I've had this book on my TBR since CLo shouted it out months ago, and I don't know why I put off reading it because it was SO GOOD. I can't express how long it's been since I've swooned as hard over a book boyfriend as I did over Levi Fanning. Was it predictable? Maybe a little. Do I care? Not a single bit.

Georgie Mulcahy has spent most of her adult life catering to others; working as a personal assistant until her longtime famous boss decided she was done with LA and left Georgie without a job <i>or</i> a home in California. What else is there for her to do but return home to grieve and regroup? To figure out what’s next for her, spend some time with her family, and be there for the birth of her best friend’s first baby.

Levi Fanning lived up to his troublemaker name for years before getting straight. Now he likes to keep to himself. He runs a successful business in town, but he’s still the black sheep of the very prominent Fanning family.

And Georgie has no idea when she gets into town and comes face to face with a grumpy stranger while trying to get milkshakes that she and Levi will soon embark on a journey of discovery together to find their purpose in life without the influence of others thoughts, feelings, or actions. And it is <i>glorious</i>. The slow burn. The subtle growing of their relationship. HANK. Just…I loved ALL of it.

The only reason it didn’t get 5 stars from me this time was because it had a bit of a slow start and took me a second to get into, but once I did, I had no regrets.

Kate Clayborn does it again. This book is a great finding your true self trope. It's a fun and delightful romance. I loved the characters. Kate Clayborn has a wonderful talent for horrible first impression meet cutes. I loved this book.

I adore this book. All the relationships in this book were absolutely wonderful. The hero and heroine were amazing but I also enjoyed the depiction of the relationship between the heroine and her best friend and her parents as well. Even the hero and his dog were adorable. This book is a mood lifter and I was sad when it had to end.

It is no secret that I love contemporary romance, and romantic comedies have my whole heart. But recently, I've been wanting a little bit more from my romances. Something a little deeper, softer, and sweeter. When I decided to read "Georgie, All Along" for the cover, I had no idea that I would end up with just what my soul required.

This book is sweet, funny, and emotionally vulnerable. Even though I am in a different stage of life than the protagonists, I could relate to their emotions, feelings, and concerns. The friendships in this book are everything. Don't even get me started on the dog!!!

It has been a long time since I have really rooted for a couple, but Georgie and Levi were everything to me. The banter, the communication, the forced proximity, and the dual POV. Chef's kiss! Levi's perspective worked for me in so many ways. I loved how exposed he was. Thank you, Kate Clayborn, for real CHARACTER GROWTH.

The "fic" was the only thing that didn't work for me. The word's use completely disconnected me from the narrative. Although I liked the idea, I think I would have preferred a slightly different approach. Furthermore, it was obvious how the third-act breakup would happen. Nevertheless, in my opinion, it was handled well.

If you are wondering about the steaminess, this is an open-door romance with a few (3-4) steamy scenes.

I know it is still early, but I would not be shocked if this is my top romance of 2023.

Excuse me while I go read Clayborn's backlist.

Thank you to Netgalley and Kensington books for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

WOW WOW WOW! This book is everything. From the start, Clayborn's unique, humorous, and straight-to-the-heart voice captured me. Clayborn's writing makes you feel ALL THE FEELS. The characters are so well developed, authentic, and real. As a reader, I felt every scene...every conflict, happiness, confusion, desperation, love, friendship. Georgie and Levi are a couple that will stay with me and so will their individual journeys. I cannot recommend this book enough!

Thank you NetGalley for providing the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Kate Clayborn's latest novel is a great romance between Georgie, who's somewhat reluctantly returned home after living in LA as a personal assistant, and Levi, the town trouble-maker who's been working for years to re-establish his reputation. It starts a bit as a forced-proximity romance, but grows from there. The peripheral characters were so much more than on the periphery. Georgie's best friend Bel is fully formed and balances out the slightly chaotic presence that is Georgie. Georgie's parents are featured prominently and it's great to read about parents in a way that's loving and also feels genuine. The intimate scenes are steamy and add to the characters' stories. An overall great read!

Georgie is good at her job. She ended up in a job without a plan that involved planning for others. She thrived in the order that she created out of the chaos of her celebrity clients. Only now, her long-time client has sent her off untethered.
Georgie's parents are rather bohemian in their way of life and tend to be lax in their day-to-day things. This might have had some sort of effect on their daughter. Along with being unemployed, Georgie has come home for her best friend's delivery. The latter had moved back to their hometown, considering it a better place to raise children than the city.
Our leading lady is adrift with no plans until she ends up with a book she co-authored with her friend in school, which listed all the things that were deemed cool at the time. She decided to use it as a lifeline to find some meaning in her life. What she doesn't count on is the local 'bad boy' to be sharing her roof and for her to feel interested in him.
It is a romance story with our protagonist finding out what exactly she wants in life. The writing is straightforward, with intelligent characters who are well-rounded and work well together. I would recommend this author and this book to readers of this genre.
I received this book as an ARC thanks to NetGalley and the publishers but the review is entirely based on my own reading experience of this and her previous works.

