I totally picked this book from its beautiful cover! This is my first read for Kate Clayborn, I know but in my defense I added her others to my reading list. Kate's writing is amazing and sheer perfection! I love how this book was just so easy to read and to love! There is so much substance and emotion in this book! I seriously loved this book and devoured it in a day and half, then when I was done I was so mad that I blew through it....but it was that good I could not put down. Kate Clayborn is being added to one of my favorite writers and I can not wait to read more from her!

💕 Georgie, All Along by Kate Clayborn 💕

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Thank you to @netgalley and Kensington Publishing for choosing me as an ARC reader.

I will start by saying I didn't have any dislikes about this book. I usually have at least one tiff with romance books, but Georgie, All Along was perfection. Georgie, All Along provides the reader with loveable characters, a longing for summer, and the most adorable fictional pup! 🐶

What I liked:
💕 Hometown, summer romance
💕 A loveable pitbull 🐶
💕 Amazing friendship (romance isn't the only relationship highlighted in this book)
💕 A relatable main character who is trying to find her place in the world

There will be a lot of (deserving) hype about this novel!

You will want to read this book if you're looking for loveable characters, romance, a bit of spice, and an overall heartwarming story.

#netgalley #georgieallalong #romancebookrecs #bookrecs #bookstagram #bookreview #booksuggetions #meetcute

There’s a lot about this book that is lovely. Kate Clayborn’s writing is gorgeous - it just sparkles. It’s so easy to read. The concept of this book is good, and I thought the execution was as well. It’s emotional without veering into maudlin or melodramatic, and any serious aspects are offset by the gentle sense of humour that runs throughout it.

Georgie is a really likeable main character. She’s funny and resourceful and knows how to stand up for herself. Levi was a good love interest for her. I found him really sweet. Their romance was lovely – sweet and sexy at once. I also thought a big strength of this book was showing the importance of other relationships between the two main characters and other people - parents, best friends, siblings, mentors, and pets, in the case of Levi. Sometimes, in romance books, these types of relationships can take a bit of a backseat, but they made this book for me. Both of them were who they were because of these other relationships, and I really liked how this book showed that.

I will say, though, that this is a very gentle book. There is some conflict and there are emotional parts, but not a lot happens, sometimes, and there were times when I could have done with a bit more action. Overall, though, I thought this was a very lovely romance. Kate Clayborn is a very talented writer, and this book is a good demonstration of her skill. I would recommend it to anyone looking for a small-town, forced proximity romance. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing a free copy of this book.

Content Notes: Animal abuse (in past), animal injury, toxic relationship with a parent, references to bullying, references to child abuse, blood, self-medication (in past), mild injuries, references to drug use, depression, childbirth / labour (on-page, side character), on-page sex, pregnancy (side character).

Every once and a while, a book surprises me. Georgie, All Along was one of those books. The description made me think I would like the book, that it would be a cute romance that was fun to read. And it was that – but also so much more.

Georgie and Levi and all their issues felt so unbelievably true to life. Georgie, who doesn’t know what she wants to do next in her life after losing her job, and Levi, who thinks his past will follow him for the rest of his life, even though he’s not that stupid, angry kid anymore. One trope I don’t love in romance is when one half of a couple needs to transform in order for the love story to work. But here, Georgie and Levi both transform. Not for the sake of the romance, but because they’re becoming fuller, better versions of themselves. It’s honestly impossible not to love them both.

The romance aspect of this book is great. Georgie and Levi are so much fun to read, even when they’re both getting in their own ways. Their conversations are so well done, feel so natural. They just understand each other, platonically at first, and on every other level soon enough.

Maybe this was the right book at the right time for me. But Georgie is so painfully relatable in her quest to figure out who she is and who she wants. I don’t care if you’re twenty or forty, there’s nothing more familiar than that feeling of not fitting anywhere and searching desperately for the place that’s right for you. And there was something really beautiful about watching Georgie come to terms with the fact that fighting to fit somewhere never ends up feeling as good as we expect.

