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.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC. I thought it started really slow, almost didn’t want to keep going. Sometimes I find it difficult to read or listen to something that is from Europe because their language and slang is so different, but before long the story picked up and I was loving it. Listening to the narrator was wonderful and before long I was wishing I had the accent, lol. Glad for the happy little ending and now I want to visit Europe even more!

Absolute delight. Did exactly what a romcom should. Sexy, sweet, silly and fun. From the potential triggers warning in the opening, to the witty banter, to the hot sex scenes, every step went in the right direction. Even the 3rd act break made sense, lasted the right length of time, and resolved itself sensibly.

The audio narrator added a fantastic touch and did a wonderful job.

I tried and tried to love this. I've picked it up two separate times to try and read it and I just keep getting lost in the weeds and losing interest.

What I've read has great plus sized representation, but I just can't get into this one!

I'm DNFing at 50%

When Grumpy Met Sunshine by Charlotte Stein
Contemporary romantic comedy.
Grumpy ex-footballer Alfie Harding gets badgered into writing his memoir. He knows he doesn’t want to write it himself because he hates revealing anything personal about his life. So the publisher hires ghostwriter Mabel Willicker to help. Their initial meeting doesn’t go as she expected and then he turns up at a restaurant she’s at and then a coffee shop on way home. What the heck is he doing? He doesn’t want to work with her so why is he following her?
They end up working together but and he does share things with Mabel but he continually puts conditions on what she can and cannot include. Eventually their working together is noticed by the media and since the contract is confidential they end up posing as a romantic couple. Until feeling become more than a simple contract.

🎧 I alternated between an ecopy and an audiobook. The narrator is Emily Spowage who does a marvelous job between the male and female voices, the emotions and the comedic timing. I essentially read this book twice because I couldn’t decide which format I liked better. The fun of the writing had me laughing out loud while listening to the audiobook and bookmarking passages I wanted to note. I believe everyone will be happy with either format. A good narrator can make an audiobook entertaining and this definitely hits the mark.
I listens to the audiobook at my usual 1.5.

I had so much fun highlighting laugh-out-loud lines! There is so much witty banter, I fell in love with the grump and the ghostwriter and while it’s not all smooth sailing, in the end I was crying the happy tears.

Excerpt:
“A mess of a million scary arguments.
Him, coming up with increasingly horrible insults.
Her, eventually tossing him into the nearest wood chipper.
And she just didn’t have easy access to machinery like that.”
Excerpt from When Grumpy Met Sunshine by Charlotte Stein

I received a copy of this from NetGalley and the publisher Macmillan Audio.
I’m buying a copy to revisit this wonderful comedic romance.

I really wanted to like this book. There aren’t a lot of soccer romance books out there and I had high hopes for this one. Overall the book isn’t that bad, the thing that bothered me the most was we were kinda thrown in without a lot of background information. If there was more information up front it would have been easier to get into the book.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martins Press for early access to the audiobook.

Pacing in the beginning was very hard to get into. Narrations from main character seem to go on and on without actually saying anything relevant to the plot. The split and 1 year gap at the end felt very strange based on how the rest of the book was going.

Cover is very cute and the plot seemed very interesting. But the writing was just off for me.

This was so funny and entertaining, I adored both MMCs and their personalities. This was supposed to be grumpy/sunshine, with the MMC, Alfie being the grump. However, as we get to know Alfie, he's not really that grumpy (just a little prickly). Mabel (FMC) is all sunshine, but she doesn't hold back and is not afraid to stand up for herself.
After getting shipped together after an online article is written about them, Alfie and Mabel decide to go with that narrative, as they do not want people to find out that Mabel is his ghostwriter, helping with his memoir.
From the beginning, there is chemistry between them and lots of banter, but they also get vulnerable with each other. Sharing the things from their past that have hurt them and helped shape who they are.
The one major gripe that I have with the story is the use of the miscommunication trope, I dislike it immensely, and it was used several times. Other than that this was a great read for me.

This is a wild romp of a rom-com. Although it does touch on a few serious topics, I spent most of the book giggling at all the banter between Alfie and Mabel.

I usually prefer romance novels that include POVs from both main characters, but I think it made sense in this case. Alfie is very secretive and doesn’t trust many people with personal information. Letting readers into his head would take away from that personality trait.

