⚽️ Book Review ⚽️

Wowwww was this one good! Happy pub day to Cleat Cute by @merylwilsner - it hit all the marks for me and I highly recommend. Thanks to @smpromance, @stmsrtinspress and @netgalley for the gifted ARC and ALC.

✔️ Sports Romance
✔️ Workplace
✔️ Grumpy/Sunshine
✔️ Celebrity Crush
✔️ It's Just Sex

Grace is a veteran soccer player that Phoebe has looked up to. Sparks fly when these two very different people meet when Phoebe is called up to play on her team.

This was the hottest sapphic romance I've ever read. It was partly because Phoebe has a delightfully filthy mouth and partly the setup: they're teammates and one idolized the other (and the age gap didn't feel dodgy).

I loved the soccer backdrop, and the punny title (if I gave out an award for titles, this book would be a finalist for sure).

Both characters drew me in and I loved how both went from "i don't know how to have a relationship" to being pretty terrific to each other (Grace's grand gesture at the end was perfection).

5⭐️ - absolutely pick this one up!

Steam 🔥🔥🔥
Banter 🗣️🗣️🗣️
Swoon 💕💕💕💕💕

This one was a bit hit and miss for me. Overall, it was a cute, sapphic sports romance between two soccer players. Of course, I loved seeing New Orleans represented as well!

Grace has been a soccer star since her teen years and Phoebe is the energetic rookie for her team. This book is supposed to be rivals to lovers, but honestly, I feel like there wasn't a lot of heavy focus on the rival aspect to it. Grace is injured and is threatened by the prospect of Phoebe replacing her, but that is never Phoebe's intent. With rivals, I expected the rivalry feeling to go both ways.

The attraction between the two was definitely there, and the spicy scenes were on point! I guess I just wanted to see more actual development between the two and not just the reliance on sex to solve their problems. There was quite a bit of miscommunication throughout, to the frustration of us all, and I felt like the plot got lost somewhere in all of the internal monologues. I will admit that the third person present tense in which the story was written did throw me a bit and made it harder to connect to the characters.

I appreciated the neurodivergent rep, with Phoebe being ADHD and the suggestion that Grace is on the autism spectrum, but I struggled with the fact that Grace was essentially diagnosing Phoebe and assuming she was medicated. And then Phoebe was very antagonistic over the idea that she could be ND. The additional representation from the other players and family, however, was great. Wilsner really did create a fun found family/team atmosphere that I enjoyed.

Overall, the story was cute, and I know that some people will really love it. The narrators did pretty well, though I think the third person present tense is not the best for audio. It made it sound as though the characters were talking about themselves in third person.

Thank you so much to St. Martin's Press, Macmillion Audio, and Netgalley for the advanced listeners copy!

I'm seriously so torn on whether to round this one up or down. I'd written this author off after reading their first book, which didn't work for me at all. But this premise sounded really cute and I'd seen some good-ish reviews, so I thought I'd give them another shot. And this is indeed a much better book than their first! (I still don't want to read their second, and probably won't read any more after this.) But it's also pretty flawed in a way that made it really hard to fall into the story.

I liked the first half of this quite a bit, as Phoebe and Grace got to know each other. Grace is the ten year veteran and Phoebe the energetic rookie. And then the author decided that really doubling down on the miscommunication trope would be a great idea, resulting in the extremely agonizing-to-read result of one of the characters thinking they are dating for a whole month and the other having no idea. On top of this, one of the characters is so mistrustful it verges on paranoia, and is on the autism spectrum disorder (without knowing it). And all of this sort of sploots together in a way that was embarrassing and distressing. The end sort of made up for it, but I had already checked out. It was too much for one story. Just the paranoia/mistrust on the one character's part would have been too much for me.

When their chemistry is working, though, the book was very absorbing. The sex scenes in here are SEX SCENES. Although like other reviewers, it got a bit frustrating to see them constantly using sex to distract from actually communicating.

Worth noting, I did the audio version, which made it easier to overlook the very extensive internal monologues other people seemed to have such trouble with, judging by other reviews, but also I didn't really like either narrator, and they didn't enhance the story for me. I particularly think the narrator for Phoebe was a mismatch.

[3.5 stars]

"Cleat Cute" by Meryl Wilsner was a super fun, quick, lighthearted read that is perfect for when you want to warm your heart up and smile.

