When Grumpy Met Sunshine by Charlotte Stein was smutty in the best way! This audiobook really brings the steam! It was also sweet and heartwarming. Watch out hockey romances football/soccer player romances are coming for you!

I absolutely adored this one! Grumpy, former star footballer Alfie Harding gets talked into a memoir and therefore agrees to get a ghostwriter, but he can't get along with them until he meets sunshine-in-human-form, Mabel Willicker, He bungles their initial meeting, then bungles how to apologise - first at her local Starbucks and then by following her home, but she eventually agrees to take the gig. The only trouble is paparazzi take photos of her leaving his house and immediately assume they are dating, as he is notoriously private. Due to her nondisclosure agreement as a ghost writer, he proposes they fake date while she is writing his memoirs to throw people off the scent of her true job. But what if feelings get in the way?

Emily Spowage does a fantastic job in narrating this funny, sexy, fun romance. She alternates well between the male and female voices, emoting the moments perfectly, and her comedic timing is spot on.

Highly recommend this romance in any format! I will be buying it for my Forever Faves shelf - romances I own in both paperback and ebook. I will also grab the audiobook for myself, because it is that good.

Thank you to the author, the publisher, and Netgalley for letting me enjoy this fabulous romance in 2 different formats.

I just reviewed When Grumpy Met Sunshine by Charlotte Stein. #NetGalley

After seeing some of the reviews for this one I wasn’t sure if I would like it. I’m so glad I stuck it out and read it! This was a super cute, fake dating story with lots of banter.

I thought the plus-size representation was realistic to the thought and feelings someone with a curvier figure has. For myself, it’s totally normal that I would compare my body to someone else’s even though I know I shouldn’t. I loved how Alfie worshipped and loved Mabel’s body. The compliments felt genuine.

This may have been a five star, but I didn’t love the third-act misunderstanding. It just didn’t feel necessary to the story.

I thought the narrator did a great job of bringing Mabel’s thoughts to life. There was a lot of inner monologue, but the narrator made it easy to follow and understand where Mabel was coming from.

Quote that made me swoon:
“You are lovely, Mabel. And not just lovely in your soul, neither. No, I mean lovely like a painting of someone important from a long time ago, reclining on some fancy thing with their thighs all soft and their shoulders all round and everything so plush it makes you ache to touch it.”

I’ll definitely be recommending this to any classic rom com lover who enjoys a hint of spice.

Thank you to NetGalley, Macmillan Audio and Charlotte Stein. These are my honest thoughts.

dnf @ 50%

This book is simply not working for me. I feel like most of the story has been Mabel's inner monologue, and it is just taking me out of the story. I feel no connection to either of these characters and there seems to be no chemistry between them. Unfortunately, I am not invested in the outcome of the story.

Review copy provided by the publisher.

ALC REVIEW

My Star Rating: 2/5 ⭐

What you’ll find:
- Grumpy/Sunshine
- Enemies to Lovers
- Fake Dating
- Opposites Attract
- Forced Proximity
- Witty Banter
- Slow Burn

Alfie Harding is a famous retired ex-football (soccer) player, who is not known for being a nice guy. Although he seems to be a private person, he is writing a memoir. Mabel Willicker is his ghostwriter. She is kind, sensitive, and a true ball of sunshine. Their first couple of meetings don't end well, yet Alfie is interested in Mabel but has a tough time expressing himself. As they work on Alfie's memoir, their attraction grows.

Unfortunately, I just could not get into this story. The writing felt choppy and very hard to follow. The situations the characters were put in did not feel believable, and there was a lot of miscommunication. This is a slow-burn and the steamy scenes felt odd. I do like that the author included a curvy FMC and enjoyed some of the banter. I did not enjoy the audiobook. The narration was not engaging at all and honestly was quite boring. Maybe if I read the book sans audio, I will enjoy the story more.

Thank you Charlotte Stein, Macmillan Audio, and NetGalley for providing me with an advanced copy of the audiobook in exchange for my honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ALC of When Grumpy Met Sunshine! A plus size FMC and a Roy Kent coded MMC? Sign me up!

I will say this was a little rough to get into at first, but then it picked up and I loved Mabel and Alfie! Alfie is incredible and his tough exterior and cinnamon roll interior are so endearing. I love the inserts of emails, tweets and articles. The chapter names of romcoms and action movies combined are SO clever!

Finally, the slow burn and sexual tension are *chef’s kiss*. I normally don’t love slow burn but this was fake dating (my fave romance trope) and slow burn and it was so well done. This one was spicy and fun! The ending was everything. I adored this and I would absolutely read more by this author!

Cute but nothing super exciting. The opposites and fighting/banter was too much at times. There is a lot of internal dialog that is hard to fully follow.

When Grumpy Met Sunshine was my first 5 star read of 2024. This book had me SWOONING over Alfie and completely invested in his and Mabel's relationship. Alfie, a retired pro-football player is grumpy and secretive while Mabel is a sunshine-y ghostwriter with enough sass for the both of them. When Mabel is hired to be Alfie's ghostwriter, but is then seen with Alfie, the two must fake-date in order to keep Mabel's ghostwriting a secret.
This book is full of slow-burn banter with some seriously spicy scenes. With both MC's fighting their attraction while having to put up a facade for the public eye, sometimes chemistry can't be denied.
I really enjoyed this book and found myself unable to put it down and constantly looking forward to reading more. I loved Mabel and Alfie both as separate characters as well as how they are constantly making each other better. This book is perfect for anyone looking to read a grumpy x sunshine and fake dating story filled with banter and spice!

