Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review

Review: Stein’s opposites attract debut novel is delightful! 

 

“When Grumpy Met Sunshine” follows Mabel Willicker, a sunshine-y ghostwriter hired to write grumpy ex-footballer Alfie Harding’s life story. But after their business arrangement is mistaken for a romantic relationship, the pair have to pretend to date to appease the public…that is, until the lines between what’s real and what’s fake begins to blur. 

 

I love how Mabel and Alfie are more complex than their grumpy and sunshine personalities. Through Mabel’s point-of-view and her intimate conversations with Alfie, the reader learns that both feel trapped by their own personas. Mabel dons “Bubbly Girl armor” to be the person she needs to be for others instead of just being herself. She also clings to her cheeriness to avoid feeling like just a body when the world overanalyzes why Alfie would date a plus size woman. Alfie pretends to be someone he is not because of the expectations surrounding how footballers are supposed to act. With time, both come to the realization that they can be their true selves in each other’s company. Watching their love blossom and true selves flourish as they worked together on Alfie’s memoir made my heart race! 

 

I also enjoyed how Stein ended each of her chapters with email correspondence, newspaper articles, video transcripts, tweets, and interviews connecting to the events that transpired. The change in formatting was entertaining and reveals how the public’s attitudes towards  Alfie and Mabel’s Cinderella story brought them together. 

 

The only issue I came across was not being able to understand the British pop culture references and slang, which often interrupted my flow of reading, but did not deter me from progressing through the novel.