✨book review✨

Cleat Cute By: Meryl Wilsner
5/5 ⭐️ stars

Soccer. Amazing diverse queer representation. Neurodivergent representation. Sapphic romance.

I have different points I like to hit in my queer romance books, and Meryl did it for me. Strong badass FMC’s, hot chemistry with the FMC’s, great side characters, great character growth, just Phenom *wink face*. The soccer references and descriptions were on point. This truly gave me my soccer fix after my USWNT World Cup run. I was so stocked to have the honor of getting an ARC from @netgalley for this book.

Grace is truly my favorite person in this book. She has built up this entire shell of how she thinks she is supposed to be for everyone else, she has never taken a second to think she even has the ability to change her life. Change is hard for Grace, she is comfortable in her routine, it is all she knows. Then comes in Phoebe the most chaotic ball of red hair fun that Grace never knew she needed. The person Grace becomes because of Phoebe just warms my gay heart. Grace will always have a spot in my heart. I am just so dang proud of her for her character growth. I just love how sweet Phoebe is with Grace and makes it all about her. “Every time Grace shares a new personal fact, it feels like a nugget of gold.” I love Phoebe’s internal thoughts and her outwards thoughts.

The neurodivergence representation was so close to my heart, it felt so good to see it in print. I also LOVED all the queer representation, from non-binary to trans, lesbian and bisexuality. The hardships of insurance and coverage for top surgery. I just loved all those did bits to pieces. Thank you for this Meryl.

Other random thoughts and notes.
-THAT. LOCKER. ROOM. SCENE. Just YUM.
-Also their goalkeeper Ash sounds incredibly HOT, their confidence is just *chefs kiss* melts me in a puddle. Wouldn’t mind a novella about Ash. 😉
-I just loved the team dynamics and loved that they have such a tight knit group. It gives me all the warm feels I had from playing group sports. The bond you make with teammates is forever.

PLEASE go pre-order this book! It comes out September 19th, 2023!

▪️About this book:
-Sapphic Romance
-Rivals to Lovers
-Teammates
-Friends with Benefits
-Grumpy/Sunshine
-Opposites Attract
-HFN

▪️Thoughts:
Cleat Cute caught my attention with its amazing cover Phoebe and Grace looked so fierce and strong I just had to read it! I'm not usually someone who reads sports romance related books, but I had to, the rivalry plus the tension of friends with benefits situation had me wanting more of this romantic comedy.
Phoebe is 22 years old who's full of energy. She's living in Indiana and is excited now that New Orleans drafted her. She gets the call of her life which may possibly even lead to her playing with the US Women's National Team.
Grace is 26 years old considered a veteran athlete has been playing professional soccer for 10 years. She is a serious player and someone who likes to keep her life private. She is also the captain to the New Orleans soccer team and it comes with many responsibilities which she takes very seriously.
Phoebe is funny and a bit all over the place all at once and on top of that she has a lot on her plate. I loved how she gets along with everyone and fits right when she's on the team. Grace is quiet and reserved which makes her and Phoebe complete opposites. While Phoebe is late for everything Grace is the type of person to say if you're on time you're late.
These characters help each other in many ways. Grace at first is very hesitant to let Phoebe in. And Phoebe feels that. She doesn't let that stop her, on the contrary is makes her fight more wanting to know and talk to Grace and be her friend.
I really liked how mature these two characters handled a lot of the situations. As issues and uncertainties arouse they may have not spoken about it immediately but when they did talk about things they were very understanding. Overall it was funny with a bit of miscommunication but these characters made everything blend in perfectly by the end clearing up the friends with benefits situation so yay to a HFN! And did I mention these characters are strong and brave? I loved that so much!

▪️Quote:
💬 Actions speak louder than words anyway, right? Phoebe doesn’t need to say I’m worried about you. I am glad you’re taking care of yourself. This, being there— she’s showing it.

I received this book as an ARC, all of this is my honest opinion.

