Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for providing me with an eARC of this book!

Soccer lesbians! That's literally it, that's the entire review. What more could I possibly say to convince someone to read this book? This was exactly what I was hoping it would be- a cute, steamy sports romance with the grumpy-sunshine trope. (Sidenote- I'm not entirely sure why this is being marketed as rivals-to-lovers. At no point are Phoebe and Grace rivals. At most, they just kind of get off on the wrong foot which is almost immediately resolved. They're even on the same team, so definitely not rivals). Grace is incredibly introverted and serious, while Phoebe is much more gregarious and free-spirited, and I think Meryl Wilsner did a fantastic job writing the dynamic between these two and the way they balance each other out. Phoebe pulls Grace out of her comfort zone and shows her how fun and good life can be when you put yourself out there. Grace grounds Phoebe and helps keep her planted in reality. They really are very cute together. Also, the neurodivergence rep from Phoebe and Grace?? I was not expecting that and it was such a pleasant surprise. I wish it had been explored more- it really only became a clear plot point late in the book, although it was pretty obvious throughout the book that Phoebe has ADHD and Grace has autism. The way the neurodivergence rep and plot played out felt very rushed to me and I wish the author had explored more of what that means for the two of them, their relationship with each other, and how it will affect their own individual lives going forward. I also wish there had been more of an emphasis on the soccer aspect. I know this is a romance first and foremost, but I can't help it, I am such a fan of soccer, and I wish the game itself would have played a bigger role.

Overall, this is a cute, sexy, wholesome soccer romance that really captures the spirit of women's soccer- namely that it is incredibly, incredibly, gay. I adored this book and it was exactly what I was hoping it would be.

By 10% into this, I wanted to DNF. I held off because I was buddy-reading this with a friend. It was a mistake. I should have DNF'd. Instead, I hate read it in one day.

Cleat Cute is one of the least accurately marketed books I have ever read. There is nothing, and I mean absolutely nothing, that makes this book a rivals to lovers. Grace is Pheobe's idol. She has photos of her on her bedroom wall. They are on the same team. Also, if you tell me this is a mix of Ted Lasso and A League of Their Own, I better get wholesome, witty, and intelligent, with great dialogue. Sadly, I did not get any of this.

The neurodiversity of the characters was poorly executed, at least in my opinion. There are hints that both main characters are neurodivergent, but it is not the focus until the last third. This subplot lacked cohesiveness.

I didn't have any feelings for either character, resulting in me not caring about their relationship. For two people who discussed their sexual relationship with ease, there was an excessive amount of miscommunication. They never talked about anything real. When things needed to be said, they had sex instead. Usually, at the end of the romcom, I walk away with that Happily Ever After feeling. I did not have that here. I would be shocked if this couple lasted. The inner monologue of both characters is exhausting. The dialogue was cringey and repetitive. The only thing I liked about them was the spice.

As a side note, skip this book if you are repulsed by the C word (See You Next Tuesday). The word doesn't bother me, but I thought it was overused.

Thank you to NetGalley, Macmillan Audio, and St. Martin's Press for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I’ve read a few of Wilsner’s titles now, and while Mistakes Were Made is still one of my top reads of last year, I struggled with the beginnings of this one and the other. They were tough to get into the storylines and I felt this particular book was too much focused on soccer and not about building up the relationships… at first.

The second half of this book was much better (but the whole way through it was extremely steamy), after the initial days with the soccer team were behind them and it really got into the relationship and the personal struggles they each had to face - then it got very good! I’m glad I stuck with it.

Like the first book of theirs that I read, it was worth sticking to it. The second book was brilliant the entire way through. I had very high hopes for this book because of how incredible the last release was, and the second half lived up to that.. If you can get beyond the first half and stick with it to the very good second half when the real meat of the book starts, you know they (Meryl Wilsner) are an excellent author and you’re in for a great sapphic romance novel! National Team teammates Grace, the team Captain, and rookie Phoebe are a love for the ages!

