This is the perfect combination of sports and steam. And from a traditional publisher???!!! Love to see it.

Absolutely loved the sports aspect of this book. I hate when a sports book just barely hints at the sport, but soccer was the absolute main focus of this book and I loved that!

The romance/steam was 10/10. And from the beginning?? Love it.

I love soccer, so add a good lesbian romance to the mix, and I'm sold. Cute story, fun characters and a quick read. My main issue with the book was how quickly the romance escalated and how poorly the main characters communicated about their relationship. Overall, however, I'd read it again and will be looking for more books by this author.

I went into this one already a big Meryl Wilsner fan, and this one didn't disappoint!

Cleat Cute tells the story of Phoebe Matthews, a 22 year old rookie with the AWSA who has been drafted to the New Orleans Krewe - which just happens to be the team that her long time idol Grace Henderson plays for. For her part, Grace is 26, and after ten years playing professional soccer, she's starting to wonder if it's all worth it. Grace and Phoebe meet at the National Camp just before the season starts, where a bet showcases exactly how much chemistry the two share. Nothing really happens, but it's on both of their minds when they travel to New Orleans and interact before the rest of their team arrives. Grace is trying to hide her growing attraction to the rookie just as fiercely as she's trying to hide her recent hip injury.

The story follows on from here mostly how you'd expect. It covers a decent period of time, and showcases the various levels of professional play for women soccer players (as well as highlighting just how hard it is to make a woman as a female athlete in this sport). Grace and Phoebe's romance also unfolds mostly as I've come to expect from sapphic romances: there's lots of communication, vulnerability, and respect. Plus - loads of sex.

I loved a lot about this book - it was definitely my favorite of the author's books so far (which is saying a lot, since I really enjoyed her last two!). Both Phoebe and Grace are neurodivergent, and I think the author articulated their various struggles respectfully and honestly. It's dual POV (which I love) and both women are written so clearly that I never had any trouble following along with the flow. Also - there's a third act miscommunication that takes the trope and turns it on its head in the best possible way. It's the only third act miscommunication style I will accept moving forward.

If you're looking for spice on the level of Mistakes Were Made, there are definitely fewer sex scenes in this one, but the ones that are in this book are all pretty steamy. And full disclosure: I know next to nothing about soccer of any variety, so there's a chance she got it all wrong and I just had no clue. But this was a delightful read and one I will revisit when it is published! 4.5 stars rounded up. Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's for the ARC.

I've read Meryl Wilsner's two previous novels, finding them both engaging and fun, particularly, Mistakes Were Made, which was one of my favorite romances last year. Wilsner's sex scenes are great and they create characters that are messy and complex, with the pages breezing by.

Cleat Cute is an easy read and is set in an interesting world, populated with real New Orleans locations, foods, and moments. It doesn't gloss over issues like women's athletes' paychecks, which is refreshing and sincere.

I didn't love the characters or their dynamic. When speaking about the romance between Phoebe and Grace, it didn't feel earned. And while I appreciate neurodivergent characters because they're an all too rare occurrence, Grace and Phoebe's issues felt like they arose solely out of their neurodiversity, resulting in a jumble of miscommunications that dominated the majority of the novel. The story ended up feeling contrived. I never understood why the characters felt drawn to each other aside from their looks.

Thank you for the opportunity to review the book early!

For anyone who is a fan of the USWNT and sapphic rom coms this book is perfection! The characters are developed so well and as a reader you cant help but fall in the love with them. All the nods to past USWNT players was fantastic. Of course Meryl nails the spicy scenes as they have with any of their previous books! Would highly recommend!

This author's previous titles focused on adult women, which was refreshing from the typical new adult/younger adult characters fronting most WLW romance novels on the shelves today. Cleat Cute, on the other hand, focuses on younger college aged women athletes. At times I did feel like the dialogue and plot points felt disjointed from the canon ages of the characters-- they were either exclusively using 'internet speak' or they sounded like much older adults. This took me out of the book a little bit.

