Read This Book If…you loved Bend It Like Beckham!

Please note: this was an ARC provided to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
Cleat Cute by Meryl Wilsner

Genre: queer sports romance
Spice Level: 4/5🌶, 3-4 explicit scenes
Setting: New Orleans
POV: dual, 3rd person, present tense
Tropes: grumpy/sunshine, workplace, secret romance, friends with benefits, miscommunication, bets, childhood idol

What I Thought: This was such a fun, steamy read! This author did a fabulous job weaving a full spectrum of queer identities into this story and making it feel perfectly natural. I thought the neurodivergent rep was also great! If you hate miscommunication, this might not be your read - I was definitely yelling “JUST TALK TO EACH OTHER” at both characters. I also found it a little difficult to track the narrative because it was dual POV and third person, which can get a little confusing when both characters are the same gender. I will still recommend this to anyone looking for a sexy, sapphic read!

Memorable Quote: “One of the downsides of being a lesbian athlete is other women are always doing hot things around you.”

Cleat Cute by Meryl Wilsner is a sapphic, grumpy/sunshine romance about two pro soccer players months before the World Cup. We follow Phoebe, a rookie who was recently signed to her first pro team, and Grace, a veteran who has been playing professionally for most of her life. As they navigate their respective journeys to success in soccer, they find an easy connection with each other.

I love Meryl Wilsners writing and their ability to make me feel immersed in the story and feel connected to the characters. I was so excited to have the opportunity to read an ARC of their book because I just couldn’t wait to read more of their writing.

Reading this was so fun and the deeper I got into it the more I deeply related to Grace. I am an autistic woman who didn’t figure that out until my 20s- so to see some representation of how my mind works in a book like this was pretty big for me. It also helps that I am married to a red-headed ADHDer with a big, goofy personality and a huge love for soccer. Definitely relate to Grace in more ways than one!

Admittedly, I've yet to watch Ted Lasso, but as a fan of the A League of Their Own movie, when I saw that this book was going to be in that same vein, I was interested. Going into it, I had high hopes. It reminded me a bit of Nothing New by Taylor Swift and when I relate a book to a Taylor Swift song, I'm fairly certain it's going to end up a good read. I was not let down. I could really relate to Grace's arc in kind of losing herself in the pursuit of something she wanted so badly, and finding herself again thanks to people who breeze in and remind her what it's all about. It was unputdownable.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC for this book! I’ve not read a whole lot of sports romances but this may be my entry into them! Really enjoyed this book & would definitely read more from this author!

Meryl Wilsner writes steamy sapphic rom-coms, and this is my favorite of hers to date. The story takes place in the world of women's professional soccer, and Grace and Phoebe are both fantastic characters. As always, there is depth to the story and each lead has their own issues to work through in order to reach a HEA together. I loved the dynamic between these two strong women as they navigated their differences and their growing feelings for each other. The whole book was fun and sweet and populated with great side characters, as well. Thank you to NetGalley, and St. Martin's Press/St. Martin's Griffin for a digital review copy.

All of Wilsners books have been 5🌟 reads for me and this one is no exception. One of my favorite things about her books are that the characters are real, they have flaws and problems and beyond a single identifying personality trait. My other favorite thing is that you can feel the tension and the love between the characters. You can feel their relationship develop and change. You don’t just read about what happens, you experience it with them. Not all authors can do that, but Wilsner has done it every time for me. This book had so much great queer rep, and neurodivergent rep. And the grumpy cat/golden retriever energy was everything. Definitely recommend.

As a fan of sapphic romance, I was eager to dive into the pages of Cleat Cute by Meryl Wilsner, a novel that promised a delightful blend of romance, sports, and comedy. With comparisons to shows like Ted Lasso and A League of Their Own, I had high hopes for an engaging and heartwarming story. While I unfortunately had to pause my reading due to my personal preferences (too much 🌶️), I believe this book has the potential to be a fantastic read for those who enjoy a bit more spice in their romance books.

The story introduces us to Grace Henderson, a seasoned player on the US Women’s National Soccer Team, and Phoebe Matthews, a spirited newcomer who brings a breath of fresh air to the team. Grace's injury leads to a shift in dynamics, placing her alongside Phoebe, and from

there, their connection evolves into an unexpected friendship with benefits. the dynamic between Grace and Phoebe starts off quick!

