i read this because talia hibbert posted about it and tho i adore everything talia writes, this was a miss for me. the title itself was not encouraging and i tried but i couldnt even finish it. the characters were not it, i just couldnt care about them. they were cringey and i felt like i didnt really KNOW who they were even halfway through.

Probably one of my favorite romance books of 2024. It was just so fun and really really funny. I had such a good time reading this.

*Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a digital ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.*

Wow, this book was…not good.

The title? I’m here for it. The cover? I’m here for it. But ultimately, I hated this book. I was all for the grumpy ex-footballer (soccer) and a sunshine ghostwriter, but this book was just so confusing.

For the first few chapters, I could honestly not understand what was going on. I got 35% in and considered DNFing it, but this was for a book club and I picked it, so I decided to power through and I hated every second of it.

The writing style was not working for me. There is a lot of internal monologue even though this book is written in third person. A note that is specific to the audiobook is that this desperately needed a male and female narrator to at least be able to give us some sense of who we were following.

I can’t even really recall them actually working on writing a book together?? Or her working on writing a book for him?! Honestly, I have no idea what I read. The plot was confusing and boring and it felt like nothing really happened. Even the spice didn’t do anything to redeem it for me. Overall, the book was hard to follow and I powered through it just for the book club and the sake of this review.

I’m bummed about this one because the author has some other books I was interested in. I might still try out the author’s paranormal romance to try something different.

Overall, I am really disappointed with this one and it is getting a 1 star from me.

This was cute. I enjoyed the dynamic and the grumpy to sunshine romance aspect. The characters had good chemistry. I would read more by this author.

This book was a DNF for me at around 20%. I just didn't vibe with the writing style and didn't feel invested in the characters. The banter just wasn't for me and I just didn't feel pulled in by the characters.

Thanks to St. Martin's Press for the eARC; all opinions are my own.

When Grumpy Met Sunshine - Charlotte Stein

Romance novels are admittedly hit and miss for me. This one, unfortunately, was mostly a miss for me.

Alfiee - gumpy, reclusive, successful, celebrtiy, handsome, ex football player Alfie - meets sunny, “not size 2” and curvy but cute, very normal ghostwriter Mabel are paired together to make Alfie’s memoir a success. Of course baring his soul and revealing anything about himself sounds like torture to Alfie so, as you can imagine, he doesn’t anticipate this being a good time.

The grumpy sunshine trope quickly and accidentally turns into a fake dating situation and I’ll fully admit, there was a section of the book that was quite delightful as their banter and bickering and just plain ridiculousness had me laughing out loud more than once.

I wanted more.

And perhaps this is where it went sideways for me because instead of getting more personality, more mishaps, more hilarious banter, it moved into an over the top (in my mind) steamy section that became all about the steam and subsequent miscommunications and lost the plot…for me, anyway.

I say that fully knowing that if you love a steamy fake dating, grumpy sunshine novel, it’s likely this one will 100% be the icing on your cupcake.

Now, I should add that Stein’s inclusion of a curvy MC was a thoughtful decision. Mabel is not a size 2, she’s self conscious of her shape and media makes sure to point out that her size is a reason why the Alfie-Mabel connection is doomed showing that we really aren’t passed our assumptions about size. That said, it did get a little monotonous at times…we get it, you know? Mabel is a delight. Alfie is wonderful and I love that that he saw her beauty just as she is.

Kicking myself in the pants for not reading this sooner.
This book was absolutely everything to me.
It had great banter, All the tropes i love. spice. Great storyline. It was quick and fun to read this.

This will forever haunt me as the book I should have absolutely read when I first got an ARC but then waited so long and finally got to it. I did end up listening to this on audio and what a fun time it was. I love a man who is so head over heels for the FMC and we obviously know it but she can't come to terms with it. It was sweet, spicy, tender, and funny.

Many thanks to whoever granted me this arc eons ago. You're the bees knees.

Grumpy meets sunshine is one of my favorite tropes in romance. Alfie is the gorgeous man with a heart of gold but is socially awkward with anger management issues. Mabel is a plus size, witty ghostwriter who shines like the sun. I love the idea of a plus sized heroine, and this one is well done. However, the romance gets bogged down in excessively lengthy, repetitive dialogues that slows the action to a crawl. As a result, I found myself skimming long passages. This book has great promise with the workplace, opposites attract romance potential, however; it loses momentum in the long-drawn-out dialogues lowering my rating to a 3 at best.

Thank you to St. Martins Griffin for the free early review copy..

Omggggg. This book was almost an immediate 5 stars. Like, within the first chapter. Whyyy did I let this arc languish on my kindle for the last year? Anyway, it was perfect for me. A true rom-com. I laughed out loud multiple times. Actually laughed. This was my first book by Charlotte and I loved her voice and writing style. The characters were both such quirky, made-for-each-other weirdos, I couldn’t help but fall in love with them. The basic premise is that the MMC is a retired footballer (soccer in the US) who’s been linked up with a ghostwriter, to pen his memoir (the FMC). He’s a grumpy, reclusive muppet of a person… in other words, he’s Roy Kent. And it was perfection.

