If you're hungering for a Roy Kent-esque hero, then this book will be your jam. Alfie is a retired footballer who is working (reluctantly) with a ghostwriter to pen his autobiography. All the other ghostwriters have failed to win him over until Mabel enters the picture. These two have the banter down and it will keep you turning the page to see how this fake (real) relationship works out. Loved this book by Stein and look forward to more of her books.

A big thank you to Charlotte Stein, St. Martin's Press, and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for my honest opinion. When Grumpy Met Sunshine comes out February 06, 2024.

In this slow-burn, opposites-attract romcom, ghost writer Mabel is accidently mistaken as a romantic partner to her new client, famous ex-football player Alfie. Mabel and Alfie have not gotten off on the right foot, truly at one point she even pepper sprays him. The only way they are getting through writing this memoir is by bickering the facts out of Alfie. That is until they have to strike up a fake relationship that soon sparks into something real. I thought this book was a fast, cute and romantic read. I really enjoyed that once they started talking the two found out how much they had in common. I also loved that even though Alfie is a grump to really anyone, he was a super sweet cinnamon roll to Mabel. If you are looking for a quick and sweet read, you should try When Grumpy Met Sunshine.

Thank you NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book in return for an honest and unbiased review.

Summary
Mabel is a ghostwriter and Alfie is a famous football (Soccer as this is set in England – but you don’t really know it) player who needs a memoir written about himself. The two work together to get his memoir written and end up sharing a lot of witty banter and falling in love. This story rides on the miscommunication trope.

Individual Character Musings
There was the typical self-doubt and disbelief that anything good could happen to Mabel due to her being plus-sized. However, like most “plus-sized” romance books, she has a large derriere and a disbelief that anyone could be attracted to her. She has minimal character growth throughout the novel and, as on par with these novels, has an awakening of her attractiveness because a man admitted his love to her. Alfie ended up being a softie and a true romantic, per on par, again, with these romance novels.

My Take
I liked the idea and the witty banter of the book in the beginning; however, it ended up being drawn out to a point that I was just like, “get on with it!”. The trope was done decently, but pretty cliché. The idea of the book was cute, and the spice level was high; I was not expecting the spice to consist of what it did. It was paced well, apart from the excessive banter, and it was entertaining.


Would I Recommend?
I would recommend to most people who like romance novels with spice. There were hints of it being British (or based in London) and that was a nice touch.

Rating: 2 stars

Great love story. Loved the chemistry between the main characters. Was a fluffy and quick read that will definitely get you in your feelings.

Unfortunately, this book was not my cup of tea, but I am sure it can be someone else's. I truly wanted to love the Alfie and Mabel. I felt like their verbal sparring matches resembled lengthy monologues. Honestly, it definitely got in the way of the entire story.

Thanks to NetGalley for letting me read this ARC early in exchange for an honest review!

Roy Kent lookalike Alfie Harding is writing a memoir. Well, his ghostwriter is writing his memoir. And he can't stand her. Their professional meetings are mistaken for a romantic relationship and suddenly the two have to give up on their banter and act like they're in a relationship. Can you say slow burn????

Okay, yikessss. Not a fan of this one. I wanted to love it so much but it just missed the mark. The amount of banter was just too much and it took away from the rest of the story. I think I may have mentally DNF'd this because I don't remember a lot of parts oops

I love a good grumpy sunshine trope and I immediately requested this because I was sure to love it. While I thought it was a super fun, light read, the banter made it very hard to understand at times. I felt like the way the writing was had me struggling to understand what was actually going on. I am not sure if it was just the writing style, but I had a hard time figuring out what was going on.
If you love grumpy/sunshine tropes with all the witty banter, try this one out. It definitely gave me Ted Lasso vibes.
Thank you to St. Martin's, Charlotte Stein and Netgalley for an early copy.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's for giving me an ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own

So Charlotte Stein has been on my radar for a while now. She's friendly with some writers and reviewers I follow (Okay, semi-stalk) on Twitter and she writes romances with plus-size leads. I even remember when she announced this book and mentally adding it to my TBR.

So imagine my surprise when the stars aligned and I got an ARC for this book.

Y'all, this book. I'm not even going to tease it. It's a 5 stars for me and probably my favorite romance I've read this year. This book had me in my friend's DM yelling about it for a week. It's been a while since I've read a book that's just had me giggling and smiling like a menace as I read.

While the book wears its Ted Lasso inspiration on its sleeves, I was definitely reminded of Gilmore Girls' Luke Danes. The perpetual scruff, the terse man who lectures while he fixes whatever problem he encounters, the secret playfulness, it's there and it had me swooning.

I've seen a few reviews saying this book has "too much banter", which is a valid opinion, my response to that is "Jokes on you, I grew up on Cary Grant movies and 'Gilmore Girls'". While the banter can go on a bit, it's completely understandable that these two joke as much as they do.

When we first meet them, Mabel and Alfie seem worlds apart but we soon learn how similar they grew up and how their trauma has impacted them. Their conversations are fun and lightning-fast because this is the first time they've been able to be themselves in their full glory, These two are constantly bantering because they get to play for the first time in goodness knows how long.