Embrace what makes you a little left of center, what makes you, well, you. Life is weird and wonderful that way.

Would middle school you be happy or disappointed in how your life turned out?

This is the truth Georgie must confront: she has not lived up to the goals and expectations of her middle school hopes and dreams. She didn’t even do the things in her hometown that she always planned on. Now that she’s returned to her hometown, leaving behind a successful personal assistant career when her Hollywood director boss decides to reinvent their own life, she finds that she herself doesn’t know what to do next. Again. But her middle school notebook, which holds the fan fiction she wrote about the life she wanted to live, may hold the answer to who she really is.

Except… Her best friend Bel is super pregnant and can’t do all of the things they put in the notebook.

And also, her parents accidentally told her she could stay at their place…and they also asked handsome dock builder Levi to watch their plants, house and plant sitting while his own home is being renovated.

So that adds some complications to her plans.

Especially since Levi has run as far away from who he was in high school as possible. His reputation as a troublemaker follows him nonetheless, cornering him into a certain type of life. A certain type of life that does not have room in it for certain women checking life goals off a list she made in middle school. A certain woman who his dog loves, and who is occupying a lot more mental real estate…especially since she’s just sleeping down the hall.


Kate Clayborn’s Georgie, All Along is just as delightful as the rest of her books. As always, this novel is chock full of wonderful, relatable characters in an intriguing world with romance, friendship, and family.

Like Clayborn’s other work, Georgie, All Along is as much about the character learning about themselves as it is finding love. Georgie is still ashamed of her high school reputation as a flake, just as Levi is ashamed of his troublemaker reputation. Their journeys toward self-love and acceptance are just as important as their shared romantic journey.

Clayborn’s consistent character development continues in her latest release. Every character feels real, like you could bump into them at the grocery store. Georgie, fighting to overcome her high school reputation as a flake, is expansive, exuberant, and loves life. Levi is officially my fictional crush, because his emotional intelligence and general self-awareness is just as swoon-worthy as… pretty much everything about him, actually. Georgie’s parents are almost cringe-levels of embarrassing, in the most relatable, realistic, endearingly lovable way. Bel is a complex character in her own right, adding even more depth to the story.

I just adore seeing strong friendships on the page. Bel and Georgie’s friendship is like a warm hug. I love how they’re there for each other, but also hold each other accountable. Their ability to be honest with themselves and each other while still supporting and encouraging each other is beautiful.

The setting is vivid and relatable, and the contrast between how this hometown was and how it has also been reinvented introduces some challenges for Georgie.

The found family vibes in this novel are yet another reason why it is such an enjoyable read. The community is laid out in all its positive and negative aspects. I don’t know about you, but I certainly don’t want to run into my middle school choir teacher while getting milkshakes. Nope, no thanks. And yet the community of Georgie’s hometown is the aspect that stayed the most consistent, with an emphasis on choosing who you let into your life prevailing.

If you love an author with an amazing backlist, Kate Clayborn should definitely be on your radar. Her novels strike the balance with thought-provoking depth and lighthearted vibes that leave the reader feeling filled up, joyful, and sighing in contentment.

Georgie, All Along will be available January 24, 2023. Thank you to the author, Kensington Books, and NetGalley for an advanced e-arc so that I could share my honest opinion.

GEORGIE, ALL ALONG is the latest delightful romance from Kate Clayborn. Georgie is the embodiment of chaotic, beautiful friend and lover who provides the support and the kick in the butt you need to put in motion the dreams and goals you want to realize. From her initial embarrassing, humiliating encounter at a local markets through the ups and downs of creating a life for herself after years of supporting others, Georgie is a glorious, realistic, and loving character I enjoyed getting to know, cheering her and the amazing people around her all the way. With every book, Clayborn wields sharper and more wonderfully wrought story, fresh and interesting, totally engaging and a marvelous escape. I received a copy of this book and these thoughts are my own, unbiased opinions.

