What a delightful quick romance. You know how sometimes you are in the mood for a story about a couple of cute girls falling in love with each other and nothing else will do? Wilsner decided to give us a book for those times nothing else will do.

This was a blast, with memorable characters, cute dialogue, and a fun setting. Maybe it’s all a little too rushed, but I thoroughly enjoyed the love story and getting to know everyone.

I will say that I wish Wilsner had taken the time to explain more of the soccer terms for non-soccer fans. I spent a long time wondering what “caps” meant before eventually googling it, and though I could have gotten the gist from context, I’d’ve missed the specificity and what made it SO important. (It’s not a hat OR the lid of a bottle!)

This was my first Wilsner and I look forward to reading her back catalogue, but not until I’m ready to part with Phoebe and Grace.

What a fun story! This was my second read by Meryl Wilsner and Cleat Cute is by far my favorite! At times this felt like a sapphic, saucier version of Kulti, but to be fair, Kulti and Cleat Cute are the only two soccer romances I've ever read so take my comparison with a grain of salt.

When Phoebe gets the opportunity to play with the New Orleans Krewe she's thrilled this means Grace Henderson will be her teammate. Grace is Phoebe's soccer idol and she's nursed a crush on the player for years. Of course, Grace and Phoebe are polar opposites but they somehow form a friendship and eventually, a bit of a FWB situation.

I thought this was a lot of fun. It felt a bit like a love letter to New Orleans and the character development was great. At times it was a bit slow for me, but I'm not a sports girl so this was to be expected.

I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book; all opinions are my own. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to be an early reader.

Thank you to the publisher for allowing me to read this eARC.

I loved these characters so much, they were well fleshed out and I loved the layers to them. It was definitely sweet and cute and made me blush but it also felt a bit too "insta lovey".

Meryl Wilsner does it again with a steamy, sapphic love story with a happily ever after!

I really enjoyed Cleat Cute and I loved reading about the complexities of our main characters, Phoebe and Grace. Both characters were really well developed and fleshed out. I think everyone needs a Phoebe Matthews in their life! She really is such a fun character.

Some of my favorite things about this book:

-Both Phoebe and Grace have so many layers to them. I could never quite figure out what these characters were going to do or say next.
-I love that Grace and Phoebe really start to care for each other as the book progresses. Grace trying to help Phoebe get an ADHD diagnosis was so sweet!
-Grace learning to put herself and her wellbeing first was such a joy to read about. I can definitely relate to this.

Some things I think could’ve been done better:

-The chemistry between Phoebe and Grace wasn’t quite there for me. It seemed to spark too fast and then it fizzled out. I started comparing their relationship/friends with benefits situation to Erin and Cassie from Mistakes Were Made, which isn’t fair, because these characters are their own. But it just felt like their attraction was based on little to nothing.
-The word “cûnt” was used a bit too much.
-Some of the soccer terms weren’t explained well enough for me to understand what exactly I should be picturing in my head.

Overall, this is a solid 4 star read! Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!

This was SOOOO good. Opposites attract + friends with benefits catching feelings = this beautiful piece of fiction. Grace and Phoebe are utterly adorable and there were so many times I wanted to reach in and shake them with how clueless they were, but I still loved seeing them navigate a relationship neither had any previous experience with and only knew their attraction was immediate.
A lot of the book was also about them figuring out their own things. As someone with ADHD and Autism I connected so heavily with both characters and related to a lot of the issues both of them. I haven't read too much with characters like this so it was nice to see. And it was handled in a way that didn't feel like demeaning or belittling.
The rest of the supporting cast were hilarious, I loved all of them (except Kelsey) and getting to see their support for their favorite ladies just fed my serotonin.
Overall a really great read, I cannot recommend this enough.

So the Women's World Cup is hosted here in Australia this year and my wife and I are seriously pumped. We've bought tickets to games and we're also travelling across the country to watch a match with the kiddos. It's going to be a good year. You know what's also adding to my love of all things soccer in 2023?! Sapphic books with soccer storylines. I am ridiculously excited to read alllllll of the sapphic books featuring soccer and in the last month I've been provided two ARCs with soccer storylines. I am a happy Nat.

Back to Cleat Cute and the title is perfect - this book is cute. Seriously cute. Grace and Phoebe's romance unfolds slowly and I loved getting to know both characters and their back stories. Personally, I would've loved more soccer but in saying that I understand why Wilsner focussed more on the character development as it makes for a riveting read.

If, like me, you love a good sports romance and girls in uniform (sport uniform counts, right?!) then definitely pick this one up.

Many thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for a copy of this novel. ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.