When it comes to the plot, there isn't too much going on, as the story mainly focuses on the characters and how they deal with their careers and relationships. This could be an issue for some people who like prefer novels with complex and interesting plotlines that move the story forward, but, personally, as someone who prefers character and relationship based novels, that didn't bother me at all.

Speaking of the characters, I absolutely loved Grace and Phoebe. Their relationship was so sweet and adorable, and both characters had flaws and complexities that I could heavily relate to. I loved Grace's adorable grumpiness and secretly soft, gooey heart. I loved Phoebe's energy and sunshine personality. Most of all, I loved how both Grace and Phoebe weren't perfect, and struggled with the issues people face when they are neurodivergent.

As someone who is sapphic and has both Autism and ADHD, seeing that representation made me unbelievably happy, especially because I wasn't expecting it. I see both disorders, particularly autism, so often misrepresented in the media, so I always get excited when I see it done well, as I did in this book.
I love how the story shows how their respective disorders affect them and make their lives more difficult while not making them defined by it. It was the perfect balance and I really hope that one day we have more romance novels with representation like this. It just made me so happy to finally see it done right, AND it's gay! What else could a girl like me ask for?

While the book is marketed as rivals to lovers, it doesn't ever truly feel like they are rivals, so I would say this is more of a friends to lovers rom com than anything. Yes, there are moments where Grace kind of sees Phoebe as a soccer rival, but they never really have that kind of dynamic, so I think marketing it that way could cause people to come in looking for that dynamic and being disappointed when it isn't there. I think the marketing should have focused on the grumpy/sunshine dynamic more than anything.

As for the audiobook, both narrators did a wonderful job! I was able to listen to the book at 2.5 speed without misunderstanding anything which is always a positive. My only complaint is that I feel like the voices didn't properly fit the tone during the sex scenes, but that could just be because I hate the use of "babygirl" with a passion. I have a hard enough time reading it in a sex scene but hearing it is so much worse.

Overall, I would definitely recommend this to someone looking for a breezy, lighthearted sapphic romance with adorable and complex main characters. It was a fun read!

Read this if you're looking for:
-Sapphic sports romance
- grumpy/sunshine
- Neurodivergent main characters
- friends to friends with benefits to lovers

I’m not usually one to read about sports, but this just made sense.

The star-struck rookie had no idea that she would be able to ever meet her idol, let alone play on the same team as her!

This book was spicier than I was anticipating! Good spicy, though. My biggest hang up in this book is the miscommunication. Especially since most of the book does a good job curbing any miscommunication.
There is a lot of internal monologue- but honestly, I feel like it is an accurate portrayal of someone with ADHD…even we get tired of our own internal voice!

Read, if you like:
⚽️Sapphic romance
⚽️GrumpyxSunshine
⚽️ADHD rep
⚽️Soccer
⚽️Teammates to Bedmates

Meryl Wilsner’s lesbian romances really straddle that line between romance and erotica. Characters hook up early and often, and when they do it, they do it well. But there’s always an emotional core, mutual pining, and people just being really dense.

This time, it’s between two soccer stars, both on their way to the world cup. Grace Henderson is the team captain, and she’s done all this before. All this being the soccer, not the romance. Her romance experience has been…not great! Phoebe Matthews, just up from the minors, is all bubbly enthusiasm and lascivious thoughts. And those thoughts zero in on the team captain with admirable speed.

Honestly, Wilsner’s pick of soccer stars just feels right, this time. No, not every women’s soccer player is queer, but soccer is pretty ingrained in the lesbian experience. And the opening quote, from Megan Rapinoe, “You can’t win without gay players,” really highlights this. I don’t follow soccer myself, but everything sounded pretty well-researched, when the action went onto the field.

I appreciate that the representation wasn’t just between Grace and Phoebe. There’s also a married couple with twins on the team, several bisexual characters, and a nonbinary player who has had top surgery! Phoebe also has a trans brother, and a little bit of the anxiety in the book is about the difficulties getting insurance to cover his care.

There’s a wee bit of money anxiety in this book, which is not my favorite thing, but no one is ever struggling to get food. And, by the end, we get the impression that those troubles are gone. Woo!

The narration, done by Dana Varden and Zim Avaltrades, was lovely. Grace, as the older player, is given a deeper, calmer voice. A voice of reason, as it were. Phoebe isn’t so deep, but she’s definitely not high-pitched or frantic. While her scatter-brained tendencies do show often in the book (and become important later), there’s no ditz to that portrayal. Just upbeat.

If you’re looking for a bit of spice, this is a great pick. And it’s out today!

