This was the fun, smart, sexy read I expected from Wilsner after her debut "Mistakes were Made." What I didn't expect was to love it way more than her debut! This book is described as a 'rivals to lovers' but I don't find that rings true. Rising soccer star Matthews has always been in awe of Grace's poise on the field - and maybe harboured a bit of a crush. When their worlds collide on the pitch it's no time at all before the two takes things further!

There's a lot I didn't expect to encounter in this novel but truly enjoyed, such as (but not limited to): references to Finding the Mother Tree, stuffed hashbrowns (is this really a thing?) and some good ADHD rep. I was however surprised to see the ADHD rep only come up towards the end of the novel - which in some respects makes sense, but I think it could have been a bigger piece of the story and would have loved to see that.

Another steamy romance from Wilsner! This time in the world of women's soccer. A friends with benefits situation between teammates turns into something more in this queer romance. I loved this! From all of the excellent characters - especially our two protagonists Phoebe and Grace, but also the teammates - the wit, the humor, the romance, to the New Orleans setting, this book had it all!

4.5 ⭐ (this is rounded down only because I believe it's not a full five stars, and I don't give out five stars all too willingly)

I really enjoyed this book it was cute and fun I read it really quickly I recommend it completely.

There's one thing I want to mention before I get into some other things and that is something that made me uncomfortable that was said in the book. One of the main characters said she couldn't have ADHD because that was a thing that middle school boys have and not adult women. Now I fully acknowledge that she said this before she came to terms with the fact that she had ADHD, but it's still something that made me uncomfortable to have been said just like it was nothing.

Now I wanted to get into some niche things that I thought some people might want to know.
1.) This book is written in third perspective which is part of the reason that I didn't give it a full five stars. This is obviously not anything that I want to change about the book it's just I find it hard to connect to a romance book that's written in third POV. I'm not completely against third POV just my thoughts.
2.) Something I know that not a lot of people enjoy in books is springing up TikTok. So I thought it might be important to inform people that this book brings up TikTok.
3.) Something I really loved about this book that I don't see and a lot of books, is that the author will write a chapter and in a scene and then the next chapter starts in that scene but with a different POV. And then other books I would see this happen but we just never got to see the rest of the scene, so I got really excited when that wasn't the case with this book.

All in all these are just my opinions and that's all they are.

Thank you so much to the publishers and netgalley for giving me this Arc.

I am completely obsessed with this. Like had a laundry list of tasks to complete and instead convinced myself I'd do them after one more chapter only to end up realizing that it was way too late to do anything other than read so I miiight as well just finish the book obsessed. I loved how unique each of the characters felt, and I loved how the relationship grew while each of the women individually grew into themselves as well. It felt like a standalone, but I would love to see side characters get their own books just so we can check back in on Grace and Phoebe!

A solid 4 star read. At the beginning and end easy and nice to read. but had trouble keeping my interest throughout the middle. Nevertheless a good read, loved the setting of New Orleans, made me want to go back for a visit again and have some lovely beignets.
Also enjoyed the grumpy and sunshine trope and the depths of both characters and their own flaws.
All in all, a good enjoyable read. Can recommend!

I received a copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

meryl wilsner finally writes about an untold part of sapphic culture: braiding hair as flirting

I know I should write more, but that sentence alone has convinced at least two people to read this book on my Goodreads and TikTok, so that should count for something.

3.5 stars!

I really enjoyed this book, it was super cute and I can’t turn down a spicy LGBTQ book. The spicy scenes were long and written well and not just small 1 page fluff which is so nice for a LGBTQ romance book. This is my first book by this author, and it wants me to continue to read more books by her. The beginning of the book had me hooked, but need the middle it got a bit slow for me. The end really picked up and the information of ADHD with Matthews seemed as accurate as it could be (I have been diagnosed with it). I appreciated the openness of this topic- makes me think maybe the author has been diagnosed with it too. It was super cute and I am glad I got the chance to read this arc!!

Thank you to Netgalley & Meryl for the opportunity to read this arc and give an honest review!

I was so excited when I was approved for an ARC. I love Meryl Wilsner's book "Mistakes Were Made", and it is one of my favorite romance books that I've ever read. Unfortunately, this book didn't meet my expectations.

One of the strengths of Wilsner's writing is their ability to write steamy scenes with lots of visualizations, descriptions, and dirty talk. They are always able to show the passion and heat between the characters, and they brought it in this book too!

As I was reading, I kept waiting for conflict or something to happen. Much of the story was surface level, and I think that the description/summary of the book pretty much told me everything about the story. I was hoping for more of a conflict between Phoebe and Grace. I thought that they might be competing for the same position on the World Cup team, and I was hoping for some World Cup action. It didn't come, and i was disappointed by that.

