This was so wholesome! And uplifting, as promised. The exact breath non-soul-crushing, non-utterly-devastating fresh air I needed. It took awhile for things to *get going*... if you know what I mean (see “wholesome” above), but I was cool with it. Cute vibes in a PG-13 rom com kind of way.

I received Love at First from NetGalley in return for an honest review. Unfortunately Love at first wasn’t a fave. I was looking for a romance to read over Valentine’s weekend but what I got was a pretty depressing tale of love and a lot of need for some therapy for these two main characters. The main characters, Nora and Will are both sweet and well meaning in their own right. Both are introverts and this seems to cause the story to move at a snails pace. Neither want to make a move or appear to be making a move. While this starts as a second chance romance - Will saw Nora once on a balcony when he was a teenager, it turns in to more of an enemies to lovers romance? Sort of? I’m not sure. They had quite a bit of malice in their choices of trying to sabotage each other.

Some bright spots in this book are the large cast of secondary characters living in the building where most of the story takes place. Also the character development we get from some of those characters is super impressive. I especially love Will’s coworker’s character arc. Also when Will and Nora are at their best their are super sweet together and you the reader are definitely rooting for them.

Over all this is a sweet romance with a lot of pacing issues. While it felt like a rather long read, there wasn’t a lot that happened which was unfortunate. The tone was very sad for most of the book and just wasn’t what I was looking for at the time. If this doesn’t bother you and you love introverts falling for each other than definitely give this one a try.

Nora grows up in an old building visiting her Nonna every summer. Will is raised by parents who ignored him and left him an orphan at 17. When Will's uncle Donny dies and leaves the building to Will, he wants to unload it fast. Nora can't imagine the building ever changing. When these two meet, each of them begins to change and see another perspective. What ensues is a love story that makes you smile as they make their way to HEA.

This was a really sweet book. It started a bit slow, allowing the reader to spend time getting to know Nora and Will and their individual motives regarding the apartment building. Their scenes together were lovely, and I found myself wanting more moments between them. Slow builds usually give the best payoff, and this was not different. Will definitely be recommending.

Heat Factor: It’s sweeping and romantic
Character Chemistry: So perfect
Plot: He first saw her as a teen, on a day that changed his life forever. Sixteen years later, he meets her again - only to discover that they’re now on opposite sides of an emotional divide.
Overall: Automatic favorite. I am wrecked.

I have been wanting to read Kate Clayborn for a while, but I hesitated to pick up this book because I knew it was going to play with my emotions, and I just wasn’t prepared for that.

And I was SO. RIGHT.

The novel is calm, driven by the thoughts and feelings of the protagonists and those surrounding them. While the blurb might make it seem like the conflict between Nora and Will is antagonistic, it really ends up being more about how people bring their pasts into their futures. How trying to control what is out of control is a means of coping with changes as we age. How we hold on to things - or ruthlessly eradicate them from our lives - as a means of maintaining that control. Nora and Will, because of their pasts, have almost diametrically opposed approaches to controlling their lives, but when they finally begin to reveal themselves to each other, they see new perspectives that ultimately allow them to be most fully themselves.

This book is SO. GOOD.

Clayborn does an exceptional job of revealing the fears and motivations of Will and Nora to the reader because they are slowly revealing their fears and motivations not only to each other but to themselves as well. The moment that Nora realized that there might be a version of reality in which Will wasn’t just a mean troll about his uncle’s apartment, that he had had an extremely negative experience in that apartment that impacted his entire future, evoked the same emotional response that one might have if one were in Nora’s shoes, having Nora’s experience for oneself.

Clayborn’s prose is poetical, gently pulling the reader along this emotional roller coaster, but still building to huge emotional moments in baby steps that make those interactions between Nora and Will feel enormous and important. That’s not to say that it’s all serious. There are moments that feel playful and just right - like when Will considers the discomfort and embarrassment of fogging his glasses while kissing or when Nora drools on his pant leg while she sleeps or, frankly, just about any interaction Will has with Gerald Abraham, who is burrowed into my heart forever.

Finding a home, a family, love; overcoming long-held fears; letting go of the past when change is scary - it’s all here.

And it is BEAUTIFUL.

