Thank you to Netgalley for the advance listening copy of this romance audiobook.

This story got better as it went along. In the beginning, it seemed as if the author was doing more "telling" than "showing", and this took me out of the story. Once Mabel and Alfie started spending time together, their slow-burn, but increasingly spicy, romance full of stumbles towards their happily-ever- after became livelier and more fun.

Alfie is a famous former footballer who likes a quieter life than is portrayed in the media. Mabel is a writer, who is ghostwriting his story. She is a little heavy and when social media finds out they are spending time together, they assume she is his girlfriend and some ridicule her for her weight. It is a pretty simple story, and the type of story that reads like a simple romance movie. Alfie is as grumpy as advertised, but Mabel seemed less sunny than I thought she would be, a little snide.

Narrator Emily Spowage did as much as she could with this story. Her character portraysls were
subtly varied, and she treid to bring out the humor.

"I'd fight God if he got in her way."

The very British comedic romance When Grumpy Met Sunshine by self professed naughty rom com author Charlotte Stein is steeped in steamy European romance and smart comedy.

Footballer (soccer player) Alfie needs a ghostwriter for his bad boy memoir. Enter curvaceous Mabel, suffering lingeringly pain from body shaming exes and school bullies. He hates most things, she sees him as a Neanderthal but time together changes minds and hearts. When the press sees them together they fake date so no one knows she's his ghostwriter.

Reading and listening to narrator Emily Spowage spew the quick witted banter is highly entertaining for this fan of all things British. I do prefer dual POVs but Mabel's thoughts are hilarious and often endearing as her insecurity lessens and her love for Alfie grows. When these two meet as lovers there's only sunshine.

I received a free copy of this audiobook from Macmillan Audio via #NetGalley for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.

This was a cute story. I loved the banter between the main characters. It was fun. Overall an enjoyable read.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the E-ARC. And to Macmillan Audio for the ALC.

All thoughts and opinions are honest and my own.

The title really says it all. The book is a little Ted Lasso, if Roy Kent met Keeley while was writing a memoir instead of while she's dating a different footballer. I loved this book aside from that vibe though because the characters just fit together so well and helped each other in such kind ways. I love how the whole book ended with each of them being so much stronger. The lot of it made my heart happy reading.

#arc
#netgalley
#whengrumpymetsunshine

5⭐️

book blurb:
Alfie, grumpy retired footballer, needs a ghost writer for his memoir. Mabel, bubbly loveable ghost writer, might just be the one to help him write it. But the public believes they’re dating after seeing them together and an altercation that has Alfie declaring Mabel to be his “true love.” So they have to fake date while Mabel finishes ghost writing his book.

review:
When I say this book sucked me in, I mean it SUCKED ME IN. As soon as I started listening I couldn’t stop. I would have finished it in one sitting if I didn’t have two kids ready to wake me up at the butt crack of dawn. Fake dating is forever one of my favorite tropes. Along with one bed, which this also has. Alfie had me cracking up from the beginning with not being able to communicate well to Mabel. Mabel brings out Alfie’s true self if he’ll only decide to be it. I loved their banter. They had me laughing through the whole book. And the sexual tension was 💯 Loved the spice in the book. I will say when there was a year time jump I was mad. I wanted them be together immediately. But Mabel reading Alfie’s book had me so in love with it even more. Well done Charlotte!

💙 Fake Dating
💙 One Bed
💙 Grumpy/Sunshine

#contemporaryromance #fakedating #charlottestein #bookreview #bookstagram

Entertaining, escapist, and expertly narrated. (More northern narrators please!!) A recommended purchase for collections where romance is popular.

If your favorite character in Ted Lasso was Roy Kent, this is for you!

Loved the banter between our main characters and the spice level was perfect.

I really loved the fat representation. Mabel is an awesome character.

4/5 stars Roy Kent fan fic mixed with. a Talia Hibbert level of humor, but with less character development, story, and inner growth. I appreciated the book and look forward to the author’s next attempt at contemporary romance. Hopefully, it has a bit more plot, and maybe a chapter or two in the other POV. It made the book a bit thin that the author is doing a job and in very little of the book is the work being done. It’s a shame because the writing of the book together could have been really cute in itself without the contrivance of fake dating. It’s like two books in one where neither actually gets realized. I also appreciated the male character understanding consent, but the bar is in hell if that becomes a turn on. Same with his “kink” being a turned on woman. I understand what the author is getting at in the zeitgeist, but it is stated rather than developed. I think Rachel Lynn Solomon does & Talia Hibbert & Julie Murphy have done this with a bit more finesse and success. Enjoyable on the whole.

I absolutely loved the fake dating romcom When Grumpy Met Sunshine by @charlotte.stein. It came out last week and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a fun, steamy romance. I’m so grateful to @stmartinspress for an advanced e-copy and to @macmillan.audio for an ALC.

