This was a very cute romance - I enjoyed the characters and the overall storyline. It is also a very quick read so a good palette cleanser between more serious books. It may be slightly forgettable over time but in the moment it was very enjoyable!

I enjoyed reading this book. The only issue that I have is, I felt that the chemistry between the two main characters wasn’t really there. The story also took a long time to get to where it needed to be where I felt like I was fast forwarding through the pages just to get to the plot of the story. Overall, I enjoyed it. It just seemed that a lot of the areas could have been shortened.

I found this cute but it felt like it took so long to get going. At about 60% I just started skimming so I could finish it. I like the concept and the characters and even the writing, it was just that the pacing was off for me.

Something so fun about this book was the opposites attract! I think Mabel is real, raw and relatable, and loved seeing body representation in the story. And who can resist Alfie's grumpy exterior, but you see it start to slip away just for Mabel. A loveable romancey read!

This is a sweet grumpy x sunshine trope story. I mean...it's right there in the title! It's a quick and fun read.

Many thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for sharing this book with me.

Mabel is a bubbly ghostwriter, helping famous grumpy footballer Alfie write his memoir. What ensues is a banter filled grumpy x sunshine trope that was enjoyable. I really liked Mabel and Alfie and their banter. However, they both brought up things from their past that I wish would have been elaborated on a little bit because I feel like knowing more of their backstories would have helped flesh out their characters more. Alfie and Mabel both have baggage, but we never really learn much about that. I liked that they both brought out different sides of each other. Overall, it was a quick and enjoyable read, just not necessarily my favorite.

Mabel is a ghostwriter tasked with penning Alfie's new memoir all about his career as one of the greatest footballers of all time. After a mishap with the paparazzi, Mabel and Alfie must now pretend to date.

Mabel and Alfie were wonderful characters and I enjoyed getting to know them through Mabel's POV. The tension is great and I'm a sucker for a fake dating scenario, especially when one is a celebrity. The chapters are broken up by bits of news stories, drafted texts, and parts of the incomplete memoir. This type of storytelling regarding their fame level was really enjoyable and made it fun to follow. However, a lot of language dates the story, using fandom specific words to talk about their relationship. The word "stan" was used so much that it drove me a bit crazy. If you go into this book embracing all of the goofiness and rom-comesqe scenarios, you'll have a great time.

This book is notable for the tension, spicy scenes, and the deep, realistic bond that Alfie and Mable make after confiding in each other. They both have trauma and were able to get closer and find a bit more closure in it which I enjoyed.

<spoiler>The smutty scenes leading up to them having sex were incredible, but I was a bit disappointed by the payoff of the sex scenes. The mutual masterbation was sooo great and added to the incredible tension that had built over time. The actual sex scenes just weren't long enough to really make reading it satisfying. It felt like by the time we got started, it was over.

The ending is a bit unrealistic but I enjoyed it too much to care. This book also has the best use of a time jump I've seen which was fun to read.</spoiler>

I was sent an arc from the publisher and all thoughts are my own, honest opinion. Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and Charlotte Stein for the advanced reader's copy.

I way over committed and fell behind on ARCs with a baby to take care of. Finally fixing that mistake.

Mabel is hired as the ghostwriter for retired Footballer Alfie and somehow they end up in a fake relationship? I'm still not entirely sure how they decided that was the best course of action here. It's a decent idea for a set-up but the execution confused me a lot. As far as the 2 developing feelings during their false relationship I was a bit lost at times and it felt rushed. The stress of how opposite they were got tiring quickly. He's grumpy we get it. She's plus sized, we get it. For Mabel to be touted as the Sunshine of the pairing I didn't get that from her. She dresses sunshinily but her personality didn't convince me. She was more often than not freaking out about something and not being super optimistic about it.

She settled into ghostwriting because she didn't have the self confidence to write/publish her own stories. I did however really like the way she encouraged Alfie to write his own story from his own perspective. That felt genuine. What didn't was the insta love that developed and Mabel completely missing that Alfie was into her the whole time. You could see that from space girl. Then we had the time skip that felt like the conclusion took place during an epilogue which confused my brain even more. Alfie's confession was really sweet in the way he went about it, but I just pictured Mabel standing there speed reading a 250 page biography at the release party like a weirdo.

Overall this was a miss for me. It felt "too British" at times where I didn't click with the slang or references and was lost because of it.

This book is funny and full of hijinks! The miscommunication trope plays a large role here as sweepingly incorrect assumptions were made on both sides. But it’s also soft and sweet while simultaneously being pretty hot. The way they pretty much accidentally got themselves into sexual situations was hilarious.

