In "When Grumpy Met Sunshine" Charlotte Stein offers a refreshing take on the enemies-to-lovers trope with its quirky characters and unique premise. Stein's writing style is engaging and her dialogue crackles with wit, making for an entertaining read.

The dynamic between the grumpy hero and the sunshiney heroine is both amusing and endearing, and their banter provides plenty of laughs along the way. However, at times, the characterization feels a bit one-dimensional, with the grumpiness of one character and the sunshiney disposition of the other verging on cliché.

While the romantic tension is palpable, the pacing of the plot can feel uneven, with some scenes dragging while others rush by too quickly. Additionally, the resolution of the conflict feels somewhat predictable, lacking the depth and complexity needed to fully satisfy.

Overall, "When Grumpy Met Sunshine" is a fun and light-hearted romance that will appeal to fans of the genre. While it may not break new ground, it offers an enjoyable escape for readers looking for a charming love story with a twist.

I truly hate to give a negative review because I know how difficult it is to write a book and get it published, but this one just was not at all for me. I could not get through it, I could not get past the style and the confusing POV. The characters are not capturing me and none of their actions make sense. I think the book will appeal to some people sure, just unfortunately not me

I think I might have to stop reading standard romance novels. I found myself lacking the patience to make it through the banter. It sounded like a cute premise and books about writers are usually a win for me, but this one had too much angst, assumptions, and miscommunication. I had a difficult time looking at the characters as adults. Many people loved the book, it just wasn’t for me.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Charlotte Stein for the eARC.

Thank you netgalley for this ARC. So I am embarrassed to say I DNFdd this book. I wanted to like it sooooo much. I love a body positive book, I love the inclusivity and the MMC was fine but I just couldn’t connect to the FMC. It’s like the only personality she had was her body and trying to love her body and be inclusive? I’m all for body positivity but isn’t the point that your body doesn’t define you and there’s more to you? But then that’s all she focused on?

This story was good but at times it felt like it took a bit longer to get to the point. A ghostwriter is supposed to write an ex footballers memoir. Throughout this process they get to know each other and start to fall for each other but hit some bumps along the way. 3-3.5 stars.

I've been putting off writing this review because I'm a firm believer that if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all.

The premise of this one was so promising!! The cover, the title, the summary, I was here for it all. Grumpy x sunshine is one of these tropes there is! I love a Heroine that isn't a petite baker! Unfortunately, these characters fell so flat to me. Mabel is a bigger girl, and the representation here felt almost offensive. Alfie was one-dimensional and I didn't feel any giggly-feet-kicking tension. I really wanted to love this one, I just couldn't. I'm sorry.

I did not enjoy this book. The characters for me fell a littl flat and i didnt feel like i could connect to them. that being said i am a mood reader so maybe i just read it at the wrong time. plan to read it again at a later time and see if anything changes.

Man. I really wanted to love this book. I am a sucker for the grumpy meets sunshine trope and for books about writers, so when I read the synopsis I thought this was going to be right up my alley. Unfortunately, it didn’t hit the mark for me. I felt myself dragging and skimming in the first few chapters and ultimately decided this wasn’t the read for me.
For starters, the main character immediately being down on herself for everything and saying this like, of course he wouldn’t be interested in a big girl like me made me both sad and angry. I love the portrayal of bigger girls and shapes of all sizes but come on, let’s do it with positivity.
And then the writing itself to me felt a little childish and I felt really disconnected as I read. I would possibly go back to this book on audio, or give it another shot down the road but for me this just didn’t hit what I was hoping it would.

This was a fun quick read that I enjoyed, I thought it could be a bit more to the point as sometimes it kind of dragged but overall it was still a good read.

Thank you to SMP for this advanced copy, all opinions are my own.

Cute cover but boy was this book is a mess. Mabel is hired to ghostwrite Alfie's memoir, leading to a fake dating scenario between them due to perceived extra-friendly interactions. They grapple with their obvious attraction, escalating to increasingly compromising situations. Here's a rundown:

What I enjoyed: well done plus-size representation and media perception handling by Mabel, Alfie's caring nature towards Mabel and a well-executed final chapter (no epilogue) tying up loose ends.

