Note: I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Cleat Cute is probably my favorite romance read of the year so far! Our two female leads are so adorable and have such big personalities in different ways. I have loved watching Pheobe and Grace fall in love from page 1 and their chemistry is insane. By far, my favorite part of this book was seeing characters speak about ADHD and autism diagnoses. Slight spoiler but won’t ruin your read:
as a reader with ADHD (and potentially autism haha) Pheobe’s neurodivergency was plainly obvious in a refreshing way. Same with Grace’s! Reading the two of them fall in love with each other’s quirks made this book all the more endearing.

I rate this book a 4.5/5 only because I would have loved to see more development on the side characters! Perhaps the author is setting up for other books in the same universe, but I especially would love to see more about the other characters as they relate to the various soccer teams.

This book was really cute. It felt too redundant with other sports romances at first, but I ended up really enjoying it. Grace and Phoebe were complex and interesting and, while their miscommunications and stubbornness sometimes bothered me, I was glad to see how their relationship developed and they both grew.

I do wish that the disability representation had been more explicit. Grace definitely read as an autistic character if you're familiar with that representation, but since it was never really explicitly said, I didnt want to make assumptions. I did find a tweet from the author confirming it, but it just felt disconnected. Same with Phoebe's ADHD. I was still happy to see both of those represented and some of the internalized ableism that can come from facing those potential diagnoses.

overall, this was another great hit from Meryl Wilsner and I look forward to seeing what they write next.

Cleat Cute is a sports romcom standalone. It goes between the POVs of Grace, a long-term professional soccer superstar, and Phoebe, the rookie on Grace’s team.

It all starts with a bet: who will win the beep test? Shouldering her loss, Grace corners Phoebe in their hotel, but instead of a peck on the lips, Grace kisses Phoebe’s neck. From that point on, the women circle each other, neither truly wanting a relationship, but Grace also doesn’t want a friends-with-benefits situation either. Deciding to be friends, Grace shows Phoebe around New Orleans, taking her to all of her favorite places. On and off the pitch, feelings are rising, an tension comes in the form of their rookie/captain status and Grace’s refusal to take care of her injured hip.

A FIVE STAR READ!!!!

I absolutely LOVED this book. Meryl Wilsner as usual, did not disappoint. I may be a little biased as I have always loved a sports romance, but this book exceeded all of my expectations. The soccer terminology and setting was done really well. I really enjoyed the story line and the talk about disorders was done really well. The spice was top notch, phenomenal, and realistic. Overall this was a great Sapphic romance and I can't wait to get a physical copy in hand!

*Received a copy for review.*

I really struggled with this book.
The things I loved:
The sex scenes are well done. They are hot but also realistic. It's not the typical everybody has an orgasm or the sex was bad set up.
The ADHD rep was solid

The things that didn't work for me :
The team is all cardboard characters. If you aren't an MC, you are flat
The attempt by one MC to diagnose the other. Yes SO's often recognize things a person can't see but she is not a clinician.
The constant inner monologues mixed with the tense of the novel just didn't work.

I am a huge fan of Ted Lasso and this book gave me those vibes but the execution just didn't work for me.

As a lesbian obsessed with the NWSL this novel is GOOOAAAALLLLLSSSS!!! Meryl Wilsner struck gold with this sapphic soccer centered romance. We first meet Phoebe a Rookie signed to the New Orleans Krewe the same team as Veteran Star Grace and when a bet takes place between the two at a next level training camp things take an unexpected turn. But once they are back to basics in the Big Easy can they keep their heads in the game or will they get stuck on the sidelines? The atmosphere of Mardi Gras and the southern humidity hang in the air all throughout Wilsner's writing. The descriptions of place make you feel like taking a trip to NOLA. The descriptions of play including breakdowns of strategy and rules would help any reader unfamiliar with the sport and paint a detailed picture for the avid sports fan. And the spice? Let's just say it's getting hot in here and I'm so so gay. I highly recommend this book and will be picking up any Meryl Wilsner book I see in the future!

