When perky plus-size ghostwriter Mabel Williker is contracted on the downlow to help cantankerous footballer Alfie Harding with his memoir, their relationship is assumed to be some sort of mismatched romance, and they deflect by agreeing to pretend to date while Mable helps Alfie with his writing. He has many wonderful stories to relay, but doesn’t want her to actually put any of them into a book; and joke’s on her, it turns out he can write, has the soul of poet, and probably doesn’t need her help. They find common ground in the past trauma of their childhoods, and share many common interests.

Stein builds intimacy through her character’s vulnerability–Alfie and Mabel find commonality in their childhood experiences of alcoholic parents and not having enough money to go around. The author handles consent and desire very naturally and believably. They have chemistry, respect, and also have fun together. The story is interspersed with tongue-in-cheek commentary on social media, fame, fashion, wealth, and more, and the narrative expands with Twitterverse commentary, articles, text messaging, emails, and other ephemera to enhance the narrative.

The writing is superb-fresh and funny with snappy but gentle teasing between the two. Their banter never punches down and their desire the take the piss but never harm is wonderful. Stein has a full and inventive vocabulary (let’s bring back “romantical”) and produces clever turns of phrase. The chapter titles are clever and rich in allusion. Alfie is the sweetest cinnamon roll under his gruff “we are not amused” exterior.

The story is told exclusively in Mabel’s voice, and her every thought (and internal monologue) on those thoughts is immediate, candid and funny. She’s delightfully awkward, vulnerable and mortified at being so. My single criticism is that the reader is sometimes told how the characters are feeling by the naming the expression on their face instead of showing through description; it mostly works, because often it’s Mabel interpreting Alfie’s emotion.

I listened to the audio and narrator Spowage had pitch-perfect tone, and I found her voicing for the irrepressible Mabel fit the character really well. The back and forth dialogue between the protagonists lent itself particularly well to the audio format, as did Alfie’s proclivity to be a talker during sex. Spowage varied the British accent to account for regional variation, did a credible American accent, and delivered many laugh-out-loud moments in the text flawlessly.

I received a free advance readers (and listener’s!) review copy of #WhenGrumpyMetSunshine via #NetGalley; thanks also to #MacMillan and #StMartinsPress.

Thank you Net Galley for the Audiobook ARC.
-DNF 70% through due to spiciness.
-This book was so fun. Their banter and the character's personalities were so refreshing and needed more of. The only reason I am DNF is due to the spice level. This is open door explicit. If that doesn't bother you I would highly recommend as what I listened to was amazing.

This romantic comedy is about a retired English footballer who hires a ghost writer to compile his memoir and put pen to paper. From the ratings, it seems like many people were disappointed by the book. I really had fun listening to it. I liked the characters and their enjoyable back and forth banter. The story was pretty predictable, but I liked how the author handled it. The characters were well-developed and the plot was well-paced.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for an ARC audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

Think Roy Kent meets the bubbly, body positive, plus size average girl that happens to be a ghost writer for Roy Kent's new football memoir.

I was skeptical the first few pages of how well I'd warm up to Alfie, he's a character you just want to stand off from, but author Charlotte Stein had me rolling laughing in no time.

Hilarious, romantic, and steamy, this fake dating trope is everything I was looking for in a happily ever after!

🅐🅡🅒 🅑🅞🅞🅚 🅡🅔🅥🅘🅔🅦

when grumpy met sunshine by charlotte stein
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
🌶️🌶️🌶️

fake dating is my Roman Empire. I love it more than anything, and this book had such a fun take on it. I love the mix of all my favorite tropes. I will say the miscommunication at times was killing me. It’s all Mabel’s pov so we never know really what Alfie is thinking, but I think it’s so clear he’s into her! Mabel just can’t see it and it was killing me! Even when they got together she didn’t believe he could want her 😭

I loved that it was a slow burn but once the steam starting it was PIPING HOT and a lot of it. I also love the curvy girl representation!! And the narrators voice was amazing, she had such a great accent.

I loved the semi sports romance aspect too! alfie is a retired football(soccer) player and Mabel is a ghost writer helping him write his book, and when paparazzi photos come out of the two of them together (with backlash about how he could never date a fat girl) Alfie starts a fight and basically announces they are dating. I mean honestly how Mabel didn’t immediately think this was was head over heels in love with her I’ll never know. SUCH a good book. It’s a quick read but so so fun.

