I enjoyed this way more than I thought I would! The enemies to lovers and fake dating tropes worked well in this story. The "grumpy" hero was actually just a big cinnamon roll and the sunshine-y heroine had plenty of depth (and not just the "fat" kind.) I love books that have two weirdos that find each other and click. Also, OMG the steam was WAY more than I saw coming. (ha) What a great read!

Grumpy/Sunshine is hands down my favorite trope to read. I'll read anything and everything that even hints at having it within its pages. A title that explicitly tells me something going to be just that? I HAD to read.

This didn't disappoint - I read it in a few hours and loved the dynamic between Alfie and Mabel. I'm actually completely obsessed with Alfie. That being said, I wish we got more depth into the characters, especially more insight into how Alfie was feeling at times. I loved the chapters where we got a sneak peek into their notes, and wish there could have been more of that.

Overall, I enjoyed reading this. It was light and fun and perfect for a long weekend beach read.

It's been ages since I read a title from Charlotte Stein but I have loved previous so I had to grab this one!

I'm not even 100% sure how I'm feeling about this one now that I've finished. It was entertaining but I wasn't invested in either Alfie or Mabel. The banter they had was fun, but I feel like there was no build-up to it. I'm not sure I bought with how closed off Alfie was that he would immediately have the connection (or let it show) with Mabel that was portrayed.

I also couldn't help but picture Roy Kent the entire time I was reading LOL - not bad but also a bit weird :)

Thank you for the chance to read early.

I love a good romance, and this one was wonderful! It had witty banter, and lovable characters. I was rooting for them the whole way through!

Actual Rating: 3.75 stars

When ghostwriter Mabel Willicker gets. a job writing the memoir of famous football player Alfie Harding, she doesn't really know what to expect. Alfie has gone through numerous ghostwriters before she came along, heck he doesn't know how he's having to write memoirs, but when Alfie and Mabel are seen in public together, the media goes haywire.

Alfie as a character is a mystery to me. The summary says that he's grumpy to Mabel's sunshine, but I feel like Alfie is more misunderstood than grumpy. He's more withdrawn than the average person, especially withdrawn as a famous person (he has a flip-phone for goodness sakes), which some people could interpret as grumpiness if they wanted to.
The relationship between them, felt kind of insta lovey. It was filled with lots of banter (sometimes with too much banter) and the multitudes of banter kind of took away from the book at times.

I loved how the author added bits of media at the end of chapters. There were texts, reddit chains, tweets, and more and I really enjoyed how those showed us how the media was reacting outside of what Mabel was seeing.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Griffin for an eARC of this book

Ok, I really did like this book. Alfie grew on me immediately. I loved Mabel’s character - real, fun, smart, witty. They were both so great to read about. The story was like reading about Roy from Ted Lasso. Which definitely made me laugh! The only thing I didn’t like were the inner monologues. There’s more of reading Mabel’s thoughts than anything. I’d want to skip past it to get to the dialogue. Eekkkkk!

Yes! When Celebrity ghostwriter Mabel meets her newest 'author', Alfie (ex-football player), sparks fly and not in the romantic way. Alfie has a reputation for being grumpy, rude, a jerk, you name it. Mabel is the human form of a cupcake- sweet, kind and caring. Totally opposites.
Yes, Alfie is a total hunk. And Mabel is cute and a bit plus-sized- looking for her forever job, not to be stuck writing with another name on each of her books.
When they get photographed together, they have to find a reason they are together. The plan to say they are dating is pretty easy. Except when they both begin to catch feelings. Alfie finds his way out of his shell and shows the world his true colors.
The steam between these two is hot and no complaints here.

If you enjoy banter, this is the book for you!

I love slow burn romances, and books that feature a plus sized character so I was so excited to read this one. Alfie and Mable charmed me with their incredible banter. I actually laughed out loud a few times throughout this book which I don't often do when reading. The insecurities they had also felt very realistic and gave the characters depth.

However, I found the narration style in this book to be a bit jolting and would take me out of the story. I also thought that often times Mable and Alfie acted as though they were teenagers- not in their 30s!

All in all, I liked this book and look forward to reading others by Charlotte Stein!

I cannot be the only one getting major Roy Kent vibes from Alfie? I really enjoyed Alfie and Mable. What a hoot. Great characters, story, humor, structure, and spice. A slow, but hot burn. Would recommend this saucy story. I am looking forward to reading again via audiobook.

