I listened to the audio version of this book. I did not really enjoy the narrator and the female character and did not finish the book. This is a type of book from the description I would normally really enjoy so I think I will give it another try.

I really wanted to like this story but I just couldn't get into it. It felt like it was missing something for me. Nothing really stuck out for me.

This one took me awhile to get into, this was another one I had a hard time connecting with. It has all the right tropes and a great premise. But that’s all. This one really fell flat for me. The narrator was clear and easy to understand.
I didn’t love it and I didn’t hate it.

Mabel is a ghost writer who dreams of becoming a writer. When she is presented with a lucrative offer to ghost write a book for a professional athlete, Alfie, she accepts reluctantly. However, as their meetings to talk about his life progress, Mabel discovers that Alfie is not who he seems to be and that maybe she could, very uncharacteristically, be developing feelings for him.

This was okay. It was cute at times and you are rooting for them. But this is only from Mabel's POV and her insecurity and her and Alfie's lack of communication, while relatable, was not fun to read. Also, Alfie's complete lack of technology knowledge was just absurd. This was also a pretty insular book. There weren't really any other characters that Alfie and Mabel interact with. I did like the celebrity aspect of it and the slow burn was good. Overall, it was decent.

Thank you to netgalley, the author, the narrator, and the publisher for the advanced copy.

It was a bit cringey, but not bad overall, simple predictable story but enjoyable nonetheless. Thanks for the eALC my first ever.

I'm sad to report this was a DNF at 40%. The inner monologues was excessive and the plot was told, not explained. Also the narration was rough because I couldn't tell what was dialogue and what wasn't.

I received this audiobook through NetGalley and though it too me a few months to come back to it- I really enjoyed the story and the characters. I wished for more of the relationship and felt the abrupt third act conflict came out of left field and felt rushed. Overall, I liked the story and felt the narration added to the experience nicely.

The way I wanted to love this book. I love the grumpy sunshine trope and I love romance books with fat MC's. It should have been perfect. Unfortunately I feel like either half of this book wasn't written or half of it was edited out because so much is missing. And it's not like a specific chunk is missing it's like they went in every 5% and took out 15 pages. It's a consistent issue throughout the entire book where you feel like you're missing something.

So essentially we have this ghostwriter who is hired to go straight this book of this famous athlete who is known for being grumpy as hell. And then all of a sudden they're kind of friends and then they're mutually horny but also so mutually unaware that it's exhausting to continue listening to. Like neither one of them thinks that the other one would possibly be attracted to them and that gets old very quick. Maybe if it had started with that and they figured it out sooner than it would be okay but the fact that it goes to the very end of the book drove me nuts.

then we have the fact that there's way too much sex in this book. I like sex and books just as much of the next person but it feels like it took the place of actual conversations about them getting closer and bonding and for me personally, sexual intimacy does not replace emotional intimacy and if you're going to try and have both you really need to have both but emotional intimacy is so much more important for me and I wanted to see that more than I wanted to see the sex scenes.


SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS
Don't even get me fucking started on the ending of this goddamn book. You're telling me they go a full freaking fracking year without talking and then she somehow skims an entire book and a release party and realizes that he wrote the book for her and declared his love? I just don't buy it. The idea is cute. The premise is nice. It would have been much more successful had they had their little sodact break up which I'm not a fan of anyway, and then she went back to the agency and they're like oh yeah everything's great and she said okay well let me just run through it one more time or they sent her the final copy or something where she had time to read the whole thing through process it and then go declare her own feelings within a timely manner. It didn't make sense for me to have them have an entire year apart and then for her to somehow be able to read the entire book in just 10 minutes and then be surprised? I don't know. Again, the idea is cute The execution was very flawed.

Overall this is probably like a 2 to 3 star for me because there's nothing really problematic in it I just didn't like it. It usually save my one and two star ratings for like openly problematic books So maybe let's go with a solid two and a half.