For the audio - I did have to give up on the audio version and go strictly to the ebook halfway because I couldn’t focus on it - the narration wasn’t holding my attention. This is not a problem I normally have, being a 15-year audio person! It’s not that they weren’t doing a good job, and I appreciate that there were two narrators, but it felt like they were speaking too slow, no matter what speed I made it, and that might have been part of my problem with the first half.

I received an advance read and listen copy from NetGalley and St. Martin's Press (St. Martin's Griffin) and Macmillan Audio, and this is my honest feedback.

Tropes:
Sports Romance
Grumpy/Sunshine
Age Gap (7 years)


Meryl Wisner is an auto read for me, and her character development and stories have grown for each book she has writte. Grace and Pheobe have instant chemistry. Each character has a distinct voice and problems. This book is sexy, smart and funny.

This book was so amazing! The spice was good. The story was very intriguing and kept me invested. And the title, “Cleat Cute”, is the most perfect title for it.
I loved the fact that both characters were neurodivergent. It was just the perfect touch.
Grace and Phoebe literally have my whole entire heart. I cannot express how good this book was. I have no words to describe my love for this book. Al I can say is I love this book sooo freaking much!
(I put the link for my Instagram profile but have not yet posted my review on there it should be there tomorrow(9-18) or Tuesday(9-19)!)

To no surprise at all, another great book from Meryl Wilsner! I was so excited to get a chance to read this from NetGalley, and really enjoyed it even though I don’t actually like soccer. Phoebe & Grace reminded me a lot of Ollie & Gavin from Everything for You by Chloe Liese, which I also loved. I think the idea of one of the characters being the idolized childhood crush of the other is such a fun dynamic that sets you up for great chemistry right away! I found Grace to be extra relatable & really enjoyed the representation of ADHD as well. As always with their books, it was hot & steamy in all the right ways, no cheesy third act breakup, and definitely one I’ll recommend! Add this one to your TBR when it comes out on 9/19!

Cleat Cute is another great story by Meryl Wilsner. It’s a Sappic sports romance story and both Grace and Phoebe are great characters individually and their chemistry together is so fun.

Just in time for @SapphicSeptember !!

Cleat Cute by Meryl Wilsner was exactly what the title promised- a cute romance between soccer stars. Grace is the grumpy veteran, Phoebe is the sunshine newbie. Grace has never had a “normal” life due to her soccer talent, Grace grew up in the Midwest with a lower middle class family. Opposites attract, grumpy/sunshine, captain/player, new in town/lived here for years, jaded and tired/excited and fresh, oblivious/oblivious… And steamy scenes! Oh! And braiding hair as a love language! Also neurodivergent MCs!

This book had too many extreme differences in MCs for me to LOVE it (they were the oppositest of opposites!!!). However, I did love how miscommunication was handled throughout the book and their shared obliviousness. I also greatly enjoyed learning more about women’s professional soccer. This was a great read and I definitely recommend if you like opposites attract, sports romance, neurodivergent MCs, forced proximity, strong females, braiding hair as a love language.

Thanks to @netgalley and @stmartinspress for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really liked this Sapphic soccer novel! Phoebe and Grace were amazing. I loved the mental health representation. Phoebe enters the world of her professional soccer career and is on the same team as her soccer idol growing up. Even though Grace is only 4 years older than Phoebe, she entered professional soccer at a younger age. The grumpy/sunshine was so good in this book. Grace being the older wiser teammate pushes Phoebe to be better and of course to fall more in love with her idol. Until they snap! Then sparks fly!! The miscommunication trope does show in the 3rd act but it’s critical to the story. Not usually a fan of it but in this story it works.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of Cleat Cute to review!
4.5 stars
This ADORABLE sapphic romance between two women on the US Women's National Soccer Team had me obsessed. Grace Henderson is a veteran on the team that started playing professionally when she way 16 and quickly got pushed into the spotlight of professional sports. She's 26 now and the charm of playing soccer has begun to wear off. Enter Phoebe Matthews, an energetic 22 year-old fresh out of playing for her college team. They meet at practice and although to Grace, Phoebe seems like the living embodiment of everything she's trying to avoid (a class clown who is always late to everything and is used to making friends with everyone), Phoebe still persistently edges her way into Grace's life. This super cute romance has the perfect balance of soccer and romance, it was a lovable story that is absolutely worth the read!