But of course, Wilsner is capable of writing engaging romantic arcs and this book is no different. I was rooting for the characters the entire time, and loved reading about them come together. Overall, I would recommend this book.

First, a moment of appreciation for this gorgeous cover! 😍
Once I calibrated to the third person POV, I tore through this story! Cleat Cute features a lovable, diverse, well-developed cast of characters. While neither lead is confident in their ability to sustain a relationship, I really enjoyed watching the characters realize that with the right partner it doesn’t have to be work to invest in each other.

Grace Henderson is a veteran player for the US Women’s National Team, but when she is sidelined with an injury Grace can’t help but be wary of the rookie brought on in her position. Phoebe is ready to dive into her professional soccer career and is eager to learn everything she can from her long time idol. When they can’t stop pushing the boundaries of their relationship, Grace and Phoebe have to determine how to make their relationship work on and off the field.

You’ll find —
Rivals to Lovers
Grumpy x Sunshine
Friends with Benefits
Steamy Sapphic

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Meryl Wilsner for the gifted digital review copy!

An extremely cute queer romance between two soccer players. I would highly recommend to fans of queer romance, soccer, Ted Lasso, etc!

Cleat Cute is fighting for a top of my favorite Meryl Wilsner read.

Phoebe is a rising soccer player who was drafted to play for New Orleans in the first round. With spunk and grit, she's someone who won't take no for an answer. Grace is a soccer player who's been in the game for a bit. Also playing for New Orleans, she's team captain and won't let her team down.

Phoebe and Grace meet at the women's national team practice. What started out as a quick bet, later turns into a friends relationship. With Grace sidelined with an injury, Phoebe has the door wide open for a position with the national team. Turning from rivarly to friends however; both players want to work together. But will everything stay "cleat cute?"

I enjoyed reading Meryl Wilsner's latest novel, Cleat Cute. This latest lgbtqia + romance has all of the spicy scenes but also depth of characters. It was fun to get into spunky Phoebe's point of view and you couldn't help but root for Grace to find her voice with others. The pacing of this story had me turning the pages and not wanting to put the novel down.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press, St. Martin's Griffin & NetGalley for this advanced copy.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC! This was SO GOOD??? I'm not normally a romance person but I just loved these two characters so much. I enjoyed the pacing and the teammates so much, and I ADORED the ending. The miscommunication trope did it's thing here and I loved it! And as a bonus I got to learn about women's soccer, which was great.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for the digital arc!

As a former (and now washed up) soccer player this was a really fun read!

Things I liked:
- soccer soccer soccer!!!!!
- neurodivergent representation
- The sex scenes sure were spicy

Things I didn’t:
- so much internal monologue
- easily guessable

Overall would recommend this fun, fast read!

This was such a fun, sexy, entertaining book. I am not generally a soccer fan (or any sports really), but this book was entertaining in a way I wasn't too sure about and it really kept me engaged during the entire time. Overall this was a great book.

I received a free digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Ugh, Meryl Wilsner has become an automatic-buy, skip-the-TBR-shelf author for me after Mistakes were Made; and Cleat Cute just confirmed their status.

Honestly, I am not always the biggest fan of sports romances. Sometimes they are great, but sometimes they care a lot more about the sport than I do as someone who was never involved in athletics. Cleat Cute manages to strike a great balance of making the sport (and its accompanying strategies and even its politics) central to the plot moving forward, while still keeping a nerd like me entertained with its sports talk.

It helped that Phoebe and Grace were so darn cute. Phoebe won me over quickly with her spunk and forthright approach to soccer, life, and love (and sex). I had to warm up to grace over the first chunk of the book, but by the end I think I was rooting for her to be happy even more than Phoebe. It helped for both characters that Meryl is an absolute master of writing sex scenes. Each one was emotional, engaging and above all sexy. I may have bookmarked several them to return to again later.

It was nice that this sexy, fun romance was paired with the recognition and evolution of both Phoebe and Grace thinking about their neuro-divergent nature. As someone with ADHD, I thought it was handled very well for Phoebe as she grew up coping with it herself, and struggled with coming to terms with an actual diagnosis.

