I loved the premise of this one. A steamy, opposites-attract romance with undeniable chemistry between a grumpy retired footballer and his fabulous and very sunshine-y ghostwriter. also including fake dating and forced proximity. But this one missed the mark for me. I didn't really connect with the characters and didn't get to the point of rooting for them. The most important thing in a romance for me. The comedy was a little lacking for me also. I could see what was meant to amusing, but it didn't really make me smile. Maybe I just don't appreciate British romance humor?

I thought maybe switching to the audiobook would help, but it didn't. Emily Spowage was a good narrator, but I didn't think she had the sunshine voice for the main character.

Basically Roy Kent fan fiction (and as a lover of Roy Kent this works).
A fun take on the grumpy/sunshine trope and a workplace romance. Cute romcom!!

2.75

I loved the idea of a grumpy ex-athlete and the sunshine ghostwrite he hired to help him write his memoirs, and overall I found enjoyed this book, but I did find it a bit forgettable.

I think where I struggled the most is that this entire premise hinges on a lack of communication. Alfie is an ex-footballer who actually hated football and wanted to be a writer. Mabel is curvy and convinced that Alfie could never really want her because she doesn't look anything like his past girlfriends. I appreciated the body positivity and I liked the build up of them getting to know one another but I didn't love the execution.

Alfie and Mabel are never really together. For reasons, they start fake dating and then they start faking dating with benefits, which I think is when I started zoning out. The sex scenes were not for me. Then there's a "third-act breakup" that only leads to the two getting together in a one-year later epilogue? I liked the prose and I liked the concept, so I'd be interested in trying another book by Stein, but I'm sad I didn't love this.

When diving into this RomCom I was super excited about it being from a ghost writer and ex-footballer coming together. For some reason that was just what I was looking for. This fell flat for me. I enjoyed my time with it but I feel it just was kept at that, just an enjoyed time. When putting the book down and stepping away from it for 24 hours, I really didn't think about it again.

I had lots of laughs and highly recommend this to anyone who enjoys a good RomCom but I wouldn't be expecting anything long lasting.

Ok, this one got a little wheels off for me. Thank you to @stmartinspress and @netgalley for the early peek at this. And I apologize for not getting to it before pub day. This is out now, if you’re curious!

⚽️ Ok, this starts out cute. Grumpy soccer player à la Roy Kent meets his sunshiny, bigger-bodied ghost writer and sparks fly. Cute right? And of course, as she tries to get him to open up for his memoir and learns more about him the romance begins. All good, though nothing super original.

⚽️ But then, things escalate super quickly. As soon as things got spicy, it was like the plot went out the door. There was a good 15-20 % of the book that felt like it was all spice, no plot. And then the third act breakup/ get back together all felt very uniform. That super simple ‘he doesn’t want me’ excuse.

⚽️ Overall, this one was very meh for me. It was basic and a little too focused on sex. That might sound right up your alley— and you should give this a try! But if you like your romance with a good plot too, you can probably skip this one.

A lovely read! very sexy and loved the plus size rep!!! very slow burn and kinda hated it but in a good way! i wanted so badly for something to happen, slow burn kills me every time. This book was so good and I am glad I read it!

very sweet and very funny! I'm definitely a sucker for a MEGA grumpy hero and this book delivered in spades

A steamy, opposites-attract romance with undeniable chemistry between a grumpy retired footballer and his fabulous and very sunshine-y ghostwriter.

In the beginning, I didn't like Alfie. He was a little too grumpy/bullish for me. It took a while for him to finally grow on me. As the romance starts to bud between Mabel and Alfie, it becomes very apparent that he is just reserved/flustered, and he wants to keep his personal life private. Which begs to questions...why did he agree to the memoir in the first place? That too gets answered!

Ah sweet Mabel. She really is quite lovely. Mabel is curvy with a great sense of humor. She is the epitome of sunshine with a bubbly, happy-go-lucky personality. I wish she would have believed in her self-worth more and able to accept that a strapping man like Alfie could totally obsess over her curves and all. (I have this issue as well though, so...)

Can we talk about the spice in this book? Holy Moly! The spice is off the charts. It always surprises me when the cover is cutesy/sweet, but then a MC has a dirty mouth! In this case...both of them! I freaking loved it! HA! The narrator did a fantastic job bringing this story to life. If not for the audiobook, Idk if I would have finished this book.

Thank you to Netgalley and Publishers for giving me a digital copy and audiobook in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own!

3.5 stars

When Grumpy Met Sunshine was such a fun read. A slow burn romance with great character development. Loved it!

Thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, St. Martin’s Griffen, and Macmillan Audio for the eARC & ALC of this beautiful book. Available now—it released February 6th.

