When Grumpy Met Sunshine

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Synopsis

A steamy, opposites-attract romance with undeniable chemistry between a grumpy retired footballer and his fabulous and very sunshine-y ghostwriter.

When grumpy ex-footballer Alfie Harding gets badgered into selling his memoirs, he knows he’s never going to be able to write them. He hates revealing a single thing about himself, is allergic to most emotions, and can’t imagine doing a good job of putting pen to paper.

And so in walks curvy, cheery, cute as heck ghostwriter Mabel Willicker, who knows just how to sunshine and sass her way into getting every little detail out of Alfie. They banter and bicker their way to writing his life story, both of them sure they’ll never be anything other than at odds.

But after their business arrangement is mistaken for a budding romance, the pair have to pretend to be an item for a public who’s ravenous for more of this Cinderella story. Or at least, it feels like it’s pretend?until each slow burn step in their fake relationship sparks a heat neither can control. Now they just have to is this sizzling chemistry just for show? Or something so real it might just give them their fairytale ending?

Synopsis source: Goodreads

Review

Genre(s): Contemporary, Romance
HB&W Rating: 2.5
View on Goodreads
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This was sort of okay for me.

I really struggled with the stream-of-consciousness style, and part of that might be that this was an ARC and it still needs a good edit, but I was confused as often as not at what was happening most of the time. There were times I wasn’t sure if there was actual dialogue that took place, or if the characters were reading it on each others’ faces. Also, I had a really hard time believing a famous ex-footballer (soccer player) was THAT inept at technology and THAT socially awkward. If we had found out that he was actually 85, I would have believed it more. Lastly, for a slow burn romance, I felt like the scenes leading up to the main event were spicier than the main event itself, which was a letdown.

There were several things I liked though, like the body positivity and plus-size rep. I also really liked the similar childhoods that the characters bonded over and witnessing how that effected their actions in the book. I even found some of the witty rejoinders or off-handed comments LOL funny, which was a nice surprise. However, I really kind of wanted to DNF this one but felt compelled to keep reading so I could give feedback for the ARC. I really feel like that was down to the writing style and the characters themselves.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Griffin for providing me with an eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Until next time,

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