*I received an advanced copy of the audiobook through Netgalley in return for an honest review.*

Let’s start with the good. I really enjoyed the narration of this book. Once I started it kept my attention. I actually enjoyed some of Alvie and Mabel’s conversations and that they talked things through. I also appreciated the plus size representation.
I’m not sure much of anything happened during this book other than Mabel and Alfie talking. I didn’t really understand how they went from her just being his ghostwriter to “fake” dating. This book was very steamy but there didn’t seem to be much plot. There was also a lot of miscommunication for people who talk about other things. A whole year apart seemed a little much. Then he wrote the whole book basically? It was a little strange to do that, but he never tried to reach out in over a year?

I really struggled with this one! I wanted to DNF so many times but I pushed through. The writing felt a bit clunky so it was so hard for me to get into. The romance was okay but it didn’t really do much for me. The audio was pretty good but I do wish there would have been more of a difference in each character’s voice. This was one of my most anticipated releases so I’m bummed that I didn’t love it!

I definitely liked the audiobook better than the physical book. The narrator did a great job and made all the dialogue flow better than when I was the one reading it. I will definitely recommend this one to anyone who loves grumpy/sunshine, forced proximity, and fake dating.

First thing’s first: thank you Netgalley for the ALC of this book!
When Grumpy Met Sunshine was the story of a retired footballer who hires Mabel as a secret ghostwriter for his memoir. When she is photographed leaving his home by paparazzi, they begin fake dating to keep her actual role in his life under wraps.
I thought this book was pretty cute! It gave me big Roy Kent and Keeley Jones vibes which I loved. It was a little hard to follow sometimes, but I really loved watching them fall in love. I didn’t feel like there was a ton of substance to this book, but I still had a good time! I didn’t love the time jump at the end, but I did like the way it wrapped up.
3.5⭐️

Well, that was freaking adorable! I absolutely flew through this, it’s a breeze of a read. The pacing was perfect—no slow, slogged down parts but doesn’t feel like it’s TOO fast either. It’s mostly light-hearted, really cute and funny (I literally laughed out loud SO many times), with what I’d say was mid-level spice (the spicy scenes are plenty spicy, but there’s only a small handful of scenes so it doesn’t overwhelm the story). I just loved Mabel and Alfie, the ease and naturalness of their interactions, their banter and just total sweetness together…it made for a fully enjoyable read and I will def be keeping an eye out for future books from Charlotte!

The audiobook was really enjoyable, too. The narration was good, kept me in the story, and suited the vibe….which is pretty much all you can ask for!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this ALC. I loved the banter between the two characters and the curvy representation by the FMC. That's about all I liked though. The story was lacking for me. Not a ton happened overall and it was just boring. Plus i'm not a huge spice fan so just wasn't my cup of tea. I liked the narrators once I got used to the accents.

Overall, this book was enjoyable, but would’ve been much better if it was shorter. There was too much of Mabel’s thoughts and just anything that crossed her brain thrown on the pages and a bit more filtered out would’ve been less distracting. It was really slow to start, probably because Mabel’s stream of thoughts, and I would’ve appreciated some of the banter and fun earlier on. The dialogue was fantastic and I loved how witty it was. I pictured Alfie as Roy Kent the entire time I read this book but Alfie had a few more romance character traits to him than Roy. I hated the third act breakup and the time jump because it didn’t feel necessary. It was rather abrupt way of concluding and I think it could’ve been better. The spice was very concentrated once ~70% mark hit, and I wasn’t quite expecting it to continue at the high level of spice until ~90% when the third act breakup happened. Overall, the banter and dialogue are the best parts of this book and I just wish it had been edited a bit more. I did listen to the audiobook for this and while the narrator was good, it was really hard to understand what was dialogue and what was inner thoughts. The narrator didn’t have different voices for Alfie and Mabel so their banter was hard to follow at times. The (presumed) texts, articles, headlines, and tweets, were also hard to understand between chapters. Still pleasant to listen to, but the lack of different voices was a let down. 3.5⭐️, 3🌶

I had to set this book down multiple times and scream into my pillow, I absolutely loved their banter and Alfie is my new favorite book boyfriend. Everything he did had me fully swooning. While the characters could be insanely frustrating at times, there was depth to them that made me understand why they were acting and feeling the way they were. It was clear that the past had influenced them greatly, and despite that, they were trying to find happiness in their own way. It was one of the funniest books I have read recently, and I could not put it down. I listened to the audiobook version of this book and while I greatly enjoyed the narrators voice, it was hard to differentiate which characters were talking at times, which is just something to be aware of. Overall, I thought this book was adorable and hilarious and totally swoonworthy.