I tried so hard to enjoy this book but I just couldn’t :( The Grump was just so un-grumpy from the beginning. Cinnamon role fmc instantly broke through so I just don’t feel like we really got the grumpiness, we were just told that he was grumpy. Two very different things. I just couldn’t get into the connection between the two, it felt super forced. I just, ugh, I’m so sorry :(

This was an enjoyable listen. Really liked hearing the narrators as well, and the banter is a lot of fun

I really liked the concept of this one and it was giving major Roy Kent vibes, but I found that there were parts where I was losing attention. I liked the main characters and their relationship made sense. I also really liked the ending. I guess I just wish that the middle section had better pacing because this had the potential to be a new favourite. I think I might reread this one in the future because it might have been a case of right book, wrong time. Also I want to say the cover it cute!

For me, <i>When Grumpy Met Sunshine</i> was only just fine. I was so excited to pick this up because of the titular trope, however, this novel suffered from several issues.

The most pressing of these were the lack of plot and characterization. Sure, we had a fake dating relationship featuring the grumpy/sunshine dynamic, but there was no depth to these characters. They each had one or two traumas to add the illusion of depth. However, we learned nothing about their friends, only very scarce information about their families (as that ties in to their traumas), and the world outside of the relationship itself was extremely vaguely crafted.

Even the careers of the characters which seemed to be important to them at first (one being a former football player who dreams of becoming an author, and the other, a ghostwriter) fell apart over time. They were half-baked into the story at the start, dropped as an afterthought in the middle, and then suddenly resurrected within the narrative at the conclusion.

Overall, I enjoyed the story, but it suffered from enough issues to cement itself as a middle-of-the-road romcom.


<b>Audiobook Review:</b>

Emily Spowage’s performance was extremely poor. She has a nice voice and a really pretty accent, but she didn’t even attempt to pitch her voice lower when she narrated the MMC's dialogue, which contributed to a very confusing listening experience. Often times, this made it very hard to figure out which character was speaking, and when one stopped and another started in spots without dialogue tags. This is definitely one you want to pick up physically.


<b>OVERALL RATING:</b> 2.5 stars.


<i>A big thank you to Netgalley and the publisher, Macmillan Audio, for providing me with an advanced copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review!</i>

I originally started trading this as a digital arc and couldn’t get into it. I switched to the audiobook and still felt like this book wasn’t for me.

This book took me awhile to get into, but once I got halfway I was cruising! The narrator did a good job. Very clear and easy to understand. I didn’t like how the main character talked about herself sometimes, but I do understand people feel that way and/or go through that. Overall, it has solid bones and I would love to read her next book! Thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley for the opportunity to read in exchange for a review!

I loved the premise of this one. A steamy, opposites-attract romance with undeniable chemistry between a grumpy retired footballer and his fabulous and very sunshine-y ghostwriter. also including fake dating and forced proximity. But this one missed the mark for me. I didn't really connect with the characters and didn't get to the point of rooting for them. The most important thing in a romance for me. The comedy was a little lacking for me also. I could see what was meant to amusing, but it didn't really make me smile. Maybe I just don't appreciate British romance humor?

I thought maybe switching to the audiobook would help, but it didn't. Emily Spowage was a good narrator, but I didn't think she had the sunshine voice for the main character.

A steamy, opposites-attract romance with undeniable chemistry between a grumpy retired footballer and his fabulous and very sunshine-y ghostwriter.

In the beginning, I didn't like Alfie. He was a little too grumpy/bullish for me. It took a while for him to finally grow on me. As the romance starts to bud between Mabel and Alfie, it becomes very apparent that he is just reserved/flustered, and he wants to keep his personal life private. Which begs to questions...why did he agree to the memoir in the first place? That too gets answered!

Ah sweet Mabel. She really is quite lovely. Mabel is curvy with a great sense of humor. She is the epitome of sunshine with a bubbly, happy-go-lucky personality. I wish she would have believed in her self-worth more and able to accept that a strapping man like Alfie could totally obsess over her curves and all. (I have this issue as well though, so...)

