Book Review: Cleat Cute by Meryl Wilsner

book cover for Cleat Cute by Meryl Wilsner

Cleat Cute is a sapphic sports romance book that features two players on the same soccer team. Grace is a veteran soccer player while Phoebe is a rookie. They start off as reluctant friends (reluctant on Grace’s side), but that soon turns into something much more than friendship.

I think this is the first sapphic sports romance that I’ve read so I definitely liked that part of it! I grew up playing soccer year-round so having a book that included queer representation with soccer was really great! It was also set in New Orleans which was really fun to read about, having been there a few times myself!

While I enjoyed some aspects of this book, I also had issues with a few things. First of all, there is so much miscommunication between the two main characters. It was super frustrating throughout the entire book and honestly, it’s kind of surprising that they ended up together because they seemed on totally different pages half the time.

Another big issue I had with the book is how one of the main characters deals with someone’s mental health.

The first conversation between Phoebe and Grace about Phoebe having ADHD was poorly handled. Grace brings it casually up to Phoebe, just assuming that Phoebe already had a diagnosis. Phoebe has never mentioned to Grace about having ADHD so it was wrong of Grace to presume that in the first place.

But the real issue to me is the fact that Phoebe asked Grace to drop it and Grace completely ignores her and even goes on to set up a doctors appointment to get her a diagnosis. This just felt off to me. While I appreciate the mental health representation and like that ADHD rep was included, I did not like this aspect of it and thought it could have been handled differently.

Overall I did like the book, but there are just a few too many things I didn’t like that prevented me from really loving it.

I received this book from NetGalley as an ARC. All opinions are my own.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Rating: 3 stars

Comments

Book Review: These Vengeful Gods by Gabe Cole Novoa

These Vengeful Gods by Gabe Cole Novoa reminded me of a mix of the Hunger Games books and the TV show Arcane in the best way! I’ve read other books by this author that I really enjoyed but this might be my favorite one yet! In this book, we follow Crow, a trans teenager living with his uncles in the Shallows, the lowest and most neglected part of the city. Crow is a descendent of the god of death, and has survived a genocide that wiped out most of the other descendants of death. Because of his godly heritage, Crow has some supernatural abilities and uses those abilities as an underground street fighter to earn money. When Crow’s uncles are arrested for helping Deathchildren refugees escape the city, Crow vows to save them by entering a championship known as the Tournament of the Gods, where the winner is granted a boon from the gods. This book has so many elements that I absolutely loved. The world building is so good- I felt like I was in the city with them as they travelled around ...

Book Review: Finna by Nino Cipri

Finna by Nino Cipri is a sci-fi novella that takes place in an IKEA-like furniture store. We follow our main character, Ava, and her ex-partner Jules, who are both employees at the store, as they go on an adventure through a wormhole that spawns in the middle of the labyrinth-esque box store. An older customer has gotten lost in the wormhole and it it up to this duo to retrieve her. They travel through the multiverse, meeting interesting (and some scary!) people along the way. Even in such a short story, there is a ton of queer representation throughout. Jules is nonbinary and they talk about how difficult it is being misgendered by customers. Though currently not dating, we learn about the relationship between Ava and Jules. That relationship is one of the main focal points of the book. One of my favorite quotes from the story is: It’s an old sadness … doesn’t heal, but you get used to bearing it. This is the first book in the LitenVerse series, and I will definitely be reading ...

Book Review: My Roommate from Hell by Cale Dietrich

My Roommate from Hell is a fun YA romance that I absolutely loved! Our main character Owen is off to college, where he ends up rooming with the Prince of Hell, Zarmenus. The pair have a rocky start, and don’t appear to be well suited as roommates. Their rocky start comes to a tipping point when Zarmenus asks Owen to be his fake boyfriend in order to help improve his image. Owen agrees and his life at college begins to change. When I first started this book, I was a bit worried about not liking the main character as I found Owen to be a bit annoying and a goody two shoes. He tries very hard to be perfect in every aspect of his life which I found grating at first. However, as I kept reading and learned more about Owen, and as he evolved over the course of the book, I ended liking his character a lot more! I love the scenes where Zarmenus and Owen are together. They have such great chemistry and their banter is just perfect! The fake dating aspect is the best part of the book. I would def...

Moonward Society

Search This Blog