When Grumpy Met Sunshine
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 decide: is this sizzling chemistry just for show? Or something so real it might just give them their fairytale ending?
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Community Reviews
There were a few positives in the book - both characters felt fully developed (albeit slightly insufferable) and the tropes that I expected was fulfilled (workplace romance, opposites attract), but I think the book is at least 50 pages longer than it needs to be in the current state. There is a lot of dialogue that isnât necessary to the plot and belabors the same points, although I do understand the Brits enjoy banter much more than us Americans so it might be up to personal taste.
Although they were fully developed with friends/jobs/motivations, the main two characters also speak like no one Iâve ever met. I usually do alright suspending disbelief, but some of the things they said were way out there and the premise of some of the âsexierâ scenes was just too unbelievable for me. I think this book is probably just not for everyone and I did get through it quickly in spite of it being longer than I felt was necessary so thatâs a positive. I also think the actual writing structure was well-done so props to the author for that (didnât feel repetitive in structure, only in plot points).
My favorite thing about this book was the banter. I'm a huge sucker for well-written banter between characters so that was a lot of fun to read and probably what held my attention the most in this book. However, everything else was mediocre at best. The story didn't feel much different than any other romantic comedy I've read. I like stories that will stick with me; this one just didn't.
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