If you love banter, then When Grumpy Met Sunshine is the contemporary romance for you. Throughout the first two acts of the novel, I seriously couldn't stop laughing. Mabel and Alfie's back-and-forth somehow hit me just right. (I'm not kidding even a little bit—I made the mistake of reading this one in bed when my husband was trying to go to sleep. Long story short: he finally got up, grabbed his pillow, and huffed away to sleep in the spare bedroom.)

But I didn't enjoy this book only because of the banter. I also appreciated the plus-size heroine and the fact that the real villain of the novel was the set of cultural expectations that made both protagonists feel like they had to make themselves smaller in order to be acceptable. This is what they outgrew, and I found Alfie's character growth to be particularly satisfying. I also thought that Mabel's role as Alfie's ghostwriter was one of the best forced proximity justifications I've ever read—it was a believable reason for sunshiny Mabel to stick around long enough to see through Alfie's grumpiness.

If you're looking for an open-door romance that edges the reader nearly as much as the MCs edge each other, give this one a read.

I enjoyed this so much! I loved that the main character was plus sized! She seemed more real and raw, insecurities and all. The male main character is suppose to be the grumpy one, but I think he's just misunderstood.
The female main character had more push back and grumpy moments than he had. I loved how this was a fake relationship trope, it beautifully played out. Some bits seemed to slow roll by but keep pushing through it's a worthy read!

This book had all the tell tale signs of a rom com hit but it missed the mark in my opinion. The characters Mabel and Aflie were ones a reader could connect with- real emotions, traumas, etc. But the evolution of their romance was kind of all over the place for me. At one point the book turned real steamy which was not what I was expecting from these cute characters. I think that the storyline could have been developed more and more depth put into their journey from a a slow beginning to fast middle and short stop at the end.

I am so sad to say I DNF this :(

The male main character drove past "grumpy" by miles and was simply a jerk. I also didn't jive with the writing style. At times, the two main characters would be together in a room... and instead of interacting/talking/etc there would be 3-5 pages of internal monologue while they both just STOOD there. All I could picture was these two people standing there stiffly, not moving, not interacting, while the main character info dumped in her internal monologue to the reader.

This one was just not for me, but I really hope it finds other readers who will enjoy it.

Thank you so much to the publisher for providing with me a copy via Netgalley!

I'm normally not a fan of slow burn romance but this story was just too fun not to love. The banter, the sharing, and the understanding between the main characters was so well done.
The chemistr build up between them was executed beautifull.
The steamy scenes were hot and fun and definitely paid off by the time they rolled around.

Whoa! i thoroughly enjoyed When Grumpy Met Sunshine, not only was the banter on point and had me smiling goofily the whole time but the slow burn and absolutely cute love story had me hooked!
I would rate this fairly high on spice level just because that slow burn really had me, and the tension was on point!
the characters are so realistic and freaking cute! gosh i loved Mabel and Alfie!
I also really enjoyed how completely i related with Mabel and her insecurities. I honestly don't think i have a single negative thing to say about this book.
ADORABLE!!

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I really enjoyed this book. It made me laugh out loud a few times. I enjoyed the back and forth between Mabel and Alfie. And how she got him to open up. It was kind of predictable, but it was still a fun read.

As the title suggests there is a lot of back and forth banter in this opposites attract love trope. I enjoyed that the face was a plus sized gal with a lot to say, but it seemed like so much it the focus was on the banter that the books didn’t progress the way I had expected for hoped it would. I thought it was ok, but not one of my favorites - I did enjoy it more than I have others! There was a lot about the style of writing that I can see many people enjoying but it just wasn’t my favorite.

I do want to thank NetGalley, the author and the publisher for allowing me the opportunity to receive an advanced copy of this book!

dnf at 10%. i really wanted to like this one but i just don't think i will, and don't want to struggle through 336 pages of it. i feel like i'm reading nonsense. it comes off really confusing and all over the place. they also feel oddly comfortable with eachother after just meeting? i think some people will like this just not me.

Plus-sized, real women characters always get my vote ! Fun, quick read that kept me chuckling from start to finish ! Thank you for the opportunity to read prior to publication !

Thanks Netgalley for allowing me to read this book. Mabel is going to have her hands full with her next client. She is to write a biography about a man who does not like to share information. The more time they spend together, the more time her crush on him deepens. This was a quick read.

I could not put it down. These two are a hot, hilarious mess. It's shocking that they were in their 30's and not teens by some of the ridiculous immature behavior and misunderstanding, but it made it a great story.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

It was such a fun read! I really enjoyed the dialogue between the main characters and the spicy scenes were HOT.

I liked this one! I thought the romance was pretty cute but the narration wasn't my cup of tea so I struggled to get into it at first.

This book was a miss for me. I love some good banter, but this got really repetitive, and while I think the FMC was supposed to be the “sunshine” I really didn’t get that sunny feeling from her.
Overall it was a struggle to read, which is unfortunate. The premise was really interesting.

Thanks NetGalley for the ARC.

When Grumpy Met Sunshine, by Charlotte Stein, pairs a grumpy ex-football player together with a friendly ghostwriter in what seems to be a no-win situation. Can they work out, or learn to work with their differences? It's easy to keep turning the pages of this novel to find out. Thanks to both NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC ebook of this one.

When Mabel is hired to ghost write a memoir for grumpy football player, Alfie, she struggles to help him reconcile his actual past with the persona that is expected of him. The two end up in a fake dating scheme and now they have that to navigate on top of the memoir writing. Alfie and Mabel must work through how to accept genuine affection from each other as they have never truly received it before.

Alfie gave my Roy from Ted Lasso vibes and I enjoyed the Mabel/Alfie banter!

Overall a fun read but I had a hard time tracking some of the earlier storyline as the story progressed. Would have liked more from his perspective, but overall enjoyed and was very spicy!

The best part of this book is that both main characters are very funny, the rest wasn’t very believable. I had so many ‘why’s’ and had to read the beginning a few times thinking I had missed something about how the guy fell so quickly and for no apparent reason. It just didn’t make sense… but I did laugh a lot, could also be because I’m European and miss home and the type of conversations and thought process the characters had.

Mabel an optimistic, cute,curvy,sassy ghostwriter is tasked with helping “the” Alfie Harding a grouchy, unemotional,hot as ever ex footballer write his memoir. Getting life details out of Alfie turns into hilarious, steamy,emotional banter and sometimes squabbling!

Once the paparazzi catch on, they stumble into a pretend romance that has the makings for sizzling chemistry. Can this be real for such different people?

Mabel continues to doubt her worth, lovable nature and sexiness, while Alfie struggles with opening up to the possibility of a true friendship. True to reality the horrible, evil, judgmental opinions unhappy people have behind the shield of a computer screen is a big topic. The author does a good job showing the effect bullying has on the person being maligned. Will they take the ugliness to heart? Or will they choose to see and accept the good in each other?

Great characters and fun situations will definitely make the reader root for a happy finale.

Thanks @stmartinspress
#WhenGrumpyMetSunshine #CharlotteStein #SMPRomance

I received a complimentary copy of this book, all opinions in this review are my own.