I will always recommend Meryl Wilsner books. This one is no different. I love their writing style and the unique voices they give to their characters. I love seeing queer love and I might even develop a newfound love of women’s soccer after this.

The neurodivergent representation in this book was also done so well and in a way that felt natural and unforced.

The only thing that kept this from being a 5 star was that I didn’t have quite the same connection to the characters as I have had with previous Meryl Wilsner books.

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

Loved this cute and steamy read! Sporty story but make it sapphic! Will def recommend to my audience.

This book was highly highly anticipated by me after reading this authors previous book. Although I didn’t strongly dislike this book, it was definitely a bit of a let down for me. It’s one of those cases where I can’t really put into words why it didn’t work out for me, it just didn’t unfortunately. However, I can totally see why it would for someone else! I am not normally bothered by third person POV at all, but I think that being combined with a lot of internal dialogue and just the general writing style is what initially lost me, and once I got lost it was very hard for me to connect with and I found myself a bit bored.

NOW, with all of the issues out of the way I would still like to point out that this isn’t a bad book at all and there are of course aspects that I liked. I thought all of the representation in this book was done well and handled with care, which is a huge plus! There were also many times I found myself smiling throughout the book, which is simple but a really good sign for me. And let’s just get it out of the way that yeah the sex is good, great even. One thing about this author is that they know how to write a sex scene!!!

Overall, I would still recommend this book to you if you’ve been anticipating it or it generally looks good. Although it didn’t work for me personally I can see what it has to offer and come on, you can’t pass up that cute cover!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC copy!

I received this title as an ARC on Net-galley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you St. Martin's Griffin for the copy!

The Good
Phoebe and Grace are awesome characters. I immediately liked their dynamics and how they contrasted with each other. It's a great grumpy x sunshine pairing. Phoebe is younger and much more bold and free while Grace is older and more closed off and struggling to connect. Their relationship was full of chemistry but also messy. I loved the journey Grace went on to discover what she really wanted and ultimately needed to become happy.

The Bad
Grace frustrated me so badly sometimes. I tried my best to understand her but her pat with Kelsey didn't seem like enough of a reason to project so much distrust onto Phoebe.

Format:
Ebook — Netgalley

The Rating
I give this book a 4/5🌟 rating. A great sapphic grumpy x sunshine sport's romance!

I typically enjoy Meryl’s work, but this one missed the mark for me.

Fantastic writing, as per usual. But the amount of internal monologue spoiled this it for me! I loved the premise of soccer, idols, and love. Especially enjoyed the suspense throughout this novel, but ultimately felt that the climax didn’t quite hit.

The spicy scenes were bountiful and read well, but often felt forced? The characters alone were fantastic and I enjoyed their development over the course of the read. Grace’s relationship with her family and her eventual opening up to them hit me right in a soft spot in my heart.

I enjoyed this, but was left with something to be desired. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC!

A spicy sapphic soccer romance was exactly what I needed. Happy sunshine Phoebe finally gets called up to play in the big leagues. Grumpy vet player Grace finds this newbie a little over the top. Fighting feelings and doing what you want are the top two things Grace is focused on during the season. Fall in love with these two and Meryl’s writing and finished it in the span of a day

Everything about this book should have been up my ally, Soccer, a grump and a sunshine. For whatever reason I just couldn't get into it.

What a cute and fun sapphic romcom! I was worried about the miscommunication trope, but if a book has to have it, this is the way to do it. It made sense and actually added to the plot in a very believable way.

A+++ for the very steamy steam
A+ for adorable characters I actually cared about and enjoyed together
A for the casual yet well handled neurodivergence
And a solid B+ for the soccer talk, which is a sport I don’t care about and yet interested me anyway.