Though my journey through the book was cut short due to my personal aversion to explicit content, I want to emphasize that this aspect should not overshadow the book's qualities. The writing is well done, and the plot is engaging, showcasing the author's intriguing plat. Further enhancing the book's appeal is its notable inclusion of characters who are neurodiverse.

I wholeheartedly recommend this book to others. While I'm disappointed that it didn't align with my preferences, I want to emphasize that this stems from my personal taste. As someone who identifies as Ace, my reaction to spicy content in media can be quite variable, and regrettably, the level of spiciness in the book escalated too rapidly for my comfort. Wishing you all an enjoyable reading experience!

Extremely entertaining. Portrays autism and adhd in ways that are fictional but not fake. Romance is sweet and drama is tense without either feeling forced. Conflict is frustrating without being annoying and thought out well enough for it to feel rewarding when resolved.

A cute love story, but some aspects of it didn't work as well as I would have liked. I enjoyed Grace and Phoebe, appreciated how both are neurodivergent especially for representation purposes, and it was fun to follow their professional and personal relationships as they transformed through multiple different stages. While Wilsner certainly doesn't shy away from steamy content, I liked how she emphasized that intimacy is about much more than sex. However, I wasn't expecting the tale to be so internally focused, often dwelling for large amounts of time in the thoughts of its protagonists; these notions could have been communicated to the reader more often through the characters' actions, which would have helped make the book feel less bogged down with interior monologues.

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

I want to firstly say, I love that this had good neurodivergent representation. It was interesting realizing that this was a part of the story line because it wasn't marketed in the synopsis. I loved following the neuodivergent plot as something that was being discovered on both sides rather than already knowing, and identifying with, as you read the story you're realizing symptoms/behaviors, that makes a reader realize "hmm is this something that's going to be opened up?" I don't really like the follow through of it. Grace diagnosed her and its one thing to mention, hey maybe there's something more than just being hyper behavior vs diagnosing her with her full chest while Pheobe's family is in the hallway. It was just a very rude way to go through with everything and if you're going through this neurodivergent path, it could and should have been done a lot more kinder.

I didn't like Grace as a character. Its one thing to be determined and introverted, but it was sometimes really hard to read how irritated she was/ or looked down at Pheobe. I think Pheobe had this idealistic way, maybe almost put Grace on a pedestal because she was her teen idol that she overlooked how irritating Grace could be. Its one thing to also be cautious about falling in love, reserved to let people in but the dynamic that Grace had with pheobe was almost cringey because Pheobe looked like this star strucked little kid and Grace had this exasperated, kind of, FINE you can spend the night/FINE you can tag along mentality. I say this with loving morally grey characters, loving characters who are (to most people) unlikable, I just think the relationship didn't translate well, it didn't flow, it was uncomfortable at times, I almost rather them be friends because the relationship wasn't believable. I think it could have been more believable if there was more show vs tell. Like the inner monologues was so heavy and I wished there could be more showing, show me that this is different, show me why Grace is allowing Pheobe.

I love reading sport romances, soccer specifically because I played soccer. I don't think this was truly a rivals to lovers. Pheobe never viewed herself as Grace's rival. They were on the same sports team not opposing teams and never was so I don't know if that would classify them as rivals? I could be wrong.

It was an overall okay book.

This book filled the big, gay World Cup-shaped hole in my heart. And the sex scenes are amazing as always. I loved the characters and the world building. Such a great book for gay soccer fans. I wouldn’t be mad at a sequel that takes place at the tournament!

