A UK based story about a ghost writer and a soccer (football) player. Plus sized FMC who doesn't realize how pretty she is to other people. A little slow paced in the beginning, but you get into it as you get to meet the characters. They're both very awkward, which is pretty funny. I love the one-liners in this one. TOO much miscommunication for my taste. Still a super fun read. 3 stars!

When Grumpy Met Sunshine is a feel good, opposites attract romance with a mild amount of steamy that pulls on your heart strings while also making you laugh. The characters are well developed and this story pulls you in and makes you want to keep reading all the way to the fairytale ending. Well done novel, and a great read to pull yourself out of a reading slump!

I was very excited about this book as a huge fan of Ted Lasso, as I had heard it described as a Keely and Roy-esque story. Unfortunately, I got about 25% of the way through the book and it still hadn't captured me, so I didn't finish it. I found myself skipping over pages of inner monologue/narration to get to the dialogue between the characters.

A positive is that the author REALLY took Roy Kent off the screen and put him on the page. That characterization was great!

In general, I don't read a lot of romance, so definitely look at other reviews of people who read more romance before taking my word for it!

Wow Wow Wow! There is nothing quite like a grumpy -sunshine arch. This book made me laugh and cry and kick my feet with happiness. I loved the plus size representation and how out MMC just loves her. So So good.

If you're a fan of smart women being recognized for their talent and men who need a helping hand having someone treat them nicely - you're going to love When Grumpy Met Sunshine!

So many people are judged at first sight/first interaction - and I loved that both our hero/heroine were able to get past what others *might* have thought of them and form a true connection!!

With a fun balance of hilarious misunderstandings and not-so-innocent flirting to steamy/sweet romantic tension, I enjoyed this curvy gal romane from Stein!!

**Thank you to St. Martin's Griffin & NetGalley for the advanced reader copy. I received this book for free, but all thoughts are my own. – SLR 🖤

This book was so much fun! I'm not a sports fan but you don't have to be at all to fall in love with these characters. There's so much more to Alfie than his history in sports. He is definitely grumpy but he is delightfully funny, often without meaning to be. Mabel is a ghostwriter who shares a similar background and develops an unlikely friendship. Readers will root for their relationship and be thoroughly entertained.

Silly, sweet, sexy, full of banter (almost too much banter, but when it's good too much is just right). So many story beats that made me squeal and kick my little feet in sheer happiness, with a steam level that was VERY satisfying. Adding this one to my "must buy a physical copy ASAP" list.

This unfortunately was a DNF for me.

This book just wasn't for me. The characters felt one dimensional and the dialogue wasn't my taste. I feel like if the characters had a little bit more substance as opposed to quirkiness, I would have finished this book.

This eARC was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

this was bad i’m so sorry. even grumpy sunshine trope needs to have depth to the characters, and being thrown directly into their first meeting was a huge misstep for this book

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Overall, I enjoyed this one and it was more or less what I was expecting, Girl meets boy, who is a famous footballer. She works for him as a ghostwriter on his memoir, they have a fake relationship that turns into real feelings and then eventually they live happily ever after after a brief period of misunderstanding. It was definitely sweet and I connected with both main characters. That being said, I was not a fan of the perspective that the book was written in with an omniscient narrator. That is just personal preference, but it was not for me. I would read another book by this author, though and I think that many people would really like this one!

Ghostwriter Mabel Willicker is roped into working with retired football star Alfie Harding to write his memoir. The only problem? He is notoriously grumpy and private.

After a paparazzi run-in invites the world to comment on Mabel’s body, Alfie steps in and asks Mabel to start a fake relationship, showing the world that she’s not too big to catch the UK's most eligible ex-footballer.

As the memoir writing continues, the “fake” couple spends more & more time together and finds out their story actually may end differently than they both thought.

I caught myself cheesy grinning as I watched Mabel slowly soften Alfie up. Their relationship was adorable and their discussions covered some surprising deep topics such as parental expectations and alcoholism.

Reading this book felt like watching the cutest episode of Ted Lasso I've ever seen. 4 stars!!

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press/St. Martin's Griffin for providing a digital ARC for me to review. Releasing February 6, 2024.

