Okay, so I was excited when I read the synopsis for this book, it sounded like everything I loved all in one book grumpy meets sunshine is the actual title!!! I was hoping for a Book Lovers type dynamic but unfortunately it did not achieve that high standard.. I pushed through hoping that it either of the MC would grow on me. He came across as so stupid and cardboard with zero concept of how to live in the world without a quirky upbeat writer with curves. It was a bit much for me to accept. The man got swindled out of all of his furniture and tv and just sat there like oh okay until she pointed it out?!?!?! cmon. I would not say it was horrible i just couldn't connect to it, maybe its better as British chick lit than American chick lit. I'd say 2.5 rounded up to 3 because it wasn't for me but it may be for someone else.

Thank you NetGalley for granting me this advanced access to this audiobook in exchange for my honest review.

When Grumpy Met Sunshine
Charlotte Stein
Alfie Harding is a retired football player. He’s grumpy, very grumpy. He’s been asked to write his memoirs, but he knows he isn’t a writer, and he likes being private. He’s looking to hire a ghostwriter. Mabel Willicker applies for the job. Usually, she knows just what to say and how to say it to gently pull information from her clients. Her sweet sunshine mannerism has a different effect on Alfie. They have to pretend to be a couple which is easy for they are falling for each other.
I love this book. It is fun and filled with love unfortunately it needs a lot of editing. I would like to give it a 5 but it gets a 3 because it needs so much work.

DNF at 16%. I wanted so badly to like this one - Alfie seems like a Roy Kent inspired hero who is unfairly characterized as a grump when he seems more shy and awkward than anything. I also intrigued by the plus size ghost writer. There seems to be lots of British banter and if that’s your thing, give it a go! However, there was just way too much inner monologue from her end, and I decided I was likely finished when they referred to something smelling nice as if an “angel had farted.”
Thank you Netgalley & St. Martin’s Press for the eARC, and Macmillan Audio for the ALC.

The cover was so cute and the concept was right up my alley, but unfortunately it missed the mark for me. I didn't seem to like the characters and wasn't invested in their love story.

I really wanted to enjoy this, but sadly it just failed to pull me in, so I decided we are better off parting ways. There was no objective reason why this was, and I'm sure many romance readers would enjoy it, but alas, it was not for me.

There was so much potential! I went into this with a lot of excitement and high hopes for a cute fun read, not what happened at all.

This ended up being one of those reads and listens that I just wanted to get over with. I tried to speed up, slow down, exclusively reads, and try to focus on just the audio. This book just was not for me. The characters did not interest me even though the plot of the story was amazing. I felt disconnected and bored and really wanted to invest in the story. Unfortunately, it dragged out too long. I felt the main character was cringey and the MMC was uninteresting. And the random attempt at spice basically at the end.. unnecessary.

Thanks so much NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the audiobook.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐

"When Grumpy Met Sunshine" is a light-hearted romantic tale that brings together two seemingly opposite characters. The storyline is sweet, and the writing style is engaging enough to keep readers interested. The author successfully creates a charming world where grumpiness meets sunshine.

However, despite its enjoyable moments, the plot feels somewhat predictable, and the character development lacks depth. The chemistry between the protagonists, while pleasant, doesn't quite reach the level of intensity found in other romance novels. Additionally, some of the supporting characters could use more fleshing out to add complexity to the overall narrative.

In conclusion, "When Grumpy Met Sunshine" is a decent read for those seeking a quick and cheerful romance. While it may not be a standout in the genre, it delivers a satisfactory dose of warmth and humor.

Thank you NetGalley, Macmillan Audio, and St. Griffin got my advanced copy and the chance to review it honestly.

I received When Grumpy Met Sunshine as an ALC and I was able to listen to it pretty quickly. I thought the narrator did a fine job but unfortunately I didn’t LOVE the story… I liked it but I wanted to love it. I usually love the grumpy/sunshine trope and back and forth banter but this time it felt like it was too much and ended up taking away from the book. The one had potential but it missed the mark. I still plan on checking out more books from this author and try again! When Grumpy Sunshine is out 2/6/24.

Happy reading!

This was a cute fake-dating, celebrity romance set in England. It had a good bit of slang that I didn’t always understand, but that was part of the charm for me. I loved the openness and vulnerability that Alfie and Mabel had with each other from the very beginning.