Phoebe Matthews is in the middle of her life dream. She's just been drafted in the first round to play women's professional soccer for the New Orleans Krewe and she's received a call up from the National Team to join them for a training camp. When she meets her idol Grace Henderson at the National Team camp her life is complete. When Grace starts hanging out with the exuberant rookie she finds herself drawn to Phoebe in a way that has never happened before but her reserved personality and history with others befriending her for their own benefit holds her back from giving in to Phoebe too much.
This was a great follow up from Wilsner and all that I would expect from them at this point. I would say this was a strong 4.5 stars for me, there were a couple things that I would have liked to see that I felt were missed but they weren't huge and I really enjoyed these two MCs who live in such a unique world. I loved the New Orleans setting and have written down a couple places I need to stop by on my next visit and the King Cake battle is real. I loved Phoebe's easygoing personality and her love of life is so catching. Grace is reserved and quiet, she takes some time to warm up and is Phoebe's opposite in so many ways. Their friends are great and I loved their path to love. Both of them have great families that support them and meet them each where they are, I especially loved Grace's dad. The epilogue was a bit too short for my taste and there is a pretty humorous misunderstanding that I think could have been used a bit more than it was but other than that I really like this book. Now I'm off to bake my wannabe Dong Phuong King Cake for the win!

“Cleat Cute” should be called “Cleat Sexy”. I know we all know of a few woman’s sports teams that are a bit incestuous. This novel displayed that and filled my imagination like I was really among one of those teams.

As someone who played soccer/ football in their youth and isn’t a soccer newb. The soccer portions were written by someone who clearly understands soccer at a higher level and knows game and player tactics.

In addition, I loved that there were trans characters and even trans athletes on Phoebe and Grace's team.

The teammates to friends with benefits to lovers in this book was *chefs kiss*. The heat between Grace and Phoebe was palpable. I loved seeing a femme/ femme romance with sex scenes that got the same respect and intensity as an m/f or m/m novel. NOLA was a fun backdrop for the romance and truly was a great side character in this book.

(Spoilers) As for the characters, I read both Grace and Phoebe as neurodivergent and got too excited when my suspicions were finally confirmed.

I would highly recommend this book for all queer romance and sport romance readers and lovers!

You’re gonna love Grace and Phoebe and their perfectly perfect relationship story.

An absolutely adorable and fantastic story with two endearing and relatable main characters! The supporting cast was also funny and entertaining.

I loved this book and devoured it in less than 48 hours - miscommunication issues were resolved with little to no fanfare and I relate deeply to neurodivergent MCs.

Perfect for fans of Mariana Zapata's Kulti.

oh my G-d i LOVED this book. one of my favorite reads of the year so far. i'm so glad i had the chance to read it. i don't usually care about sports at all but this made me actually want to give a damn about soccer. the characters were super well fleshed out and had amazing development and they really meshed well together. also i just need to say that they are such an autism x adhd couple. the sex scenes were brilliant and so hot. i really liked the way things were resolved although i felt like the ending was very sudden and i wish it was a little longer. overall, i would highly recommend it to anybody looking for an amazing romance with lots of spice although i definitely don't recommend it if you don't like the miscommunication trope (it was so stressful at times)
4.5 stars
taylor swift lyric: you should think about the consequence of your magnetic field being a little too strong

ARC was provided by the publisher and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

So, this hurts me to write (almost as much as it hurt me to read this book) but I have to ask - what happened, Meryl Wilsner?

I went into this book optimistic; I have enjoyed both of Wilsner's previous works, especially Mistakes Were Made, which is in the very top ranks of my favorite romance novels. I don't like soccer (or sports in general) very much, but I thought that I could still enjoy this because of the signature charm Wilsner brings to all their novels. But this... just wasn't it. There was no plot. There was no conflict - or, I should say, there was no conflict that didn't arise from the characters miscommunicating. There are some vague hints of what the story might have been - a difficult manager, a sports injury, one character coming to terms with her ADHD - but these never shape up into any kind of overarching story. I finished this book less than an hour ago and I'm already struggling to remember how those 300+ pages were filled with straight-up nothing. In a story with no plot and no conflict, the characters will have to carry the narrative, and that's a difficult thing to do.

