Really, really enjoyed this book. Her books always weave so much emotion into the story, emotions that are so relatable as a reader. It gives her characters a realness other books lack. When I finished this book, I wondered how Georgie and Levi were doing. Something about this book makes you feel like all of your quirks are normal, and you are OK.

I love contemporary romances like this one: Our main characters have friends, family, jobs, hobbies. The subplots create a deep background which allows you to really sink into the story.
I'm from a small town, and I really liked how Georgie and Levi knew of each other but didn't know each other. When they do meet, there is instant chemistry. But they are also both at a time in their lives when they feel broken. How can they fix themselves to move forward?

*I did receive an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A bit slow at the beginning but it had some great characters. Georgie was a delightful character and the character growth was worthwhile.

I received a complimentary copy of this book through NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

5 ⭐️

I’ve read a few Kate Clayborn books before, but this book will sit with me for awhileeeeee. Already, I feel like this is going to be my favorite book of 2023. Like I will reread the shit out of this. Like adding it to my comfort reads list right now.

At the core of it, this is a simple book; girl goes home after loosing job, girl runs into her crush’s older brother (the town bad boy), girl and boy fall in love, cute but not sappy happily ever after. BUT IT’S SO MUCH MORE THAN THAT!

Georgie, *expansive*, wonderful, caring, Georgie is such a force. Everyone needs a Georgie in their lives. She believes in the best in everyone, and will go to bat for them instantly, no questions asked. Also, her and Bel’s friendship was so real and great to watch from the sidelines; the perfect depiction of late 20s early 30s women going through some shit.

Levi was the BEST grumpy hero I’ve read in a longgg time. Kate portrayed everything Levi went through with such grace and understanding, that it felt natural and not forced. Levi was so caring, of his dog Hank, of Georgie, and of his family even after everything, that you just wanted the best for him.

The amount of growth shown between Georgie and Levi was astounding and just, ugh, perfection.

Additional things that made my heart swoon that I can’t even put into real sentences:
- Georgie’s Dads nicknames for her
- Levi’s love for Hank
- Hank’s love for Rodney
- The cute little jokes that Levi or Georgie didn’t understand, but you as the reader did (expansive and PasCAL)
- The spicy scenes 😉
- The super cute ending, that in no way involved babies or marriage or whatever, but was so perfect for Georgie and Levi

Basically I have no words besides go read this book. It’s perfect.

Also, thanks so much to NetGalley and Kensington Books for the much appreciated ARC in return for an honest review.

A perfect book written by one of my all-time favorite authors.. Small town charm. Self-discovery. Female friendship. Revisiting the past. Falling in love.

Georgie and Levi are everything. I love them. I love Kate. I love Kate's words. Her prose is stunning as always. The emotions in the story!! They hit so hard. I felt every moment. I was in every scene.

Kate and this book are pure magic and you're going to want to read it!! Thank you to Kensington and Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I love basically everything Kate Clayborn writes. She's so kind to her characters, teasing out gentle drama through very specific character details. Human nature is a feature in her books, not bug. That said, this was not my favorite Clayborn book and I think that is only because I'm not personally a fan of the "small town girl returns home again" storyline. It still gets four stars for the way it's written.

Reviewed for NetGalley:

Georgie, an LA assistant extraordinaire, moves back home to help her best friend, ready to give birth, and comes across an old
Journal to remind herself of all her plans and wants for life.

While learning who she is, she becomes roommates to her ex’s grumpy brother, Levi.

Decent read overall. Not incredibly memorable, but piqued my interest, for the most part.

Georgie's story seems to hit close to home for a lot of millennials - as a PA in Hollywood, she is at the beck and call of her employer leaving no room for her personal wants and needs, which... what even are they? When she returns to her hometown, both to help her best friend get ready for a new baby and to regroup, she finds a callback to her youth that gives her a bucket list of things to do in order to find herself again. Throw in a brooding unexpected housemate with ties to her past crush and it leads to growth and love.

I really liked the premise of this book - revisiting goals of our youth to bucket list our adulthood isn't a bad way to reconnect to things we loved and understand why some of our youthful dreams aren't right for us now. The character of Georgie, however, felt a bit nebulous and plot-driven - we need her to be good at this thing, so she is - rather than her character driving the plot. She and her story may have been better served without the second-chance romance with Levi.

I'm in love!!! The amount of times my heart felt as if it were about to jump through my throat was simply unprecedented.. Levi and Georgie are my favorite types of characters and the story was just *chef's kiss*

I love everything Kate Clayborn writes! This book is no exception. Georgie is such an openhearted character, matched perfectly with the secretly soft Levi. There's so much specificity in this story, told with such tenderness and affection. It makes it so easy to root for all the characters to grow. Kate always writes great side characters, and the ones in Georgie, All Along are among her best. All in all, a lovely, satisfying read.

Georgie Mulcahy returns to her hometown after unexpectedly losing her job to help out her pregnant best friend (who, it turns out, doesn't need her help). She comes across her childhood journal, which served as a sort of high school bucket list she never got around to fulfilling. Due to her parents' mixup, she finds herself staying with Levi Fanning, who has a reputation as a local bad boy and whose brother was Georgie's high school crush. Together, Levi and Georgie start marking things off her bucket list, This book had a lot of heart, and I found myself rooting for Georgie and Levi.

I really enjoyed Georgie, All Along. It got me through the first couple weeks of back to school season. Sometimes when I don’t have as much reading time, I lose interest. I never lost interest in this book. I very much felt invested in it. I liked the characters and the storytelling. I look forward to reading more Kate Clayborn books.


I voluntarily read an early copy.

IT DOESN'T GET ANY BETTER THAN KATE CLAYBORN. IT JUST DOESN'T! I already can't wait to reread this one - I just have to recover first.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. I loved this book. I could not put it down it was everything, I didn’t know I needed at the time of reading it.

