Kate Clayborn’s latest novel, Georgie, All Along, is everything I expect from a Kate Clayborn book and more. I already knew that I was a Kate fan girl, but my love is now reaching dangerous heights.

The thing that first struck me about this story is how well it encapsulates the feeling of reinvention and the hope that goes along with it. Georgie, who’s returning to her hometown after the celebrity she assisted decided to retire, feels lost and out of touch with what she wants for her life. Finding a journal she and her friend wrote about their fictional high school lives, she grasps onto this as a way to figure out what it is she really wants. But Clayborn doesn’t stop with a mere reinvention story, she delves so deeply and honestly into emotions that you get a story that feels both hopeful and so real that it extends beyond the book itself.

Alongside the expansiveness that is Georgie, Clayborn places Levi, who has gone through his own reinvention, but in a way that has focused on routine, familiarity, and control. While simultaneously having Levi be extremely sweet and swoon-worthy, we also get to see more about how we view ourselves and how we lead our lives because of that view.

The romance between the two is sparkling! You can feel how well they understand each other and that magical feeling when they come together. They are different and yet fit perfectly.

And not to mention that Kate Clayborn is truly the queen of writing friendships. We get a full picture of these characters and the complex relationships they hold, making them all live with the reader long after we’ve stopped reading.

This description probably did not do the book justice, but I can say that it is truly one of the best books I’ve read.

I admit, this is one of those instances where the book blurb on its own got me to read this book.

This is my first Clayborn read, so I didn’t even have past work to go on, but I’m so glad I went with my gut because I so enjoyed it.

I can totally commiserate with Georgie who is in a bit of a quarter life crisis because her boss up and retired leaving Georgie without a job, moving home and not sure who she is or what she wants next.

She’s moved home with the goal to help her pregnant best friend, but doesn’t find much clarity about her life path until she finds the journal she wrote as a teenager with a list of all the fun she wanted to do at that age.
I loved Clayborn’s writing, which seemed effortless, as she crafted and moved the story along.

I enjoyed all the characters, but I was honestly more taken with Levi’s character arc and change over Georgie‘s. Georgie‘s “aha moment” wasn’t that gripping to me, but I adored her.

Levi, however was this blend of a hardened man with such a gentle soul underneath. I love how he saw Georgie and how he grew out of his shell of pain from his past.

This book kicked off 2023 with an awesome start and totally deserved its spot on my list of one of the most anticipated romance books of 2023. Highly recommend!

*I received an advanced reader copy from Netgalley. All opinions are my own.

This was super cute, and I look forward to more books by Kate Clayborn in the future. She's officially made my "automatic buy" list!

A good but not great story I had high hopes would receive the praise I wanted to give it. It was interesting enough but not a favorite of the month.

I went into this one with zero expectations and was very pleasantly surprised! It took me about 70ish pages to get invested, but afterward, I was hooked.

I really loved how Georgie stayed true to herself through it all, and her friendship with Bel was probably my favorite part. I really appreciated that it was dual perspective, because that definitely helped me get to know Levi a lot more since his personality was very closed off at the beginning of the story.

This is probably just a 'me' thing, but I found it a little difficult to keep track of all the character names (but I'm probably just getting old)

If anybody is looking for a feel-good romance, definitely consider checking this one out!

tropes: small(ish) town romance

My first 5 star read of 2023! I am so, so glad I was able to read this one early through NetGalley. What a wonderful, fully enveloping book this was. From the first few pages I felt like I was able to just really sink into this story and become a part of it.
This isn't just a typical romance book at all. Friendships play a huge part, family and re-strengthening your bonds with them, and self-discovery as well are all big focuses too.

Some of my favourite things:
-Grumpy/sunshine
-Dual narrative
-HANK and Levi and Georgie both being such big dog lovers
-Levi all around in general
-The hospital scene!!
-The steamy parts were done SO well

There wasn't anything I didn't love about this book. I will definitely be recommending this one a lot!

Did I just read my best romance read of 2023??
I consume a lot of romance books each year, but this one is just *exceptional*. It is a book I immediately wanted to begin, again. A book I sent snippets of prose to my buddy chats so we could swoon together. A book whose Kindle highlights I read out loud to my husband. A book I have.to.own.
 
