This was a really fun, steamy romance. I loved that it was about two female athletes. The miscommunication between our heroines was a little much for me, but overall this was a fun one!

Several YMMV Issues But Nothing Objectively Wrong. This is one of those stories where there are a LOT of valid issues that people may have with the book, but ultimately pretty well all of them are matters of taste and not something truly concretely objectively *wrong*. Some may quibble about the rather obvious nature of having lesbians playing women's professional sports (in this exact case, soccer). Fairly or unfairly, this is almost insulting in just how much it plays into the stereotypes of women's professional sports in particular. Some may quibble about the extremely casual and flirting with erotica level sex that dominates most of the book, or the way that neither character actually knows much about the other before starting this form of "relationship". That last bit may actually be the most realistic thing about that aspect of the relationship here, however! Some may quibble about the lack of communication and arguably even consent in at least a few key aspects of the later story. Some may quibble about the insistence on medication and the glorification of a "miracle cure" that eventually comes up. Some may quibble about the rather blatantly obvious "bad guy ex" stereotype or the rather wooden and largely barely characterized at all extended cast of friends and teammates that play such crucial roles at various points in the tale.

And I could keep going, but you, *my* reader, begin to get the picture here. There are issues, but they are issues that any given reader may or may not actually have problems with, and that is completely for Wilsner's readers to decide for themselves here. Ultimately, I felt the book was fine for what it was, with nothing truly *jarringly* glaringly wrong about it, and nothing to objectively say "THIS IS WRONG!!!!" about. So read it for yourself if you're remotely interested in reading about lesbian romances. Recommended.

This was such a good sapphic adult romance book. I had such a good time reading about these characters and learning about their lives. I can't wait to read more from this author in the future.

Not going to lie, I was a little hesitant going into reading this book as I wasn’t the biggest fan of Mistakes Were Made. I’m super glad I read the book though because I was super cute! I love a good spicy sports romance and this book was no exception! Maybe I need to start watching women’s soccer outside of the olympics?

Phoebe and Grace are such fun characters! I honestly wish we hadve gotten to read more of Phoebes journey progressing in her professional soccer career but I’ll take what I can get.

I do feel the need to warn people that ‘baby girl’ is used as a term of endearment and it personally gives me the ick so I’m sure there might be others out there who need the warning so it doesn’t jump scare them. 😅

'Cleat Cute' is, well, cute. There's a lot of communication between characters, which is great, but there's almost too much? A lot of telling and very little showing. There's a lot of talking and internal monologuing in between some pretty well written sex scenes but there's not a whole lot of substance other than that. We get told they're in love more so than watch it develop. I enjoyed it but I found myself frustrated more often than not.

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin's Press for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was very cute! I don't think adored it as much as I loved Mistakes were made, which is phenomenal, but this is still so adorable and good and sexy! Meryl Wilsner is definitely an author to watch out for in sapphic books ❤️

𝚁𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐: 4.25⭐️
𝙶𝚎𝚗𝚛𝚎: LGBTQIA+ romance📚

𝙼𝚢 𝚃𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑𝚝𝚜:
I adored this book! Such a sweet romance! I will say there is miscommunication which I am not a fan of

𝚁𝚎𝚊𝚍 𝚒𝚏 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎:
Soccer romance
Friends to lovers
Steamy reads
Grumpy/sunshine
Forced proximity
Opposites attract
Third person
Found family

𝚃𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜 𝙸 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎𝚍:
All the rep- neurodivergence
Their discussions were real and mature

𝚃𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜 𝙸 𝚍𝚒𝚍𝚗’𝚝 𝚌𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚏𝚘𝚛:
All the miscommunication- it really got on my nerves
Lots of internal monologue

The story was fun and compelling but I found the major "conflict" wasn't a conflict at all and so the stakes were very low for me, making the whole "we're on the same team" thing less exciting.

Cute.

This story was a cute sports romance between Phoebe and Grace. The premise of this book was really interesting, and I actually really enjoyed the first 30 percent of it. After, it just became very repetitive and I kind of lost interest.

I really enjoyed the chapters with Grace, her story line was really interesting. The chapters with Phoebe are the ones that lost me. Her story line could’ve been interesting but it just felt flat. Also I feel like I should have found her endearing or quirky, but her internal monologue actually was kind of annoying.

Some parts were really good, and then not so much. It was not a bad book at all, I just don’t think it was for me.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a ARC of this book, in exchange of an honest review.