This steamy rom-com by Charlotte Stein exceeded my expectations. Mabel Willicker, a curvy ghostwriter, is hired to write the memoir of Alfie Harding, a grumpy retired footballer. Mabel is sassy and smart, and slowly charms her way into Alfie's heart as she gets him to reveal more about himself than anyone ever has. They quickly form a close friendship.

But when their business arrangement is mistaken for something romantic, the tabloids and social media have a field day because Mabel is unlike every other girl Alfie has dated. As they pretend to act like a couple, they both start to question whether they have caught feelings for one-another.

The banter between Mabel and Alfie had me laughing out loud, and the slow-burn was definitely worth the wait.

This book started off slow, but then ended with a big bang! (And quite literally, too! ) High level of spice and dirty talk.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I would recommend for lovers of the following tropes: grumpy-sunshine, fake-dating, opposites-attract, slow-burn

When Grumpy Met Sunshine is an opposites attract novel where the main characters find they actually have a lot in common. The book was a bit slow to start, but I really enjoyed the personality of the two main characters, they are kind, likable characters with heart and chemistry.

This was a quick and fun read! It did take me a little bit to get into it but once I did I couldn’t put it down. Alfie is such a grump and I loved him! Mabel was funny and full of sunshine. I loved the banter between these two and the slow burn build of their relationship. There were a few things that I didn’t care for, such as the miscommunication between them, the storyline lagged in some places, and I wish that we would have had an epilogue or a little more story in the end. Overall this was an enjoyable read for anyone that likes the grumpy sunshine trope and lots of banter (which I love).

I also was able to listen to the audio thanks to an ALC from @macmillanaudio I feel like Emily Spowage did a great job bringing these characters to life. The only thing that would have made it better is if it was dual narration.

I originally read this book on my Kindle, but when I found out there was an audio option available, I couldn't wait to get my hands on it. The narrator did such a great job. Hearing her voice allowed me to fully immerse myself in the story in a way that I wasn't able to do with just reading it. Her accent was amazing and her voice was butter. I enjoyed this book the first time, but I loved it the second time. I'm so glad they decided to make an audio version of it. I still got the push and pull of the slow burn, but the spice was even better this time which surprised me because I knew it was going to happen. I'm so very happy that I decided to revisit this book.

Review copy provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I've got some strong mixed feelings on this one. I love a good opposites attract and grumpy vs sunshine trope. Pair it with a ghost-writer tasked with writing a grouchy sport star's memoir and I thought surely this was going to be a golden read that just absolutely hit it out of the park- pun intended. So here's the good, the bad, the meh.

With a pitch of Roy Kent from Ted Lasso vibes, man I was stoked. Yet, I really didn't get those vibes from Alfie. I mean, he was smitten with Mabel fairly immediately and just didn't give off those yelling at everyone vibe. The humor is laced throughout and while they do mesh well and the chemistry is present, I really wanted Mabel to quiet down with the constant, and I mean constant, "we'll never work because of our differences". It started to distract from the chemistry that was happening.

The heroine is plus sized and read in a very real, raw, and vulnerable way. I appreciated her character arc, even with the minor annoyances of the constant denial that they could work out. She did have moments that I'd argue would qualify her as the grump in this one and I almost wish they played on that harder.

This was a cute listen. I don’t love 3rd person books so it made it difficult for me to get invested. I feel like there was a lot of potential with this but it just felt a little lacking to me. A little sweet a little spice.

DNF @ 25%. I couldn't get into this book at all. I didn't love the narrator or the characters other than the MMC giving Roy Kent vibes. Thanks to NetGalley, St Martin's Press & MacMillan Audio for an advance copy.