Advanced reader copy provided by the publisher.

I won this book in a #goodreadsgiveaway earlier this year and am jumped when I also found the audiobook on NetGalley! I absolutely loved listening to this one on audio. The narrators do a great job of portraying Grace and Phoebe’s personalities. The narrator who voices for Phoebe nails her ADHD and fast talking personality. Grace’s narrator speaks slowly as Grace comes off as a by the book, team captain.

I really enjoyed this book! Phoebe is extremely lovable and quirky! Grace is reserved and more stoic. As Phoebe integrates herself onto a new soccer team and into Grace’s life, they begin to balance each other out. I love how Grace started off a bit unsure of Phoebe until their first kiss. This ended up being a steamy book with each character growing and maturing. It really was a super cute story and I loved the representation for the LGBTQ+, ADHD, and college athlete communities. It gave some insight about coming out as well as the stressors of some athletes.

I can’t recommend this enough. Not only was the ebook edition amazing but the audiobook is as well. I love seeing a dual POV sapphic romance being represented by two different narrators. They did an amazing job. The accents for side characters and inflections were on point as well as just contributing to the self expression and inner thoughts of each character.

The content. Like I’ve said before this is the sapphic romance of my dreams. It’s sweet and then spicy. There is neurodivergence rep that is so incredibly normalized. I love the New Orleans setting and concept of the USWNT world which was fascinating. Thank you so much to Macmillan audio for this ARC, it’s truly a gift.

After singing the praises of Meryl Wilsner’s last book (MISTAKES WERE MADE - which you should read), I was SO excited to get my hands on a copy of their newest book. CLEAT CUTE is, to me, the perfect romance novel. It has 2 really complex and unique characters, tension, great supporting characters, and the perfect mix of interesting plot and steamy scenes. Finishing this book is leaving me with overwhelming feelings of joy and appreciation for the romance genre. This book is GOOD.

Also, as an adult woman with ADHD, I felt so seen by Phoebe’s character. I don’t think I’ve ever read a romance novel where one of the MC’s has ADHD (I know they exist!) and just the little comments about how her mind is never quiet or her time management issues really meant a lot to me! Thank you for that, MW. 🫶

More lesbian sports romance in 2023, PLEASE!

Huge thank you to @smpromance @stmartinspress for the advance copy and to @macmillan.audio for the advanced audiobook. I read about half physical and half audiobook and would recommend both formats. The audiobook is GOOD and has two narrators for the alternate pov which we LOVE.

This is a sapphic soccer romance following two different characters. There is a great balance between soccer and romance in this book, allowing to see both of the characters grow in their own way. I really enjoyed the soccer aspect of this book, there isn't too much where if you do not like soccer you'll be lost, but just enough soccer references and info that if you do follow soccer it makes you smile!

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ARC! This is my first Meryl Wilsner book and I was excited to dive into a queer soccer/football romance after my Ted Lasso obsession.

Overall, I enjoyed the book, the various meaningful identity representation (particularly the awareness of socioeconomic status) and the characters. I felt that Grace and Phoebe were well-developed and well-written characters (particularly Grace) however I did not feel the same way about their relationship. I wasn’t fully feeling the chemistry between the two leads. There was so much miscommunication, and while I did recognize signs of ADHD in Phoebe I hated how Grace approached that and it felt so violating. She did apologize but her actions felt meddlesome even though they came from a place of care. That may have just been my perception though.

As a personal preference I tend to prefer slow burn so the spice upfront felt jarring to me - that’s just my cup of tea and I’m sure really worked for some people.

4ish stars

I’m not a big fan of soccer or sports in general (or books about them), so I wasn’t sure how I’d feel about it being the major backdrop of this sapphic romcom, but I decided to give it a try because I read and enjoyed a previous book from the author (and because I loved the cover). I did like the book and the co-protagonists; I was rooting for them. Wow, though, do they just launch right into the vivid sex scenes; I don’t know why the first one caught me by surprise, but I was expecting a bit more lead-up to it. Not necessarily a bad thing, but a point to note. Overall, the book was sweet, serious, and funny, filled with soccer, sex, drama, and fun. I’m sure many others will also appreciate it.

I have been a fan of Meryl Wilsner’s books for a while, and Cleat Cute didn’t disappoint. With a dual POV, the stories of Grace and Phoebe are told seamlessly, and Wilsner crafts characters that feel real and you find yourself rooting for in this sapphic, rivals-to-lovers romance.

