Confession? I requested this book by mistake.

I don't read or like romances because "feelings". Ew, no thanks.

But Meg and Reid? Cutie Patootie. And Kate Clayborn? Well, she can really write.

Thank you to Kate Clayborn, Kensington and NetGalley for giving me this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I thought the romance part of the book was good overall. It took a little while for me to get into it. I was getting bogged down in the description of the lettering. I probably would of got through this book faster if it had more interaction between Meg and Reid from the beginning. Overall rating it 3.5 out of 5 stars.

Not read many books by this author , but they know how to accommodate each word, giving twists and meaning.. A book , whilst reading, you will laugh in bulk and at the same time you will have great moments of refelxion. A book that has to read again and again. An excellent travel partner. I would definitely recommend it.

Thanks to NetGalley & Kensington for an eARC; this is an impartial review.

I'm not sure what I'd call this trope. Strangers to friends to lovers? Annoyed to misunderstood to supportive to caring to loved?

It is definitely a slow burn (no face-pressing until ~60% in), and I was a little impatient with that at first. But as the big reveals keep coming, that time spent on character and situation development pays off. I could see their flaws, but still liked everyone and understood them better as the story unfolded. Loved getting inside Meg's head and how she saw people's words. Also her courage in communicating her wants to Reid.

As an observation: not necessarily very diverse.

This book is definitely in my favourite of the year. I found the writing style very good, the characters interesting and the story overall entertaining as well as challenging. It makes me want to see a movie made out of it.
Her gift to see through the letters and people facades can be a bless and a curse at the same time for the heroine but that's why fate decided to bring together two different characters from different social backgrounds, to become friends and more than that with time through those letters and what each letter symbolises.
Many people will enjoy this slow burn love story .

The cover of this book immediately grabbed me, I love the style and the colours. To be completely honest, the beginning 50% or so of the book felt repetitive, like it was going nowhere and frankly a little boring. I was worried I'd have to ditch it and try again later, but I pressed on and I'm SO glad I did. This book gave me the warm fuzzies, mixed with a bit of drama and an ounce of heartache - the perfect combination for a good light romance novel. I fell in love with the characters and their relationships and I became invested in the story once it got going. Overall, I would highly recommend this book to anyone who loves a feel good sappy romance novel! I would also totally read a sequel novel to this.

Kate Clayborns, Book Love lettering. Was a wonderful book. My first story by this author. Took me a little bit to get into the story but once I did. I couldn't stop reading.. what a truly wonderful book. Meg is a talented letter artist.
Meg and Reid there wasn't anything I didn't love about them.... this is a story that well you must read to understand how beautiful it unfolds I just can't say enough about this..
I will definitely be looking for more stories by this author.. thank you Kingston.
And good reads for letting me read this early Arc.
Thank you Kate Clayborn for this amazing book...

"You're the best part of this city."
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I don't even know where to begin. I mean, I've put off writing a review for a couple of weeks so I can distance myself my my ~feelings a bit, but going through the notes I've highlighted, well, I'm still drowning in FEELS apparently. LOL
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"The warmth I feel - it's not from the drink. It's from this evening. these games, this moment. This understanding, or at least the attempt at it."
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Meg is a successful letterer and artist but is creatively stuck for a while now, a block that's most likely caused by an upcoming career step that may or may not change her life for good. Reid is a former client who seeks her out, about a year after they last saw each other, bec he's looking for closure of some sort, but heh, one door closes and another one opens! 😏 It starts an unlikely friendship between a woman that's passionate with letters and a man obsessed with numbers, and ugh, the slow burn didn't feel too slow for me bec it was so SO good!
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"This is so . . . it's so frustrating, how it is between us. How he presses me on every single thing, how he baits me into saying what I shouldn't say. How he doesn't let me keep it light."
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Same with the other book I've read from Kate Clayborn, this story's main cause of conflict is the MC being at a threshold towards a life change. It deals with a plateau in the MC, emotionally and otherwise, the difficulty of stepping out of an established comfort zone, and ultimately reaching a starting point after the worst has come to pass.

