I love a grumpy character. I love curvy female love interests. I love the forced proximity. I love fake dating. Can I just say I loved everything about this book?

So many of my favorite romance troupes meet in this book so I instantly fell in love with the characters and their banter. I enjoyed the chemistry, and the steam, and everything in between these two! All around, a great read!

Definitely one of the best romcoms I have read lately, When Grumpy Met Sunshine by Charlotte Stein contained all the elements I love in a romantic romp.
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You can tell by the title that it is a grumpy/sunshine trope, but it is also fake relationship, work place, and single bed. All tropes I love. The main characters, Alfie and Mabel are great. There were very few side characters, but they weren’t needed to add anything to this romance.
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The build up was perfect, open door romance with plenty of steam and humor to boot. I will be thinking of, and laughing about, the antics in chapter 22 for a long time. Witty banter wins me over every time and the chemistry and banter between these two was extremely enjoyable. I laughed out loud so much my husband came into the room to ask me what was going on.
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This gave me some serious Ted Lasso vibes in that Alfie reminds me SO much of the character Roy Kent. In this book, a retired legendary football (soccer) star has to hire a ghostwriter to write his memoirs, memoirs that he doesn’t want to have written. I could just picture what Roy Kent would say and do in the same situation. Mabel is that writer who brings out the best in him in many ways.
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Oh, and the fictional Alfie played for Manchester United, my family’s favorite Premier League team. I loved that.
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I have the biggest grin on my face just thinking about this book. It comes out this week and I highly recommend it!

2.5 stars rounded up for goodreads

I really wanted to love this book. I tried so hard. I almost dnf’d it about 30% through. Around 52% it did pick up and was more enjoyable. There was just so much banter, which is great and all as most times it was Funny. But it was hard to follow a lot of times. I had to reread parts to get who was talking. And the sheer amount of banter between the characters just at times seemed excessive. Maybe it would work better in audiobook form? The idea is there for sure and it has so much potential. I just think the execution is a bit clunky. It could be because I read an uncorrected digital arc so maybe a lot of my issues are solved in the final product.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher/author for an eARC

I voluntarily read and reviewed a copy of this book, provided by Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I had a bit of trouble gelling with the MMC, but the FMC was great! However, in places the banter felt forced, and maybe a bit immature? The dialogue was a bit pretentious at times and seemed to go on and on. I am a huge fan of grumpy/sunshine, so I did find the best parts were when the grumpy was allowed to roam free haha!

While I normally love the grumpy sunshine trope I found the male main character really difficult to like. It felt like he brought very little to the table.

This one just really wasn’t for me.

Thanks SMP & Netgalley for the opportunity to read in exchange for an honest review.

This book is fun and entertaining, Mabel and Alfie made me laugh with their banter, I really liked their conversations and Alfie is so sweet. A good romance to pass the time.

Read it if you are a fan of
Grumpy Sunshine
Banter
romantic comedy
Plus Size Heroine
Sweet MMC
Forced Proximity

I honestly had a really hard time following the storyline. The female main character was likeable but the male main character was lacking substance. He added nothing to the story, which made me not root for them as a couple. The book itself was all over the place, the writing had no type of order. It was really difficult to follow along what was happening. The idea was very good but it the outcome didn’t live up to the hype.

This book wasn’t for me. I normally love the grumpy sunshine trope but I felt like the male character contributed nothing to the story. He had no personality at all and it was really hard for me to like him.

There was also a lot of banter in this book. An unusual amount. It seemed like no issues or conflicts were ever being resolved because of the banter and all of the internal dialogue..

This book started off right from the start with having some of the shortest chapters I have ever read, and it made it so disjointed for the reader. The book itself was chaotic and somewhat absurd, the author wrote in a way that seemed like it was stream of consciousness writing, and it was absolutely difficult to follow along what was happening.

The writing style unfortunately irked me so much with how it took so long for things to be expressed to the reader and it was in a cadence that felt like the thought was just a run-on sentence for many pages at a time. I couldn't connect with this because the writing was so distracting and also the banter didn't work for me. The characters were fun at times and were semi-representative of the grumpy and sunshine, but it felt a little forced at times. There were a couple moments between the two that were nice, but the humor didn't work for me and I feel like the first half of the book didn't work for me to the point that the rest of the build-up never really pulled me in. I do like that he defended her honor and they connected over writing, but that's mostly it.

