Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review!

Whew, this was not at all what I wanted it to be. The premise sounds so cute - a sunshiney ghost writer falling in love with her grumpy, football (or soccer) playing client who needs help writing a book about his life story. But... this was so bad. I can't even decide where to begin. I set this down around 40% and genuinely had 0 desire to ever pick it back up.

Ex-footballer Archie Harding is tasked with writing a memoir. The only problem? He is notoriously a man of few words. Radio stations have even started declining him interviews because they don't want to deal with 30 minutes of straight dead air. Enter ghostwrite Mabel Willicker, who is a breath of sunshine and creativity, ready to help Alfie tell his story. And as with all grumpy-sunshine stories, they learn that opposites maybe really do attract.

I was surprised to learn that this is not the author's first book. In fact, she has many judging by her GoodReads. I was getting early-level author looking to make a name for herself, and that was not the case.

The biggest issue I had with this is the dialogue is TOO MUCH. There are an insane amount of details given about every single tiny interaction. I mean, did we really need several pages dedicated to Mabel's internal monologue about Alfie catching her from tripping? NO.

The amount of insane details and dense adjectives describing everything made this unbearable. Where was the plot? Where was Alfie sharing his life story with Mabel? Absolutely non-existent because we have to listen to these two drone on and on about every moment ad nauseum.

I unfortunately cannot recommend this one in good conscience, unless you are a fan of rambling monologues with no clear plot.

Two tropes in one for Alfie and Mabel. She's meant to be writing the ex-footballer's book but he's soooo cranky. In fact, he's so cranky that I tired of him and wondered how Mabel put up with him especially once they were forced into the fake dating thing, There's a lot of banter but also miscommunication. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. This was a miss for me (too much talking) but I'm sure others will enjoy it.

DNF

I was excited for this one based on the cover and the plot, but at 30% in, I felt like the story was going absolutely nowhere.
The entire book by the time I stopped reading was just conversations between Mabel and Alfie, which involved over the top banter. I love funny banter and I never thought it was possible to have too much of it, but I was proven wrong here 🥴
If the story picked up and I felt we were moving somewhere, I probably would have kept reading, but I just didn’t get the feeling we were going to be making progress anytime soon 🤷🏻‍♀️

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press and Charlotte Stein for an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you @netgally for this book. This was DNF at 25%, I had a hard time getting into the story..

The male character had total Roy from Ted Lasso vibes.

I am normally a huge fan of fake dating tales and often a fan of Grumpy/Sunshine --- but this book was not the best example of either, sadly. I wanted to like this book so much based on the synopsis, the tropes, and the utterly adorable cover! Alas, it was just kind of meh, for me. And I didn't like how the MMC at times seemed more "mean" than "grumpy". I am sure this book will appeal to many readers, but it was not for me. Out of respect for the author I will not be sharing my review outside of Netgalley. Thank you for the opportunity to read this advance copy. All opinions are my own.

True rating: 2.75

The grumpy/sunshine trope is one of my favorites and there were great moments of banter between the characters. This was a very cute book concept and I absolutely love the cover!

This story's premise is strong and I believe it could be a great book. There was just something about the writing style that often confused me. The characters didn't feel fully realistic, almost as if they were characters of themselves. I also felt almost trapped, there wasn't much interaction with other people other than Alfie and Mabel together.

I couldn't get into this one when I tried, must've hit at a bad time. 4 stars for what I wanted the book to be.

Thanks for the ARC, Netgalley and St. Martin's Press.

This one is going to be a DNF. I am not a fan of third person written romance. I also was struggling to keep up with what was going on - whether that be because of the way it was written, the way the story begins by just throwing you right into the thick of things, the netgalley arc format, or the slang that is not from my country. I was having a hard time getting into the story. And for a book written to be a grumpy sunshine romance based on the title, then the mmc being just mean and/or skittish when dealing with the fmc it was odd. He was hiding behind a plant.

I appreciate the arc for review but unfortunately I think my review would be more hurtful than helpful to this author.

I think I must be in a romance slump, cause I do usually like a grumpy sunshine pair and banter. But something about how the story was told just wasn’t working for me. It was a bit confusing and didn’t seem like it was finished.

I think this will work for a lot of people, but just not for me at this time.

I had a little trouble initially getting into this book because it’s incredibly British and that can be a bit of a turn off for me. Once I powered through the first few chapters, I really enjoyed the bantering between Mabel and Alfie. Obviously it’s a grumpy x sunshine trope but it’s done so well! Their dynamic is so good and they’re clearly two sides of the same coin. The wait for the spice was long (and worth it) but also, I felt like they weren’t really advancing the plot by sleeping together either. The ending fell apart a bit and the 1 year later chapter wasn’t as satisfying as I’d hoped. Overall a 3 star book & I’d likely read more from this author, but I wish this book had gone a little differently.

