I truly don't know what to think about this book. The premise is right up my alley, but it was such a confusing read I don't know if I liked it or not.

At its heart, it is a sweet story, but it was surrounded by so. Many. WORDS. So much dialogue - like to the point where I couldn't tell which character was speaking. And it was non-sensical at times, thanks to being third person but only one POV. I feel like that was done on purpose to help the ending, but it was maddening to read. Then there was the slang - I am a huge fan of British shows/movies/books, but there was stuff going on in here that I could figure out only by context.

So, if really wordy (even the spicy parts, which as a result weren't that spicy), quirky, HEA's are your thing, this is the book for you. Otherwise, I would pass.

Three stars because the plot is really very sweet and clever - it's the execution that rattled me.

If I were being totally unbiased, this book was great! However, for me personally, it wasn’t what I was looking for. The plot was overtaken by the steam, and that’s why I’ve given the rating of 3 stars.

What I liked about this book:
The very Roy Kent-y MMC
The British Humor
The very Ted Lasso-y agent
The sweet things that Alfie said to Mabel
The HEA
The steam was good, but it got to be so much that I had to skip parts.

What I didn’t like about this book:
The steam overtaking the plot. What was this book actually about again?
The miscommunication
The fact that the third act breakup was a whole year long

Thank you to NetGalley and SMP for my copy in exchange for my honest review!

dnf @ 10%

thanks to the publisher and netgalley for an arc!

I'm sorry, I just couldn't get through this book. The dialogue was cringe, the writing was...not for me. I honestly don't have much to say, this book was just not for me. I do appreciate the fat rep in a romance book though, I just wish I liked the book!

I had mixed feelings with this book. The POV was in 3rd person, which y'all know is not my favorite. While the book was decent, I had issues with all the British slang. At times, it was hard to follow along, and I had to reread several paragraphs to try to figure out what I had missed. It also seemed to jump forward in time, in the middle of the page. Maybe not a significant amount of time, but maybe 1-2 days? Enough that it became confusing about what just happened and where the characters were at.

At the same time, there were perfect moments that I wished Alfie was real. This man freaking brushed and braided Mabel's hair like Princess Leia. There was also the PRIDE AND PREJUDICE HAND MOMENT!🤣🤣🤣

It would also be remiss of me not to mention that I think Alfie was on the spectrum. He had mannerisms and obsessions that I've seen to be common in people with autism. It actually endeared me to him. I love how beautifully the author wrote Alfie.

Thank you, Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the opportunity of an ARC!

I tried. I really did but after putting this book down and picking it up several times I finally threw in the towel at 34%. I was not pulled into this story at all and I kept getting the feeling like this book was trying way too hard to be cute, hitting readers over the head with the obvious trope and the main male character who was clearly a knock off of Roy Kent from Ted Lasso fame.

The writing was disjointed with too much dialogue and the banter awkward. If I could have enjoyed the main characters I may have kept at it, but I didn't connect with them at all and while the premise was good, the execution was very weak.

Since I DNF'd this book I will not be posting my review on my blog, social media or GoodReads.

I love Grumpy/Sunshine and Fake Dating tropes. I was also excited to see a curvy FMC I'm this book. The cover is so cute! My expectations were high, and unfortunately I was left really disappointed.

This is written in third person, which I dislike (specifically in rom coms), but aside from that personal preference there are a few things that made this really hard to read:

• Banter was choppy and exhausting
• Too much inner monologue
• Lengthy dialogue and not enough action
• Random articles and news stories between chapters that awkwardly broke the story up
• Characters were not well developed (the MMC man is supposed to be the rudest most arrogant man and just a few chapters in you see that isn't really true). The author to grumpy and sunshine to an unrealistic extreme.
• Inconsistencies in the story (in the beginning of the book he's complaining about his phone and saying he wished they could go back to flip phones. For the remainder of the book it talks about him having a flip phone.)