The audiobook is narrated by Emily Spowage. I enjoyed her portrayal of Mabel’s story.

A steamy fake dating that hits you in all the feels. Mabel and Alfred have to work together. One as a ghost writer, one a retired footballer that is a known grump and recluse. Their chemistry is off the charts. I loved watching their relationship go from professional and annoyed with each other to can’t leave each other alone! A bit of a slow burn but it just ups the tension!

CW/TW:swears, open door scenes, discussions about being fat shamed.

Alfie Harding is an ex-footballer who begrudgingly decides to sell his memoir, but the thing is that he knows he won’t be able to write them himself. He hates talking about himself, let alone putting his past out there for the world to read.

Mabel Willicker is a cute and curvy ghostwriter who can pull details about Alfie’s life from him even before he realizes what is happening. All too often Alfie then tells her that she can’t use that in the book. She’s not sure she’ll ever get enough content that he will actually allow her to use.

The public doesn’t realize that Mabel is a ghostwriter and mistakes her for his new girlfriend. They decide to play along as admitting anything else will alert everyone that he’s not writing his memoir himself. The problem is that there are actual sparks between them, but neither will admit it to the other. Is it possible to finish the book and ignore the “fake” relationship that is budding?

I enjoyed the book and the narrator, but it was more explicit in parts than I was expecting. Maybe if I had been reading a print version instead of listening to it, I wouldn’t have found it as explicit.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for allowing me to listen to an ALC of this novel. #NetGalley #WhenGrumpyMetSunshine

This was delightful! I do not understand all the whining about the banter. I love banter in a romance--it shows humor and intelligence. What I loved most about When Grumpy Met Sunshine was the connection between Alfie and Mabel. It's wonderful when you meet someone completely out of your orbit but find you have a connection, a friendship, a bond. They have this playful relationship and then it gets spicy--real spicy. I understand Mabel's reluctance to understand what is right in front of her--we're all plagued with doubt. But Alfie is genuine and I adore him. The ending is unexpected but fun. This is better as an audio--the narrator was great. Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC/audio format!

I am absolutely obsessed. This was so good. The banter between these characters was impeccable and the narrator was fantastic.

This was the Roy Kent romance of my dreams and I want to read 50 more books about these two.

I am absolutely obsessed. This was so good. The banter between these characters was impeccable. I did a hybrid read and the narrator was fantastic.

I loved this book so much that it’s hard to properly express my feelings about it. It was perfect! Go read it!

Thank you to the publisher
St. Martin’s for an eARC and Macmillan Audio in exchange for an honest review.

CW: references to parental abuse and alcoholism, fat phobia.

⭐⭐⭐
🌶️🌶️

I was super excited to listen to this book as the cover is adorable and the title is one of my favorite tropes. How cute are these two on the cover?

When a sunshine ghost writer takes a gig to write a memoir for a grumpy retired footballer, it has the makings of quite the love story. However, this story was missing a certain spark and chemistry between the two characters. I loved their interactions, the premise of the story, and ultimately the ending. What didn’t work for me were the in-between moments - there was an overabundance of internal dialogue that took away from the story, and the banter which probably meant to move the story forward felt like it was repetitive and delayed the next scene. Overall it was a charming story, and has potential for you to enjoy it!

I liked the narrator though. She had a very calming presence with a British accent, however I also wonder if her reading made the story feel slow?

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and Charlotte Stein for a copy of this audio arc.

Read if you enjoy
💕Grumpy x Sunshine
💕Fake Dating
💕Workplace Romance
💕Opposites Attract
💕Plus Size FMC
💕Forced Proximity
💕 Sports Romance

Technically 2.5 stars but rounded up.

This was definitely more explicit than I was expecting, I contemplated dnf-ing it a couple of times because of it.
I’m more of a closed door RomCom reader, I actually skipped/skimmed a couple of chapters.
Though, I guess that’s on me as it does say “steamy” in every description given.
I enjoyed the banter at times, but then it just kept Going.
Then ending also felt odd.
One second everything was fine and the next they’d “broken up” and things were done and then it was an entire year later and everything is right as rain after a ten minute conversation.
Plus, the random tweets/emails/etc at the ends of chapters didn’t make much sense in the audio format, I was so confused the first couple of chapters.