I thought Wilsner could do charming characters. Previous to this, their characters have been pretty good. Grace and Phoebe were disastrous, and the background characters were flat, boring, or pulling mysterious disappearing acts in the middle of the book. (Why didn't we see Gabby get together with that girl she likes? Why were we just INFORMED of that? Why did she and Phoebe, her supposed friend, have only a couple of scenes?) Phoebe is good enough, at times, and her relationship with her brother is nice, but Grace is a travesty. When she isn't being antagonistic, she's just bland. Later on in the story, she offhandedly mentions in her narration that she "can't trust Phoebe" and I was taken aback because there had been no lead-up to that loss of trust. Grace just didn't act real. She agonizes over being "just" a soccer player, dreads her family and is rude to her sister because of a single miscommunication she could have cleared up AT ANY TIME, has no sense of humor, isn't charming, and constantly acts either 20 years older than she is (she's 26, and at one point says that her body is "nearing its expiration date) or like a spoiled teenager. My favorite part of the entire novel was the part where Phoebe and her coworker Dallas discuss their theories about DB Cooper - which is not a good sign in a romance novel that has to have two leads, not just one.

The characters were shallow. The writing didn't help this. Informed qualities are shoved down the reader's throat at every opportunity (some examples: "Grace is trying to ignore these feelings." "Grace hates small talk." "She'd always loved being the center of attention.") The writing throughout was such a staggering drop in quality from Wilsner's usual work that I almost couldn't believe what I was reading. The prose was competent, but it was also dry and not entertaining. I did not laugh once throughout reading this. It was a miserable slog with characters I at best didn't care about and at worst outright hated. And, most damningly of all, the characters simply did not have any chemistry. Granted, it's difficult to have chemistry when you don't have any personality, and even more so when you don't have any plot to live in. The setting of this book was so empty that I felt as though I were staring into a pure void, anchored only by the enormous monologues of the characters. Seriously, the monologues were incredible. I guess you have to make up the length somewhere.

I don't want to give up on one of my favorite romance authors, but this book has left me feeling almost betrayed; if Wilsner intends to write more novels like this one, I'll have to jump ship.

HOW is this the first queer pro soccer romance i have read??? This was a joy to read, I wanted only good things for Grace and Phoebe--they were sweet and the chemistry was really good. I don't know anything about the USWNT except for that there are lots of gays so that felt right! I'm going to try to convince many people to read this--easy and fun!

4.5 Stars Grace Henderson and Phoebe Matthews must be protected at all costs! I loved this sapphic rom com about soccer rivals/teammates turned lovers.

Grace Henderson has been the star player of the US Women’s National soccer team since she was 16; now ten years later, Grace is temporarily sidelined due to an injury and is unsure what to make of her new teammate, Phoebe Matthews. A 22 year old rookie, Phoebe is like literal sunshine: she’s always smiling, laughing, smirking, and flirting, especially with Grace. Grace is worried that Phoebe might be aiming to take her spot if the injury keeps her out for more time, but Grace is even more worried about her attraction to Phoebe. Having been burned before by a relationship with a teammate, Grace is hesitant to act on her feelings. Luckily, Phoebe has no such qualms and makes her attraction to Grace perfectly clear. The two start a friends with benefits relationship, partially because neither wants a relationship and partially because Grace isn’t publicly out, preferring to keep her life private despite her celebrity status. Grace starts to catch feelings for Phoebe and both can feel the tension surrounding their relationship grow.

I absolutely loved these characters! The story did a wonderful job balancing the romance between Grace and Phoebe, while also highlighting Grace’s and Phoebe’s growth as individuals. They were both perfectly imperfect people, with many wonderful qualities but room to grow and change. Both characters clearly cared for one another and went about making sure the other knew how they felt in a way that fit with that character’s love language. For instance, Grace clearly doesn’t like to talk about her feelings much, but she vocalizes it for Phoebe, who loves to talk and get words of affirmation. Meanwhile, even though Phoebe can talk a lot and even says I love you at one point to Grace, Grace needs action and Phoebe demonstrates that by being the one to take care of Grace, who usually is too busy taking care of others that she doesn’t take care of herself. I loved this story and didn’t want it to end!

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC of this book. If you like queer romance, you will like this book. You will probably also like the storyline of professional soccer players falling in love. The sex scenes in this one are definitely x-rated, but the rest of the story is both cute and relatable.

I am grateful to have received an ARC of Cleat Cute (publishing Sept 2023) written by Meryl Wilsner. Her last book, Mistakes Were Made is one of my favorite books from 2022. I own a physical copy and also have it in digital and audio formats. I rewarded myself for catching up on my monthly reads list by reading this book.

Cleat Cute is a workplace/sports romance set in the world of women’s professional soccer. Phoebe Matthews (22) is fresh from her small college and is a first round draft pick for a pro team in New Orleans. Before arriving there she is invited to work out with the US Women’s National Team as they are preparing for a World Cup Season. At the work out she meets her idol and National Team star Grace Henderson. Grace has played for the US National Team for ten years. She is only 26, but started playing professionally at 16. She played previously for Lyons and is currently the captain of the team in New Orleans.

