I'm really on the fence about this one. There were things I really liked about it, there were some mediocre things, and then there was this overall style of storytelling that just blanketed the whole thing, dampening the entire experience. I didn't love this book, I just read it and felt very little about it, to be honest. Consequently, it took forever to finish because I just didn't care 🤷 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. 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. 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.

While this ended up being just an okay read for me, I know others will enjoy it a lot more. I’m looking forward to whatever Wilsner comes up with next. 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. He isn’t wrong—she’d had to dig through her drawstring bag, thinking all hope was lost until she found a bill in the bottom corner.Cleat Cute is the latest release from Romance author, Meryl Wilsner. I have read all three of Wilsner's releases thus far and this one falls direct middle of the road for me. A frothy blend of heart, humor, and steam, this story about accepting love and embracing the unexpected will stay with readers far beyond its happily ever after. A vibrant, intoxicating romance." - Ashley Herring Blake, author of Delilah Green Doesn't Care 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. Phoebe Matthews is too focused on her first season as a professional soccer player to think about seducing her longtime idol. But when Grace ends up making the first move, they can’t keep their hands off of each other. Over a series of increasingly personal encounters, the two women end up becoming friends. More specifically, friends with very incredibly hot benefits.

Phoebe Matthew’s chances of playing professional soccer is very slim as she played for a small college in the midwest. Being drafted to play for the same professional team her idol plays on is a mind blowing dream come true for Phoebe.

Waiting On” Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted at Breaking the Spine, which encourages fellow bloggers to spotlight upcoming releases that we’re excited about. It is a meme that I have loved participating in since I first started blogging, but as Jill is no longer actively posting, from now on I’ll be linking to Can’t Wait Wednesday, hosted by Tressa at Wishful Endings, which is a spinoff of the original WoW meme. * * * * * My selection for this week is CLEAT CUTE by Meryl Wilsner. I enjoyed Wilsner’s last novel and this new one is really calling to me with its blurb referencing Ted Lasso and A League of Their Own, two of my favorites. CLEAT CUTE by Meryl Wilsner Wilsner’s steamy, fast-paced secret-lovers contemporary romance features fully realized queer protagonists and secondary characters...It’s not a romantic comedy, but definitely has humor, as well as great dialogue and hot sex scenes." - Library Journal In more technical terms,the third person present tense POV made reading this book super stressful. I dislike that narrative style and wouldn’t have requested the book if I’d have known. I gave it a chance because reading physically is better than in audio, but the writing just felt so clunky to me. So much of the book felt like telling not showing. I really wish this would’ve been in past tense, because my biggest issue really was the writing style. Sometimes I can forget about the style, but it was just so *present* here.