I have been a fan of Meryl Wilsner's books since the first one I read, but I think that Cleat Cute is their best yet. Grace and Phoebe are delightful characters, full of fun and flaws. Wilsner's specialty of idiots to idiots who are also in love is present here to its fullest extent. They're so stupid (affectionate). The soccer information is incredibly well done. People who are already fans of the sport will delight in the myriad of references to real life WOSO events, though readers without the background knowledge will still understand the structure of what is happening.

As usual, Wilsner juggles a variety of identities and life circumstances with ease, flowing them naturally into the plot and characterization of the main cast and supporting characters. The world feels well-rounded and fully descriptive. And the sex scenes--scorching, unsurprisingly, as well as touching and enlightening.

Cleat Cute is hot, funny, romantic, and engaging. It's a home run. Or a bicycle kick, or something soccer-y and extremely cool and good.

3.5 stars.I need to start by saying I love Meryl Wilsner for giving us (sapphics) the smutty cheesy rom coms we deserve. I received an ARC for their last book, Mistakes Were Made, and loved it sooooo much. I went into this one a little more skeptical because I’m not a sports girly but still had high hopes. I loved the sunshine/grumpy trope and the spice was good, but overall, the writing felt so chronically online and made the whole experience a little cringey/YA for me. I didn’t really connect with the story but if you like A League of their Own and Bend it like Beckham, i feel like you’d really enjoy this. While it wasn’t for me, it was still a fun read, thank you NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Before I start my review of Cleat Cute I need to say a few things. One: Mistakes Were Made and Something To Talk About by Meryl Wilsner, are two of my favorite books. I am a huge fan of their work so far! The second: I am a women's soccer fan, have been for a few years now. While I didn't/don't personally do this, I remember when people would ship members of the team, a little odd and weird but people are gonna people.

Now on to the main review:
Cleat Cute is a new sapphic novel about two soccer players each dealing with their own personal struggles. This was a hard read, I don't know if its because of the startling similarities to real life soccer but the not quite thereness, or just way the plot carried but I couldn't really get into it until about 75%. That is not a great quality to have in a book, but I think the only reason I pushed through was because I have faith in Wilsner and their works. It came true but not without some secondhand embarrassment. I think it helped that the first half and the second half were two different books in my eyes.

More about the startling similarities, some characters shared the same name, which was odd (Ash the non-binary GK seems eerily similar to Ashlyn Harris) and Dawn the trainer for the fake team is very similar to Dawn the (former?) trainer for the USWNT. That and more of just the general interactions between different characters felt realistic too, it may just be personal opinion, but this book would've been more enjoyable for me if it was further from reality. If I didn't have the WoSo background I have, this book would be around 4.5 stars but with my background I think I have to round it down to 3 stars. Maybe 4 on a different day, simply because I love Wilsner's works. I hope to see more from them!

Side Note: Mistakes Were Made is one of the best books ever written and I love MILF BOOK. Everyone knows how much I love the milf book.

3.5/5⭐️

This was one of my most anticipated reads of the year. I had really enjoyed both of this author’s previous books and I wanted to love this one too! I am a big fan of the NWSL and the USWNT so I was super excited for an adult wlw romance to focus on woman’s soccer. However, I didn’t really get the connection between the two main characters. Additionally, the pacing and plot seemed a bit off at times and the overuse of awkward nicknames like “Phenom” made me cringe. I did think the intimate scenes were sexy but due to a lack of connection for me made them feel awkward.

I still love Meryl Wilsner and will read everything she writes but this one just wasn’t for me and that’s okay! Seeing many positive reviews makes me hopeful that other people will enjoy this a lot more than me!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

I love soccer. When you throw in relationship drama between an automatic starter and an up and coming star in the mix, this book was an absolute shoo in for me. Especially when it’s of the opposites attract, wicked pairing, juicy and delicious chase kind.

Soccer is all Grace Henderson is about; or so she thinks. For more than a decade in the limelight, she knows the game and it’s role but when a tardy, loud and all sunshine and rainbows newbie is drafted into the team; she tries, but there is simply no escaping Phoebe Matthews.

Oh the banter, tease and chase. With as much self control one possesses, you need that special someone to break down walls. The route to winning a guarded heart might take a gargantuan effort for some, but when it’s in the form of one who simply does not back down, there are excitement, glory, fireworks and victory both off and on the field.