Ghost writer Mabel Willicker isn’t sure she’s the right person to write grumpy ex-footballer Alfie Harding’s memoir, and their first meeting doesn’t go well. He calls her a cupcake, and as a plus-sized woman she doesn’t take it well. But after rejecting lots of ghostwriters, Alfie wants Mabel. No one can know what they’re working on—since he’s supposed to be writing the book—so when they’re photographed together the press screams Cinderella story romance. The only logical thing for them to do is pretend the relationship is real, right? But the more time Mable spends with Alfie, the more she realizes there’s a lot more to him than he shows the world.

Okay, this one did have the miscommunication trope. Or more specifically, the not communicating trope, but I understand why it happened and even though it was frustrating to watch, I bought it. The most important thing was I loved both these characters. They were incredibly endearing, easy to root for, and so, so funny. When they did communicate with each other—because they had a lot of amazing conversations—it was insanely swoony.

I was really surprised by the steam in this book. It wasn’t a five eggplant book (I don’t even know what that means), but there was a lot of dirty talk and definitely an open door. I think I’ve become so used to books set in England being more closed door. Is that even true? I feel like there are a ton of very sweet British romcoms that I’ve loved, and so the first time this one crossed over the sweet, closed door line, I wasn’t expecting it. But the steamy scenes were really well done.

I loved listening to this book. The narrator did a fabulous job immersing me in the setting. I absolutely got into Mabel’s head and it’s always more fun to listen to books set in England in a British accent. This was the exact book I needed and it would be a great February listen.

Thank You NetGalley for an advance copy of When Grumpy Met Sunshine by Charlotte Stein in exchange of an honest review.
I recently read the book 'When Grumpy Met Sunshine' by Charlotte Stein and I was so impressed by it! It is a heartwarming story about two people who are complete opposites, but somehow manage to find a way to make things work between them. The main character, Grumpy, is an introverted man with a dark past that has left him scarred and jaded. He meets Sunshine, a lively and optimistic woman with a bright future ahead of her. Despite their differences, they are drawn to each other and learn to accept and even love each other.

The story is told in an engaging way, with alternating perspectives from both characters. It is easy to sympathize with both Grumpy and Sunshine and the journey they take together. The characters and their relationships are believable and realistic. The plot moves along at a steady pace, and the ending is satisfying and believable.

Overall, I was very impressed with the book. It was a pleasure to read and I would definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a sweet and enjoyable romance story.

This book has a very unique style of writing and I'm not entirely sure that I connected with it. The 3rd person POV made it feel like there was more distance between me (as the reader) and the characters in the story than I usually enjoy. I definitely got the 'grump' factor from the MMC, but the FMC felt a little flat - was she sunny? or just nice and standing up for herself? The fat-phobic/focus on fatness was a big theme in this book and there were times that I thought it could have been handled a bit better.

I enjoyed the mixed media aspect of the ending of each chapter. That added an extra element to the story that I found entertaining. I lost a little of it in translation on the audio version, but I followed along in the eARC for some parts and so I was able to see the formatting and it made a bit more sense. The narration was very well done - it made a lot more sense to hear the British humor/references in a voice with the appropriate inflection and accent.

Overall, there is humor and heart in this storyline. There is some banter that I found to be pretty endearing and amusing. The fake dating took me a bit by surprise and the shift into a sexual relationship seemed to progress very quickly and then overtook the storyline for longer than I was expecting. There's definitely more of a spice factor in this one! I adore the cover - Leni Kauffman is one of my favorite illustrator and so I'm very excited to add a physical copy of this book to my shelf as another example of her artwork.

I normally love a grumpy/sunshine and fake dating was one of my favorites, so I was excited for this one. The premise was good and it was enough for me to finish.

But sadly it just really wasn't a love it for me.

There was so much dialog that I would have trouble following.

Had it's cute moments. Someone else will probably love it!

Many thanks to Netgalley and MacMIllan Audio for an ALC in exchange for my honest review.

Looking for a hilarious rom com to read, then grab this book. Although, I have to say, the audiobook is even better as the narrator really brings the thoughts, feelings and events to life even more thoroughly! We all have doubts about ourselves whether it be our appearance, size, abilities, talents or something else that we have to overcome to be the best self we can be. This book laughingly brings the doubts and miscommunication between the main characters fully to life in an entertainingly heartwarming way. A bit of friends to lovers mixed with close proximity and opposites attract are all woven into and throughout this fun plot. Again, if you are looking for a delightfully fun rom com, then this is definitely the book for you! I highly recommend it and can't wait to read or listen to more books from this author in the future!

When Grumpy Met Sunshine by Charlotte Stein

This book was hilarious and exactly what I was looking for. I was lucky enough to get the audio and ebook of this one, and the narrator stole the show.

Was it extremely cheesy? Yes. The situations convenient and a tad unrealistic? Absolutely. Did the steam get carried away so much in the second half so I actually missed their personalities? 100%. But most of all it was hilarious.

The banter was well scripted, and the narrator delivered it perfectly. I busted out laughing more times than I can count because of amazing wit and utter honesty. The characters held nothing back and it created a refreshingly fun story.

Highly recommend if you need a steamy easy romcom.
Thank you to @stmartinspress and @macmillan.audio for my copies!