I think the idea behind this book is good, but it could have used a LOT more editing and some serious refining of the characters and the dialogue. Removing all the inner monologue would help greatly.

I've never rated an ARC this low and I feel awful doing it, but I just couldn't force myself to get through this one. I DNF'd this before even making it halfway. DNF books are automatically a 1-star review for me. 😬

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press/St. Martin's Griffin for providing me with this book and allowing me to share my honest thoughts.

Okay, so I was excited when I read the synopsis for this book, it sounded like everything I loved all in one book grumpy meets sunshine is the actual title!!! I was hoping for a Book Lovers type dynamic but unfortunately it did not achieve that high standard.. I pushed through hoping that it either of the MC would grow on me. He came across as so stupid and cardboard with zero concept of how to live in the world without a quirky upbeat writer with curves. It was a bit much for me to accept. The man got swindled out of all of his furniture and tv and just sat there like oh okay until she pointed it out?!?!?! cmon. I would not say it was horrible i just couldn't connect to it, maybe its better as British chick lit than American chick lit. I'd say 2.5 rounded up to 3 because it wasn't for me but it may be for someone else.

Thank you NetGalley for granting me this advanced access to this book in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you NetGalley and publishers for the opportunity to ARC read When Grumpy Met Sunshine.

Unfortunately, I decided to DNF this book at 30%, so I am unable to give a full review on this title.

My reasons for DNFing:
-VERY cheesy grumpy x sunshine trope; very typical "misunderstood, seemingly hateful MMC and extremely bubbly MFC who understands him and gets him to open up and hes actually sensitive and charming"
-writing was very lengthy and choppy and at some points couldn't even tell what was going on or when we moved from one scene to another
-the addition of the accents the author was adding to some of the dialogue just made it really hard to understand some of the time
-overall just feel like I know exactly where this story is headed and have no urge to pick it up and read it

I do think there is a specific audience that would enjoy this book, I am no a part of that audience.

Steamy indeed!

Like many other comments, the banter was excessive, to the point where it felt like nothing material was added to the story. The beginning especially just felt like the story was dragging with no direction on where we were going. I don't think it was also necessary to continuously breakdown what was going on in the character's head after every exchange of words. It made the characters' growth seem stunted since there wasn't a single needle movement in them acknowledging that maybe it's okay to open-up, etc. The ending was very rushed with everything just falling into place - without the appropriate lead-up (see prior sentence). Wish there was more substance, less frills, and less growling. Not sure why that was the word choice to describe how Alfie spoke every time.

DNF at 16%. I wanted so badly to like this one - Alfie seems like a Roy Kent inspired hero who is unfairly characterized as a grump when he seems more shy and awkward than anything. I also intrigued by the plus size ghost writer. There seems to be lots of British banter and if that’s your thing, give it a go! However, there was just way too much inner monologue from her end, and I decided I was likely finished when they referred to something smelling nice as if an “angel had farted.”
Thank you Netgalley & St. Martin’s Press for the eARC, and Macmillan Audio for the ALC.

This is such a funny laugh out loud read! I enjoyed Mabel and Alfie’s story so much. A heartwarming read about finding love. There is less in the book about ghostwriting and more about romance. I don’t want to give too much away.

I was really excited to read this one but about 30% of the way through I realized this book was just not doing it for me. I did power through to finish but I was disappointed by this story. I feel as though this was one that was written for the trope rather than the plot.

Things I did enjoy: the over 30-rep, plus size rep, banter (although it did teeter on the line of maybe a little too much), smut scenes.

I am sure there will be plenty of people who love this book (as evidenced by many of the reviews here on NG), but this one just was not for me!

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This one is one of my favorite tropes however, it felt like the trope was too present somehow. This one just wasn’t for me. I think I had a hard time connecting with the characters and their motivations. Thank you so much for the access early for this title! I look forward to reading more from this publication in the future!