I ended up mostly listening to this one and even though Emily Spowage’s narration is quite good, I think I would have been better served (if my brain were more cooperative) by switching back to the ebook. The single narration made the quippy dialogue bits a little hard to follow as to who was speaking. And I think my brain needed a bit more time to process the unfamiliar British-isms than audio allows. But that just means I’ll do a full text re-read at some future date!

I was finally able to get around to reading this book, better late than never, right? Unfortunately I had to DNF at 35% as I was just not enjoying the main characters. Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for a ARC of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

The grumpy sunshine trope is one of my favorites, so I requested this right away because I knew I would adore it. The banter made it difficult to grasp at times, even though I found it to be a really light and enjoyable read. Because of the writing style, I found it difficult to comprehend what was truly happening. I don't know if it was the writing style alone, but I had trouble understanding what was happening.
Try this one if you enjoy grumpy/sunshine clichés with good banter.

It was a fun one. I like this trope. Kind of like a forbidden love. It was similar to the movie Just Wright except it wasn't her besties man or like the show Ted Lasso in a way. Cute story, great characters, would recommend.

This is a banter filled rom com that that follows a bubbly ghost writer and a retired football player. While I enjoyed this romance, I do feel that the writing was not my favourite! It felt choppy at times and the book as a whole felt overly lengthy. I was invested in the relationship but not enough to give this book more than 3 stars!

4 ⭐️ This book was a slow starter, contemplated thoughts of DNFing - this has a certain writing style that took me a minute to get into. But then when the two MCs really started getting to know each other, the banter was hitting - had several laugh out loud moments - it has a dry sense of humour that I loved. The MMC really did it for me, the FMC kind of annoyed me a lot of times due to her rampant insecurities, but I mean that’s real life. If you really hate miscommunication- this is not for you.
Thanks NetGalley for the chance to read this!!

This ended up being a dnf for me. I enjoyed the beginning and getting to know Mabel and Alfie, but after a while I found the story just seemed stale and I wanted the plot to move forward more. I also started to dislike Mabel. I don't know if it was the way she talked, her thinking, or I was just jealous of her with Alfie, because he is what continued to propel me through the book.

I am always really surprised when I have completely different feelings about a book than the masses and I have to say I think they got this one wrong. Charlotte Stein’s writing is so different from the majority of what’s being written in contemporary romance right now. It’s dialogue heavy and a good portion of it takes place within the FMC’s internal thoughts. as a single POV book, I think that really solidifies how Mabel sees herself as a love interest. She’s funny, quirky, curvy and quick witted. She also sometimes spirals when it comes to her feelings for Alfie, the hot football (soccer) star she’s been tasked to ghostwrite a memoir for. I think if you were to put the rapid fire dialogue of Gilmore Girls into written form, this would be close to Stein’s writing. And to be clear, I LOVED it.

This isn’t a book where a whole lot happens, but that’s okay because the reader gets a clear picture of who Mabel and Alfie are and what makes them tick. On the outside, this is a grumpy/sunshine trope, with Alfie as the Roy Kent styled bearded grump and Mabel the easy going happy-go-lucky foil. But the book really is more so a fake dating trope where Alfie and Mabel pretend for the paparazzi’s sake that they’re in a relationship (to partially hide the fact that Mabel is his ghostwriter and also because of romance reasons). It becomes apparent early on that Mabel and Alfie have a lot more in common than they anticipated and through sheer forced proximity at working together and dating, they find themselves getting intimate quickly. Charlotte Stein knows how to write a spicy scene. Things that shouldn’t be plausible seem completely normal and I loved seeing Alfie and Mabel interact one another in the lead up to intimacy and the time after.

If you are looking for a character driven romance with conversational and interaction heavy scenes, I think you will really like When Grumpy Met Sunshine. It’s a perfect palate cleanser from a heavy read and I felt joy while reading. I received a copy from the publisher. All opinions are my own.
Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟.5
Steam: 🪭🪭🪭

I will never think of ghostwriters in the same way ever again! She is chunky, spunky and a whole lot of fun. She likes to smile and make others smile too. She is hired to ghostwrite a memoir for a grumpy ex-football player He doesn't want to talk, she can't stop talking. This is fun rom-com that had me smiling. And who doesn't like the steamy bits! Good reading!

This book was a delightful romcom full of laugh out loud moments and lovable characters. I will admit that it took me a little bit to get into this one, but once I was invested, it would not let me go! I absolutely loved how the MCs fell for each other and loved each other. This was a swoon-worthy romance I’m honored to have had the opportunity to read!

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publishing Company for providing me this Digital Advanced Readers Copy of the book!

I love the grumpy/sunshine trope, but I just could not get into this book. The premise sounded interesting, but maybe it was the writing that caused a disconnect for me? I also couldn't connect to the characters. I don't know.... I just found myself very disappointed by this and not wanting to read it.