun read with some really sweet tender moments, deftly embedded between the cheeky banter and lusty sex. The book focuses tightly on its two leads, as they meet for professional reasons but quickly fall in both lust and love, while each battles insecurities that makes them certain the other can't return their feelings, creating the push-and-pull dynamic that drives the tension of the story. As readers, we know they're "bonkers" about each other, but they can't seem to get out of their own way to admit it, or rather, to accept it when all the clues are there. My favourite elements were the tender little moments Stein snuck in when the upbeat banter and intense mutual desire dropped away, allowing us access to deeper feelings, like how hard it can really be to accept good things happening when life has conditioned us to accept the bad, and how meaningful it can be to have someone accept one's personal foibles and foolishness as anything but. These sweet little beats made me invest in this pair, and smile big when they got their joyous happily ever after.

The first half seemed a little chaotic and it took me awhile to feel like there was any connection between the characters. Then, suddenly they had a spark and both the relationship and steam accelerated. Overall I think this book was ok. I’d read another book by this author in the future.

-1.5 stars!
"When Grumpy Met Sunshine" by Charlotte Stein is a charming and heartwarming contemporary romance novel. The story follows the unlikely and delightful encounter between two characters with contrasting personalities, Grumpy ( Alfie) and Sunshine(Mabel), as they navigate the "unpredictable journey of love". Grumpy, true to his name, is a reserved and introverted individual who prefers solitude. On the other hand, Sunshine is an outgoing and optimistic soul who radiates positivity. Their paths cross under unique circumstances, leading to a series of amusing and endearing situations.

Or that's what I thought this book was gonna be like. The last 10 pages of this book could have made this a 4 stars. That was the best part. Not the lengthy weirdly formatted inner monologue of the main character, not the main guy who used trauma as reason why to not communicate with the main character, the main character being blind and ignoring all the things the guy did for her. This trope isn't even my favorite so I don't know why I picked this up but I was in a romantic mood and this book did not even deliver in that way. It got to a point that I had to skim through the rest of the book and occasionally scream out loud because I was so astonished that this book was so boring and that Mabel kept TALKING IN A WEIRD WAY TO HERSELF. the monologue alone was the death of me.

I just could not read this anymore. It normally takes me less than a week to finish any book, especially a 300 page romcom but this book dragged on for TWO WEEKS. This is quite a long time for me to read anything, but you have to remember that this is based on my own reading pace. There's nothing wrong with a book taking you a bit longer to read, but for me it brings down my enjoyment of it. I felt like I couldn't connect with the characters because anytime they did something I would get bored and just turn off my kindle. This may have been brought on by my ever growing book slump, but alas I did not like this book. Anyways, there will be people that will love this love story so if you are in the market for a 3rd person POV grumpy-sunshine rom-com that has some extra depth in it but LOTS of miscommunication, then have at it!

Thank you so much to @netgalley @macmillian.audio and @stmartinspress for the ARC and ALC!

📚 𝙈𝙮 𝙏𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙨 📚
This story is about a ghostwriter Mabel and ex-football player Alfie. Alfie is looking for a ghostwriter for his memoir and has become pretty particular about choosing one. He insults Mabel at their first meeting and she’s sure she could never work with him. However, things change and she agrees to do the job, and Alfie’s fans are wondering who the lady is that he’s hanging out with. To keep the ghostwriting a secret, they decide to fake date and all kinds of funny situations ensue!

I really liked the idea of a ghostwriter storyline in a book, so that is what drew me into this one initially. I had a hard time connecting with the characters in the book though, as I thought their chemistry seemed just physical until the very end. The story is very dialogue heavy, and there is a lot of banter back and forth between the two. I enjoyed the end when the book gets published!
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🎧 𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙗𝙤𝙤𝙠 𝙞𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚:
🩵 Grumpy/sunshine
🩵 Social media gossip
🩵 Curvy FMC
🩵 Retired football (soccer) player
🩵 One POV / 3rd person
🩵 Lots of Banter

There was so much I liked about this. I loved both the hero and the heroine, and I loved the idea of them together. The premise was a fun one, too, where Mable would be the ghostwriter for Alfie's memoire. Though I initially enjoyed their banter, it started to get old when I didn't see much forward motion. I also found myself getting lost in the banter which doesn't normally happen when I read a book. Sometimes when I listen, but not when I read. Though I think this story had a lot of promise, I did DNF at about 40%. Maybe it got better, but I wasn't compelled to continue.

When perky plus-size ghostwriter Mabel Williker is contracted on the downlow to help cantankerous footballer Alfie Harding with his memoir, their relationship is assumed to be some sort of mismatched romance, and they deflect by agreeing to pretend to date while Mable helps Alfie with his writing. He has many wonderful stories to relay, but doesn’t want her to actually put any of them into a book; and joke’s on her, it turns out he can write, has the soul of poet, and probably doesn’t need her help. They find common ground in the past trauma of their childhoods, and share many interests and outlooks.