Expect:

-M/F
-plus-size sunshine FMC
-grumpy, growly muppet Roy Kent-esque footballer MMC
-deliciously British
-extreme idiots to lovers
-real good spice
-accidentally going viral and having to fake date because of it
-a love letter to classic 90’s + 00’s rom-coms

I did a mix of ebook and audio and the narration by Emily Spowage was wonderful!

The worst part about tropes sometimes is that you can end up enjoying half of the dynamic more than the other and the grumpy character can grind your gears and not live up to your expectations.

This grumpy sunshine romance is banter filled and fun but just didn’t hit home for me. The writing style just wasn’t my jam and I struggled with the FMC.

When a sunshine ghost writer takes a gig to write a memoir for a grumpy retired footballer, it has the makings of quite the love story. However, this story was missing a certain spark and chemistry between the two characters. I loved their interactions, the premise of the story, and ultimately the ending. What didn’t work for me were the in-between moments - there was an overabundance of internal dialogue that took away from the story, and the banter which probably meant to move the story forward felt like it was repetitive and delayed the next scene. Overall it was a charming story, and has potential for you to enjoy it!

I'm not sure why I ended up waiting so long to read this but once I started it I absolutely fell in love with the characters. I wasn't sure what to expect at first, though was quickly immersed in fantastic banter, hilarious fake dating and a character dealing with the public scrutiny of women's bodies.

Mabel was so endearing and I loved how she was so feisty with Alfie and how she really stood up for herself with him. I can find it hard when a character is constantly taken advantage of but her strength and refusal to take Alfie's grumpiness to heart. Her and Alfie had so much chemistry from the moment they were brought together. I loved how they interacted and the way they both brought out the best in each other, knowingly or not.. Alfie was such a teddy bear underneath all that angry exterior. He was so loving and cared so much for Mabel regardless of their fake dating arrangement.

This book was so sweet and has made me want to read more by this author. The pace was quick, the characters were well fleshed out and the banter was top notch! I did struggle a bit with the miscommunication aspect of the plot line, but otherwise I highly recommend this book.

I really struggled with this one! I wanted to DNF so many times but I pushed through. The writing felt a bit clunky so it was so hard for me to get into. The romance was okay but it didn’t really do much for me. The audio was pretty good but I do wish there would have been more of a difference in each character’s voice. This was one of my most anticipated releases so I’m bummed that I didn’t love it!

Thank you to Griffen, Net Galley and Charlotte Stein for the ARC (I’m watching up on my arcs)

When Grumpy Met Sunshine by Charlotte Stein was spicy, and sweet at the same time. I didn’t know this was an interconnected stand alone to My Big Fat Fake Marriage. It was fun to see sneak peeks of Beck in this one! I thought that the characters definitely had intimate chemistry, but the romantic chemistry wasn’t very strong. I think the middle of this lost me a bit but I really liked the underlying messages about body positivity, sex positivity and how nasty paparazzi can be. 3/5

*When Grumpy Met Sunshine* by Charlotte Stein is a laugh-out-loud rom-com that gives you the best of opposites attract. The story pairs Mabel Willicker, a curvy, bubbly, warm, and *adorably* blush-prone ghostwriter, with Alfie Harding, a retired footballer who’s more grump than charm. Mabel’s hired to ghostwrite Alfie’s memoir after 17 failed attempts (I mean, how bad does one guy have to be at writing his own story?), and, spoiler alert: Alfie isn’t exactly thrilled about it. But after a few hilarious miscommunications and an accidental mix-up that makes everyone think they’re a couple, they decide to fake it until they make it. But here’s the real question—are they pretending, or is their chemistry the real deal?

Mabel is the kind of character you want to hug and be friends with. She's sweet, warm, and has the kind of charm that gets people to spill their guts—perfect for writing a juicy memoir. Alfie, on the other hand, is grumpy, blunt, and allergic to talking about himself. He’s basically a walking mood swing, but underneath all that crankiness, he’s sharp, practical, and somehow... intense? The dynamic between these two is gold, even if it sometimes feels a little over-the-top.

For the first 60% of the book, I was all in—laughing, rooting for them, and fully invested in their hilarious journey. But then the next 30% turned into an endless steam-fest. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not opposed to a little spice, but when the plot is put on pause just to steam things up without adding much to the story, I started to lose a little interest. Thankfully, the final 8-10% of the book picked things up again and ended on a high note.

My other tiny complaint? The swearing. Like, we get it, characters have *feelings*, but it felt a bit excessive at times.

All in all, this book sucked me right into Alfie and Mabel’s world. It was sweet, funny, and packed with witty banter that made me grin the entire time. The characters were perfectly fleshed out, and I loved the way their living situations were described—just really set the scene for their whole relationship. Would I recommend it? Heck yes, just maybe skip ahead when the spice gets a little too much.

I tried to get into this a few times, but it just wasn’t my vibe. I have recommended it to several people who really loved it!

I enoyed the set up of this one but there was just too much banter and dialogue. It actually took away from the way the romance was building for me. I was getting frustrated with their interactions instead of enjoying them.

This book was entertaining and fun. The inner dialogue was a bit hard to follow along with in the beginning. This book was cute and fluffy. The banter was great and the spice was spicing. I love a good grumpy sunshine story and this one was a hit.