Georgie Mulcahy had been the perfect assistant to a screenwriter in California. When her boss decides to leave Hollywood, Georgie heads home to Virginia to sort out her life. Her best friend Bel has a new home, a successful husband and is pregnant and could use some help. While going through a memory box, they find a notebook entitled, "How to Conquer High School," which is filled with a list of things the two friends had planned to do years ago but never did. Georgie decides that by accomplishing everything on their list, she will have a new sense of purpose which will help to get her life headed in the right direction. While settling in at her parents' house, she is surprised to learn that they mistakenly told someone else that he could stay there while his house was being repaired. That someone turns out to be Levi Fanning, the older brother of Evan, Georgie's high school crush. Levi, long estranged from his family, is a loner who lives a quiet life after getting the reputation during his troubled years growing up as being the black sheep of the wealthy Fanning family. The two decide they'll become housemates and Levi offers to help Georgie on her bucket list. No real surprise that a romance is in their future, but this book is also about self-discovery and so much more.

I enjoyed Kate Clayborn's books Love Lettering and Love at First, so I was excited to read Georgie, All Along. This was such a sweet and touching story. Georgie, while raised by two free-spirited parents, was given lots of love but never provided with any real guidance and was often viewed as being flighty and without direction. Levi had to make his own way without the love and support of his influential parents and became an outcast. The characterization of these two misunderstood, vulnerable people was so well done including the chemistry between them from the beginning and how they supported one another. You will fall in love with Georgie and Levi.

4.25 stars.

4.25/5. I was very excited to receive an ARC for this much anticipated standalone book. This is a tender love story between two people who have struggled to rise above their past misdeeds and underachievements. Hometowns are the first to glorify their heroes and the last to forget their villains and Levi is one such villain. Not only did his youthful rebellious, borderline criminal behaviour not endear himself to its citizens but it also completely alienated him from his family, the highly successful and well respected Fanning family. Despite it all, he has slowly managed to turn his life around to create a successful business for himself.

Georgie Mulcahy had a misspent youth spreading mischief about, the student teachers remember with terror if at all, while her best friend was the school’s poster child. Newly made redundant from her PA job, she is back in town to help her very pregnant bestie settle into her new house and to house-sit for her quirky but loveable parents. Except the house already has another sitter, Levi Fanning, the older brother of her childhood crush. Turns out her weed-addled parents have double-booked and the two find themselves somewhat reluctant house-mates along with Levi’s sweet PTSD-afflicted dog.

Georgie’s natural warmth and generosity perfectly balances Levi’s taciturn but gentle personality. His loneliness and transference of all his affection towards his beloved dog make him utterly huggable and it did not take long for Georgie to recognise the mushy core within the hard, unsmiling facade. Theirs is a slow-burn affair and Clayborn does these so well. She brings the characters to life and makes it almost impossible not to sympathise with them, although I must say, Georgie is less clear to me, because I did not quite understand why she is still clinging onto her inferiority complex. I thought her quite successful in her field. I adore her absent-minded, hippie parents and Levi is the ultimate hero material.

This is one of those books that makes you smile when you think of it, and gives you a warm feeling.

Georgie has a hectic, busy life as a personal assistant to her boss in Los Angeles, which keeps her too busy to make plans for herself. So she gets the shock of her life when her boss announces that she is quitting *everything* - which means that Georgie will shortly be out of a job. Georgie heads home where she is supposed to help out her best friend, who is pregnant. Other than that, she doesn't really know what to do with herself. It's like she has gone from 500 mph to 0 mph in a second. She has whiplash.

When she gets home, she soon discovers that her best friend doesn't really need help at home as she has everything under control. Her parents aren't even there to meet her; they are off travelling. She also discovers that her parents had not mentioned that they had offered to let a friend of theirs stay at the house for a while, so she gets a shock when a strange man shows up. She soon figures out who he is - he looks a lot like his brother, who was her fantasy boyfriend in high school.

Levi is a marvelous character. He is a son of one of the most powerful families in the town, the black sheep in the family. I really liked him. Levi had a rocky start, but now has his own business building ecologically sound docks on the river, and he's a dog person.