Stein builds intimacy through her character’s vulnerability–Alfie and Mabel find similarity in their childhood experiences (alcoholic parents and not having enough money to go around). The author handles consent and desire very naturally and believably. They have chemistry, respect, and also have fun together. The story is interspersed with tongue-in-cheek commentary on social media, fame, fashion, wealth, and more, and the narrative expands with Twitterverse commentary, articles, text messaging, emails, and other ephemera to enhance the narrative.

The writing is superb-fresh and funny with snappy but gentle teasing between the two. Their banter never punches down and their desire the take the piss but never harm is wonderful. Stein has a full and inventive vocabulary (let’s bring back “romantical”) and produces clever turns of phrase. The chapter titles are clever and rich in allusion. Alfie is the sweetest cinnamon roll under his gruff “we are not amused” exterior.

The story is told exclusively in Mabel’s voice, and her every thought (and internal monologue on those thoughts) is immediate, candid and funny. She’s delightfully awkward and vulnerable–and mortified at being so. My single criticism is that the reader is sometimes told how the characters are feeling by the naming the expression on their face instead of showing through description; it mostly works, because often it’s Mabel interpreting Alfie’s emotion.

I listened to the audio and narrator Spowage had pitch-perfect tone, and I found her voicing for the irrepressible Mabel fit the character really well. The back and forth dialogue between the protagonists lent itself particularly well to the audio format, as did Alfie’s proclivity to be a talker during sex. Spowage varied the British accent to account for regional variation, did a credible American accent, and delivered many laugh-out-loud moments in the text flawlessly.

I received a free advance readers (and listener’s!) review copy of #WhenGrumpyMetSunshine via #NetGalley; thanks also to #MacMillan and #StMartinsPress.

A steamy and hot rom-com. I’ve been back and forth on rating. I laughed out loud more than once so I went with the five ⭐️ rating. I love Alfie. He is so honest it hurts. His comments and choice of words are hilarious because he says it like it is. Ladies - you would never have to second guess what he means. He speaks the truth 100% of the time. He is an ex-footballer (soccer) looking for a ghost writer. He’s rich and famous and has eye candy models on his arm to social events and dates. The dialogue is little drawn out BUT needed to understand where each characters perspective in childhood and adult come from. (Which makes us who we are)
Along comes Mabel with her curves and sunshine personality. She is eager to ask the questions and write Alfie’s memoir of his success.
Their work relationship is mistaken for dating and the media is not polite about Mables weight. The couple make a pact to fake it and continue to work on the memoir. The chemistry is real in this Cinderella love and sexual tension story between two people that media says is not compatible. Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for ARC read in exchange for my review.

Unfortunately, I had such a difficult time getting into this one. :( It could’ve also been my mood at the time.

I received an arc of this from NetGalley for my honest review.

Since I can’t give half stars I will round up from 3.5 to 4.

I enjoyed this story. The characters were fun and I loved the banter and back and forth between the two.

I just wish we got a little more build up in the beginning of their relationship. They met once and he was surly and she was sweet and she then stormed out. Then he was calling her and flabbergasted. It just felt a little too sudden. I wish the author would have leaned into the whole grumpy and sunshine trope a little bit more in the beginning. Because then he’s not really grumpy, he’s just literal and a bit stoic.

I do love how much consent matter to him though and what a big deal it was in this book. I think that’s so import.

Overall I enjoyed this book and would read more by this author.

I was super excited to read this book but I have to I was disappointed with it. The story follows a bubbly ghostwriter who’s about to write a story on a grumpy ex-football player. I started this book off by reading the e-book which was not a good format as the author was added text messages, articles, etc at the end of each chapter, and at first, I was lost. When I got my physical copy I realized what they were. The writing was okay as the storyline didn’t feel set in stone and just went everywhere. I was often confused about what the end goal of the story was supposed to be and where the story was going. The story is told from Mabel pov but I feel with Alfie’s pov it would have been better.

Mabel is a sweet, MC who wants to become an author. I enjoyed her character but she lacked a bit of development. Alfie is the side main character who is always a grump and lives like he’s in the 1900s. For some reason, I felt that his character was being thrown again and making him sound so bad that readers wouldn’t like him. There aren’t many other side characters but there are some who come and go. The romance wasn’t good as there was no chemistry build up but again it felt as if I shouldn’t like Alfie so it threw me off. The romance is grumpy x sunshine, slow burn and fake dating where the ending was just sex.

The story does end with a happily ever after which was cute. Overall this was not a great read as I was often lost in the story and the purpose behind it. I wish there was more to the story but it was lacking a bit of everything for me. Some might enjoy this book but it just wasn’t for me.

*this arc was sent to me by the publisher to give an honest review in return*

Rating: 3.5 stars

Tropes:
One Bed
He falls first
Curvy FMC
Grumpy/Sunshine
Fake Dating

I want to start off by saying I absolutely adored Alfie! He is the cinnamon roll, golden retriever bad boy we all need in our lives and he broke my heart and put it back together a few times throughout this book!

Mabel reminds my a lot of myself and sometimes, that can be hard to read. But, i loved her and Alfie’s relationship. How they bantered back and forth. It made me laugh quite a few times!

However, with all that being said, I had a hard time getting through this book. I am not a huge fan of 3rd person POVs and what I can only describe as being overly wordy for parts of the book.
After a while, I felt like I was just dragging to get to the next bantering moment.