Meryl Wilsner does it again, I cannot wait to get this one in print!

Grace Henderson, a star of the US Women’s National Team. Phoebe Matthews, a new player looking for a spot on the team. The last thing Grace wants is this loud, talkative, class clown to take her spot. A bet and a kiss later, and Grace is hooked. So is Phoebe. Grace didn’t want a relationship and Phoebe did. Can they both work out their differences? Will Phoebe make it on the team and play the World Cup?

I think this book is predictable in the sense that it’s a girl meets girl, one doesn’t like the other one, and they spend more time together, and start to like each other. What I think makes this book different is the characters' personalities. Grace is quieter, listens to what others tell her, and is autistic. Phoebe is loud and can be annoying at times, and has ADHD but is undiagnosed.

I’ve read a lot of books that have a similar premise, but I absolutely loved the fact that the relationship between Grace and Phoebe happened earlier in the book. Most books like this, I feel take a long time to get to the romance, flirting, sex, etc. I liked having them start flirting earlier on rather than waiting for something to happen.

I also loved all of the LGBTQ+ representation in this book. There are some people that are straight, but there are lesbians, bisexuals, there are people that are nonbinary, and Phoebe’s brother is trans, and they’re working on saving up for his top surgery. There was representation, but it wasn’t too over-the-top, either. It felt authentic, it didn’t feel like the author was trying too hard.

I just…I really loved this book. I can relate a lot to how Grace acts and feels. There was a good balance of serious, funny, and sexy scenes. The sex scenes were spicy without being too much; it felt authentic. It was a quick read for me because I got so into the plot. I honestly cannot wait to read this book again.

This book will be available for purchase September 19, 2023

Thank you so much to NetGalley for sending me a free early copy in exchange for an honest review!

The only thing there was more of in this book than steamy sex was internal monologuing ☠️

I'm really on the fence about this one. There were things I really liked about it, there were some mediocre things, and then there was this overall style of storytelling that just blanketed the whole thing, dampening the entire experience. I didn't love this book, I just read it and felt very little about it, to be honest. Consequently, it took forever to finish because I just didn't care 🤷

The things I really liked, maybe even loved? Well, there was a lot of sex and it was good sex. Even if I found some of the specifics of their communication cringey, I liked that they checked in with each other, that they talked, and really got to know what the other person needed. I love that Wilsner chose to depict a sexual relationship that wasn't the standard "I come. You come. We all come. Hooray!" I love that she addressed that some people struggle to reach orgasm because they get stuck in their brains and that sex doesn't have to be about orgasms, it can just be about intimacy and pleasure. That was a nice and healthy perspective to see.

I also appreciated that both characters were neurodivergent (though that ended up being a double-edged sword in my opinion, which I'll explain later). One character has ADHD and the other is likely somewhere on the spectrum (introverted, overly structured, struggles with social cues, etc). It's always good to see those depicted and having some consequence in the story, not just depicted as an inconsequential personality trait; those who struggle with these sort of things know just how much it can affect your life, so I appreciate when neurodiversities aren't played down in a story.

Additionally, the relationship between the two MCs is cute. I enjoyed the friends-to-lovers-to-FWB-to-more-but-not-quite progression. It was sweet and they both did nice things for each other because they got each other in a really significant way. The misunderstandings were a not altogether annoying plot device as they were caused by their respective neurodivergencies, so no complaints there.

By this point, you may be thinking, "This sounds great, so why 3 stars??" I'm glad you asked...

WOW, the inner monologues. Combine the overabundance of introspection and ridiculously long and frequent paragraphs of rapid-fire thoughts with the third-person present tense...that was just a big old NOPE for me. I get that these sort of thought patterns could be due to their conditions, but for my part, the author took it too far. Why this is especially problematic is that Wilsner really leans into tell-not-show. There are so incredibly many instances of "Grace does this", "Phoebe likes that", "She's always been great at this". Really, please SHUT UP AND SHOW ME!!!

