3.5/5

What happens when a grumpy retired footballer is tasked with hiring a ghostwriter to pen his memoirs? Well, he vetoes all of them— until he meets Mabel, a ray of sunshine whose prose might finally meet his exacting standards.

If there’s one thing to be said about the introductory chapters, it’s that Charlotte Stein makes sure you know exactly what tropes you’re waltzing into. In fact, the writing was self-conscious enough that I was worried that the FMC and MMC would devolve caricatures of the Grumpy/Sunshine trope instead of fleshed out characters. I was happy to be proven wrong.

The first quarter of the book was pretty shallow in terms of characterization, and while the banter was frequently funny, it wasn’t always motivated. Was their back-and-forth moving the plot forward? Was I learning anything of depth about the MCs? Not necessarily. It took about half of the novel before the dialogue started to flow more naturally, but I’m glad I stuck it out.

It should also be said that I’m a sucker for a well-done slow burn romance. And when the heat kicks in, Charlotte Stein delivers the spice. It made wading through the sometimes-excessive banter totally worth the payoff.

Also, I will never NOT love novels with little in-world snapshots of relevant media. Cheeky bits of text threads, excerpts of referenced novels, news headlines, and social media comments were used to punctuate the chapters, and it added a lovely layer of texture that made the world and stakes more real.

Overall, When Grumpy Met Sunshine was an enjoyable read that I’d recommend when you need to just turn off your brain with a palette cleanser. It was sweet and heartwarming and I can’t wait to read more by the author.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for a review.

Mabel is a gorgeous curvy ghost writer who just met her hardest assignment yet. Alfie Harding, a retired footballer whose looks and attitude put Roy Kent to shame. Alfie does not like people, he doesn’t like attention, and he’s very closed off, yet Mabel manages to get him to open up. It drives Alfie absolutely crazy and yet he can’t stay away from Mabel. She is the sunshine to his darkness. She helps him become his truest self and follow his dreams. I highly recommend When Grumpy Met Sunshine!

Firstly, let me say thank you to St. Martin’s Griffin for the ARC.
I actually really enjoyed this book… surprisingly!
I am an absolute sucker for the fake dating trope. I just can’t get enough. The minute I found out this book had the fake dating trope, I knew I just had to read it! Anyway, this book was so adorable, I was giggling and kicking my feet most of the time. Also, I'm literally in love with Alfie. When authors do the grumpy x sunshine trope, they usually just make the guy a complete JERK and I end up hating the MMC for the entirety of the book. Which is why I was a bit hesitant to actually start this book. However, Alfie is simply just misunderstood. Now for my complaints, some of the dialogue felt off and the British slang. I'm not British so I was constantly confused. I didn’t really mind but other readers might not like it so much. Overall, I really enjoyed this book and would recommend this book to those who like a misunderstood and sweet MMC. It’s also a PLUS that the FMC is plus-size (haha, get it?… sorry for the bad joke) —

Review: This looked so cute and that made me excited to read it. Sadly right from the start the characters annoyed me. I found it so hard after that to get into the story, so this was a bust for me. The writing was fine except for the times it felt like forced banter. This made the flow if the story super choppy. If the character and story were not trying so hard to be something they weren’t it may have worked.
Recommended For: Those who want to see if they like characters I didn’t.

I was excited about this book because I love the grumpy meets sunshine trope. I also love how curvy girls like me find their HEA in my romance books. Unfortunately, this book is not for me. The constant banter is headache inducing and I wish the story could have been told from Alfie’s perspective as wetas Mabel’s. I have read better romance novels.

If you like witty banter, fake dating, and some steam with your romance, then this book is for you. I enjoyed reading When Grumpy Met Sunshine because the story immediately drew me in and kept my attention throughout the entire book. The characters were likable and I loved the chemistry between the two. I loved how they got each other and could be themselves around each other even if they didn’t think they could be. Alfie and Mabel kept me laughing at times as well. I also enjoyed seeing how each chapter had its own title and looked forward to seeing them at the beginning of each chapter.