Georgie finds a friendfic that she had written in high school in her parent's house. Since she is at loose ends, she begins to do some of the things on her teenaged list, with Levi's help.

I received an e-arc of this book from the publisher Kensington Books via NetGalley, and was pleased to voluntarily read and review it.

Kate Claiborne is an auto-read author for me. I loved both of her books that I’d read (Love Lettering and Love At First), so I jumped at the opportunity to read an advance copy of her latest, Georgie, All Along. I was not disappointed. This is a romance with a serious heart. The story is told in present tense by either Georgie or Levi, in different chapters. It’s a story of reinvention, of rethinking careers, family, one’s past, and (per the publisher’s blurb) “finding your path while knowing your true worth.”

Georgie and Levi have a “meet awkward” as she arrives back in town. Georgie is at loose ends, after her Los Angeles boss decides on early retirement and moves to the New Mexico desert. Georgie returns to her Virginia hometown, ostensibly to help her childhood best friend, who is expecting her first baby. Georgie considers herself an underachiever, first in high school, then drifting through a variety of jobs that are about helping other people (such as her job as the assistant to the Hollywood producer/writer mentioned above).

Levi is a former “bad boy”, but is now a quietly successful businessman, building and rebuilding docks on a Virginia river. He is estranged from the rest of his family, a locally well-known, well-to-do bunch who own a fancy inn and spa.

The story of how Georgie and Levi wind up together (not a spoiler! This is, after all, a romance book.) is an emotional one, with lots of ups and downs. Levi’s dog, Hank, is a wonderful character himself. Georgie’s best friend, Bel, is also a great character, doing some reinventing of her own.

Warning: discussion of past mistreatment, a couple of steamy “open doors” scenes, graphic description of at least the beginnings of the birth process.

Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington for the opportunity to read an advance readers copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

Loved this one! I immediately empathized with Georgie and was obsessed with Levi and Hank. The friendship with Bel was really special too, as was Georgie’s relationship with her parents. This book had a lot going on and to me did feel a bit clunky at times, but it didn’t hinder my enjoyment

I have to be honest—I did not finish this. I was really bored. It moved way too slowly. The book is too internally-facing with too much in Georgie’s head. Needed more plot.

A cute and thought provoking romance about who we were and who we want to be in the future. Georgie and Levi were an adorable couple who brought out the best in each other despite their different personalities. I did find Levi's issues to cause the story to drag a bit towards the end but I did enjoy how everything came together.

Georgie, All Along by Kate Clayborn is a a novel about embracing our messes, learning to accept those things we see as flaws, and turning them into strengths. And I am here for it. While it’s a book that is more than a romance, the romance is all the swoony goodness I want it to be, as well.

Georgie spoke to me on so many levels. We all have messes, whether they’re internal or external, and Georgie feels like her life is quite the mess at the moment, a big blank mess. Georgie haphazardly packed her life in LA into the backseat of her car, driving home to Virginia when she suddenly lost her job as a personal assistant after her boss decided to chuck life in LA for something quieter. Georgie’s returned to her hometown with plans to housesit for her parents while they’re traveling, as well as help her very pregnant best friend Bel get settled into her new home, Bel having just returned to town herself.

When Georgie and Bel discover an old “friendfic” diary they created together among Bel’s boxes, Georgie is shook by the confident younger Georgie she discovers among its pages. A Georgie that had plans and wishes for herself, instead of just fulfilling someone else’s wishes. She decides to let the fic be a sort of guidebook as she forges a new path forward by going back.

Unfortunately, just as she’s finally hopeful about making new plans, her plans are disrupted by an unexpected guest. It seems her adorably absentminded parents forgot they’d already invited someone else to housesit, the grumpy—and former town troublemaker—Levi Fanning.

