It is not what I was expecting.

Not that it's absolutely bad, but the author couldn't make me care about the main characters and the romance. both characters felt two-dimensional and repetitive, and there wasn't much to get to know about them, which in turn made the romance boring, with zero chemistry between them.

Thank you for my review copy. This review is based on my honest opinion.
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I am putting this book down at 31%. I am not feeling anything for the characters. Nothing. Is this a me problem? Possibly. I will say, I have not enjoyed Kate enough to finish a book. I just don't think I connect to her characters. Sad, but true.

Slow burn romance at its best. I love Kate Clayborn's work and she continue to amaze me with her intricate story telling. Her characters always feel real and relatable. This one started off slow but it was so worth it at the end.

I loved Kate Clayborn's Love Lettering, so I was excited to get the chance to read Love at First. It's an enemies-to-lovers story that focuses on the role of chosen family with a side of gentrification. With this being a trope I enjoy, characters Will and Nora were fun to read about.

Many thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for sharing this book with me. All thoughts are my own.

2.5 Stars

Years ago, Will had a brief but unforgettable interaction with a girl. He couldn’t really see well, but her voice would haunt his dreams for the next sixteen years, Now a doctor, Will inherits an apartment that he plans to remodel and rent out. The fastest way to a student-loan free life. But when is life ever that easy? Problems come in the form of attractive and quirky Nora Clarke. Nora and the other residents are not just neighbours. They are family. And Will’s plans for his apartment could change all their peaceful lives. What ensues are her hilarious attempts to disrupt his plans in whatever way she can.

‘Love at First’ sounded like a fun and light-hearted rom-com. But despite the few moments of cuteness, the first half was really tough to get past. It was slow and the characters were just frustrating. I could understand why all the residents were worried about Will’s plans for his apartment. But their anxiety and fears seemed disproportionate, almost like he was selling off the whole apartment block instead of just renting out his place.
Once I got past that, it was an easier read but the stage had already been set. Nora really grated on me and her attempts to foil Will’s plan did not have the humour it was meant to have. The bulk of the story was focused on Will and Nora, so I really didn't connect with the many side characters. While there are elements that are light-hearted and cute, this was a miss from me.

I think this was the first contemporary enemies to lovers book I've truly enjoyed! They both get so annoyed with each other and it was just so... real lol. It wasn't just "oh they looked at me funny so I hate them" it was "I don't like change, and you're changing a lot of things in my life...and me." Also super romantic and heart warming ahhh. I need to read more from Kate Clayborn because I enjoyed every single page of this one. I'll definitely be rereading a lot hehe

This book took me a little bit to get into but once I gave it more of a chance I really did enjoy it! Norah and Will’s connection feels like magic and I really enjoyed the other characters that were part of the story too!

Kate Clayborn is quickly becoming a favorite author of mine! In this book, Nora and Will - very different personalities then what I normally find in a book and I found that refreshing and fun. Sweet story of love and growing as a person to get over tragedies in their lives. I enjoyed Nora's "family" and Will's thought process. A fun summer read for sure.

Love Lettering was my favorite romance of 2019; Clayborn is a stellar author whose pairings have depth and authentic obstacles (rather than trope-y misunderstandings) that lead to real character growth. It's a delight to see that quality storytelling and compelling romance continue in Love at First, the eagerly-anticipated follow-up.

Love at First is a riff on the trope of two characters meeting for a second time in adulthood, but they do so on opposite sides of a debate involving turning a co-op apartment into an Airbnb. While Clayborn has said that the story is a loose retelling of Romeo + Juliet, I didn't quite get that--which is a good thing! It stood on its own, with the extra cute detail about teenager Will (visiting an estranged uncle) glimpsing fellow adolescent Nora (one of the uncle's many close-knit neighbors) on a balcony. Half a lifetime later, they cross paths when he inherits said apartment and all of its responsibilities and emotional baggage.

Nora and Will's adversaries-to-lovers dynamic occasionally teeters on the edge of corny, but Clayborn skillfully pulls things back before we lose sight of the characters' development with regard to their individual apartments and what maintaining the building's community means to each of them based on their disparate adolescences. (And when the sabotage involves poetry readings and kittens, you get swept up in the romance of it anyway.)

Just as Love Lettering reinvented the "external force/miscommunication that will keep us apart," Love at First uses the clash over the Airbnb to delve into incredible pathos about how being taught that love means something hyper-specific (transactional, apologetic, etc) at a formative age affects adult relationships. This love, in all its rosiness and thorniness, is wonderfully authentic and heartfelt. Clayborn is an auto-read author, and I can't wait to see what she comes up with next.

I received an advanced copy of this book from the publisher through netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This book is well written and the characters are described well. I enjoyed Nora and Will's Characters. I really enjoyed the pacing. The romance is sweet. All of the characters are enjoyable. I would highly recommend reading this book to anyone and everyone. It is in stores now for $15.95 (USD).

I loved this feel good rom com and it was just what I needed at this point in time. The characters were adorable, some were quirky, and I loved them all. I came away with the message that family are those we love.
Many thanks to Kensington Books and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

This book (much like the last one) gave me a hangover! Kate Clayborn is so fantastic. I loved "watching" these characters grow over time. Such a lovely romance. A beautiful story.

I *LOVED* this book! My friends have since picked this as part of our summer reading book club and I'm tickled for them to enjoy it as much as I did.

Contemporary romance really isn't usually my cup of tea, but I always make an exception for Kate Clayborn. Her writing elevates regular life into something magical, and I'm able to fall into the story in a way that I usually can't with a contemporary romance. Love at First is one of these magical experiences. The atmosphere of the story feels so timeless, and from the first page on I was hooked.

I fell in love with Will and Nora straight away, and the inner conflict felt so genuine and real to me. As someone who has grappled with what to hang onto (mentally and emotionally) from my parents and grandparents, I felt keenly Nora's distress. This book is a can't miss.

I'm a speedy reader, and I totally missed the Romeo and Juliet references the first time around. This book is even better on the re-read! I'm pretty selective about what I re-read but this one easily makes the list.

This is a super fun read. I really enjoyed this one!

Many thanks to the author, the publisher, and Netgalley for my ARC. All opinions are my own.

Very very sweet. Nora and Will aren’t quite as memorable as the characters or the plot of Love Lettering, but the same slow burn, gorgeous writing and lilting development comes in this book as well. You really really get to know Nora and Will, you feel their stiffness and sincerity at the beginning, and you feel how hard it is for them to change. I loved the developing friendships between some of the secondary characters as well, like those in the apartment building and more - the surprise one between Will and a coworker.

It may just be that the premise felt a little too “written in the stars” for me with the initial meeting and the whole fate thing. Luckily the author doesn’t push it too hard and focuses on the characters. I definitely felt a lot when they finally got together, and then at the resolution - it was hard not to cry.

This is a very soft, emotional book for people who like the details in life, and a very slow burn. Another winner for Kate Clayborn.

Love at First by Kate Clayborn is a charming and emotional novel that follows Nora Clarke and Will Sterling in their journey from adversaries to something much more—as they both try to hold onto the past while navigating the complexity of the future. Kate Clayborn is the queen of writing beautiful prose that weaves a profound love story that draws you in and refuses to let you go. The complexity and depth of her characters make them feel like your best friends and the story is written in a way that makes readers really feel all of the deep and tangled emotions as they move from chapter to chapter. Love at First by Kate Clayborn is a lovely and exquisite example of how a romance novel should be written.

Overall Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

When I think of romance, I think of books just like this one, that gives all the feels and satisfies every romance junkies' heart. This is a perfect books to snuggle up with on any day.

Sixteen years ago a young Will Sterling fell in love while visiting his uncle’s house for the first and only time with his mother. He heard a girl in the upstairs apartment’s balcony, and while he could not see her, her voice captivated him. But they had to leave before he could find her.

Years later, Will is a busy doctor who discovers that the uncle has left him his apartment. Planning to do short-term rentals with the apartment, Will comes to look it over and clean things out. In the predawn hours, he briefly encounters a woman out on her balcony above. He recognizes the voice instantly.

Nora Clarke loves her apartment. Left to her by her grandmother, it is in a building of close-knit, if quirky neighbors. They view Will and his plans to make changes to the old building with suspicion. Determined to thwart Will’s plans, Nora leads the neighbors’ effort to sabotage him using such tactics as loud poetry nights and blocked parking spots. Will in turn turns up the charm offensive to divide the bickering neighbors. While he doesn’t want to view Nora as the enemy, he also does not intend to let a long-ago infatuation influence his decisions.

The two battle each other as well as their growing attraction. As they become closer, both Nora and Will discover that family can be more than just blood kin and that second chances at first love should not be squandered.

Second chance, enemies to lovers romance set in Chicago. This was cute but just okay for me. I liked the author’s last book, Love Lettering, a bunch more. My favourite parts were honestly the interesting descriptions of different areas of Chicago - a fun armchair travel book in that sense. Some open door scenes but I just wasn’t really feeling the main couple’s romance.