I wanted to like this book. A Lesbian soccer romance with mental health rep is right up my alley. Dual POV, very different personalities and spice! It seems like it should have been good. Unfortunately, there was a lack of research and it took away my enjoyment of the story.
The plot. Phoebe Matthews makes a professional soccer team, and gets to play with her soccer hero and crush, Grace Henderson, while continuing with her overall goal of making the World Cup Squad. Grace finds Phoebe annoying and unprofessional and is trying to hide a long term injury from everyone on the team. Cue spending time together exploring New Orleans, some miscommunication and a spicy locker room scene.
The issues I had were: the team had trainers, a chiro, massage therapist and nutrition expert but, no physiotherapist? As a physiotherapist I found this unrealistic and disrespectful. Perhaps that's why Grace had zero management for her injury. Which was my next issue, a hip flexor injury (which is vague as heck) management would not be doing no exercise, no activity and no treatment for 3-6 weeks. I couldn't get around this. It made zero sense. I enjoyed the mental health rep in this book but again, many professional teams now have access to psychologists/therapists (this one did not) and I did not like how Grace basically decided to diagnose Phoebe with ADHD. Absolutely try to get people help but, leave the actual diagnosing to professionals.
Lastly this quote "she tried to major in biology when she first started school but got a C minus in her first class. Switching to a sports medicine major made a lot more sense than struggling through four years when she knew...she wasn't really cut out for academia". I read this so many times and what I am hearing here is that sports medicine is an easy topic to study? Maybe it's different in the States but you still need biology for a sports medicine type degree, a long with other classes such as physiology and anatomy. Not easy. Why do I know this? Before my physical therapy master's I did an undergrad in something very similar.
So, if you don't have the background I do, you might enjoy this. The writing itself was good, it flowed. But I just spent half the book fuming about inaccuracies.

Cleat Cute is for lovers of sapphic romcoms with a lot of spice. Phoebe and Grace are professional soccer player, Phoebe in her rookie year and Grace is a veteran. In fact, despite a 4 year age difference, Phoebe grew up with a poster of Grace over her bed.

However, Phoebe probably never imagined what their relationship would come to be from looking at that poster. From teammates, to practice partners, to friends with benefits, to so much more.

Such a fun and hot read.

Absolutely loved this book! I read it in one day

So much representation, great plot, lovable characters. I also think this is how miscommunication should be used - enough to cause tension and confusion (and interest for the reader) but NOT used as a device for the third act breakup.

So good

Grumpy veteran meets sunshine rookie in this new sapphic sports rom-com from Meryl Wilsner.

Phoebe Matthews is gearing up for her first season of professional soccer. Drafted to play alongside her longtime idol, Phoebe never expects to find friendship in Grace Henderson, let alone romance.
But when a bet at soccer camp leads to a spark of attraction, the romance is inevitable. With the pressure of the World Cup and the uncertainty of injury against them, Phoebe and Grace must do what they can to weather the storm together or end up on opposite sides of the pitch.

This is my third Wilsner book but, unfortunately, might just be my least favorite. This book just needed a lot more refining. The narration style was so heavy of inner monologue/dialogue, I skipped entire paragraphs of text just to keep moving along without getting confused. I wasn't sold on the romance between Grace and Phoebe. Their miscommunication was more frustrating than funny and they had no chemistry. Overall, there were too many background characters to follow, so their importance gets lost in the sheer amount of side storylines. The neurodivergence conversation would have been great had it not come out of nowhere.

I'm pretty disappointed about this one.

✨ PRINCEMAN ARC REVIEW ✨

📝 Phoebe has always loved the game of soccer. When she finally gets called up for the US Women's National Team, it's a dream come true...or the fact that she gets to play with her long term idol & crush Grace Henderson! Grace doesn't know how to deal with Phoebe because she's everything opposite of Grace: loud, talkative and playful. But one kiss changes everything, and it's something neither one of them can ignore.

What I 🤍:
⚽️ Sports Romance
🤫 Secret Relationship
💕 Opposites Attract
🤝 Teammates & Lovers
🎉 New Orleans Scene
🍴 Foodie References

These characters were EVERYTHING in this book. I fell in love with both of them, and I loved how Grace & Phoebe communicated with one another. Their relationship felt so realistic, especially if you are "sort of" seeing someone you work with. HOLY SMOKES! THE LOCKER ROOM SCENE. 🚿 That may have been one of the spiciest scenes I've ever read, and their attraction to one another can be felt off the page. 🥵

Prince's Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
Passion: 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
Read if ➡️: You loved Kulti, but make it a spicy, sapphic version!
Read 📅: Soccer Season
CW ⚠️: Jerky Boss, Coming Out, Self-Diagnosis

I really loved this book, and it makes me want to travel to New Orleans for the food scene! My mouth was watering a few times for the beignets! One p[art of this book that felt off for me was the pacing of their relationship. I felt like the climax of the story hit a bit earlier than I anticipated, but it still is one I would recommend highly to others. Additionally, there's a part at the end where a mental diagnosis is made. Without giving it away, I wish that had been fleshed out more throughout the story, rather than at the end. Last, I also want to note that this book highlights the part about athletes being able to come out on their own terms.

