I really love the title and the grumpy male character. Mabel is a fun bubbly character who takes the time to get to know him and realizes that there is more to his grumpy personality. He hires a ghost writer to write his memoir, but I think that the story becomes more about his feelings for her then his story. I love steamy romance and they pretend to be dating to placate the media, but the couple chapters of sex was a lot. I really liked the book and you are pulling for the characters the entire story. It was a good book and will recommend to my patron's that appeal to the steamy romance novels.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for allowing me to review this book.

When Grumpy Met Sunshine started off so great and I was so happy and giddy while reading. My feelings were had less to do about the plot and more with the characters. Mabel is a ghost writer and has been hired to help Alfie, and ex-footballer (soccer player) with his memoir. I loved the banter between them. I also loved the plus-sized rep which made me so happy.

The book was steamy, it was fun, I was having a great time, but all this came to a stop with the last few chapters. I still don't fully understand what exactly the conflict was exactly but it felt rushed and not well developed. It also made me mad and frustrated since it seemed to take away from the story and the personal development of both characters. There was also a giant time jump that didn't feel like it added anything to the story. I would rate the trending as a 2 star on it's own.

Thank you to the publisher for the ALC in exchange for an honest review.

When Grumpy Met Sunshine is a cute spin on the fake dating trope. Alfie fears that no one could ever love him for his true self, a professional footballer who hates the game, but would prefer to watch rom- coms and be a writer instead. While Mabel struggles with her self-image and believes that nobody could like a girl like her especially a footballer. I love the interactions with Alfie and Mabel and how they both bring out the best in one another. While they both are falling for the other both Alfie and Mable are clueless to the others true feeling even though they both keep dropping hints along the way.

Such a good rom-com! It is the perfect mix of spicy, cheesy, and funny. You can’t help but love Mabel from the first moment and Alfie’s quirky, grumpy, and compassionate personality is just adorable. Although, I will admit his lack of phone knowledge in today’s society was a bit unrealistic and had me second guessing his age. I thought the writing was funny, inclusive, and all around an easy and fun book to listen to. I will definitely be reading more of Charlotte Stein’s books in the future!

This was such a sweet book! I loved the characters, and their love story. The dialogue was realistic and enjoyable.

I tried this book, thought maybe I was in the wrong mood for it and paused it, and then I came back to it again. I still couldn't get into it, and it felt like it was missing... something. I can't quite put my finger on it, but it did not grip me the way I would have wanted.

Not my favourite romance trope but I wanted to give this a shot. I liked the size diversity of the main character and the inclusion of the football player as her love interest which is quite popular right now so I know lots will love this!

Though I listened to the entire book, it was very close to being a DNF. To echo the sentiments of other reviews, I think the title especially is misleading as the characters aren't really your typical grumpy/sunshine trope. It seems like she wanted the MMC to be like Roy Kent from Ted Lasso, but that wasn't really captured. While the writing is okay, it is just really lacking in depth and character development. I feel like parts of the story are missing. This book was a miss for me!

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the ALC.

hank you NetGalley for the ARC.

This was a cute love story, a lot of quick and witty banter, however I found it to be lacking a bit. I did not feel that Alfie/Mabel truly fit Grumpy/Sunshine, and I felt there could have been a dozen other better title options.

The premise is fun, Mabel is tapped to ghost-write footballer Alfies memoir. But, I felt like we spent very little time on that actual bit of the plot and instead jumped very quickly into a fake dating scenario for reasons that didn't really make sense.

I also feel like I kept being told things about the characters via dialogue that I didn't feel matched what we were being shown in exposition, and it made the characters seem very dense.

The last 30-40% of the book is all spice. Literally, and while some of it worked for me, it was SO much of the book, and added very little into progressing the plot that it felt like it weighed it down.

The end had a bit of a time jump and ultimately was quite a lovely conclusion.

I recieved the audiobook, and did enjoy the narrator.

Ultimately, it was just an okay read, and not something I would revisit.

I regret to say I had a really hard time getting into this one. I am not sure if it would have been better as a physical copy reading it vs. audio book. I DNF' d a little less than 50% . I just was not following or making any connection :(.

As someone who is a huge grumpy/sunshine trope fan, I was instantly drawn to this book based on the name! I liked both of the MCs, even if they were infuriating to me sometimes! (but who isnt??) Overall this was a fun read and I will read more by this author in the future!