As Phoebe worked to get settled in and find her place among her two new teams, she was my favorite of the two main characters. As someone who was diagnosed with ADHD later in life, her struggles were very relatable.

With as well as Phoebe’s character was portrayed, Grace’s fell a little flat in comparison. She was often off-putting and prickly, as well as quick to jump to the worst conclusions.

Overall, I really enjoyed Cleat Cute. It was all the things I love in a romance — queer, steamy, and lots of fun! In addition to all of that, Wilsner's LGBTQIA+ and Neurodivergent representation was such a breath of fresh air.

Was this book sweet? yes Was this book steamy/spicy? absolutely! Is it rivals to lovers? not even a little bit. There is definitely a set up to where they could have been rivals, but they never get to that point, Phoebe is frustratingly charming to Grace and she might not seem to like the rookie at first, but that's about all the animosity that exists at the start. This is still a good book, the characters are enjoyable, the classic romance miscommunications happen, the fights and trust issues come from believable disagreements. Plus it's ADHD/Autistic (undiagnosed) couple. And this book includes one of the wildest D.B. Cooper hot takes I have ever had the joy of hearing. (My only real qualm *SPOILER WARNING* is the idea that Phoebe, who is outspokenly supportive of her identity, her trans brothers identity, the queer community, and economoics/income inequality. And uses tiktok as much as it is mentioned she does would have the notion that /ADHD is something middle school boys have, not adult women/ (possibly not the exact quote as I didn't jot it down while I was listening) is kind of a big suspension of belief imo.)

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillian Audio for the Audiobook ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Cleat Cute by Meryl Wilsner is a soccer romance that follows the star of the US Women’s National Team, Grace Henderson and newbie Phoebe Matthews. Grace and Phoebe have an undeniable attraction despite being polar opposites. What starts off as a steamy friends with benefits turns into something more. When Grace gets put on the injured list Phoebe is given the opportunity to shine on the field. Grace and Phoebe have to navigate their relationship on and off the field.

I loved this sports romance! It has everything you’re loving for - camaraderie, competition and spice. This book is told from from 2 POVs, Grace and Phoebe. It was interesting to see how they both viewed their relationship. There is some slight miscommunication in this book but it’s not over the top.

Grace and Phoebe may be polar opposites but their love of soccer and sexual attraction brings them together. I loved them as individuals and as a couple.

The author did a great job of explaining how drafting in soccer works. It flowed into the book without lecturing. While this is a sports romance the soccer aspect falls into the background. The main focus of the story is the relationship between Grace and Phoebe.

There’s a lot of sex scenes in this book and it does not disappoint. Sometimes when a book is too heavily sex geared I’ll skim over the spicy parts. There was no skimming here. It was well written. I’ve never read a book that’s so cute but also very steamy at the same time.

I received an advanced copy of the audiobook thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan audiobook. The book is narrated by Dana Varden and Zim Avaltrades. I love when a book is narrated by more than one person. It really helps set the characters apart. I enjoyed the pace of the audiobook.

I enjoyed this sapphic sports romance and highly recommend it.

I'm not sure why I'm having such a difficult time writing my review for this book. I've settled on just pasting my bullet point notes until I have the spoons to actually write a review.

Overall: I had fun with this book. 2.75-3⭐️

Grace is Pheobe's childhood idol which is cute. I can't imagine meeting and hooking up with my childhood hockey idol lol

Grace is grumpy, Phoebe is sunshine, but Grace is so grumpy and uptight that it's actually painful to read and Pheobe is so sunshine that it's cringey.

A few spicy scenes: long and intense with lots of consent (yay!)
Though Grace went from I don't want casual sex to having casual sex in 2 short chapters which was a little jarring. Didn't get that delectable build-up of sexual tension.

They're rivals for about .5 seconds and then Grace just kinda moves on to tolerating Pheobe.

Minimal on the USA HOORAH so readers from other countries can read this easily and not roll their eyes too much.

Pheobe "didn't know" that she wasn't supposed to cheat on previous girlfriends... so that was an unfortunate strike against her character.

We get neurodivergent representation from both Grace and Pheobe. Though it's never explicitly stated, through Grace's behaviour it seems she lands somewhere on the lower end of the autism spectrum. Pheobe is portrayed to have ADHD, and as someone with ADHD I didn't like said portrayal as it was very stereotypical to the point where it was almost harmful.

Grace backs out of the friends with benefits relationship every 5 seconds then immediately changes her mind, which just got annoying real quick.

