title: When Grumpy Met Sunshine
author: Charlotte Stein
publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
publication date: February 26, 2024
pages: 336
peppers: 3 (on this scale)
warnings: fatphobia, dead parents, some meanness
summary: When Mabel gets the job of ghostwriting a former soccer star's memoir, she ends up having to fake-date him to explain why they're always together. It felts like Roy Kent was dating Bridget Jones.
tropes:
- grumpy-sunshine
- one bed
- fake dating
- famous person with regular person
- he's more into her than she knows
what I liked: seeing the Roy Kent and Bridget Jones characters in this scenario. Both are good people whom others misunderstand for various reasons. The author did a good job with his attraction to her and with the spicy scenes. The book got better as it went.
what I didn’t like: the book got off to a slow start; the author tries too hard to be funny at the beginning and keeps the main characters in their misunderstanding too long.
overall rating: 3 (of 5 stars)