When Grumpy Met Sunshine has readers favorite tropes : grumpy/ sunshine, opposites attracts, and fake dating.

The story is cute although the ending felt rushed and it didn’t flow so great with the story overall.

What I enjoyed a lot was the character banter and their communication. It kept me reading more.

I've got some strong mixed feelings on this one. I love a good opposites attract and grumpy vs sunshine trope. Pair it with a ghost-writer tasked with writing a grouchy sport star's memoir and I thought surely this was going to be a golden read that just absolutely hit it out of the park- pun intended. So here's the good, the bad, the meh.

With a pitch of Roy Kent from Ted Lasso vibes, man I was stoked. Yet, I really didn't get those vibes from Alfie. I mean, he was smitten with Mabel fairly immediately and just didn't give off those yelling at everyone vibe. The humor is laced throughout and while they do mesh well and the chemistry is present, I really wanted Mabel to quiet down with the constant, and I mean constant, "we'll never work because of our differences". It started to distract from the chemistry that was happening.

The heroine is plus sized and read in a very real, raw, and vulnerable way. I appreciated her character arc, even with the minor annoyances of the constant denial that they could work out. She did have moments that I'd argue would qualify her as the grump in this one and I almost wish they played on that harder.

This was a DNF for me. I try to give books at least 100 pages in order for me to really gauge the writing style and get into the plot. From the first couple of pages I knew this wasn't going to be for me. There was so much internal dialogue in the book that it was hard to read. Also I think that the author really over explained some of the scenes and it took like 10 pages for 1 interaction.

I really liked the description of the book but unfortunately didn't really vibe with the writing style.

This was a good read - I really enjoyed this book. I'm so glad that I got the chance to read it early and will definitely be recommending it to multiple people who enjoy these types of novels. I enjoyed the characters and especially enjoyed the writing by this author. I'm excited to see what the author comes out with next as I'll definitely be reading it! Thank you to the publisher for my early copy of this book!

This book had me at grumpy football player because it immediately gave me Roy Kent vibes and I was here for it.

Mabel is selected (reluctantly) to ghostwrite famous ex footballer, Alfie Hardings’s memoir. But a misunderstand leads to fake dating, which leads to maybe not fake feelings and a little bit of a mid understanding.

I loved the banter between these two. I loved the fake dating turned very real feelings. I disliked the miscommunication but it went with their histories and the story so I understand.

But my favorite was definitely getting to get a little glimpse of the finished memoir, and I could have definitely read more of it.

This book was a little strange. The writing fell flat to me and I was not convinced that the two characters actually liked each other, which made the big love proclamation feel forced.

This book is published by St. Martin's Press. I am currently boycotting St. Martin's Press and its imprints for its lack of taking a stand against its employee who spoke racist, harmful things against Palestinians being murdered by Israel. Therefore, I will not be posting a review at this time.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press/St. Martin's Press Griffin for giving me advanced reader access. This title published February 6, 2024.

This was a book that overall had many fun positive things going for it; British humor, grumpy/sunshine, fake dating, plus-size representation, and witty banter! I also really enjoyed the premise of a returned footballer hiring a ghost writer to assist with his memoir, and the open door steamy scenes. My main hang up related to the FMC's insecurities around her size which led to inner dialogue self-deprecation and miscommunication conflict with the MMC that really impacted my enjoyment overall for the book. I also struggled with the 3rd act break-up. However, I think many romance readers will enjoy this new romance book!

There were so. many. words.
I never thought I'd say that as a negative when reviewing a book.

What is supposed to be snappy, flirty banter is bogged down by Mabel's unrelenting inner dialogue play-by-play.

First Mabel thinks about saying something and what the response might be.
Then she says the thing. There may or not be a reply.
But she's still in her head rehashing the thing she said. So she doesn't really hear what Alfie is saying to her.

The best parts were the excerpts from articles and social posts that ended the chapters. Those were concise, funny and insightful.

Grumpy + Sunshine and Fake Dating are two of my favorite tropes but being painted into those two plot boxes probably hurt the pacing of this book. At times there were funny lines and sparky moments but not nearly enough. He's revealed to not really be grumpy in their second meeting. And she admits to be a sunshine faker people pleaser early on as well. So where's the tension? Where's the change?

Honestly, these characters didn't even need to fake date. They clearly like each other. Why not just use this as an opportunity for a relationship for the two characters to grow together as they both figure out the next stage of their lives and careers together and separately?

That epilogue could have been a big aww moment but again, So. Many. Words.