I just reviewed Cleat Cute by Meryl Wilsner. Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC.

Meryl Wilsner has done it again! Cleat Cute is an adorable romance that combines some of the best aspects of her previous work; with amazing steamy scenes like in "Mistakes Were Made" and heartfelt "workplace" romance like in "Something to Talk About" (if you count a soccer field as a workplace) Grace and Phoebe are the best characters. I loved the undiagnosed ADHD x undiagnosed autism power couple representation, as well as the (not-so) hidden themes of prioritizing what you want in life. Overall, so cute, perfect amount of steam, and you will be sucked into this story- I read this in less than 24 hours! Thank you St. Martin's Press for the advanced copy!

thank you, st. martin’s press and netgalley, for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review :)

meryl wilsner has done it again folks... they wrote the book of my heart!!! i've been looking forward to reading cleat cute since before the cover reveal because a. if meryl wilsner writes it i'm gonna be obsessed and b. soccer sapphics (need i say more).

phoebe my sunshiney, talkative, flirty girl is the love of my life hands down!!! reading her dreams coming true was so heartwarming, and you can bet if she was real i'd be at every game cheering her on until i lost my voice. also, when the audiobook comes out and i can hear her saying baby girl it will alter my brain chemistry completely *swoons*

i need grace to be my baby girl so i can just hug her and love her and tell her how special she is everyday <3 reading as she fell in love and set healthy boundaries was so powerful and inspiring. also that 4-peat scene is you know, you know ;)

obviously the characters felt so real to me and their romance so heartwarming especially bc friends with benefits is just such a fun trope to read. but, also, they were constantly trying their best to communicate what they were thinking and experiencing which felt so fresh in romance!!

begging everyone on my hands and knees to read this and fall in love with these characters too <3

As my most anticipated book of the year, I had the highest of high expectations for this one. Which is almost comical considering I know negative zero about sports. Truly Meryl Wilsner is the only human who could write anything about the sports ball and I get so excited to read about it. You'll be happy to know that they absolutely knocked it out of the park!


Grace and Phoebe were both such well rounded characters. While each dealt with either ADHD or autism, it wasn't harped on or made to be a huge barrier to their relationship. If anything, it was truly done with such care and wholesomeness. While keeping the usual Meryl-sizzle, we also see them showing love by assisting each other with doctors appointments, schedules, and various other things they struggled with. The LGBTQ+ representation was also perfectly done! Inclusion of transgender, bi, etc characters just added an extra layer of inclusion to an otherwise normal sapphic romance.

Did I mention the 🔥🔥?! All I can say is good thing it's hot here because I needed a cold shower after some of Grace and Phoebes encounters!! This is truly one of if not the very best Sapphic romance of the year! The only downfall is another year or so until their next release. 😭

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5

Thank you to NetGalley, Meryl Wilsner, and St. Martins Press for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

I've loved Meryl Wilsner's earlier books so my expectations for this one were incredibly high. This more than surpassed them.

Grace and Phoebe are great for each other...if they can get over themselves long enough to see it. It's steamy like Mistakes Were Made, but it's also sweet and intense and just a wonderful story. You don't have to love soccer to like this (I did, and all I know about soccer, I learned from watching Ted Lasso).

This is the early contender for my favorite read of the year. And they're officially a must buy author for me.

I really enjoy Meryl Wilsner’s books. Especially because there’s no formula that their following, they all feel so different but are so great in their own ways. Meryl writes from the perspective of each character in alternating chapters, so I found it a bit frustrating that neither of them was sharing their real feelings for so long, but I’ve wanted to yell “just talk to each other” in many other books or movies before. In the end, it’s a fun, sweet (and a little steamy) book about two women who love each other. I really enjoyed it.

Another hit by Meryl Wilsner! I love sapphic sports romances so imagine my delight seeing the author's next book was this. Both characters had great chemistry from the beginning and I love a good friends with benefits to lovers. I also appreciated the lack of unnecessary drama. Instead, the "conflict" was more funny. Plus, the steaminess of the love scenes?! 10/10.

Fans of Meryl Wilsner's previous books will love this too. 5 out of 5 stars.

