I loved this book so much i even recommended it on my latest 2021 Most Anticipated Romance Reads video on YouTube!! https://youtu.be/qrpRmINvrp4

I adored this book! It gave me The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel movie vibes... Everything to me was so well done... from all the characters that lived at the apartment complex to the furniture Nora's grandmother left her to Will's stiff demeanor.

I am a huge Kate Clayborn fan and cant help but devour these beautiful stories that she writes, they leave you feeling so warm and filled up.

I adored Will and his determination to stay in his hurts, even though Nora and the group of residents slowly but surely cracked his hard exterior. I loved the growth in Nora as she realized that she could change things around and it wouldn't change the wonderful memories she has of her grandmother. The sabotage that Nora and the others play on Will is wonderful and so very enjoyable!

The dialogue and story overall is just so fantastic and I will certainly be sharing with book with everyone.

A heartwarming rom-com about a boy who falls in love with a voice and the man who returns many years later to find the same voice belonging to the spokesperson for the building in which he’d just inherited a condo. And she wanted him out.

Nora moved in with her Nonna and took care of her through her last months then inherited the condo in the building where she pretty much grew up. Everyone in the building had chosen one another as family and they are very close. The other residents, mostly older, were cute and quirky and easy to love. That boy, who was now a hot doctor, didn’t know how to love until he became close with the residents of the building, and it turns out his instinct was right and Nora really was the love of his life!

The way the story unfolded, It was satisfying to see the way Nora and Will’s walls crumbled and they learned how to be whole and loved, respectively. There were plenty of funny moments and hijinks with the residents of the building. I recommend this novel as a nice break from your life. 4 1/2 stars.

Big thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

Kate Clayborn did not disappoint with the latest novel, Love at First! I read this book in a day because I loved the evolution of Nora and Will’s relationship. The novel had perfect pacing and depth to allow connection to the characters. Highly recommended!

This book is pure romance for me. Angsty, found family, love at first sight, a little bit of fate, characters who fall in love and learn to love both, beautiful imagery and sense of place. I highlighted a million passages, the language is gorgeous. Pacing is excellent, though I slowed and savored this one, I did not want it to end. Will and Nora will stay with me. Not only can I not wait to read it again but this will remain a comfort read forever on the keeper shelf.

I might do a longer review another time. Right now I just need to stay in all the feels for this gorgeous book.

This book was a beautiful story of learning what love is. Will and Nora have had different experiences with love that have affected how they view their feelings for each other. Love is not tied up in things familiar, love is not all consuming and excluding all others, love at first is not all there is. This was a beautiful book and I look forward to reading it again because I know I will get even more from it than I did at first reading.

My sincere thanks to Kensington and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read Love at First and give my unbiased opinion of it. I will recommend.

Love at First is a beautiful tale of second chance romance with a twist. The twist being that they never actually met all those years ago. Sixteen years ago, Will Sterling overheard Nora on a balcony. Struggling with his vision at the time, Will never really got a good look at Nora but he fell head over heels with her voice and personality that he witnessed at the time - all of which Nora was unaware.

Fast forward to present day, Will is back to the building where it all began and suddenly faced with meeting the girl of his teenaged dreams.

I recently fell in love with Clayborn's writing after devouring Love Lettering a few months ago, and was so excited to learn her new book, Love at First, was releasing soon! Clayborn is able to weave such lovely, romantic tales of two completely opposite people who somehow manage to be perfect for one another - and Love at First is just another example of her great storytelling abilities!

After facing some difficult huddles in life, Will has grown up to become quite a serious, determined man. He's a successful doctor with not much else going on in his life, until fates leads him back to the balcony (and to Nora).

Likewise, Nora's life resolves around the same steady pace. She's living in her late nonna's apartment, working from home, and only interacts with a couple of long distance work colleagues and the other older tenants in the apartment building. Nora feels a little lost and is finding comfort by hanging onto the past.

I really enjoyed the way Will and Nora's relationship grew. While many people have labelled this story as enemies to lovers, I find it to be a very mild version of enemies. Instead, I simply like to refer to these two characters as 'stubborn and stubborner'. There was definitely a heavier emphasis on these two characters building a solid friendship which allowed the 'love at first sight' trope to feel more defined and less about 'love at first lust'.

