I wish I would have known this book was told from third person POV. I’ve recently made it a point to check several resources about POV before i make requests. Grumpy sunshine is one of my favorite tropes so I thought this would be up my alley. Except I kept starting and stopping this book over the course of two days and had to go back and reread to figure out where I left off. I may just be in the wrong headspace to dive into this book at this time, but DNF.

I received an advance copy of this book at my request from the publisher and voluntarily left this review.

Alfie. He is to English football what Gretzky is to Canadian hockey, a legend. He’s the definition of grumpy with a scowl that’d give Roy Kent a run for his money.

Mabel. The curvy writer who’s sweet as a sugar. She’s got a sunny disposition with bright & colourful clothing to match.

When they’re thrust together to write Alfie’s memoir the paparazzi misidentifies Mabel as his newest leading lady. They decide to fake it for the cameras, but soon she questions if it’s all for show.

I didn’t mind this book, but I really wanted to like it so much more. It’s so HEAVY on miscommunication that I didn’t really believe it when she admits her feelings to herself. It’s got a slow burn, but the first time anything actually happens it didn’t have that payoff I normally kick my feet for. It wasn’t until the end that I finally believed/loved them as a couple.

It’s also written in third person, which I don’t love, but that's just personal preference.

I did however love the characters individually. He’s VERY Roy Kent who I LOVE. It’s nice to see Mabel crack his shell & get him to open up. In return he helps her accept parts of herself that she seemed to pretend to accept.

If you don't mind the miscommunication trope or third POV then I think you'll enjoy this one.

This was actually the cutest book ever holy shit. So of course I am a huge fan of the grumpy/sunshine trope, which is why I immediately was dying to read this. The fmc, Mabel, is a plus sized ghostwriter who overthinks situations just a tad and wears super cute dresses. On the other hand, Alfie, is a retired, gruff football player that is basically a tank of a man. This was a slow burn that really did burn until the end. I honestly thought their dynamic was all round swoon worthy with the hilarious banter and Alfie’s reactions to Mabel being her bubbly self. One of the things I liked about this book the most was even though Mabel was bright and happy, it wasn’t overdone or super shoved down your throat. Another one of my favorite parts was when the sexual tension between them lit fires in their asses, it actually had me dying. This book was great for letting me escape reality for a second in a feel good romance that had me giggling and kicking my feet. All in all this was a fun rom com that I think many more people should be talking about. Also thanks so much for giving me the opportunity to read this arc through Netgalley, it was so worth it! This review is already posted on my blog and goodreads, which is linked in my blog.

I'm so sorry :( i'm participating in the SMP Boycott so will not be posting about this book. please, SMP. just resolve this.

The cover, title and book blurb is what had me interested in the book. Who doesn't like a good grumpy guy falls in love with the bubbly sunny girl story? The premise of this book was super promising, however I feel like it really fell flat. It was almost overly descriptive in everything that was said throughout the book. I didn't mind that it jumped from the different narrators, however I thought the little blurbs at the end of each chapter were a bit weird and disconnected from the chapter. The spice was an extremely slow burn and a bit underdeveloped and not matured. There were some funny parts that I enjoyed however I think the rest of the book just fell flat.

⭐⭐⭐/5
🌶️/5

I received an eARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review

I really loved the premise of this book, but sadly it fell short for me. The begginging was a bit slow for me, it took a good 2 days for me to get into it and after that it was good. But as the chapters moved on, as Mabel and Alfie were together more, the inner dialogue was too long, too descriptive, and too back and forth (miscommunication wise) for me.

Mabel is the 17th person that has been hired to ghostwrite Alfie’s (famous retired soccer player) memoir - he’s fired every single one before her. Alfie is serious, gruff, to the point and absolutely hates smart phones - he doesn’t know how to use one. Mabel is the epitome of sunshine, smiles and easy jokes.

A miscommunication ends up having the general public think that Mabel and Alfie are dating… enter their management and PR teams, and they’re quickly brought into a fake dating situation. What will happen when they’re forced to spend more and more time together?

Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book!
All thoughts and opinions are my own.

