By: Kaja Antic, Sports Writer
Want a new sports-related book to read this Valentine’s season? Look no further than Meryl Wilsner’s 2023 novel Cleat Cute. Marketed as “Ted Lasso meets A League of Their Own,” this sapphic rivals-to-lovers romcom embraces the drama of women’s soccer in a story that will be sure to win you over.
The two main characters come from very different backgrounds, but end up at the same US Women’s National Team training camp ahead of international competitions.
Phoebe Matthews is the rookie, a recent college graduate from rural Indiana who clashes almost immediately with her idol, Grace Henderson. Phoebe is outgoing, chaotic, and a standard class clown — everything Grace isn’t.
Grace is in her 10th year on the US national team, feeling like her career is nearing its end even though she’s only 26. She debuted at 16 as Phoebe watched from home, only four years her junior.
Focused on making the national team, Phoebe has bigger plans for training camp instead of trying to woo her idol. She heads into her first season with the fictional American Women’s Soccer Association (AWSA) New Orleans Krewe — the team Grace also happens to captain. However, a lost bet forces her to make the first romantic move and kiss Grace. While the kiss ignites feelings between the two, they don’t talk about it.
Phoebe moves to New Orleans ahead of the Krewe training camp a month later, preparing for this new chapter in her life as a professional soccer player. Grace is also there early, and is persuaded by Phoebe to show her around the city, as it’s her first time living outside of Indiana.
The two develop a tentative friendship when Grace takes charge as Phoebe’s tour guide, showing her all the places in the city she had already called home for years. In addition to this, the two also begin a friends-with-benefits arrangement, adding more steamy aspects to the extremely entertaining story.
As training camp begins and the American international window grows closer, conflicts arise between the two. Grace is sidelined with an injury early on — missing a key international tournament leading up to the women’s World Cup — and is forced to adjust to life outside of soccer for the first time in decades. Phoebe is assumed to take her place in the lineup for both the Krewe and the US national team.
Grace struggles with this adjustment, and with the support of Phoebe, mends both her injury, and hesitancy toward relationships due to unresolved past conflicts. Phoebe also has her difficulties, from having to hold a part-time job as a waitress at a diner to her pursuit of a permanent spot on both the Krewe and national team lineups.
The queer representation in this book is outstanding, with multiple characters being part of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community aside from Grace and Phoebe. Phoebe’s younger brother Teddy is trans, and her diner coworker Dallas as well as Krewe goalkeeper Ash are both nonbinary. Grace’s sister Harmony is pansexual, and multiple players on the Krewe and the national team fall under the queer umbrella.
There is also a focus on neurodiversity as Phoebe deals with ADHD and the pressures of being in the closet as a professional athlete, even though in the book the sport is largely accepting of queer individuals. Phoebe has been publicly out as a lesbian for as long as she can remember, while Grace is only out to her family and close friends and still struggling with her image in the public eye.
Even if you aren’t a sports fan, this book is fantastic. There isn’t a lot of previous soccer knowledge required to understand what is going on. If you’re looking for a spicy WLW, happily-ever-after set in the exciting world of women’s soccer, Cleat Cute is a must-read.