This book was extremely well plotted. I loved the world of professional women’s soccer, and the city of New Orleans and the details of the city. The romance was very sweet, and spice level was great. I loved this book, couldn’t read it fast enough! Highly recommend to romance lovers and Meryl Wilsner fans. (I will say I’m at a 4.5 rounded up because of the cheesy title- it does not match the tone of the book in my opinion- but hopefully people will read this despite that!)

Setting: New Orleans, Louisiana
Rep: autistic lesbian MC/sapphic MC with ADHD

This was not it. I was so excited after loving Mistakes Were Made - my favourite book of 2022 - but this was a swing and a miss. The pacing was all over the place and I found the writing really clunky. The third person present tense can work really well but not here. It felt unedited - the characters' names were used in almost every sentence even when it was blatantly obvious who is talking/who it's about. I also just ... didn't like the characters. They had no chemistry and I found them annoying - that is nothing to do with their disabilities (Grave is autistic; Phoebe has ADHD) as I have both, I just didn't like them as characters. Also, the end felt really rushed and so did the start then it dragged in the middle. I have previously loved Wilsner's sex scenes but found myself skipping these as I felt no connection between Phoebe and Grace. And I HATED how even during sex, Grace refers to Phoebe by her surname, Matthews, in her head. It made me uncomfortable. All in all, a huge disappointment.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed this more than "Mistakes Were Made," which I received an arc copy of around this time last year. I think that I was more drawn by the premise this time, which is why I enjoyed "Cleat Cute" more. Phoebe and Grace were grounded characters who actually felt like real people (Grace especially, her character arc was great). I think the discussions of neurodivergency could have come earlier in the book, rather than so close to the end, and essentially being one of the last plotlines, as they then could have been explored more.

(4.5 rounded down)

I don’t even know where to begin! Cleat Cute was such a fun and exciting read. It has the perfect amount of romance, drama, and just enough spice! I absolutely loved Grace and Phoebe, and I especially enjoyed the the secondary characters like Gabby, Madeeha, and Fish. I almost wish Wilsner didn’t write such interesting secondary characters because I just wanted to keep reading about them!

Cleat Cute also has it all if you’re looking for diversity and representation. Wilsner always does an excellent job writing queer and poc characters, and in this book they focused a lot more on neurodivergent characters. It was refreshing to read a book that included all of these characters.

My only problem with this book is that I wish it was longer! We obviously got a lot of Grace and Phoebe interactions throughout the whole story, but I would have loved to read more of them actually together in a relationship. I just didn’t want this story to ever end!

Cleat Cute is not one to miss. It’s Wilsner’s best book by far and I can’t wait for it to come out!

Grumpy/sunshine soccer lesbians for the win! I cannot fully express the sheer joy I felt when I was offered an ARC. It truly has only been eclipsed by my delight while reading the book. It's so freaking good!

Grace and Phoebe start out as rivals who have to learn to work together as part of the team. They have very different personalities and communication styles which lead to some interesting misunderstandings. But even so, both are completely (and reluctantly in Grace's case) drawn to each other from the first moment. I love seeing the beginning of their relationship and their individual personal growth. The way Grace learns to advocate for herself is especially fantastic.

And the team interactions are great! I'd love some more time (bonus novellas, maybe?) starring individual teammates. I love how distinctly written each character was rather than being stock teammate one or two.

The representation is also fantastic! There are trans, non-binary, and bi side characters. Phoebe very clearly has undiagnosed ADHD from the beginning. And as we learn more about Grace, it becomes apparent she is likely on the autism spectrum.

As in Meryl Wilsner's previous two books, there is a power imbalance although much slighter than their usual. There's only a four year age difference, but Grace is much more established in the professional soccer world as well as being the team captain. And Phoebe definitely has some hero worship. Wilsner is just so darn talented at navigating these imbalances. I truly can't wait to read whatever they come up with next!

This ARC was provided by the publisher, via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.

Phoebe finally has everything she’s worked for, she’s on a professional soccer team and one of her teammates is her idol Grace. Turns out Grace is also Phoebe’s crush and as they spend more time together, it’s possible Grace likes Phoebe too. Will they be able to get past their differences and work together on and off the team?