Both Phoebe and Grace love the game and it is where they are their best selves. When Phoebe arrives to New Orleans a week before training begins she gets Grace to work out with her and show her some local sites. These two are delightful opposites. Phoebe is loud, impulsive, joking and flirty. Graces is quiet and careful. And yet they are attracted to each other.

There are major miscommunications as they navigate their relationship. And it doesn’t help that they are vying for similar spots on the team(s). Wilsner carefully shows the reader undiagnosed ADHD and neruodivergent representation. There is spicy times but not nearly as much the previous book. I had a harder time understanding these characters, so it was a slower start for me. But I was drawn into the story and didn’t put my book till I finished well after 1am. I think the only thing missing for me was a little more exploration of Grace’s discovery and what that means for her. I will add that I’m not fond of the use of “baby girl” as an endearment. But that is a personal preference and I don’t mark down for the usage.

I recommend highly recommend this book. I don’t have the same level of love for it as I do for Mistakes Were Made. But the author delivers a fun romance with memorable main and side characters. Put me down for whatever Wilsner writes next. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for ARC and I’m leaving a voluntary review.

I fell in love with Meryl’s writing after reading Mistakes Were Made so I went into this one with high expectations and I can say I was NOT disappointed! Phoebe and Grace are badass women, they’re funny, sexy, complex, and well rounded characters I immediately wanted to see end up together. From the start I’m rooting for them both off and on the field and seeing a relationship that allows for people to be messy is such a breath of fresh air. Also, seeing neurodivergent characters on the page made me feel seen, as an AuDHDer myself. Seeing characters who struggle the same way I do and still being successful humans made me so freaking happy. Seriously, I can’t wait for this book to drop so I can read it all over again! Thanks so much to Meryl and St Martins Press for the ARC!!

Meryl Wilsner has become an instant read author for me, but I do have to admit I preferred the first two books they read over this one. I still thoroughly enjoyed this read, but it wasn't the 5 star read the previous two were. I wanted more of Phoebe and Grace after they fully commit to being in a relationship. There was so much of the book doing the build up to it and then it just ends. I had fallen in love with them by the end and I was expecting more time but the third act just went way too fast. There was also quite a few moments that led me to think we'd get some more time with Grace discovering who she is and discovering her own diagnosis, but it was just alluded to.

Pro women’s soccer and Meryl Wilsner level hotness? Hell yeah!
Phoebe is an outgoing, funny rookie, and Grace is the seasoned star who keeps to herself mostly. As Phoebe barges into Grace’s world she has her looking at everything differently, seeing life from this strange new extrovert perspective. There’s some good meaty soccer content that I savored, along with all the team politics and interactions that lend authenticity to this story.
I love these two together, but I was bothered by all the misunderstandings they share. It was frustrating if not annoying, but I was really rooting for them, so. I’d definitely recommend this book, though. Especially if you love sport romances, hot queer athletes getting hot for each other, and good storytelling.

a fun soccer rivals to lovers story. As a Phoebe gets her big break joining the New Orleans women’s soccer team but also getting called to train at the US National teams camp. When she meets her soccer Idol, Grace it’s not everything she was hoping or maybe it’s more.

This was a witty fun sapphic romance and both fmc’s are neurodivergent and it honestly adds so much to the story. I couldn’t put it down, when I had to it was honestly all I could think about. I related so much to Phoebe at the start of the book. She’s so energetic and impulsive and always speaks her mind. From the first page you knew exactly who she was.

As the story went on and Grace began to open up and show who she was I honestly couldn’t put the book down I wanted nothing but happiness for both of them.

If I’m being honest the only reason this wasn’t a 5 star romance for me was the amount of times that the author uses c*nt word in a two chapter span. It was honestly too much it pulled me completely out of the scene.

I have been a fan of Meryl Wilsner's books since the first one I read, but I think that Cleat Cute is their best yet. Grace and Phoebe are delightful characters, full of fun and flaws. Wilsner's specialty of idiots to idiots who are also in love is present here to its fullest extent. They're so stupid (affectionate). The soccer information is incredibly well done. People who are already fans of the sport will delight in the myriad of references to real life WOSO events, though readers without the background knowledge will still understand the structure of what is happening.

As usual, Wilsner juggles a variety of identities and life circumstances with ease, flowing them naturally into the plot and characterization of the main cast and supporting characters. The world feels well-rounded and fully descriptive. And the sex scenes--scorching, unsurprisingly, as well as touching and enlightening.

Cleat Cute is hot, funny, romantic, and engaging. It's a home run. Or a bicycle kick, or something soccer-y and extremely cool and good.