I voluntarily read and reviewed a complimentary copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. We disclose this in accordance with 16 CFR §255.

This review is also available at The Smut Report.

Kate Clayborn’s spectacular Love Lettering was the first book I read in 2020. Now, while the rest of the year didn’t work out so well, I can’t deny that it was an amazing reading year for me, and now Love at First looks like it’s continuing that tradition. I am an absolute sucker for a found family story, and this is an expert exploration of that trope and its power. It’s also got a bit of a Romeo & Juliet feel, and since that’s literally my least favorite Shakespearean play, you can imagine my shock when I realized how much I loved this book.

I loved how the title is such an integral part of the book. I always get a little frisson of delight whenever I find the title of the book in the text, and wow, wow, this book. I initially thought “Love at First” was referring to the “love at first sight” trope. After all, the book starts out with a teenage Will standing in the apartment’s garden and being completely smitten with teenage Nora on the balcony – the initial and most identifiable parallel to Romeo & Juliet. The delicious irony here is that Will, suffering from an overabundance of jock machismo, has so far refused to get glasses, so he can’t actually see the mystery girl he’s entranced by. But the events of that day change Will’s life forever, and possibly seeing his Juliet again isn’t enough to overcome that, even sixteen years later. It’s coming to terms with those events that reveal deeper meanings behind “love at first” for both Will and Nora. I won’t spoil what they are, because getting to that point is an incredible journey, but, oooh, I cried.

“We didn’t have sex. He—he grabbed my hand, and then . . . I don’t know. We stayed like that. For a few seconds.”
Deepa blinked. “You . . . held hands.” She tipped back her head and laughed. “This is the most you story. So then what?”


While they do start out in a bit of an enemies-to-lovers position (Will has inherited an apartment in the building and intends to flip it and use it as a short-term rental, which Nora and the other residents are strongly opposed to), neither are ever particularly cruel to the other. Instead, their battles are more rom-comy – death by casserole overload and backyard poetry readings. Nora, after all, loves the building so much that she’s convinced that all they have to do is show Will how wonderful it is and he’ll reconsider. But the event that shaped Will’s worldview – the slow reveal of which is absolute devastating perfection – occurred there, and it’s going to take a lot more than kittens and Shakespearean sonnets to change his mind. The way their relationship builds, with all the requisite pining and hand flexes and leaning-in-doorways, was exquisite.

“A month later there’d be a “For Sale” sign for Donny’s apartment in the front courtyard with a sticker price that’d start spelling the end for this building that Nonna had made a second life in, this building that had—with a bit of fate and a lot of effort—become a family all its own.”


Nora’s building is an extended family, full of quirky characters, so there’s not only this gorgeous romance, but also the various friendships between the building’s residents. They each interact with each other in distinct ways and felt so real that it was relatively easy for me (who often has trouble with scads of secondary characters blurring together) to keep them separate. My favorite, however, was Dr. Gerald Abraham, Will’s boss at the hospital. I will admit to almost, almost loving him more than the main characters. There’s a whole subplot with him and his relationship with his ex-wife – and Will – that made me cry buckets of happy tears. My biggest pet peeve is that there was very little physical description of the secondary characters. There’s a whole conversation where Nora’s best friend Deepa is using the Zoom camera to carefully apply makeup but there’s not even a line about the color of her eyes or anything. It’s a bit jarring.

Overall, this book absolutely wrecked me in the best possible way. It’s a gorgeous exploration of family, grief and love, with a very powerful message, and I highly recommend it!

I received an advance review copy of this book from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Love at First was one of my most anticipated reads of 2021. I really loved Love Lettering. Unfortunately this one was a miss for me. After reading it for a week I’m only 35% into the story.

I like the concept and the characters but it’s very slow going. When I put it down, I don’t want to pick it back up and find myself doing other things instead. That’s the sign that this isn’t for me - at least right now. Maybe I’ll try to come back to it another time.

Thank you to Kensington and Netgalley for the free advance reading copies.

