hiphophostels-blog

[haveyoureadthispoll]

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. 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. 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 friends with benefits with this class clown she sees as her rival. Phoebe Matthews has always admired Grace’s skill and was star struck to be training alongside her idol. But she quickly finds herself looking at Grace as more than a mere teammate. After one daring kiss, she’s hooked. Grace is everything she has been waiting to find. As the World Cup approaches, and Grace works her way back from injury, the women decide to find a way they can play together instead of vying for the same position. Except, when they are off the field, Grace is worried she’s catching feelings while Phoebe thinks they are dating. As the tension between them grows, will both players realize they care more about their relationship than making the roster?

[battyaboutbooksreviews]

🌿 Who do you want to see under the mistletoe?

[just-a-girl-who-likes-sharks]

“Lesbian is important to me. The world likes to act like it’s a porn category, not an identity. It took me a while to realize it wasn’t. I want other girls like me to know it’s a beautiful word.”

Phoebe Matthews in “Cleat Cute” by Meryl Wilsner

[wlwbookshelf]

CLEAT CUTE - MERYL WILSNER Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Lesbians and soccer, a pairing as old as time. A cute read in a world cup year. This book has Meryl’s trademark spice (so a lot of it, and it’s good), plus lovable main characters Phoebe and Grace are so compelling that I rushed through the book in a day. 

Many thanks to St Martin’s Press for an eARC via Netgalley in exchange for my honest review. 

[notlayingroses]

honestly the one of the things that makes me the most sad about this hockey romance / booktok drama is that now so many hockey fans have a negative impression of hockey romances and sports romances. There are so, so many wonderful, queer romances out there that are doing wonderful, nuanced, and intentional things within the sports romance genre, and I hate that now people are looking down on them.

Here's some reasons that I love sports romances:

It’s a celebrity romance, but more of a niche celebrity romance. This isn’t a Hollywood super star that everyone in the world knows their name, BUT they often do have a dedicated fan base and are still in the public eye. It brings up really interesting discussions of fame and power and how much of yourself you keep private. So you get a lot of the good celebrity romance tropes and settings (like secret relationship, having to do interviews, traveling to new cities) but on a more niche and interesting scale

And bouncing off of that, with queer sports romances you get a lot of really interesting discussions of coming out, how you present your queerness to the world, how much of yourself is “owed” to the people around you vs yourself, which is very interesting when explored through a sports culture lense and I really enjoy the discussions of queer identity, culture, and community that come out of it. And particularly if it a romance between two players, there's a lot of really interesting queer nuances to explore

There are so many different pairings that can happen, but most of them kind of boil down to player/player, player/sports professional, player/normie, and each of these dynamics are interesting to me every time, especially when exploring teammate dynamics! And exploring how fame affects each of these things!

Found family! Your team is your family! And everyone has silly nicknames and rituals with each other and it makes me feel warm and fuzzy

With every romance, you pretty much know that it’s gonna end with a Happily Ever After, which is why we love the genre. But sometimes that can take the “surprise” out of a romance and its structure. Within sports romances, you don’t know how the game is going to go! They could win! They could lose! That affects the characters either way! And there’s been several sports romances that had me on the edge of my seat cause I genuinely had no idea which way the championship game was gonna go! I like that extra plot element to keep things interesting 

I also like it when you can tell the author is a big fan of their sport, and even if EYE don’t know anything about the sport, they’re generally good at writing things in a makes sense and makes the action interesting and keeps me hooked. It’s also just nice to step into the world the author loves!

Genuinely I just think that queer sports romances are doing so many interesting things, and have such interesting niches and nuances to the stories they’re telling! And they should not be looked down upon by hockey fans OR romance fans who have witnessed this booktok drama go down and now don’t want to touch hockey romances with a ten foot pole.

Here are some of the queer sports romances I recommend for anyone who wants to get into the genre:

[starrynight0612]

*squeals* I love these two 🥰

[kai-in-the-korner]

does any one have some good queer sports romance books to recommend 🙏🏼

i only have two (the prospects by kt hoffman and cleat cute by meryl wilsner) and I desperately need more🙏🏼

if anyone has some good recommendations plz tell me 😭🙏🏼

[justbackgroundnoise]

I read three sapphic books on my kindle while I was camping and one was the smuttiest thing I have ever read that wasn’t straight fanfic and I did not expect what happened in it to happen. I went into it expecting a cute little sports romance and I got way more than that 😂

[aelin9]

Do buff women owe it to the world to cut the sleeves off all their shirts? I would argue yes it's a public service to sapphics

We can have a little flexing, as a treat 😏

[myopinionisimportant]

A trope I love EVERY time is when someone in a romance novel is doing something that's sort of flirty-ish, flirt-esque, but they're denying their feelings so they're like "there's no reason this has to be weird"

because sure, it doesn't HAVE to be weird, but you're going to MAKE it weird, you love-sick fool, you!