Cleat Cute by Meryl Wilsner is the LGBTQ Sports Romance of my dreams. Grace and Phoebe are so much fun to read - each character exudes confidence and wit, and the way the author makes the characters excitement jump off the page had my heart racing more than once. This enemies to lovers, same team, same position book had me rooting for everything! For fans of F/F Romance, this is a must read. For readers who are curious about F/F Romance, this is a fantastic place to jump in. The love! The passion! The excitement! The drama!

i was super excited to read this considering i’d loved another sapphic football romance earlier in the year (you don’t have a shot by racquel marie), but i’m sad to say that i kinda had a love-hate relationship with the book throughout my time reading it. i was so convinced i’d love it when i started the first chapter, i liked and connected instantly with phoebe as a character, but as the story went on i kinda got frustrated with her at some points. and the same goes for grace, too. i liked and then disliked the writing style at times. this was also spicy which i don’t like much, and wasn’t really expecting, but should’ve been, to be honest. the miscommunication was interesting to say the least. i loved the neurodivergent rep! i think the book could’ve been a good chunk shorter. overall, i guess the whole book was a bit up and down for me?
thank you to the publisher st. martin’s griffin and netgalley for a free e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

This is a sweet, heartwarming, SPICY, enjoyable novel that I will be recommending to my audience. I enjoyed watching the character development throughout and loved the realistic dialogue between the mains. I loved that there wasn’t a third act breakup and that the mains made it through a miscommunication at the end without it tanking their relationship. Very fun book!

I really enjoyed this one! The relationship was sweet, and I loved how they each learned from the other.

3.5 stars. Thank you NetGalley and Publisher for the ebook! With the FIFA Women's world cup going on this was such a perfect timed read. I love soccer and reading made me miss playing again. Overall a really solid book, it was a bit slow in the beginning for me but it picked up beyond the 50% mark and I enjoyed it more after that point. While the smut was amazing reading the progression of Pheobe's and Grace's relationship grows beyond friends with benefits was the best and impressed me the most instead of their relationship immediately jumping from sex to girlfriends, seeing the sex positivity, matureness of characters, and their realization that they want to do better for the other made my heart melt.

Phoebe Matthews has been called up to the National Team Camp, a dream come true! Make it even better by getting to play along side Grace Henderson, her idol - both on and off the pitch as a steamy romance seems to stir up between them.

With Grace working her way back to ensure she makes the World Cup Roster after injury, and Phoebe ensuring she does enough to make the World Cup Roster tensions are on high.

There was great chemistry between the leading ladies, as well as enough interaction from the side characters to feel like a full read - entirely about Phoebe & Grace.

This was such a fantastic & fun read, I'm so glad I got my hands on it and will be purchasing when it comes out next month!

A big thank you Netgalley & St. Martin's Press

Such a cute and light read. It did take me a while to get into it but the characters made it worth while in the end. I liked that we were able to see how both leads felt throughout the story. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC!

DNF @36%
I didn't like the pacing of this book. It was boring and the characters had no chemistry. I can see why some people might like it, but it just wasn't for me.

Meryl Wilsner does it again. I really didn’t think I’d find another book that matched the hype of Mistakes were Made, but this surpassed all my expectations.
I’m so grateful that I got the eARC- I remember my friend getting this and how jealous I was that I still hadn’t heard back. This book made me feel cozy and warm. I’m a retired competitive figure skater and this brought back all the feels of being completely devoted to a sport.
This book touched on so many layers- ADHD representation, LGBTQ+ relationships, coming out stories, meaningful friendships… and so much more. This book had it all. Anything Meryl writes- I will read. I can’t explain how I felt when I finished this book. I wanted more phoebe and grace- I felt like they were my friends and I’m sad to see them go.
I loved this book and I hope that I can get my hands on more books by Meryl in the future. Thank you for this incredible read!

*Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for sending me an e-arc of this book!*

Well this was a fun little romance. It follows Phoebe Matthews, a college soccer player who gets a call that she has the opportunity to play for the US National team, alongside her favorite player, and celebrity crush, Grace Henderson. Naturally, Phoebe is ecstatic. And she struggles to hide her infatuation with Grace from the beginning.