Sadly, that overarching style of storytelling was detrimental to the point of losing an entire star, possibly more. It's hard to say for sure because the near-singular focus on character development (with an uneventful soccer story arc for ambiance) really precluded there being much actually happening in the story. Don't get me wrong, I like a character-centric story as much as the next gal, but not when the author dictates it to me through direct character thoughts.

What to expect?
* Sexy AF in a steamy yet wholesome way
* Cute, endearing characters
* Good neurodivergence rep
* Soccer (though not focal)
* A whole lotta thinking (not you - the characters!!)

I won't recommend it 🤷 based on my review (and be sure to read others's as well), I'm sure you can decide for yourself if it's right for you.

Okay. So, I loved ALMOST everything about this book. The banter was cute, the team dynamics were interesting, the spice was HOT. Overall, this was very close to being a five star read.
BUT.
There was one element that knocked it down to a four for me. One character decides another character needs to be on medication, and it becomes a central plot point. These are elite athletes. To decide your teammate needs to start taking medication, even though they don’t want to and have told you as much? It rubbed me the wrong way.
Still, overall this was an enjoyable read and I would read more from the author!

A wholesome, light-hearted sapphic sports romance with good queer and neurodivergent representation. A story of two teammates finding their ways to each other along a path rife with miscommunication.

I liked how Cleat Cute leaned more into the sports aspect of sports romance than some other sports romances I've read, and that it doesn't take too long to get into the story. The steamy scenes were good and well-paced. However, I did feel like the reader isn't given much info about the background characters that show up a lot, they all seemed to blend together, and that the middle dragged for a bit. The main characters also seemed a bit shallow, fell kind of flat, and I didn't believe their chemistry. There was no plot, just vibes, but I felt like there was unrealized potential for conflict that wasn't just miscommunication, like a terrible coach, a possible injury, or some kind of media incident.

If a light, easy sapphic romance is what you're interested in, I'm sure you'll enjoy Cleat Cute, but I was left wanting more.

3.5 ⭐️
2.5 🌶️

I received this book as an ARC from the publisher and NEtGalley in exchange for an honest review.

First off I loved that this is a sapphic sports romance book. I have read other books from this author and this one was not a favorite. It was enjoyable and I had a lot of fun with it overall.

My issues were:
- the ADHD rep is great but how Grace pushes Phoebe on getting on meds and help bugged me
- the misunderstanding about their relationship fell into miscommunication and irritated me.
- Phoebe is such a sweet sunshine character and sometimes I feel like she forgives too quickly and much without working through it and I wanted more for her.

I will definitely read more from this author.

Meryl Wilsner does it again. I have not read a Meryl Wisner book that disappointed. Their novels are filled with real flawed characters with issues that we all have, and just enough spice. I know next to nothing about soccer, but this lack of knowledge didn’t make me feel ostracized from the book. Grace and Pheobe are real flawed characters, that learn and grow throughout the book. Cleat Cute is the reason that I finally decided to try NetGalley and I am so happy that I did. I will seek out anything that Wilsner writes and support it, their mastery of presenting real diverse characters to the reader without harping on their differences is the gold standard for me. This is the representation that I am looking for in my reading, making my book world reflect the world around me!

3/5 star's

I really wanted to love this book but I couldn't. This book wasn't bad but it wasn't good either. I love sports romance but I wish Meryl were a little heavier on sports.

Phoebe and Grace were relatable at times but I wish the author focused more on their journey as a footballer than the injuries they've been through. Their whole relationship was built on miscommunication and misunderstandings, which is my least favorite trope.


The side characters were very interesting. I wanted the MCs to have more interactions with them. They all seemed like fun and loving people. I really liked Gabby, Kayla, Madeeha, Sarah, Teddy, Fish, and Dallas. I wish we got more interactions between Phoebe and Gabby and Grace and her old teammates.

I like the reps in this book though- ADHD and Autism ( Phoebe has ADHD and Grace is autistic) and the Trans and non-binary rep as well.

I would've loved the book more if it wasn't so bland at times. nonetheless, I enjoyed some parts of this book and would recommend it if you like really spicy books.