[justme-victoria]

When you get to work up a sweat on and off the field...

sports romance

sapphic

teammates-with-benefits

locker room

grumpy/sunshine

alternating perspectives

This was one of my most anticipated releases for the year and Meryl certainly did not disappoint! Ya’ll know I can’t get enough of sports romances, and I’ve been absolutely loving sapphic romances, so combining my two favourites was just fabulous!

[battyaboutbooksreviews]

🦇 Cleat Cute Book Review 🦇

❝ Calling Phoebe loud and obnoxious and gay ignores all her layers and contradictions. That's Grace's issue with fame—people take you at face value. Nobody bothers to look for the person beneath the brand. ❞

❓ #QOTD What's your favorite sport (to watch or play)? ❓ 🦇 Phoebe Matthews is ready to take her first season as a professional soccer player by storm. She even gets to play alongside her idol, Grace Henderson; the veteran star of the US Women's National Team. Since they met, there's been a spark of chemistry between them, and Phoebe can't help but flirt with and seduce the woman she's had a poster of since childhood. Though they're on the same page on the pitch, a little miscommunication outside of the game leaves them both mentally spiraling. Are they brave enough to make a move both on and off the field?

[ Find my full review below or on: Insta | Goodreads | Storygraph ]

💜 The few factors that drove me to finish reading this book were the focus on fame, personal identity, and neurodiversity; NOT the relationship between Grace and Phoebe. The story touches on Grace's preference not to reveal too much about who she is outside of soccer, in an effort to protect her privacy, until soccer becomes her entire identity; both to the outside world, and herself. From the beginning, it's also obvious that both MCs are neurodivergent. Phoebe is diagnosed with ADHD by the epilogue, and though Grace isn't diagnosed with autism, it's mentioned as a possibility. Though their neurodiversity is obvious from the first two chapters, the topic isn't discussed in any way that MATTERS to the story. There's so much going on under the surface of these characters that would have made the story BEAUTIFULLY important if they were the focus, rather than a subtle plot point that's slipped into the end of the book.

🦇 I almost DNF this book many, many times; it takes a one-star read for me to give up on a book, rather than give it the benefit of the doubt. Though I did finish it, I dragged my feet every step of the way. The most obvious issue with this novel is the POV. A third-person objective point of view is cold and distant. It leaves readers disconnected from the characters and the story. Though it's not confirmed by the end of the story, it's possible Grace has autism, in which case, this POV makes sense for her. For Phoebe, however—passionate, energetic, a thousand thoughts a second Phoebe��we're cut off from what she's really feeling. Beyond that, this POV is choppy, ESPECIALLY for a story that primarily involves women. Unfortunately, the objective POV means the entire story is TELL; we're not shown through actions or imagery or any form of creative writing. The tension between them doesn't last long enough to keep readers enthralled, either; once the smut is introduced, that's apparently all that matters.

⚽ Every other sentence starts with a name to avoid referring to too many "she's" within a single thought. The writing also lacks descriptive language, even though the story is set in vibrant New Orleans. For all the scenes focused on food, we never smell, taste, or experience a moment with the characters. Even during gameplay, there's no sweat, heat, or the sound of screaming fans in our ears. The readers are kept at arm's length at all times. Perhaps worse: the smut reads like fanfiction—a first-time writer's fanfiction. Instead of steamy, the word choice makes it awkward and offputting. "Baby girl?" Really?

🦇 Recommended for fans of workplace romances, Ted Lasso, or A League of Their Own. You're going to get serious "Ted Lasso but make it sapphic" vibes from this, I promise; Phoebe and Grace are very much Jamie and Roy. If you're in your sporty romance era, give this a try!

✨ The Vibes ✨ ⚽ WLW Romance ⚽ Neurodiversity / ADHD and Autism Rep ⚽ Sports Romance ⚽ Secret Dating ⚽ Workplace Romance ⚽ Miscommunication ⚽ Grumpy vs Sunshine

🦇 Major thanks to the author and publisher for providing an ARC of this book via Netgalley. 🥰 This does not affect my opinion regarding the book. #CleatCute #NetGalley #MerylWilsner

[0xchloe]

Finished Mistakes Were Made by Meryl Wilsner, I really enjoyed it. Romance was sweet, the steam was steamy, and it never felt super contrived. I think Cleat Cute was better, but I enjoyed them both equally. I love a happy ending fr 😩

[ramblesbiab]

quick book review: Cleat Cute by Meryl Wilsner

Soccer lesbians! I love soccer lesbians! After Mistakes Were Made, I was excited to get my hands on another Meryl Wilsner work, and while it wasn't at the above excellent level of Mistakes Were Made, I still loved it. Incredibly steamy, while also sweet and playful, as the characters are really well-written and have great chemistry. Also the setting is so unique, allowing for conflicts I haven't seen before and locations that are quite enjoyable to read about.

All around, I give it a 9.5/10. Some of the miscommunication near the end became a bit much, but still were better handled then other pieces of media I've seen. It was an incredibly fun book all around. <3

[iskierka]

lmaoooooo

[justapayneaway]

This week I'm reviewing Cleat Cute by Meryl Wilsner ⚽

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