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.

When ball of sunshine Mabel Willicker is brought in to ghost write for grumpy ex-footballer Alfie Harding, she is sure it won't work. Alfie is her opposite in every possible way, and tensions only continue to rise as the media mistakes their professional relationship as a romantic one.

This was such a cute book! Fake-dating, opposites attract, grumpy × sunshine, not to mention a little bit of spice.
Mabel is relatable and sweet, and Alfie is a loveable grump.
Something about the writing style wasn't my favorite, and occasionally it was difficult to keep track of who was saying what in conversations. However, I really enjoyed this!

I thought that this was an okay read. It wasn't anything special. I though the main female character could've been more mature and communicate way better. It felt like she was childish in certain moments. The writing was somewhat difficult to get into. I did like the main male character. I liked the way he loved and treated her. He was sweet. I feel like I would only recommend this to certain people that I know might like it. This is a workplace romance so if you are a fan of that, look into it. It may be a great experience for you.

This story was just fine. I found the POV and writing style to not hit, although the story had a lot of potential. Mabel is great, but confusing. She's proud of her body, as she claims, but also is super self-deprecating and down on herself. I don't know if that's the correct message, or if it is, it didn't hit. There are a lot of emotional outbursts and miscommunications, that I just, I don't know, it made it hard to get involved in the story.

I loved this book- two of my favorite romantic leads of the year. Alfie is just such an adorable guy, so warm despite his grumpy exterior. I love his journey finding himself, as well as his attempts at self control. I love a guy who is wayyy head over heels and this qualifies. Mabel is also just a delight, sunshiney without being annoying or cloying. I love her ability to joke about serious topics and draw even the most cave dwelling footballer out of his shell. She also has the ability to stand up for herself right away, which I love in a character.

I also just loved the plot- I like when a book is committed to being like, "this is a bananas situation" because sometimes things are just crazy! The beginning got me right away, I love a weird circumstance and the funny banter between the leads. This is a really powerful book with great chemistry and hilarious writing. Overall, I already know it will be on my best of the year list!

CWs: parents with alcoholism (off page), bullying, online abuse, parental death (off page.)

DNF at chapter 3. I snagged this when it was available as Read Now, but after starting it, I can already tell the writing style and I are not going to get on. Rating does not reflect an actual opinion.