I read this in both ebook and audiobook format and liked both a lot! The audiobook narrator was great!

This book was so cute! The setting and story line was just what I wanted. The banter was top tier. I would highly recommend this book!

I’m obsessed with this cover and with the story in general. A plus size girl in a sports romance?! Sign me up! I loved this

I have been enjoying Rom-Coms lately, so I gave this book a try. Its a well written book, but it is just okay, The story is about an ex-soccer player, Alfie Harding, that is writing a memoir, and he hires a ghost writer to write his story for him. Mable is an author that is following around Alfie to get to know him. The thing about Alfie is that he is very famous and any female that is with him is assumed to be his current girlfriend. However, Mabel isn't his typical girlfriend, because she is fat. I hate that, I understand that it is a common thing but it seemed like a boring issue. I will say that the steam is strong in this book, a little awkward, but well written.

It just wasn't the best rom com I've ever read, but if you like some steam and a celebrity book that gets deep at times this is a cute read.

Until the following items are met by the SMP team, I will be withholding any promotion or review of any St. Martin's Press titles (including SMP Romance and Wednesday Book titles):

1. Address and denounce the Islamophobia/racism from your employee.
2. Offer tangible steps for how you're going to mitigate the harm this employee caused.
3. Address how moving forward, you will support and protect your Palestinian, Muslim, and Arab readers, influencers, and authors in addition to your BIPOC readers, influencers, and authors.

The author couldn't have been more obvious they're a fan of Ted Lasso if they tried. This was clearly a Roy Kent-esque character with very little room for imagination. I DNF.







I received an advance copy. All thoughts are my own.

I did DNF however I read enough to have an opinion. I want to start by saying I started this as an ebook but couldn't get into it so I tried it as an audiobook. Honestly, there is nothing the narrator could have done to save this book.
There's is nothing that makes giggle like a school girl like great banter. In this, the banter gives me the ick. To add more damage to injury it was too wordy. The inner dialogue did leave me confused at times.

Thank you so much to @netgalley @macmillian.audio and @stmartinspress for the ARC and ALC!

📚 𝙈𝙮 𝙏𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙨 📚
This story is about a ghostwriter Mabel and ex-football player Alfie. Alfie is looking for a ghostwriter for his memoir and has become pretty particular about choosing one. He insults Mabel at their first meeting and she’s sure she could never work with him. However, things change and she agrees to do the job, and Alfie’s fans are wondering who the lady is that he’s hanging out with. To keep the ghostwriting a secret, they decide to fake date and all kinds of funny situations ensue!

I really liked the idea of a ghostwriter storyline in a book, so that is what drew me into this one initially. I had a hard time connecting with the characters in the book though, as I thought their chemistry seemed just physical until the very end. The story is very dialogue heavy, and there is a lot of banter back and forth between the two. I enjoyed the end when the book gets published!

🎧 𝙉𝙖𝙧𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 🎧
Emily Spowage does a nice job narrating Mabel and Alfie’s story. Emily had the right accent for the characters and the slang they used throughout the book. I thought her tone of voice was perfect for Mabel’s character, and I was able to speed it up to 1.5 and still follow along with the story.

🎧 𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙗𝙤𝙤𝙠 𝙞𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚:
🩵 Grumpy/sunshine
🩵 Social media gossip
🩵 Curvy FMC
🩵 Retired football (soccer) player
🩵 One POV / 3rd person
🩵 Lots of Banter

Emily Spowage narrates Charlotte Stein’s When Grumpy Met Sunshine, in which Mabel Willicker becomes the ghostwriter for ex-footballer Alfie Harding’s memoirs, then his pretend girlfriend. Alfie, who is averse to emotions and loathes revealing anything about himself, gives in to pressure to sell his memoirs. However, Alfie doesn’t believe he can competently write his memoirs himself. So, his publisher hires sunny and bright ghostwriter Mabel, who somehow effortlessly talks and charms all the details of Alfie’s life from him. Complete opposites, Mabel and Alfie quarrel, banter, and chat their way through writing Alfie’s life story. The whole time, neither believes it can possibly go well.

However, when the public mistakes their association for romance, Alfie and Mabel pretend to be in a relationship to satisfy their appetite for a Cinderella story. What begins as fake and pretending by Alfie and Mabel soon begins to smolder into an all too real passion that combusts out of control. Will their sparks and fiery chemistry stay pretend or develop into something genuine that leads to Alfie and Mabel’s fairytale ending?