Rating this book is difficult, I would say it’s a solid 3 for me. I was really hopeful, possibly unfairly so, after how much I liked Mistakes. This book is not the same. And that is ok.
There is a lot of very specific soccer talk that felt a little bogged down for me. I love soccer and even I thought it was a bit much.
I understand why some readers might not like Grace, she is different. I, however, very much understood this character. I wish the author ditched the ADHD thing with Phoebe and focused more on the neurodivergence of Grace.
At the end of the day did this book give me what I was looking for? Yes, a sapphic romance with soccer.

I really loved the premise of this book, and the characters were well-developed and super easy to root for. Overall, I had a good time, but I wanted there to be more legitimate conflict for the characters to "earn" their HEA. There were a few great opportunities for the characters to handle conflict in a way that would push the characters forward, but it seemed like every time they had an issue it was resolved with "you're hot, let's just make out," which is fun, but I definitely think these characters could have handled (and benefited) from more legitimate conflict.

Rivals to lovers? I’m all in.

I hate a miscommunication trope but this misunderstanding trope was so well done. These feel like fully fleshed real people.

And the spicy scene? Daaanngg best sapphic scenes I’ve ever read and some of the best all around.

10 points for not falling into the overly earnest lesbian relationship trap.

Rivals to lovers sapphic romance between two professional soccer players, a veteran and a rookie. This is fun and sweet with grumpy/sunshine vibes. Grace is famous and has been a pro for years. She's successful, but closed off and struggling beneath the weight of massive responsibility. Phoebe's dreams are finally coming true. She's been drafted to a pro team and she's going to get to learn from and play with her idol, Grace Henderson. Phoebe is outgoing, charming, confident, and impulsive, everything Grace isn't. But what they have in common is a pure love of the game. This is not quite a slow burn, but a building block romance that at its heart is about the trust and vulnerability required to let someone else in. It's a joy to see two believably opposing personalities make perfect sense together.

2.5⭐️

thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an earc!

wow, what a let down. this was one of my most anticipated reads of 2023 and i was so pumped to recieve an ARC - but this just fell so flat for me. warning: there are spoilers in this review, so read it at your own risk. you have been warned.

first, there was WAY too much inner monologue. i wish i knew the inner monologue vs. actions & dialogue breakdown because i just KNOW the inner monologue is way higher.

second, while there was disability rep in this (one fmc with autism, one fmc with ADHD), the way it was handled was just icky to me almost. the way grace just *assumed* phoebe a) had ADHD, b) had a diagnosis, and c) took medicine for it rubbed me VERY VERY wrong. like i had the chills because it felt so wrong. AND THEN, the fact that grace didn't even come around to her diagnosis of autism until the verrrrry end of the book felt like it was just kinda tossed in. like both of their characters felt ADHD- and autistic-coded, but the way it wasn't officially said on page/acknowledged until the end - i just didn't like that.

third, the miscommunication made me want to throw the book SEVERAL times. i am not an absolute hater of the miscommunication trope, but this book overdid it way too much. LIKE JUST TALK DAMN IT, you are f*cking adults.

fourth and final, i could not feel ANY chemistry between phoebe and grace besides the fact that they wanted in each other's pants. like zero, zilch, NADA romantic chemistry, and i just didn't believe they were actually gonna stay or end up together.

honestly, it is a bummer that this one didn't hit like i wanted it to, because i LOVE meryl's other books and their writing style + this one was a SOCCER ROMANCE?!?!!? that's my favorite sport to read romances on ESPECIALLY when it's sapphic. so yeah, i don't recommend, but it may work for you.

⚠️: mental illness, ableism, bullying, alcohol, toxic relationship, panic attacks/disorders, injury/injury detail

Two things I love most in life: soccer and sapphic romance!

Another smash hit by Meryl Wilsner, Cleat Cute is the perfect balance of rivals to lovers with a bit of humor and plenty of spice sprinkled throughout.

A great read for soccer fans and those who are new to the game, it’s the perfect book to get anyone excited about women’s sports with an added dose of romance!