Plus size FMC and a book all about my favorite trope, grumpy/sunshine. I am OBSESSED. This book was so good and it hit all the feel good spots. This was also a really freaking hilarious book.

Charlotte Stein's writing is hysterically funny and scorching hot. This Roy Kent-reminiscent hero, Alfie, only looks like tough as nails, and watching his bubbly ghostwriter Mabel tease out his secrets is incredibly fun. This book is full of laugh-out-loud banter, usually followed up with shocking moments of intimacy and kindness that cut to the bone. The bulk of the book is conversations between the two main characters as they discuss the book they're writing and then navigate fake dating, but if you like two clever people making each other laugh, it's excellent.

Shared history and in this case trauma gave these two the same kind of upbringing, but different reactions to it. He was unhappy and she was so pleasant. She brought out the best in him though. It was great to see them together. He wanted to make her happy.

Absolutely fantastic plot! Could not put the book down once I began reading it. Cannot wait for it to be released. I will recommend it to everyone I know!

I… truly did not like this book and had to struggle to not DNF it.

I was so excited by the premise — grumpy/sunshine is one of my favorite tropes and I loved the idea of Mabel ghostwriting the memoir of grumpy footballer Alfie.

I never thought there could be a thing as too much banter but these two really tested the boundaries of my patience. Something about the writing style just was not clicking with me.

Neither one of these characters could be honest with one another for an insanely frustrating amount of time for two people well into their 30s. I was hoping for more of a bright personality from Mabel but that very soon got lost in the midst of her insecurities and doubts, and as we only had her POV it started to feel repetitive very quickly.

Not to mention the entire plot was supposed to be based on this shared writing project but actual work on the book took up maybe ten total pages of the entire book. No spoilers but the way the his memoir ended getting finished actually pissed me all the way off and almost had me tossing the Kindle.

It just felt very clunky and awkward and both characters went from charmingly quirky to emotionally immature (and blind) so, so fast. A miss for me.

I was super excited for this cause grumpy/sunshine is one of my top tropes! But this one unfortunately fell flat for me. I tried reading it but it wasn’t for me. Thanks NetGalley, st martins press and Charlotte stein for letting me read before it’s 2024 release!

thank you to netgalley and st. martin’s press for the advanced reading copy in exchange for an honest review.

i’m usually all for witty banter and funny talk, but this book took it WAY past the limit. it felt like the dialogue was a fill in for any actual plot.

if the dialogue was cut down, this book would probably be one of my favorites. instead, i choked down and skimmed through PAGES of banter.

however, on a positive note, this book was very cute. i love this trope, and while it was shoved in your face, it was executed well.

i also loved the inclusion in this book. finally some representation besides thin bleach blonde white chicks with no personality in romance!!!

overall: very cute book but there were some fundamental issues. the author definitely has potential, and when she gets more experienced i can definitely see myself becoming a fan of her work

There truly is much to like about WHEN GRUMPY MET SUNSHINE. The characters are delightful and their banter and affection for each other was so fun to read. I giggled like a crazy woman over and over again. In that, kudos to author Charlotte Stein because it takes a lot for me to laugh while reading a romcom.

But, I struggled with a few things. First, Alfie and Mabel were incredibly insular despite their public "fake" romance. At times I felt this book could have existed anywhere at anytime. I longed to hear more about both of them. We learn that Mabel has friends, but only meet Alfie's assistant. I would have loved more.

Eventually, the story dragged and I found myself frustrated with Mabel and skipping pages. While I understood her "how could he love me as a normal, overweight person", it got old. Mabel is clearly comfortable in her body and that should have reflected in her life and how she saw herself.

Note to author and publisher: the author's note with warnings is totally unnecessary. The things mentioned were matter of fact, part of the conflict of the story, and just life.

Thank you to Netgalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review! This is one of my favorite tropes but unfortunately I was just not a fan of this writing style and thought that it felt unnatural. I acknowledge that this is an arc but there were many short sentences that didn’t make sense on their own or longer sentences that should’ve been separated which made it difficult to read and comprehend at some parts. One thing for me that really ruined the illusion of this being two thirty-year-olds in a “relationship” was that while the grumpy mmc had no qualms with cursing, the fmc made it painfully obvious that she did not curse by using alternative swear words. While this didn’t affect the plot in any way it made the fmc seem almost childish in a way instead of “sunshiney” and bubbly. I also thought the ending was rushed as the last chapter jumps to a year later which leaves a lot of unanswered questions like why Mabel wouldn’t have pushed harder about the submission of the book‘s draft and why as the ghostwriter she didn’t have any clue what the book was actually about prior to the launch party. I also found the excerpts at the end of each chapter to be a cute addition although I did struggle with some of the formatting. Overall, the main characters have undeniable chemistry and I thought that the grumpy/sunshine trope was truly accomplished despite some formatting and style issues.

