When Mabel (sunshine-y, plus-size, writer) meets Alfie Harding (grumpy, ex-football star) to discuss the contract to ghostwrite his memoirs, it doesn’t go well. Alfie makes a terrible first impression with his rudeness and when he calls her a “human cupcake” Mabel decides that she’s done. Because really, how can that not be an insult directed at her size? Through a series of incredibly funny run-ins, playful banter, and embarrassing mishaps, Alfie wins her over and she agrees to work with him. As they get to know and trust each other, their friendship deepens.
Then the press takes photos of them together and the internet has a field day speculating if Alfie Harding would ever date a woman “like her.” And Alfie’s reaction is to defend her to paparazzi by claiming that they are in a relationship. What can they do then, except pretend that they are in order to save face?
I really enjoyed the relationship build up in When Grumpy Met Sunshine. It was believable and fun with a basis in friendship, trust, and respect with some sexual frustration and dry humping in there too! This was a great rom-com read that made my heart happy.
Thank you, NetGalley, for the ARC of this title!

Mabel is working as a ghostwriter for retired football player, Alfie. She is able to get the private details out of Alfie. They are mistaken as a couple and pretend to be one in the public eye, and ultimately actually being one.

I gave this book 2 out of 5 stars. I didn’t really enjoy this book. It was fast paced for me and I couldn’t really engage myself in the story. There was no tension or waiting for them to be a couple like there is in other books. I also feel like there was no conflict either. Like it was gone instantly. I didn’t care much for the characters either. Overall, I would not recommend this book to others.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

Things that I loved about the book
-FMC is the same age as me and we are both curvy. Both make her extremely relatable.
-The banter between them is fantastic! I love that they were comfortable enough around each other to joke and not get hurt feelings.
-I loved that he was so considerate of her feelings and letting her set the pace for the relationship.
-I loved the usage of social media and texts. The fonts were a little off putting, but i loved it nonetheless.

Things I didn’t much care for (but didn’t make or break my opinion of the book)
-Third person POV. I typically prefer first person because I like to read their thoughts directly from their head in real time, but once I got used to this writing style, I liked how certain things were emphasized in certain scenes more than others.
-I am used to English spoken in the US. I am not used to books written using English as it is spoken in the UK, so that took some getting used to. I did have to google a few words and phrases, but it got easier to understand as I got further into the book.

I would highly recommend for those that love a good grumpy/sunshine, fake dating, slow burn love story.

Thank you to the author, publisher and Netgalley for a digital copy of When Grumpy Met Sunshine. Ex footballer Alfie Harding is being pressured into writing his memoirs and has to work with ghostwriter Mable Willicker. Alfie is clearly defined as grumpy from the first scene and Mable is obviously sunny (down to her bright and happy outfit). The two clash from their first meeting and off start this opposites attract rom-com that includes some humorous and cringey situations.

I absolutely love British coded romantic comedies (think Bridget Jones Diaries, Love Actually, Notting Hill, etc), and will not walk away from one, but unfortunately this one was not for me. I enjoy banter and funny repartee,but it was overdone in this book. There were some funny scenes, but it didn't make the overuse palatable. Humor can't replace chemistry. The book didn't hold me and I didn't fall in love with Alfie or Mabel. I'm sure there are people who will enjoy and I encourage to try it, but it didn't work for me.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martins Press for allowing time to read this early as an ARC reader. I am a huge fan of the Grumpy Sunshine trope as well as fake dating so I was very excited to read this! As a plus sized girly myself I was so impressed to see a great representation in this book. The banter was very funny at time but I think it almost seemed too forced in some situations. The fake dating was done very tastefully and I think my favorite part of all was the real like authentic healing process of some the insecurities the characters were feeling that helped with my review/rating.

I should have loved this book, it had all the bones to be something I adore but fell flat for me. The banter was funny, but overall there was too much of it and made the profession of the story confusing. Since the narrator didn’t really describe things I had to story them out between the bits of dialogue.

Loved that he (well and she) was British, called her love, and was a football player. Loved the for Ed proximity and fake dating.

While this was spicy, it was also a major slow burn.

Basically for me this book was kind of all over the place and I just did not connect to it or the characters.

Despite the clunky title and awkward first few chapters, I really enjoyed Charlotte Stein's When Grumpy Met Sunshine. Despite being obviously inspired by--if not complete fanfiction of--Ted Lasso's Roy Kent, after a few chapters, Alfie Harding comes into his own as a character. It helps that Mabel is very much her own character and a really well written one. The latter half of the book gets very steamy and that was very, very well done. Absolutely one that went on my to-buy list as soon as I finished it.

Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press, St. Martin's Griffin for the ebook ARC. All opinions are mine alone.

This was a cute story And I really liked the idea. The miscommunication was not frustrating an vs over the top. The writing also felt a little scattered.