However, I feel the stars of this book were the side characters. Will's fellow doctor and his relationship troubles with his ex-wife were entertaining and I enjoyed seeing their reconciliation just as much (if not more so) that Will and Nora. The apartment building in this story also had a bevy of crazy characters that all somehow flowed peacefully together.

Overall, I found this story to be enjoyable and a very easy read. It's lighthearted and fun, but briefly touches on heavier topics. Clayborn did a wonderful job with this story and I cannot wait to read more of her work in the future.

My apologies but this will not be a very coherent review. I might be entering a "Kate Clayborn can do no wrong" phase. Each book I pick up by KC has gotten my emotions engaged and made me relate to the characters in ways that I don't expect. This was no exception. So, I just want to note that since I strongly suspect that I am now in such a phase with author, my bias will be unchecked and gushing may ensue.

I don't think this was the best book by KC, but it's my favorite for the moment -- until a new one comes out or I reread another. Just as she's done in each of her offerings, there is precise and exquisite care in giving these characters the right story. I love the themes of found family and lonely souls finding a right fit with each other. I enjoyed how the past defined their interactions and the coming awareness that it doesn't define them now and how they go forward. I loved both Nora and Will. They were worthy, relatable leads.

This book deserves a lot more than what I am going to be able to write. I think the main point I want to say is that the plot, setup to this story matters less than the fact that KC chose to write it. If it's not a trope you like or it doesn't sound interesting to you, just know that the character-development is worth it. I'm totally biased at this point, but KC could write anything and I would read it.

I'm floored. I'm wrung out, but it was totally worth.

<i>Thank you to NetGalley and the published for a chance to read and review this book. Views are my own.

Kate Clayborn's writing is like a deeply layered chai latte with complex flavors so harmoniously blended that you find yourself soothed despite, well, yourself. Lavish language sprinkled with humor and kindness and awkwardness and angst that should go well together but really, really do. Likewise, Will and Nora came together in a beautiful melange of sweetness, loneliness, and insta-recognition (not instalove) that made perfect sense.

To be honest, this wasn't my favorite of Kate Clayborn's romances; that would probably be Love Lettering. There was a fair amount of logic suspension at play here to believe the events that would lead poor nearsighted (physically and emotionally) Will back to his destiny under Nora's balcony. The detours for poetry readings, kittens, nosy elderly neighbors, and a divorced boss were fun at times, ungainly at others.

But during these crazy covid times, the lovely fairytale connection between Will and Nora is comforting and romantic all at once. During a time when we are supposed to avoid all interaction, a love story where two people first meet accidentally, reunite unknowingly, and then fall in love despite themselves - this reminds us that ultimately we all need to connect and love, as lovers, neighbors, friends, people.

The writing is masterful in this book, and the story intriguing--I DNF because of a steamy content. Whenever I read adult novels I forget that they aren't YA. Haha. I'm not a fan of explicit sexual content in any book, adult or otherwise.

A cute story that has me going back and forth between 3 and 3.5 stars.

Will Sterling first had contact/no contact with Nora Clarke in the form of tomatoes thrown off a balcony when he was a teenager. What? Yes, he heard her sweet voice and felt the falling tomatoes. She had no idea he was there, and he never really saw her because he could not see very well. But she piqued his curiosity. Then, as teenagers do, they both grew up.

Now, sixteen years later as he enters the apartment building his uncle left to him, he recognizes that voice he has never forgotten at the very same apartment building. What luck he has! But will she be happy to meet him when she learns his plans for the building? She is not happy.... but he is so handsome...she is being difficult...but has that voice....

He has plans and she has plans of her own - mainly to sabotage his plans. Then there is the quirky fun group of residents that make up the building. This book was a little bit of a slow burn for me. It is a light book, and it was nice to turn to this in between heavier books and subject matter. Will I remember this book in a year? Not sure, but as I said it was a nice distraction.

Thank you to Kensington Books and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinions are my own.

Kate has a way of writing that draws you in and makes you feel as if you’re reading something unique and special. I was immediately hooked by the hint of fate and missed connection between Will and Nora and stayed hooked because of the authors vivid descriptions, heartfelt inner dialog, and achingly incredible slow-burn and tension. I’m a sucker for a good slow burn, and this book brings it! Will and Nora’s first night together was EVERYTHING! This is an enemies-to-lovers story with lots of hijinks and great supporting characters. The author brings such and in-depth look and insight to these two slightly sad, slightly broken individuals. This is a tender story about how our past experiences with love shape us in to who we are, but it doesn’t have to define us. Kate Clayborn is officially an auto-read for me!

