REVIEW: When Grumpy Met Sunshine by Charlotte Stein

When Grumpy Met Sunshine by Charlotte Stein: The idea of sharing his feelings and inner most thoughts could not be further from ideal for retired football player Alfie Harding, but after being badgered beyond belief to publish his memoir he finally relents, the only issue now is Alfie can not imagine talking about his feelings let alone put them down on paper. Which is where bubbly and easy going ghostwriter Mabel Willicker comes in, if there is anyone that can defrost the icy grump that is Alfie, Mabel is the girl for the job.

Between the constant banter and good natured barbs the two begin to form an easy friendship, so much so that they accidentally get mistaken for a couple! With the public salivating for more of their meet cute story, Alfie and Mabel have little to no choice but to keep up the act if they have any hope of getting the memoir done… but what happens when the sizzling chemistry is no longer just for show, can these two opposites prove the age old saying that opposites do attract?

I love the grump meets sunshine trope so when I saw that this book combines this with the fake dating trope I was instantly sold! For the most part I really enjoyed reading When Grumpy Met Sunshine, though I do have to say that I did find there to be rather long and drawn out moments and there were moments that felt a bit discombobulated, this however was easily overlooked for me with the amount of banter and sass that flowed between Alfie and Mabel. The thing that really got me invested in this book was how honest their relationship felt, as well as all the witty one liners.

Mabel was an absolute treat. She was curvy and had a great sense of humour. I loved her bubbly, happy go lucky personality and the fact that she could really worm her way under Alfie’s walls. I just loved getting to see her character grow and really help Alfie open up as the book progressed. The only thing that I did not like about Mabel was her constantly doubting herself because of her body size, while this was super relatable, I wanted her to be more proud of her plus size figure. Where Mabel was all softness and sunshine, our hero Alfie was all cold and blunt. Alfie is all about keeping his life private and sharing as little about his feelings as possible, which became completely impossible when Mabel strolled into his world. While he can come across as grumpy and easily annoyed, he is actually really perceptive and can find a solution to a problem easily. More than anything I think Alfie was misunderstood, while he was more reserved and flustered he really wasn’t all that grouchy.

I really enjoyed the banter and the build up in the chemistry between Alfie and Mabel. While on paper these two could not have been more different they just somehow worked. I loved the fact that they challenged each other but still kept it playful. And gosh did they bring the steam! I do wish that they had worked a bit more on their communication and being more open about how they felt about each other but once they finally got their acts together, they were pretty great.

All in all When Grumpy Met Sunshine was a cute play on the opposites attract trope, with loads of playful banter and more than a few steamy moments.

Book Info:

Publication: February 6, 2024 | Griffin |

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?