It is told entirely in Meg's wonderful PoV, showcasing Kate Clayborn's creative mastery in introspection, but it didn't leave me hanging for more of Reid's perspective/intent. He was written enough for me to trust him as Meg trusts him, and when the Great Conflict happens, agh, I ached for him too! The single PoV also allowed for the other relationships in Meg's life to be seen and processed as she navigates through them, whether an old friendship going stale, a possibility to do better after the Mistake, or even just letting in people she's always kept at a distance bec being 'safe' didn't let her live her full life anymore.

Meg was also written as a v likeable character that even when she was clearly making wrong choices, I had deeply understood that she was just protecting herself from more hurt. Still, Kate Clayborn made her grovel, she made Meg, as well as Reid (and Sibby too, I must note) ask forgiveness and earn that forgiveness before finally getting over the life-hurdles that kept them stranded.
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I don't really consider this an intense book, at least not til everything blows up bec for the most part, it was lighthearted, funny, and it so pleasant to read their romance blossom as Meg grows into a better version of herself. But I must tell you that the last 20% of this was read through teary eyes and sobs smothered against a pillow, and though the book was ~unputdownable at that point, I had to take breaks to breathe and hydrate. 😅 The fact that I could personally relate to A LOT of the things Meg and Reid were going through just made me ~feel everything so hard. Reid's grand gesture particularly notable, but I'm not gonna say what it is, just that I LOVED IT SO MUCH!
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"The point is . . . sometimes fighting isn't about leaving, it's about staying. It takes practice to get it right, and it's painful, but if you want to stay with people, you do it."

*The eARC was provided by the publisher via NetGalley for free in exchange for an honest review. Thank you.

This was a cute story with some depth to it. I liked both the main characters as well as many of the minor characters and felt they were easy to relate to. I know the book is about hand lettering but I thought it went over board on discussing the intricacies of type face and lettering.

This is a book about signs of all shapes and sizes. The kind Meg draws and notices and the vibes she gets from other people. I appreciated her perspective - especially as she explores the city she loves - and wanted to actually see her talent, not just read about it. I had trouble getting into the story but am glad I stuck with it. The flow is a bit haphazard; it morphs into a hot and heavy romance and then into a thriller.

Thank you to Kensington Books and NetGalley for the ARC.

Love Lettering is a great romance, so unique and original while being completely swoon-worthy at the same time. Meg is a professional hand-letterer who has reached Instagram levels of fame. She first meets Reid when she is writing the programs for his wedding, and they are later reconnected when his wedding falls apart and he discovers that she had hidden the code "Mistake" in his program. Meg and Reid soon discover they have a strong connection, and what follows is a beautiful love story. Clayborn does a good job weaving in other storylines as well, about friendship, family, and careers. This was the kind of book I hated to put down, and thought about all day, rushing home so I could pick it up and read it again.

Love Lettering is a creative and whimsical read. I didn’t stop smiling the entire time I read. Meg and Reid were perfect.

This is the first Kate Claybourne book I've read, from the blurb I was exea sweet romance.

What I got was an intriguing tale full of angst, mystery and characters that had hidden depths.

Loved the attention to detail with Meg's calligraphy craft and loved it even more when the codes had been cracked!

Thanks to Net galley for the opportunity to review this book, this is my honest opinion.

4.5 stars

Love Lettering is my first Kate Clayborn book and where has she been my entire life?? I am utterly enchanted with her prose — it's almost as if she used a magic wand to write every single word in this beautiful book. I am trying to find the right words to describe the feeling of this book. Just like the beautiful script on its cover, Love Lettering is whimsical, charming, and enchanting. Love Lettering is the equivalent of a warm hug and cuddles with a beloved pet. Okay, now I'm veering off course into poetry territory.

Meg is a well-known hand letterer in New York, but she also has a bad habit of including codes in the letters she draws. She used to work in the wedding industry, but she transitioned to planners. What happens when the first person to ever decode her letterings is the groom of her last wedding job? What happens when he comes into her shop a year after and tells her he decoded the wedding program she made for his wedding? And he asks her point blank how she knew his marriage wouldn't work.

I really liked Meg and her brand of humour. She's quirky in a kind of magical cross between Fleabag and Amélie. Only, she sees the world in script and signs. I loved reading the book from her perspective. She had such a unique way of seeing the world and her love for script unearthed my love for typefaces and typography. This book makes you feel like you could be an artist and that there is a little bit of art in everyone, even the stuffy hero who is a numbers guy.

