CLEAT CUTE is a steamy sapphic rivals to lovers romance about two teammates falling in love as their team prepares for the World Cup.

Read if you like —
⚽️ soccer / sports romances
🌶️ spice
💜 opposites attract
🧠 neurodiversity rep

This was my second book by Meryl Wilsner and while I prefer MISTAKES WERE MADE, this one was fantastic as well! I love their writing style and character development, and I’m looking forward to reading more books by them!

I was so excited for this one based on the premise and how much I enjoyed Wilsner's Mistakes Were Made. Unfortunately, I struggled with this and couldn't finish it in the end. Much of the tension here comes from miscommunication in theory, but I honestly couldn't understand either of the main character's motivations.

Thanks so much to St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

i wanted to really love this book, it sounded so good. but it just fell flat to me. it felt like there no plot and the characters had nothing to them, very little personality. on top of this, the continuous unnecessary use of the word “like” in the dialogue drove me absolutely crazy.

also, we’re the rivals to lovers that was promised? because it did not feel like a rivals to lovers book.

that all being said, it was still an enjoyable book, i liked the romance and thought that it wrapped up nicely. maybe it’s the writing style that made me not enjoy it as much as i could have, but i will probably read another book by wilsner and give them another go.

*DNF at 45%*

Ugh, I'm so sad to say that this was just: not the book for me. Mistakes Were Made was one of my highly anticipated releases and one of my favorite reads of last year, so I think my hopes were a *tad* too high here. Third-person POV writing is already super confusing for my brain to process but coupled with HEAVY internal dialogue, tons of side characters, multiple soccer team names (that somehow all of the characters were playing on simultaneously?? Huh?? I know I don't know anything about soccer, but even to my uneducated brain, being on multiple teams at once sounds false??? I don't know and I'm too lazy to look it up), and multiple nicknames that get switched every other sentence....it was a lot.

I am nothing if not a raging pessimist 90% of the time so I'm going to lean into that for a second. I have ADHD so I talk a lot too, okay, but Phoebe was really giving me a run for my money. She shut up like maybe twice in the 45% I got through, and neither time was for long enough. Grace seemed way too mean, grumpy, and stubborn. (Like please, I am BEGGING you to lighten up.) She also kept complaining that she was "too old" and I truthfully don't remember if her age was mentioned, but if she was older than 25 I would be shocked. 25 is not old!!!

And we've reached two of my biggest complaints: the insta-lust and the spice. Grace went from "You're annoying, I don't want you flirting with me at all" to "Let me straddle you" in less than five seconds. HUH??? And look, I love spice. I eat it up. Not to mention, I LOVED the insta-lust and the spicy scenes in Mistakes Were Made, mainly because it was actually believable. But the spice in this book was just...so cringy to me because of the nicknames, Grace's attitude, and the over usage of the word "cunt."

I did read this alongside listening to the ALC, and that's what kept me from DNF'ing sooner. The narrators really held my interest because they did a great job embodying the characters' personalities. The narrator for Grace's character had the exact cadence and sort of monotone style of talking that I envisioned for her character, and Phoebe's narrator was equally as talented at portraying her talkative and aloof nature. But they could only redeem the characters for me for so long.

I look forward to checking out Wilsner's future work! But this book was sadly a huge miss for me.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press/ St. Martin's Griffin, Macmillan Audio, and NetGalley for this eARC and ALC in exchange for my review!

I was excited to read a sapphic soccer tale of opposites attract! It fell a bit flat for me though as it was repetitive in describing the same feelings/thoughts over and over. I appreciated the sexy times as too many sapphic romances either fade to black or don’t progress any further than a kiss. I’ll definitely check out this author’s next book!
*Thanks to Griffin and NetGalley for this review copy.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC of this book. I’ll admit, when I first started, I was so thrown off by the voice, I almost stopped reading. However, once I resigned myself to the discomfort it made me feel, I was able to continue reading and not only was it less noticeable, but it was also enjoyable. You see, the story is told from the POV of third-person present tense. It makes the reader feel like a voyeur. First-person present tense makes the reader feel like they’re right there in the moment with the narrator/main character. It even works with alternating POVs, as long as it remains first person. First- or third-person past tense means the narrator is telling what already happened to them (either I or he/she) after all of the facts are known. By using third-person, present-tense in this book, the narrator sounds like a literal third person watching what's happening and reporting it to the reader, and it doesn’t sound like an omniscient being who knows everything that’s going to happen. I found it creepy.

