Finally a real rom-com! This book is funny, full of heart, with some of the hottest scenes I've read in a while, while still being incredibly sweet with a swoon worthy ending that brought tears to my eyes. I haven't loved a book this much in a long time!

Mabel is ghostwriting ex-footballer Alfie Harding's memoirs. He's abrupt and a grump but Mabel sees through his bluster. Alfie sees Mabel's big heart and overcomes her fears of could a superstar athlete really want a regular girl like me? Why yes, Mabel, yes he could.

CW include some fatphobia. Mabel does not feel bad about herself but there are some social media asides where random people either either speculating, celebrating, or denigrating the possibility of Mabel and Alfie being in a relationship. I think Stein handles this all realistically. For anyone who has ever been on Twitter, one has seen the random comments about all kinds of celebrities and the people they are with, the clothes they wear, their appearance, etc etc etc. This all felt realistic and not harmful to me.

I'm really looking forward to diving into Stein's backlist. I can't recommend this one enough.

3.5 stars - I really enjoyed this book. I liked both characters and especially liked their banter. It was silly, in a good way, and a lot of fun. The pacing was interesting and maybe not for everyone. The first third of the book they are starting to work together and get to know each other. Then through around 80% there relationship turns pretty physical, although it doesn’t necessarily seem unrealistic. This book is probably only for readers who like a decent amount of spice, but looking at the book covers of the author’s other books it was actually not at all surprising. I do absolutely prefer this type of book cover to those, though. The end was very sweet, although the fact that they’re head over heels in love and don’t speak for a year is a bit nuts. It didn’t really need to be that long. It almost seems ridiculous that they have that “misunderstanding” towards the end, but considering both their past relationship trauma, it’s maybe a bit more believable. Overall this was a fun, quick read. I would definitely consider checking out future books by this author.
Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing me access to this eARC for my honest opinion!

Alfie was the most lovable, thoughtful grump ever. Mabel may have been sunshine, but she wasn't a pushover, which is what made this work. Very fun read!

First, thank you Charlotte Stein, publisher, and NetGalley for the ARC! Sadly this book is not what I expected. The first 60% was very slow burn and cringy at moments. The other half was cringy bad spice. I love a good spicy story but some of the lines were awful. Overall this book is not for me and I would probably not recommend.

This was sadly a DNF for me. I really wanted to like it - the trope, the fun cover. But alas, the writing felt all over the place, the characters seemed flat and one-dimensional, and I just couldn’t do it.

I chose to not review this one on social because of the low rating for the sake of the author.

This book was actually so hard for me to review. Throughout the first 60% of the story, I thought for sure that I would be giving it two stars. It took me forever to work my way through it because the writing style was just too chaotic for me. I felt no connection to the main characters and couldn’t seem to enjoy the reading experience.

But I’m not gonna lie…the spice was uh, quite spicy. And I loved it. Once that showed up around the 70% mark, I decided to add another star to my rating. I often find that authors end up making spicy scenes incredibly awkward and uncomfortable for the reader, but this author did a great job with her scenes.

So there you have it. This one is definitely not for every romance reader out there. You really just have to try it out for yourself and see how you feel. But bonus points for a super cute cover and a fat FMC!

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press & St. Martin’s Griffin for my gifted copy!

Charlotte Stein is some kind of wordsmithing wizard able to string profanity, humor, heat, and longing with just a few elegantly thrown f-bombs.

[H]e slid around her, and she could feel something brushing against her butt and her back and oh god, his thighs. Oh no, oh fuck, his thighs. His thighs were really big. And they were surrounding her, like meaty prison bars.

If you are familiar with Charlotte Stein's singularly hot writing style, beware of the slow, slow burn. There is so much horniness and yearning, and my god, there is only one bed! And fyi, "And Now the Sequel to Only One Back Seat of a Car" has to be the best chapter title ever.

The problem is when Alfie and Mabel are away from their one bed (and only one backseat of a car) moments. Charlotte Stein + Roy Kent should have equaled romance magic. I'm a longtime fan of the author. And a huge fan of Roy Kent. But somehow, they just didn't mesh for me. Too much internal monologuing, too much repetition, too much insecurity, just too much of everything but actual romance between Alfie and Mabel.

Still, as a Charlotte Stein fan, it is glorious to see her back in form. I can't wait to read more from her, just maybe not from the Apple TV oeuvre.