My favorite parts of the writing were actually the fake articles and tweets, etc. which is unfortunate, but they did add great flavor. 😂 And I'm sorry, but...did the author really have to describe the MMC's thighs as meaty prison bars??

The love story of Mabel Willicker and Alfie Harding is one of the most hilarious things I have read in a while. Their banter is a mile a minute and it is easy to get lost in, but it is always obvious that they are flirting outrageously.

If you are looking for a romcom full of witty dialogue, adorably clueless MCs, and fantastic side characters, definitely check this one out. If you happen to be a fan of any of the following tropes, you will find them all in this one book…

~grumpy/sunshine
~meet disaster
~fake dating
~he fell first
~only one bed

Just watch out for the dreaded miscommunication trope.

Recommended for: romantic comedy readers

Content warning: references to parental abuse and alcoholism; fatphobic incident

I received a digital ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Things I was looking forward to in this one: grumpy/sunshine, enemies banter, some fake dating but where it's so obvious that someone has real feelings and them falling in love over their ghost writing project.

What we ended up with - a grumpy/grumpy oddball friendship to fake dating. Two insufferable main characters. One who bares a striking resemblance to Roy Kent (but where Roy is actually a big softie. Alfie just wasn't), and the supposed to be sunshine Mabel is also someone we don't want to root for. Through the fake dating, their friendship was actually okay, fairly intentional but it felt very surface level, no steam, no banter, no feelings to root for. The author jumped right into the story but there's no depth to the characters and I just couldn't get into the story.

Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC in exchange for my review!

This one frustrated me because I wanted to love it so much but the banter and dialogue were so incredibly long-winded. The cover and title are so adorable but this just fell completely flat for me.●

Thank you, NetGalley, St. Martins Press and Charlotte Stein for a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

WHEN GRUMPY MET SUNSHINE – Charlotte Stein
St. Martin’s Griffin
ISBN: 978-1250867933
February 6, 2024
Romantic Comedy

England – Present Day

Ex-footballer Alfie Harding is badgered into writing his memoirs, but the guy doesn’t know how to even begin. A sweet and curvy ghostwriter by the name of Mabel Willicker is hired to write his words for him. Of course, this means spending time together as she asks him questions and hopes to get some interesting responses. The two don’t get along at first, mainly because Alfie is a bit of a jerk, but he soon grows on Mabel. She is well aware that the bachelor-in-high-demand Alfie wouldn’t normally date someone who has lots of curves, but that doesn’t stop them from flirting with each other. Soon, rumors about them begin when they are spotted out together in public. Alfie thinks it’s funny, but he isn’t on social media and doesn’t see what people are saying about her. Mabel can’t wait until the project is done…or is she?

Opposites attract between a retired football player and the ghostwriter hired to write his memoirs in the funny WHEN GRUMPY MET SUNSHINE. Alfie isn’t really interested in his memoirs because he is like, “Why am I interesting?’ Mabel is there to flesh out his thoughts for him and pen a biography that will sell books. He is a laidback man who doesn’t have a current girlfriend and he’s spent most of his life playing football. Mabel and Alfie don’t get along for most of this tale, yet there is this spark of attraction that soon develops.

There is plenty of bantering and bickering back and forth between Alfie and Mabel. She wants to ignore the fact that she is falling for him. Social media comments are placed at the end of each chapter. Some are good comments and others are well…not so complimentary because of Mabel’s curviness. How can a handsome bloke like Alfie fall for a woman like her? Readers will sympathize not only for Mabel but for Alfie. There are a lot of wrong assumptions about them by others. Underneath the cocky attitude is a nice guy…and one who is finding himself liking Mabel a lot. Mabel has to get over her self-consciousness because Alfie likes her the way she is.

