What a book.

Alfie and Mabel, what a pair. I started this book off with zero expectations and finished it with happy tears. Charlotte did such a good job with this book.

When I first met Alfie I really did not like him, his grumpiness really made me want to reach into the book and punch him in the face. But Mabel warmed my heart, she was a breath of curvy fresh air.

I loved how the dynamic worked through the pages, between Mabel pushes him to talk about the deep details of his life to him

**********spoiler*************

professing his love to the paparazzi. They made a good team. I continues through the book wondering what was the plan for them, how their relationship would evolve and how it work work out.

HEA was great, I really loved all the small and big details of the characters, their story and how it ended.

While there was some cute banter and sweet moments, I struggled with believing in these two characters. I wanted to so bad too. Like look at how fucking cute the cover is!

Let me start with the good. The spicy scenes are spicy. Our MMC has a potty mouth too, so wowza. And when he is saying lovely things about our main lady Mabel, the words are eloquent and GRAND GESTURE worthy.

But here are my not so good thoughts:
*There happened to be a lot of tropes that are popular, and it sometimes felt like those were forced for the readers. Grumpy/sunshine, fake dating, only one bed, hates everyone but her, miscommunication, etc.
*The writing was sometimes hard to follow. I’d have to reread the dialogue 2-3 times sometimes just to figure out who said what. And because they are I think from Norway, the author writes them with the accent in some of the dialogue. That usually doesn’t bother me, but there were parts where I didn’t follow the words and had to look things up for it to make sense.
*Theres such small mention of the side characters and friends that I felt like they either needed to be in the story a little more or not at all. It kinda felt like how lacroix tastes…blah with a hiiiint of flavor.
*I didn’t enjoy the 3rd act breakup/resolution because it felt so rushed and like…we skipped over a year. Literally?

Lastly, as a fellow fat girl, I fucking love books where fat babes find love. What I don’t enjoy is a fat main character that loves herself and thinks she’s great while simultaneously thinking she’s so ridiculously undeserving of love from this beautiful ex-football/soccer player. Especially when there are clearly signs of his feelings that’s she just writes off as “impossible” …for months?

What I got from this book is what the blurb details: Mabel is hired to write Alfie's memoirs, they banter and learn about each other, they enter into a fake relationship, and steaminess ensues.

I can't accurately rate or review this book as the writing style was not for me and I ended up skimming a lot of it. There is too much internalization/thinking/explaining for my liking, but I'm currently listening to 'Get a Life, Chloe Brown' and it sounds similar, so if you like that style, then you might enjoy this.

From what I read:
I ADORE Alfie. He's misunderstood, selfless, and caring.
Both characters don't think the other could possibly like the other, even when they are clearly horny for each other and enjoy steamy moments.
The chapter titles are fun and I enjoyed the snippets at the end of the chapters.
I enjoyed the memoir reveal and snippets from it.
These two were just so cute and perfect for each other. They helped heal each other and grow into the version of themselves they wanted to be.

I was intrigued by this book's cover and description so I was excited to receive an egalley of "When Grumpy Met Sunshine" by Charlotte Stein. Football, Britain, and a very Roy Kent (ala Ted Lasso) MMC was an easy hook for this reader. I was also excited to see a woman with curves as the FMC.

While there were certainly amusing and heartfelt parts of this story, I desperately wanted to love it and enjoy it more than I actually did. I found the pacing and stuttered sentences from the FMC's POV to be really distracting. The amount of thinking that sometimes happened in the middle of dialogue was sometimes so confusing that I completely lost the plot. I'd have to re-read to follow dialogue and figure out who the speaker was as the voices were not clearly distinct from one another. Despite reading and watching a lot of British books and television, this book was really hard to follow at times simply due to the reference points that as an American, weren't accessible. So, this one didn't quite work for me. Hopefully it will find its audience with others.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this! I haven’t read anything from this author before, but I definitely will be looking up more stories from Charlotte Stein! There were parts where I simply couldn’t stop laughing and other parts where I couldn’t stop reading to see what happened next. It’s a very wholesome feel good book that is so so British. There were a few bits that felt a little too forced and a bit too cheesy and predictable for my liking, but then again, I’ve read my fair share of cheesy romance novels.
I loved this book. Beginning middle and end were all amazing!

This was a cute and good read. The characters are well developed. The workplace romance is good.. a little wordy but overall a good book.

This was cute and cozy and very character driven. The set-up felt a bit abrupt as we met these characters and slid into their interaction with little to no build up or exposition.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC of this book!