I am utterly in love with Reid. I think he may be my favourite hero of 2019. I love his quiet intensity and all hs "quite," "alas," "aha," and most especially, his ~swoonshes~ I just adore him in all of his Masterpiece Theater!!!! He is stuffy and not very good with social interactions in a very Darcy-esque manner. But he's also very romantic with his handwritten letters in a very Captain Wentworth manner. The best part about Reid and Meg is that they feel so real to me. Their emotions, their struggles, their interactions, and the time they spend together and how their relationship morphs from awkwardness to friendship to love. Everything is just so real and so beautifully written.

As I mentioned a million times already, the writing is fantastic. But I did have a hard time getting into this book even though I was really curious about how the code and how Reid cracked it. Also, the beautiful writing almost drowns in a series of long winded inner monologues. The pacing was a bit stiff as well. Luckily, it was just the beginning of the book and I was easily able to overcome that and immerse myself completely into the story. And I can happily say that Love Lettering is one of the best books I have read this year.

P.S. Saussure would have a field day with this book!

A relevant romance that finished strong. It starts with a slow burn and as the 50% mark approached, I was considering a three-star rating. The relationship-building was sweet. For my old-fashioned sensibilities they put the cart before the horse and caused additional complications. Then comes a major event for which I had missed all the signs -- just like Meg. I thought the last third of the book was a great addition to the book giving the narrative much more substance than your average romance. Meg's struggles to define herself through her work and what she learns about healthy relationships is also so valuable. This new release is relevant in a world of bullet journaling and creativity instagram videos. Meg and Reid's story would most definitely appeal to some book groups as well.

Thank you to Kensington Books and NetGalley for a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

“Love Lettering” by Kate Clayborn is a delightful, honest depiction of friendship and love, the messiness of it and the beauty of perseverance. Often books cut corners in the development of both the story and characters; not this book. Others might think it moves slowly, but I found I was putting myself into the various aspects of the book. I was immersed and sad when it ended. I wanted more details!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Kensington Books for allowing me to enjoy this book.

I thought this book was interesting, but didn't love it as much as other reviewers did. I really wasn’t engaged until about halfway through the book at which point the storyline picked up. Up until then, it was mostly just the hero and heroine walking around NYC. The book is written from the heroine's POV so I really didn't get a sense of why the hero was with the heroine or if he was even that interested in the her. Also, I found the relationship between the heroine and her roommate sort of depressing.

This book was very much a love letter to NYC and reminded me a little of Anne Calhoun's books.

4 stars

I'm not going to lie, the beginning chapter or two were a bit hard to get into. Maybe things were a bit over-written/descriptive/slow for my usual romance book taste, but all my those thoughts vanished as soon as Meg and Reid began their adventures/games together! Both characters immediately struck me as unique - Meg with her calligraphy/lettering business and Reid with his more say-what-you-think and nerdy personality - and I loved them for it. I felt like they fit together perfectly, and once the problems they were each facing in their own lives were delved into, I couldn't stop reading. I wanted to see the journey through with this couple and make sure they both got the happily ever after they deserved.

Also, the fact that Meg really had a problem with confrontation/saying what she really feels is something I can relate to, and I felt it was written very true to how I feel whenever I'm put in situations where I should speak my mind.

Overall, a great read!

This was an adorable, cute and sweet story. But don’t let the cover fool you - there are surprises in this book! The title caught my attention because I love hand writing. As far as I can remember I’ve always been able to tell someone’s handwriting because it’s just a detail that I take in. I even tried to teach myself hand lettering but that hasn’t gone so well. Lol Reid was a character who is easy to fall in love with. Meg would make a fantastic friend. I read the ebook version but I’m curious if the physical version had more font options in the story. If you are looking for a fun romantic story, then this one is for you!

“Love Lettering” by Kate Clayborn
I received a free ARC of this story from the publisher via NetGalley. I struggled with assigning a star rating for this reading. I was intrigued by the book description, enjoyed the beginning and ending of the story, the middle, not so much. I hope it was just myself that I just did not connect with the characters and their world. I am glad that I persevered and completed the story. It was an interesting read.