I also don’t love the miscommunication trope and this one had me nearly yelling at my kindle yall.

Overall, I think it was a cute story and it had some intensely Spicey scenes, but I don’t think it’ll be one I come back to.

Swoon. Swoooon. SWOOOON.

First of all, I might always have a soft spot for a romance novel with a plus size heroine. I think Mabel is perfect and sweet and messy and funny and I love her. I found myself relating to her in so many moments. Alfie is also perfect and sweet and messy and funny and I love him. I was surprised to find myself relating to him in so many moments as well.

Something I think was top tier aside from some of my favorite tropes (grumpy/sunshine, fake dating, one bed) was the banter. Oh, the freaking banter. These could go back and forth for hours, and while it was seamless, I so appreciated that at first, we see Alfie struggling to keep up with Mabel. But once he gets his footing, his banter and wit is just as good and quick as hers.

Usually I don't really mention the spice in my reviews of romance novels aside from a quick "Yeah it was good," but I do just need to mention. The spice in this was PHENOMENAL. A man whose kink is a woman being turned on? The dirty talk? The slow burn of it all? Amazing. Amazing. Amazing. And just as much as I loved the spice, the sweet moments had me kicking my feet and giggling. From Alfie braiding Mabel's hair, to the hand holding, and of course to the softening of Mr. Grumpy's face whenever he looked at Sunshine. It was incredible. I loved this book so much.

The second I opened this book, I knew I would be obsessed with it! It was funny and brilliant, and I could not get enough of that Sassy banter from our leads. I loved how absolutely clueless that MMC was! He was gruff and sour and utterly clueless, and it was perfect! Our FMC was funny, sassy, and didn't back down. I enjoyed how the relationship between our MCs developed and all those believable twists and turns. It wasn't a perfect fairytale romance where the girl got the guy, and the hot jock saw the vixen under the nerdy girl exterior. I am not generally fond of third-act break-ups because by then, I'm rooting for all the good things to happen for our heroes, but sometimes it's exactly what's needed; some may disagree with that, but I feel like that ending was perfect for them.

It was chaos in the most brilliant way possible and I have never wanted to share snippets of a book so much because the personalities were so amazing. The romance wasn't detailed and explicit but it was woven so well and so genuinely that it felt real and well, genuine; which is often hard to pull off.

10 Stars!!! This is the best book I've ever read (at least in this genre). The characters - OMG. I adored Alfie and Mabel so much. The vulnerability the author conveyed while they were pretending was so clear and heart-wrenching. And the giggles and laughing and the hysterical laughter from me throughout this book! There was one part I had tears running down my face from laughing so hard. I'm not a morning person (although I'm better than my teenage self by far), but I woke two hours early the other day and immediately grabbed this book. I read it every second I had available. But then, of course, you know something's going to happen, and it does. But the ending, oh it was so sweet!

Thank you to St Martins Press, St Martins Griffin and NetGalley for providing this eARC. All opinions are my own.

I really wanted to like this book and had high hopes for it as the synopsis had so many elements that I usually love, but I could not get into this and ended up DNFing at the 56% mark. I really struggled to connect with Mabel and since the story is told from her point of view, being stuck in her head was difficult for me. That being said, the framework of the story is adorable and I probably would have finished if Mabel was a likeable character for me.

3.75 stars rounded up!

First and foremost - thank you NetGalley and Griffin for this arc, I always appreciate the chance to preview plus sized romance books :)

If you're looking for a silly goofy time with tropes like: grumpy/sunshine, fake dating, and don't hate miscommunication as a trope - this one's for you! (I know some of y'all *hate* miscommunication so I wanted to give a head's up to those folks, personally it doesn't frustrate me too too much)

I really enjoyed Mabel and Alfie's dynamic, they had an interesting banter that was open and friendly and you could tell that they both really think highly of each other and are rooting for the other one. There were a few times when I felt like Alfie's character wasn't particularly realistic - but I'm also not really *needing* realistic characters in this genre, you know? If you're like me, looking for feels and laughs and "kick your feet" moments, I think you'll enjoy this one. These two get pretty horny for each other, almost to the point of annoying me - it went from "respectful distance" to "every time they're in the same room they're dirty little rascals - but it didn't detract from my overall enjoyment of the story and that's just my personal preference when it comes to the degree of explicit sexual content in books - there definitely is that in this one.

Fat-friendly? You know I have a complicated relationship with books featuring fat women - I want more of them, more more more, but only if done well (aka not making their singular personality trait their relationship with their body or their "journey" about body acceptance and not euphemizing bigger bodies) - and I'm happy to report that I think this one was well done! There was the extra layer of a fat woman dating a famous male athlete and the anti-fat bias that comes with dickheads on the internet commenting about people's body size - and I think the author demonstrated how absurd that is, and how freakin' hot fat women are! Adding it to my list of "Books I'd Recommend with Fat FMCs"!

This book was overall ok... it was a bit hard to get into and follow along. It seems choppy and lots of long dialogue. I do love a good grump/sunshine trope which is why I kept reading. But overall, I fell short and I didn't love it!