Georgie is a beautiful chaotic mess; a free spirit who loves her people so easily and openly. Levi is a grumpy dog-loving bearded introvert; a man attempting to live in the shadows of the town because he’s afraid of being remembered as the troublemaker of his youth. Rather than just creating ‘stereotypical archetype’ romance main characters, Clayborn uses the novel to explore the ‘why’ and question the accuracy of each element of Georgie and Levi’s personalities.
 
Watching these two fall deeply in love, Georgie expanding Levi’s life and Levi offering Georgie some stability and a home, was a beautiful journey.
My absolute favorite part (outside of Levi’s love of his rescued dog, Hank) was reading Levi’s thoughts any time he was around Georgie; god he loves her so much and you will be underlining, highlighting, re-reading each beautiful thought; seriously. The book is more than just their love story, it is also about career exploration, reconciling with your past, friendship (Bel + Georgie= goals), and finding your path forward while knowing your true worth.
 
Tropes Include:
Forced Proximity/Roommate
Grumpy/Sunshine
City Girl returns to Small Town
Opposites Attract
Open Door Spice
Friendfiction/Bucketlist
Childhood Crush’s Older Brother

Included as a top pick in bimonthly January New Releases post, which highlights and promotes upcoming releases of the month (link attached)

You can never be disappointed with a Kate Clayborn book. Georgie, All Along is beautifully written and emotional.

Being an adult doesn’t mean you have everything figured out but being open to what you can do. Georgie and Levi are my new favorite couple, they are both trying to not be defined by their younger selves while discovering who they are as adults. I throughly enjoyed this story about love, friendship, and adulthood.

Thank you to the author, Kensington Books and NetGalley, for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is another sweet and tender love story from Kate Clayborn, with vulnerability and growth, and touching on female friendship, families and finding fulfillment in life. The story is character-driven, as Clayborn does so well, and both the two main characters, as well as the secondary characters - including Hank the dog - are wonderfully written and authentic. My only quibble is that the pace is a bit too slow at times.

Thank you Netgalley for the advanced reading copy! This book is so good and perfect that it’s hard to put into words, but I’ll make an attempt. This is my third book from Clayborn and it really proves that she is a master writer of romance. She knows how to write soft, complicated, open door romances. As someone who has to write for her job (but unfortunately not fiction), I am in awe of how well crafted this book is, but in a simple and beautiful way.

Georgie has been a personal assistant in L.A. for years when her screenwriter boss decides to change her life to live on a ranch, therefore letting her go. Georgie returns home to her small Virginia town to house-watch for her parents and help her best friend Bel while she’s pregnant. There she meets a local Levi, who is quiet and has a complicated past. When befriending Levi, they decide to do a list of things she had planned while in high school to find herself.

So this plot has a lot going on, but also it’s a quiet build, with not a lot of action. But the writing shows insight into these characters' complicated inner lives, that is so well done, moving the book along perfectly. It’s dual point of view, and Clayborn does a great job of switching back and forth between these characters, even changing the writing style slightly to showcase the inner workings of these different characters. There is also a dog, Hank, who is just the best boy of all time. At the surface this is a small town trope, grump meets sunshine contemporary romance, but Clayborn plays with these tropes in a delightful way. Another great thing about this book, out of many great things, is that there are really well rounded, sweet, and funny side characters. The friendship that Georgie has with Bel is thoughtful and complicated, which many long term friends can relate to. This is one of those books that I will think about for a long time, with the small moments of the book really sticking with me. This is also one of those books that is very quotable, since the writing is astounding. I would love to gush about this book until the end of time, but honestly, Clayborn’s writing is so good, it just needs to be experienced. If you like thoughtful, soft, contemporary romance and haven’t read Clayborn, this is your chance. Overall I highly recommend this book for fans of Clayborn, thoughtful contemporary romances, and small town, grump sunshine tropes.

Have you ever read a book that was exactly what you needed at exactly the right time? That was Georgie & me this week 💛

I fell fast & hard for this story of a Hollywood assistant who heads back to her small town in Virginia when a job that has consumed her life for years ends. While there she embarks on a project hoping to discover who she is and what she wants and, of course, she happens upon the love of her life in the process.

This book was funny and also incredibly reassuring. Seeing the characters come to terms with themselves, the past, their families, and their motivations was really inspiring. Also, @kateclayborn.author is absolutely fantastic at internal monologue. I was in stitched at certain parts and broken at others.

