I always love to dive into a Meryl Wilsner book! The characters are always multi layered and I love that, the spice is truly u matches in her books, it’s perfection. While a general gripe with sports romance is that sports is usually on the back end for priority, this one has sports as front and center. That sometimes made it drag a bit, but it’s still enjoyable.

Watching the characters learn about themselves as the story progressed was rather charming even if the topics had more serious undertones.

So if you have read Meryl’s books before, love a sports romance, or need some sapphic spice, pick this one up!

Unfortunately this book just did not work for me. As much as I love sports romances, I just couldn't get into the relationship between these two characters as I found that I didn't particularly like either of them. However, there definitely is an audience for this novel, so if you enjoy sports romances of any kind I would still suggest picking this one up and giving it a go - you never know!

I thought this book was super cute and I loved the progression of the relationship but also as individuals. This sapphic romance is perfect for sports lovers. Plus there’s a decent amount of heat!

This book had a fun premise and was very entertaining, but ultimately was not for me. the grumpy/sunshine dynamic was well done, and I really enjoyed the friendships within the team. however, many of the interactions between Phoebe and Grace I found to be uncomfortable or stilted.
I do think that readers that are more interested in sports may have a better time with it. Thank you to netgalley for an e-arc of this book

It was a really great book! Of course I am a sucker for LGBTQ+ romances but this one was amazing! I loved the sports theme of it because you don’t see a lot of sapphic sport romances let alone sapphic romances in general.

cute sapphic romance that I read in one sitting on the ride up to my aunts house over the summer. I love books like this

Thank you Netgalley for the advanced reading copy! Grace is a veteran soccer star, when she meets Phoebe, a rookie on the national team training for the world cup, as well as her New Orleans club team. Though there is an immediate attraction, can they make a lasting relationship work? I like Wilsner’s writing style, but it is third person and a lot of inner monologuing, so sometimes it goes a little slow. But overall I thought Grace and Phoebe were sweet and likable characters, the steam was great, and I was rooting for them, as well as the soccer team. Sometimes the constant textbook explanations and descriptions of their different neurodivergent traits (ADHD for Phoebe and autism for Grace) was a lot and got slow in terms of the reading, but it was great representation so I am not upset about it. I think I wanted a little more plot since it is honestly mostly inner dialogue, but overall this is a solid 4 star for me because of the sweetness, steam, and women’s soccer stuff. I recommend this book for fans of Wilsner, soccer, and LGBTQ/sapphic contemporary romances.

Do I like soccer? Absolutely. Do I love WLW books? Did I like Cleat Cute? For the most part, I did!

Meryl Wilsner did it again with Cleat Cute! After my mixed opinions on Mistakes Were Made, I was definitely excited to read another book by Meryl Wilsner. I know it's another WLW book that most of the community will adore, especially with the soccer community. I certainly enjoyed the book but didn't feel the gripping need to finish it as quickly as possible and some of the miscommunication in it had me struggling to continue.

One thing this book has is steamy intimacy and a lot of it! I liked how strong the communication was between our two main characters, and you really are rooting for them throughout. There's some pretty good neurodivergent rep and it's a solid sports romance. The age gap was more appropriate and despite not too much inclusion of the actual sport of soccer, you'll definitely enjoy the sapphic steam.

Thank you to Meryl Wilsner, St. Martin's Press, and NetGalley for this ARC.

I rated this book 3/5. The story and character were cute and interesting but the internal monologue and third person story telling was incredibly annoying. It was very repetitive.

DNF @ 16%. The characters felt very immature and unprofessional to me. For example, there was a bet at the beginning of the book and the punishment felt highly inappropriate (particularly for a workplace environment).

I made a critical error: I finished reading this book on a Sunday night and the comedown has become entangled with the standard Sunday Scaries and their powers combined exponentially.
I truly cannot say enough good things about this book. Am I the exact perfect audience for is, as a neurodivergent, queer, Women's Soccer (WoSo) fan? yes. But even if I weren't, I'd say this book is fantastic. The story is engaging, the world-building is fun (and if you are a big woso fan, full of little easter eggs to enjoy) and the characters are perfectly flawed. Both MCs being neurodivergent was a fun treat, and never felt like a tokenization or forced characterization. My only complaint was that it ended. I wanted to stay in their world forever, to read about all the supporting characters, and their lives and challenges as well. Wilsner definitely scored a game-winning goal with Cleat Cute.
thank you to netgalley for this arc in exchange for an honest review

Meryl Wilsner has yet to disappoint me. I was swept up in the slow burn of Something to Talk About and again in the wonderfully spicy Mistakes Were Made. I had high expectations for Cleat Cute and while it isn’t my favorite of Wilsner’s books, it was a delightful romance that still manages to take its place among my most liked sapphic stories.

Grace is the grumpy to Phoebe's sunshine, both professional soccer players they stumble into being friends with benefits after a betted on kiss leaves them both wanting more. They have strong character arcs that rely on each other to grow and recognize new things about themselves. Grace’s Autism and Phoebe’s ADHD at times create a communication barrier leading to one of them worried about catching feelings while the other thinks they are already dating. Both characters are quite different but together they are perfectly matched, and throughout the book I kept thinking just how cute they both are. Some of their conversations and the emotions Wilsner was able to portray made me cry and that’s honestly atypical for me.