As many others have noted, this novel stars Roy Kent from Ted Lasso (not actually, but the same vibes). I loved the premise and story of an ex-footballer/ghost writer. The banter was funny and sweet, the mmc was near perfect, and the spicy-ness was good. Mabel had a lot of potential, but could have been developed more as a character. The narrators voice was great, but it was hard to distinguish between characters at time. I would definitely recommend to friends who wanted to enjoy a few hours with a little quirky humor and heartwarming story.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Macmillan Audio for the ARC in exchange for an honest review

2⭐
Genre ~ romantic comedy
Setting ~ England I think
Publication date ~ February 6, 2024
Est page Count ~ 329 (27 long titled chapters + one year later)
Audio length ~ 9 hours 17 minutes
Narrator ~ Emily Spowage
POV ~ single 3rd
Featuring ~ characters in their 30's, ex soccer player, plus size woman, fake relationship, opposites attract, slow burn, some steamage, EXCESSIVE swearing, no communication

*possible spoilers ahead*

Content warning from the author ~ brief references to parental abuse, childhood poverty, and alcoholism, and an incident that includes fat-phobia, plus brief mentions at a few points of the effects that fat-phobia can have.

Mabel & Alfie
Mable is ghostwriting Alfie's memoir, but then they find themselves in a fake relationship and obviously fall for each other.

Have you watched Ted Lasso? If not, here's your chance to meet one of the characters, Roy Kent, because I totally believe Aflie is based on him and you can't tell me otherwise. I didn't really find him to be overly grumpy though. I liked how he defended Mabel right from the start when people were talking about her weight.

But...Mabel, really? I'm kind of tired of the whole 'he'll never love me because I'm fat' crap. I could see he was genuine all the way over here in the USA, so open your eyes girl! Yeah fine you're in a fake relationship, so you think he's faking it, but for the love of all that is holy why can't grown adults communicate?! They are in their 30's for Pete's, not F's, sake!!

Okay, so listen, I've been known to swear a time or two or 16, but for the F word to be used 253 times is just overly excessive to me for a 329 page book. Over excessive even if it was a 1,329 or 3,290 page book. It just really turned me off. I did primarily listen to it, so maybe it wouldn't have been as noticeable to me if I had read it.

There were some funny bits, but even the banter got to be too much and I didn't really care for it. There was too much inner monologue and the repeating of phrases was really annoying ~ 'and she laughed, she did laugh,' 'like he had said he would, like he had told her,' 'even though he wasn't, he wasn't at all'...just to name a few.
The whole grand gesture was fine I suppose, but one year later....nah, too far in the future.

In conclusion, I wasn't a super big fan if you couldn't tell.

I had both a kindle and an audio copy to review.
Narration notes:
I guess she was okay, but again when someone is swearing in your ear a bunch you tend to get bugged with them.

Side bar ~ the cover is super cute.

5 stars
This book was absolutely amazing, the narration was incredible, and the dynamic between the characters was phenomenal. I love this book so much; I can't wait to own a physical copy of this book. I can't wait to read whatever she has planned next.

(Goodreads review added to because I read the ebook previously)

Addendum for audiobook - the narrator in general was excellent, but I'd only give the audiobook 4-4.5 stars because her decision to not do voices (bar doing an excellent American accent for Mabel's agent) married with a lack of dialogue tags made who was saying what in a lot of the banter between the main characters confusing.

This book was full of funny, cheeky quips that had me laughing out loud a few times. The main trope was miscommunication and it's not my favorite. They go the whole book just ignoring their chemistry. The grumpy football (soccer) player wasn't too grumpy, just misunderstood. He's really a cinnamon roll who was dealt a tough hand in life. The spice was good and steamy!
I struggled a little with the narrator. It was really hard to tell when it was switching characters and who was talking. At one point the literary agent had an American accent but that seemed lost later in the book.

I don't necessarily think that the grump was in fact grumpy. I think maybe a little antisocial and lack of humor. I did not enjoy the audiobook narrator and found myself zoning out instead of listening. I do believe at multiple points the narrator would have an accent and then not for the same character. Despise was a pleasant surprise and this book. There was a miscommunication trip which like a lot of people is my least favorite. The book was a little cheeky which was cute.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC.


I rated this book 2.5, rounded up to a 3.


This book sounded amazing and has all the things I love in a romance: sports, a grump, and fake dating. Even with all of that, this book was not for me.  It just felt off.