And just like Georgie, Levi’s story is messy, too. But where Georgie is open and inviting, Levi is closed-off. I enjoyed the opposing balance their two stories presented, each learning to see their flaws as strengths, even when those strengths conflicted with the other’s. I was rooting for these two, trying to be oh so patient as they figured it all out. While this one is fairly predictable, I didn’t mind one bit, relishing in the familiarity and settling into the phenomenal characters Clayborn created, enjoying the several laugh-out-loud moments, as well.

It’s not only Georgie and Levi who drive this story, the side characters are well-rounded, as well, breathing even more life into our main characters, some of them even learning and changing, themselves. From Georgie’s best friend Bel to Levi’s estranged siblings, Clayborn does a good job of taking characters that seem surface-level and giving them a deeper meaning, wonderfully representing people in real life.

I can’t not mention one of the most important side characters, Levi’s faithful companion, Hank. As someone who is terrified of dogs, especially pit bulls, color me shocked to discover I was melting every time Hank made an appearance. Levi and Hank’s mutual devotion is irresistibly heartwarming.

I didn’t want this one to end, torn between not wanting to put it down and wanting it to last a little bit longer. I felt assured I would love this one since I adored Clayborn’s previous book Love at First, and I was happy to find I was right. Georgie, All Along, firmly cements Clayborn among my must-read authors!

Kate Clayborn must be one of the artistically pleasurable writers writing in romance today. I always enjoy sifting through the layers and complexities of her words. On a purely artistic level, I loved reading this book, and I loved knowing every day that I had new chapters waiting.

As with most of her books, the romance is propelled along by an artistic medium that comes to represent the couple, whether it be the perfect piece of antique hardware, calligraphy, or photography. Here the very humble friend fic middle-school diary is the perfect object to capture both Georgie and Levi and the modest setting of their low-key hometown and ambitions. The friend fic is surprisingly treated with utmost respect by everyone. Georgie, All Along did have a different feel to me than her more recent books, and I found myself trying to pinpoint along the way how it differed - messy, complicated, chaotic. As a tidy, orderly person, I found myself shrinking at times from the disorder - Georgie's well-meaning but haphazard parents, the flatulent pitbull Hank who can't find petcare!, the unreliable boss who spontaneously fires Georgie for her own good, the pregnant best friend Bel, who is quite obviously on the brink of some sort of impending breakdown. Then there is the bountiful Georgie whom I rooted for while also desiring to escape her profound messiness. I found myself overly identifying with orderly, initially shutdown, anxiety-ridden Levi, who despite the chaos of his criminal history, is uber keen to construct a secure and orderly life. Levi knows to bring his wallet with him when he shops, to wear clean, pressed clothing, to clean up as he cooks, to avoid randomly throwing in inappropriate veggies in pasta dishes. I don't think we're meant to identify with Levi though, at least not initially. Even Levi wants distance from Levi. I was then plagued by the question that this novel is structurally unsound. However, the friend fic saved me from a truly scattershot reading experience. Every time things were getting uncomfortably chaotic, Georgie and Levi focused on the next chapter to see where it could lead them as they venture together to sort out the void each feels in their lives.

It might be trite to say that this is a book of self-discovery, but while it is, it's also a generous book about embracing others for themselves. It is enjoyable to witness Levi's evolution from stereotypical grump to a wonderfully nuanced and vulnerable man. I often believe that introverts and extroverts rarely can be happy together, but I think Clayborn shows how generosity of others can lead to happiness with all sorts of others. I would not be surprised if over time, Levi becomes my favorite Clayborn hero.

I'm not sure I could have loved this any more than I did. Georgie All Along is so honest and heartfelt and tender and vulnerable and wonderful. I cried a lot. I laughed and swooned even more. The amount of introspection happening with these characters. All of them. The friendship between Georgie and Bel. The relationship between Levi and his dog Hank. The final reveal of why the friend fic started. The first time Georgie tells Levi she loves him and his inner monologue about it. The scenes with Levi and his brother. Bel freaking out while she's in labor. The photo montage Georgie sends her old boss. The grand gesture. Levi is the grumpiest of grumps who learns how to make his safe, quiet life as expansive as he finds Georgie. Their sex scenes are utter perfection. The space
Georgie gives Levi to figure out his shit while quietly panicking that it was the wrong thing to do. The way Levi is brave. This is unhinged I know. Full review to come. But this book is too good. Out 1/24 thanks so much to Kensington for the e Arc!