I did not enjoy this book. I was excited to read Clayborn's follow up to Love Lettering, which I liked. This book was also getting good reviews. However, I found it to be unimaginative, boring, and not well written. The elements I enjoyed in Love Lettering did not find their way into this book. The best thing I can say about this is that I liked the cover art.
Unfortunately, this book gets 1.5 stars.

Thank you to Netgalley for the advance copy. They can't all be winners.

Unlike the quietly beautiful Love Lettering, this took a lot longer to grow on me. There's something sedate and easygoing about the writing style, so it's easy to put down and walk away from - which is not usually a glowing endorsement for a book. But once I delved deeper into the story and got more invested in the romance, it had my attention. This couple complements each other perfectly, coaxing out the best in each other and providing plenty of incentive to do so. I loved the progress that this hero makes throughout the book, and I loved the quieter moments that the author excels at writing. Some of the most intimate scenes take place outside of the bedroom, and it was great to see these two get closer. The tone and pacing are likely to be too slow for some readers, but if you like your romance to simmer a little bit, then this one is worth the wait.

The story follows Will and Nora, two strangers who are connected by an old apartment building. When Will was a reckless teen, he visited the building during the darkest day of his life, and it was there that he (kinda, sorta) met Nora. Sixteen years later, they come together for their first official introduction - and their experiences have given them completely opposite opinions about the building. For Nora, it's the place where she's been surrounded with love. For Will, it's the place where love was extinguished. As they feud over their different approaches to dealing with the rundown building, Will and Nora get closer. Their feuding turns into something like friendship, and after that follows love.

I will say that it often takes me a little while to settle into third person stories, so it's entirely possible that the perspective is to blame for this taking time to grow on me. But I don't think that's the case here, and I probably would've lost interest if not for my appreciation for Love Lettering - which, ultimately, would've been a shame. It's a pretty subtle romance, riding a fine line between slow and slow burn. Once I got to know these characters better, it was much easier to fall for the story, and the author's talent shone through. It doesn't have the intensity of the typical enemies to lovers romance, nor does it have the feel of a true opposites attract romance. It's an interesting combination of a lot of things, but the author does an outstanding job making the story feel unique. I loved the community aspect and the way this relationship builds slowly. If you're looking for an emotional, intelligent, slow burn romance, you've found it here - but this is definitely a laidback read. I received an early copy via NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving a review of this slow burn romance.

Kate Clayborn is the Shakespeare of contemporary romance. Her books should be bound in leather and printed on beautiful, creamy white paper with the titles embossed in gleaming letters on the covers. She writes about love as though it were a living, breathing thing visible to the naked eye. And I am here for it.

This is a gorgeous, deeply sad romance about two people with misconceptions about love and how to express it. The way that brilliant, closed off doctor Will and cautious, skittish Nora come together is a wonderous thing to behold and my only regret, as it always is with truly great books, is that I'll never be able to take the journey for the first time ever again.

I love the honesty of Clayborn's writing and her ability to adorn that honesty with the most purely beautiful writing I've ever encountered in books like these. I'd love to see her books as films or plays. Everything she writes matters. There are no extraneous characters or throwaway scenes that are just there because that's what a romance needs.

I loved this.

The love story we needed. My only qualm is that it is being published after Valentines Day. I think this book is the perfect mood read for those who are seasonal readers.

Will first heard Nora speak 16 years ago when his sight was compromised, yet they don't meet until they are in the same apartment building. Will wants to rent out his apartment, but Nora doesn't approve of him doing that, as she is close to the other people who live there and they have become a surrogate family to her. She isn't sure about the type of people who might live in Will's place, so a battle of wills ensues between them. Through it all, they grow closer to each other and Will grows closer to the other tenants. I love the slow burn element of this book, because it makes you truly start to root for Will & Nora even when you know as a reader that you'll get a HEA and the ending is the perfect finish!