3/5 ⭐️

I wish I could say that I loved this book but t was a little disappointed. The book has a lot of potential but I found myself struggling to get through it with just too much banter. A little banter is great but I am just not sure that this book and I danced well together. I am sure that someone might find this book fascinating but it unfortunately was not for me.

"This is the way the world ends, she thought. Not with a fight, but with a single word left unsaid."

"When Grumpy Met Sunshine" by Charlotte Stein is an adorable, saccharinely sweet, romcom.

Ghostwriter Mabel finds herself working with retired footballer (ie: soccer player) Alfie on his memoir. When Mable is discovered by the press, the duo find themselves entangled in a fake relationship to keep the ghostwriting under wraps.

Mable's character is a beautiful, plus-size, ray of sunshine, and Alfie is a handsome, misunderstood grump. The humor and banter is fantastic throughout the book, although at times this American reader admittedly felt a little mixed up with some of the British terminology.

As other reviewers have mentioned, the inner dialogues were longwinded at times, which was distracting on occasion. I think with some slight tweaks, and paring down, this could easily be addressed.

Overall I really enjoyed the characters, and their story. It was a feel good read, and does exactly what a romcom should, makes you laugh about the process of falling, and being, in love.

Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 (rounded up to 4)
Spice: 🌶️🌶️

Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the free digital ARC in exchange for an honest, and unbiased, review.

Thank you to NetGalley / St. Martin’s Press for providing me with an ARC of this book!

That being said, this did not live up to my expectations. The concept was quite intriguing - I do love a grumpy sunshine romance - but poorly executed.

For starters, I don’t actually think I would categorize Alfie as grumpy, nor would I categorize Mabel as sunshine. Both characters were awkward, weird, and downright clumsy in nature. And not in a cute quirky way - in a way that made me wonder how the heck they’ve made it this far in life.

Their backstories are touched on, but nothing really plays out and adds to the story the way you’d hope. And their chemistry is nonexistent - I literally dropped my jaw @ the declaration of love, thinking ‘where the heck did that come from?’

This just didn’t do it for me!

Mabel is a ghost writer, and she has just be handed her toughest assignment yet. She has been asked to write the infamous footballer, Alfie Harding’s, memoirs. Famous for refusing to answer any questions about his personal life, under any circumstances and being extremely hostile to anyone who presses for details Mable has her work cut out for her. After a misunderstanding with the paparazzi Mable and Alfie will pretend to be an item in order to keep the ghostwriting a secret. Unfortunately they are both struggling with finding each other extremely attractive.
I’m always a little wary of books that contain a lot of banter, especially ones that bill two main characters as opposites. I find the “banter” tends to be just mean and I don’t love it. This books banter hit a better mark and was kind and playful teasing with neither character trying to hurt the other which was extremely refreshing.
Alfie is adorable and Mable brings out his sweetest side. The book definitely flips a switch from sweet to spicy at a certain point. I only read a couple of books in this genre a year and this is definitely become one of my favourites. It’s cute, it’s fun, parts of it made me actually laugh out loud.
Thank you to @netgalley and @charlotte.stein and @stmartinspress for letting me enjoy this book early in exchange for a review. If you are looking for a copy it hits shelves Feb 6 2024.
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I haven't read a Charlotte Stein novel for a while and clearly that's been a mistake. When Grumpy Met Sunshine has all the things I love about her novels: two complete weirdos who are totally hot for each other with tons of simmering sexual tension along with a lot of laughs.

Alfie is a grumpy retired professional soccer player and Mabel is the sunshine-y ghost writer he hired to work on his memoir. As they start working together, they realize that they grew up in the same area and have a lot in common, including traumatic family histories. Alfie is clearly smitten with Mabel from the start but she can't accept it because she is a bigger woman and Alfie has dated lots of celebrity/model types in the past.

