I have so many feelings about this book. 1) I need more grumpy, adorable Roy Kent-esque characters in my romances. Alfie was so delightfully awkward and angry with himself for being awkward at all times and I loved it. 2) I also need more books with female leads who are both plus size and unapologetically soft and kind. Mabel had her frustrating moments, but I appreciated how realistic her insecurities and feelings were. 3) The spice was a very fun, unexpected surprise. I knew there would be some present, but the tension was AMAZING and it made it stand out from other romances.

Unfortunately, not all of my feelings were positive. The pacing of the book was definitely a bit off. The first half of the book really did drag on a bit, and the end felt jarringly fast compared to the rest of the book. A lot of the pacing issues are tied to the sheer amount of banter and internal dialogue included. It became overwhelming, and it often made me lose track of what Alfie and Mabel were doing and what the timeline was for their relationship. It could be a bit frustrating at times, but the tension and the characters kept pulling me back in, and it was definitely worth a read.

Thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Charlotte Stein for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

When Grumpy Met Sunshine is a very Ted Lasso-coded book. We have sunshiny, happy-go-lucky ghostwriter Mabel (Keely Jones) and former soccer superstar Alfie (Roy Kent) who have a reluctant relationship as her being the ghostwriter to his memoir. This opposites-attract dynamic usually works for me, especially when you have close proximity and mutual pining, with lots of banter… but there is such a thing as too much banter. There was just sooooo much back and forth with these two, and yet I didn’t feel the chemistry between them. The grand romantic gesture at the emd was redemption but at the end of the day, it was just a little too uneven of a book from start to finish to be a true standout to me.

Ted Lasso’s Roy Kent meets Business or Pleasure.

A spicy romcom about charming, bubbly Mabel (a ghostwriter) and Alfie (a grumpy ass retired footballer who needs a bit of help with his memoir). When Mabel takes the job helping Alfie she understands it’s all hush hush because that’s the nature of ghost writing. However when she gets caught on camera coming out of Alfie’s house, a pretend dating scheme is hatched!

Now, feelings are involved and neither one knows exactly what to do! Can Mabel’s sunny disposition break open Alfie’s heart? Or will the storm clouds blow in and put an end to a chance at love?

Lords! The banter in this book is to die for! If you’re like me and still mourning the end of Ted Lasso (especially our boy Roy Kent) then this excellently paced book will help mend your heart.

What I liked:
-obviously the banter
-Alfie (because I’m a sucker for grumpy)
-workplace opposite trope

What I didn’t like:
-I felt like the ending was rushed a bit
-While I like witty banter and a lot of dialogue some of it seemed repetitive at times

Overall, a great quick read!

My thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Griffin for this eARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

3.5/5 rounded up

Mabel and Alfie are total opposites: Mabel is a sunshine-and-pastels, curvy and bubbly girl, while Alfie is a gruff, brute of a former footballer. When Mabel is hired to be Alfie's ghostwriter for his upcoming memoir, no one, especially Mabel, is sure how this will turn out. After being spotted together, the public takes their dynamic and runs with it, mistaking them for a couple. Suddenly in a fake relationship, Mabel and Alfie find themselves in uncharted waters... that are slowly heating up.

Lots of tropes —
☀️ Grumpy x sunshine (obvi lol)
👩‍❤️‍👨 Fake dating
🛏️ One bed

First, the bad -- The first half of this book was NOT it. It took me like 40% of this book to care at all about the characters. The banter felt forced and it was just too much at the beginning that it wasn't believable. Like these two totally opposite people meet and all of a sudden they can ONLY banter? I felt like I didn't get enough character development or even background at first, and it left me totally unattached from them.

Now, the good -- the rest of the book was great! The second half was, overall, sweet and spicy!! We got so much more connection between Mabel and Alfie that I actually believed their story. The spice was great and surprising at times. Almost the entire book was ONLY between Mabel and Alfie, which I found surprising. There were no main secondary characters, friends or family involved, and I kind of liked it! We really got to know these characters and I think that's why the second half made such a connection for me.

Overall, I wouldn't call this the most believable story, but it was a cute rom-com that made me giggle out loud and, if you can get through the beginning, is worth the read.

I absolutely LOVED this grumpy/sunshine, forced proximity, fake dating slooow burn romance between a retired pro soccer (football) player and his curvy ghost writer. The BANTER was top notch, the sexual tension was FIRE and both characters were so loveable.

So many favorite tropes in this book: only one bed, let's bang it out of our systems, 'good girl'/praise kink and more!

Great on audio and highly recommended for fans of authors like Olivia Dade and books like Rachel Lynn Soloman's Business or pleasure. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital and audio copy in exchange for my honest review!

Steam level: open door, explicit language/descriptions

Thank you to Net Galley & St. Martin's Griffin for this arc in exchange for an honest review.