WHEN GRUMPY MET SUNSHINE takes place in England and while Alfie is a footballer (not the American kind), there is not much chatter about the sport in this tale. There really aren’t any other characters other than these two. It’s all about the burgeoning feelings—and potential romance—between Alfie and Mabel. A different sort of tale, so be sure to not miss WHEN GRUMPY MET SUNSHINE.

Patti Fischer
Romance Reviews Today

This book was a fun read for me. I enjoyed the back and forth between Mabel and Alfie. As a fan of Ted Lasso, I kept picturing Alfie as a Roy Kent type, which made this read even more fun. I enjoyed the format of the book with each chapter ending with either an article, an online post, or something else that related to comments made in that chapter. Highly recommend reading this if you're looking for a good romcom!

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for advanced copy, and I give my review freely

Here is what you need to do before you start this book: you need to picture Roy Kent in your brain or watch a few Roy Kent vids on TikTok or an episode or two of Ted Lasso. Now dive in and picture Alfie as exactly that. *Chefs Kiss!*

While this book could have used some editing and doesn’t need to be quite as long - I felt it was a very enjoyable listen on audio.

When Grumpy Met Sunshine by Charlotte Stein
Genre: contemporary romance
Rating: DNF (did not finish)
Format: ebook (eARC)

-grumpy x sunshine
-opposites attract
-plus-sized rep
-U.K. setting
-books about books (writing, authors)
-slow burn

I wanted to love this book because it has so many things I enjoy in a romance, but at the end of the day, I couldn’t connect with the characters. I DNFed at 33%. I thought it was fun that the MMC gave us big Roy Kent vibes. I just wanted more out of these characters. I needed a little more dialogue to get to know them better and a little less of the FMC’s inner dialogue. I just found her inner thoughts to be very lengthy, and because of this, I wasn’t pulled in.

I think there are many people who will enjoy this book, but it just wasn’t for me.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Griffin for my eARC in exchange for my honest thoughts! I won’t be sharing this one on my bookstagram.

DNF at 26%

Alright I tried but unfortunately this wasn’t for me. The characters fell flat and the banter was annoying and immature especially for the ages of the characters. It all felt very forced and was awkward most of the time. The covers cute though!

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC

Ooh. One fact about me- I LOVE a good grumpy × sunshine romance. Add in a plus sized FMC and a brooding British ex-footballer MMC, and this is my perfect recipe for a gold medal romcom.

However, this book completely missed the mark for me. Told from ghostwriter Mabel's POV, the story starts off by throwing the reader into the deep end as the major conflict occurs within the first two chapters. The pace then slowed down but I struggled to get invested. The writing was messy and frenetic, with too many sentences staring with 'because', 'and' and 'but' (seriously, who edited this? It can't be stylistic). The banter sessions were multiple pages long and over the top. Alfie, very obviously based on Ted Lasso's Roy Kent (at least to me) was almost like a caricature- his grumpiness was so supreme it was actually unbelievable (favourite time of day: when it's night; favourite food: something burnt). Mabel's sunshine was also over exaggerated (her home decor is everything pastels and all she has to drink is pink lemonade and hot chocolate). There was also an unexplainable Notting Hill-esque fake dating plotline thrown in nearly halfway through the book and the time jump ending seemed a little disjointed

There were some sweet undertones and once the characters loosened up, they became less caricatures and more like people I would want to read about it in a love story. Good premise but the could have used more editing/refining. Maybe if I had read this as a Roy Kent fan fic I might have enjoyed it more.

I should have DNFed this one but I kept skimming and flipping the pages to get to the HEA. Two and a half stars rated down to 2 stars for me.

Real Rating: 3.5* of five

Mabel and Alfie, whose names sound like an English music-hall duo, also sound like an English music-hall duo while they bicker and banter. This is an uncomplicated, pleasant iteration of the evergreen romance trope, executed without unnecessary fuss and with the panache one expects from an experienced practitioner of the Art of Romance. The only minor whinge I have is that the pace of this story is not as snappy as the copious dialogue...really more like exchanged monologues, if I am in full-disclosure mode.

If you like your romance reading without male knuckle-dragging, female high-horsing, or mutual sexist disrespect...as I do...you will very likely enjoy this read.