This book was weird but in a good way. The entirety of Alfie's character was odd. I didn't really like how it was only one POV because I would have loved to get into Alfie's head.

The romance was cute though.

This was a light read with a tried and true trope. I liked the characters, but there was a bit too much dialog that just didn't move the plot along and kept me from getting engaged in the story.

I thought it wa a really enjoyable and cute. This is a first time read for this author and I was not disappointed. Also check the cover, total eye catcher.

The banter was spot on, I love a female MC that speaks her mind, and forced proximity on top of this! Yes please!

Definitely recommend, Thank you for an advance read of this!

Grumpy plus sunshine? What could go wrong? Loved the enemies to lovers trope and the characters were relatable and funny! Enjoyed this sweet and funny book!

Highly recommend if you love grumpy sunshine relationships, fake relationship trope, good banter, and angst. I also enjoyed that after each chapter there's either a note between the two of them or texts or an article excerpt etc.

** I received this ARC in exchange for my honest review***

Grumpy Sunshine is one of my favorite tropes, and while this was a cute book and I loved that the Heroine is curvy, the dialogue going on for miles made it hard to get through.

The endless loops of Dialogue are what brought it down for me.

Special thanks to NetGalley for this ARC

Only Alfie could accidentally stalk a woman.

When <i>When Grumpy Met Sunshine</i> was interesting, it was impossible to put down. Conversely, when <i>When Grumpy Met Sunshine</i> was boring, it was impossible to pick up.

Charlotte Stein put her own twist on the grumpy/shine trope in the way that Alfie was not so much a grump as he was flustered and misunderstood. He was always kind and quick to correct a misunderstanding (respectful king). The man we read about in the interviews at the end of the chapter does not match him at all. Perhaps it’s because around Mabel, he’s different and being more himself.

One thing that frustrated me was how closed-off Mabel was about her attraction to him. Alfie would be like, “I’m so sorry I know you find me ugly and fake dating me is the worst thing ever.”

And then instead of reassuring him, Mabel would be like, “I never said that.” LIKE CAN YOU PLEASE JUST TELL THIS MAN YOU CARE ABOUT HIM AND FIND HIM ATTRACTIVE?

That being said, the strongest parts of this book is definitely the tension. As always, the steam was top tier. I do wish it happened earlier in the book so there was more, but honestly, it works best that it happened in the last parts of the book.

Personally, I found the banter was hard to follow. I always felt like I was accidentally skipping a page because much of understanding what’s going on is listening to what Mabel is saying about it, which duh, but then I would forget what was actually said/what they were talking about.

I won’t lie, I did almost give up on this book. But I’m glad I didn’t. I found so many little moments of true enjoyment. Maybe the romcom genre just isn’t for me anymore. Anyway, if there’s one thing to take away from this: Alfie is babygirl. Thank you.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press & NetGalley for this ARC of <i>When Grumpy Met Sunshine</i> by Charlotte Stein in exchange for an honest review.

This one surprised me! It started off a bit slow, trying to get a sense of these two character's motivations. Closer to the 1/3 mark their chemistry really started to blossom and I just fell in love with them together. Alfie is this adorable blustering bear of a man, beautifully flawed, so gentle and kind (but with such a dirty mouth omg!), and Mabel is a genuine, sweet, soft-hearted person with a charming disheveled home life and a relatable fear of being loved or being unloveable. These two characters are so perfect for each other. I flew through the second half. Such a cute, sweet, and spicy read! I would definitely recommend this book.

Before all else, I want to sincerely thank NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

And to be honest, this book was not for me. I very nearly DNF at about 30%; the only thing that kept me going was my sense of duty to NetGalley and the publisher. It was a chore to finish.

There was far too much banter. Even if it had been hilarious and witty, which it mostly wasn’t, it still would have been in excess. This book could have easily been 100 pages shorter.

Though I often like the grumpy x sunshine trope, I did not like the can’t-use-a-cell-phone trope, the miscommunication and third act “breakup” trope, or the I’m-too-large-to-possibly-be-attractive nonsense. (This book was also workplace romance, fake dating, celebrity x civilian).

While I appreciated the representation in the FMC and the character development of the MMC, that’s about all. [Even if the whole time I pictured Alfie as Roy Kent from Ted Lasso because that is the exact character portrayed.]