I ate this story up and left no crumbs. Everything about it I adored I have no complaints. I loved the duel-POV and I loved both Grace and Phoebe as characters. I also loved all the other teammates that they played alongside on both teams. This was such a fun cast of characters that there was not one character that I had an issue with. I tend to have issues with Phoebe's character-type because it is oftentimes difficult to write that character as a little bit obnoxious without being overly obnoxious but I thought it was done really well in this book. I loved the soccer scenes and the New Orleans scenes. For someone that couldn't care less about sports this book did a great job balancing the romance with the other parts of the story. In a sense this book also literally made me a US Women's National Soccer Team fan, even though I don't like soccer I was still fully invested in the soccer aspects of the book. I thought the story was witty and funny and also really endearing and sweet at the same time. I loved both of the character's character growth and I loved watching Grace determine what she really wanted and cared about in the end. Additionally, I thought it was very interesting how the 3rd Act break-up in this book was different from anything else I've read. I was expecting the whole (one member of the relationship thinks they're dating but the other one doesn't) thing to blow up in their faces and that would be the 3rd Act break-up but it just wasn't instead. The ending was so seamless (and not annoying) while also still keeping the reader engaged, I loved it. The ending was unexpecting in the sense that it DIDN'T do the thing I've seen done over and over and over. Overall, honestly no complaints over here. In my opinion this book absolutely accomplished what it set out to do, I'm so glad I read it.

Meryl Wilsner is definitely becoming a leading name in sapphic, wlw romances. This was a cute book and I’m glad I read it. I’m glad it’s an option for readers because good wlw is still harder to find than other queer couplings. This was not my favorite of her books but a 3.5 star for sure.

The inner monologues got a bit much and took away from being in the actual story. But the spice was good, the characters weren’t annoying, and it was an overall fun read.

I wanted to love this book so much, but it sadly missed the mark for me. My biggest issue was the writing style - I just do not enjoy reading {close} third person narration. It probably didn’t help that the main character with whom I least identified is also named Grace 🙃

Additionally, I’m generally not a fan of the friends-with-benefits trope, so the majority of their relationship dynamic wasn’t enjoyable to me.

I appreciate the neurodivergent representation, but I wish some of those conversations were more developed or happened a bit earlier in the story. They just felt like more of an afterthought than I’d prefer.

Things I liked:

📖 The title & cover art - 10/10

⚽️ Soccer talk - soccer is my favorite sport & I loved that this book was, at its core, about women’s soccer. I think the author did a decent job explaining certain positions & drills without getting too detailed.

🌈LGBTQIA+ representation - I firmly believe in the importance of reading from authors in the LGBTQIA+ community & stories with characters of all identities & orientations. I believe it encourages respect & empathy.

Thanks to NetGalley & the publisher for providing me with an Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) in exchange for an honest review.

Actual Rating: 3.5 stars

I was very excited when I was approved for this ARC, Sports romance featuring soccer! Sign me up :)

Phoebe gets the chance to play alongside her soccer idol Grace Henderson when called up for the US National Team camp and also being drafted to the same team in New Orleans. During national camp, Phoebe makes a bet that she can beat Grace (who always wins) during the beep test. The bet? If Phoebe wins, Grace owes her a kiss. Well, Grace loses the bet and things heat up from there. Phoebe and Grace are complete opposites. But we all know the saying opposites attract ;) They become friends with benefits.

This was a cute read. Unfortunately, I didn’t love it as much as I thought I would. There were some laugh out loud moments and some good spicy scenes. I’m a sucker for locker scenes ;)

Grace’s inner monologues were annoying, in my opinion. After finishing the book I understand why her inner monologues were that way but by the time it was addressed around the 80% mark I felt it was too late. If it was addressed earlier I probably would have different opinion on Grace. And because of this, I struggled with reading Grace’s POV.

