I was initially very excited to read this book, the Grumpy x Sunshine trope is one of my favorites. Plus, the inclusion of a plus-sized heroin was another element that made me very excited to read this story. Unfortunately, it fell a little flat for me. I'm not sure if it was just my comprehension but I really couldn't follow a lot of the dialogue between the main characters. I feel like the kind of banter they were having was confusing and not at all as witty and quirky as the author meant for it to be. Another issue was the progression of the relationship between them, mid way through the book I was not invested in them anymore because it felt like they weren't progressing at all.

I think the overall plot of the story is really interesting but it just wasn't executed well. The writing felt all over the place, along with the plot and their relationship.

Thanks so much to NetGalley and St Martins Press for an eARC in exchange for my honest review.

The positive points:
-the banter between Alfie and Mabel was fire, and so was their chemistry
-love a curvy heroine
-Alfie, as a character. Funny and smart, lots of depth
-the use of social media to elevate the story

The negative points:
-Mabel’s stream of consciousness dialogue was WAY too long, and in need of a lot of editing (ironic). It took me out of the story, and I wanted so badly to skip some of it
-Mabel supposedly has friends, but they are underutilized and not well represented

*the copy I read was an ARC through Netgalley

This just wasn't my cup of tea. I found myself distracted by the story instead of being caught up in it, re-reading lines and paragraphs and just not getting it/feeling it. I wasn't confused, but couldn't connect to the pacing or dialogue. I want books I can tumble into and get lost in and unfortunately, themis one fell a little flat.

This book started off strong with such great characters and development. The dialogue was great, characters had cute chemistry and it was enjoyable for the first third. Then the second third took over and it slogged and felt extremely immature. The act of getting to a sexual relationship was painful and took slow burn to a whole new level. Additionally, the inconsistency on whether Mabel (FMC) uses curse words or not didn’t work with her character or the storyline. Then the final third of the book happened. I thought it sped too quickly through the end and don’t understand the timeline but I enjoyed it. If the second third was shorter and more of the lovely writing in the end, it would’ve made this book amazing. Ultimately, I finished it on a happy note and enjoyed reading it!

This is more like a 4.5 but not too far off. This relationship and dynamic was so pure I love it! And my oh my is Alfie my new favourite book boyfriend. What an awkward yet hilarious hot guy. My girl Mabel definitely needed some love and Alfie was the perfect answer. Their first few meetings were hilarious and ridiculous, I couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

The ending and the love confession were so tender and heartwarming my eyes were watery. I just loved their relationship and friendship above all and was so happy to read that sort of epilogue note :) ❤️

Rating: 1.5 stars

I'll spare you my full rant, but just know that the most glaring issue about When Grumpy Met Sunshine is the fact that the story is completely devoid of emotion. I don't know if it's a British thing or a Charlotte Stein thing or some misguided attempt to write a detached third person narrative as a nod to the emotionally constipated love interest thing, but it didn't work. There was no feeling in the story, and the only thing that came remotely close is the intense lust (more of that later) Sunshine and Grumpy felt for each other. As a testament to how memorable they are, I can't bring myself to remember either of their names or to care enough to look it up right now.

Oh, MAN. Alfie and Mabel are pretty much their own worst enemies when it comes to being in a relationship. They both have so much baggage that they can't see how well they fit together until things fall completely apart and the truth is pretty much spoon-fed to them.

I don't mean that in a bad way, either. They're both tangled up in their own heads so much that they don't see the truth until it smacks them in the face.

Mabel can't believe that someone as famous and incredible as Alfie could find her even remotely attractive considering the type of women he normally dates. Alfie adores Mabel's sass and he thinks he's being straightforward with how he feels, but they're both on slightly different wavelengths when it comes to communicating and neither sees what the other is saying until things blow up on them.

Heck, even then they don't see it. It takes time and courage (on both their parts) before they get to the place they both need to be in.

A grump with a whole lot of baggage he doesn't even realize he can sort through, a lady who has all the worst things she believes about herself bandied about by gossip columns, sass, steamy kisses (and one not so great kiss), sweet moments, and a whole lot of embarrassment as these two work their way through their feelings. *heart eyes*

As someone who wanted a different ending for Ted Lasso this was the perfect book for me, and I couldn’t wait to read it.