Kate Clayborn just came on my radar in 2020 with Love Lettering. Love At First is her latest romance involving Nora and Will, two young adults who each inherited apartments from family members. Nora loves her living arrangement, especially her neighbors. Will is not interested and plans to turn his apartment into a short-term rental, to the dismay of Nora and the other residents. The residents band together to convince Will to abandon his plans. And of course, he and Nora fall in love.

While the romance genre is inherently predictable (you know they’re gonna end up together!), Clayborn’s characters avoid cliches. Even the supporting characters are unexpectedly fleshed out. Those details make her stories enjoyable and memorable.

I went back and binged her three book series about luck, involving a three friends who win the lottery after buying a ticket together. Her characters are likable and fun. I can’t wait to see what Clayborn writes next.

Love at First by Kate Clayborn was such a fun, sweet romcom! I previously enjoyed Love Lettering and was excited to see that Clayborn had a new book out. This time set in Chicago, with a small apartment building as a backdrop. This book explores similar themes of belonging and building on that with choosing family. Our leads are Nora who works from home and lives in her Nonna's old apartment and Dr. Will who inherited his unit as he calls it from his estranged uncle. Will wants to air bnb his place and the building is Nora's family so she's having done of it. It was fun to see these two banter and learn how to be an adorable couple. I especially like how Clayborn tied this one up.

Kate Clayborn’s writing is of a rare quality; it’s eloquent, poetic, powerful, and so highlight-worthy.

Thought my review is longer than usual, I hope you can appreciate it later after you read “Love At First”; perhaps you can save it for now.

I don’t get the notion of “insta-love”. Perhaps because I’ve never experienced it, except vicariously through Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks in Sleepless in Seattle. But hey - don’t let the title of this book dissuade you in any way; the title “Love at First” has such deeper meaning that you won’t get ’til near the end. It’s kind of like the movie title, “Love, Actually” - you tie in the meaning later when the swoony voice of Hugh Grant musically says, “Love actually is all around.”

Dr. Will Sterling has inherited an apartment in a 6-unit building where he once visited as a teen 16 years ago, the same day he saw teen Nora on her balcony, unbeknownst to her. Now, Will wants to get this property off his hands, for he wants nothing to do with it. Meanwhile, Nora and the rest of the building’s tenants are outraged that this stranger would do such a thing, and as the ringleader of project “Foil Will’s Plans”, Nora schemes ways to persuade Will to do otherwise.

Thus, the enemies to lovers trope. But alas…also a second chances…

But the story is NOT only defined as these tropes - nor an insta love. I actually found it more as friends to lovers. I loved watching how Will and Nora grew to become friends, and then the way they slowly fall in love as friends is super heart-felt and made me want to read about friends falling in love all the time! Whether it was during a poetry reading, repairing a bathroom fixture, drooling on one’s lap, taking care of one when sick, or when just standing under a door frame…looking…and smirking, the chemistry and love felt between Will and Nora got me all tingly inside.

I loved how the story went even deeper than just the romantic aspect. It’s also about family and how you don’t have to be blood-related to be defined as family. “Family isn’t always blood. It’s the people in your life who want you in theirs: the ones who accept you for who you are. The ones who would do anything to see you smile and who love you no matter what.” - Maya Angelou. This, my friends, encapsulates the tiny 6-apartment building complex - well the people, that is. They all have a gigantic history together and practically watched Nora grow up. It’s sad that Will had a poor exemplification of love in his life, and it is through Nora, her “family”, and even his quirky boss, where he learns that not only can you choose your family, but that love IS actually all around. (There’s another important lesson that is well-connected to the title).

On a personal note, it was hard not seeing myself in Nora: living two lives, holding onto fragmented artifacts of the past, holding on to such artifacts because she felt comfort and connected to the person she lost, feeling guilt, not living for herself, and using all the aforementioned to dictate how she runs her life.

Having Will in her life was a transformation in Nora, but it rang true the other way around, for this building is the very place that Nora calls a home full of unconditional love and laughter, but it’s the very place that had exuded no love whatsoever for Will. Throughout the story we learn why and we also see how Will and Nora grow to become best versions of themselves with each other.

I have to say this: I absolutely loved this book more than “Love Lettering”. I can’t believe I said that, but it’s true. 5 stars from me for sure!

Thank you to Negalley and Kensington Publishing for this lovely ARC in exchange for an honest review.