There were a some spicy scenes that had a good build up but then when it went to the next chapter it was just over. So it was like a fade to black in my opinion. One scene specifically, the make up sex after one of their fights, we had one POV and then the next chapter it started with “The next morning..” NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

Another thing that bothered me was the POVs, specifically when we flipped POVs. When we started a new POV, it wasn’t written whose POV we were reading. For me, I prefer the chapter to say whose POV we are getting. I’m not sure if this is changed in the final copy or not.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

yes yes yess!! i loved this book so much. i finished it in a day and laughed a lot. i would definitely recommend it if you’re looking for a queer sports romance book!

Honestly, not too many thoughts on this one! It was, in my opinion, leagues better than Mistakes Were Made. Lots of fun, some actual plot, good characters.

I usually avoid sports at all costs, but sports romances are the exception. And this one is just as excellent as I wanted it to be! If you're looking for childhood crush, friends with benefits, and grumpy/sunshine with some sports mixed in, this is for you!

We also have multiple other sapphic side characters and couples and a nonbinary side character.

I really appreciated that all of the angst and drama came from different versions of communication/miscommunication than I expected. It was refreshing!

Also, I was in a bit of a Zolita mood as I was reading, and Somebody I F*cked Once came on and now I can't stop relating it to Grace and Phoebe, so I definitely recommend listening to that/Zolita's recent discography while reading. 10/10 experience.

Phoebe, an up-and-coming soccer star from middle-of-nowhere America is star-struck when she meets her long-time idol Grace Henderson. Grace, however, can’t be bothered to get close to anyone, let alone another rookie…not after what happened last time. But when they end up on the same Women’s National Team they realize they’re going to have to get along or risk screwing their chances at the World Cup before it even begins.

As the pair grow closer despite their obvious differences, they find their chemistry is undeniable, both on and off the field. But after an injury sidelines Grace and Phoebe is poised to take her place their already rocky friends-with-benefits situation finds itself in a tricky spot. Can Grace see past her own insecurities and actually let Phoebe in? And can Phoebe listen well enough to support Grace in the ways she needs? All while learning how to work together instead of against each other on the field?

Meryl Wilsner does it again! I knew going into this it was going to be a steamy one and this read did not disappoint. But as I’ve come to appreciate with Wilsner’s writing the spicy scenes serve a purpose in the plot and aren’t just forced in. The story and characters would have different outcomes without those scenes and they push the narrative compared to hindering it.

Often in romance, it feels like there’s a trade-off between plot or character development. But Cleat Cute left me with both a high-stakes plot and characters I deeply cared about. And I learned a ton about professional soccer. I did truly believe too that these characters were real because of how well the backstory was woven in. After reading it I wanted to google “Phenom Soccer” or look up Grace Henderson’s many interviews. And it was a bit of a disappointment when I realized I couldn’t but that’s a testament to the quality of writing Meryl gives us.

One of my favorite things about the book is its treatment of lesbianism. I rarely ever see the word “lesbian” even in WLW romance novels so to see two lesbian-identifying characters was so exciting. Not only did we get lesbian-on-lesbian action but we got two vastly different approaches to lesbianism. Phoebe, an out and proud lesbian who weaves being queer into every part of her identity is far more like me. However, Grace is much more reserved in her sexuality. And although she isn’t closeted, her identity does not crop up in her life much more than who she chooses to be with romantically. I know it’s a small aspect of the overall book but having characters that truly feel queer really does elevate the story.

This book is also what I call a queer WLW book. And what I mean by that is the only thing gay about Cleat Cute isn’t just that the lead characters are AFAB and into each other. But there are a variety of queer characters and multiple queer topics are discussed. It is a queer book for queer people and doesn’t try to make its content more “digestible” or heternormative. Which is a huge plus.

All in all, I would definitely recommend Cleat Cute if you like complex opposites attract romance and hot sex scenes. You’ll find yourself relating to both Phoebe and Grace at different times and rooting for them throughout the whole story. Plus there’s a World Cup to win! Happy reading!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for sending this eARC for review consideration. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

**Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for an e-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review**

I really wanted to like this one but, unfortunately, it just wasn’t for me.

There were parts that I enjoyed! The spice was good and there were a few key scenes I enjoyed where the characters really got to shine on their own. There were also some good conversations about being queer and what it means for different people which I did enjoy.