-childhood crush's older brother
-small town, hometown romance
-grumpy/sunshine opposites attract
-dual pov
-family dysfunction
-female friendship
-the sweetest dog
-roomies to lovers

“Well, well, well. If it isn’t yet another reinvention.”

Georgie, All Along (out 1/24) is the perfect romance to kick off the new year. I can’t stop thinking about the Taylor Swift song Sweet Nothing in relation to this book because they have the exact same vibes—soft, lovely, and free of expectations.

Georgie is kind of a mess, in the best way possible. She showed me the beauty of looking at your life as a blank canvas, and of figuring things out as you go.

Levi acts like a grump, but is so ~soft~ on the inside, particularly when it comes to Georgie and his rescue dog Hank.

Like everything Kate Clayborn writes, I loved loved loved this book. Thank you times a million to the publisher for an early copy!

Get ready for your favorite romance of 2023 because Kate Clayborn has knocked it out of the park with Georgie, All Along. It has given me the biggest book hangover because it is so well written and executed that it’s a hard one to follow up. This book has so much heart, so much emotional tenderness and two characters that are imperfectly perfect in every way. It’s about returning home and revisiting your past as a means of self-discovery and growth. Georgie uses her long-time friend Bel having a baby as the perfect reason to leave her demanding Hollywood PR job, but once home, realizes she has been living for others instead of herself. A long forgotten “friend fiction” written by her and Bel as teenagers helps Georgie reevaluate who she is and what she wants—does adult Georgie have the same hopes and dreams as teenage Georgie? And what makes this so perfect is that there, all along (oh I did that didn’t I?) is Levi who seems to understand Georgie’s messy life isn’t as awful as she thinks; in fact Levi has his own past demons to contend with that making him a beautiful match to Georgie. With any good book there is character growth and we are lucky enough to see growth in both Levi and Georgie as they each measure themselves against family relationships, town assumptions, and personal life expectations.

Things I loved:
📔Side characters that feel wholly realized
📔The friend fic Georgie and Bel wrote as teens, and just their relationship overall
📔Georgie’s chaotically funny parents
📔Grumpy/Sunshine trope and Forced Proximity trope that don’t feel tropey at all
📔LEVI FREAKING FANNING
📔The writing…I won’t even try to put it into words…it’s so emotional and excellent
📔Hank the farting dog
📔The sex scenes

Full disclosure, I received this book as an advanced reader copy from Kensington and from NetGalley in exchange for my review. I loved this book so much that I immediately had to order a print copy to have on hand—it is THAT good of a book! I highly recommend you do too.

I LOVED GEORGIE IMMEDIATELY. Her internal monologue felt like it was a torn excerpt from my mind. The wit, the realness, the charm—she became one of my favorite main characters immediately. I also can’t even begin to express the bonus points and excitement when Joe Jonas was mentioned. Overall, I think the personal reflection that this story focused on was genuine, inquisitive, funny, and *warm*. I also loved Bels breakdown and admittance and the reveal that the journal was started for bel and not for her. The realization that the “perfect” person makes mistakes is so important and needs to be talked about more—Recognizing and honoring the greatness of both flexibility and tenacity was such a great climax for me. However, I was basically in tears when Georgie started talking to her parents and they talked about the different advantages in life and her “soft place to land”. It gave me a perspective on my parents that I didn’t have before and brought me so much comfort and appreciation. Liam and Evans first honest talk brought up a lot of personal feelings as I’m in the process of forming a relationship with my estranged siblings right now.
I think this is a must read in 2023!

The story of Georgie and Levi. She is back in her hometown to help out her best friend, and while she is there finds a friendfic from the past. She sets out to try and do the things she wrote about, and becomes friends with town hermit Levi along the way, as she discovers who she really is.
A great read, can't wait for the next book from this author.