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Cleat Cute

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Over a series of increasingly personal encounters, the two women end up becoming friends. More specifically, friends with very incredibly hot benefits. I listened to an audiobook version of this story narrated by Dana Varden and Zim Avaltrades. Each did the chapters from their character POV. The voices are close in tone and rhythm while different enough in pitch that you can hear when the POV changes. Both did a great job portraying a twenty-something female with changing emotions and career concerns.

Also, baby girl. It was a thing. I hate it coming from a man and I hate it just as much coming from a woman. Nope to this. New adult romance is not a regular genre for me as I don’t appreciate the angst or roller coaster confidence issues. I was pleasantly surprised by the two women and their specific personalities as they kept their professional lives separate from their personal issues. Phoebe kept her joy of playing front and center even while other parts of her life were chaotic. A] delightfully steamy sapphic romance...class differences are deftly handled throughout, the city setting is vibrant, and there are several secondary characters who shine; most importantly, the romantic journey at the center is fun and entertaining." - Kirkus It was those types of situations that made it feel slightly inconsistent to me. By the end though, the characters had won me over and I was fully behind their new-found open communication and expression of tenderness. In Meryl Wilsner’s new sapphic romance, Cleat Cute, tropes abound. Set in the world of professional women’s soccer, the book follows two players who couldn’t be more different. Though only 26, Grace is a veteran player and the team’s captain. She’s reserved, stalwart in her dedication to the sport, and content with her solitude. Phoebe is a rookie player bursting with energy, enthusiasm, and jokes for days. Despite Grace’s best efforts to keep distance between them, Phoebe breaks down all of her walls and they embark on a passionate – albeit undefined – affair.

Featured Reviews

so what is this supposed to be? She has no idea, but she is letting herself have it. It feels too good not to.” It was strange. It was like the conflict needed to be there and we were going to make it happen no matter how out of place it seemed. Because of the book’s focus on the internal worlds of these two women, there is little in the way of external obstacles or conflict when it comes to the plot. Grace and Phoebe mainly struggle with their own self-doubts and existential turmoil, issues many readers can relate to. Though set in the exciting world of women’s soccer, the characters' journeys are fairly ordinary, and surprisingly moving. All right all right all right let me set the scene. We have Phoebe Matthews who is a rookie and has just been drafted for some level of professional soccer playing. Do I understand what level? Absolutely not because they switch between code names for these different teams so many times and have so many teammates but that's a different section. Phoebe starts and she is overeager and chaotic and loud and oh yeah, she absolutely idolizes one of her teammates Grace. Grace despite only being 26 has been playing professionally for 10 years and Phoebe has a massive crush on her. Grace finds Phoebe annoying to start with but she doesn't dislike her. She respects her skills and even though she wishes she would be on time and that she would shut up every once in awhile, there's no active dislike. Even knowing that they play the same position and Phoebe could replace Grace, that's never an actual serious contender of a situation for it to qualify as a rival situation.

All in all, the cards really were dealt against me here—what with “baby girl,” third present, and soccer—so I’m definitely impressed that I had an overall enjoyable time. It’s not my favorite book ever, but if you don’t have my same hangups, it definitely has great potential!I wanted to congratulate you on being drafted last month,” the person says. “You’ll do well with New Orleans. But more specifically, I wanted to invite you to training camp with the national team in a couple of weeks.” Cleat Cute features a well-developed romance, with plenty of miscommunication causing tension and growth, however, for me, my reaction to it throughout was mixed. Phoebe hurls herself into the plastic chair beside her brother and looks at her phone. It’s a Chicago number. Let's get into where this book went wrong. One of the things I loved about this author's debut was the slow burn. I think that it spent so much time on character development and character communication and didn't allow sex to be a filler for those really important parts of the book. The author's second book which is quoted as the MILF book was okay and I liked it enough but it wasn't as good. This one is the worst. Instead of communicating at any point in this book The characters have sex. And like, if that's your jam that's your jam whatever, but I'm going to need some actual plot and/or character development or communication or talking. I don't even need plot to be completely honest but I do need likable and interesting characters. This book does not have those.

Grace Henderson has been a star of the US Women’s National Team for ten years, even though she’s only 26. But when she’s sidelined with an injury, a bold new upstart, Phoebe Matthews, takes her spot. 22-year-old Phoebe is everything Grace isn’t - a gregarious jokester who plays with a joy that Grace lost somewhere along the way. The last thing Grace expects is to become teammates with benefits with this class clown she sees as her rival. So then they're just casually having sex. And I mean, whatever. But it turns into a situation where anytime there could have been drama or angst or an opportunity for a conversation, one of them is horny and they have sex. This was so frustrating. My only problem with this book is that I wish it was longer! We obviously got a lot of Grace and Phoebe interactions throughout the whole story, but I would have loved to read more of them actually together in a relationship. I just didn’t want this story to ever end!Two talented chess players challenge each other on and off the board in bestselling author Hazelwood’s YA debut. I also appreciated that both characters were neurodivergent (though that ended up being a double-edged sword in my opinion, which I'll explain later). One character has ADHD and the other is likely somewhere on the spectrum (introverted, overly structured, struggles with social cues, etc). It's always good to see those depicted and having some consequence in the story, not just depicted as an inconsequential personality trait; those who struggle with these sort of things know just how much it can affect your life, so I appreciate when neurodiversities aren't played down in a story. In this story, we follow professional female soccer players, Phoebe Matthews and Grace Henderson. Grace is a veteran player, having played professionally since she was just a teen. While Phoebe is the hot new girl in the league, recently being called up after her stellar college career. Even though they have this arrangement and are friends and teammates, this book is RIDDLED with miscommunication. At every possible turn, the two of them use sex to distract each other for forming a deeper connection. At one point one of them thought they were in an exclusive relationship, and the other didn’t even know 🤦🏻‍♀️

There were moments I was completely invested and enjoying the topics that Wilsner was examining. Then something would happen that would turn me off completely. It always took a while after the turn off to become invested again. For anyone in need of more sapphic soccer content post-World Cup, Meryl Wilsner's latest romantic venture, Cleat Cute, is sure to fulfill your craving." - PopSugar, "Best New Romance Novels That'll Make You Swoon" With the impending arrival of the World Cup and Grace’s ongoing recovery from her injury, the women collectively endeavour to identify a means by which they might engage in collaborative play rather than competing for the same position. However, in non-sporting contexts, Grace expresses concern about developing emotional attachment, while Phoebe perceives their relationship as being romantic in nature. As the level of stress escalates, it is plausible that both players may come to the realisation that their interpersonal bond holds greater significance than their pursuit of securing a position on the team. About The Author Meryl Wilsner Which leads us to Cleat Cute! The novel stars Grace Henderson a 10 year veteran of the US National Women’s soccer team and captain of the New Orleans pro team who is suddenly challenged by a fresh face out of college - Pheobe Matthews who is drafted by New Orleans. I am probably going to get some of the terms around the soccer stuff wrong because it isn’t my jam but I assume the research is accurate. Interestingly considering that their last novel was an age gap, Wilsner does often remind us that Grace and Pheobe only have a 4 year age gap and their dynamic is more due to experience than age.A sapphic rivals to lovers rom com for fans of Ted Lasso and A League of Their Own, where two soccer teammates are at odds before falling in love as their team gears up for the World Cup.

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