Full review
Summary
Alfie a grumpy a retired footballer( soccer players) who is the worse when it comes to well almost everything except football.. but especially social media and interviews, decides he wants to write an memoir he hire ghostwriter Mabel who is the exact opposite( a cupcake as he describes her).

My thoughts
From the moment Alfie accidentally stalked her and she pepper sprayed him the sparks were flying and I was locked in, then comes the paparazzi catches her leaving his house and things got crazy, next thing you know these two very awkward people are now in a fake relationship( my new favorite Trope btw). We learn if it’s really real? Will Alfie and Mabel get the ending we all wanted for Roy and Keeley?

Overall I really did enjoy this book, however, I only have two critiques. It was really hard to connect with the story in the beginning, Mabel was just rambling on so much I almost couldn’t focus, which leads to my other point I would have loved to hear Alfie POV, I really wish I knew how he felt in a lot of the story.

I would like to thank @netgalley and @smpromance for giving me the opportunity to review this book. Can’t wait til it’s released.

As the title suggests, this is a standalone romance of the grumpy-sunshine variety, following standoffish ex-footballer Alfie Harding as he’s paired up with the curvy, cheery Mabel Willicker, assigned to ghostwrite his memoir. After an initial misunderstanding, they banter and bicker their way to writing his life story, both of them sure they’ll never be anything other than at odds . . . until a compromising paparazzi moment leads them into faking a relationship for the press. As they get closer, they start wondering if the sizzling chemistry is really just for show, or if whatever is between them is the real-deal.

If you love banter in rom-coms, hooooo boy, this one has heaps. (Likely bordering on way too damn much, for some, though I liked it for the most part.) Sure, it’s breezy and cute (and 🌶spicy🌶), though it must be said that I’m personally not really a fan-fiction-to-mainstream-fiction kinda girl, which is a key factor in my rating of When Grumpy Met Sunshine. The Roy Kent/Ted Lasso inspirations here ended up being wildly distracting at best, and incredibly cringe at worst.

To be fair, Charlotte Stein does nail her Roy Kent impersonation in Alfie, who is just as grumpily endearing in the book as the character is in the Apple TV series. But to me, it’s just, like . . . obviously you’re a good writer! Clearly you can write fun, dynamic characters! So why not create someone original? I don’t get it, and that’s fine, because clearly there’s a massive audience out there who adores this type of stuff and I’m genuinely happy for them. That aside, I did really enjoy the ups and downs of Mabel and Alfie’s relationship (which has shades of Rose Matafeo’s Starstruck on HBO Max, a criminally underrated series) riiiiight up until the ending. I’ll just say that I’m NOT a fan of the time skip that happens. To the point it almost tanked the book for me. (It didn’t, but it almost did.)

When Grumpy Met Sunshine

Mabel was asked by her agent to collaborate with a famous ex-footballer to write a book. They immediately get off on the wrong foot and Mabel walks out of the meeting. He tries to make amends and ends up with pepper spray in hiseyes.
They slowly start a working relationship and it is the beginning of a real friendship. They get each other. I enjoyed the humor in this book but it was SLOW. I wondered if they were ever going to get together.
I had a hard time getting into this book. I didn’t think Mabel was very sunshiny. She was so mean to Alfie at first.

The dialogue on this story is a bit much. The main character is quite daft (as she once refers to herself) and lets her imagination run wild. While reading the beginning chapters I’m hoping that the inner thoughts would not continue in this manner, but they did.

I looked forward to seeing the perspective of the MMC as it could balance everything out. Alas I will try this again someday. It seemed quite promising from the description and the beautiful cover

I was super excited about this book but it ended up being a miss for me. I just couldn’t get into it which is sad to say. But in my final thoughts on this book was that I really liked how the main character was plus sized since some books don’t show that a lot. It made her character have insecurities which is a nice change to see the realness.

I appreciate the ARC of When Grumpy Met Sunshine, but I struggled with getting into this story. The banter was a little too much for my liking.

Thank you to net galley, and Saint martins press for the E arc of when grumpy met sunshine.
Cute, funny, with sad ending. Definitely recommend this book.

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!