What I didn't like: Alfie's grumpy persona dissolves upon meeting Mabel. Was this really fake dating? Overbearing banter, poorly development relationship. TOO much inner monologue and yet it lacked emotional depth. The ethics of Alfie's manipulation in orchestrating the fake dating scenario. Minimal focus on the memoir, misleading given the book's title.

In summary, this book is a frustrating read, with disjointed storytelling and unconvincing character dynamics.

This was a great beach read! It follows a ghostwriter as she pretends to be in a relationship with her subject, a former pro footballer, in order to save him the humiliation of having to admit that he wasn't writing his own memoir. In the meantime, things get real.

As with any rom-com story, there was a ton of insecurities and miscommunication that could have been avoided had they been as open with each other about their feelings as they were about everything else. There's a bit of suspension of disbelief required, but I was totally on board. The witty dialogue and creation of two characters whose interactions start off palpably awkward only to end up the kind of weird that perfectly fit with each other. If you're a romance fan and don't project rules of reality too closely, you'll love this as much as I did.

This was a different take on a rom-com, but it worked! This is a slow-burn romance that gives off major opposite-attract energy. The dialogue was so natural and witty, perfect for our couple who are a footballer and his ghost writer. I loved the slow burn tension that lead to the spice… which was fun and well-written! This is a fun jaunt where the banter sang from the page. Will read more but this author, I recommend!

I really enjoyed Mabel and Alfie's story. Watching them grow closer, work through their baggage from previous relationships, and attempt to keep things "fake" made for a great book. Their very real feelings were obvious from the beginning, it just took Mabel a lot longer to realize that!

I’m writing an honest review based on the ARC I received from NetGalley!

Right off the bat, I ADORED this book. A five star rating FOR ME, are the books that burrow their way into my heart. They are the ones that made me FEEL, all the different feelings and they are the ones that latch onto my brain and have me thinking about them over and over again even though I closed the final page days ago.

It’s not just that I adored the trope of grumpy x sunshine, it’s that these characters had a depth to them so deep beneath the facades that everyone saw. Alfie was so much more than the grumpy exterior everyone loved and Mabel was so much more than the sunshiney persona people constantly underestimated.

As a fat romance reader, i was so enamored with the way Mabel was written. The internal dialogues that ran through her head because of her close connection to this massively sexy soccer player are the kind of thoughts that so many of us have internalized. They are the kind of thoughts thats that leach in no matter how much self love and confidence we have about ourselves in our bodies. But better yet, no matter what thoughts she had, she wasn’t obsessed with losing weight or trying to change herself. She had goals and aspirations but also fears and it was the same thing with Alfie, he was sexy and hot but his stoic and gruff personality was hiding a heart of gold buried underneath TRAUMA. They were both complex and funny and ridiculous and the shenanigans they got into was just a delight to read.

Also the growing romance between them was *chefs kiss* from the bickering and misunderstandings to their budding friendship to fake dating and SEXUAL TENSION. I was putty reading their sexy scenes. Getting to read a character like Alfie (deeply inspired by Roy Kent of Ted Lasso, the Ted Lasso influence is felt and I LOVED IT) be utterly on his knees and WEAK with his lust and desire for Mabel was magnificent. One of my favorite parts of this book was the mutual masturbation scene holy hell it was so fucking HOT

10/10. Highly recommend. I can’t wait to own a physical copy.

I love a good grumpy and sunshine trope, and this book certainly fit the bill! The characters were flawed and fantastic. This was a very steamy book, FYI. Some of the scenes were very graphic so if that’s not your cup of tea, you can skim over them. Overall, an interesting read with fun characters.

I read this book so that others don’t have to. I genuinely don’t know how this book exists because it is messy and irritating most of the time.