When the paparazzi take photos of Mabel leaving Alfie's house, Alfie and Mabel decide they must start a fake relationship to cover up the fact that Alfie hired a ghostwriter. Fake relationships are one of my favorite tropes and Charlotte Stein really gets this one right. Alfie and Mabel continue to become better friends while they are fake dating and Mabel also realizes that she's really attracted to him. There's a big lack of communication that causes their fake relationship to end but also leads to the most romantic ending I've read in quite some time.

This book was tons of fun and a fantastic romance. I will definitely be getting the next Charlotte Stein release!

Sometimes you read a book that just does not click for you and this is one of those books. The story line was good but the presentation did not appeal to me. I found the book to be scattered, poorly flowing and difficult to read. The profanity was excessive and did not add anything to the story. The constant use of the F word was quite offensive and over done. There was no romance to this love story, just explicit, trashy sex talk.
If I had not committed to read this book for a review I would not have read past the first half.

I received an advance copy of this book in exchange for my review.

"When Grumpy Met Sunshine" by Charlotte Stein offers readers a delightful and steamy opposites-attract romance with a twist. The dynamic between the grumpy ex-footballer, Alfie Harding, and the cheerful ghostwriter, Mabel Willicker, promises to be a source of both humor and chemistry.

The story appears to blend humor, banter, and romance, making it an engaging and entertaining read. Alfie's grumpy demeanor and Mabel's sunshine-y personality create a classic opposites-attract scenario that is often ripe for emotional and romantic tension. Watching them navigate their way through writing Alfie's memoirs and dealing with the mistaken public perception of their relationship should be both fun and intriguing.

The slow burn romance aspect adds depth to the story, allowing readers to savor the development of the relationship between Alfie and Mabel. The fact that they initially see their connection as a mere business arrangement, only for it to evolve into something more, adds a layer of complexity to their interactions.

The book also seems to explore themes of authenticity and public perception, which can resonate with contemporary issues in the age of social media and celebrity culture.

Overall, "When Grumpy Met Sunshine" promises to be an enjoyable read for fans of romance novels who appreciate well-drawn characters, witty banter, and a healthy dose of steamy chemistry.

I thought this book was so cute. It did take me a little bit to get into it but once Mabel & Allie started communicating I knew it was going to be good. At first Allie seemed like a real jerk but I quickly warmed up to him. Mabel was quirky and fun. Once they finally got together the spice was so good. I love their banter and dirty talk. I didn’t care for the third act “breakup” but happy in the resolution and reasoning in retrospect.

Thank you NetGalley and Charlotte Stein for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I tried to read this but DNFed. It was very difficult to follow the storyline and the assumptions the female main character was making about the male main character did not seem fair.

It took me a little bit to get into the actors writing style and I almost didn't finish this book, I'm glad i stuck with it because overall I ended up enjoying this book. I was able to relate to Mabel as a fellow plus-sized women and love soccer so that's what originally drew me to this book.

Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️
Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️


I wanted to like this book but couldn't connect with the main characters. :( I found most of their conversation boring. It took a very long time to get through this novel. However, the sex scenes were well-written.


Thank you, St. Martin's Press and NetGalley, for the advanced readers copy.

Thank you for the opportunity to read this book early. Unfortunately, this book fell a little flat for me. It took me awhile to get through this book, which is not the norm for me. Mabel’s dialogue was hard to follow and made me lose interest. I became distracted and had to re-skim sections to understand what was going on. I wanted to read and love this as it’s a genre I usually really enjoy.

I unfortunately couldn’t finish this book. I just couldn’t connect with the writing style and so couldn’t really connect with characters. I liked the premise of the book, but it was just hard to follow.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press, St. Martin's Griffin for the chance to read an early copy. ~I was given this book and made no commitments to leave my opinions, favorable or otherwise~

Okay. So I'm not sure if the male character was somehow a nod to Roy Kent on the show Ted Lasso, but this character didn't quite hit the mark. Not a fan of descriptive intimate scenes, but I'm glad these characters were allowed to have a sex life. Cute, quick read for romance lovers.

I received an e-arc from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an unbiased review.