Pheobe's family is loving and supportive until it's inconvenient for the plot. The inconsistency threw me off a bit...

I was very bored for the last 50%. This may have been better as a novella imo

Tropes: friends with benefits, rivals to lovers, sports romance

Whoo. Barely got this book read in time for it to come out tomorrow. This book wasn't for me personally but that's because I'm learning that unless there is murder and mayhem I don't love contemporary stories very much, or sports for that matter. However, I love to support the community and the story kept me engaged with Grace and Phoebe's POVs. It's always nice to get to see the story from both people's points of view to see where the miscommunication is occurring. They started having sex about 10% in so just know it isn't a slow burn of any sort if you like that sort of story. Most of the book was about their emotional journey together and understanding one another. I did enjoy the ADHD and autism representation. I would personally say the representation is quite heavy-handed which isn't necessarily a bad thing. It was not brought up until the end which is hilarious to me because I spotted it within the first chapter of each of their points of view. So that kind of made the whole story feel a bit redundant to me because (as someone heavily steeped in the AuDHD community through friends and personal experience) it was just plainly and painfully obvious to me what was going on with the both of them. So when they started talking about it at the end I was confused because I thought we already knew all of this, but apparently we didn't. Is that a "writing was too heavy-handed" thing or an "I'm too involved with my own community" thing? Who could say? I didn't mind it though. It was nice to get some realistic representations of ADHD, but particularly it was nice to see a representation of an adult with autism. Overall I would say if you're a fan of a nice amount of smut, soccer, or a pretty fun romance then this book would be for you.

Another great love story from Meryl Wilsner. They write such lovey women love stories. Taking a sport like soccer and having so many queer characters is wonderful. There are many woman's sports that are really queer and there needs to be more books written about them to explore the beautiful love stories.

I really enjoyed this book and thank netgalley for giving me an advance audio recording of it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

Grace Henderson (POV character) is a quiet, focused, and introverted celebrity of the professional soccer world. She doesn’t do relationships. She doesn’t even really like people, aside from her team, which is more of a family away from home. But when a golden-retriever of a talented rookie joins Krewe, she becomes begrudgingly wrapped up in the woman.

Phoebe Matthew’s (POV character) can’t believe she’s been recruited to Krewe, where she’ll be captained by her childhood idol, Grace Henderson. Even better, the more time she spends with Grace, the more she’s endeared to the stoic woman. As the two enter a tentative friends-with-benefits arrangement, feelings catch, then flare, with the love of soccer functioning as an elastic band tying them together.

The cover copy put out made me think we would be getting an enemies-to-lovers setup, but this is really a grumpy-sunshine story, and I was here for it! Phoebe is a LOUD voice in this novel, a good offset to Grace, who is contemplative and hesitant. And our voice actors–Dana Varden and Zim Alvaltrades–do a FANTASTIC job of bringing these differing personalities to life. The two POVs work well together, and I appreciate that both of them are neurodivergent. (I’m not sure how I feel about TikTok being used as a resource to self-diagnose … but I am glad what it led to was seeking a professional for a medical diagnosis.)

Since I was a college athlete (and a high school coach) myself before I moved into my career as a librarian, I absolutely LOVED the soccer elements here. I don’t know much about this sport, but that never detracted from the story, and listening to the characters talk about how the game made them feel was incredibly nostalgic. Wilsner did a great job bringing that passion to life in their characters.

I’m relieved that we get both romantic interests as POVs, because BOY, the miscommunication is rampant. Despite being someone who loathes miscommunication as a trope, I have to say it was extremely accurate here, given how Phoebe and Grace tackle their individual insecurities in relation to their separate neurodivergent characteristics. Despite this, I cringed at the amount of times sex took the place of talking.

Wilsner’s writing is blunt and concise, which lends it to feel stream-of-conscious and rely on Telling more than Showing, but her characters have such distinct voices that it didn’t detract from the story too much. I would have loved a little more showing, because it could be jarring at times, but Phoebe and Grace still felt real and relatable, which is what I want in my RomComs (aside from the spice, of course. And the spice here was great!)

Overall, a cute, fun, sporty sapphic romance with a diverse cast and distinct character voices.

(I’ll be getting an exclusive edition in my Afterlight book box subscription and I can’t wait!)

Meryl Wilsner is once again a stellar author in the sapphic romance field and the narrator of this audio book absolutely does justice to the delightful writing. I personally find audiobooks hit or miss, and this one was a full hit!