I gave an initial review when I first received only the first three chapters of this book. This is my updated review following having read the entire ARC.
I LOVED this book. I've read one of Clayborn's other books and enjoyed it, but this book was just so good. While there were some aspects that weren't my favorite, they didn't eclipse how much I adored this book and characters.
Pros:
Georgie was such a relatable character. I liked that she was still figuring herself out and what she wanted in her life. So much of our culture seems to based around your career and knowing was you want super early on in life, and for the rest of your life. Not everyone figures that out and it can be very challenging for people like that to feel as though they fit in. I personally have had issues figuring out what I want for my life and I empathized with Georgie so much on this. You feel out of place and like you haven't grown up yet when everyone else around you seems to have it all together and then you're still floundering professionally and personally. I also loved Georgie's confidence and that she never seemed to tolerate people who mistreated her. She knew what she deserved from other people and she wasn't ashamed to ask for it.
I am absolutely in love with Levi. He is amazing. I loved his personal growth as a character and his immediate attraction to Georgie. He was also so mindful of her and respecting her space and what she wanted to do. It was great that Levi supported Georgie in a way that felt genuine. Sometimes heroes are written in a way where their support of the heroine feels like a means towards an end, but it always felt genuine with Levi.
The Levi and Hank relationship was amazing. Hank sounds like sweetest dog on the entire planet and I loved how much Levi adored his fur child.
The resolution with Levi and his family was great. I liked how things ended up with Levi and his family.
Georgie's parents are awesome and I adore them.

Cons:
The Georgie-Levi conflict was a little predictable. I liked that it ended up being about a deeper issue than what initially sparked the conflict. I think it ended up with requiring Levi and Georgie to have a very necessary conversation that made their relationship stronger. However, having her teenage crush stuff be the catalyst to start that conflict was predictable.
At two points there was some confusion over Harry's name. I'm assuming it was a typo, but at the beginning and towards the end of the book there were two points where in one sentence he was Harry and the next sentence he was Henry.
It took me until the end of the book to get onboard with Bel as a character and her friendship with Georgie. For most of the book I didn't really like Bel's character and it felt like their friendship didn't really make sense. She seemed, at least from my POV, to be using Georgie and showing her "I'm better than you because my life is together" which felt inappropriate and like she wasn't a good friend. It wasn't until Bel and Georgie had a heart-to-heart in the hospital that I liked Bel's character because it put her character, personality, and actions into perspective. I don't know if there would've been an appropriate time more early on in the book to have that heart-to-heart, but not having it sooner really left a sour taste for me when it came to Bel's character.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and thought it was for sure a 5 star read. It was the perfect mix of sweet, romantic, with appropriate character growth that it was both fun and admirable. I highly recommend this title.

Georgie, All Along is a balm for the weary soul. Clayborn has hit it out of the park again with relatable characters on their own personal journeys who find their "someone" that makes the exploration that much sweeter. I can't wait to hand sell this book to my customers.

Georgie Mulcahy is coming home to Darentville Virginia for the first time in nine years. The motivation for her homecoming is to help her best friend Bel settle into her new home while awaiting the arrival of her first child. In reality, Geordie is at a crossroad in life an uncertain what she wants to do next. She was a bit of a trouble maker in her younger days and feels uncomfortable going back to a town which only sees her past. Georgie plans to stay at her folks' home while they are away. As it turns out, they have already promised the house to Levi, the brother of her teenage crush. The unlikely housemates become friends as he starts to help her accomplish some of her younger self's goals that were written many years ago by Georgie before starting high school. What happens when two outcasts connect? Definitely friendship but maybe - something more!