Favourite book by Kate Clayborn thus far which is saying a lot. Honest, heart-warming and tender. You will fall in love with these characters. Highly recommend.

This is the first book I’ve read by the author.

I enjoyed the second half more than the first half of this small town romance novel narrated from a dual POV.

I struggled with the pacing of the first half given that their first kiss doesn’t occur until 50%. During the first half, I had a hard time buying into the premise as to why someone would look to their high school journal for life guidance and feeling emotionally connected to the characters.

However, when the pacing finally picked up in the second half, the story finally clicked for me.

Levi is a typical tortured hero estranged from his rich family and is kind of a loner. I appreciated the scene with his brother at the end and found his character arc the most interesting given his character growth.

Georgie is the big-city heroine returning to her hometown because she is feeling lost after her job as a personal assistant in LA ends. She is the kind of friend who would drop everything to help you if you needed her. I appreciated the strong female friendship between her and her best friend, Bel, her relationship with her loving, supportive, free-spirited parents, and how she stood up to Levi during the third act breakup.

I liked Levi and Georgie as a couple and did find myself rooting for them.

Georgie Mulcahy is good at helping other people. It's a talent that made her a great personal assistant, but when her boss decides to leave LA for a simpler life, Georgie finds herself aimlessly heading toward her hometown, wondering what she is supposed to do next. Georgie was known as a bit of a flake growing up. Never the best student or the most focused person, Georgie decides she is going to take this time to discover her life's passion and finally make her mark, but she quickly realizes that this is easier said than done.

Georgie, All Along is filled with wonderful characters and relationships. Georgie's parents love her without any expectations except for wanting her to find happiness in her own unique way. Her relationship with her best friend Bel, who seems to be her exact opposite, in that she is focused and driven. The scene between Georgie and Bel towards the end of the book where Bel admits that she doesn't have it all together and Georgie helps her through it brought me to tears (in a good way). And of course, the romantic relationship between Georgie and Levi. The story is told in dual perspectives so we get just as much insight to Levi's thoughts and struggles, and he is very easy to love.

I loved this beautiful story. And there is a lovable dog too...who could ask for more? Highly recommend!

When I click on Georgie, All Along, Goodreads gives me a thick banner ad for the book with a blurb from Jodi Picoult:
"A sweet novel that reminds you going back is sometimes the best path forward... and that planning is never as rewarding as doing."

It's a great quote! I think that's a pretty accurate pitch. You might notice, though, something that the ad doesn't mention: Romance. Relationships. A second person. This, too, is an accurate way to pitch the book's strengths.

I liked Georgie, All Along pretty well as a fiction novel of re-discovery and re-invention. I don't like it much as a romance novel. But it's hard to shake the feeling that the book doesn't want to be a romance. We spend pages and pages with Georgie as she thinks about herself, her childhood, her friend, her parents, her old job, her new job, her Future. The book rolls out chapters of incremental self-discovery and personal growth. And it's pretty good stuff! I feel for Georgie. She's easy to root for, easy to identify with.

Between these languid scenes, though, the book sprints through a speed-run romance with hometown misunderstood bad-boy Levi. I like what I get to see of him and the relationship. But I don't see nearly enough to give me the kind of fleshed-out or dynamic romance storyline that I would expect from this page count. The book always seems in a rush to get back to Georgie sitting alone doing little tasks and thinking about her career, and I'm left feeling a little cheated.

I know that this is, in large part, a "me" thing. I want my romances to be romances, and that's an issue I have with a large percentage of contemp being published right now. But I want what I want. I am so happy to read fiction with a side order of romance when it's done right, but I was promised a romance novel here. The book ends with a standard grand-gesture HEA finale, but somewhere in the middle, it took its eye off the ball.

Thank you to Kensington for providing an advance copy of this title at no charge. No money changed hands for this review and all opinions are my own.

Georgie All Along is a wonderful light romantic comedy about a young woman who returns to her hometown where she must confront people from her past who were not always so kind to her. When she discovers an old diary from her past, she decides that she and her best friend must attempt to full fill the dreams and aspirations they had set out for themselves all those years before. She doesn't anticipate coming into close contact with the town's bad boy nor the effect that he has over her.
What I enjoyed about this book is that it was a light warm story about a young woman's self-discovery and learning to accept and acknowledge her own strengths which often lie outside of the middle-class accepted norm. Kate Clayborn has created a character that could be any one of us and our insecurities.
Any reader who has enjoyed Jasmine Guillory or Christina Lauren's books will love Georgie, All Along! Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Books for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Georgie, All Along is a charming romantic comedy with all the right elements to hook readers from the beginning and keep them invested in the story. The friendship and then romantic relationship that develops between Georgie and town hermit, Levi, is heartwarming and sweet. There is the perfect amount of romance in the book. It's the type of story that readers will love and they will be left with the feeling of what if? Very well written and engaging.

