Jan 9, 2025
Phoebe Matthews by Pauline Suzor for Violet Book December 2024
seen from United States
seen from Russia
seen from United States
seen from China
seen from Brazil
seen from Spain
seen from Netherlands
seen from Russia
seen from United States
seen from Netherlands
seen from Indonesia
seen from United States
seen from Brazil
seen from Netherlands
seen from United States
seen from China
seen from China
seen from Germany
seen from United Kingdom
seen from T1
Phoebe Matthews by Pauline Suzor for Violet Book December 2024
kind of desperately need erin kellyman as phoebe in the cleat cute show
phoebe matthews moodboard !! (faceclaim: sadie sink)
Queer Book Character Tournament Round One
Jake Fischer- Diamond Ring
Daphne- The Devil She Knows
Phoebe Matthews- Cleat Cute
Nancy Whitman- Wayward Children
Character, book, and author names under the cut
WHAT AN ABSOLUTE WIN FOR THE SAPPHICS ARE YOU KIDDING ME THIS IS EVERYTHING
Phoebe Matthews photographed by Ina Levy for Vogue Poland January 2024
review: cleat cute
cleat cute- meryl wilsner
summary: two professional soccer players, grace and phoebe, move from team-mates to friends with benefits, to maybe something a little more.
genre: adult (18+), romance, sports
review:
god do i love women's sports. i know absolutely nothing about soccer and don't think i know anything more after reading this book! what i do know, however, is that this shit slapped.
in terms of characters i loved both grace and phoebe's point of views. it is clear right from the beginning of the book that the two are polar opposites, only connect (at first) by their love of soccer. grace is the veteran, world class player, who's been pro since high school. shes private, serious and obsessed with routine #sudokuqueen. phoebe on the other hand is the definition of an extrovert with a chronic lateness problem solved with 50 different alarms. shes also a redhead so slay!
something i want to comment on right off the bat is the distinct allusion to both characters being neurodivergent. its not even an allusion its like confirmed. as i am not autistic or adhd myself (but, like, lets not get into that...), i wont comment on its accuracy and how good the representation was. i will say that i found grace's character relatable to my own experiences, and understood a lot of her internal monologue.
meryl wilsner does a fantastic job of writing both of these characters. the different p.o.v's were full of each character's personality. they really did a great job of helping you to relate to both characters and understand their lines of thinking. their dialogue was hilarious- who doesn't love a good bit of banter- and their friendship development was really nice to read.
i don't think you can talk about this book without mentioning the smut. (it begins in chapter 12 just as as fyi) but personally i really enjoyed it! did it feel maybe a little fast? sure, but it really did do a good job of further characterisation of grace and phoebe and how they viewed relationships. a lot of smut in books these days is there just because- if i wanted that i'd go to ao3. this, however, felt intentional and full of purpose. also hot af meryl, you do a fantastic job of writing that shit holyyyyyyy.
i have only a few criticisms for this book. firstly- and this is a general modern book pet peeve- but for the love of god STOP PUTTING TIKTOK IN THERE FUCK OFFFFFF. thank you :) secondly, there is a small amout of miscommunication that i didn't actually hate. i can see why this trope would put people off but i actually think it fit the characters very well here- i think maybe it could have been done a little better as sometimes i was really feeling a sense of dread. but alls well that ends well.
overall, this book was a really enjoyable read from start to finish. both characters were entertaining, realistic and loveable. sex scenes duh fantastic (hot obviously) but were not just thrown in there for nothing, they had genuine purpose and weren't overdone. who doesn't love women's sports?
rating: 4/5
TLDR; neurodivergent sportswomen learn to understand each other though heartfelt, witty, conversation and the endless power of good sex. very enjoyable :)
Phoebe Matthews at Standing Ground for Fashion East, Spring 2023