This is a sweet story where, let's face it, we all know what's going to happen but Clayborn has created terrific characters and, well, I really enjoyed it. Will spots Nora on at his uncle's apartment builiding on one of the worst days of his teenage life and doesn't see her again until his uncle dies and leaves him the apartment (don't call it a unit!). Nora is living there full time now in what was her grandmother's apartment, working from home for a San Diego based company. She's also the head of the owners group, which she bands together when Will informs he that he's going to use the apartment as a short term rental. I loved the other tenants, each of whom had a distinct personality but Dr Abraham, Will's boss- he's the best. Nora and Will slowly make their way to one another (there's some real steam once they do) but as in all the best of this type of novel, there's conflict until something (no spoilers) brings them back together. I know this is trope-y but Clayborn's a great storyteller. I know what would happen with Will and Nora but I wanted to know what would happen with everyone else. Thanks to Netgalley for the ArC. A fun read.

Kate Clayborn are you a writer or a lyricist? Loved your writing style so much; It feels like you are writing a poetry....love how the words have a lyrical flow to it!!

Will and Nora are such charismatic, charming couple, you can’t help but fall in love with them! They both have more or less common background and foundation. I loved how the story revolves around an apartment in Chicago and the love of close knit neighbors. Will had seen or may I say heard Nora when he was 15 years old teenage in the backyard of his uncle’s apartment and after 16 years now overworked doctor Will, inherits the same apartment unit after his uncle’s death..

Whereas Nora has been living on and off in the same apartment complex for last 20 years with her grandma, Nona, and have formed a close knit bond with all the neighbors. When Will plans to rent out his unit, Nora tries her best to thwart his efforts and it’s so much fun to read their light feud and sabotage his efforts.

This was a 5 star read for me and I would highly recommend this book to anyone out there who enjoys a good lyrical fast paced romcom!!

Thank you Kensingtonbooks and NetGalley for sending me a gifted copy of this book in exchange of my honest review!!

"You don't have to love people the way you learned to love at first."
This line from Kate Clayborn's new book, Love at First, sums up the feelings behind this book.

This is a story about two people, Nora and Will, who meet when Will reluctantly takes over an apartment in the small Chicago building where Nora and an interesting array of other people live. There is conflict, of course, but there is also a mutual attraction that brings the story full circle.

I liked the story in the beginning. Now, the middle part dragged for me a bit, but in the end, the story wrapped up nicely. I enjoyed not only the main characters but also the other people in the building as well as Will's friends. I thought it was a sweet story with a good message about how we can choose how we love!

I gave this book 3.5 out of 5.0 stars.

Thanks to Kensington Books and NetGalley for the ARC.

This is my favourite genre so when I seen this book advertised I just had to snap it up.
I found this book very easily read, I loved the storyline the accompanied boy meets girl and falls in love.
I loved how Wills sight or lack of it as a teen played a part in Nora loving his glasses.

All in all it was a very enjoyable book.

I've read multiple books by Kate Clayborn, and while I enjoyed Love at First, I can honestly say it wasn't one of my favorites from her. The Luck series was a favorite and Love Lettering was a close second. If I hadn't read those, I may have rated this book higher, but Clayborn's other books set the bar high for me....
Love at First is called a "rom-com" but, it took a bit for the "com" to make an appearance. I would classify this as more of a quirky love story than an a romantic comedy.

When Nora's grandmother dies, she moves into her old apartment complex and begins to create her life there. Will is also brought into the mix by the death of a family member, but he isn't as keen to stay in the apartment as Nora is. They butt heads on the direction they think the complex and it's *units* (IYKYK ;)) should go.

Love at First is a story of taking chances, The characters learn to let go of what holds them back and move forward to the things/people that make them feel alive. It took me about half of the book before I really got into it, but once I did I really enjoyed it. As Kate Clayborn is known to do, she made the story come full circle and sprinkled in little bits and pieces of heart tugging details. I would recommend for those looking for a romance, but not necessarily one that's high on the comedic side of things.

Thank you to Kensington Books and NetGalley for the ARC.

This book was spectacular. As i read the first chapter / prologue the author created such a unique voice that I felt like i could hear the narrator and even the tone of voice they would use to read the story. The writing was so beautiful it was almost lyrical in its rhythmic style making it extremely easy to read and enjoy.