Spowage’s vibrant, expressive narration from Mabel’s first person POV drew me into Stein’s steamy, captivating grumpy x summer romance and kept me avidly listening as the novel flew by. Her voice and narration perfectly fit Alfie, Mable, and the secondary characters, capturing Stein’s vibrant and dynamic writing and storytelling style, the characters’ voices and personalities, and the novel’s shifting moods, tones, and depths of emotion that fill each scene. She becomes each of the characters, regardless of age or gender. Her English and Scottish accents are fantastic. Spowage’s narration differentiates between the characters using pacing, intonation, inflection, dialects, and emotion to give them distinct voices. She expressively breathes life into Stein’s characters, making it difficult to imagine anyone else narrating better.

From the first scene, Stein drew me in, and I couldn’t stop listening/put the novel down. Stein’s writing and storytelling, with vibrant and detailed descriptions using all the characters’ senses and superb world-building, make you feel like you are with the characters in each moment. She excellently develops her conflicted, complex, relatable, and likable characters. Her colorful, hilarious, and natural-sounding dialogue suits her characters, setting, and theme. Stein develops Alfie and Mabel’s relationship, transitioning it from reluctant partners to friends to lovers through hilarious, snarky banter and sweet, sexy, steamy, and intimate interactions and love scenes that reveal and evolve their characters and further the novel’s plot.

An angry, talented athlete, and fan favorite known for getting into fights, Alfie is much more complicated than first impressions and outward appearances or what the world knows about him. Mabel discovers Alfie is a practical, intelligent, literal, weird, technophobe, and so much more. A curvy, cute, cheery, soft-hearted, sweet, and surprisingly sassy ray of sunshine, Mabel wears protective, bubbly girl armor to shield her from the judgments and criticism she’s learned to expect from the world. Mabel’s so relatable. But like Alfie, she hides a depth of emotion and personality behind her façade. Interestingly enough, Mabel is truly as adorable as she appears. I love Mabel and her inner voice and how freely and naturally she gives Alfie a hard time.

How Mabel and Alfie effortlessly talk to each other about everything and the comfort level so spontaneously develops between them once they start working together is delightful. These two people, whom no one would believe could ever have anything in common, deeply connect and unexpectedly share so much on many levels. No one is more surprised by how compatible and deeply they fall for one another than Alfie and Mabel.

While I’m all about fake dating, grumpy x sunshine romances are relatively new reads for me. Stein delightfully blends these two tropes in one of the most hilarious and sexiest romances I’ve ever read and the best grumpy x sunshine romance. I love every moment of it! Stein perfectly balances the humor, steam, and slight bit of angst. I cannot tell you how often I went from laughing my head off to fanning myself to clutching my heart at these two who couldn’t get it together. Despite their best efforts, things continuously steamroll into the hottest messes. I can’t with them!

I started reading the e-book for When Grumpy Met Sunshine but then switched to the audiobook. I did rewind and listen to some scenes over again because they’re just too hilarious not to. And maybe some of the intimate scenes, too, because they’re phenomenal! This book is worth so many re-reads/re-listens.

Stein flawlessly shifts between the novel’s tones—hilarious one moment, intimate and steamy the next, then intensely emotional—without affecting the fantastic pacing. Sweet, steamy, hilarious, sexy, emotional, and fast-paced, When Grumpy Met Sunshine is an unexpectedly and beautifully romantic and hot AF romance perfect for fans of fake dating, opposites-attract, grumpy x sunshine, and humorous, steamy romances. Stein explores self-discovery, self-esteem, self-expression, writing, sports fandoms, social media, falling in love, friendship, facing fears, taking risks, following your dreams, being comfortable with yourself, and being comfortable with your sexuality.

Content warnings: brief references to parental abuse, childhood poverty, alcoholism, fatphobia and its effects

Advanced listening copy provided by Macmillan Audio via Netgalley for review.

This was one of the funniest books I’ve listened to/read in a while! The misunderstandings, the grumpy mmc, the thicc fmc, I loved it alllll. The writing was amazing and I loved the connection between the 2 main characters. The ending was very organic for me and not forced. Love love loved everything about this book from the cover to the ending.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy!