Super fun read! This was one of my first soccer romances and I had so much fun with Cleat Cute. I definitely look forward to reading more books by Meryl Wilsner in the future!

THIS WAS SO CUTE OMG I LOVED IT!!

No but seriously, this book reminded me why I love reading. And it also made me miss sports?! Haven't felt like that in ages. Grace and Phoebe were so adorable. I was so worried about their impending miscommunication blowup at the end, but it was resolved in a satisfactory manner?! That was actually kinda adorable?! I never would've expected it! I knew I enjoyed Meryl Wilsner's writing because of Mistakes Were Made, but Cleat Cute might've just dethroned it as my favorite.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review. After loving Mistakes Were Made, I thought I would love this too. I was mistaken. I felt literally no chemistry between the characters, and Grace didn’t even like her until almost the end of the book!

I love more and more queer romances that are coming out. I enjoyed this story, but it wasn't my favorite.

This book had been on my TBR for so long so I am thrilled that I got an ARC copy to read!! This was the perfect blend of grumpy sunshine and still lots of tension and spice!! The perfect sapphic love story & a great entry into sports novels!

4⭐
R🌶️

Whether it's MILFs or soccer players, Meryl Wilsner knows how to write a horny book. Grace and Phoebe got to where they could be together in the end but their constant miscommunication drove me a little nuts. And this did make me miss New Orleans a little bit 🥲

This is a perfect read for rivals to lovers enjoyers, sports/romance enjoyers, who love a journey filled with humour and spice. The story plays around with romantic tropes while keeping the story fun.

This was way too focused on soccer techniques and technicalities and not enough on the romance. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC of this novel in exchange for a review.

I was really excited about this one as someone who is sapphic and born and raised in Louisiana! It unfortunately fell a little bit short for me; the pacing felt a little quick, and the characters began falling a bit flat. However, overall I enjoyed it! For me, however, it didn't live up to the hype surrounding it-- I just always felt like I wanted, needed, more from it.

Cleat Cute was such a fun and heartwarming read. I loved watching Grace and Phoebe’s relationship develop! It’s a slow burn, but the chemistry is there from the start, and it made me want to read more! Their banter was immaculate , and the way they supported each other both on and off the field made me feel all ooey gooey. If you’re into sapphic romances with humour, heart, and a sporty twist, this one’s definitely worth checking out!

thank you smp for the advanced copy! i enjoyed reading cleat cute and continue to love meryl wilsner as a writer. i'm marking this as 3 stars but would give it more of a 3.5/3.75 rating.

wilsner's writing is strong in this book, with witty banter, great sex scenes, and sensitivity about neurodivergency. the soccer team makes for fun secondary and tertiary characters, the dialogue feels real, and grace's self-acceptance is enjoyable to read. i wish there had been a few more physical descriptions of grace, and there were a few times i was too worried about the miscommunication of whether or not they were girlfriends and got pulled out of the story a bit. i think that i liked that phoebe thought it was cute that grace didn't know they were dating? i expected that to be a bigger deal. i'm still thinking about it.

i am including book in my monthly reading wrap up but will not be posting a review of it specifically, because i am still waiting for smp to denounce anti-palestinian rhetoric. i will continue to read meryl wilsner's books and am glad we have people like them writing romances. thank you again for the opportunity to read this!

I LOVE SPORTY GAYS SO MUCH !!! i could literally screech about it forever.

this was my first Meryl book and i'm excited to read the other two!!!

this book was fun, funny, sexy, and so sporty spice. i also loved all the little louisiana tidbits about where to get the best food!!

what Grace did for Phoebe near the end had me swooning 😍

& the only reason i gave it 4.5 stars and not 5 is that it took them a Little too long to make actual moves. they were sleeping together and all that but it just seemed like it took Grace So Long to trust and open up. which isn't a bad thing always! just something this time that i didn't totally gel with.
plus, there's something Grace mentions about herself, a potential self revelation, that would make more sense if it's true.

But. i absolutely loved watching them get to know each other and get Feelings and watch Phoebe break all of Grace's walls down.

i loved Phoebe!!! so much!!!

and i love the team's relationships. and i looooove fun teammate nicknames.

anyway i loved it. give this one a read!!!

I DNF’d at 50%. I’m always here for a sports romance. A soccer romance is just a major bonus. I think my expectations for this were just too high. I loved the characters, just couldn’t buy in to romantic feelings between the MCs.

Meryl Wilsner is one of my go to author for sapphic romances! I didn't realize how much I was into soccer girls until this novel! The past and current timelines kept things interesting and showed just how into each other they were. I loved that there was neurodiverse rep in this already diverse romance. The steam was great as well - not something that Wilsner has ever struggled writing, in my opinion.
If you enjoy spicy, sports romance and looking for a good diverse read, you cannot go wrong with this novel!

Cleat Cute by Meryl Wilsner is the first book I've read by this author. This book has an adorable premise and features rivals-to-lovers, friends-with-benefits, forced proximity, and opposites-attract. I struggled to connect with the characters, but I believe others will enjoy this book. I will not be posting this review on my social media account.

I genuinely did enjoy this book! However the spicy scenes and dirty talk just took me out of cuteness. If I have to hear Phoebe call grace babygirl one more time I will loose it. Not only that but this book was just a little too long for my liking. It could have been shorter and just more streamlined. It was still a good book and I would love to read more from the author!

Sapphic rivals on a soccer team? Sign me up! It was fun read! Thank you so much to the publisher and Netgalley for letting me read this early!

I liked this book.
I don't really like sport romance I didn't realize that until recently.
Didn't have anything to do with this book just not my cup of tea.

I really loved this book at first! I loved the tension and the building and the sassy yet sweet nature with which the 2 main characters communicated. But as the book went on, I lost interest. I personally didn’t enjoy the “baby girl” Thing, but beyond that, it just didn’t feel very realistic to me anymore for some reason. As it got to the last 25-ish% of the book, I found myself wanting to skip parts to speed things along but I didn’t

DNF at like 15%, never gave a review whoops, but it seemed a little juvenile for my tastes, that’s definitely a me problem though. I liked the concept and had good things about it.