What a ride! I was giddy and smiling while reading this! I kept thinking, “no, that did not just happen!” with an inner squeal of delight, or “did he really just say that?” again with an inner squeal and a grin. Alfie is such a gem. And Mabel puts on a sunny demeanor as a sort of armor. They both have loads of depth and were delightful and sooo hot and steamy together.

Read WHEN GRUMPY MET SUNSHINE for
☀️ Grumpy x sunshine main characters (in case the book title didn’t give that away)
🥸 Fake dating
🛏️ One bed!
💕 Opposites attract
💀 Touch her and die vibes
⚽️ Retired famous, wealthy, and surly soccer player
🔥 Steamy tension
💗 Curvy rep
☕️ Britishisms and cups of tea
🧁 Sweet, satisfying ending

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (5/5 stars)

Thank you, St. Martin's Press and NetGallery, for giving me the opportunity to read, When Grump Met Sunshine.

I’ll be completely transparent by admitting that I didn’t finish the book. I got through 28% of it before I decided to move on to something else. Other people might really enjoy this story. There’s a lot to like. It has a cute premise. He’s a former professional soccer player, which has inadvertently made him a celebrity. She’s been picked to ghostwrite his memoir. There were some moments when I genuinely laughed out loud. The cover is also amazing, which initially drew me to the book.

I think where I struggled was with Alfie’s character. He’s how old, and he can barely operate a flip phone? Another struggle was how the dialogue seemed to slow down the pacing. And if swearing is not your thing, this book isn’t for you. I enjoy a nicely placed cuss word, but it became distracting and pulled me out of the story.

Simply put, I wanted to love this book, but it didn’t hold my attention. I’ll give 2.5 stars (rounded up to 3) for what I read.

When Grumpy Met Sunshine
By Charlotte Stein

⭐⭐
🌶️🌶️🌶️

I was initially drawn to this book by the super cute cover. I especially liked that it seemed to be a plus sized FMC. The description also seemed to check boxes for things I like: former athlete and ghostwriter working on his memoir (workplace romance) and a fake dating plot! The actual execution however was just not for me.

The book is called "When Grumpy Met Sunshine" so the existence of the Grumpy/Sunshine trope was very obvious. Even still, the fact that he's grumpy and she's happy/bubbly/perky/etc is stated OVER AND OVER throughout the book both out loud and in the internal monologue. It's excessive.

There was ALOT of internal monologue in this book. Things that were actually supposed to be spoken dialogue were then told through the FMCs internal monologue instead. This made it very difficult to track what was actually going on. Then, what was spoken was nearly entirely the characters trying to one up each other on banter. I didn't know there could be too much banter in a book, but it turns out there can.

There weren't very many other characters in this book, and the few that there were mostly interacted by text/email so it was kind of like the entire story took place in a bubble even though they did technically interact with other people. And there was a plot involving the FMCs boss that confused me until the very end as to why it existed at all. And when it came back around it was absolutely bonkers and unnecessary.

Finally, the characters seemed to take on entirely different personalities when it came to the spice. It was like whiplash. Personally I found the spice over the top and fairly cringey and I just wanted to get past it.

Overall this book was a miss for me.

Read January 25-27, 2024

This is actually 3.75⭐️, but rounded up.

I really enjoyed Mabel and Allie’s story as fake dating is one of my favorite tropes.

The reason I didn’t rate this higher was because of the miscommunication that occurred. That is one of the tropes I usually avoid.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

When I read several romance novels in a short time span, I tend to get more impatient with them and perhaps that’s what happened here. I typically like the grumpy/sunshine trope but this had too much banter and too little story progression.

There were times it was enjoyable but also frustrating.

When Grumpy Met Sunshine is an Opposites Attract/Grump Sunshine /Fake Relationship tale and my 1st book by this author.
I absolutely adored this novel. I'll be honest, it took me a bit to get into the story as the start was a bit slow and had too much internal mind dialogue, but I'm so glad I stuck with it. It soon picked up and I was totally engrossed and captivated with these characters.

