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.

thank you to netgalley and Macmillan audio for the ALC of this book.
with that being said this is an honest review on the book all opinions are my own.
So this book was definitely out of left field for me! i was so happy to read a book of a plus size fmc who didn’t make comment degrading herself the entire book. this book balanced it out enough that i didn’t roll my eyes each time. As someone who is plus-size i love reading plus size FmC however sometimes the self hatred and degradation can be a bit much and this book did it enough that it was realistic but not overwhelming. The MMC was such a burnt cinnamon roll and it was genuinely so adorable reading/listening to their interactions. The book was really well written and had so many laughing out loud moment. it’s truly a gem i would definitely reread and recommend this book to others!

In love with these characters! This story was engaging from beginning to end and includes all my favorite tropes! Grumpy sunshine, plus size leading lady, fake dating! It is fun, steamy, and full of all the witty banter and dirty talk I didn’t know I needed in a romcom!

Emily Sowage did an amazing job bringing these characters to life. This one has earned a place on my top reads of 2024 and setting a high bar for everything that comes next.

Grumpy-meets-sunshine, opposites attract, fake dating, celebrity romance?? Yes, please!

Cute, bubbly and curvy Mabel Willicker is hired to ghostwrite the memoir of legendary grump, and ex-footballer Alfie Harding. By accident, the tabloids mistake this professional relationship for a romantic one, and what is there to do, except embrace the rumours and fake romance it? This made all the more difficult by the rising sexual tension between the two. I loved these two adorable, awkward weirdos and laughed out loud several times while listening to the audio.

The storyline is HEAVY on dialogue-- both with banter between Mabel and Alfie, but also with Mabel's internal awkward dialogue (awkwardly cute, for the record!). The first 3/4 of the novel was almost exclusively dialogue/banter, and the last 1/4 was heavy on the SPICE!! 🥵

This was a quick, funny and super cute listen. I'm an absolute sucker for British narrators and Emily Spowage did a fantastic job narrating this production. She nailed the comedic moments and made the banter so believable.

I did have one minor overall complaint, however. I absolutely detest the C-word, and I felt like it was thrown around a bit little confetti in this one.

3.5 ⭐

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for this advanced listening copy. I received this audiobook for free in exchange for an honest review.

I ABSOLUTELY LOVED THIS BOOK! And the audiobook is fantastic! I love the narrator’s voice. This was such a steamy, wonderful, swoony romance and I loved the Ted Lasso references. I also loved that Mabel was curvy and loved for that. I do with the characters communicated a bit
more, but I understand why they struggled to do so. And I loved the ending!

This opposites-attract romance between ghostwriter Mabel and retired footballer Alfie had humor, banter, and spice.  Mabel is curvy and bubbly compared to Alfie’s grumpy and intense persona.  The two are forced together when Mabel is hired to ghostwrite his memoir.  The two find themselves having to present to be a couple in public.

I love a broody, stoic hero who shows a different side when around the heroine.  That’s what I got with Alfie and Mabel.  This is also a body-positive story.  Mabel as a plus-sized character felt authentic and accurate.

Written in third-person, singular PoV I did find it hard to connect with the story at times.  I think this was due to the slow build of the relationship and the amount of dialogue.  This is definitely a slow burn.  Fans of spicy books will find it worth it in the last 30%.

Although I struggled to get into this one, I feel this rom-com is perfect for slowburn fans who love dialogue-heavy books.

The audiobook is narrated by Emily Spowage who does a fantastic job and helped propel the book forward.   Her accent, intonation, and representation of Mabel and her inner thinking were well-done and easy to listen to.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the audiobook version of this book. I am not compensated for my review in anyway. I am not affiliated with any entities associated with this book. Everything I write is my own personal thoughts feelings and opinions.
This was a good book. I liked the spicy level of the book. I appreciate the author made a note of some of the topics that would be touched on.
this was a great romance novel. The playboy falls for the curvy gal.

I was pretty excited to read this one and had high expectations. I’m not saying I didn’t love it. But it just wasn’t my favorite!

I liked the main characters, and enjoyed their relationship and banter. I always enjoy a main male character. That’s a little little grumpy and rough on the edges.

But when it came to the end, and overall, it just wasn’t the book for me. I’m giving it three stars because I think it’s a good book for other people, but it just wasn’t my favorite.

** the narrator is wonderful. But I cannot, and don’t like listening to a British/English accented narrator. I have a hard time understanding and listening to it for a long period of time. I truly don’t know why, but it’s not my favorite.

Holy dialogue! There was so much inner dialogue from Mabel that I found myself getting confused. This book was very difficult to follow and because the book was so full of her inner thoughts, it took away from the whole story altogether. This was not an enjoyable read, and because of that i felt myself not liking the characters. Unfortunate because I think the concept and everything sounds great. This book couldve helped with some more edits or beta feedback. The cover is cute though.

