I had a crappy, stressful week and I was tired and I don’t care about soccer AND YET I found Cleat Cute to be delightful. Honestly if this book worked for me on this particular week it ought to work for anybody. This Grumpy/Sunshine f/f romance has clear traces to Ted Lasso but not so many as to feel derivative. It’s just a really nice story about two decent human beings falling in love.

Grace started hardcore soccer training at such a young age that it’s become her entire life. At 26, she’s been on the U.S. Women’s National Team for ten years. She doesn’t have romantic or sexual relationships since one with a teammate went bad, and she keeps a big wall between her public self and her private self. She is on good but reserved terms with her teammates and she only sees her family at games.

Phoebe is a golden retriever of a person. She’s 22 and having her first professional season. Phoebe had a celebrity crush on Grace and meeting Grace in person does nothing to dissipate it, even though Grace speaks as little as possible and Phoebe speaks constantly.

Phoebe introduces Grace to the concept of ‘friends-with-benefits.’ However, conflict comes when neither is able to communicate…well much of anything, if I’m honest. Usually couples who can’t communicate are the bane of my reading existence but Grace and Phoebe are so CUTE DAMMIT.

This book succeeds because when the characters do frustrating things, they are consistent with the other things we know about the characters and their respective histories. So when Grace refuses to believe that anyone cares about her as anything other than a soccer player, despite loads of evidence to the contrary, it feels frustrating and sad but also organic and real. When Phoebe acts impulsively, it’s entirely consistent with what we know about her and it fits perfectly with knowledge we get about her farther into the book. I absolutely believed that these two were a) real people (I mean, I know they are fictional, but they are believable characters), and that b) they would do the things that they do in the story. I was invested in them as individuals and as a couple.

Grace and Phoebe do a lot of professional and personal work in the course of the book. Grace’s dad has a speech that got me all teared up. Both women question fundamental parts of themselves. It’s a fun and funny book, but it addresses a lot of serious issues.

Braiding hair plays a lovely role in the story. Grace’s act of braiding Phoebe’s hair before games and practices connects them whenever they seem at risk of drifting apart, from very early in the book all the way through to the ending. Grace and Phoebe are terrible at talking about their relationship, so they connect primarily through physical acts like eating together (Grace takes Phoebe to the best places in New Orleans), training together, and having sex. The physical act of hair braiding connects Phoebe with the team (Grace braids her teammate’s hair as well) and connects them with each other. It also connects them in a larger way with women of all ages and ethnicities and backgrounds. I could feel the braiding as it happened, and the stress just poured out of my body.

I do wish that Grace and Phoebe had a little more time and space to unpack some of the things that they learn about themselves and each other. There’s a rushed feeling towards the end of the book that means that we find out new things about the characters but not what their lives look like now that they know these new things. I think those developments needed more room to breathe.

That said, I am giving this book a VERY enthusiastic B+. If I could add extra pluses, I would. Allow me to say again that I have no interest in soccer, women’s or otherwise. Also, the week I read this book was an absolute trash fire. So if this book could make me happy, it should be able to make anyone happy.