This was one of my most anticipated reads and it did not disappoint. I mean, how could it since it combines by love of books, romance, pens, paper, and planning! Though I'm not artistic enough to be able to hand letter, my love for pen and paper (and planning) is only second to my love of reading! I fully geeked out over all of the name drops of pen brands I adore, as well as the concept of hidden messages and codes that brought Meg and Reid together. There's even a bit of surprise suspense! I will admit that it took me a while to get into Meg's head and vibe with her peculiar POV, but once I did I was all in. I did also wish that there was a bit more heat, but ah well. Love Lettering is a solid 4 wine glass read for me and I can't wait to read more from the author.

I know a lot of people loved this book but it just wasn’t my thing. I felt that it took a while to get into it and then the rest was just blah. I hate when I don’t like really well reviewed books but I just couldn’t with this one.

Perfect for fans of the Chick-Lit genre. Interesting characters and a fresh/original story line that keeps the reader intrigued. A cute romance that does exactly what it says on the tin!

I was excited when I read the synopsis: Meg, a skilled artist who got busted by her client's ex-fiancee by putting a secret code in the wedding invitations. She thought that no one will notice until Reid, who is a mathematician saw her secret code. Thus, it began their awkward partnership that turned in a cutesy relationship.

Unfortunately, I was not connecting with both characters. But after 5 chapters, I felt that the story is dragging. I struggled into understanding each characters' personalities but to no avail. I did not feel the spark between Meg and Reid, and I was not even swooned about their interaction together.

Love Lettering has potential, to be honest. It just needs a little improvement to the author by pouring all emotions into her characters and the story.

Thank you very much to Kensington Books via NetGalley for approving my request to read and give my honest review to this eARC.

This is a joyful story set around the fine art of Calligraphy. I have a dear friend who is a calligrapher and I could hear her voice as I followed this heartwarming story.

Meg Mackworth lives for the written word. Not in the sense of books and stories but in the literal sense. The style in which a word, each individual letter, is presented. Style speaks volumes about what the word is trying to convey, capital letters shout, sans serif letters are more business like but, heavily embellished letters can illustrate a word and turn the mundane into the fanciful. Meg's only problem is that she's blocked and can no longer write creatively.

It all started when she designed the wedding plans for analyst, Reid Sutherland and his fiance. Meg hadn't meant to tell him, albeit subliminally, that he was making a huge mistake but, she certainly did and now his plans had been cancelled.

How can Meg make it up to Reid and trust herself not to repeat the same mistake and ruin her reputation for ever?

Meg's journey is beautifully styled as she not only recovers her own inspiration but, she helps the very business-like Reid learn to love New York and to take life a lot less seriously.

I had never read Kate Clayborn before and had no idea what to expect but was pleasantly surprised. She writes at a gentle pace and takes the time to help the reader to understand the complexities of her characters.

this was my first from kate clayborn but it will definitely not be my last - really enjoyed her writing. this was super charming and adorable, really liked it!

Thanks to netgalley for ARC.
I loved the blurb of the book and I was excited to read this one.
I liked the characters, but not really the kind that stays with you after book is over.
Interesting and cute love story.

Initial twitter reaction: Reading Love Lettering and so far it's great and everything in the protagonist's life is terrible because she's an overcommitted workaholic who loves stationery and is good at customer service but bad at friends (I LOVE HER).

BUT she's about to meet someone she admired when she was a kid and this is going to go terribly wrong and it's stressing me out.

IT IS FINE MAYBE BUT ALSO I WANT A CHARACTER WHO HAS NEVER APPEARED ON-SCREEN TO GET PUSHED INTO WHATEVER BODIES OF WATER ARE IN NEW YORK

Google Maps says my options are the Hudson River or a literal entire ocean, maybe.

BLESS THESE BEAUTIFUL FUCKING NERDS BEING CUTE

Listen there is a really tentative friendship and the protagonist manages to be clear she finds the dude attractive in a way that isn't making me question how allos work. I love it?!?

I'm know there are other romances where shark week is a misery, but I'm pretty sure I haven't read them.

I have no idea what this gif is (Kirby?) but this is how I feel about Love Lettering so far. [Kirby slapping desk gif]

Oh no, there's been a fight, and oh no, Meg's explained why she's such a peace-keeper and I love her oh no

I really wanted to love this book, but it was just OK for me. Parts of the romance story were nice, but the lettering sections were a little obscure in places, and the story took a turn for the worse in the last half.