Title: Cleat Cute
Author: Meryl Wilsner @merylwilsner
Summary: Grace Henderson has been a star of the US Women’s National Team for ten years, even though she’s only 26. But when she’s sidelined with an injury, a bold new upstart, Phoebe Matthews, takes her spot. Phoebe is everything Grace isn’t—a gregarious jokester who plays with a joy that Grace lost somewhere along the way. The last thing Grace expects is to become friends with benefits with this class clown she sees as her rival.
Phoebe Matthews has always admired Grace’s skill and was star struck to be training alongside her idol. But she quickly finds herself looking at Grace as more than a mere teammate. After one daring kiss, she’s hooked. Grace is everything she has been waiting to find.
As the World Cup approaches, and Grace works her way back from injury, the women decide to find a way they can play together instead of vying for the same position. Except, when they are off the field, Grace is worried she’s catching feelings while Phoebe thinks they are dating. As the tension between them grows, will both players realize they care more about their relationship than making the roster?
Copy provided by @netgalley in exchange for honest review.
Likes: I LOVE Meryl Wilsner’s writing style, good spice level, the author created AMAZING chemistry between the two MCs, neurodivergent representation, fast read.
Dislikes: Lots and lots of internal monologues so just be prepared.
#wlw #CleatCute #NetGalley #LGBT #LGBTQIA #lesfic #FF #booksbooksbooks #Pride #queerbookstagram #lesbianromance #lesbianfiction #soccerromance #NWSL #womenssoccer #WWC #stmartinsgriffin

I feel like this was mostly sex and no plot. I can’t actually judge if Grace and Phoebe have a real connection when all they were doing in their time together as depicted to us was sleeping together. Have a fight? Talk about it for 3 seconds, then have sex. The miscommunication was astounding, one person thinking you’re dating and the other having no clue.
A good part, for me at least, was the descriptions of New Orleans and Mardi Gras, however brief it was. Maybe I’m just not the target audience, but this missed the mark for me.

Cleat Cute is a Sapphic soccer romance between Phoebe Matthews, a newbie straight out from college and Grace Henderson, team captain and Phoebe's childhood idol. The two are both amazing players but are different in many other ways; Phoebe is outgoing, disorganized, and joyful, while Grace is quiet, regimented, and losing the fun that she used to have playing soccer. The two start to grow closer and Grace realizes that she has more to love about Phoebe than she thought.

I loved this book!! I am not a sports girlie but like a lot of other sports romances, this one really got me! I thought Phoebe and Grace were really compelling characters and it was interesting to see them trying to figure out how to deal with feelings for someone on your professional team. I liked that other characters were also queer and the way that they handled relationships differently was also considered. Phoebe was such a ray of sunshine that I really enjoyed whenever she was in the story. I also thought that New Orleans was a fun setting for the book and I loved all of the descriptions of the food. There was also a good amount of spice, which is not usually my cup of tea, but I liked it in this book!

I appreciated the mental health attempts in this book. I'm a psychologist and Grace read to me as a person with characteristics of autism, so I was glad when it was explicitly brought up in the book and not just me reading into it too much. The way Phoebe was diagnosed with ADHD didn't feel great to me. I personally would have been VERY OFFENDED if my partner scheduled a doctor's appointment for me to get diagnosed with something they thought I had after I explicitly said that I was not interested in pursuing treatment, but I guess I could understand why someone would appreciate that. I just wish that Grace had offered to help set Phoebe up with an appointment instead of just scheduling one, even if she said that Phoebe could cancel. The fact that the Women's National team didn't have any kind of mental health professionals also felt a little weird to me, although maybe I'm just overly optimistic about female athlete's mental health support. I sure hope I'm not in real life!

Those issues aside, I absolutely loved this book and recommend it to anyone who loves romance and those like me who sometimes love it! 5 stars from me. Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the electronic advanced reader's copy of this book, my thoughts are my own!

Grace Henderson and Phoebe Matthews are polar opposites, the only thing they seem to have in common is soccer. Grace is the star of the US Women’s National Team and Phoebe is an up and coming newbie making her debut. When Grace has been sidelined in order to recover from an injury, the two spend more time together on and off the field causing the tension between hem to grow into something neither one of them expected. As the world cup approaches, their feelings intensify threatening their agreement on a strictly “friends with benefits” situation. With Grace still recovering from her injury and Phoebe vying for a permanent spot on the team, the two must choose between the love for each other or the love of the game.

As someone who used to play soccer and is a huge soccer fan, this one caught my eye immediately. I really enjoyed the setting of this one and how different Grace and Phoebe are and the dynamic of their relationship. Soccer wasn’t really the conflict of their relationship, it was more so miscommunication and them opening up to each other. I did enjoy how the author shed light on ADHD and the struggles some may face coming to terms with it and the overall acceptance of being diagnosed. There was a lot of inner monologuing in this one coming from Grace and Phoebe which personally for me, made it a little harder to get through and is not really my cup of tea. However, I did enjoy the characters and this was a fun romance packed with all the spice. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC of this novel in exchange for my honest review. This title is now available for purchase!

•Soccer, but make it sapphic.

•We love when a “fun” book delicately handles mental health.

•My favorite romance tropes in rapid succession.

Complex characters but still fun to read, understandable conflicts, and such good mental health rep!