☾⋆⁺₊🎧✧ By the end, I was crying way too hard.

Kate Clayborn always manages to bring all the emotions out of me. I was giggling, screaming, smiling, swooning, crying, throwing my book to the wall... you know, normal things to do when you're reading a GOOD book. The story of Georgie, All Along is spectacular and charms you instantly. Georgie is relatable and if you're still finding your place in this world, you'll easily fall in love with what she's going through and her persona. Georgie is everything; chaotic, sunshine, always going for it. She has her doubts, but she never gives up.

In this novel, Georgie just got fired as a PA, so she's returning to her hometown with her tail between her legs. She is saying she's returning to help her bestie Bel with her pregnancy, but really, she has nothing to do. But Bel has her life together and Georgie finds herself without a clear path to follow. That's when she finds a little notebook she wrote with Bel in high school, describing all the things she wanted to do when she went there. She realizes she did nothing back then, so she takes this opportunity to maybe find her own path and the way to a future she wants by doing these little tasks and quests she wrote in the notebook.

But that's not all! She's moving back home while her parents on a roadtrip, but she never expected that they will also tell the town's hermit, Levi Fanning, that he could also stay in the house lmao. So, Georgie and Levi happen to be rooming now and they don't know what to do. OF COURSE SPARKS FLY AND LOVE BLOOMS AND EVERYTHING IS SO GOOD. Levi has his own story to tell and oh my god that's where you mostly find yourself crying. I felt so hard for him and his story. Possibly one of the best heroes Kate Clayborn has written. The grovelling, the communication, the love? The best.

When Levi describes wanting her all to himself, thinking "mine, mine, mine", I was a goner. He's so scared that his estranged family will take her from him, that she will realize he's nothing and that she deserves more. But Georgie is not here for that. She knows what she wants and no one will stop her. She's a ball of light and it's clear that anyone who meets her knows this. THIS BOOK IS EVERYTHING AS YOU CAN TELL SO YOU ALL BETTER READ IT IMMEDIATELY.

PS. There's the cutest dog who instantly falls for the heroine. Hank is Levi's dog and imagine Levi as a shy, quiet loner while Hank wants rubs and kisses and you will get the best duo ever.

This book was trying to be a book about friendship, finding yourself, and romance all at once…but to me it failed in that. I thought the main focus was going to be Georgie finding out her true calling/career after losing her job and moving home. That, and the addition of her going through her high school checklist. The only thing she accomplished was falling in love. It just didn’t work for me because it seemed like the only thing she discovered was a man to love. At one point I highlighted someone asking her what she wanted…and that was at the 83% mark. Maybe I’m being too harsh, but I just couldn’t connect to the book and truly get invested in it. There wasn’t a clear message, and it didn’t feel like the empowering story I was expecting. Sorry to say that given Kate Clayborn is a favorite author of mine.

I adored this book - the perfect mix of romance, family drama, finding your way and the importance of human connection. I just thought it was such a great read.

OMG this book. I loved the premise that home is no a place but a person, and the way this two find each other is so cute, the book was a huge surprise, between the writing and the characters, the story was so good. I love it

This is such a fun, sweet, hot, sexy book!!

It's the story of Georgie, who comes home to help her friend get ready for a new baby, and Levi, the town misfit who just happens to be the big brother of teenaged Georgie's crush. It's told in alternating chapters by them both. They have a lot in common. They both left town years before, having felt they didn't belong, and are now back as adults and are still finding it hard to fit in, but find each other. The book ticks off all the typical romance book devices, but in no way is it stale or rote. I found myself cheering for Georgie from the very first page. And Levi. Oh, Levi. If this book gets picked up as a screenplay, they're going to have to find someone really special for Levi. I think how Levi reacts to the little things about Georgie is probably one of my favorite things about this book. How he describes her laugh and when she does it, just made my knees tremble. I wish male authors wrote this well and this way about how men think about women.

Trigger warning: there are a couple sex scenes. Tasteful, hot, steamy ones. Don't miss them!

This author is new to me, but if all her books are this good, I can't wait to read them! Thank you, Kate Clayborn. You got my engine revving. It's a great book!

Thank you, NetGalley, for the chance to read and review this book. All opinions are mine and freely given.

This is a charming story that alternates between Georgie's and Levi’s Points of View to experience what each character is thinking and feeling. It gets pretty spicy so I had to skip a few pages. The things I liked most about Georgie and Levi’s relationship were that they noticed the good traits in each other and their confidence in themselves grew as their relationship blossomed. I thought the ending of the story was very creative and romantic.

Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Books for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!

I really struggled to get into the one... the main character was very "woe is me", and down on herself - it made it hard to want to root for her. I understand she was going through a life transition but I just wasn't really invested in her story.