As for the story itself it was a slow burn enemies to friends to lovers romance wherein our hero Dr. Will Sterling inherits a condo in Nora Clarke's building. A building she associates with the found family she has built there and her grandmother's memory. A building Will wants only to be rid of and turn into a short term rental property which would potentially disrupt the delicate ecosystem of the condo family. Enter the enemies part of our story and lots of silly and adorable hijinks that ensue as the condo residents led by Nora, try to halt Will's progress.

Even when they do give in to their instincts and start something up together, it is a tentative unclassified romance that keeps them both off kilter and ultimately requires both of them to do some introspection in order to come to terms what is really holding them back and what they really want.

The author created a dynamic set of side characters at the condo building and in Will's life that all helped propel the story forward and add depth and texture to the already beautiful story.

"Love At First" is the first book I've read by Kate Clayborn. I requested it after hearing Christina Lauren rave about her. They being one of my favorite author duos, I couldn't resist one of their recommendations. I anticipated that Love At First would be cut from the same cloth as the CLo books that I love: light in nature, witty banter, steamy in all the right places. I thought this would be an easy rom-com to distract. I was wrong.

Love At First left a lot of lingering thoughts after I'd finished. The book had a slow start, and I didn't really seem to "get into it" until a quarter of the way in, probably because I kept waiting for the com in rom-com to kick into gear. Turns out this isn't a rom-com, but a journey for two people whose lives accidentally intersected years previously, only for them to somehow find their way back to each other. It's a story about growing through your worries, your concerns, and what you think is part of your nature, in order to experience life to the fullest.

I really identified with Nora, whose idea of loyalty was tied to the notion that everything would have to stay the same in order to honor her loved one. Nora was scared of change, letting her family down, and most obviously letting her guard down to let in someone new. I feel that in every fiber of the birthday cards I've been saving for the last 10 years. Will is afraid that he's going to turn out like his parents, to his own detriment. He's worried that he'll be so singularly focused that he'll ruin himself and someone else in the process.

I really enjoyed this story once I wrapped my head around what it was going to be and could appreciate it for what it was. I'm interested to see what else Kate Clayborn has to say. I was going to rate this a 3, but the more it sits with me the more I think it's definitely a 4 star read. I think Will and Nora (and Jonah, Benny, Emily, Marian, and Gerald (Gerry!) will be with me for a long time to come.

I received this as an eARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I loved Love Lettering by Kate Clayborn so I jumped at the chance to review this ARC. I didn't love it as much as Love Lettering, but I still really enjoyed it. This is about Will and Nora. Will has a chance encounter with Nora at 15 but misses his opportunity to introduce himself due to unfolding family drama. 16 years later, he's inherited an apartment and meets Nora again. There is an element of insta-love, but then also reads like a slow burn. It also has a found family trope and poetry themes. Will and Nora are a great match, and I love Kate's writing style. However I had a hard time with the conflict, not necessarily being weak but just not working for me.

I still really enjoyed it. I really liked the cast of characters, and Will and Nora's love story.

More of a 3.5 rounding to a 4.

Love at First finds Nora, who has taken over her grandmother's condo and spot as president of the building's housing association at odds with Will, who just wants to be rid of his uncle's condo and never set foot back in the building where his whole life changed ever again. Though they start as nemesis (and those interactions are pretty hilarious), they eventually find common ground over some kittens and the resulting allergies said kittens produce.

Oh this book. It's just amazing. You knew from the outset that there were some deep hurts felt by both Nora and Will, but Clayborn unpacks them just a little bit at a time, never overwhelming you and just reeling you in to care even more deeply for these characters. Nora's obsession with preserving the past and Will's desire to never, ever revisit it set them on this collision course, but their connections helps them grow and change as individuals. Also, I definitely would love to live in this apartment complex (though I do understand Will's wariness); the way these neighbors have cared for and watched over each other is just beautiful and adds such a tapestry to the background of the story. And the one moment that made me cry happy and sad tears simultaneously? Well, I think you'll know it when you get there.

A true masterpiece, I give it 5 stars.

