I started this when it was featured on the “Read Now;” one because it was the first book I was able to read on her, and two because the cover is super cute!

After reading some of the other reviews I feel a little better about my thoughts. This is my first “not stellar” review. I love the idea of the book and the MCs. This has to be one of my favorite type of books, he falls immediately! But the writing style, 3rd person POV, and narration made it difficult to feel connected to the story.

I had to DNF. The characters were 100% caricatures and not characters that a reader can connect to. It was very messy and tried too hard to be funny without letting it happen naturally. And, no one is that inept with a phone these days.

I'm a fan of the opposites attract trope. Unfortunately, I just didn't love this story. It felt forced and hard to get into. The characters seemed immature and I was hopeful for more. But it may have just been the mood I was in - some witty lines and and banter but not my fave!

I very much enjoyed moments of this, and some of the banter was absolutely hilarious. But I have to agree with other reviewers that occasionally there was just too much bantering. Especially when the two are originally talking. There’s so much, and the author is telling us exactly why they’re saying what they’re saying. It just got to be a lot.
Otherwise, it was extremely enjoyable. I’d give to fans of Talia Hibbert and anyone who is looking for more Roy Kent from Ted Lasso.

Mabel Willicker is sunshine personified, with bright fashion and a brighter personality. Former footballer, Alfie Harding, is as grumpy as it gets. In fact, aside from his stellar skills on the pitch, that's about all he's known for. When the pair teams up to write Harding's memoir, however, we learn that Alfie has a much better, funnier, and charming personality than one would ever expect. When pictures of the two make the tabloids, they decide fake dating is better than bursting Willicker's ghostwriting contract. But, could it be that there's nothing fake in what the two are feeling for each other?

I'll be honest, this was a challenging book to review because I feel like there is a lot to like and a lot to dislike. I'm a sucker for a grump who's a secret softie, and that's definitely Alfie. There is some great banter, though the book is aggressively British in its dialogue (at least for this American reader). The ending is very sweet, as well!

However, I feel like the rest of the book is a bit all over the place. The memoir/writing plot is important in both the first and third acts, but it all but disappears in the second, which means that you sort of forget why the two of them are spending time together. Second, the miscommunication is really popping here and it's just...frustrating. The older I get, the less patience I have for not talking to each other. And these characters are not in their 20s, they are solidly in their 30s! There are also these touches of going deeper into both characters' pasts (they share a history of alcoholic fathers and growing up poor, Mabel struggles with thinking anyone would want her because she's fat), but they aren't fully fleshed out or really explored. I think that's what I ultimately came down on with this book, I was frustrated for most of it. There are flashes of a really lovely story throughout, but it just doesn't come together for me.

* Thank you to St. Martin's Press/St. Martin's Griffin and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest review! *

I enjoyed this a lot!!
Exactly what in needed in the moment I read this.

So swoon worthy chemistry between the characters, so cute!

The spice was just what I look for in books.
The banter was awesome.

Overall loved this. Will be purchasing a physical copy once released

When Grumpy Met Sunshine by Charlotte Stein is a delightful and steamy romance novel that had me hooked from the very beginning. The story revolves around the unlikely pairing of Alfie Harding, a grumpy retired footballer, and Mabel Willicker, a cheery ghostwriter with an infectious sunshine-y personality.

Alfie, our grumpy protagonist, is reluctantly pushed into selling his memoirs, but he's not one to share his emotions or life's secrets. Enter Mabel, a cute and sassy ghostwriter who is determined to draw out every detail from Alfie. But somehow, Mr. Grump confesses his true dying love for Mabel and thus throws them into a fake relationship for the media.

What I loved most about this book was the undeniable chemistry between Alfie and Mabel. Their interactions are filled with wit, humour, and a growing attraction that's impossible to ignore. The slow burn romance between them kept me eagerly turning the pages, rooting for their relationship to blossom. Their fake relationship had me both laughing and swooning. The humour in the book is spot on, and I found myself relating to many of the situations and emotions the characters experienced. I know some readers thought there was too much banter, but honestly I thought it was perfect and made for some highly entertaining moments throughout the book.

Overall, When Grumpy Met Sunshine is a feel-good romance that delivers on both humour and heart. The characters are endearing, the chemistry is electric, and the journey to their fairy tale ending is a delightful ride. I'm giving this book 4 stars because it genuinely made me laugh and kept me engaged throughout. If you're a fan of opposites-attract romances with a good dose of humour, and a one bed trope then this book is a must-read. This is definitely a book in my top 10s for this year and I can't wait to buy a physical book!!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for providing me with an Advanced Copy - in exchange for my honest thoughts!

I absolutely loved this book. It was outside of my usual genre but I adored the characters, plot, and tropes. These two characters made my heart so full.

First off, I love love loved our female main character. She’s plus sized, funny, witty, and so relatable. The way she thinks and explains her emotions and feelings of self worth really hit home for me. Second, our male main character, although famous, was simply misunderstood and not in touch with his own feelings, which led to most of the misunderstandings in the book. Watching as the main characters develop, not only their relationship with one another, but as individuals, was probably my favorite part of this book. Not to mention it has some of the best tropes - slow burn, fake dating, and grumpy-meets-sunshine (although I think these two are more alike than it seems.)