When they meet, Grace is immediately put off by Phoebe's eccentricities. Grace is a laid back shy woman, and Phoebe is the complete opposite. But Phoebe will not go down without a fight, and is determined to make Grace her friend. Or more....
The two women become friends, and then more, and then feelings begin to develop from there.

This book was cute, and I enjoyed my time reading it. I need to say though, I feel I would have enjoyed this more if I liked soccer, or at least knew things about it. Because I had 0 clue what they were doing or talking about the majority of the book - and it took me out of it. I think the book is geared towards people who already know and enjoy the sport, which is fine, they just don't explain any of the terms or positions they talk about, and it becomes confusing and hard to read for people who are like me and don't enjoy the sport already. But the romance itself made up for it for sure. I loved reading about the differences in the 2 women's personalities and how they somehow still fit together like puzzle pieces. The side characters were also fun, and I feel like I would have enjoyed seeing more from them.

This book is a delightfully queer sporty romance with relatable and entertaining characters that will surely delight any readers.

A charming sapphic romance that blends soccer, miscommunication, and neurodivergent representation. A feel good story, no third act break up.

Absolutely loved it!

I would like to thank netgalley and the publisher for the eArc in exchange for my honest review.

oh my god. please. This book was so good. I got an arc for Mistakes Were Made by Meryl Wilsner last year (it was also amazing, def go check it out) so I was SOOOO happy when I got an arc for this book, too. This was amazing. A sapphic romance between rookie and veteran teammates? Sign me upppp! Phoebe Matthews is the new rookie on the team with veteran Grace Henderson. Phoebe has idolized Grace for yearssss and finally got the chance to play with Grace on a field. However, Grace immediately dislikes Phoebe for being late to practice, being loud and too talkative, but soon sees that Phoebe is really talented on the field. Yada yada yada, there's a bet and then a not-kiss, then a while later a hookup (a few hookups lol), some problems along the way, and then there is honestly probably my favorite case of miscommunication a book has ever had. It was cute, and hilarious, and made me laugh (rather than scream "JUST COMMUNICATE!!") when it was finally revealed at the end. I mean, it was amazing, what more do I need to say?? Oh, maybe that Phoebe gets protective of Grace when Grace reveals that someone totally screwed her over and hurt her. I think I've said everything I need to, but I will once again reiterate, this book was so frickin good. Please please please check this out if you liked Mistakes Were Made, or if you just want a hot, sapphic, soccer teammate romance with a "friends with benefits because I don't date... i don't.." trope!!

With a cover like this, how could we not root for Meryl Wilsner's newest sapphic romance about a veteran soccer player and the spunky new rookie?

I really did want to love this one and very much enjoyed the set up and the particularly steamy bits early on in this book. But then it sort of tuckered out for me. There's not a ton of plot here -- the injury that sidelines Grace per the synopsis only happens around the 40% mark. And not a lot happens after that. There's a conflict as a result of miscommunication <spoiler> and then there's a subplot about a mental health diagnosis for both characters that honestly felt a bit tokenistic and out of nowhere. </spoiler> I did enjoy the writing but found I was forcing myself to keep picking this one up. After Mistakes Were Made, this isn't my favorite from Wilsner.

I voluntarily read a gifted copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

I loved this book, plain and simple. I loved the way Grace and Phoebe were portrayed, especially when it comes to their neurodivergence, and their distinct personalities. I loved watching the two of them grow together, plus the education the reader gets about the world of professional women's soccer. It was a fun read, I found myself getting sucked in especially with the angstier parts. It was refreshing to see the misunderstanding trope take a different turn and for the characters to mostly communicate very clearly and understand where the other is coming from, rather than making them purposefully obtuse just for the sake of drama.

