When Grumpy Met Sunshine
A Novel
-
-
4.2 • 23 Ratings
-
-
- $12.99
Publisher Description
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?
Customer Reviews
Fantastic
I would give this book six stars if I could. One of the funniest rom-coms I’ve read in years. Snappy dialogue, great characters.
When Grumpy Met Sunshine
When Grumpy Met Sunshine by Charlotte Stein
Contemporary romantic comedy.
Grumpy ex-footballer Alfie Harding gets badgered into writing his memoir. He knows he doesn’t want to write it himself because he hates revealing anything personal about his life. So the publisher hires ghostwriter Mabel Willicker to help. Their initial meeting doesn’t go as she expected and then he turns up at a restaurant she’s at and then a coffee shop on way home. What the heck is he doing? He doesn’t want to work with her so why is he following her?
They end up working together but and he does share things with Mabel but he continually puts conditions on what she can and cannot include. Eventually their working together is noticed by the media and since the contract is confidential they end up posing as a romantic couple. Until feeling become more than a simple contract.
🎧 I alternated between an ecopy and an audiobook. The narrator is Emily Spowage who does a marvelous job between the male and female voices, the emotions and the comedic timing. I essentially read this book twice because I couldn’t decide which format I liked better. The fun of the writing had me laughing out loud while listening to the audiobook and bookmarking passages I wanted to note. I believe everyone will be happy with either format. A good narrator can make an audiobook entertaining and this definitely hits the mark.
I listens to the audiobook at my usual 1.5.
I had so much fun highlighting laugh-out-loud lines! There is so much witty banter, I fell in love with the grump and the ghostwriter and while it’s not all smooth sailing, in the end I was crying the happy tears.
Excerpt:
“A mess of a million scary arguments.
Him, coming up with increasingly horrible insults.
Her, eventually tossing him into the nearest wood chipper.
And she just didn’t have easy access to machinery like that.”
Excerpt from When Grumpy Met Sunshine by Charlotte Stein
I received a copy of this from NetGalley and the publisher Macmillan Audio.
I’m buying a copy to revisit this wonderful comedic romance.
Tried but fell short
I tried so hard to like this story. It fell flat for me. The premise was good but full of silly angst, for two adults, they just lacked the sense to be honest and upfront. To top it off, they were not even funny. Sad, just sad.