This book just didn't work for me and I love a steamy Grump Sunshine Rom Com. I liked the idea of this book and the realness of a life sized FMC who looks like so many of us. Selfie just hit the mark as a Roy Kent character and I found myself falling for him and the banter that flowed so well between him and Mabel. The dynamic between the two of them was great but the writing was a little bit unwieldy for me and I found that standing in the way of my truly falling into this book.

Thank you NetGalley and St Martin's Press for the ecopy that I read.

I liked the premise, I just could not get into the writing. I like the grumpy sunshine trope, and I feel like that part was well done, but I didn’t love the characters. It wasn’t for me.

I loved this, listened to it and read it. The banter is top notch, the chemistry is great and the book is steamy, always love a moody hero and a curvy lead!

I liked this book but I didn’t love it. I was so distracted by the description of Alfie. With how he is described I saw him as the Beast in Beauty and the Beast. The writing was good and flowed well. The fake dating was fun! I will definitely look for more from this author.

Oh, how I loved this book! I watched all of Ted Lasso when it was streaming and have been needing something to fill this Roy Kent-shaped hole in my heart ever since. And boy did this book fill that hole... Aflie, a retired grumpy soccer player, meets Mabel, a sunshiny writer, when they get matched up to write his memoir together. They are brutally honest from the get go and although Alfie is grumpy as can be, he soon warms up to Mabel and they find themselves in a situation where they have to pretend to be together. But are they really just pretending?

I loved this so much. It reminded me a lot of the humour I grew up with, such as Bridget Jones and the Shopaholic Series. It has plenty of spice and is still oh so sweet. 10/10 recommend!

Thank you to the publisher for providing me with an advance copy of this book,

Unfortunately, I have decided that this wasn’t the book for me and will not finish reading.

I sincerely appreciate the opportunity to read this book and look forward to future ones.

Thank you to Netgalley for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

Woo! I love a spicy book, and this one was spicy from the beginning which really helped keep my attention. Alfie and Mabel first meet in a publishing office. Alfie is a former athlete looking to sell his memoir, Mabel is the potential ghost writer for said memoir. After a slight miscommunication Mabel is forced to see that Alfie is not quite as grumpy and standoffish as she once assumed.

Overall this was a cute and very s[icy read. I will gladly read books by Charlotte Stein again

This book had so much potential, and while it hit a few highs, the overall experience left me a little underwhelmed. The witty dialogue and banter between the characters are often a highlight, but it quickly becomes too much. Mabel’s inner monologues, while insightful, often felt overly drawn out, distracting from the emotional depth of the characters’ connection.

Narratively, there’s a lot of surface-level charm, but deeper issues—family traumas, personal insecurities, and relationship fears—are either glossed over or vaguely mentioned without resolution. This lack of exploration left me disconnected from the characters’ growth and struggles. The cover is adorable, the story is sweet, and the characters are lovable—but like Alfie’s social skills, it all just needed a bit more polish.

There was so much I wanted to love about this book! And I did love a lot of things, I laughed out loud and found it quite humourous! The lead up to the smut was delicious too! But I really struggled with the third act break up, the time skip and the whole miscommunication trope being used the way it was.

Fake dating, grumpy sunshine, enemies to lovers. This had all my favorite tropes! I have really been loving sports romances lately and this was so so freaking good. The writing was good, the story moved well, and I loved the characters. I loved falling in love with them as they fell in love with each other.

It was fine, but nothing super memorable. The spice was a bit much for me, and I found myself skipping through some of it. The ending didn’t fully make sense to me - I had a hard time buying the one-year-later aspect of it…

Overall, cute but it won’t stick with me.

I loved the idea of this book, but the banter unfortunately was just too difficult for me to get through. Grumpy Vs Sunshine is one of my fav romance tropes, so that was definitely a plus. Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for giving me a chance to read this book in return for an honest review!

Honestly, This book just turned out to be not for me. I thought the dialogue was really clunky and there was just too much banter. It took me months to get through this book when I would have usually DNFd,

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.