Cleat Cute by Meryl Wilsner is a sapphic contemporary sports romance featuring neurodivergent soccer players (4/5 stars)

Cleat Cute by Meryl Wilsner is a sapphic contemporary sports romance featuring neurodivergent soccer players. I listened to the audiobook, which is narrated by Dana Varden and Zim Avaltrades. We follow our two main characters with alternating points-of-view.

Soccer star Grace is sidelined by an injury, and a new player joins the team to fill her spot. Phoebe just wants to keep her head down and focus on her first professional season, but she’s had a crush on her idol, Grace, forever.

Though the short version of the book blurb might make it seem this is an age-gap romance, the characters are only about four years apart. Grace has been playing major league women’s soccer for ten plus years at this point in the story, but she was drafted before she was able to graduate high school. I played soccer for many a year when I was growing up, and this book brought back a lot of fond memories for me.

There’s some great diversity in this book. Outside of our two main characters both identifying as lesbian, one comes to realize that she’s on the autism spectrum and the other comes to realize that she has ADHD. As a neurodiverse reader, I LOVE seeing people who are like me on the page. Both the New Orleans soccer team we follow and the Women’s National Team are made up of women and non-binary folks from different races and nationalities. Some are even straight!

Miscommunication is frequent throughout the book, but even though that’s one of my least favorite tropes, I didn’t mind it as it seemed more true to life between two neurodivergent individuals.

However, one place there wasn’t miscommunication was in the bedroom, with both characters repeatedly checking in with one another for enthusiastic and explicit consent. I also appreciated Wilsner for showcasing a sexual relationship that isn’t about tallying up orgasms and making sure things are “equal,” as some people can struggle with reaching orgasm but still enjoy the pleasure and intimacy with their partner.

This was my first read from this author, but I’m absolutely going to check out their other work.

Tropes in this book include: forced proximity, office romance, miscommunication, grumpy/sunshine, FWB

I received a copy of this book to review. All opinions contained herein are my own.

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