Mabel is a curvy, quirky ghost writer who is able to pull information from the people she is writing about.
Alfie is a grumpy football/soccer player who doesn't enjoy revealing anything about himself.

This book took me a few tries to get into but once I did it was a quick read.
For me, this book had too much banter and as I was reading I felt like I was skipping pages. The first 60% of the book was banter/plot/not sharing how they felt and just making assumptions on how the other person felt.
The last 30% of the book was straight smut with A+ dirty talk but nothing to really drive the plot forward.
When the book jumped in time I felt like I missed a whole chapter.

Overall, I enjoyed the idea of the story and the characters and will be on the lookout for more stories written by Charlotte Stein!

I love some of the tropes in this book, but a few others fell flat for me.
I appreciated the plus size representation and fake dating. The banter between the two main characters was great initially, but it became too much as the book progressed. There were a lot of steamy sex scenes in the back half of the book, so decide accordingly if that is something you are looking for. The ending fell flat for me as I can't stand miscommunication in a romance.
Overall I think this could be the right book for some readers, but was just okay for me.
Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for my review copy of this novel.

I would love to support your authors, but unfortunately it seems as though St. Martin's Press and Wednesday books would prefer to stay quiet about the vile posts made by your employee. These statements were anti-Palestinian, Islamophobic, Queerphobic, and made even more vile by the ongoing genocide against the Palestinian people. Your influencers want to know that St. Martin’s Press is committed to the safety and well being of ALL of their influencers, employees, and authors.

This is not a reflection on the author or the story in any way, shape, or form.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC of When Grumpy Met Sunshine by Charlotte Stein. All opinions are my own.

After seeing that this book had some of my favorite romance tropes in it (grumpy/sunshine, fake dating, and slow burn romance), I was very excited to read it. That being said, I have very mixed feelings about it.

Here are the things I liked best about this book:

First, I loved both Alfie and Mabel as main characters. They were both so sweet and lovable, and it was easy to root for them. Also, Alfie was just so adorably awkward and said the sweetest things to Mabel. I also loved how technology-challenged he was because it made him even more endearing.

Second, I loved all the British-isms. While there were a lot of references to British culture that I did not understand, I still loved all the hilarious phrases they would use.

Third, I loved the banter between Mabel and Alfie. They just got along so well, and they had such great conversations and chemistry.

Lastly, I really enjoyed the whole first half of the book. The friendship that was formed, Alfie’s awkward moments, and just the cute moments together really had me loving it.

With all that in mind, here is why this book ultimately fell flat for me:

The explicitness of the sexual content, the crassness of language, and the ending really ruined this book for me.

While I expected there to be some open door romance scenes in this book, the fact that the second half of the book was just mostly smut was disappointing to me. It went from barely anything in the first half of the book to the exact opposite in the latter half. Also, the amount of crude language between Mabel and Alfie was just way too much for me, and I feel like the first half of the book did not build up well to that.

The other major issue I had was how the book ended. Without spoiling anything, there were definitely miscommunication and immaturity involved that made me angry (especially when considering the ages of these characters). It was unnecessary and could have been handled differently. I will say that Alfie’s grand gesture was so sweet and romantic and redeemed it a tiny amount.

Overall, I might recommend this book to some people, but only those who really like spice in their romance books and ones that don’t mind miscommunication.

4 stars!

First off Mabel and Alfie are the best and also the worst. I'll get into that a bit later.

I was smiling so hard during this entire book my cheeks hurt. I was swooning and literally was laughing out loud (loudly) during most of it also. The banter! THE BANTER! God, my heart swelled. It helped that Alfie had to have been fashioned by Roy Kent (description and banter and vocabulary is spot on to Roy) so I was giddy and imagined his face/voice the entire time which made it so much hotter to me cause I hate living in a world without Roy Kent at the moment.

Now, the plot is fantastic, the writing was a little weird (but I'm chalking that up to it being a British book with British slang and my American brain probably got confused sometimes), and the spice was *chef's kiss* The way that Charlotte kept doing callbacks to their previous conversations throughout the book (I'll forever smile when I hear someone mention the Thames).

The part that really bugged me was just how naïve and stupid both of them were. I'm not a fan of the miscommunication trope, but this seemed to have taken it to a whole new level because they were communicating ALL THE TIME, just not about the right things. Like, honestly, this book could've been spicier and the HEA could've come quicker if they just spoke about what they were feeling. They're both not dumb characters, but sometimes I was honestly questioning that fact because HOW COULD THEY NOT KNOW?! However, that point above is more a personal preference than a slight on the book. I really did love it and I'm sad it's over.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the eARC. This is my honest opinion.

grumpy x sunshine will always be in my top five fave tropes - the parallels and banter are just too good to not adore. add in a sprinkle of fake dating and i am SOLD.