This book was fine, but not at the level I expect from Charlotte Stein. He was grumpy but she wasn't sunshine. I love banter but there was so much sustained banter that I had trouble keeping track of who was talking. It made the book very hard to get into. There were also a lot of mentions of side characters like her friends and her agents, but they weren't ever fleshed out enough for you to really care about them or even keep them straight. The best thing about the book was the spicy scenes. Charlotte Stein knows her business there!

Rated this book 4.5. The following is my honest opinion

ARC Review (Thank you NetGalley). I enjoyed this book so much! I loved that the main character is plus sized which makes books so relatable to people. The banter was chef's kiss. This book was such a perfect grumpy x sunshine and when I saw the title I just had to request it! I love the grumpy x sunshine trope and the title definitely matches the story.

Tropes : Grumpy x Sunshine (ofc), rom-com that's funny, fake dating, amazing banter, plus sized character
TW : parental abuse, poverty, alcoholism, fatmisia
Closed Door Modifications : Chapter 21 (some parts), 23 (some parts), 24 (some parts), 25 (some parts)

WHEN GRUMPY MET SUNSHINE by Charlotte Stein is a fun romcom with a Roy Kent-esque ex footballer and his sunny ghostwriter coming out in February.

I thought it was funny! I've seen some reviews that said the banter was too much, which is a rather silly thing to say. Do you complain that your bed is too comfortable? Your dinner too delicious?? The limit for banter does not exist.

Whilst I do not believe in love at first sight, I do think it does a good job of showing her growing feelings for him based off their interactions. It was cute and fun and funny!

Grumpy + sunshine is a very cute trope, but I felt like it missed the mark a little bit for me. There wasn’t much of a build-up to him warming up to her, which I thought was a disservice to the book. Also, I love banter but it was a bit much at some times. And I didn’t get why they were holding themselves back from being with each other for so long.

Thanks as usual to NetGalley for the ARC.

Is there such thing as too much banter? I say yes and this book is proof of that. I had very high hopes as Grumpy Sunshine is one of my favorite tropes, but it fell a bit short to for me. I did enjoy that the female MC was plus sized, we need more of that in books these days. Body positivity is where it's at! I did laugh out loud a few times while reading, and the book wasn't a total was for me. It was still a cute read overall, just not what I had hoped it would be.

I enjoyed this way more than I thought I would! The enemies to lovers and fake dating tropes worked well in this story. The "grumpy" hero was actually just a big cinnamon roll and the sunshine-y heroine had plenty of depth (and not just the "fat" kind.) I love books that have two weirdos that find each other and click. Also, OMG the steam was WAY more than I saw coming. (ha) What a great read!

Grumpy/Sunshine is hands down my favorite trope to read. I'll read anything and everything that even hints at having it within its pages. A title that explicitly tells me something going to be just that? I HAD to read.

This didn't disappoint - I read it in a few hours and loved the dynamic between Alfie and Mabel. I'm actually completely obsessed with Alfie. That being said, I wish we got more depth into the characters, especially more insight into how Alfie was feeling at times. I loved the chapters where we got a sneak peek into their notes, and wish there could have been more of that.

Overall, I enjoyed reading this. It was light and fun and perfect for a long weekend beach read.

It's been ages since I read a title from Charlotte Stein but I have loved previous so I had to grab this one!

I'm not even 100% sure how I'm feeling about this one now that I've finished. It was entertaining but I wasn't invested in either Alfie or Mabel. The banter they had was fun, but I feel like there was no build-up to it. I'm not sure I bought with how closed off Alfie was that he would immediately have the connection (or let it show) with Mabel that was portrayed.

I also couldn't help but picture Roy Kent the entire time I was reading LOL - not bad but also a bit weird :)

Thank you for the chance to read early.

I love a good romance, and this one was wonderful! It had witty banter, and lovable characters. I was rooting for them the whole way through!

Actual Rating: 3.75 stars

When ghostwriter Mabel Willicker gets. a job writing the memoir of famous football player Alfie Harding, she doesn't really know what to expect. Alfie has gone through numerous ghostwriters before she came along, heck he doesn't know how he's having to write memoirs, but when Alfie and Mabel are seen in public together, the media goes haywire.

Alfie as a character is a mystery to me. The summary says that he's grumpy to Mabel's sunshine, but I feel like Alfie is more misunderstood than grumpy. He's more withdrawn than the average person, especially withdrawn as a famous person (he has a flip-phone for goodness sakes), which some people could interpret as grumpiness if they wanted to.
The relationship between them, felt kind of insta lovey. It was filled with lots of banter (sometimes with too much banter) and the multitudes of banter kind of took away from the book at times.

I loved how the author added bits of media at the end of chapters. There were texts, reddit chains, tweets, and more and I really enjoyed how those showed us how the media was reacting outside of what Mabel was seeing.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Griffin for an eARC of this book

Ok, I really did like this book. Alfie grew on me immediately. I loved Mabel’s character - real, fun, smart, witty. They were both so great to read about. The story was like reading about Roy from Ted Lasso. Which definitely made me laugh! The only thing I didn’t like were the inner monologues. There’s more of reading Mabel’s thoughts than anything. I’d want to skip past it to get to the dialogue. Eekkkkk!