The beginning seemed like a lot of set up that felt a little repetitive and it wasn’t until about 40ish% of the way through the book that a major plot point happened.

The miscommunication felt repetitive in a lot of ways too. It felt as though each time we switched point of views, the miscommunication had to be reestablished through an internal monologue. When they did fight about their miscommunications, it seemed to be resolved way too quickly.

This is marketed as ADHD/Autism, but that really didn’t become a major piece until 80% of the way in and it felt a little more like an add on than anything and a little bit forced. It didn’t really sit well with me how it was brought up either.

Overall, this book wasn’t really for me. I think I expected something very different when I picked this book up.

The writing is incredibly accessible for young adults and new adults. It feels like it’s speaking well to the target audience. I stopped after chapter 2 (5%), but solid three stars, four to five for the right readers.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC.

Thank you to the Netgalley and the publisher, St. Martin’s Press, St. Martin’s Griffin, for the opportunity to read this advanced reader copy. This honest review was based off my experience reading this eARC, which in no way biased me. All opinions are my own.

This is the second book I have read from this author. While I can appreciate what they were trying to do, unfortunately for me it did not give what I was hoping for. Perhaps that’s more on me than on the author.

Cleat Cute has a few elements that are right up my alley. It’s sapphic and they’re soccer players. I really did not need more to convince myself that I needed to read this book. But later I saw it was marketed as grumpy/sunshine and rivals to lovers, unfortunately I feel the start of the faults in the execution begin here.

Personally, two women who are literally on the same soccer team inherently cannot be rivals. Yet, this is what is happening. Grace is the 26 year old soccer superstar veteran player and captain to the New Orleans soccer team Phoebe, the 21- 22 year old rookie is joining. I could see the fact that they both want a spot on the Women’s National team but this is a team that Grace has played on for multiple years, (refer back to the soccer superstar, Bestie has been practically playing/training professionally since she was 11) there’s no way that Grace’s spot on the National team is even up for grabs.

Now, Grace has a hip injury that she’s kept secret from her teams and trainers for a whole season if not more. Obviously, Grace is a private person. What I don’t understand is why Grace who has successfully kept it a secret for months confesses to this woman has known for all of 2 seconds (maybe less than 2 months within the story). It does not make sense. Now you can argue that since Phoebe is practically in love and obsessed with Grace and has been for like most of her life, Phoebe might be more observant than others. But the fact is Grace still had to confirm Phoebe’s suspicions, and I don’t get why she would do that. Well there’s lots of things they both do that I don’t understand but anyway.

So if the whole “competing for the same spot on the National team” was more of a plot point and not some causally mentioned throwaway lines I would believe the whole “yeah they’re rivals”. But alas it is not and so it feels more like a marketing thing because you literally cannot be rivals with a fellow teammate that you have zero previous history with. It’s not like they were rivals on separate teams and now they’re playing for the same team. Or even if they had the same level of “celebrity/soccer superstar status” and they were actually competing for the starting position of whatever position they play. But again neither of those situations are a thing.

As for the grumpy/sunshine it honestly feels more of like an older sister/younger sister dynamic (when you’re not considering when they have sec of course). Phoebe is the “younger, irresponsible/flakey, more energetic, talker, considered to be like ALOT, loud, ‘an open book’, etc. ” while Grace is the “more responsible, grumpy, ‘team mom’, older, wiser, private, more reserved, etc.”.

I have to go back and expand on the bit I mentioned previously about the fact that Phoebe has already been practically in love with Grace for like half her life. So we know that Grace started training to play professional soccer since she was 11. There’s a 5 year age difference between Grace and Phoebe. So when Grace started her professional soccer career Phoebe was growing up watching her. So when Phoebe meets Grace and has the opportunity to play on the same team as her, Phoebe is naturally elated to say the least. But here’s the thing, because Grace has always been so private about her and her life Phoebe doesn’t actually know shit about her. But yet she’s still practically in love with her.

