Book Review: When Grumpy Met Sunshine by Charlotte Stein

Publish Date: February 6, 2024

When Grumpy Met Sunshine is perfection. No notes. Would not change a thing. This book had me laughing out loud, crying, squeeing in delight, and everything in between. From the fake dating to the smallest micro-tropes, it felt like this book was written just for me.

Mabel is a human cupcake, she’s cute and warm and sweet. She puts people at ease and gets them to open up, which makes her great at her ghostwriting job. So when she’s contracted to tell ex-footballer Alfie Harding, the angriest man in football known to walk out of interviews after being asked the most innocuous questions, she’s shocked to learn the two of them have quite a bit in common. Not the least of all, that they’re both giant weirdos.

The narration style is a bit quirky but that’s part of the appeal to the book. It helps propel the book forward and prevents it from ever feel like things are moving too slow. Would I want every book to read like this one? No, but it worked here. Honestly, this is one of those books I’m going to be yelling at people to read for the foreseeable future. It brought me so much joy.