I was lucky enough to read the uncorrected netgalley arc so maybe some of my issues are fixed in the release copies. With that said, I love Meryl Wilsner. I have read and enjoyed two of their previous releases; Something to Talk About and Mistakes Were Made. I did enjoy Cleat Cute but it kinda fell short for me. The second half felt rushed to me everything escalated way too quickly. and although there were hints throughout the book, the ADHD/possible autism felt like last minute add-ins instead of a main plot point that would've worked beautifully with the character arcs. That said however, there's still so much to enjoy and you should definitely check it out if you've been thinking about it, if you're a queer book fiend or if you're just looking for your next read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Meryl Wilsner for being kind enough to let me read and review Cleat Cute. This review is totally my opinion.

I really enjoyed this book! It was fun getting to see two different perspectives, especially from two totally different people. I also think this book is an excellent representation of “she fell first, but she fell harder”, which is super cute. Wilsner has such a way of writing complex characters, and they’re always interesting.

Phoebe and Grace did inner monologue a lot, which was a bit tedious at times, but I also understood near the end why they did. I still think Mistakes Were Made is my favorite Wilsner so far, but this one was very sweet. Also, soccer! 3.5/5 stars

I wanna start this off by saying just how much I loved Phobe. She was pure sunshine and sweetness and also a domme and that combination is absolutely magical. The way that she immediately recognized and understood Grace and wanted to take care of her? Amazing. The steam in this was also so so good. The locker room scene. Like a dream, for real. I'm usually disappointed when they have s*x too early in the book but the tension!!! The praise. Phoebe's absolute confidence. The s*x in this was filthy but also so pure and reverent.
This book is such a beautiful love letter to New Orleans. It was so cool to see the city through Grace and Phoebe's eyes, and now I have so many new things to do next time I visit!
I love romance novels with all my heart but often because of the nature of the genre and the publishing industry in general, there are some problematic things I have to sorta ignore or excuse to be able to enjoy the rest of the story. I didn’t have to do that here. Everything was written so thoughtfully and with so much sensitivity, and it was so refreshing to be able to trust that I'd be taken care of. I'm really grateful for that.

I think this might be my favorite Wilsner so far! I really liked Mistakes Were Made but I felt we lost some of the romance in the smut.
This book feels more balanced and we see the relationship evolve more organically. I mean there's definitely still smut, don't worry there.
I particularly liked seeing how the MCs' neurodivergences contributed to their miscommunications. Also no third act breakup if that's your thing!

Cleat Cute is a fun sapphic soccer romance with great neurodivergent representation! It was extremely introspective, which is something that I really enjoy in books. The journey to Grace and Phoebe figuring out that they loved each other was both cute and very spicy. I’m not a huge fan of soccer (I’ve never watched Ted Lasso) but I still really enjoyed this. Some of the soccer content did fly right over my head because, as I mentioned, I literally know nothing about soccer. I don’t feel like it really took away from the story because it was such a huge part of these two women’s lives.

I really liked Grace and Phoebe for completely separate reasons because they are the opposites attract trope in every way. Their common love for soccer and both of them having such big hearts made me fall for them. But as a couple, I thought they were the absolute cutest. The New Orleans dates and small favors were romantic and swoon worthy! There is so much hesitancy from both sides on them being together. I feel like it made it so that they could get to know each other so well and also so that they could learn more about each other in the most organic way. The friendship between the main characters, though reluctant on Grace’s side, flourished well before the romantic aspect of their relationship could. Grace is not really grumpy as much as she is reserved and sparing with her attention after events from her past. There are layers to the captain but there is one person who was not deterred whatsoever in trying to peel back those layers. Phoebe was under her skin before she could help it. Phoebe is a ray of sunshine and her happiness is kind of infectious. You can’t help but love her!

I enjoyed the team’s interactions, and I also really enjoyed the queerness of this story. That’s something that I’ve come to really expect and also appreciate in Meryl Wilsner‘s writing. There’s so much diversity outside of just the fact that the main two characters are queer. The found family aspects of this romance really made me happy because there was so much love in this book that wasn’t romantic. All the friendships were beautiful!

I recommend Cleat Cute if you like sports romance and opposites attract. Thank you so much to the author for an advance copy of this book for review.

Cleat Cute is my favorite romance book of 2023 and is in my top romances of all time! I find it hard to put into words how much I loved this book.
Grace and Phoebe are both such amazing characters. Grace is learning what she really wants to do for her life and is having a midlife crisis at 26. Phoebe is on the journey of finally reaching her dreams. Meryl Wilsner writes such real and authentic queer characters that I'm now been spoiled for WLW romance. Phoebe as a character was also especially important to me, as a fellow female adult who went undiagnosed with ADHD.
There are so many good things I can say about this book. If you love accidentally messy sporty lesbian drama, with spice then this is the book for you. I hate having to compare books to one another but a romance book hasn't ingrained itself in my brain like this since Red, White & Royal Blue.
Thanks so much to the author and publisher for providing a free ARC copy of the book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review <3.