Once they meet they don’t really get to know each other much because while Phoebe doesn’t stop talking Grace tends to tune her out. Their relationship is almost purely physical chemistry and lust based. Which is fine but it does feel very out of pocket that Grace is literally scolding Phoebe for being late over and over again and then they’re fucking in the locker room. we are told they feel these strong emotions (to practical strangers) but we are not shown this.

How am I led to believe that Phoebe has actual real life feelings for Grace apart the fact that she’s been her celebrity crush for over a decade? And that Phoebe is going to be the reason Grace breaks the “don’t get involved with teammates” rule she established because another similar situation burned her.

Because of this as I was reading it all felt so surface level. There’s a fundamental miscommunication happening between Grace and Phoebe that them having only a physical relationship and not actually talking about things only exacerbates the differences of opinions/stances even further.

Now seeing that it was marketed as Autistic and ADHD I was hoping that they already knew their diagnoses. This is also not the case. Grace has a sister who has diagnosed ADHD so having that background and the help with trusty TikTok, she diagnoses Phoebe with ADHD and then realizes she is autistic. I’m not apposed to TikTok being the thing that sparks your own research on any topic. But there has to be other research done outside of TikTok.

Is there well written smut? Yes. But when I don’t feel connected or even interested in the characters I don’t care for the smut to be honest. So…

Anyway, I wish it gave what I wanted. Unfortunately it didn’t and it’s a big no for me.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Griffin for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I was so excited for this one, but unfortunately, this was a big miss for me. There were a few things about this I really enjoyed, but overall I’m not sure I would recommend this book.

For the things about this I did enjoy: I thought the spice was so fun! I really liked the way Phoebe and Grace checked in with each other and the communication they had during sex. I also really liked how they mentioned that sometimes sexy is just about connection and intimacy, not just ensuring all parties finish. I also really appreciated the diversity of the cast of characters.

Now while Phoebe & Grace’s communication during sex was refreshing and positive, I think that was the only time in the book where they communicated well. I found it really frustrating that for about half the book Phoebe thought they were in a committed relationship whole Grace just thought they were FWB. Neither one of them spoke up about defining the relationship and it ultimately led to a lot of confusion and in my opinion, a very clunky and unbelievable conclusion to their happy ending.

I also really struggled with the writing style here. Third person is not usually a deterrent for me when reading a book, but for this one it was borderline distracting. It was choppy and hard to follow. The storytelling also relied HEAVILY on the reader already knowing a lot about the ins and outs of professional soccer. There were a lot of acronyms and terminology thrown out that got very little explanation and left me feeling a bit lost. The characters also had a lot of internal monologue if and did a lot of telling but not necessarily a lot of showing, and left me craving a bit more overall from the relationship.

And lastly, the thing that sits so terribly with my spirit: the ADHD/Autism representation. This book is marketed to have ADHD/Autism representation and while the characters are written with traits to exemplify this, these traits are pretty stereotypical indicators of both and are pretty one-dimensional. It isn’t until around the 75% mark that Phoebe *potentially* having ADHD is mentioned. And in my opinion, the way this whole situation arises sits so unwell with me. Grace assumes Phoebe has ADHD and is medicated for it, when in fact, Phoebe has never considered herself to have ADHD or need to be medicated, etc. This assumption and miscommunication then leads to an argument where it’s barely discussed and then they have sex to change the subject. I just really disliked how this assumption was the fuel for a conflict and then not resolved and just had them hook up when it felt so out of place to the plot. Phoebe & Grace having sex instead of communicating is a huge theme throughout the book and I think it really took away for the potential for character development. And then, a few chapters later, Grace determines that she has really big feelings for Grace and is going to research doctors & set up a doctors appointment for Phoebe to get tested and hopefully diagnosed with ADHD so she can become medicated, even though Phoebe has mentioned twice at this point that she doesn’t really want to talk about it/think about having ADHD because “ADHD is something middle school boys have.” While researching ADHD for Phoebe, Grace stumbles across Autism TikTok where she things for one sentence she may possibly have Autism. And then it’s never spoken about again. I just wish overall this representation was handled with a bit more care and nuance.

As much as I wanted to love this, it wasn’t for me.