DNF @ 36% - I just could not buy into this story or these characters at all. I usually like banter but this was just all banter and not much else? I don't think this writing style is for me.

When one of your favorite authors has a new book coming out, you immediately add it to your TBR. Even if that book doesn't seem to be quite like her others. I may be a bit of a judge a book by the cover kind of person, so before diving into When Grumpy Met Sunshine I adjusted my expectations from erotic romance to steamy contemporary romance. And that was just the thing to do! If you've been reading Charlotte Stein for years, I definitely suggest you do that before diving in. Picking up a book in the right mood with the right expectation is always key.

I'm a sucker for soccer romances! The hero of this story is a retired soccer star, extremely grumpy, and in need of a ghostwriter to write his memoir. Enter our sassy heroine. She can do this job with her eyes closed and hopefully get her writing career in the right direction. But as they have to spend time together and are caught by the paparazzi, the best way to throw them off the scent of the upcoming book is to fake a relationship.

This book is contemporary romance tropey heaven! Sports romance, opposites attract, grumpy/sunshine, fake dating and I could go on. As you can expect from a Charlotte Stein book, not only does it deliver the steam but also delves deep into some more serious topics like fat phobia. I love that the heroine is still extremely confident and strong. And as far as grumpy heroes go, you'll fall quickly for Alfie.

If you are a fan of Tessa Bailey and Talia Hibbert, you'll want to pick this one up.

When grumpy met sunshine is an adorable romance with bits of billionaire hero, fake relationship, and forced proximity. Mable was resigned to be ghost in her own life, a ghostwriter by trade, and just a side character in her own life. Alfie was thrust into fame, success, and wealth almost without his consent that made him hesitant to trust, love, or be vulnerable to anyone. Slowly their walls come down and a lonely romance blooms. Emily Spowage adds another fabulous layer to this wonderful story.

🎧/📱ARC from NetGalley and MacMillan Audio

I went back and forth between audio & ebook on this, but ended up stopping the ebook altogether because the writing was awful. It was definitely easier to ignore with the audio, but still not great. 90% of this book is inner dialogue, and the audio did not do a great job of distinguishing between the FMC, MMC, and inner dialogue of the FMC. There was an insane amount of vulgar language for this being marketed as a romcom. There was maybe 10% plot, but I think that may be a little high. I would have DNF’d this if I didn’t have it in 2 formats that would have tanked my feedback percentage on NetGalley.

I will not be posting this on my Instagram or Amazon.

Listened to this on audiobook, and I wish I wouldn’t have. I’ll plan on rereading this because I think this could be really good! This is a great example of grumpy/sunshine! She’s supposed to be his ghost writer but I can’t think of a more then 1-2 times they talk about the book.

The story was good but I didn’t like the narrator at all. It took me a long time to get through this.

I received an arc of this title from NetGalley for an honest review. The title of this book is not great, but the story is much better. I liked the two characters and how Sunshine was able to connect with Grumpy so quickly. Nice story.

This story sounds so cute and has a few of my favorite tropes, but it was a little long-winded for me. The audiobook was a hard to follow despite listening to many British accented English audiobooks and I had to slow down the speed. The banter was somewhat immature and I couldn't get into the characters. It has a lot of potential just didn't work for me.

This story is adorable! While I found the UK lingo a bit challenging, the slow burn paid off when things got spicy – that really grabbed my attention. The humor throughout had me chuckling, and the plus-size representation was appreciated. Although it took a while for the story to fully engage me, the overall plot is charming.
As for the narrator she was hard for me to understand at times. I’m sure it was my own fault because I am not used to the UK accents. But it was hard for me to stay interested at times.
Thank you for MacMillan Audio and Charolette Stein for providing the audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan audio for an advanced copy of the book that comes out on February 6. I loved the title and cover art is real life. I thought I was getting a rom-com with a premise that would fit my book challenge prompt of a book written by a ghostwriter but this one just didn’t do it for me. A former football star hires plus sized woman to write his autobiography as a ghostwriter. I am glad I stuck through to the end because the “One year later” was all I wanted it to be but there was too much graphic sex, foul language and fat shaming for me.

A rom-com of grumpy meets cute is my favorite types of trope. I am a sucker for this genre and I honestly have mixed feelings about this book.

First off, this is not for the weak of heart. The only reason I am not giving this book a higher rating is that it turned out to be trashy. The author could have left some to the reader's imagination. It is extremely over the top graphic and it was off putting to me which was disappointing because I loved the banter between Mabel and Alfie. The narrator's voice was perfection.

I received an ARC of this audiobook from the publisher and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own

My second ARC from @netgalley was When Grumpy Met Sunshine by @charlotte.stein. This was my first soccer romance and it was really good. I love a good pretend romance with obvious tension and desire. ⚽️🏟️😍
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This audiobook is being released on 2.6.2024 and I couldn’t recommend it more to anyone who connects with the above statement!