There were a few positives in the book - both characters felt fully developed (albeit slightly insufferable) and the tropes that I expected was fulfilled (workplace romance, opposites attract), but I think the book is at least 50 pages longer than it needs to be in the current state. There is a lot of dialogue that isn’t necessary to the plot and belabors the same points, although I do understand the Brits enjoy banter much more than us Americans so it might be up to personal taste.

Although they were fully developed with friends/jobs/motivations, the main two characters also speak like no one I’ve ever met. I usually do alright suspending disbelief, but some of the things they said were way out there and the premise of some of the “sexier” scenes was just too unbelievable for me. I think this book is probably just not for everyone and I did get through it quickly in spite of it being longer than I felt was necessary so that’s a positive. I also think the actual writing structure was well-done so props to the author for that (didn’t feel repetitive in structure, only in plot points).

Slow burn readers this is for you!

Slow burn and took me about half the book to really get into but it wraps up heartwarming & happy. I loved the relevant media references as well.

Thank you NetGalley for this arc in exchange for my honest review.

This book is the the total package! It has the spice, the comedy, the romance, the sarcasm, the honesty! I couldn’t get enough!!!

“When Grumpy Met Sunshine” covers a bubbly ghost writer hired to write the memoir of a hot, yet angry, athlete. The two are what society would deem unconventional; he is a hot athlete and she a fat. Literally no other reason society feels they do not fit other than the fact that she is fat and he is hot.

I absolutely love the way Charlotte Stein wrote on this topic and approached the the mind set of Mable! I laughed uncontrollably, I looked like 👀, and my heart completely melted in the very end!

I am not a romance reader, I’m a thriller babe! But I did want to give romance books a try and I’m so glad I did!

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book in advance!

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and to the author for this arc in exchange for an honest review!!

Holy heck babes. BUCKLE UP. GRAB A SNACK. TAKE A SEAT. This book is EVERYTHING.

Writing this review with a hand over my MOUTH. Screaming violently.

If you’ve ever watched Ted Lasso: this book is featuring Roy. Kent. (His name is Alfie, but, SEMANTICS!!) There’s no way around it. Ex footballer. Grumpy, and growling at every person within his general vicinity except for Mabel, his ghostwriter. And, just like Roy Kent, Alfie is actually perfect, grizzly, and a giant softie.

And Mabel is exactly like all of us. Feeling exactly what we would be feeling. Going THROUGH IT. And she is effortlessly so so lovable. This girl deserves to be burrito’d in a cozy blanket and just APPRECIATED for being the sweet bean she is.

Guys this is a fake dating book. (Arguably one of the best tropes!) It’s a book filled with TENSION. So much agonizing tension. And just like, gentle care??? Adoration??? Love and acceptance to be exactly who you are??

Read it. Run to your friendly neighborhood bookstore for this one. You’re gonna thank me later!

📚ARC Book Review 📚
Rating: 📖📖(2/5)
🔖Romantic comedy,Football,Writer, Ghostwriter
👦👧 Mabel(female lead) a ghostwriter chosen to write the life story of Alfie(male lead) ex football player
📝 Mabel-a ghostwriter storming out on her first meeting with her client Alfie who apparently have handpicked her to write his life story out of all the candidates. Being on the big side and big hair too,Mabel is drowned by her insecurities in the same way as Alfie also has social issues which makes him unable to properly act when in public. They seemed to have clicked given their personalities as well as their past. Not being able to relay what they really feel for each other their relationship went on a halt because of this despite of the intense feeling that they have with each other. True feelings were then laid out as the book finally came into completion. They finally were able to figure out what each others feel and how it all got tangled up.
✅ I love happy endings and I’m pretty sure it is. I also love how it turned out on who wrote the book and what was unfolded in it. The banters and the exchange between them were funny and witty.
❌ I honestly almost DNF it because of its POV. It was very confusing at first. Plus if there is such thing as over narrating-this has to be it. It was dragging to read on and on the narration like it was overly described and told and nothing is left to the imagination. I was waiting for more line exchanges between the characters but there isn’t that much. There’s really not much characters involved in the story and it just revolved around them. Story also just happened either on Alfie or Mabel’s place which is not really exciting at all.

This was a fast read, but a slow burn. The ending wraps things up nicely, but boy does it take a while to get there. The spice was a 2 and I honestly wanted more. I feel like it took about half the book for me to really decide I wanted to continue reading. Overall, I would recommend this book if you enjoy a slow burn that ends with all the good feelings.

Review copy provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

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.