Mabel is hired to ghostwrite Alfie’s memoir. He’s famous and they get caught looking slightly extra-friendly so they decide to fake date. They then have to navigate the incredibly obvious sexual attraction and tension they have and then do it in progressively more compromising ways.

Things I liked (because it’s less than the things I didn’t like… see below for unhinged thoughts):
- Mabel’s plus size representation and the way she handled media perception of herself. This felt authentic and I liked it.
- Alfie is a softie and he cared for her a lot. Cute.
- The LAST chapter which is an annoyingly shaped epilogue that was actually the best part of the whole story. The way things come full circle in the memoir was actually adorable and I liked it, but I feel like the ending was completely detached from the rest of the story. The writing was by far best in the last chapter and they had the most healthy conversation of the whole book right at the end.

No apologizes for the following comments that made me hate reading this:
- The actual writing of the memoir is maybe 5-10% of this book. Okay, 15% if you count the last chapter/epilogue that is literally the last 9% of the book.
-He’s grumpy for all of five seconds and then he’s not even pretending to be grumpy around Mabel. Don’t name the book about GRUMPY when he’s going to stop being that way as soon as they interact one time. Misleading.
- This may be the worst instance of fake dating I’ve ever read. And it’s pretty much my favorite trope. But not here.
- This relationship is bonkers. I simply cannot comprehend how this relationship made it through editing.
- The banter was funny for five minutes and now it’s just too much. They can’t take anything seriously. And quite frankly I think they both suck as characters at this point.
- It feels like the author took a list of popular romance tropes and said “yeah I’m gonna use ALL of these” and then genuinely tried to make them all work. News flash: None of them worked.
- The one bed trope scene ends with one of the most irritating encounters and surprisingly it’s not the first time I’ve seen it done. But neither instance was good. Basically they wake up in a compromising position and instead of moving out of the way, they shift slightly enough that they *feel* things… except that they don’t know IF the other person is even awake yet. This is not consent. (Yes, they are both awake and what comes next is considered consensual, but it starts out VERY inappropriately and I do not approve.)
- There is so much inner monologue happening. Too much. Yet we still never know how Mabel is ACTUALLY feeling?? It’s all just her social perception and sexual pining.
<spoiler>
- The ending was the best part, but I feel a little icky knowing that Alfie orchestrated the fake dating purely so he could make her fall in love with him?
</spoiler>

This one unfortunately did not work for me. There’s this new thing romance authors are doing where they make the MMC not know anything about technology and it’s something I really don’t like in books. There’s one thing about not liking social media and another of not knowing anything about it at all. Also this banter was not for me. This was a Dnf

I enjoy a good romance, but rarely give them a five star rating. They are usually quite predictable. When Grumpy Met Sunshine tells the tale of a seasoned football (soccer) veteran, Alfie Harding, and the woman he hires to be his ghostwriter, Mabel Whillicker. There are many tropes in this book, but the way Charlotte Stein writes the slow burn is exquisite. I stayed up way too late reading this one to see how it would end. The spice level is high. A quick Goodreads investigation shows Stein has a large back list that will keep any spicy romance reader entertained.

Happy Sunny ☀️ Friday! A while back @stmartinspress offended me an eARC of When Grumpy Met Sunshine and how could I say no to a title like that? And it feels good to post my review on a day filled with sunshine.

This one is a cute little rom-com for anyone in search of one. 💞 Enter stage left: Alphie, the retired footballer with a constant grumpy attitude. Enter stage right: Mabel, the upbeat ghost writer for Alphie’s post professional athlete memoir, who also happens to be plus-sized. Refreshing from the typical size 0, 110 pounds dripping wet heroine.

This one has good banter, which is a big deal for me in these kinds of books. If I were to summarize this book in one word it would be “cute.”

I wanted to love this but because I thought it had so much potential. It just did not do it for me. I just was not in love with the FMC and I think that was kind of a turn off for me that. just made it super hard for me to get into the book. I do plan on give it a second chance later this year in hopes my thoughts might change. I love me a grumpy x sunshine romance so I was a little disappointed.