Thanks to NetGalley and Kensington Books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

So, do you like planners and bullet journals and pens and paper? And food and nerdy games? And romance and longing and fantastic hand-written love letters? I have a book for youuuuuu.

The Planner of Park Slope – Meg Mackworth, whose hand-lettering business has taken off after a Buzzfeed profile – is having a creative block. She has deadlines and planner clients and a (huge) secret project for a life-changing opportunity and she just can’t get the design juices flowing. So she’s is helping out a friend in her stationery shop when an old client comes in. Meg hasn’t seen Reid Sutherland since the meeting a year before – a whole 45 minutes – when he came with his fiancee Avery to approve the final designs for his wedding stationery. Reid found a code hidden in the wedding program – he’s a mathematician – and has returned to ask Meg how she knew his marriage would fail (actually, he and Avery called off the wedding in a very amicable way since the discovery of this code gave him the impetus to do so, so don’t worry about evil ex-fiancees coming back to ruin things, this is not one of those books).

Meg is slightly panicked when stern, triple-take handsome Reid confronts her about the program. The code is a tic she has. Sometimes she sees words in specific fonts or forms, sometimes her impression of a client slips out in a tiny way, like specific letters will fall a hair lower than others in a word when she draws them. So she explains this to Reid over a coffee (and tea, Reid is a tea guy). He accepts her explanation and then admits that he only sought her out because he’s probably leaving New York City soon. He doesn’t like the city.

Meg, however, loves New York City and Brooklyn, where she lives. She came to love the city by exploring it on foot, taking notice of signs. How they talk to her, how they use color and design and font to convey information. So when she hits on an idea to break through her creative block she emails Reid and invites him on an adventure – they’ll walk around an area of the city and find signs for inspiration. Reid suggests that they make it a game and use the signs to spell out words of their own.

Thus begins an incredibly charming and cozy romance novel about an artist who creates custom stationery and journals and a Wall Street mathematician. There are so many things I loved about this book. Competence pr0n your thing? YES. Actual adults with jobs and adult stuff who handle their emotional mess through self-reflection and talking about it with others. But they are also in transition, which is what happens when everyone gets into their mid-to-late twenties. People grow and change, their goals change, intended careers don’t pan out, friends develop other relationships. This is where Meg is when the book opens and Reid comes in to ask her about the hidden message in his never-used wedding program. I loved their games, wandering around Brooklyn taking pictures of signs; this is very much a “setting-as-character” kind of novel. There is a hand-written love letter that comes into play late in this book and I may have turned into a puddle on the floor (exhibit A: one of my favorite books on this Earth is Persuasion, which also has a letter at a pivotal point in the plot, and I love this so much).

The book is written in first person present POV, which in general I do not like in my romance novels, but this one is in Meg’s perspective for the entire book. It is so skillfully done. The reader definitely doesn’t lose anything by not having Reid’s perspective alternating with Meg’s. If anything, it helps the story along because we also wonder along with Meg about this mysterious job Reid has and will not talk about.

I loved this book so much I read it twice in a row.

Love Lettering is out today, December 31! Get it and curl up for the New Year! (The cover is so pretty!)

Dear FTC: I read a digital galley of this book from the publisher via Netgalley – twice – and I preordered a copy at my store.

Addendum: this book will make you want to sit down and draw all the prettiest journal pages (spoiler: I have zero drawing capability but I have stickers, washi tape, and all sorts of colored pens. I can fake it 😂).

This was a cute romance set in New York City between two people still trying to figure out their careers and relationships. I really loved seeing the heroine's job of hand lettering and the games the couple played around the city to find interesting looking signs sounded so fun I want to try it myself. The hero was nice but it wasn't until the end that I felt like I really understood him. Fun, light romance good for those (like me) just getting into the genre

Love Lettering is such a perfectly written book that drew me into a whirlwind of good feels. I absolutely loved Meg and Reid together. Their initial meeting, with the mistake --pun unintended, I swear-- that Meg had made with Reid's wedding programs, and the way he seemed so stiff and unattainable, then the slow unfurling of Meg's life and how her family issues had shaped her to be a person who avoided confrontations and any kind of difficult conversations. I liked Meg so much that I wanted to hug her in almost every chapter. I loved how Ms. Clayborn even took a whole chapter where Meg got her period and was struggling with her pain. I loved that Reid was thoughtful and kind in such a simple way. I always get hit by the kindness of main characters like Meg and Reid in these ways; where the lovely thing they do isn't something super grand and ostentatious. Rather, it's so simple, any human can do it. It reminds me that this kind of gentleness can exist in reality.

