3/5 Stars

This was just average for me. There were some cute moments, and the romance between Mable and Alfie was okay. But I just wasn't invested in the romance. The writing was a little choppy for me and there was a little bit too much inner monologue going on.

When Grumpy Met Sunshine by Charlotte Stein is a nice fun summer beach read. I enjoyed watching the characters develop a relationship that went from total opposites to finding something amazing in each other. It is strongly suggested that Mabel be the ghost writer for a former football player, Alfie Harding. She is a curvy, cheerful person with a bubbly personality. He is her total opposite. Their journey makes for an interesting story.

The premise of this book sounded so promising with a British grumpy footballer and his sunshiny ghostwriter. This book is told entirely from Mabel's point of view and I think it would have benefitted from a dual POV between Mabel and Alfie. The romance was surface level, with no conversations of any depth between the characters. The ending was too quick with the two of them suddenly reuniting and all is well. Sadly this was not a romance that worked for me.

This book was a bit of a miss for me towards the end.
I felt like this book was headed in one direction but the end kind of threw me for a loop. I’m not against spice but when that becomes the main point of the plot I start to lose interest. I think a little more focus on the characters romance would have made this book better.

Ehhh, it just didn't stand out for me in a sea of similar romance books on the market. Now, there are loads of people who would enjoy this, because they read only romance books. But I only read them as palate cleansers between fantasy books, so this was too weak to keep my interest.

When Grumpy Met Sunshine could've been titled when Sexy Met Sexier because WOAH the spice. I liked the slower beginning where I got to know the characters and their relationship, but it was so spicy that it was almost unexpected. Definitely a guilty pleasure read, but not one of my favorites. Love the cover!

Ok it took me forever to read this and it really dragged. I didn’t even know what the FMC looked like! Would have love better descriptions of both characters! This book was cute though and the spice scenes were good! Only wish they started before 70% of the way in

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. A pretty average straightfoward story. Fun in the moment, but you don;t think about the story over and over when its done

🌶🌶.5
I wanted to love this. On the surface it has so many tropes that I enjoy: grumpy sunshine, fake dating, he falls first, slow burn, a plus size queen... but it just didn't do it for me. The plot was good, the characters enjoyable, the banter was there, and I could see what the author was going for yet it felt so cringey. Maybe if we had more backstory as to why the fmc was the way she was it wouldn't have been so lackluster. The trauma was alluded to but the reader was left guessing which made her constant self-doubt and low self-esteem simply grating. I did enjoy the ending but it wasn't enough to make up for dragging myself through the rest of the book.

Why is this book not all over Booksta??? Why are people not screaming their love of this book from the mountaintops??

Obsessed! Literally obsessed! The dialogue between the two MCs is top tier!! My absolute fave is witty banter, and I adore when a FMC doesn’t care how famous or rich the MMC is, and this one had that in droves!!

Funny. No. This book was hysterical!! I could not stop laughing!! Out. Loud. No less!!

Mabel. Mabel. Mabel!! I loved her. Whole heartedly! I don’t know if you will understand her, if you are not, or have never been a “fluffy” gal. The idea of not being able to take anyone at their word, because of the insecurities we have or the past experiences we’ve faced, is something I know all too well. A “kind word” is either never that, or only that. I completely got her. Where she was coming from. What she was struggling with. I loved how honest she still was in parts. And when she simply couldn’t let certain things stand the way they were, and she had to set him right 🥰🥰 I loved how she stood up to him right at the start, that she wasn’t afraid to tease him, or tell it to him straight. And that she also wasn’t afraid to show compassion, kindness or be soft with him either.

Alfie freaking Harding!!!!!! I love this man. He is the epitome of a gentle giant!! All hard muscles and grumpy exterior, but inside a heart of gold and the soul of a golden retriever!! He was the funniest character, and most heartwarming-est (if that’s a word?) one I have seen in a long time. He grabbed onto my heart and never let go!!! The way he saw himself 😢😢 and how he tried to not be “too much” and his heartbreaking story!!! Don’t even get me started on the ending !!!! 🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰 I mean ….that’s it. Just that.

I can not fully explained how much I loved the writing! The English phrases and dialogue, the way that scenes unfolded not in the traditional sense. This has all the wonderful classic rom com tropes and scenarios, but with a fun new spin on them. Can we talk about the head butting and what was said????? Can we talk about the palm on the cheek???? Can we talk about the scene in the back of the car with the butt grab????? I could literally go on all day long!!

Simply put, absolutely loved it!! Hands down one of my faves! Salivating to read her next one!!

ehhh...I can't say that I didn't like this book but I just didn't want to read /listen to it. it felt blah and I didn't feel connected to the characters or their story. I was listening to the audiobook and felt my mind wandering. when I came back to actual listening I just wasn't feeling it. or was vested in what was happening. I tried too. It just wasn't my cup of tea.

If you’re in the mood for a steamy rom-com that feels like a hug and a punchline, When Grumpy Met Sunshine is the laugh-out-loud, heart-squeezy book you didn’t know you needed. Charlotte Stein delivers a charmingly chaotic opposites-attract romance that pairs one intensely grumpy ex-footballer with the sunniest, sassiest ghostwriter to ever put words on a page.

Let’s set the scene: Alfie Harding is allergic to emotions, fun, and frankly, people. He's a retired football star who's been cornered into publishing a memoir, despite having zero interest in opening up.

Enter: Mabel Willicker—curvy, cheery, and determined to dig through his emotional brick wall with sass, snacks, and relentless optimism. She’s basically a walking serotonin boost in a polka-dot dress, and he’s… brooding in the corner and annoyed by how much he likes her.

Their banter? 🔥 Top-tier.
Their chemistry? 🔥🔥 Fake-dating who?! We all saw that spark a mile away.
Their slow burn? 🔥🔥🔥 Emphasis on the burn. Prepare to simmer.

Is the pacing a little chaotic? Absolutely. Does the story bounce around like a caffeine-fueled ping-pong ball? Yep. But somehow, that only adds to the charm. The dialogue is golden, with so many laugh-out-loud moments you’ll probably snort. A lot. (You've been warned.)

The spice leans more toward dirty talk and tension, especially in the middle third, which is heavy on the steam but light on plot momentum. Still, it picks back up with a sweet-as-pie HEA that feels like the rom-com equivalent of kissing in the rain. 💕

💬 Fave vibes:
✨ Alfie pretending not to care but absolutely caring too much.
✨ Mabel cracking his emotional armor with relentless joy.
✨ Forced proximity + fake dating = delicious disaster energy.
✨ “We’re just pretending” moments that are very much not pretending.

If you're looking for a quirky, steamy escape with big laughs, even bigger heart, and a love story that blossoms between snark and sweetness, this book is calling your name.

It was a pretty funny book to read and I enjoyed the grumpy and sunshine trope! It was very entertaining to read.

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.