Mabel is a ghostwriter who always presents a happy face to offset the feelings she had growing up with an alcoholic father. She's chosen to ghostwrite a book for a retired footballer, Alfie Harding. Alfie is the grump in this story but he had an upbringing similar to Mabel and was a footballer only at his father's insistence. It wasn't what he wanted to do but he excelled at it. Loved Mabel and Alfie together. Good read!

There was so much potential! I went into this with a lot of excitement and high hopes for a cute fun read, not what happened at all.

This ended up being one of those reads and listens that I just wanted to get over with. I tried to speed up, slow down, exclusively reads, and try to focus on just the audio. This book just was not for me. The characters did not interest me even though the plot of the story was amazing. I felt disconnected and bored and really wanted to invest in the story. Unfortunately, it dragged out too long. I felt the main character was cringey and the MMC was uninteresting. And the random attempt at spice basically at the end.. unnecessary.

Thanks so much NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC.

When Grumpy Met Sunshine by Charlotte Stein:

I hated some things about this book, but for the most part it was fun. I am not really the kind of person who likes books with cookie cutter tropes and although the characters had a little extra depth then some other books, I still found them annoyingly shallow for the majority of the book. I really liked that they were British because the whole time I was reading in a British accent and it was all very fun. I wouldn’t highly recommend this one, but if you love the grumpy sunshine trope definitely pick this one up! It was also very short and quick so if you are looking to give your brain a little break I’d recommend!

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

felt most of the scenes were "told" and not "shown." And the weird part is that there were very few dialogues in the chapters. Most of the story felt like inner monologs even with the other another main character being present in the scene.
And the high level of heat didn't help the case of conveying whether it was actually love or just lust.

Sorry to say but this wasn't for me.

Thank you Netgalley & Publisher for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

Alfie is a grumpy soccer player who needs a ghostwriter to write his memoir. Sweet and terrified writer Mabel is volunteered for the task. Alfie's already fired 17 before her. Hopefully the 18th time's the charm? Apparently it is, because as these two start talking, Alfie begins to let his walls down. No one's ever understood him like Mabel does. Almost overnight, though, they're jettisoned into new territory when they're forced to fake date to preserve the ghostwriter ruse. "She's not going to his house to write...she's his girlfriend!" As soon as they start pretending, though, they realize they have REAL chemistry. It's attraction that's OFF the charts, and they don't try to fight it. But what happens when real feelings enter the mix?

This book is touted as a rom-com, and it absolutely is. Humorous lines are peppered throughout the story, though some of the references went over this American's head. (It's set in England.) I loved how this gorgeous man defended and appreciated the curves of our plus-sized heroine. The ending, where we really get to understand the feelings of the characters, was very endearing. I thought the concept of including (fictional) excerpts of news and social media articles to explore the society's take on their fake relationship was really inventive. This was also SUPER steamy, perfect for the reader who enjoys top notch dirty talk.

As I mentioned, many of the references went above my head, which sometimes made it difficult for me to relate to what was being said. As an American reading a British author, sometimes I wasn't quite sure what they were talking about, but context usually helped. I prefer more emotion in my romance, which wasn't really explored until about 85% into the book. Sometimes the madcap shenanigans and dialogue felt like noise around the plot.

Bottom line: If you enjoy a steamy and funny book in which a rich, handsome soccer player worships a curvy heroine, you'll really enjoy this novel!

Trigger warnings: fat shaming, online bullying (both pretty minor)

I'd like to thank St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for the eARC of this book. All opinions expressed are my own.

“When Grumpy Met Sunshine” by Charlotte Stein
And then it got Steamier
It is, as the description I read said, a steamy romance story. This is a well written story of folks who have learned their lessons well in regards to not being ‘good enough’. Although others have taught them thus, will they discover that they just may be, just what the other needs and wants? Happy Reading ! !
Note: This review expresses my honest opinion.
I received a copy of this story from the publisher via NetGalley

Absolutely loved this book.- I couldn’t put it down. Alfable FOREVER!

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