Fantastic book. I laughed out loud, felt empathy for both main characters and thoroughly enjoyed reading this novel. The main male character, Alfie, was a somewhat dysfunctional English football player, who hated the game. He was uncomfortable around others and didn't appear to fit in well in any crowd. The female main character, Mabel, was a plump energetic woman who was confident in herself and her abilities but berated for her size. Fat shaming occurs frequently and it was handled well in this book. I'm not a fan of rom coms but I enjoyed this book. I would recommend it and read other books by Charlotte Stein.

This wasn't really for me. The characters felt more like caricatures than anything else. While I don't mind swearing, I found the gratuitous use of the f word showed up the poor writing at the start of the book. The plot felt a bit like the plot was trying to be The Wall of Winnipeg and Me but without the heart. Instead, it added humor, and some of the jokes were amusing. But they were stuck in an overall text that I found far too absurd. As the story continued, it added tons of romance tropes in a way that felt mocking of the genre.

DNFing at the start of Chapter 9 (~22%)

I had such high hopes for this based off of the cover and description and this just wasn’t for me. The extreme-ness of our main characters respective grumpy and sunniness was almost off putting. I can see where things are going with Mabel pulling Alfie out of the persona/shell he’s forced himself into but I don’t think I have the patience to get there. Mabel’s thoughts and just the non-dialogue pieces feel super conflated and extra. A lot of (what I feel is) unnecessary descriptions or thoughts swirling about a conversation or situation Alfie and Mabel are having.

Although I’m DNFing this one, I would be willing to pick up something else by Stein in the future. This one just missed the mark for me.

2.5⭐️
Thank you to netgalley and St. Martins Press for a copy.

🤍Grumpy/Sunshine
🤍Plus Size FMC
🤍Spice
🤍Banter
🤍Miscommunication

This book is great for those who love the grumpy sunshine trope but do not mind miscommunication and lengthy inner dialogues.
I really loved the concept of this book but it fell flat for me. A lot of the conversations were repetitive and very lengthy. It also seemed a bit immature for people in their 30s. The miscommunication was also very prominent throughout.
But it was still cute and don’t let my review stop you from reading it if you like these tropes.

DNF

This wasn't for me for a few reasons. I didn't like the dialogue. It was very lengthy and the words they used were just not everyday words that someone would use in a conversation. I guess this would make them quirky which works in some books, but not for this one. Although I do enjoy a good grumpyxsunshine I didn't find myself caring about these characters. I didn't find myself wanting to see what would happen next.

Thank you to the publisher for the gifted copy!

Let’s start with the good. I really enjoyed the narration of this book. Once I started it kept my attention. I actually enjoyed some of Alvie and Mabel’s conversations and that they talked things through. I also appreciated the plus size representation.
I’m not sure much of anything happened during this book other than Mabel and Alfie talking. I didn’t really understand how they went from her just being his ghostwriter to “fake” dating. This book was very steamy but there didn’t seem to be much plot. There was also a lot of miscommunication for people who talk about other things. A whole year apart seemed a little much. Then he wrote the whole book basically? It was a little strange to do that, but he never tried to reach out in over a year?

I loved the premise of this book especially being a former soccer player and a Ted Lasso lover. The book took me awhile to get into. I liked the style, in that the author sprinkled articles and tidbits about characters throughout the book. This allowed the reader to learn about characters from a third person perspective. I did find the book to drag a bit. A solid 3 star for me. I didn't hate it but wouldn't call my book besties and let them know they need to read as soon a possible.

The banter took this book from fun to cringe quick. It wasn’t witty or fun, it often came across as overbearing and disjointed. The conversations became hard to follow and I found myself rereading portions to attempt to figure out what’s missing.

The tropes also felt like a lot, I couldn’t figure out which didn’t work. It’s grumpy sunshine, forced proximity, opposites attract, and fake dating. As a fake dating lover, the whole book didn’t flow, and I wasn’t cackling or invested. This book was a chore for me.
Thanks NetGalley for this novel, my main takeaway is must love dialogue

I really struggled with this one! I wanted to DNF so many times but I pushed through. The writing felt a bit clunky so it was so hard for me to get into. The romance was okay but it didn’t really do much for me. This was one of my most anticipated releases so I’m bummed that I didn’t love it!

Ok. I love angst. And I love the grump/sunshine trope. This had both of them!!! He is the ultimate grump and if am a little honest, a little mean. She over hears him say something mean about her and that's were the goodness starts. Great book!