🙏 Thank you so much to Meryl Wilsner, St Martin's Press and NetGalley for an ARC of this book.

🌟 Cleat Cute comes out September 19th! 🌟

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

4.5/5 stars

Cleat Cute is an adorable queer sports romance that provides a change of pace from most in the same genre. The book doesn't have a typical "third-act breakup" like other romances (which was AMAZING), and the pacing felt comfortable throughout the story. I only put this book down once after I started it.

I enjoyed the representation in the book, from trans and nonbinary characters to autism and ADHD representation. The characters all felt like they had important parts to play in the story.

I absolutely loved Grace and Phoebe's relationship. The grumpy x sunshine trope is one of my favorites, and Wilsner pulled it off amazingly.

My only complaint is the ending. I felt that it was very rushed and didn't tie up everything as well as it could. That being said, I love this book and think fans of queer romance should check it out!

honestly, i can't fault stories where two people come together to try and better themselves, especially when it centers around mental health and the intention is good. however, the autism representation was just one line when it could've been expanded to explain why a character thinks and communicates in the way they do. plus, there was an offhand line about not kneeling during the national anthem being used against an antagonist, which reminded me that these are definitely white protagonists despite how great the lgbtqia+ representation is.

**Review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5**

Obsessed with the FIFA Women’s World Cup and need somewhere to redirect that energy? Enter Cleat Cute.

In this epic rivals-to-lovers romance, rookie professional soccer player Phoebe Matthews gets invited to train with the USA World Cup Team at January Camp where she meats her idol, veteran soccer player Grace Henderson. Sparks fly at camp, and follow them back to their home team in New Orleans where Grace is team captain of Phoebe’s first professional team. While Phoebe is trying to focus on making her first year a success and Grace is trying to stay on type despite a nagging injury, they can’t seem to shake their attraction to one another. As their relationship grows (although what kind of relationship they have is somewhat up for grabs as a result of an amusing misunderstanding), the two women have to decide what they both want, and ultimately what is most important to them.

Meryl Wilsner’s Mistakes Were Made was one of my favorite books of 2022, and I had big expectations coming into this one. Luckily, Cleat Cute is everything I wanted, and more! Phoebe and Grace’s chemistry literally leaps off the page, and the book was the perfect balance of fun, sexy, and emotional. My heart went out to both characters as they navigated their uncertainties in life and their relationship, and I found myself cheering for Phoebe and Grace to succeed, in both in soccer and in love. A few times I found myself frustrated with both characters and their lack of communication (not always my favorite trope), but their relationship development felt true to their characterization. And did I mention it was sexy? Wilsner sure knows how to write queer intimacy, and I continue to be impressed by their skill in balancing complex social/romantic relationships with steamy scenes. Finally—without giving any spoilers—I felt that the 3rd act conflict was really well done, and didn’t feel unnecessary or out of place unlike in some romance novels.

I would recommend this book to all romance fans, especially fans of sports romance and queer romance. This book falls squarely in a new adult category to me but will be enjoyed by all adult readers. If you’ve been loving sports-themed shows like the recent TV adaptation of A League of their Own, this one’s definitely for you, although non-sports fans will definitely appreciate everything else this book has to offer. Another queer romance to add to my list of recommendations!

**Acknowledgments & Disclaimers**
✨ Thank you, NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press, for providing an ARC and the opportunity to share an honest review of this book.
✨ All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.
✨ My reviews and ratings strive to evaluate books within their own age-demographic and genre.

4 stars!!

I adored this book! I had super high expectations for it considering I loved Mistakes Were Made and this completely exceeded my expectations. If you know anything about me, you know I love a sports romance (especially a sapphic sports romance)!

Cleat Cute follows Phoebe, an energetic redhead rookie, and Grace, a serious and very focused brunette veteran who are on the same team. I loved reading about their season and all the chaos (and swooning/spiciness) that happened during it! I also really liked how complex the characters were. Even though it is a fun and spicy romance, we also get to see the complexities of Phoebe and Grace to understand who they are as individual people and how that affects their relationship. It was so much more than just a fun romance and I think the fact that Meryl really went into these complexities makes it an even better book!