Thank you to St. Martins Press and NetGalley for the Advance Reader Copy (ARC) of this book. I am required to disclose this in my review.

DNF @ 25%. I couldn't get into this book at all. I didn't love the narrator or the characters other than the MMC giving Roy Kent vibes. Thanks to NetGalley, St Martin's Press & MacMillan Audio for an advance copy.

Thank you SMPRomance and Netgalley for my gifted audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

This was a cute story, but I wasn’t super invested. There is plenty of steam and fun moments. The audiobook was done well, and I enjoyed the narrator. The representation in this book was good. Overall not a bad romcom, but nothing memorable.

😜 Q U I C K I E 💕 R E V I E W 💋 featuring “When Grumpy Met Sunshine” by Charlotte Stein!

BOOK REVIEW: 🖤🖤🖤/5

Alfie Harding is a grumpy retired footballer looking for a ghost writer for his memoir. After rejecting 17 different writers, he finally settles on sunshiney Mabel Willicker to write his story. Alfie struggles to talk about his life and it’s like pulling teeth for Mabel to get information out of him: insert all of the bickering and banter 😜!

In a nutshell, the public mistakes their business arrange as a fresh romance … so they decide to just run with it and pretend to be a couple. The public is loving this modern day Cinderella story … However is their chemistry just pretend or is it something more real??

Read this one if you enjoy:
👠 Fake dating
👠 Grumpy vs sunshine
👠 Opposites attract
👠 Witty banter
👠 Workplace romance
👠 Plus size representation

Thank you kindly to @charlotte.stein @stmartinspress @netgalley for my advanced digital copy in exchange for my honest review! This book releases on February 6, 2024!

DNF at 30%.

I had high hopes for this book. It had a ton of things I love: ghostwriting for a celebrity romance, a sports star, and grumpy/sunshine.

Unfortunately, the attempted humor was too dry for my taste, and I found myself zoning in and out of the paragraphs upon paragraphs of the main character’s inner thoughts. I decided to put down the book when the closest we got to any actual chemistry was hair braiding, and the “secret nerdy boy” angle wasn’t peaking my interest in the slightest. I thought about staying for the spice that was promised, but it wasn’t worth it for me as the plot wasn’t there.

If you’ve ever seen Ted Lasso, then the MMC gives off Roy Kent vibes. I guess the MFC could give off some Keeley vibes but Keeley was much more confident.
Honestly, what made this book at least 3 stars for me was the sex, dirty talk and the explanation of feelings at the very end.
I love fake-dating but I can honestly say this wasn’t my favorite. I understand that fake-dating leads to miscommunication but the whole book was just one big miscommunication trope. And not only that Mabel (MFC) had such low self-esteem that she couldn’t even get it through her head that the attractive footballer kissing her, talking dirty to her and doing it with her actually might like her. And really if she wasn’t sure, she should have just freakin asked! Ugh!
Also, the “year apart” was unnecessary, like I get that the grand gesture was the book but it didn’t need to take a year. She could have been given the draft copy. Double ugh!

DNF at 9%.

I wanted to love this one so much. The premise had so much potential. But I just can't. The writing reads so weird. The dialogue is just weird. There's multiple things that are just inaccurate. And I just can't.

A Blurb: In this steamy opposites-attract romance, retired footballer Alfie Harding reluctantly agrees to sell his memoirs, but faces a writing challenge due to his aversion to self-disclosure. Enter Mabel Willicker, a cheery ghostwriter who skillfully teases out Alfie's story, leading to banter, bickering, and an unexpected fake relationship. As they navigate the public's fascination, the sparks of their fake romance ignite a heat that questions whether it's just for show or the beginning of a real fairytale ending.

My Thoughts: I had a pretty hard time getting through this one. It was hard to follow, the dialogue was simultaneously saying too much and not enough, and the characters were extremely (to the point of my irritation) self-deprecating. I also couldn't figure out the timeline of the story. It could have been happening over a few days or a few weeks or months and I didn't pick up on it. I've never read a book where I've thought there should be less spice, but this one is it. I didn't feel like a scene or two were necessary to the plot and it didn't match the tone of the rest of the book. And the ending conflict was not necessary. Now to the things I liked - he bought her furniture, he brushed and braided her curly hair, threatened to kill her (already dead) alcoholic dad, and I did laugh out loud at multiple parts because of their banter and inner monologues.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press & NetGalley for this ARC!