The author included a weird joke about a footballer name Gaza which would’ve been fine if the genocide happening in Gaza…you know..wasn’t happening. After that, I lost all interest in this book. Author needed to fire their editor

This was such a fun book, I really enjoyed it. Starting with the names--Grumpy and Sunshine. For sure he was grumpy--but it turns out that maybe he has a good reason for being grumpy, and it isn't the reason you might think. This is a fun, quick read, and enjoyable from beginning to end. It's pure brain candy--lots to enjoy and makes for great evenings or pool time! Thanks to NetGalley for the Advance reader's copy--and as always, my reviews are independent and my opinions are my own.

When grumpy met sunshine is a really great romance book that I really loved.

I loved the characters and the issues addressed.

So much great banter and chemistry.

Some caveats before I give this review:

I LIVE for banter. Live. For. It, so this skews my outlook, I'm sure, ha!

This had all the feels I wanted for the grumpy/sunshine trope.

I wish more authors did the POV style this one did. I'm a HUGE fan!

It's so cute and well written that it's an easy 4.6, rounded.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I so wanted to love this one. The synopsis had me so excited for this one and the cover is so cute. Unfortunately, I struggled with it. The audio made it a little better but the writing wasn’t great, the banter was so immature and all the miscommunication was ANNOYING. Just couldn’t get on board with this one.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for providing the ARC.

Charlotte Stein was a new author for me, and I thought the synopsis for this book sounded intriguing. I love seeing size representation in media, because it is completely unrealistic that everyone is tall and skinny, or ultra petite as women.

However, I really thought the book went off the rails and whatever plot that was there no longer existed. Additionally, one of my most hated situations that crops up in literature featuring a plus sized heroine is the negative self-talk that the main character is putting on themselves. If I am reading a book about a plus size female character, I don't want to read about how fat she thinks she is or about how she's not going to land the guy she wants because of it. It's a tired trope and frankly I'm over it.

Not horrible but not my favorite.

It took awhile for me to warm up to this book, as the story started in a very comedic fashion. I eventually really liked Alfie and Mabel, but wasn’t as drawn into their romance as I was hoping. Alfie is so cute, but the miscommunication and assumptions through the book didn’t do it for me.

I would recommend this book to romance readers that like a comedy heavy, cute, slow burn story with one point of view and a lot of sarcastic banter.

An ARC copy was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Boy did I want to like this book. A happy go lucky gal and a grumpy lumberjack leading fella - can't wait. Sadly, this missed the mark for me. The will they, won't they missed the mark and had me very impatiently waiting for way too long.

This was a nice switch up from my usual murder, mystery, dark, whodunit type of books that I read. I was hoping for something lighter and funny, and I definitely got that with this book!

Mabel, a happy-go-lucky a ghost writer, is faced with the job of documenting Alfie's life, a famous footballer who is known to be quite grumpy. The two don't immediately hit it off, but when rumors start to fly about the two of them dating, they go with it and start "fake dating." But is it fake?

If you are looking for a laugh-out-loud, hysterical, opposites attract, steamy rom-com, this is the one for you. I have to say, that reading this was like having a conversation with a bestie. It was so much fun and such an easy read. The way it was written was just so flowy and natural, again, like you are talking to a friend. I really enjoyed this one and look forward to reading more from this author!

Thank you St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the copy of this book.

Grumpy Sunshine is my favorite trope so I knew I was in for a treat! Alfie is an ex-footballer trying to write his memoir. He need some assistance in the form of his ghost writer, Mabel. Mabel is the model of sunshine, complete opposite of his grumpy nature and of course it works perfectly in this! I loved the banter in this one.
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Thank you #griffin and #NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

The cover and synopsis look like this is something I would just eat up. Unfortunately there were things that just didn’t click for me. There was so much to love. The grumpy-sunshine dynamic, the ghost writing, and even the Roy Kent vibes. I would definitely not steer anyone away from reading this and I would give the author another shot.

Thank you to St. Martins Press and NetGalley for the arc.

Ugh! What was I missing??? I wanted to love this.... and I did love Alfie and Mabel. They were both so cute and adorable. I loved the plus size rep in this. And yet something missed for me. I liked it... loved some of it... but I never felt fully invested and when I put it down, it wasn't calling for me to pick it back up.

I thought this rom-com checked all the boxes and was fun and easy to read. I loved MC Mabel and her sweet personality and really could empathize with her and her self esteem. Allie was in all respects a Grump and it took a bit to warm up to him but when their fake relationship started, all bets were off and the steam commenced! I really enjoyed this novel and this was my first time reading this author. I will be looking at her other books to see about checking them out!

4 solid ⭐️s

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the e-ARC version of this book in exchange, for my honest review and opinion.