As I mentioned, I did, in fact, enjoy the story. Grace Henderson has always been Phoebe Matthews’ hero. She has a poster above her bed of the famous soccer player. So when she meets her, she is starstruck. The attraction she always felt for the star is amplified when she gets to know her. And Phoebe is so happy-go-lucky and funny and sincere that everyone loves her. Although Grace initially tries to keep Phoebe at arm’s distance, that doesn’t last for long. Phoebe is a lot like an excited puppy who refuses to be discouraged by someone who doesn’t respond with the same level of enthusiasm. She accepts Grace as she is, and in the process, Grace learns to accept herself and to let Phoebe burrow into her heart.

It quickly becomes apparent that Phoebe has ADHD, and Grace is suspiciously similar to those with ASD. The author does an excellent job of getting into the heads of people with those “disorders.” The reason I use that word is because Phoebe gets very offended when Grace uses it. She sees it as a criticism, which is not how it’s intended. Underneath all of the bluster and sunshine, Phoebe has insecurities. And underneath Grace’s unapproachable and private persona are her own insecurities—mainly because she doesn’t understand how socializing works and she’s fearful of making mistakes. They bring out the best in one another. Phoebe and Grace were well-developed and felt like real people in real situations.

Now, although I loved the exploration of ADHD and ASD, there were times when I felt the inclusion of gender and the associated pronouns was forced. There were two people in the story, supporting characters, who had either had top surgery or were hoping to have it.

According to USAfacts.org in August 2023, approximately 1.03% of adult Americans identify as transgender. I’m not sure how many seek top surgery, but I’m sure it’s less than that number. So, in a story that includes 100 characters, 1 would be transgender. That one character might or might not want top surgery. This story did not include 100 characters. Keep in mind, these were peripheral characters—Phoebe’s sibling and a member of their soccer team.

If the story had been about either of those people, it would make sense that there would be more of them in the community because we would be hearing their story and how they interact with the world. Instead, we were reading Phoebe and Grace’s story and how they interact with the world. It made sense that there were a lot of lesbians in the story, and although you could argue that they’re all part of the LGBTQ community, then where were the gay men, for example? For me, this is why it felt forced. The author wanted to include a group of people who definitely need to be featured in more stories to be understood by more people, but tossing them into this story without fully developing their characters felt like checking off a box for inclusion.

As a parent, I love what Grace’s father says to her when she expresses confusion about what she wants to do with her life. He tells her, “When you and your sister were kids, we tried to teach you that you could be anything you wanted when you grew up. We never wanted you to think anything was impossible. But maybe we pushed too far in that direction. The corollary to you can be whatever you want is you don't have to be anything you don’t want.” These are, indeed, wise words for any parent of an overachieving child.

So, the question remains. Do I recommend this book or not? It’s hard to say. I don’t not recommend it.

This was so cute I could scream. But also spicy. And had some deep moments. And was funny. And was well-paced. Seriously I cannot say enough good things about this book. I loved all of the various representations that were present (and there were a LOT) because they were natural and understated.

I loved that both FMCs had flaws. I related to each of them for different ways, and I can see a lot of readers being able to connect with them. They also both showed character growth by the end of the story which is something I really enjoy in a romance.

There was a really good balance of romance and the soccer part of the story. I am for sure in my sapphic romance era and this is going on the list as one of my top sapphic reads. I cannot wait to read more by this author.

Meryl Wilsner does it again! An amazing sapphic book with lots of love, laughs, and a bit of spice! I will never not pick up one of her books.