With all that being said, a common complaint I’ve seen in the reviews is that it has too much banter. In my opinion, I loved the banter and thought much of it was hilarious. It’s simply an authors choice of writing style, and everyone can have different opinions on that.

Lastly, I would have loved to have seen a spicy scene after they confessed their love for one another. The spice and chemistry was already next level between them… so I feel like it would have been off-the-charts-sexy after they realized their true feelings for one another. Be warned, most of the book is one big tease (hence the slow burn trope) so just be prepared to be edged on for a large percentage of your reading.

I want to end my review by simply saying that I cannot suggest this book enough.

i really, really like this book even though it falls a little short of its title. i don’t t think Grumpy fits Alfie at all. And Sunshine doesn’t fit Mabel. He’s misunderstood, she’s sweet. So, i was shocked to find that the two mains weren’t opposites, but so very similar. That being said, they were endearing. And the sexy scene in the car may well be the hottest, sexiest thing i’ve ever read.
I’m a huge dialogue fan, so this one suited me, but it could be too much for some.

I’d recommend this book all day long (but maybe warn them about the title)

I was confused in the first quarter of this book, I felt like I was just thrown into that meeting with Alfie and Mabel. There was so much witty banter between both MCs (which I loved), the slowest burnnnn, FMC kept putting herself down her inner monologue was totally opposite of who she was. When starting this Mabel was Uber confident in her body and who she was but that is NOT what she represented she kept putting herself down and body shaming herself when she kept telling us(the reader) that she loved herself and she curves (way to go Mabel) but as you read and pay attention throughout the book she keeps putting herself down from her body size, to her looks and how she perceives herself. The 3rd act break up was definitely all on Mabel because Alfie unequivocally loved her but somehow along the way she stoped loving herself. When you thought the MCs were on the same page they both pull stunts to sabotage what they have. In all this book was very good/funny and sassy for sure but has the potential to be better. I know my copy was and “uncorrected digital” so maybe that had a lot to do with it too, but then again maybe its just that the extreme miscommunication trope just isn’t for me, however I did love the 1 year later portion at the end, but really it took a year?!?!

I unfortunately just couldn’t get into this book despite how much I wanted to like it! I love a grumpy sunshine trope but felt that something was lacking.

I just did not feel a connection between Mabel and Alfie. I didn't find either character to be that appealing and I didn't quite see how their relationship developed into something so quickly.

Honestly, this is the third book I've read recently that is basically Roy Kent fan fiction and I'm getting really tired of it. If I wanted to read Ted Lasso fic, it'd be a Jamie, Roy, and Keeley throuple, lololll.

Just really not it for me from Stein on this one.

*Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an arc in exchange for my honest review.

I love when books have plenty of banter that will make me fall in love with the characters. However, this book had too much banter. I know. I know. I just said I love banter, but man! This book has a lot of it and you end up skimming through it when you get bored and want to get to the point.
I started this book with excitement. Grumpy/sunshine books are my absolute jam. I love a good grumpy man who falls to the sunshine girl antics. This one has that and more. I think this is what saved the book for me. I wanted to know how they would end up. Alfie and Mabel are cute together. I loved that they are characters you can imagine in your head easily. Overall, I think it was good and it had the potential to be great with some good editing.

Loved the workplace romance and opposites attract aspect of this book. But there is a such thing as too much dialogue and banter. The characters had potential but the pacing, chemistry and plot fell short. Almost had to DNF this one because of the repetitiveness and lack of plot.

I did not finish this one, it was not for me, I couldn't relate to the characters, and just did not care for the story.

I really enjoyed this book! I loved how real the FMC was and I felt I could really relate to her and her insecurities. I love someone that is raw and honest, and I felt that in this character. I love the grumpy sunshine and fake relationship tropes, and I felt they were both portrayed really nicely in this story. The FMC was definitely also showing her feisty side quite often! I did find sometimes the conversations were a bit long for me, but overall I thought this was a great read!

Honestly was a DNF for me. I just couldn’t fall in love with the characters like I wanted. I got 55% in and had to put it down. The plot is just very cliche and dry.

I’m not one to reading romance story but this was a fun story. Lots of great details and fun characters. This story was well written and keep the reader wanting more

I"m going to be honest, I struggled with this one. I had such high hopes based on the premise and the cover. However, once I started reading, the heavy reliance on dialogue with very little narrative felt a little tedious and annoying. I found myself skimming the long banter sessions to get to the end. If that doesn't bother you, there is a lot to love here!

Thanks to NetGalley for my ARC!

*ARC Read*
Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for this ARC, in exchange for an honest review.
I wanted to love this book. With my love of Ted Lasso, I was hoping Alfie Harding would be another version of Roy Kent, but I felt like his banter was so immature. From the beginning, I had difficulty grasping this book. I didn’t even make it 10% into the book before DNFing it, I read 6.23% of the book. I took the time to skim through the rest of the book and noticed that it felt like a never-ending dialogue that was full of banter. The grumpy/sunshine trope is one of my favorites, and I could not get behind it in this book. Between the book’s description and the cover, I was so excited to read this, and I’m extremely disappointed. I believe if this book was to be reevaluated and edited down, the potential to be a best seller would grow, but in it’s current state I do not see that.