Reviews with content warning for Sexual content - When Grumpy Met Sunshine

Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

When Grumpy Met Sunshine by Charlotte Stein

27 reviews

bookrecsbyjess's review against another edition

3.5

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC of When Grumpy Met Sunshine by Charlotte Stein. All opinions are my own.

After seeing that this book had some of my favorite romance tropes in it (grumpy/sunshine, fake dating, and slow burn romance), I was very excited to read it. That being said, I have very mixed feelings about it.

Here are the things I liked best about this book:

First, I loved both Alfie and Mabel as main characters. They were both so sweet and lovable, and it was easy to root for them. Also, Alfie was just so adorably awkward and said the sweetest things to Mabel. I also loved how technology-challenged he was because it made him even more endearing.

Second, I loved all the British-isms. While there were a lot of references to British culture that I did not understand, I still loved all the hilarious phrases they would use.

Third, I loved the banter between Mabel and Alfie. They just got along so well, and they had such great conversations and chemistry.

Lastly, I really enjoyed the whole first half of the book. The friendship that was formed, Alfie’s awkward moments, and just the cute moments together really had me loving it.

With all that in mind, here is why this book ultimately fell flat for me:

The explicitness of the sexual content, the crassness of language, and the ending really ruined this book for me.

While I expected there to be some open door romance scenes in this book, the fact that the second half of the book was just mostly smut was disappointing to me. It went from barely anything in the first half of the book to the exact opposite in the latter half. Also, the amount of crude language between Mabel and Alfie was just way too much for me, and I feel like the first half of the book did not build up well to that.

The other major issue I had was how the book ended. Without spoiling anything, there were definitely miscommunication and immaturity involved that made me angry (especially when considering the ages of these characters). It was unnecessary and could have been handled differently. I will say that Alfie’s grand gesture was so sweet and romantic and redeemed it a tiny amount.

Overall, I might recommend this book to some people, but only those who really like spice in their romance books and ones that don’t mind miscommunication.

Content Warnings

intensej's review against another edition

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funny fast-paced

Loveable characters? Yes

3.5

When Grumpy Met Sunshine is a fast-paced sports romance with a fake dating trope. Alfie Harding is a retired football player who meets Mabel Willicker when she is hired to be the ghostwriter for his memoir. Alfie is notoriously private about his personal life, but Mabel encourages him to open up to her. When the press sees them together at Alfie's house, they assume that he is dating her. They begin fake dating in order to hide the fact Mabel is ghostwriting his memoir. I loved the character development and banter between Alfie and Mabel. The slow burn was great, but I felt like it didn't fully payoff at the end. I felt like the book fell apart during the last 20% of the book. I did not care for the "one year later" time jump that occurred towards the end. It made the ending feel rushed and forced. Fans of Olivia Dade and The Wall of Winnipeg and Me will enjoy this book.

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shector1's review

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adventurous emotional funny reflective relaxing fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Content Warnings

runlaurarun's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

bookishbette's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

When I say this has healed a part of me I am being so, so serious.

Some may say that it's no longer revolutionary for a fat FMC to find and keep love in books like this, and I would have to blatantly disagree, as a fat girl myself. Mabel has been told her entire life that she needs to be less—less big, less dreary, less fun, less herself in every way that matters, and she's fought against that at every turn. You can see that in how defiant she is and how absolutely steadfast she is in her determination to be everything that makes her Mabel. And yet like the rest of us fat girls, she's internalized that, so much that being the sunshine means she doesn't let anyone see anything else.

Until, of course, she meets her Grumpy in Alfie Harding.

Alfie.

There are so many things I can say about Alfie Harding—I could talk about how too often the grump is either not actually grumpy or is just an actual asshat. I could talk about the way trauma and expectations have shaped him as a person, much like Mabel, to the point where they're two sides of the same coin. I could wax poetic about him, and him and Mabel, for weeks without end.

But I'll keep it to this: I knew from the moment we meet Alfie Harding that I would absolutely fucking love him, and I was proved right at every fucking turn. He is the ONLY man, as far as I care, and he is EVERYTHING to me in a way MMCs almost never are.

The relationship between him and Mabel will sit forever in my heart. They're SO real—we've all met and befriended and maybe even hated people exactly like them, every single day. Every misguided decision, every completely wrong assumption, every stray thought had me screaming at the page and begging for them to stop being such idiots—which is personally my absolutely favorite part of reading romances like this.

Ultimately, this has been an absolute highlight of my year, if not my life, and I cannot emphasize enough how much you NEED to read it.

Content Warnings

meganpbell's review

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

A curvy, bubbly ghostwriter finds herself in a fake dating scheme with a grumpy footballer a la Ted Lasso’s Roy Kent in this rom-com about being yourself and embracing your softness that’s as HOT as it is hilarious! Highly recommended for fans of grumpy/sunshine pairs, Cinderella/celebrity romances, when it’s painfully obvious they’re head over cleats in LOVE but they’re total utter numpties/silly gooses about it, and absolutely FILTHY dirty talk.

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jessgj's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted relaxing fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's for giving me an ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own

So Charlotte Stein has been on my radar for a while now. She's friendly with some writers and reviewers I follow (Okay, semi-stalk) on Twitter and she writes romances with plus-size leads. I even remember when she announced this book and mentally adding it to my TBR.

So imagine my surprise when the stars aligned and I got an ARC for this book.

Y'all, this book. I'm not even going to tease it. It's a 5 stars for me and probably my favorite romance I've read this year. This book had me in my friend's DM yelling about it for a week. It's been a while since I've read a book that's just had me giggling and smiling like a menace as I read.

While the book wears its Ted Lasso inspiration on its sleeves, I was definitely reminded of Gilmore Girls' Luke Danes. The perpetual scruff, the terse man who lectures while he fixes whatever problem he encounters, the secret playfulness, it's there and it had me swooning.

I've seen a few reviews saying this book has "too much banter", which is a valid opinion, my response to that is "Jokes on you, I grew up on Cary Grant movies and 'Gilmore Girls'". While the banter can go on a bit, it's completely understandable that these two joke as much as they do.

When we first meet them, Mabel and Alfie seem worlds apart but we soon learn how similar they grew up and how their trauma has impacted them. Their conversations are fun and lightning-fast because this is the first time they've been able to be themselves in their full glory, These two are constantly bantering because they get to play for the first time in goodness knows how long.

The book is told entirely from Mabel's POV. I definitely missed the experience of seeing events through his eyes but Stein is so good at conveying what he's feeling. Even through Mabel's biased lens, every gesture, word, and stare is just loaded with meaning and feeling and ugh, THIS BOOK!!

(That said, if Stein ever decides to give us a snippet or epilogue through Alfie's POV, hook me up. I need it)

Admittedly, sometimes Mabel's thought process can be a little frustrating because she chalks a lot of their moments up to "Oh, he's such a good friend" and baby girl, y'all passed that a minute ago. Still, when you've spent your life surviving off crumbs, a full meal can feel frivolous and too good to be true.

The ending feels a little rushed to me and I wish we could have gotten more of our couple's Happy Ever After but I adored this book. One of my favorite reading experiences this year.

TW: Alcoholic parents, abusive parents, fatphobia, fandom culture, sexual content

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