Will first sees Nora when he's 16 years old, right before his life changes forever. When they meet again as adults, he has just inherited an apartment in her building. They butt heads immediately because he plans to rent out the unit to short-term tenants, and the other people in the building have all lived there for 20+ years and are quite the community. (Nora inherited the apartment from her grandmother and has known all of them since she was a little girl.) Most of them are senior citizens, some are single and some are married, but all settled in the building after life threw them curve balls and they needed to start over. They have poetry readings and movie nights, share meals and books, and they are each other's chosen family. Tenants that come and go with no stability don't really fit. So the group tries a few tricks to change Will's mind, but their sabotage goes majorly awry when he actually enjoys it...and all the time he's spending with Nora. Will doesn't think he wants love or a family, but he just might have found both anyway.

Kate Clayborn's books are SO much fun. The writing here is beautiful and poignant without being heavy-handed, the characters are all so real that they jump off the page (I was casting the TV show as I read) and the story, while seemingly simple, has hidden depths. I absolutely adored all the people in Nora's apartment building. Frankly, while Nora and Will are supposedly the main characters, it's the supporting cast that really makes this book shine. Will's boss, actually (who appears only sporadically but packs a major punch when he does...Gerald, I love you!) was my favorite. This was the case with Love Lettering, too. The main characters are fun, but the supporting cast makes the whole thing work. They (literally) flesh out the story, and it wouldn't be nearly as entertaining without them. My favorite movies are ones with ensemble casts that all add a little something, and Clayborn has quite the talent in creating them in her books.

This was a HAPPY book, too. Both main characters have baggage, of course, but while it's believable, it also doesn't take over the story. It's funny, it's cute, and it's just JOYful. Which, while we're dealing with an on-going pandemic AND a winter storm in Texas shutting down pretty much everything...was a balm. I read this book at the perfect time.

I've loved both of her last two books, and I can't wait to see what Kate Clayborn does next.

**Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!**

Family, community, and dealing with change are big themes in this cute but quirky romance.

The premise of this book pulled me in. I loved the family-like atmosphere of the apartment building and the endearing yet peculiar neighbors. Clayborn created an inviting and charming community that resonated (and I wanted to join!). Sign me up for the next poetry day!

While the family atmosphere won me over, the love story between Nora and Will did not. I liked both characters well enough, and I especially felt for Will and all he had gone through. But the interaction between Will and Nora felt stilted, never dynamic. It never gripped me. And because of that, the love story didn’t feel compelling or genuine. When they finally kissed for the first time, I expected fireworks. Instead it felt lackluster.

Thank you to Kate Clayborn, Kensington Books, and NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

LOVE AT FIRST is about two people who get their second chance at love. Nora inherited her grandmother's condo. Will inherited his Uncle's condo. However, Nora has good memories. Will only met his Uncle once sixteen years ago and was rejected because his Uncle never approved of his parents' marriage.

Will is already a doctor in the same city when he receives a surprise: He inherits his Uncle's condo. Will does not want to live there.

Nora likes Will until she finds out that Will is renting out his condo and she does not want that to happen. She and her neighbors plan lots of events to make it difficult for Will to rent it out.

This is an enemies to lovers story. There are some steamy scenes.

This novel was difficult for me to follow. I found this novel to be typical of many romance novels and I was reminded of why I am Not a fan of Romance novels in general.

Highly recommended for Fans of Contemporary Romance Novels.

✨ REVIEW✨

Publication Date: 2/23/2021
🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 5/5 stars

Thank you to Netgalley and Kensington Books for the ARC.

This. Book. The past few months I have not had the best of luck with my beloved romance novels. I haven’t read one I have truly loved since What You Wish For by Katherine Center until now. Love at First by Kate Clayborn reminded me of how much I can possibly nerd out while reading a romance. I swooned. I teared up. I hugged my kindle. All of the feelings.

Love at First is about Will and Nora, two new neighbors who immediately begin fighting when Will (a new tenant) wants to rent out the apartment he inherited from his uncle. What Nora doesn’t know is that Will remembers her from when they were teens, when he fell slightly in love with her just by hearing her laugh (swoon). As they feud, they of course begin to fall in love and I begin to have an emotional breakdown.

If you loved Clayborn’s last novel, Love Lettering (highly recommend), then you will love this one even more. You immediately love every single character in this book and the side characters add so much to the story. I loved the banter, I loved the whimsy, and I loved all of the love 😭. Read it. Now. (..when it releases on 2/23/2021).

ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.