Man, this book. THIS BOOK. I've known that Kate Clayborn is an incredibly talented author ever since I read her debut, but Love Lettering was a whole other level of talent. Every word of this story was woven so meticulously!

Kate Clayborn always writes characters whose every emotion touches my soul. Meg is a lovely, very introspective woman who has made a career out of hand-lettering. Her talent and social media popularity have put her in the running to design a new line of planners. Dear Meg, however, is missing her inspiration. Enter Reed. An equally introspective and intelligent man who decodes a message Meg left his wedding program that she designed, predicting the failure of his marriage. I loved both of these characters so so much, I can't even begin to describe my affection to them. Does anyone else get attached to characters to the point of wanting to protect and shelter them from all sorts of fictional pain? That's how I felt towards Meg and Reid. They are both dealing with a lot. In addition to Meg having lost her inspiration, she is also on the verge of losing her closest friend. She goes through this period of emotional turmoil and vulnerability and Love Lettering shows her journey into realizing her own worth. It's truly a wonderful experience. And Reid. Sweet, quiet, and nerdy Reid. Kate has written some of my favorite romance heroes and I didn't hesitate one before adding Reid that list. His broken relationship and his intense dislike for NYC have left him tired and emotionally drained. There are so many layers to his character and they slowly get revealed in the book. Every little dimension of his personality that we got to know felt like finding candy in unexpected places. Reid's story is much more than I am describing in this review because of spoilers, but trust me, I doubt anyone is capable of hating him.

When Meg and Reid meet, they find themselves in the midst of unexpected friendship that leads to them exploring NYC in search of lettering inspirations for Meg's planner. You guys, their entire relationship was just so wholesome and pure. It takes them a while since they are both such guarded personalities, but they eventually open up to each other about their lives, regrets, and careers. It's touching and sweet, and I wanted to weep at how beautiful their entire relationship was. This friendship does obviously lead to a slow-burn romance that has banter, excellent chemistry, and so many achingly romantic scenes. I DIE. The first sex scene in this book attested to just how beautiful Love Lettering is. There was explicit consent, sensuality, and so much of the two being attuned to each others' bodies. I know it's only early 2020 but I am declaring it to be the best sex scene of the year. Love Lettering might also surprise you all with a nice plot twist towards the end - don't worry, you still get your happily ever after. Even though I knew the HEA was coming, I was still stressed but in a good way!

I know I've gushed a lot about Love Lettering in this book. I truly hope that if you haven't picked up a copy of the book yet that you will seriously consider it and Kate Clayborn's books in general. Soft, wholesome, and full of passion and heart! What more could you ask for in a book?

This was my longest read in a while. Not in terms of length but just the amount of time I spent reading it. A major slump hit, while I was reading yet it in no way, impacted my enjoyment of this book which is an actual rarity. Usually, the longer I spend reading the book the more chance of me getting bored (I know, for shame). Although I can't call it unputdownable, I could tell if my slump hadn't hit I would have flown through reading. I think I might have preferred reading it at a slower pace. I so rarely spend my time reading books slowly so I felt like I was savouring the story by experiencing it in smaller chunks. I felt like my connection to Meg was stronger for spending longer with her. And Reid? I felt like I was over analysing things as if he was a man I liked. I spent so much more time thinking about where their romance would go next it was sort of like the anticipation for the next date. When can I get my next dose of Meg and Reid cuteness?


This book really made me want to sit down with my bullet journal and just get creative. The book just felt inspiring and I feel like it was the way it was written. I was in Meg's head and her creative thinking was catching. I wanted to write and draw and plan! I love a book inspiring you along with an awesome story. And it made me want to go out walking. To look at signs and see the lettering around me. It also made me want to drop a whole bunch of money on a flight to NYC (again). So, you know, inspirational. This book was inspiring and I just wish that level of inspiration had stayed with me for longer than a couple of weeks. I do still keep trying to walk about and noticing the things around me, though. So I guess this book changed me? We’ll see how long that lasts, though.

I did love how although Meg was quiet and averse to confrontation she did totally call out Reid when he cracked on with the potential mansplaining. And then later on you learn his ways aren't rude that's just his awkwardness coming through. It was so lovely seeing them both grow and come out of their shells and the twists and turns in each of their stories was wonderful to see. They were just these adorable awkward couple who had so much going on and it was nice to see a couple slowly coming out of their shell and once you realise they’re both crushing on each other and that’s why there’s something weird going on because they’re holding back from letting all of their feelings coming out. And then you later learn there’s more going on with Reid and that’s why he’s been reserved and almost shady.