Can we talk about the spice in this book? Holy Moly! The spice is off the charts. It always surprises me when the cover is cutesy/sweet, but then a MC has a dirty mouth! In this case...both of them! I freaking loved it! HA! The narrator did a fantastic job bringing this story to life. If not for the audiobook, Idk if I would have finished this book.

Thank you to Netgalley and Publishers for giving me a digital copy and audiobook in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own!

3.5 stars

Thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, St. Martin’s Griffen, and Macmillan Audio for the eARC & ALC of this beautiful book. Available now—it released February 6th.

When Grumpy Met Sunshine
by Charlotte Stein

Narrated by Emily Spowage

Story Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (0-5)
Narration: 🎧🎧🎧🎧 (0-5)
Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (0-5)
Steam: 🔥🔥🔥🔥 (0-5) I bump up for self-pleasuring

What I’m Starry-Eyed Over:
🤩 One narrator works great here with single POV. Her accent is such a treat.
🤩 Workplace type with forced proximity.
🤩 Laugh-out-loud funny from the start. And it gets funnier than I was even expecting.
🤩 Both MCs are just so quirky and cute, and I love how their conversations are so raw and honest.
🤩 The fake dating & “We’re going to have to lean into it.” Yes, please! Lean way into that fake dating.
🤩 “Oh, and I might possibly have to sometimes snog your face off on your doorstep.” I just love when the word snog shows up in my books.
🤩 It gets pretty hot and very detailed when they pleasure themselves, right next to each other, in the back of the broken-down car, with so much dirty talk—absolutely one of the best scenes I’ve ever read. These two are the best mix of real, hot, and intimate in their steamy interactions.
🤩 I love how they get to know each other, how Mabel finds a different side of Alfie than she’s read about.
🤩 Great text and email threads.
🤩 When Alfie does Mabel’s hair and she internally freaks out about his thighs touching her.
🤩 When Alfie protects Mabel by reporting publicly that they’re dating.
🤩 The beautiful bigger girl body representation.
🤩 How Alfie won’t let Mabel talk badly about herself.
🤩 Cleverly written single POV, where we still get some of Alfie’s thoughts in their amazing dialogue.

What I’m Wishing/Dizzy About:
💫 I was glad I had the ebook along with the audiobook because the epistolary components were a bit confusing at first with just the audiobook (without seeing the visual).
💫 I love fake dating trope, but I felt like I was missing the secret pining that usually comes with it.
💫 In the end, the miscommunication was frustrating and sad.

Overall, I enjoyed When Grumpy Met Sunshine despite having a few issues. The body positivity was exceptionally executed, especially during the steamy scenes. I enjoyed the banter and the romance. I thought much of the book was sweet and vulnerable. However, it was repetitive, relied too heavily on miscommunication, and the ending felt rushed.

Also, if you dislike a lot of dialogue in books, avoid this. I think 80% of the book is dialogue.

The audio was great.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I had high hopes for this one - the premise was cute and it hooked me in. This book was definitely chaotic, I was confused for a good part of it, especially in the beginning. I didn’t feel like Alfie was super likeable, I’m all good with grumpy but he was gruff and just closed off for the majority of the book. Mabel was cute, sunny and I love a plus-size heroine. I do wish more of her backstory was included/that she had a bit more development in the book. I still very much enjoyed their banter - I snorted of laughter several times. They definitely have chemistry and once the fake dating came into play, I felt like the book flowed smoother. Overall, their chaos was cute and became very them to me but I definitely wish both of the main characters were more fleshed out and I wish it didn’t take quite THAT long for them to admit they had feelings.

I switched between the audiobook and ebook to read this. The narrators were enjoyable and brought the characters to life.

Thanks to St-Matin’s Press, Macmillan audio and NetGalley for the chance to read/listen to an early copy. All opinions are my own.

If you are in the market for a very steamy romantic comedy, this is it!! If you love witty banter in your rom-coms, this is it! Mabel and Alfie's relationship reads like a stream-of-consciousness sex dream, British-style. Both have great feelings for the other, but both think those feelings are not reciprocated, so they end the romance. What will it take to get them back together? Read to find out!