[SPOILERS]
I will say, though it turned out well and is a genuinely sweet moment at the end, I did have to stop reading for a while because of the anxiety I got from the idea that one of them thought they were in a relationship and one thought they were just friends with benefits. I was STRESSED. But it all turned out well so I'm not complaining too much.
[END SPOILERS]

The voices are distinct, the erotic scenes are engaging and very spicy, and even though I am not into sports at all, seeing soccer through the eyes of these women who do it professionally is so exciting. Wilsner does it again, definitely getting this when it comes out!!

The writing style wasn't my favorite. Overall, it was very OKAY! Maybe my expectations were too high, but I wanted so much more. This wasn't the soccer romance I was expecting :(

4.5 stars! Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and St. Martin's Griffith for this advanced copy! You can pick up Cleat Cute on September 19, 2023.

Y'all, don't let the cartoon cover deceive you. This book is STEAMY for a rom-com, and I ate up every second of it. Phoebe and Grace's banter/flirting was making me literally blush, and the spicy scenes were some of the best I've read this year. The romance throughout the whole story truly delivered, as we watched Phoebe and Grace go from reluctant teammates to friends to girlfriends.

The soccer aspect of it was so fun to read, as a former player. I loved the dynamic of the teams, the messiness of competing for the same spot on a roster, the pressure of it leading up to the World Cup. Honestly, my one complaint is that the story ended too soon. I could've read another 50 pages about what happens post-a-very-specific-conversation.

All in all, the perfect summer/fall romance. RUN don't walk to pick up this book in September!

Sapphic sports romance on the pitch?! Yes, please.

I'm a sucker for a sports romance and when I had the opportunity to read a new to me author about 2 members of the US Women's National soccer (football) team, DURING the World Cup, I couldn't have thought of a better time to dive in.
Phoebe and Grace are new teammates on the Krewe team. They are the epitome of grumpy-sunshine characters. Where Phoebe loves soccer and is happy to be in her new town with new teammates, Grace is the opposite. She's been a part of this world for so long that she kind of forgot her joy of the sport and of the game. It takes Phoebe, a talented player that exudes happiness, to push Grace out of her comfort zone and make her be friends with the rookie.

Cleat Cute was filled with so many good characters, their soccer world and LOTS of spice! The diverse characters were represented well and I couldn't help but fall for Phoebe right away. You just couldn't help but like this woman. She was out and proud and knew what she wanted. Meanwhile, Grace was a little slower for me to warm up to. She's the type of character that holds back and gives very little until she knows it's safe to give more. But Phoebe is all about pushing the boundaries. And their first love scene in the locker room is FIRE!!

Cleat Cute is the best mix of sports romance in the workplace with grumpy/sunshine characters. I wasn't sure how being a couple on the same team would work, but Meryl Wilsner made me a believer. These two were friends first and their chemistry traveled from the pitch and off. Even if they didn't label what they were, it was obvious where it was going.

I think the author did a great job of not only having queer characters, but also incorporating neurodiversity into the storyline as well. It seemed kind of obvious, but I liked the way the author handled it. I just wish it weren't talked about earlier on. There were also some sweet and cute moments between the players that I think really stood out (like the hair braiding) and dialogue between teammates that pushed the story forward. I did have an issue with a "pet name", but I think it was a me thing. It just felt off.
Overall, this was a great read and I enjoyed the whole crew of characters, but especially Phoebe. If you're an American soccer fan, have enjoyed Ted Lasso, like your stories filled with queer characters with a nice dose of spice....give this one a try. I'm very excited to read more by this author.

Cleat Cute is a really great sapphic romance book. Grace is a veteran soccer player. She is big into following rules and notoriously private about her life. Phoebe is one of the team rookies. She is full of life and determined to make the most of her new life playing soccer with one of her heroes in New Orleans. Grace reluctantly takes Phoebe under her wing to introduce her to the city and to professional soccer. The friendship quickly turns to a very steamy friends with benefits situation.

I have had so much fun reading Meryl Wilsner's books. The spice levels are always nice and they have plenty of sweet moments between the couples. This was no exception. I look forward to reading everything they write in the future.