When Grumpy Met Sunshine is such a fun play on the classic fake dating, grumpy man sunshine girl trope. Our grump is allergic to emotions but has to write a memoir. Our sunshine knows exactly how to bring the grump out of his shell. The balance these two have is impeccable. There were moments I wish the author stayed in a little longer because I couldn't quite connect with them.

Format - E ARC (NetGalley)

Rating- ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

Spice- 🌶 🌶

Series- N/A

Troupes- Grumpy/sunshine, he falls first, force proximity, fake dating,

Representation- It’s not explicitly stated but Alfie gives undiagnosed ASD vibes.

CW- fat phobia addressed on page,

Another new to me author that I will definitely be reading more of!

Alfie and Mable are complete opposites, or that’s what they thought. Their first not so cute meet was the stuff of miscommunication and nightmares on both sides. But after a very rocky start these two prove that they have more in common and more to learn with each other then they could have ever dreamed.

I love the banter, these two straight up insult each other in the most loving an adorable ways! Tanking the piss out of each other I think its called? I don’t know what to compare it to but it’s that kind of Brit humor that makes me cringe while also giggling and I enjoyed the hell out of it.

Out MC are hella dynamic so much undertone and flashing out that I expected them to walk off the page! The pacing was a tad slow for me, but the Spice and Alfie being the sweetest consent wanting limbo with make you swoon!

I thoroughly enjoyed this one and if any of those troupes at the top are your thing then your gonna wanna read this one!

I had a lot of fun reading this one! I was hooked from the beginning with the first meeting of our couple and the following scenes made me fall for them more and more. The banter is laugh-out-loud funny, I loved the developing romance between our grumpy ex-footballer and our sweet cupcake ghostwriter, especially at the really heartwarming end. I loved the way it was written and the style of narration. While it is a bit different I thought it really worked for this book.

Posting review a bit late due to some personal circumstances, but absolutely thrilled to have been granted this ARC. Will forever love a grumpy/sunshine book and this is no exception! Such a fun and lighthearted read.

I loved reading When Grumpy Met Sunshine by Charlotte Stein! The vibes between Alfie and Mabel were a standout with their clashing personalities creating a fun and heartwarming dynamic. Mabel’s charm paired perfectly with Alfie’s gruff demeanor, making their banter a joy to follow. The story’s initial humor had me hooked. The book stalls out a bit in the middle however, it picks up its pace toward the end, delivering a fun and cute conclusion to Alfie and Mabel’s journey. Overall, this book was a delightful and a captivating read that left me rooting for the progression of Alfie and Mabel’s ‘pretend’ relationship into something genuine.



St. Martin's Press provided a complimentary digital ARC of this novel via NetGalley. All opinions in this review are my own. Publication date is set for February 6, 2024.

This grumpy/sunshine romance had funny banter between Mabel and Alfie. There was plenty of spice and some funny stories but still fell flat for me. I wasn't hooked like I tend to get with fake dating stories. There was so much dialogue between the two MC's but I did like the plus size representation.

This one was a great grumpy x sunshine pairing. There was great banter between Alfie and Mabel. In the end though I just felt like it was missing a little something. The relationship didn't go as deep as I was hoping it would.

Book was ok. The banter between the grumpy man and sunshine girl was funny at the start but became too much. If you like spice and funny this could be the book for you, but I had a hard time getting in to it.

When Grumpy Met Sunshine was a cute romcom with a fun premise and one of my favourite tropes (fake dating). It’s essentially the story of Alfie a famous ex-football player (or as we say in Canada, soccer player), and Mabel who has been hired to be his ghostwriter.

What I liked:
- Fake dating
- I like how she ended off each chapter with a news article, snippet of Mabel’s notes, text messages, etc.
- plus sized representation (but check out the trigger warnings)
- How awkward Alfie is - so endearing!!
- Alcoholic parent representation

What I disliked:
- I really struggled with pages upon pages of inner dialogue and description and Mabel just thinking. I had to skim some chapters because it was really tough to stay engaged in parts I felt didn’t add to the story. I struggled to care about all the extra and repetitive thoughts after a while.
- Note: This is ultimately what led to my rating. If you enjoy this in a story, you will probably love the book!
- Some of the plot decisions including the misunderstanding towards the end leading to the third-act breakup.

Thanks to st Martin’s press, NetGalley and author Charlotte Stein for the arc. All thoughts and opinions are mine.

I usually love this trope but I had difficulty with this book. I think the biggest issue for me was the vernacular. Both Alfie and Mabel are from Northern England so their way of speaking and some of their slang were not natural for me. Also, the story just seemed to be Mabel’s inner monologue which I found too ditzy and rambling for me to appreciate. DNF.