I won’t lie. I did wonder when I started if I was gonna be reading a romance with no chemistry. Thankfully they had that spark but it was slow to come out. It was subtle. At first, they were skirting one another and they slowly had this small connection. Then, like I said, it all came out and once they’d admitted their feelings I was loving the romance. I think that’s where my reading picked up when they admitted their feelings and I was loving them together even though there were obstacles to their relationship.

Ugh, I’ve probably epically failed with this one reviewing. I don’t want to give any spoilers away on the story because I honestly loved being surprised and going into this one pretty blind. It was such a charming, creative read and I don’t know if it was the characters giving me that vibe or the writing, but whatever it was it worked for me. I am so glad I began my reading year on a high and definitely recommend.

This was an adorable read!
Meg is a handwriting artist and she designs a wedding program for Avery and Reid. A year later, Reid finds Meg. See Reid is a numbers guy and recognizes patterns and such and finds a hidden message that Meg put in there- a sure sign that the marriage was to fail.

Meg decides to show Reid what she loves about New York-through games to find meaning and art through signs. I loved the slow building friendship and then more between these two.

Something major happens near the end which I don't want to spoil but I loved how actually very mature Meg and Reid were through it. They make just an adorable couple!
Kate's writing is just so sweet and flows well and is pretty captivating!

Loved the nerdy type characters with the letters, patterns, and numbers! Loved the book, laughed out loud, and will read again!

Kate Clayborn just keeps getting better with every book she writes! Her books are filled with so much heart and intense feelings, yet they are quiet books that don’t need overwrought plots to score an emotional bullseye. On the face of it, Meg and Reid don’t seem to have much in common. She’s a brilliant artist who expresses herself through exquisite calligraphy (lovingly and meticulously described in the book) who is inspired by everyday signs, letters and fonts throughout bustling NYC while Reid is quiet and introspective, a true “numbers” guy who takes comfort in patterns and regularity and is feeling worn down by the neverending energy of the city. Yet somehow, they come together to form a beautiful whole. They complete and inspire each other to be their best selves, and really, isn’t that what we all deserve in our partner?

This was such an great romance to end my year with and left me with a lovely warm glow. In addition to the central romance, I also loved the way Meg was presented as a complete person. So many times in romance, the only well developed relationship is the one between the two leads, but in this book, Meg was also dealing with the apparent withering of her oldest friendship as well as the start of a new one and both were perfectly depicted and added depth and maturity to the basic plot and to the character development. I highly recommend this romance.

Charming with lots of heart. I read this in one sitting that stayed with me for some time. Definitely a great story to end a year with or start a new one. Clayborn's writing definitely interested me enough to check out her earlier titles.

I received a free digital copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

What a delightful read! I really enjoyed everything about this book. It was well written, the characters were well thought out, and the storyline was just darling.

I fell in love with everything about this book. It was just wonderful. Thank you so much to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for this review copy.

This novel was an unexpected DELIGHT! Ms. Clayborn's main character, Meg, was 100% relateable. She felt so unsure of herself and her talent, where she stood with her best friend, and the man that she starts crushing on. It was like her anxiety lined up with my own. The way Meg conversed in fonts was beautifully written. How someone would say something and she would see how it was said. For example, "'You said it right.' These four words - they are so sans serif they slice me in half." Just the IMAGERY with that! It was astounding how Ms. Clayborn delivered time and time again with the imagery of Meg's passion and career, but also just how she saw and interacted with the world.
And Reid as Meg's main squeeze was the perfect modern day regency hero. There is a twist at the end that I didn't see coming with him, but needless to say I fully expect to use the phrase of when a guy "swoonshes" on a daily basis - thanks for that Reid!
Finally, the way Ms. Clayborn describes the dangerous L shape twisting and turning around Meg's heart - oh I've been there. When we want to deny it's happening and at the same time have zero control over it. And know that if things don't work out, that cursive L looping itself around our heart is going to break it to pieces. Whew. I felt that.
As you can tell, I adored this novel. It was fun and quirky and sweet. I'm going to go study up on fonts now, so I can start seeing what people say in different bold and italicized fonts.

Thank you NetGalley and Kensington books for the eARC!