My new Clayborn favourite and a book I adored from start to finish! As always, she digs into the Big Feels in this one, giving us characters we sense in our bones are going to be good for each other, even if they have some serious obstacles to push through before they get their HEA. I loved that both leads weren't perfect. They make realistic choices, some of which are based in fear and insecurity. I loved that while physical attraction played a strong role in the romance, ultimately, the love story was built on the ways Georgie and Levi believed in each other. Surrounded by judgment from others--including a delightfully prickly high school music teacher who sets the tone for what's to come--our hero and heroine have come to believe the messaging around them. That they're the "screw ups." That they're not worth loving or celebrating or in some cases, even feeling like adults. Instead, they have to change to fit in with what's expected of them. Have a life plan. Know what you want. Don't stir up trouble (even the good, fun kind). Clean up your mess. Be like your brother or best friend or whoever seems to be "getting it right." Watching both characters come to embrace their mess and their uniqueness was a balm for the soul. I also adored the friend fic (a kind of journal with Big Plans for high school) and the ways it was used to propel Gerogie's character arc. The details throughout the book are lovely, as expected in anything Clayborn writes. From a metal rooster to the sign on a local market to the colour of a can of spray paint to the ways a seemingly simple title resonates beyond the final chapter. A joyful, moving read full of beautiful writing, sharp dialogue, a swoony romance, a fully fleshed out setting, a lovable dog, and a fantastic cast of supporting characters. Strongly recommend!

Highly recommend this beautiful, emotional romance. It’s not a second-chance romance, but it’s a romance about second chances.
The small town is cozy and the characters are well developed. A new book by Kate Clayborn is cause for celebration. Georgie does not disappoint.

WOW!!! This book deserves all the love. Kate Clayborn made this book absolutely magical in how she wrote and presented it. I loved Georgie and how she truly finds herself throughout the book AND falls in love with the best, grumpiest man ever (who is also the older brother of her high school crush). Go read this right now! I am so excited to get a physical copy when it comes out!

This book felt like a great conversation with a really fun friend. The character development was so rich and interesting and kept me not only rooting for both Georgie and Levi as individuals, but also as a couple. Kate’s writing was thoughtful and insightful.

I really liked this one!

I liked the POVs and the way they meet. Georgie comes to her parents' home (in between jobs and to help her friend who's pregnant) while they are vacationing and finds out her dad offered their place for Levi to stay during some his renovations.
After an awkward phone call to her parents, she decides Levi and his dog Hank can stay and share the house.

Could these two be any more different? Georgie is sunny and free-spirited (even though there's more beneath her front) and Levi is a grumpy, reluctant hero who just wants to mind his business. But they're pulled into a friendship and the falling is just inevitable.

There are some deep issues in this story, it's not all fluff and stuff. I loved Hank and Georgie's parents, and the way they connect to them. I loved how Levi learns to be more open as he falls for Georgie, and how Georgie learns to see beyond.

The ending was super good!

Sexual content and language.

I received a copy from the publisher via NetGalley and this is my honest opinion.

As I stayed up until 5am finishing this grumpy-sunshine, feels-filled, finding-yourself delight, I’ve decided Kate Clayborn can do no wrong.

She’s nailed down her own brand of rhythm and pacing, with a balanced blend of humor and heart.

Her descriptive writing, her lovably flawed characters, and relatable storytelling always combine for a delicious treat from start to finish.

Georgie and Levi are no exception (and a special shout out to Hank, who is impossible to not love).

Theirs is a story of reinvention, revisiting (but not living in!) the past to better navigate your future, and unexpectedly finding someone to go on that journey with.

While they have very different reasons/motivations for their individual reinventions, a (temporary) forced proximity opens the door for them to support and encourage one another along the way.

Georgie is someone I can absolutely find a kindred spirit in, in am convinced she’s a type 2 on the enneagram scale like me, and so many aspects of her need to be needed & helpful to everyone around her resonated with me.

Levi’s bruised-on-the-surface-but-soft-underneath heart manifests in a way that just clenched my own heart, especially as I learned more about what brought him to the place he’s in today. What can I say, I have a soft spot for heroes who want desperately to verbalize exactly what they’re thinking & feeling, but can’t ever seem to get the words to manifest out loud the way they mean to on the first try. I married someone like that, so I think it helped endear Levi to me right away.

If you have enjoyed any of Kate’s other books, especially Love Lettering or Love At First, I’m confident this one will take up space right next to them for you.

3.5/5 I am not the ideal audience for this book because I am too Type A to truly love a sort of hot mess heroine. BUT this book won me over with its amazing friendships (Georgie and Bel! Middle school shenanigans!) and truly in-depth thoughtfulness about how each of us sees (or doesn’t see) our future selves. I appreciated Levi as a hero who seems to have it all together but really has a lot of crap he still needs to figure out right below the surface. Levi and Georgie couldn’t be truly great for one another until they really looked under their own hoods and did some maintenance first and I think that’s a universal truth that Kate Clayborn always does well.
Thanks NetGalley for this ARC

"Georgie All Along" (high five NetGalley, thanks for the ARC) is the first Kate Clayborn book I wasn't instantly smitten by, but I appreciate the introspective look at what it means to be an adult and deal with the expectations we put on ourselves. What do we let go of? What do we hold onto? How do we let ourselves off the hook for past mistakes, missteps without letting the past hover over our present and future? I think the theme will be deeply relatable, especially for the 30 and 40-somethings out there.