There were so many parts of the story where I wanted more: I loved Phoebe's brother, Teddy. I'd love to read a book about him! I also loved the other soccer players on the team, and I would have liked to read more about their romances too. I wanted more soccer: more of Phoebe's journey starting her professional soccer career and how Grace coped with and came back from her injury. Injuries can really change a person's outlook on life and their career, and I wanted more on that. I wanted more about Phoebe's ADHD and how it can impact a professional athlete. There were so many threads and pieces that left me wanting more, but it never came.

The main conflict was that Phoebe and Grace didn't know how to define their relationship. Were they hooking up, friends with benefits or dating? I expected conflict about being athletes and competing together or conflict with a rookie and a veteran or conflict with dating/hooking up with someone you've admired and crushed on for a long time. The conflict didn't come, and it was just lacking.

Overall, there were so many ways that this story could have gone, but it just fell flat.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an ARC of this book.

This book is what Bend It Like Beckham should’ve been!

Phenom rookie Phoebe gets drafted for a New Orleans soccer team and starts a friends-with-benefits situation with veteran star player Grace. Of course, things take some turns when they start to catch feelings. Hilarity and some miscommunications ensue.

Meryl Wilsner does it again! This book is delightful, I absolutely blew through it. Plenty of spice, charming characters that are easy to root for, and a good dose of humor to round it out. Fair warning, May cause intense beignet cravings. Keep it up Meryl, I will happily read whatever you write next!

3.5! Solid but not standout for me and most of the things that drag it down are personal preferences. First of all, I love a good title pun, especially when it's thematically appropriate, and I especially love a good sports romance. This delivers on both, with a solid foundation of soccer underlying a stoic/bouncy romance between Grace, who has been playing professionally since she was 16, and Phoebe, a newcomer to the professional scene with stars in her eyes. Their love for the game was clear, and there are some great plot points about how there's no one way to do what you love or to even be in the same career that I really enjoyed (and that even brought real human tears to my eyes at one point).

The relationship between Grace and Phoebe is definitely instalove, which doesn't bother me most of the time, but here there didn't seem to be enough to get past Grace's "everything she does annoys me" beginnings, nor the "on paper Phoebe should be everything she hates, and yet" (normally a trope I love, but it didn't quite work for me here). Thankfully, once they're together, the things they like about each other come out much more frequently, and the miscommunications between them are either fairly minor or resolved quickly, which is a refreshing change and allows their relationship to shine.

There's some language choices I'm not a huge fan of ("boobs" threw me out of a scene multiple times, to name a specific example), but my biggest unsure ground is the undercurrent of going around people to address their medical issues. It happens with both Grace and Phoebe, and in both cases, it is for their benefit and ends well, but it's also after a lot of "this isn't what I want", which leaves me feeling really unsure about how I view their relationship afterward. The discussion of ADHD and diagnosis also feels kind of shoehorned in at the point it comes up, after a fairly natural inclusion of it up to that point, which threw me. (not to mention that if you're on queer and trans TikTok, how do you not even brush up against ADHD tiktok? I'm genuinely curious).

Overall, it's definitely cute, and I loved how protective and supportive Phoebe and Grace were for each other.

I really enjoyed this book, I was promised Ted Lasso vibes and it hit Ted Lasso in the important ways. I found it to be a quick and fun read, I saw some reviews that stated it was an enemies to lovers story and I couldn't disagree more. It's just an overall cute story of a rookie soccer player trying to make it big and falling for her idol, some drama happens (pretty low key drama) and voila.

I adore Meryl Wilsner so I was delighted to receive this arc! As usual Wilsner's characters are extremely well developed and realistic, and I loved watching their relationship develop amid the setting of New Orleans and the world of women's soccer. Thank you for this great read!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me an ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

I wanted to love this book but I just didn’t sadly. There was something about it that just didn’t appeal to me. Grace and Phoebe were cute together at parts which was good, but I think I needed more substance.

I think if you’re looking for something pretty lighthearted with angst between the characters and their relationship you would like this book! It just wasn’t for me.

I liked that Phoebe was comfortable with sex and her sexuality. I don’t fault Grace at all for not being the same way, but it’s refreshing to see that people aren’t always timid. This book had really long and detailed sex scenes multiple times, so if you like that, you’ll really enjoy this! I usually like them to be shorter and not as much detail, but that is just me personally and not a knock against this book. If you like spice, this is the book for you.

I liked a lot of the side characters like Gabby, Kayla and Harmony and wished they were fleshed out a little more or that we could have seen them more often! It would have been fun to build up the team dynamic more than the few scenes we saw of them talking or hanging out together. I enjoyed seeing aspects of Grace and Phoebe’s relationship, but I would have also liked to see their friendships with the other girls because they were all very sweet!