Would recommend!!!

Wow. I did not know what to expect with this one, my first Charlotte Stein. It jumps right in, no real description of the characters or backstory, like you’re dropped in the middle of a story that already started. There are letters and tweets and articles clippings to support the happenings. And then holy crap the sexy. Charlotte Stein you write it well. I’m going to need a cold shower after the heat between these two! I can’t wait to read more!

There seemed to be too much dialogue and banter in this book. I could not enjoy this book. .I’m sure there will be others who do.

Cute story. There is a ton of banter and it took a long time for the main characters to get together. Pick up if you are missing Roy Kent.

I received an ARC from Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press.

If you love banter, then When Grumpy Met Sunshine is the contemporary romance for you. Throughout the first two acts of the novel, I seriously couldn't stop laughing. Mabel and Alfie's back-and-forth somehow hit me just right. (I'm not kidding even a little bit—I made the mistake of reading this one in bed when my husband was trying to go to sleep. Long story short: he finally got up, grabbed his pillow, and huffed away to sleep in the spare bedroom.)

But I didn't enjoy this book only because of the banter. I also appreciated the plus-size heroine and the fact that the real villain of the novel was the set of cultural expectations that made both protagonists feel like they had to make themselves smaller in order to be acceptable. This is what they outgrew, and I found Alfie's character growth to be particularly satisfying. I also thought that Mabel's role as Alfie's ghostwriter was one of the best forced proximity justifications I've ever read—it was a believable reason for sunshiny Mabel to stick around long enough to see through Alfie's grumpiness.

If you're looking for an open-door romance that edges the reader nearly as much as the MCs edge each other, give this one a read.

I enjoyed this so much! I loved that the main character was plus sized! She seemed more real and raw, insecurities and all. The male main character is suppose to be the grumpy one, but I think he's just misunderstood.
The female main character had more push back and grumpy moments than he had. I loved how this was a fake relationship trope, it beautifully played out. Some bits seemed to slow roll by but keep pushing through it's a worthy read!

This book had all the tell tale signs of a rom com hit but it missed the mark in my opinion. The characters Mabel and Aflie were ones a reader could connect with- real emotions, traumas, etc. But the evolution of their romance was kind of all over the place for me. At one point the book turned real steamy which was not what I was expecting from these cute characters. I think that the storyline could have been developed more and more depth put into their journey from a a slow beginning to fast middle and short stop at the end.

I am so sad to say I DNF this :(

The male main character drove past "grumpy" by miles and was simply a jerk. I also didn't jive with the writing style. At times, the two main characters would be together in a room... and instead of interacting/talking/etc there would be 3-5 pages of internal monologue while they both just STOOD there. All I could picture was these two people standing there stiffly, not moving, not interacting, while the main character info dumped in her internal monologue to the reader.

This one was just not for me, but I really hope it finds other readers who will enjoy it.

Thank you so much to the publisher for providing with me a copy via Netgalley!

I'm normally not a fan of slow burn romance but this story was just too fun not to love. The banter, the sharing, and the understanding between the main characters was so well done.
The chemistr build up between them was executed beautifull.
The steamy scenes were hot and fun and definitely paid off by the time they rolled around.

Whoa! i thoroughly enjoyed When Grumpy Met Sunshine, not only was the banter on point and had me smiling goofily the whole time but the slow burn and absolutely cute love story had me hooked!
I would rate this fairly high on spice level just because that slow burn really had me, and the tension was on point!
the characters are so realistic and freaking cute! gosh i loved Mabel and Alfie!
I also really enjoyed how completely i related with Mabel and her insecurities. I honestly don't think i have a single negative thing to say about this book.
ADORABLE!!

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I really enjoyed this book. It made me laugh out loud a few times. I enjoyed the back and forth between Mabel and Alfie. And how she got him to open up. It was kind of predictable, but it was still a fun read.

As the title suggests there is a lot of back and forth banter in this opposites attract love trope. I enjoyed that the face was a plus sized gal with a lot to say, but it seemed like so much it the focus was on the banter that the books didn’t progress the way I had expected for hoped it would. I thought it was ok, but not one of my favorites - I did enjoy it more than I have others! There was a lot about the style of writing that I can see many people enjoying but it just wasn’t my favorite.

I do want to thank NetGalley, the author and the publisher for allowing me the opportunity to receive an advanced copy of this book!