This is my first book by Wilsner and man, was it a doozy! Grace and Phoebe are compelling as individual characters (I understand why the book has been compared to Ted Lasso and A League of Their Own!!), but the relationship that blooms between them is even more interesting. While I don’t personally see any real rivals-to-lovers trope in the text, the grumpy X sunshine dynamic was everything for me!

I listened to the audiobook when I didn't have time to read by e-book copy, and it was easy to pick up and switch between the two formats. A few things periodically pulled me out of the story (the miscommunication trope felt extremely overplayed and made me want to shake the characters, and I don’t *love* when characters engage in sex to avoid important conversations/discussing their feelings), but I loved more about it than I disliked! Wilsner makes soccer terminology accessible and not intimidating at all (you don’t have to know anything about the sport to enjoy the book!), and they focus more on the growth of our two main characters than the sport, itself. I only wish we had the opportunity to focus more on exploring Grace and Phoebe’s ADHD and autism diagnoses. It felt like an afterthought subplot by the end of the book, in my opinion.

Make no mistakes, though, this was a thoroughly enjoyable read. If you like spice and sapphics and miscommunications GALORE, this book is for you! Wilsner delivers a book for romance lovers (and soccer fans, alike) to enjoy!

I'm a sucker for a good sapphic romance and CLEAT CUTE certainly fits the bill. Soccer star Grace Henderson shoulders the pressures of serving as captain of her team plus acting as figurehead of the soccer community ever since she was a teen. She's not out to anyone but her family. Young Phoebe Matthews is a soccer upstart, out and proud. Matthews appears loud and brash, but has a caring, thoughtful side and is focused solely on her soccer career. Phoebe and Grace form an unlikely friendship, which soon becomes friendship with benefits. But as Grace struggles with an injury and Phoebe becomes more and more successful, the two wonder if their friendship and budding relationship can survive.

CUTE is a really fun read, and if you like sapphic and/or sport books, you'll enjoy this one. I personally found it slow to warm up to, but eventually grew to care for the characters, especially Grace. I loved and empathized with this tough woman, who felt the pressures of the world so deeply and found solace in her routines and solitude. The force of life that is Phoebe takes over Grace's world, shocking her out of her regularly scheduled life, and letting her see everything through fresh eyes. This may be exactly what she needs. Watching the two of them be good for each other--that's the beauty of this book. (Okay, their sexual tension and banter isn't exactly so bad, either.)

The hardest part of CUTE is the thinking. Something about the narrative style makes it feel like there's so much rehashing of feelings and introspection. There's a lot of telling and less showing. At times I wasn't in the mood to read it and deal with all the internal chatter.

But, if you can get past that, CUTE is filled with diverse characters and queer relationships. The supporting cast is excellent. It's a sports romance, but you do not need to be a soccer expert to enjoy it (but if you are a sports fan, you'll get into that aspect). It covers the pressures of playing sports, being in the public eye, and neurodivergent personalities.

While this book dragged a bit for me at times, I love having so many books about queer relationships in the world. It's a fun sports romance!

Grace Henderson has enjoyed a long and successful soccer career, and Phoebe Matthews is just beginning her professional soccer experience. The two collide at a camp for the national team, where they make a bet about who can win a cardio competition. Somehow, Grace loses, and Matthews wins a great prize--a kiss from Grace.

Though Mattie isn't too concerned with cashing in on the bet, Grace insists, and the experience only makes the two more interested in one another. Thier relationship continues on in secret, even as Grace's injury comes to light, Mattie struggles with her ADHD, and Grace waffles about whether or not she actually is captain material.

This was a cute, light-hearted, easy queer romance read. I appreciated the unique and interesting characters, and I'm always a sucker for a book with a whole cast of women front and center. I gave this one a four-star rating because I liked it and would recommend it to a friend, but I won't be reading it again.

What really held Cleat Cute back from being a five-star read for me was the chemistry (or lack of) during some of the intimate scenes. This book is also somewhat marketed as a "rivals to lovers" but the "rivals" is pretty hard to find. We start knowing that Mattie is joining Henderson's team for the season. They're teammates pretty much from the beginning, with just a sprinkling of Henderson worrying that Mattie is her replacement throughout their romance.