This one didn’t work for me but that ok! I think this book will definitely have a target audience so I still recommend you pick it up if you have an interest based on the synopsis. There is definitely a lot of banter and spice if those interest you pick it up asap!😊

DNF at 27%. I really tried to continue reading this even though I wasn't enjoying it because I wanted to read it so bad. However, I couldn't connect with the characters. I also felt I was thrown into a random scene in the beginning of the book that set the scene for the zero plotline this book had. The banter is straight up annoying. And I still am questioning what the hell was happening in this book because I really have no idea.

First I would like to thank NetGalley and St Martin’s press for the opportunity to read this arc in exchange for an honest review.


While I didn’t finish this book I wanted to write a review for what I did finish. I made it to 33% before I stopped reading this book and even went back 2 other times to pick this book up trying to give it a fair chance. This book was just not for me. I felt as though the author tried to hard to create fights within the characters so they would hate each other one second but then the next second it was as though she gave them a heart and was making their hearts slowly melt which kinda gave me whiplash because it was happening so fast. She focused on weight of the character with class which I commend. It was lovely reading about a bigger girl for once. I don’t feel like the characters were a good build and maybe that happened after I stopped reading but you didn’t know why the mc was the way she was and you didn’t know why he was so grumpy all you knew was that they wanted to bicker which was over played.

I found this book very hard to follow based on the writing style half the time I had to reread what I just read to figure out what was happening.

I cannot honestly give this book a star review because I didn’t finish it.

What I did love about this book was the fact the mc was a bigger girl which you don’t see much of and I loved the cover.

I wanted so badly to love this book. I am typically a big proponent of the grumpy x sunshine troupe so I was really excited for this one from the title alone, but that excitement lasted as far as the first chapter.

Banter can be adorable and fun but this book sadly proved that you can have too much of it. The amount of dialogue versus the amount of action driving the plot was imbalanced greatly. I found myself having to force my way through scenes of dialogue because the sheer amount of back and forth between the two characters was so slow.

The characters also didn't quite align with the grumpy x sunshine troupe as the title would leave you to believe. While Alfie is undoubtedly meant to be a Roy Kent clone (although not quite as smart as Roy typically is), Mabel isn't quite what I would call a sunshine. She does help Alfie come out of his shell and break away some of his "grumpiness" but she has a lot negative persepectives in her own right, in particular in regards to her self-worth and physical appearance. As a plus size women myself, this was rather disheartening.

Admittedly I found myself skimming instead of truly reading the last 25% of the book because I wanted to at least see Alfie and Mabel's ending but I was perturbed to find a time jump right at the end which is never my favorite way to reach the climax of a book.

I will say I appreciate the. concept of this book, and I think it has a lot of potential, but mainly with the help of a great deal of editing and a lot more action woven through.

Thank you to St Martin's Press and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!

Sadly this was a miss for me. I was so excited by the premise & love this trope normally. But the writing style didn’t hit for me. It was very stream of consciousness which became frankly annoying and made it hard to see beyond it to the actual plot. There was also too much dialogue and not enough action.

DNF -- i couldn't connect to the characters which makes me so sad. i love this cover art and it made me so excited, unfortunately it was just a miss for me

Grumpy/sunshine is one of my absolute favorite tropes, and I was looking forward to this book. It was a struggle to read this one though because it felt way too long. I love banter, but there was just too much of it! It seemed to never end, and it made the story drag on.

I think that there were still some parts of the story though, and I would still recommend it.

I did my utmost to navigate this book, hoping to avoid being entangled in yet another interminable exchange of banter. The classic "Grumpy-meets-sunshine" trope, one I usually relish, is vividly embodied in the main character, Alfie Harding.

With dialogues that repeat themselves endlessly and a conspicuous lack of action or narrative progression, I rolled my eyes. I skimmed through certain sections in a desperate attempt to hasten the story's conclusion.

In the end, this book fell short of my expectations. The characters lacked depth, the dialogue between the protagonists in their thirties felt somewhat immature, and the narrative style alienated me from the story. Reading it was a struggle, and the last 40% of the book felt like an entirely different story, which did not aid matters.

I was very excited for this book as I thought the premise was super adorable. Initially, I loved the banter/stream of consciousness type of thoughts from the main character. However, as it went on, it became a little too much for me. It became difficult to discern what was actually happening, what was dialogue and what was in the main character's head.

I enjoyed the premise, enjoyed the initial intro to the main character and enjoyed some of the banter. I even enjoyed the ending. It just felt like I got bogged down a little too much with the banter. Overall, a good read but takes a little more brainpower than the normal cutesy romances I read.

This book was a bit of a slog for me. I liked the trope and found a lot of the dialog witty. I struggled with what felt a lot like stream of consciousness narration that was written in the 3rd person. Yet there wasn’t a lot of explanation as to what sparked the initial attraction and the internal dialog seemed endless. The Internal musings seemed realistic, just a lot to work through.

I would like to start out by saying I love when a writer's MC is a writer. But it's a heck of a bonus that she also represents the curvy community. Alfie and Mabel's banter is everything in this book. My only dislike is the amount of internal dialogue. I would absolutely highly recommend this book!

dnf at 13% I just couldn't get into the book. The characters felt too stiff and unnatural that I couldn't continue