The story follows Alfie an ex footballer who needs a ghostwriter to write his memoirs. Enter the sweet, curvy, Mabel who knows just how to get details out of him. As their professional relationship gets mistaken for a personal one, what follows is a comedy of errors that had me laughing out loud, as these two now pretend to be in a relationship.

I loved the back and forth banter between Alfie and Mabel. It was witty, hilarious, swoony and heartwarming and the spicy scenes and chemistry between them was next level.

This was an enjoyable tale and I would definitely recommend it to lovers of romcoms.
Thank you to @netgalley @stmartinspress and @macmillionaudio for the ARC.

🎧 I listened to the audiobook version which was a bit different from what I'm accustomed to. The narrator, Emily Swowage's voice, was soothing and she read in the same voice for both male and female characters, like she was reading a story out loud.
Once I got used to the narrator I enjoyed her narration style and she helped me fully enjoy this story as she really did bring it all to life.

I tried really hard to get into this book and like the FMC and MMC, however I had to DNF at 15%. This book had so much potential but it would have been even better with some more editing, organizing, and smoothing out the book. I will not be reviewing this on my Goodreads or bookstagram account this I did not finish this book.

Alfie and Mabel deserve the entire world! They are too freaking cute and they made me laugh the entire time. Such a great read!

Thank you so much for the chance to read this novel early. I love love love a romance with a slight curmudgeon, and I love romantic comedies, straight up romances, etc. This should have been perfect for me, but unfortunately it was very tough to get through. The dialogue was really a challenge... there was just so much of it and it was immature. So much of the book was this chatty banter but the story was slow. I ended up not finishing the book. It may have an audience, especially fans of the author, but it was a miss for me.

Alfie and Mabel appear to be complete opposites on the surface. Alfie is a world-famous ex-footballer who is notoriously rude and very private. Mable is a plus-size cutie with an easy demeanor that puts people at ease and helps them open up, which is perfect for her career as a ghost writer. Mabel gets hired to be the writer for Alfie's upcoming memoir and knows right off the she's in trouble. They begin to bond over similar childhood traumas and realize there is so much more to each other than meets the eye.

This was a solid 3 star read for me.

I went into when Grumpy Met Sunshine expecting a cute, low smoldering rom-com. I was pleasantly surprised by the spice level! It did take a little while for anything to actually happen between the main characters, but I enjoyed the build-up. This book was filled with a lot of dialogue, and I think it was really well done. Overall, I was expecting a bit more from the book in the way of romance but it was a cute read.

Ugh! I’m so sorry to the author. I unfortunately cannot provide a review due to participating in the boycott.

3.5 Stars Story ~ 5 Stars Narration ~ 4 Stars Overall

This was the first book I've read by Charlotte Stein. I was excited to get this book because grumpy/sunshine, fake dating, plus size, and sport tropes are favorites of mine. I loved the synopsis I read with the great cover. But it took some time for me to get invested in the book. I started it a few different times and it took listening to the audiobook to get through it.

At times I smiled, chuckled, and/or rolled my eyes. As an American, I found that I didn't always understand some words and had to look them up or guess by the context. The couple was definitely odd. But we all need love in our lives, right? I most enjoyed how Mable got Alfie to reveal his true self to her. It was great to be able to read and listen to this book!

Emily Spowage was a great narrator. She did both male and female voices well, bringing the book to life. She helped me get past whatever was holding me up while reading.

Thank you NetGalley, St Martin's Press, Macmillan Audio for the ARC and ALC of this book/audiobook.

Thank you NetGalley for letting me read an arc of this book in exchange for an honest review. I'm giving this 2.5 stars. The idea of it was so cute; a romance between a ghostwriter and the football star she's writing for/with. This fell a little flat for me. The beginning seemed to be all over the place and felt jumpy. Then there was a bunch of banter and spice in the middle, a bit too much for my liking where it seemed the plot was lost there. The ending was cute and I do enjoy a happy ending for rom coms. I enjoyed the characters of Mabel and Alfie as well, but just the overall lacking of plot in this makes it not a fav for me.

I ended up not being able to completely finish this one. It was absolutely not my taste and the banter was killing me. I am not sure what type of reader I would recommend this book to. Thankful for an advanced copy of this one, but it was a flop for me.