This doesn't exactly make them rivals, and it would have been interesting to see a little bit more of that throughout the story. All in all, I thought this was a good read and would definitely recommend it for anyone who enjoys sapphic romance.

Phoebe Matthews just graduated college and is beginning her first season as a professional soccer player in New Orleans. It’s honestly the first time Grace has lived even more than a couple of hours from home, and she’s so jazzed to get her life going. She’s also a bit starry-eyed to be rostered with her long-time idol, Grace Henderson. Grace is just a few years older, but has been playing pro-soccer since her mid-teens. Grace has also made the World Cup team, more than once.

Phoebe is outgoing and fun-loving. Both women are meticulous on the field, but Phoebe’s a hot mess in her personal life. She’s late all the time, working extra jobs to make her budget happen, and this “unprofessional” behavior ticks Grace right off – though she’s not sure if Phoebe’s charming or just ingratiating when she’s meeting Grace for extra workouts and claiming she wants to build a friendship. Grace has been burned by former lovers and doesn’t want to be either public with her sex life, or attracted to her new, beautiful teammate.

I love sports romance and, even if I’m not a soccer fan, per se, I really dug this story. From the outset, I could see that Grace was the buttoned up type of character who needed to break out of the shell she’d built around herself. Those walls were keeping everyone out, and trapping her in misery. Phoebe was just a delight. She’s so assertive on the outside, but having an honest internal struggle that really gave her an interesting vulnerability. Her sex-positive attitude was fun and refreshing, and it was charming how it shook Grace’s stoic foundation. There’s some drama when Grace gets medically sidelined, but I really appreciated how she finally looked inward in those times, delving into her true desires and how to achieve the happiness that she’s long expected but never quite captured.

All the team camaraderie and World Cup tension added an awesome high-stakes backdrop for this fledgling love story. For a person who really doesn’t follow soccer at all, I felt deeply engaged in the politics and relationships of both teams, for Phoebe and Grace. The soccer bits were super well-written and didn’t overtake the story. It takes a while for Phoebe to convince Grace to let her in, to let her love Grace the way she deserves, but Phenom Phoebe is nothing if not persistent. The love scenes are smoking, but I loved the quiet moments equally well, especially when I was in Grace’s POV and felt her “A-ha” experiences. And, wow, I was pleasantly surprised when reading about Phoebe’s experiences with New Orleans sights and food–she had me wishing I’d get back there again for a visit.

This one is highly recommend for fans of sports romance, soccer, New Orleans, or queer love stories with female leads.

Cleat Cute is the latest release from Romance author, Meryl Wilsner. I have read all three of Wilsner's releases thus far and this one falls direct middle of the road for me.

In this story, we follow professional female soccer players, Phoebe Matthews and Grace Henderson. Grace is a veteran player, having played professionally since she was just a teen. While Phoebe is the hot new girl in the league, recently being called up after her stellar college career.

As a younger player, Phoebe grew up idolizing Grace Henderson, even hanging a poster of her over her bed. Now she is getting the chance to play with her; in her league. Phoebe can hardly believe this is her life. Moving from Idaho to New Orleans will be a big change for Phoebe, but she knows she can make it work.

Phoebe throws herself into her new life with her signature gregarious style. Grace, of a much more subdued nature, is a bit taken aback by the new girl. The more time she spends with Phoebe though, the more drawn to her she becomes. Over a series of increasingly personal encounters, the two women end up becoming friends. More specifically, friends with very incredibly hot benefits.

You then follow along with these women as they navigate their complicated friendship, as well as their equally complicated careers. Cleat Cute features a well-developed romance, with plenty of miscommunication causing tension and growth, however, for me, my reaction to it throughout was mixed.

There were moments I was completely invested and enjoying the topics that Wilsner was examining. Then something would happen that would turn me off completely. It always took a while after the turn off to become invested again.

Phoebe's character generally drove me a bit batty, but initially I felt like Grace was someone I could really get behind. Then there would be moments, where in order to provide a conflict, or miscommunication, it seemed like Grace's personality would completely change in order to make that feasible.