Roy Kent and Keeley Jones adjacent Alfie and Mabel are delicious. (After checking out Stein’s IG, achievement unlocked: Alfie is in fact based on Roy Kent. Love to see it.) This book is a banter lovers dream. The main characters are so enjoyable, and Mable is extremely relatable. Many reviews reference proofreading issues interfering with their enjoyment of the book - I didn’t notice any writing issues with the audiobook. I loved it start to most of the way to the finish. There’s a year time break that I can’t come to terms with. I just don’t see either character sitting on their feelings without a peep for a full year. It doesn’t really impact the story, just my feelings.

Narration: For the first 10% of the book, I thought the narrator, while great, wasn’t the best choice for this book. They don’t really fit the main characters in any way. After the first 10%, I completely took all of those thoughts back. Mabel, while bubbly and sweet, is a sarcastic, quick witted genius which this narrator nails. I think if a sickening sweet narrator was selected to match the bubbly bits of the FMCs personality, it would’ve been incredibly off putting to a less bubbly personality like mine, and I would’ve DNFd for that reason alone. So I take that thought back wholeheartedly.

What I do think would’ve drastically helped this audiobook was a male/female duo narration. There’s SO MUCH BANTER in this book that most of the content is back and forth conversation without the he said/she said bits. When you’re listening to one person talk, it’s extremely easy to forget who is talking when.

Audiobook ARC provided by: NetGalley, Charlotte Stein, and Macmillan audio. Thank you 💕

DNF at 52%

I unfortunately had to DNF this book. I was really excited about the premise and I think Stein's writing is pretty good but I simply didn't connect with these characters. The MMC comes off as childish instead of grumpy and the FMC has way too much inner monologue that I simply did not care about. I also was not a fan of the narrator. I think her voice is better suited for thrillers. She just sounded too serious for this kind of book.

This was a GREAT story to listen to! AWESOME narration! Great main characters. The plot was easy to find. The story was engaging and easy to follow. Will be purchasing this book. Shout out to Netgalley and publishing for allowing me to listen and review this story.

4 STARS!

Considering that most of the people following me on Goodreads are my undergraduate students, I feel weird about reviewing this book.

This is the story of two very horny adults who get together because one of them is a ghostwriter writing the story of the other one. There’s a lot of not having sex in this book and then I think 30% of the book becomes only sex and there’s no building the relationship except for the fact that they are horny.


This story had a lot of potential, lots of funny moments, but the ending is rushed. The two main characters end up not talking for a long time for a reason that was absolutely not clear and then they meet again later again not unexplained reasons.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy is exchange for my honest review.

First, the cover for this book is adorbs. I loved Mabel and all of her quips at the expense of Alfie. Alfie was amusing, but could've been grumpier - I had high expectations for him considering the title. Loved the first 2/3 of the story, but the last 1/3 wasn't really for me. The first 2/3 had all the plot and the last 1/3 had all the spice.

To be honest, I didn't love the narrator. She was a little too flat and soft spoken for all the sass that was required for Mabel and Alfie's conversations.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press/St. Martin's Griffin!

I received this book as an audio ARC from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.When Grumpy Met Sunshine is a rom com about a famous football (soccer) player and the ghostwriter for his memoir. It is pitched, as the title suggests, as a grumpy/sunshine book. Alfie has rejected several ghost writers who have been selected to write his memoir. Mabel is a writer who always dreamed of writing her own books but is making ends meet with ghost writing. Alfie finds he can tolerate Mabel, so she embarks on writing his memoir, and romance shenanigans begin! While I don't use the CAWPILE system to determine my rating, I do think it is a helpful way to describe my thoughts on a book. Characters - Alfie and Mabel are the only two characters who we spend significant time with. The internal logic of their characters doesn't quite work for me. Alfie is a little too stupid to live and can't communicate. Mabel is super insecure and also can't communicate. While I laughed aloud at their antics, I do wish that the author had painted them either as more competent, or as more communicative. As it stands, the story become frustrating often. Atmosphere/Setting - This book has a consistently goofy tone, but sprinkles in some genuinely serious discussions. I think that the tone generally works. Writing Style - The story is told through Mabel's POV. I generally prefer dual perspectives in my romances, but this choice mostly works. The writing is serviceable. Writing about writers can be tricky, especially if the writers are meant to be talented and we get to read snippets of their writing. I think the author did a good job with this premise. Plot - The last few chapters of this book completely killed the story for me. Approaching the end, I thought this was going to be a new stress relief reread to listen to in the background every few months. But nope! The logic of the final chapters just doesn't make any sense and the final dramatic scene is also confusing. The choices were baffling. Intrigue - Most of the intrigue was finding out bits and pieces of Alfie's backstory. I do feel as though some of what we learned was interesting and made his character more relatable. Logic/Relationships - See my notes on characters and plot above. The logic was really lacking here. Enjoyment - I did really love reading most of this book. Up until the final conflict, I thought I was going to give this a solid 4 star. However, now when I think about this book I only think about the frustrating ending. I'm still going to round up to a 4 star rating, but it will be logged as a 3.75 on StoryGraph. Read the first 95% of this book, then put it down and imagine your own ending. You'll have a great time! This is a good book for is you are looking for light reading and if it is available from your library.