When Grumpy Met Sunshine
by Charlotte Stein

Narrated by Emily Spowage

Story Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (0-5)
Narration: 🎧🎧🎧🎧 (0-5)
Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (0-5)
Steam: 🔥🔥🔥🔥 (0-5) I bump up for self-pleasuring

What I’m Starry-Eyed Over:
🤩 One narrator works great here with single POV. Her accent is such a treat.
🤩 Workplace type with forced proximity.
🤩 Laugh-out-loud funny from the start. And it gets funnier than I was even expecting.
🤩 Both MCs are just so quirky and cute, and I love how their conversations are so raw and honest.
🤩 The fake dating & “We’re going to have to lean into it.” Yes, please! Lean way into that fake dating.
🤩 “Oh, and I might possibly have to sometimes snog your face off on your doorstep.” I just love when the word snog shows up in my books.
🤩 It gets pretty hot and very detailed when they pleasure themselves, right next to each other, in the back of the broken-down car, with so much dirty talk—absolutely one of the best scenes I’ve ever read. These two are the best mix of real, hot, and intimate in their steamy interactions.
🤩 I love how they get to know each other, how Mabel finds a different side of Alfie than she’s read about.
🤩 Great text and email threads.
🤩 When Alfie does Mabel’s hair and she internally freaks out about his thighs touching her.
🤩 When Alfie protects Mabel by reporting publicly that they’re dating.
🤩 The beautiful bigger girl body representation.
🤩 How Alfie won’t let Mabel talk badly about herself.
🤩 Cleverly written single POV, where we still get some of Alfie’s thoughts in their amazing dialogue.

What I’m Wishing/Dizzy About:
💫 I was glad I had the ebook along with the audiobook because the epistolary components were a bit confusing at first with just the audiobook (without seeing the visual).
💫 I love fake dating trope, but I felt like I was missing the secret pining that usually comes with it.
💫 In the end, the miscommunication was frustrating and sad.

Overall, I enjoyed When Grumpy Met Sunshine despite having a few issues. The body positivity was exceptionally executed, especially during the steamy scenes. I enjoyed the banter and the romance. I thought much of the book was sweet and vulnerable. However, it was repetitive, relied too heavily on miscommunication, and the ending felt rushed.

Also, if you dislike a lot of dialogue in books, avoid this. I think 80% of the book is dialogue.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Hmmm this one didn't quite pull me in but I did read the whole thing -- though a bit after the pub date. I'm sure there are people who are going to read this and love it but it wasn't a great fit for me personally. I liked the ghostwriting aspect of the story and am always a fan of the grumpy x sunshine trope but I felt that certain parts were very lengthy and could have been cut back to give more detail with less filler. Some of the information was told to us and not really explained which is fine but I prefer more depth with certain topics when they're brought up for a reason. Overall it was an okay read and if you like a lot of banter you might want to try it!

I'm thankful for the digital ARC from St. Martin's Griffin via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This was another DNF for me. The first few chapters were all banter and no substance between the characters, and I just didn’t care. I love good banter, don’t get me wrong, but there was nothing about these two that made me want to keep going to get to know them and see how their love developed. The beginning of the story didn’t set me up to feel excited about what was to come. I simply didn’t care, and there were far too many books at the time that interested me more. And I have no intentions of going back and giving this another try. The title of the book was too on the nose for me too, I should have known better. Early on I was getting the sense that it was going to be more telling vs showing of the grumpy/sunshine trope. I don’t want to be fed that necessarily, I want to see it for myself.

I had high hopes for this one - the premise was cute and it hooked me in. This book was definitely chaotic, I was confused for a good part of it, especially in the beginning. I didn’t feel like Alfie was super likeable, I’m all good with grumpy but he was gruff and just closed off for the majority of the book. Mabel was cute, sunny and I love a plus-size heroine. I do wish more of her backstory was included/that she had a bit more development in the book. I still very much enjoyed their banter - I snorted of laughter several times. They definitely have chemistry and once the fake dating came into play, I felt like the book flowed smoother. Overall, their chaos was cute and became very them to me but I definitely wish both of the main characters were more fleshed out and I wish it didn’t take quite THAT long for them to admit they had feelings. 

I switched between the audiobook and ebook to read this. The narrators were enjoyable and brought the characters to life. 

Thanks to St-Matin’s Press, Macmillan audio and NetGalley for the chance to read/listen to an early copy. All opinions are my own.

I wanted to love this one.. Grumpy sunshine is one of my favorite tropes. There just wasn't enough to move the plot along. The third act conflict didn't really work and fell a bit flat. It was ok but not a favorite

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for sending me an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

I am really sad that I did not enjoy this book. I love the cover and it sounded like it would be fun, but I was bored for the first half, then it started getting interesting. And then the ending was just confusing and didn't really work.

Wonderful story for everyone to enjoy. I received an ARC of this book courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher. All opinions expressed in this review are my own and given freely. Happy reading!

Not for me. I just could not get into it. The writing felt chaotic from the very beginning. Not my vibe. Thanks for the opportunity!

As I read this book I felt like nothing was happening, and it was way too long. The miscommunication trope became annoying and over done. It felt like a poor fanfiction of Ted Lasso, in that Alfie reminded me a lot of Roy Kent. But other characters fell flat, without much development or personality. This book was not up my ally at all.

I want to thank Netgalley and St. Martin's Press, St. Martin's Griffin for an ARC of this book.

I have truly loved some of Stein's erotic romance (she's one of the very few authors I'll still read in that sub genre) and this contemporary romance featured some of her trademarks but lacked sparkle. There's tantalizing character backstory that could have been better mined for emotional depth and plenty of banter that ended up going in circles for me (most of the time). For two characters who talked a lot during the course of the book, not very much seems to get said and then they just STOP talking at the end to facilitate a third act separation that just didn't work for me and spur the reader towards the happy ending.

There were bits I really liked (I'm not a monster, there were parts of the final chapter that got me in the feels) but it never really came together as a whole for me.