The book is told entirely from Mabel's POV. I definitely missed the experience of seeing events through his eyes but Stein is so good at conveying what he's feeling. Even through Mabel's biased lens, every gesture, word, and stare is just loaded with meaning and feeling and ugh, THIS BOOK!!

(That said, if Stein ever decides to give us a snippet or epilogue through Alfie's POV, hook me up. I need it)

Admittedly, sometimes Mabel's thought process can be a little frustrating because she chalks a lot of their moments up to "Oh, he's such a good friend" and baby girl, y'all passed that a minute ago. Still, when you've spent your life surviving off crumbs, a full meal can feel frivolous and too good to be true.

The ending feels a little rushed to me and I wish we could have gotten more of our couple's Happy Ever After but I adored this book. One of my favorite reading experiences this year.


TW: Alcoholic parents, abusive parents, fatphobia, fandom culture, sexual content

I really loved this book! I couldn't put it down. I was absolutely I love Alfie and Mabel. I had such a great time reading this!
I just reviewed When Grumpy Met Sunshine by Charlotte Stein. #NetGalley
[NetGalley URL]

I love this book with my whole heart. It's warm and heartbreaking while also being relatively low-angst and comforting. How did the author manage such a perfect balance? it's magic. Oh, and it's super sexy and hilarious, too!

Tropes- Grumpy/Sunshine, Fake Dating, One Bed, Slow burn, Miscommunication
Diversity/Rep- Plus size FMC
Thoughts- This book was exactly what I needed. The perfect book to get me out of my reading slump. I loved reading about these two. And when we finally reach the spice…whewww… I hope you have a fan and some water nearby.

📚BOOK REVIEW📚

When Grumpy Met Sunshine by Charlotte Stein ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I was so excited to get the galley for this from @netgalley that I didn’t wait long to read it. I breezed through this way quicker than I anticipated.

The miscommunication between our mains kept the action going, and lead up to some spicy romance scenes. Definitely for fans of the grumpy/sunshine and fake dating tropes!

A Ghost Writer and a football player with fake dating!! Sign me up! Add in the grumpy sunshine trope and I am living for this book. I really have been enjoying books with the FMC as a writer lately. I will add this one to my list of those books becuase I will be needing to buy a physical copy when it releases! It was a quick fun read that had me devouring it in one sitting. This is my first Charlotte Stein book and it looks as if this author has an extnesive backlog that I will be checking out!

This book is great for those who love a slow burn grumpy/sunshine read. Unfortunately, it was not the book for me. I found the male main character to be too grumpy and pretty unlikeable. It was extremely hard to fathom why the female main character would want to be with him. The spice was fine, it just felt like it took a long time to get there. So again, if you love slow burn, grumpy/sunshine romances, this is perfect for you.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for letting me read this book in exchange for my honest review.

I wanted to fall in love with this book so badly but my rating was brought down by the excessive amount of dialogue/banter. While most of the banter was enjoyable, it felt like the story was dragging. The banter didn't lead to anything half the time and just seemed to make the book longer for no reason. It there is going to be so much dialogue/banter, have it be used to advance the plot or move the story along.
I did like the characters on their own. I felt they were very strong, well developed characters. I also liked the tropes of grumpy x sunshine and workplace romance. I think this book just needed more editing.

3.5 stars

Got the free arc ebook. Was a cute read, some spice towards the end. Slow burn at first because both characters fight their feelings... but love how both show their true selves to each other.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for the eARC. I was excited to read this book based on the description - grumpy former footballer and cheery ghostwriter enter into a fake dating arrangement. The description described some of my favorite tropes. There were parts I enjoyed - Alfie and Mabel’s interactions were entertaining and at times very funny. I enjoyed Alfie’s character more than Mabel’s. Although I was drawn in early in the story (despite an awkward writing style), I wasn’t a fan of the last third of the book. Without spoiling the ending - I was unsatisfied with Mabel and Alfie’s storyline and found myself annoyed by Mabel’s constant insecurities and self-doubt. By the end, I was skim reading to find out what happens.

I LOVED this book. This was the most perfect, grumpy/sunshine, fake dating, friends-to-lovers book I've read in a long time! The banter was hilarious, the friendship was endearing, and the tension was incredibly hot. Mabel and Alfie are the definition of heartwarming love, their shared connections and personal discoveries made me love them even more. Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Griffin for this ARC, I absolutely adored this book!

Could work for others. Did not connect with the writing style. I would still recommend however as the premise was really sweet.

The premise of this book is very cute—think Roy from Ted Lasso falling for a sweet, eternal optimist type.

I’ve never had this criticism for a story before, but the bantering takes up too much of the story—there’s massive amounts of back and forth & long stretches of dialogue with very little description.

For many portions of the book, it was hard to get a feel of where the characters were, what they were doing, or what they were feeling through the heavy focus on dialogue!

Thank you to NetGalley for the eARC!