I love this book! I immediately liked Georgie and her relatability as she tries to figure life out, and compares herself to best friend, Bel. And then Levi shows up and they "get each other" in such a lovely way. Watching them do hard work individually in order to be better for each other is a delight and they have so much fun and spice at the same time. I also really loved Hank! Another favorite read by Kate Clayborn!

Freed from her successful job as a personal assistant in Hollywood, Georgie returns to her small town family home to figure out her next steps and offer support to her best friend, who is about to have a baby. From her first encounter with people in the local grocery store, Georgie is reminded of the limiting ways that others have viewed her--and she struggles to identify her best path forward. She also meets Levi, now an upstanding citizen, but one with a history as a troubled youth. The two imagine their future together, and find their paths into the future.

I really enjoyed this book . Georgie is an assistant to a movie star, and she gets laid off because her movie star boss wants to find herself. She goes back home and runs into Levi, the bad boy big brother of her high school crush, who is taking care of her parents house while they are on a road trip.

The love story of Levi and Georgie was so sweet and the story really took time explaining who these characters were. I loved getting to know the backstory for Levi and why he’s so closed off. Georgie’s growth the output is evident and I loved her parents!

This is a story about love, second and third and fourth chances, being yourself, and growing up while looking back. I fully recommend picking this book up!

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

I’m a huge Clayborn fan. Love at First changed my life… so there was a lot of expectation before reading Georgie, All Along and without giving too much away, Clayborn’s latest did not disappoint. Georgie is messy, relatable and magical and Levi is better than you can imagine. I was crying at practically every chapter and in true Clayborn fashion, the writing is exquisite. She truly does have a way with words… so much love for Georgie, All Along!

Kate Claybourn adeptly creates characters that are perfectly unique and so well formed. Layer by layer she crafts them into living breathing souls that you cannot help but be fully invested in their unfolding story. Georgie is unlike any other MC I have read lately. There is not a strand of predictability about her or her love interest, Levi. Jumping off the pier and into Georgie and Levi’s story was the best thing I’ve done all summer!
Kate Claybourn fans will not be disappointed , this one is filled with her unique characters, emotional arcs, swoony romance.
Thank you Kensington and NetGalley for the ARC!

This was so sweet and fun. It really broke my heart in th ebest way as I was reading it. Definitely would recommend to others, especially for those who like a slightly more unconventional romance.

All the romance books I have read from Kate Clayborn have been great. "Georgie, All Along" seems like it is going to be another great read. I really enjoyed the portion of the book that I got to read.

Georgie, All Along is an absolutely inspiring and beautiful romance. I loved the heartfelt messages as the characters grow throughout the novel. The relationships between the main characters and the side characters (Georgie's relationship with her best friend and her parents and Levi and his siblings) was such an uplifting reading experience. This is the perfect book if you need some inspiration, a smile, or if you need to shed some happy tears. I loved all of this novel!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the digital ARC in exchange for my honest review. All opinions expressed are completely my own.

"I'm calling you the best thing that ever happened to me," he says.

Georgie is lost. Her life seemed to be like a paper blown by the wind. She will adapt where she lands but could not stay still. She's not rooted down. With no job and no plans for the future, how will she thrive in life?

Levi is alone. His life is haunted by the past. He can't forgive himself. He can't be with his family. He lives alone in a community where he thought people dislike him being the blacksheep of the prominent Fanning family. Will he ever find his home? Will he ever feel at home?

Georgie and Levi shared the Mulcahy's residence for weeks. Hence, the start of strangers to lovers story. This is a story of redemption, second chances in life, and forgiveness set in a cozy town setting. As the two set on their individual journeys of finding themselves and purposes in life, they found their home in each other.

This book is a nice pick for beach read or for book club discussions. The writing style is exquisite. It also does not have too much clichè or touchè storyline. A light read for anyone who is on vacation or staycation mode.