This book was so cute and sweet that it was a breeze to read. I like the diversity of characters from lesbians, trans, non-binary as this is a more real look at how our world is now. This is more than just a romance book, it has funny parts and tackles real issues like financial struggles and neurodivergence. The pace was very good and I didn’t feel rushed into the story.

Things I wasn’t a huge fan of are also things I kind of liked, so they aren’t exactly negatives. I wish the discussion of neurodivergence had come sooner in the story as it was so obvious, but not discussed. It was kind of hammered in later on, but it wasn’t clear if one of the main characters was aware of her own situation beyond having “quirks”. The language and the way the characters interacted in the steamy scenes (which were intense and hot), didn’t seem true to their characters. Though the scenes were so, almost pornographic, so they were enjoyable if you were looking for a steamy rom-com. Last was the soccer parts of the story that were kind of specific that I felt kind of lost because I’m not familiar with the terminology.

Overall this book was fun and enjoyable and was well worth the read.

I had a really good time with Cleat Cute! It was a fun, sweet and quick read. I have loved everything I have read by Meryl Wilsner and I’m excited to see what they write next!

The characters were fabulous. I’ll admit that I’m not a sports person but I really loved their passion for the game. Phoebe was unapologetically herself and I adore her for that! Grace was so relatable to me. Her growth was my favorite part of the story. She realizes that she needs to put herself first and do the things that will make her happy.

I do think that the chemistry was a little off at times but I still enjoyed the romance. I loved that Grace & Phoebe were 100% complete opposites! This wasn’t quite as spicy as Mistakes Were Made but still pretty hot!

I cannot wait to have this beautiful book on my shelves!

So charming! I loved spending time with these characters and am only sad our time together is finished. The romance and chemistry are definitely there. Steam level was between Mistakes Were Made and Something to Talk About…Meryl Wilsner knows what they’re doing. One of the best parts was the characters’ love of soccer. The team spirit and friendships were really shine. I also appreciated the way ADHD was handled. There was a lot of miscommunication throughout but it made sense with the characters’ backstories and though at times it could be frustrating it was also endearing. I wanted more from the ending but that’s only because I didn’t want it to be over-once it got going, couldn’t put this one down.

Short summary: Phoebe is about to live her dream as a professional soccer player. The only thing better is training with her idol. After a dare that results in a kiss, Phoebe’s determined to woo Grace, but Grace is too focused to pay attention to the rookie class clown.

Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martins Griffin. ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.

Cleat Cute is a rivals-to-lovers, sapphic sports romance that I absolutely devoured! I read it in a single sitting and loved the slow burn relationship between sunshine-y, charismatic newbie Phoebe and Grace, our grumpy and serious team captain. The dynamic between them was just perfect, and this is definitely my favorite Meryl Wilsner yet.

When Phoebe gets called up to play for the US national women’s soccer team, she is absolutely raring to go to prove herself on the field and integrate herself into the team. I loved how confident Phoebe was— both with her soccer skills and her personality. She was funny and sweet, high energy while still taking the time to listen and care for others. Sometimes I find characters that fit into the “grumpy/ sunshine” trope to be a little one dimensional, this definitely wasn’t the case with Cleat Cute. While Phoebe was loud and exuberant, she also took the time to tell Grace when she was hurt by something, or call out injustice where she saw it. I genuinely finished the story feeling like I knew Phoebe personally, and loved the depth to her character.

Grace was so funny to be in her head! She comes across very taciturn and serious, whereas internally she just wants stability and connection like everyone else. I love seeing a character with anxiety learn how to cope with it and thought Grace’s character was a great example of someone who appears tough on the outside but is really a big softie. I would have loved to see more of her dynamic with the team overall, and learn more about her personality underneath the layers of distrust and shyness.

Their relationship was explosive! I loved how respectful they were of each other and really enjoyed the build up to them admitting their feelings. And the spice was truly top tier, as with all Wilsner’s work! I would have really enjoyed seeing *more* interaction between Grace and Phoebe, as by the end it felt a little repetitive with one of them messing up and the other one forgiving them a few hours later. The end of the book felt a little bit rushed, and I wished they would have had a bit more of a solid foundation before the big L word declaration. But overall I really enjoyed Cleat Cute and would definitely recommend it to readers looking a fun, spicy sapphic romance!