The dialogue seemed clunky and almost forced at times. It seemed like there was too many plot lines going on: Grace and Phoebe getting together, Grace’s injury, Phoebe trying to get on the woman’s team, their coach being terrible, to name a few. I was really glad to see representation in many aspects, like ADHD and Autism, but that was only mentioned in the last 50 pages or less and wasn’t very fleshed out. It just felt like the author wanted to add in a bunch of different conflicts or plot points in one book. It was too much going on.

Too many times there were misunderstandings and miscommunication which I don’t love that trope in general. It was a lot of back and forth between Grace and Phoebe on if they were fighting or not or together or not, and things were resolved too quickly sometimes that I would have maybe cut some fights out. When you make up too quickly there’s really no point in having an argument in my opinion, at least in a novel.

One specific complaint I had was I can’t imagine they would let Grace sit out of practice. Maybe I don’t know how professional teams work (I’ve only done high school sports) but she’s still part of the team and they would want her there to observe what’s going on and let her be at the game in person. That way she is still included in what they are learning at practice. No one who is injured is banned from practice to my knowledge. That part through me off.

I know this seems like a rant review, but there’s a solid foundation here. I enjoy sports romances and I think the synopsis is right up my alley normally! I would just change the things I talked about and then I would have enjoyed it more.

I am a HUGE fan of Wilsner’s work, but I was a little nervous when I saw that this was about soccer (I glaze over when it comes to most sports books, no matter how romantic). And yes, there was more about soccer than I would have liked, but she managed to keep my interest with the super cute, super steamy romance between Phoebe and Grace. This is one of those romances that has such sweet interactions that it makes you feel good about your neuroses, because they are what makes you who you are, and your people love you for them, not in spite of them… and then it moves to a super racy sex scene, then back to soccer. I really loved it and I’m so happy I didn’t skip it on the basis of sports.

I am in love with this book! I love women's sports, I love sapphic romance, and I love neurodivergent characters. I've never read a book where both main characters were neurodivergent but this made me feel so seen as a neurodivergent woman. I could relate to Phoebe so much throughout the story - her everyday challenges and thought processes were so similar to things I manage. The miscommunication trope bordered on just a bit too obnoxious but I'll forgive it for the rest of the book. I haven't read any other books by Meryl Wilsner but now I'll be checking out more by them.

I loved every moment of reading this book. I love a good sports romance and this one is now one of my favorites. I am hoping to get my hands on a copy once it is released!

Thank you to St. Martin's Press, St. Martin's Griffin, and NetGalley for the chance at reading this for a free review!

I've been a reader of Meryl Wilson since they wrote [i]Something To Talk About[/i], which has remained one of my top romance books. [i]Cleat Cute[/i] didn't inspire the same magic; the chemistry between Phoebe and Grace feeling shallow and... very little to root for? They were together for the vast majority of the book, shortly following a dare to kiss, with only bits of miscommunication making issues between them. It didn't really feel like there was much of a rivalry between them at all, or a competition for the same position.

I enjoyed the character growth and discussions of ADHD-- the multiple alarms and lateness is definitely a thing for me!-- as well as the discussions of food, and the team relationships. 3.5 stars.

I love Meryl Wilsner. Do I love "Cleat Cute" as much as its predecessor, "Mistakes Were Made"? No, but also "Mistakes" is the pinnacle of sapphic romance excellence. I enjoyed "Cleat Cute," it made me happy and thoroughly sucked me into the story, and further cemented my status as a ride or die Wilsner fan.

I saw it noted by the author that this book has the miscommunication trope, and she was not wrong. To be clear, miscommunication is one of my least favorite fallbacks in romance BUT I didn't hate it this time. It was executed in more of a fun "oh look, they're reading these situations very differently ha ha ha" way and not a "oop, wow, their whole relationship is falling apart because they couldn't make a five minute phone call way." Was it my favorite? No. But, if it's something that you also dislike, this is still likely a good book for you.

And, to be more clear, I'd say this is a good book for you if you enjoy:
1) Romance where personal issues are also a main focus of the story.
2) Smut (though not as much as in "Mistakes").
3) ADHD and Autism rep (handled in a way where it's a side note in the story, not the focus of the plot).
4) Sports (but it's really not a requirement for enjoying this book).
5) People who are falling in love but are generally very bad at relationships.
6) Specific attention paid to the little ways that people show their love for each other.

Anyway, I'm rambling at this point, but the TLDR is that this is a very solid book, I enjoyed reading it, and now I can't wait for the author's next story.

I loved this book, and I love this author. Her characters are witty, interesting, and keep me wondering what they’re going to do next. This book brought up a lot of nostalgia for me, though my time in locker rooms were never quite so fun.