I requested this book when it popped up on Netgalley because, well, Kate Clayborn. I've been a fan ever since I read Love Lettering.
Georgie is incapable of planning. So when she ends up coming back to her parents' house with all her belongings in bin bags in the back of the car, no one is really surprised. Then she finds a notebook from when she was a teenager, full of plans. In order to find her purpose again, Georgie tries to relive those plans.
Levi Fanning has been labelled 'trouble' for so long, he's started to believe it himself. He's not good with small talk and generally stays out of the way of people. His best friend is his dog.
Due to Georgie's parents being slightly vague, they end up sharing a house for a few days.
The story is immensely adorable. I loved the way Levi and Georgie both have issues, but they help each other heal. Levi's backstory is genuinely heartrending in places and is handled beautifully. The scene between the two brothers, where they discuss how they feel and what the patriarchy and toxic masculinity did to them both made me cry.
This book has a lot of tropes (Not a criticism, I like tropes, especially when handled well like they are here) and manages to weave them into the story whilst maintaining genuine character development. It's wonderful.
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC. This is my honest review.

My favorite thing about this story was that it doesn't rush the romance. The leads spend several weeks dating and getting to know each other which was charming and also realistic. Cons: The dialogue was a little wordy and I found myself skimming some of the characters' inner monologues. However, there were some great steamy scenes which I appreciated.

Georgie, All Along
By Kate Clayborn

5 stars

This was a dreamy gem of a book. Thank you to @kensingtonbooks for allowing me to read an early copy.

Georgie, All Along is for those among us who may have internalized the feeling that we are “too much” (we aren’t) or that maybe our messes are too big or our personalities too expansive to deserve love (they aren’t). Georgie is someone that I wish I knew in real life. I just loved her. Maybe my favorite protagonist of the year.

First of all, Kate Clayborn… I saw what you did with, “…the fingers in his right hand flex” line. That Mr. Darcy Finger Flex™️ was in full effect 😂

Georgie, All Along is about Georgie, a celebrity assistant who makes an extended trip to her hometown to transition out of her assistant role and plan her life’s next steps. She’s also there to support her best friend through the final stages of pregnancy. Her parents are on a trip, so they are thankful to have Georgie take care of the house. The problem is that they forgot that they already asked a friend to house sit. That friend turns out to be Levi, a grumpy, closed off, but also secretly tender hearted man. The conflict kind of builds from there with the forced proximity. It is a slow burn, but eventually does get a bit spicy in parts.

Georgie is coming to terms with accepting herself for who she is—someone who grabs life & lives it in the moment. Levi is healing from family trauma & learning to accept the person he’s become. This is a small story about people who seem really… well, real. There’s not a billionaire or a vampire to be seen, which is honestly refreshing. It packed an emotional punch, and I found myself rooting for the love story, yes, but also just rooting for these two humans in general. I absolutely loved this book.

Favorite quotes:
“‘Just kids’ isn’t a thing. Important stuff happens to kids. Kids do important stuff.”

“…I’ve always lived for making things better in the moment—I think it means that want I’ve really been waiting for is something from my present. That I’ve been waiting to realize I’m okay, and that I’ve probably always been okay.”

Kate Clayborn has done it again. What exactly is it that she's done? Well, it's hard to describe but folks who have read her writing before will know that it just has this quality to it that makes you ache in the very depths of your soul but it doesn't exactly hurt, and you feel sort of wrung out afterward but in a happy way. Like your heart's been sent through a rock tumbler and come out of all that tumult shiny and smooth. Anyway, that's what she's done again with GEORGIE, ALL ALONG.

Georgie lives out her dreams from the past and along the way helps herself and others figure out what's best for them. A very sweet story with a little bit of spice.

great start to a this book. Kate is becoming my favorite author and love her books. This was a good one and want to read more.

My review for this book could simply be as a follows - "I finished this book several days ago and can't stop thinking about it" - and maybe for certain readers that and a 5 star rating is all it would take to convince them to pick this one up and give it a try. But I feel compelled to try to write more, even if what I think makes Kate Clayborn's writing so special is that her books seems to have a certain je ne sais quoi that defies my ability to articulate what makes them great.

Georgie moves back to her small town after her LA assistant gig comes to an abrupt end. She feels aimless, unsure of what comes next in a life that has sort of been defined by falling into things and not really having much of a plan. When she finds a "friend fic" that she and her best friend wrote in junior high with all their plans for a successful high school experience, she realizes she did once have more concrete hopes and dreams, though they never completed most of the items on the list. Even if the plans in the fic were necessarily juvenile, Georgie sets out to complete them anyway, thinking that the process of achieving some of her past goals will help her set new ones for her future. This process is complicated by the presence of Levi Fanning, the town's former resident bad boy who, unbeknownst to Georgie, is also staying in her parents' house. With her best friend unavailable to help complete the items on her list, Levi eventually offers to help Georgie, leading to a much more emotional experience than either of them bargained for.

I think I loved this book so much in part because of how it ultimately answers Georgie's own questions about the direction her life is going to take, and her own reckoning with her reputation as being somewhat aimless and flighty. It's refreshing to read a book where the main character isn't a high achiever who has always had success in their life, and I found it really validating even as someone who isn't really much like Georgie at all. And Levi. Oh, Levi. His journey through this book is so special I cried real tears about it towards the end of the book, so thanks for that, Kate. I loved everything about Levi and his romance with Georgie and ugh, I just want to melt into a puddle of swoon just thinking about it. All of this is wrapped up in the author's sharp writing, which made it such a joy to read.

Thank you SO much to the publisher for an advanced copy. All opinions are my own!