I just didn't like that aspect. I may be completely off base with this too, but to me it seemed like Grace was experienced and confident and then she would have these interactions with Phoebe that felt like she had never talked to another human before. It was strange. It was like the conflict needed to be there and we were going to make it happen no matter how out of place it seemed. It was those types of situations that made it feel slightly inconsistent to me.

By the end though, the characters had won me over and I was fully behind their new-found open communication and expression of tenderness. There were also some discussions, particularly with Grace, who was grappling with a hip flexor injury, about where she wanted to go with her career. She was benched for a while during recovery and she had to decide if she wanted to step back into a lesser role when she returned.

As a sports person, I enjoyed that, getting the chance to delve more into detail on Grace's thoughts and emotions regarding her career and responsibility to her team.

I would recommend this one to anyone who enjoys a steamy sapphic romance; extra points if you enjoy a sports romance. The audiobook was well narrated, so definitely recommend that as a format for as well. Thank you to the publisher, Griffin and Macmillan Audio, for providing me with copies to read and review. I will continue to pick up Wilsner's new releases.

Cleat Cute is a spicy sapphic soccer romance with a grumpy x sunshine dynamic and neurodivergent rep. I had a lot of fun reading this book, although there were some minor aspects that bothered me. By the end of the story, I was very invested in Grace and Phoebe's relationship and I would recommend this for a sports romcom with lesbian MCs (which there is definitely not enough of)!

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for providing an advanced copy of this title in exchange for an honest review.

This book was such a good read! Any book with this type of cover is an auto read for me so I was very excited. A cute cheesy romance that any romance reader would love! I enjoyed the plot the characters and the writing made this book a favorite I was hooked I couldn't put it down! Thank you to the authors and publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this wonderful book I can't wait for other people to read it!

Cleat Cute by Meryl Wilsner is such a fantastic sapphic romance.
I have read all of this author's books and this one did not disappoint.

This book was sexy, and I loved every minute of it. I love that the author depicted a sexual relationship that wasn't perfect. It was really nice to see this and very relatable.

I really liked that both characters were neurodivergent. The way this was depicted and how it affected the relationship were brilliant.

This is a great friends to lovers sapphic romance with a sports element that I really loved.

I enjoyed the internal dialogue as well.

Looking forward to more books from Meryl Wilsner.

I heard about this sapphic friends to lovers romance in many places on Instagram, and was eager to see what the buzz was about. Grace and Phoebe are teammates on the New Orleans Women’s Soccer team, the Krewe. Grace has been the lead player in women’s soccer for quite some time, Phoebe is the up and comer. They inevitably fall for each other. Grace is uptight and reserved, Phoebe is a free-spirit, seemingly without a care in the world outside of making the World Cup roster. In a lot of ways, their romance doesn’t really make sense. They misunderstand and misread each other throughout the relationship and this annoyed me. That said, I really enjoyed the setting (I took notes on new places to go in NOLA) and I loved the insider perspective on professional women’s sports. A ton of 🌶️ in this one-not for the faint of heart:) #romance #fallreads #womenssoccer #pride #loveislove #allyreads thanks to @netgalley and to @stmartinspress for the arc which publishes 9/19!

This was a somewhat entertaining read. I really enjoyed the build up, but there was something missing from making me love this. I just didn’t ultimately love the chemistry between the two leads. I wanted to connect more. The spice was definitely there but the love wasn’t what I was expecting.

As an avid lover of Mistakes Were Made, I wasn’t sure what to expect from this one. Needless to say, I was not disappointed! Meryl Wilsner is shaping up to be my favorite queer author and I look forward to devouring every book. I also really appreciated the description of ADHD which I found very tasteful and very accurate.

i’ve been waiting for this book to come out since it was announced, so i was afraid it couldn’t live up to my expectations BUT IT DID AND MORE

my credentials are 1. i am a massive women’s soccer fan 2. i am a massive homosexual

plot? 5 ☆
being able to relate to both characters that are opposites? 5 ☆
the spice? just about killed me

i also teared up at the ending & I DO NOT CRY WTF DID THIS BOOK DO TO ME