The story seemed very muddled. Additionally, there was too much banter, which is something i never thought i would say. Because of the intense banter and muddled story, the writing then felt choppy. This then meant that overall, everything was also. I honestly didn't understand why either character liked the other.

Also, this book is told in one POV, which is usually never a problem, but here it was.  I just didn't understand Alfie’s character at all.  I didn't get why he was acting the way he was because he just didn't seem like a fully fleshed out character. We needed his POV for his character to make any sense.

Top notch British humor. The tile is spot on we have a grumpy MMC who is a retired sports star and a sunshine FMC who is ghost writing the MMC’s memoir and all the cuteness that ensues and throw in some fake dating. Fun and adorable hijinks. Highly recommend the audiobook. The narrator did a fantastic job bring this story to life.

Wanted to mention that the spicy scenes sometimes were cringeworthy.

#NetGalley

Mabel is a ghostwriter who is assigned to write the memoir of England’s favorite grumpy former footballer, Alfie Harding. The two have a few bad encounters before finally agreeing to work together. Mabel’s sunny demeanor is able to break through Alfie’s walls to get the material for the book. Mabel is spotted by the paps and the speculation leads the pair to fake dating so they can be seen in public together without Mabel’s status as a ghostwriter being found out, which with all fake dating leads to real feelings.

I wanted to like this book so much more than I did. I loved that Mabel is a plus-sized girl and Alfie is absolutely obsessed with her body. I do wish the book was dual POV so I could have gotten more of Alfie’s feeling (like his inspiration Roy Kent he has one) for Mabel rather having to rely on his limit words. Like I said, Alfie is inspired by Roy Kent but he isn’t a carbon copy which I appreciate.

Now to the rough bit. I get tweets from the author on my feed and the info she’s been using to advertise the book is that early reviewers say there is too much sex. The way the book is structured results in there being too much sex. Now, don’t get me wrong, I like a steamy book and am no stranger to erotica that is mostly sex, but the scenes structurally work to tell the story. The first 60% of the book is literally the pair talking with no heat or tension, the next 30% is just sex that feels like it comes out of no where, the remaining 10% is a one year later chapter that wraps the story. It’s like the publisher told the author she wasn’t allowed to have a sex scene in the first 60% because that’s the norm for trade paperbacks and she took that instruction literally out of spite. I never skim read steamy scenes but I found myself skimming. If the scenes had been peppered throughout the book, it would have worked for me, but alas. I know the author has self-published for years and has a fan-base so I would be interested to see how the mechanics of this book compare to those she has more control over.

I was given the opportunity to listen to the audiobook and really enjoyed Emily Spowage’s narration. She has a thick english accent that does take some time to get used to but keeps the story moving. I will not that the chapters all end in an interstitial containing things like tweets, news articles, text threads, etc. which didn’t really flow as well in the audiobook. In the eBook these moments were delineated by different spacing, italics, or boxes that don’t come across in the audiobook, but I know an audiobook needs to convey what is written on the page so I don’t know that there’s really a solution to this small issue and I did get used to them being there.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Macmillan Audio for the ALC and ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Charlotte Stein has quite literally written one of the funnest books ever! Tropes: opposites attract, grumpy x sunshine, faking dating/relationship & extremely steamy scenes. Still, there is also love, finding ways to express such love & doubting the love of someone else.

The narration by Emily Spowage is beautifully done. She easily switches between the personalities of Mabel & Alfie. And it is just the smallest adjustment in her voice that moves from a feminine to a masculine voice.

The banter between Mabel & Alfie is great. Charlotte Stein is a master of one liners & hilarious situations. As Spowage was narrating the book I wondered how many times she had to start certain scenes over because of the humour from both what Mabel & Alfie say out loud and what runs through their heads!

I loved this story, the characters & the narration! This audio book is a must for listening!

A steamy, opposites-attract romance with undeniable chemistry between a grumpy retired footballer and his fabulous and very sunshine-y ghostwriter.
I've said it before and I'll say it again: I love me a good grump, but the line between being a grump and being and asshole is very thin... I don't think this one was for me. 30% in, I couldn't even tell you what the story was about. I constantly had to make a conscious effort to bring my attention back to the book. I have read many good reviews about it, so maybe it will be more for you than it was for me.
I received an advance review copy of this book for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily.