Kate Clayborn is one of my favorite contemporary romance authors. Love At First reflects her strengths; it's a quiet and realistic love story about two grieving people living normal lives and meeting each other in the middle. There are no absurd plot twists or glamorous careers that only exist in rom-coms. Even the classic romance tropes of Love At First are included so gracefully that they don't pull focus; this is an enemies-to-lovers story inspired by Romeo and Juliet, but Will and Nora's story is so much more than that, with rich characterization and a fully realized setting, that I hardly noticed those themes until I read other reviews. That's all to say that this book blew me away from a craft perspective, and I can't wait to read it.

Love At First is the perfect read for anyone interested in:
- living with grief
- apartment building drama
- home renovation as an excuse to spend time with a hot person
- poetry and Shakespeare
- realizing your job doesn't fit you anymore
- kittens

I wasn't originally a fan of Clayborn's other book, so I was a bit hesitant to start this one. But holy mother of Jesus this book blew me away. The amount of angst and tension was perfect and had me at the edge of my seat trying to figure out how these characters were gonna admit they loved each other. Amazing book!

What a lovely read!! I absolutely loved the chemistry between Will and Nora and their vulnerability in healing while letting each other in was really captivating.

This book started out pretty slow for me. From the back cover i knew the premise wasn't one i would usually read but I loved Love Lettering so I really wanted to read another Clayborn novel.

Once I got into the story I found I really liked all the little ways that Will and Nora found connection. I liked how they found they had similarities in their childhoods. I also loved all the many ways he helped her.

I'll admit there were way too many side characters for me. I prefer to focus on the main characters so a whole apartment building if characters plus co-workers was a lot.

I really did love Will and Nora together i just wanted more of them and less of everyone else.

I received an advanced copy of this book through NetGalley. This is my honest review.

Another perfect love story from Kate Clayborn. Her books are guaranteed to make you laugh, cry, and swoon. Her characters are engaging and readers will root for their love from the beginning.

So many feelings. This book has gorgeous prose and builds to w completely emotionally satisfying end.

That said, boy was the build up slow. Two fully grown adults who’ve inherited condo apartments in the same small, tight knit building are inexorably drawn to each other. Long ago they met once very briefly as teens when the boy was a starry eyed romantic and the girl looked to him like a dream.. But he was dropped almost immediately after their brief meeting into a terrible situation which forced him to grow up fast and wall himself off from emotion to survive overwhelming family loss. Ever since that time he’s been frosty on the outside, focused on career and responsibility, but deep down of course the fire clearly burns within. Fast forward over a decade and the boy and girl are now grown. He’s inherited an apartment he theoretically feels no ties to and she is super duper protective of preserving everything in this condo building in deference to her beloved grandmother. Both are very clearly lonely, good people, who fit together almost from the start and have essentially no barriers in their lives to forging a bond. But they create emotional road blocks that honestly feel like nonsense except for the fact that Kate Clayborn is such an elegant writer she’s able to obscure and extend their nonsense resistance for a really long time.

✨ Love At First ✨

After reading a lot of heavier books recently, I wanted to lighten things up and I chose Love At First. This book also features an enemies to lovers plot which is one of my favorites.

Nora and Will first meet as teens although they speak, they never see each other. Years later, they meet again after Will’s uncle passes away and Will inherits his apartment. Nora has also inherited her apartment from her Nonna. Nora loves the other tenants and they are not happy when Will comes in and starts shaking the place up.

I found this book to be cute, but it’s so similar to other books I’ve read that I found myself skimming a lot of it. I wish there was a little more humor and a little more flair. Both main characters are mature, well rounded people that I did enjoy. The writing is also well done. I haven’t read Love Lettering yet and I’ve heard that one is better.

Thanks to @netgalley and @Kensingtonbooks for the ARC of the book.

3.5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

I wiffle waffled between 3 and 4 stars for this one, it's - of course - a 3.5 star book but no half stars, so rounding down to 3. It was very, very, very slow. The end was adorable and sweet and gah, the way the title comes up? Here. For. It. But not super here for the slowness. Also, I didn't feel any real chemistry between the two characters, the romance was sweet in the end but yeah, just didn't connect 100% with it. Love all the side characters and the whole found family kind of thing. This will sound horrible, but this is one of those books that I smiled when finished, but a few days later am already forgetting bits of it and don't think I'll remember it in a few months, whereas I still remember Love Lettering. Anywho, this was a cute book that I'd still recommend in general, and I don't regret reading it :)

4.5 stars
I loved Kate Clayborn’s Love Lettering last year, so when I saw the arc of her next book available on Netgalley, I just had to request it. And I’m so thankful I did.
This book was so heartfelt and lovely. It was like getting a big, warm hug. I just loved what Clayborn did with Will and Nora. She somehow even made a real estate battle interesting to read.

Will is sixteen when he spies Nora on a balcony at his Uncle's apartment. Her voice fascinates him, though he can't see her very well. Fourteen years later, as a doctor at a hospital in Chicago, he inherits his Uncle's apartment and realizes Nora is still there. I have read none of Kate Clayborn books, and the premise of this novel sounded very interesting to me.

While Will is not fond of the Uncle who left him this apartment, he must keep it for at least a year. He decides to use it as an AirB&B, much to Nora's dismay. Nora has grown up in the apartment building and every tenant is like family to her. She feels having strangers in the building all the time will take away from the closeness all the tenants have with each other. Nora uses every way possible to sabotage his plans, which include poetry readings and daily intrusions by neighbors.

Kate Clayborn has a distinct style of writing, which is very appealing. There is a story here, and she sticks to it. While there seems to be "insta-attraction" between Nora and Will, she doesn't take it further until almost halfway through the book. Interestingly, my favorite part of the book was not their relationship, but Will's relationship with his boss and their interactions, which were hilarious.

While I wouldn't describe this book as unforgettable, each of the characters were well developed. I loved each one of the elderly neighbors and their connection with Nora. As a reader, I would have loved more back story of previous relationships they had, as it seems they were both very inexperienced at love.

Can two hurting and disillusioned introverts break through their cycles of grief and abandonment to find true love? In Love at First by Kate Clayborn, the answer is a resounding, “yes.”

As a teenager, Will Sterling stands at the foot of an apartment building, listening to a beautiful, almost magical, voice from a balcony above. That voice belongs to Nora Clarke, a young lady who finds her identity in her loyalty to her beloved grandmother and to the apartment building – and residents – they both cherish. Nearly two decades later, fate – in the form of an inheritance – brings them together again. Will is now a doctor, and Nora has found a sense of community with the residents of the apartment building. She sees Will’s desire to lease his “unit” as a short-term rental as a threat, not only to her way of life, but to the “family” she has so carefully cultivated at the apartment complex. Yet, unexpectedly, despite their differences, they are drawn to each other in a way neither understands nor can resist.

Love at First is at once a sweet love story and one with tremendous depth. Beneath the halting, somewhat sporadic actions of Will and Nora lies the heart of what makes us human – the yearning for connection, the desire for love to be real. Both reeling from loss, they tentatively and endearingly connect in a way that, while initially superficial, infiltrates the depth of their pain and ultimately transforms their perspective on life . . . and love.

Love at First is the first book I have read by Kate Clayborn, and it definitely won’t be the last.

Note: I received an ARC of Love at First from NetGalley and Kensington Books. The above is my honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley, Kensington Books, & Kensington for the opportunity to read and review this book before it's publication date! This in no way affected my review, opinions are my own.

DNF @ 25%

After absolutely loving Love Lettering, I was SO READY for this book - unfortunately it just didn't hit me the same and I struggled to become connected with either the story or the characters. I seem to be in the minority here, so take my review with a grain of salt and make a decision after reading others' glowing reviews!!

This book is absolutely stunning! I loved Love Lettering, but personally, Love at First is even more beautiful and moving. I've never read such a perfect third act of a book! I loved the setting, how Nora and Will had personal challenges to work through together. I loved the building and all of Nora's neighbors. All the characters felt complex and developed, the conflicts were real and meaningful. I read this one slowly simply because there was so much to absorb and feel. Kate Clayborn is a masterful writer, and Love At First takes it to the next level.

Who else remembers that first love, or that moment you meet someone that stirs something inside you that you just remember forever? Well I sure do! This was very cute read that took a little while for me to get into. I loved the community and the people. They were exactly the kind of community I love being a part of with everyone up in everyone else's business. The premise of the story was what drew me to the book, however I didn't completely fall in love with the main characters like I was hoping. I wanted to FEEL THE HEAT- but it just didn't happen for me. It was a little too slow of a burn. I do love Kate Clayborn's writing style. I loved how descriptive her writing is and that's what kept me going. Overall it was a cute read.
Book received from the Publiser in exchange for an honest review.

This book was so entertaining. I was drawn into the story from the beginning and was involved until the end. The characters were complex and interesting. I found the story to be well paced and engrossing throughout the whole book. I was invested in the couple throughout the book and felt all the emotions through both the highs and lows of the story.The side characters were such an integral part of this story as well. This is the love story i needed to read at this time. If you want an entertaining and well written book this is it for you.

3.5 stars. It started super strong, but around 60% Nora started to feel static. I know it was a grief response, and a response to her upbringing. But, making Will the "bad guy" for being a commitment phobe felt a bit unfair. Also, I was waiting for Deepa and Nora to finally go into business together an they never did, which was kind of a surprise.

I absolutely adored this story. The banter between the characters, the deep issues covered in the backstories and relationships. This was the perfect read for being stuck at home in a snow storm.

Love at First by Kate Clayborn is the perfect for any reader who is in the mood of falling into a sweetly romantic story that includes a fun cast of characters, a found family and explores what it means to find a home. The story is told in the alternating perspectives of Will and Nora. While standing under an apartment balcony, a teenaged Will Sterling hears Nora Clarke's voice and feels a deep connection that he carries with him. Sixteen years later, he returns to that same apartment and encounters a women with a familiar voice. Nora Clarke is immediately taken with Will, but soon finds out his plans threaten the home and family she has created in her apartment building. What follows is an effort to disrupt Will's plans and show him why this place is so special.

Kate Clayborn writes a beautiful love story of two people learning to trust each other as they fall in love and find a place to belong. The book has the lightness of most rom coms, but includes beautiful moments of intimacy and explores the difficulties of letting go of past hurt and loneliness.

This is the second book I read by the author back to back and knew what to expect. It is once again a love story, and the leads are from different professions than the last time around. In the previous book, I liked the female lead's job, which carried the entire book for me. In this love story, I enjoyed the relationships that the lead pair had with everyone else! That is not to say the lead pair were not suited enough for me, just that the other people were way more entertaining. These interactions were the ones that had me tearing up the few times that I did during the read.
Nora and Will have crossed paths before, but only one knows of it. Nora is now the caretaker of the close-knit community of the apartment building. Will may prove to be an unwelcome addition, and she prepares to drive him out. The reverse (obviously) happens, and there is evidently a happily ever after beyond all those treacherous hurdles.
I laughed a little and felt sad in parts, and although it was a more generic storyline than the previous book, I liked it. The storyline was improved by the short entries of all the random people; their peculiar personal traits made the whole thing very colourful to watch unfold.

I received an ARC thanks to NetGalley and the publishers, but the review is entirely based on my own reading experience.

This was a charming book.
So many interesting sentences that were phrased just so and delighted me. I really enjoy that in Kate Clayborn's writing style.

I liked how Nora had to learn to live outside the building and her Nonna's memory while Will needed to let the building into his life to grow and move forward.
I loved the quirky family Nora built for herself in her Nonna's condo building.
Did anyone else picture William Daniels as Gerald Abraham while reading this?

*I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher and I am required to disclose that in my review in compliance with federal law.*