#netgalley #ebooks #audiobooks #audiobooknarrator #emilyspowage #whengrumpymetsunshine #reading #bookish #booksbooksbooks #booksta #read #book #book #readromance #canadianbookstagram #bookstagrammer #bookcommunity #bookreview #bookrecommendations #audiobookrecommendation

This book was so freaking sweet! I loved the whole thing. It really is a grumpy v sunshine book in the best ways. I highly recommend this book, if that trope is one you like. This is really cute and well done.!

3.5/5 ⭐️ (rounded down) | 2/5 🌶️ - When Grumpy met Sunshine 🎧 - Thank you to @MacmillanAudio and @netgalley for the eARC / ALC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Tropes:
💕 Curvy ghostwriter FMC
🩵 Ex-footballer (soccer) player MMC
💕Fake Dating
🩵Grumpy/sunshine (obviously lol)
💕 Workplace romance
🩵 Slow burn
💕 He falls first AND harder

This was a super cute steamy romance novel! I listened to the audio and the narrator was great with her accent to really showcase the british style of writing and character. I thought the story was witty, banter filled and chalk full of great tropes!

Mabel is our FMC, who is a ghostwriter tasked with working with a grouchy ex-footballer to write his memoir… but he is very picky and stand-offish. Once Alfie accepts and starts to open up Mabel, they are seen by paparazzi after leaving his house from working on his novel- since she signed the NDA about ghostwriting for him, the only explanation is they are dating! Especially when he declares she is his true love…. bring on the fake dating!

For a debut novel, this was good. I didn’t absolutely love the main characters and the side characters felt a bit flat whenever there was interaction with them. Also just a personal preference- but I enjoy 1st person over 3rd person writing in romance books. This is single POV in Mabel’s and it was a lot of lengthy dialogue. This audio took me soooooo very long to finish because I honestly didn’t connect with the story or the plot. It was hard to follow at times and the pacing felt a bit off in some places. The end of each chapter with the different snippets of texts/emails/articles/social media posts was incredibly difficult to understand on audio and took me out of the story.

I described this book to a friend not long after I started it, and she commented, "So Roy Kent fan fiction?" And in a small way, yes, since we all loved Roy Kent, even when he was his most irascible, and Alfie Harding definitely shares both Roy's tendency to growl and his massive popularity. But Mabel Willicker, the ghostwriter hired to help the retired footballer write his memoir, is the opposite of Keeley in every way except for her kindness. She's "curvy," insecure, and completely unconvinced that someone as glorious as Harding could find anything appealing about her. He does, of course, and the book is essentially the hot and comical tale of how Mabel comes into her own and accepts Alfie's love. Flying knickers, fake-dating, and colorful innuendos are bound to keep romcom lovers happy and coming back for more, and luckily, Charlotte Stein has a large collection of popular titles for readers to enjoy.

I enjoyed this one! I did find many aspects repetitive, we get it.... they were constantly surprised at what the other said. It was predictable but still cute. I laughed out loud many times and blushed a lot!!

While this book did have funny parts, great spice after a good slow-burn, and a MMC that definitely was my vibe, I couldn't get into it that much. There was just something off for me and I cannot really pinpoint what.

I love fake dating and a big part of this book was just it but even though I could enjoy the tension and all, it always felt like nothing made the character's relationship evolve into something. It was always really surface level and they both kept assuming stuff instead of talking, which after a while was really bothering me. They did have pretty great banter and interactions which made up for it a little.

Overall, the book felt like a big miscommunication trope all along, and well, that's far from a favourite for me. I wasn't really a fan of Mabel, and while I usually enjoy being in people's heads, I was tired of being in hers (sorry). The way she was thinking annoyed me a little if I'm being honest. That being said though, I liked Alfie A LOT. There was just something about him and I wish we had more of him. I would have killed for his POV. It felt like he did everything right but somehow Mabel couldn't see it, so yeah, annoying.

And while the ending was great, the big time gap felt unnecessary (gosh I hate those, and it was a little bit too much of a grand gesture for me. I KNOW, I'm that crazy person who hates grand gestures, sue me. But yeah, I still think this book is worth a read if you don't mind miscommunication and might connect with the MC. It's fun, light, and like I said before, pretty good spice in there so, give it a try and see for yourself!

Note: The audiobook was fun, but at times it could be hard telling who was who... I wasn't a fan of the chapter endings. Not sure if I would have felt the same while reading but it always brought me out of the story for the 1-2 minutes that part went on and then back to the story.

Thanks to the publisher for the ALC. All opinions are my own.

I wish I could give this 6 stars. This will probably be one of my favorite reads of the year and will probably be an all time favorite read. Alfie might just be the best man ever written. Mabel and Alfie’s story filled my heart up like a balloon - pricked a hole in it so that it deflated (loudly and violently) - then patched and filled it up so it was stronger and more buoyant than at first. I just wish we got more of them together in the end. This was actually one of my most anticipated reads ever since I learned about it quite a while back, and not only did it not disappoint, it stuck the landing like Simone Biles.