Read If You Love
- fake dating
- grumpy x sunshine (duh)
- plus sized rep
- soccer player x ghostwriter
- banter

2.5-3 stars (rounded up to three either way).

"When Grumpy Met Sunshine" by Charlotte Stein boasts one of my favorite tropes, grumpy x sunshine, with a (obviously) Roy Kent-inspired slant to the main male character. I loved "Ted Lasso," so I was excited to see what Charlotte Stein could drum up with a Roy Kent-y sound-alike and a plus-sized female character. While Alfie f**kin' Harding is sufficiently grumpy, and Mabel Willicker is a fat ray of sunshine, unfortunately, the ball (heh) gets dropped when it comes to this story's execution. Mabel is interviewing Alfie so she can ghostwrite his memoir, and in the process, they banter their way from "enemies" to friends to "ehh, let's just bang and get it out of our systems" to "oopsie, I fell in love." This is all well and good, but there's only so many ways an author can say the same thing over and over before it gets boring. Alfie is hesitant to tell her the truth about his life, and Mabel uses her sunshine-y ways to extract information from him, even though he says she can't use it in the book (but we, the readers, know that this won't be the case at the end because it's *so* *freaking* *obvious*). I should mention that I really did love the banter between the two characters. This book is full of British humor and wit. I like how Mabel and Alfie bond over their shared childhood traumas. I liked the level of spice, which I did not expect (not sure why I thought there might not be any, but I was pleasantly surprised to see several sexy scenes). I love how Alfie always says he likes Mabel's body just as it is, even though Mabel assumes she is too fat for him because.... why?? Because he's famous? Because of who he has dated in the past? Yuck! You can't expect to have a positive plus-size representation and then have the fat character make assumptions about how people hate her/judge her/don't like her simply because she's fat! The two do not mix! So, while we're here, here are my other complaints. First, this book feels way too long and is much too repetitive. Second, I don't like how many miscommunications there are between Mabel and Alfie, especially when the miscommunications are rooted in Mabel's own "insert opinion here." It feels like they don't communicate about anything *at all,* and when they do, their conversations are riddled with ERROR 404. I am not the type of reader who *needs* to see a dual POV, but this is the kind of book that could have benefitted from two points of view. We only get to see things from Mabel's perspective, and she is constantly proven to be someone who blows things out of proportion or sees things negatively (which, same sometimes!), but that makes Alfie seem almost worse because of it?? *spoilers* I also hate the one-year time jump at the end of the book. Alfie literally ghosts Mabel with little to no fanfare and never reaches out! I was so angry about this! It feels like the author didn't know how to end her book, so she inserted a massive time jump instead of coming up with any other discernable plot. Yikes! I really did not like this. We eventually got an explanation for what happened, but it didn't feel good enough for me, and it didn't make me feel good. We're just supposed to root for them as a couple after that?! Uhhh, no thanks. Anywho, this book was a mixed bag for me.

Thank you to NetGalley, Charlotte Stein, St. Martin's Griffin, and St. Martin's Press for the complimentary ARC of this book. All opinions are my own. I was not compensated for this review.

I love this trope, and based on the title, we already know what it is. Mabel is a writer and the cutest and Alfie is the a soccer star and the absolute worst, he's such a grump and such an awkward MC, lol. Not only does he say the weirdest things, but he's stuck in the flip phone era I couldn't stop laughing at time. The book has a ton of promise but I feel that we kept going in circles when it comes to them, we don't get anymore until they finally feed into this sexual energy damn near the end of the book. It was like the characters were not evolving at all and at times it was getting a little frustrating, and I had to skim through to get to certain parts. Even though his dry humor was at times laughable, even when he suggested fake dating, I was loving that new trope, and their funny AF banter getting more intense but it wasn't going anywhere... it had potential and I know people who will love this book but it wasn't what I wanted it to be.

This one started out strong for me but then about 75% through I started to lose interest. The story line started to get a bit repetitive and felt like it was dragging on. I think if the book were a bit shorter I could have rated it higher.

This book had a lot of tropes I love, like fake dating and one bed. Plus it had little news snippets, emails, twitter messages in between some of the chapters which I adore! So from the start it had a lot going for it. I liked the story of bubbly Mabel being a ghost writer for a grumpy former soccer player Alfie. While the ghost writing has to be kept under wraps and they are seen out together, fake dating ensues! This one definitely had some spicy to it and I think I have decided I am more of a closed door romance gal. I’m not into reading the play by play of people’s love lives. Overall I enjoyed this one and recommend it you are looking for romance with some spice to it.