Beyond character growth this book was definitely steamy, with a number of open door scenes that were as sexy as they were delicate. Wilsner’s writing has yet to make me cringe as some authors tend to do and that made this book all the better.

I’m not typically a sports person and I think that’s why this book didn’t quite reach 5 star status for me. I like the IDEA of sports but when it comes down to it, not knowing which team will win or lose tends to make me anxious. Maybe that’s weird but even so, it did take me out of the book a bit. Beyond that there wasn’t much I didn’t like about Cleat Cute. The banter between characters was delightful and the secondary characters were both well written and helped push the story along.

Meryl Wilsner will continue to be an auto-buy author for me and I look forward to all future books from them.

As a soccer fanatic, I had high hopes for this one. I really enjoyed the dynamic between Phoebe and Grace. I also found it funny that Grace was only four years older than Phoebe, but due to being in the sport professionally for so long she acted as if she was 40. I also liked the mental health representation, though I think the ADHD diagnosis (and storyline) was brought up abruptly towards the end and quickly handled. I would've liked to see more exploration with it. I really loved how accurate the soccer moments were and the competitiveness, but also openness between the characters was. While it seemed a bit rushed at the end, I still really liked the book overall and can't wait to read Meryl's next book.

I absolutely ADORED this book. Meryl Wilsner never misses. This book was everything I needed and everything I could want in a sapphic romance. I loved the characters and I found myself sad when it was over because I just wanted to keep reading and hear more about the character's future. I would love to go back into this universe one day if Meryl Wilsner ever decides to write a sequel (Or make it a series). I have never given a Meryl Wilsner book less than 5 stars, and I don't plan to anytime soon.

After loving Mistakes Were Made, I’m sad to say that this fell flat for me. Phoebe was a bit obnoxious even for my taste and Grace’s storyline just felt so forced with the autism answer thrown in at the last minute ? I’ll give whatever Meryl writes next a try, but this one wasn’t for me!

sporty sapphics have a lot of sex and play soccer. I am still compiling thoughts but overall enjoyed though it's not a favorite

I feel very down-the-middle with this book! There were aspects that I enjoyed, like the ADHD and Autism rep, the relationships/dynamic our main characters have with the side characters, and the soccer moments throughout. But there were also aspects that were very frustrating to me, like the fact this romance was basically one massive miscommunication trope. I also felt like the relationship between Phoebe and Grace, although sweet at times, was quite surface level. I would have liked to see more on page depth to their relationship.

This book was one of my most anticipated romances of the entire year, and it lived up to expectations on most accounts, although not quite as much as I might have liked. Meryl Wilsner is always really good at creating two characters that seem very different and making them fall in love, and that’s usually a pretty enjoyable process. I don’t know if it’s getting repetitive or if this one just felt more focused on emphasizing how different the characters are, but it felt more focused on two characters having sex so much as falling love. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed reading most of this book, but it wasn’t the kind of overwhelmingly enjoyable read that MISTAKES WERE MADE was for me. I think if you want a fairly fun and light sapphic romance with a dash of heavier content, it’s worth the read, but I can’t promise anything life-changing.

I’m a simple person, I love sports gays, so this book already has that going for them. We have the sort of golden retriever rookie and the closed off veteran player, put on the same team, somewhat wanting the same things. It feels repeatedly emphasized that these two characters are very different. There are what I would consider a lot of sports-related scenes, seemingly equally intermixed with the exploration of New Orleans, and then once they get together, a somewhat significant amount of in-detail sex for a tradpub romance. Some of the best scenes in the entire book were individual character moments, especially with Grace’s introspection on her own life and what she wants to do. At the same time, I felt like more emphasis was done on juxtaposing the characters than making me believe that they’re a romance that can last.

Maybe I’m spoiled by incredibly good romances, but I want to feel like the two characters are truly falling in love and that their romance will actually last longer than a year. This book is somewhat on that path, but the frustrating thing that happens once they start to get together is the focus of their time together is having sex, or how hot the person is, or when they’re having a serious discussion apparently interrupting to have sex. This might be a bonus for you! But it just made the book a little bit less enjoyable for me. I don’t mind two adult characters having a lot of sex, but I also want them to be able to have important conversations without a sex scene being made a priority.

All in all, I largely enjoyed my time reading this book. It was fun to see a bunch of sports gays and have basically every supporting and cameo character be queer. There are snippets of important conversations sprinkled throughout. I was able to read it in a single day once I decided that was my priority. Some of my qualms might be positives for other people, but I still wish I had enjoyed this book even more than I did. I would recommend it but I’m still much more of a ride-or-die for MISTAKES WERE MADE.

This was smut with a side of soccer. These two were going at it 25% in. Too insta-<s>love</s> lust for me. And Pheobe . . . she seemed more like a teenager than an adult. I think this would have worked better if the two were enemies to lovers rather than friends to lovers from the get go.

Thanks to NetGalley for the eARC.

As someone who DNF'd Meryl Wilsner's previous book, I was really skeptical going into this one, but wow did it surprise me. This romance does a much better job of balancing the smut with the love story, weaving in convincing character arcs against the backdrop of women's professional sports. It was such a delightful, fast-paced, grumpy/sunshine read that has made me eager to see what this author will do next.