Georgie, All Along is coming out next Tuesday so pre-order now. Thanks so much to @kateclayborn.author @kensingtonbooks & @netgalley for the arc! And a shout-out to @fatedmatespod because I 100% picked up my first Kate Clayborn book after listening to #derekcravenday

I've only read one other Kate Clayborn book, which I enjoyed, so I was hopeful about this one. I felt for Georgie as a character. It very much fulfills the trope of happy sunshine girl meets grumpy guy (which I want to like that trope). It's romantic and the sex scenes were very steamy. Overall I'll give it a 3.5.

My first book by Kate Clayborn and I hope it won't be the last.
Georgie, All Along was amazing! I loved every aspect of the story. Small town girl makes it big in Los Angeles until an unexpected wrench was thrown in. Small town girl, Georgie, goes home to reevaluate her life and where she goes from here.
Georgie is staying at her parents since they are on a road trip in their RV, but someone forgot to communicate that her parents found a house sitter already. Levi and his dog, Hank, find themselves face to face with Georgie and she isn't dressed appropriately. Georgie is flabbergasted at the premise of Levi and Hank staying at her parents house. Hank stole the scenes in this book. He is so lovable and affectionate.
Geogie is helping her best friend, Bel, unpack boxes from their move and Georgie happens to find a notebook that she and Bel created in high school. It contains things they wanted to do before graduation, well to say the least they never did the things. So, Georgie commits to doing them.

The story was brilliant and kept me reading well into the night. I didn't want to put it down. The pages just flowed so easily. Like I said at the beginning this is my first book by the author and I hope it won't be the last. I thoroughly enjoyed Georgie, All Along.
The characters were wonderful, and I laughed quite a bit. Also, can I just say that Levi is swoon worthy.
Highly recommend!

Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Publishers for allowing me to read an advanced digital copy of this book for an honest review. These are my words and my words alone, while not eloquent they are from the heart and I truly, truly loved this book.

Georgie, All Along was an amazing and sweet grumpy/sunshine romance. Georgie and Levi have remarkable chemistry and banter. I loved reading Levi's point of view - Clayborn isn't afraid of showing his vulnerability. The pacing was a little slow at first - but I was definitely hooked and had to see their story through. This novel was charming, witty, emotional, and joyful. This was the first novel that I read from Kate Clayborn, but definitely won't be the last. Thank you to Kensington Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this novel.

4.75/5 stars! "To All the Boys I've Loved Before" meets "Honey Don't List"! This is a fun-filled, spicy, and wonderful romantic romp with grumpy sunshine, and slow burn vibes. I devoured this book. It just felt like the characters had me wrapped up in a fuzzy blanket and handed me a little mug of soup; like that is HOW cozy this book felt. I adored Georgie and Levi was EVERYTHING! Highly recommend for an easy, sweet contemporary romance read.

I received an advance review copy for free through NetGalley, and I am leaving this review voluntarily

I could relate to this book SO much! Georgie, the insecurities, the small town…everything. Georgie and Levi fit together perfectly. I felt like I was there with the characters with the dual point-of-view and the way the author describes the setting. Love, love, love Georgie!

Another stunning romance from Kate Clayborn! I loved both of our main characters in this one and loved how their personal journeys over the course of the book really played into deepening their relationship by the end. With both of their POVs you could really feel the love for each other coming off the pages. And the author really nailed their connection. I really understood why they felt so at ease with each other so quickly and thought they fit so well together. I especially loved reading Levi's point of view. I could feel his southern drawl through it which I loved. The small town setting in this one also felt really well done. It didn't lean into the "quirky small town" vibe and felt very real. I enjoyed the side characters a lot as well and especially thought she did a great job with writing Georgie's parents to be quirky but without feeling like they were constantly saying "omg look how quirky we are" when they were on page.

I had high hopes for this one but I just was not connecting. What in the world is a fic? I was confused and at 50 percent the couple still had barely had a meaningful conversation so I gave up.

I couldn't get enough of Georgia, All Along! I rushed through reading it because it was so good and then I was sad when it was over. I love Kate Clayborn's books and this is definitely my new favorite! Levi and Georgie are perfect together and their love story was just so captivating. I enjoyed the friendship between Georgie and her long-time bestie Bel and watching Bel try to do the friend-fic diary ideas with Georgie. All in all, this was just a fun book to read.

If you like Christina Lauren's books I think you'll like Kate Clayborn too!

Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review. All opinions are my own.

Publishes 24 January 2023.