My first 5 star read of 2023! I am so, so glad I was able to read this one early through NetGalley. What a wonderful, fully enveloping book this was. From the first few pages I felt like I was able to just really sink into this story and become a part of it.
This isn't just a typical romance book at all. Friendships play a huge part, family and re-strengthening your bonds with them, and self-discovery as well are all big focuses too.

Some of my favourite things:
-Grumpy/sunshine
-Dual narrative
-HANK and Levi and Georgie both being such big dog lovers
-Levi all around in general
-The hospital scene!!
-The steamy parts were done SO well

There wasn't anything I didn't love about this book. I will definitely be recommending this one a lot!

Did I just read my best romance read of 2023??
I consume a lot of romance books each year, but this one is just *exceptional*. It is a book I immediately wanted to begin, again. A book I sent snippets of prose to my buddy chats so we could swoon together. A book whose Kindle highlights I read out loud to my husband. A book I have.to.own.
 
Georgie is a beautiful chaotic mess; a free spirit who loves her people so easily and openly. Levi is a grumpy dog-loving bearded introvert; a man attempting to live in the shadows of the town because he’s afraid of being remembered as the troublemaker of his youth. Rather than just creating ‘stereotypical archetype’ romance main characters, Clayborn uses the novel to explore the ‘why’ and question the accuracy of each element of Georgie and Levi’s personalities.
 
Watching these two fall deeply in love, Georgie expanding Levi’s life and Levi offering Georgie some stability and a home, was a beautiful journey.
My absolute favorite part (outside of Levi’s love of his rescued dog, Hank) was reading Levi’s thoughts any time he was around Georgie; god he loves her so much and you will be underlining, highlighting, re-reading each beautiful thought; seriously. The book is more than just their love story, it is also about career exploration, reconciling with your past, friendship (Bel + Georgie= goals), and finding your path forward while knowing your true worth.
 
Tropes Include:
Forced Proximity/Roommate
Grumpy/Sunshine
City Girl returns to Small Town
Opposites Attract
Open Door Spice
Friendfiction/Bucketlist
Childhood Crush’s Older Brother

Included as a top pick in bimonthly January New Releases post, which highlights and promotes upcoming releases of the month (link attached)

You can never be disappointed with a Kate Clayborn book. Georgie, All Along is beautifully written and emotional.

Being an adult doesn’t mean you have everything figured out but being open to what you can do. Georgie and Levi are my new favorite couple, they are both trying to not be defined by their younger selves while discovering who they are as adults. I throughly enjoyed this story about love, friendship, and adulthood.

Thank you to the author, Kensington Books and NetGalley, for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is another sweet and tender love story from Kate Clayborn, with vulnerability and growth, and touching on female friendship, families and finding fulfillment in life. The story is character-driven, as Clayborn does so well, and both the two main characters, as well as the secondary characters - including Hank the dog - are wonderfully written and authentic. My only quibble is that the pace is a bit too slow at times.

Thank you Netgalley for the advanced reading copy! This book is so good and perfect that it’s hard to put into words, but I’ll make an attempt. This is my third book from Clayborn and it really proves that she is a master writer of romance. She knows how to write soft, complicated, open door romances. As someone who has to write for her job (but unfortunately not fiction), I am in awe of how well crafted this book is, but in a simple and beautiful way.

Georgie has been a personal assistant in L.A. for years when her screenwriter boss decides to change her life to live on a ranch, therefore letting her go. Georgie returns home to her small Virginia town to house-watch for her parents and help her best friend Bel while she’s pregnant. There she meets a local Levi, who is quiet and has a complicated past. When befriending Levi, they decide to do a list of things she had planned while in high school to find herself.

So this plot has a lot going on, but also it’s a quiet build, with not a lot of action. But the writing shows insight into these characters' complicated inner lives, that is so well done, moving the book along perfectly. It’s dual point of view, and Clayborn does a great job of switching back and forth between these characters, even changing the writing style slightly to showcase the inner workings of these different characters. There is also a dog, Hank, who is just the best boy of all time. At the surface this is a small town trope, grump meets sunshine contemporary romance, but Clayborn plays with these tropes in a delightful way. Another great thing about this book, out of many great things, is that there are really well rounded, sweet, and funny side characters. The friendship that Georgie has with Bel is thoughtful and complicated, which many long term friends can relate to. This is one of those books that I will think about for a long time, with the small moments of the book really sticking with me. This is also one of those books that is very quotable, since the writing is astounding. I would love to gush about this book until the end of time, but honestly, Clayborn’s writing is so good, it just needs to be experienced. If you like thoughtful, soft, contemporary romance and haven’t read Clayborn, this is your chance. Overall I highly recommend this book for fans of Clayborn, thoughtful contemporary romances, and small town, grump sunshine tropes.

Have you ever read a book that was exactly what you needed at exactly the right time? That was Georgie & me this week 💛

I fell fast & hard for this story of a Hollywood assistant who heads back to her small town in Virginia when a job that has consumed her life for years ends. While there she embarks on a project hoping to discover who she is and what she wants and, of course, she happens upon the love of her life in the process.

This book was funny and also incredibly reassuring. Seeing the characters come to terms with themselves, the past, their families, and their motivations was really inspiring. Also, @kateclayborn.author is absolutely fantastic at internal monologue. I was in stitched at certain parts and broken at others.

Georgie, All Along is coming out next Tuesday so pre-order now. Thanks so much to @kateclayborn.author @kensingtonbooks & @netgalley for the arc! And a shout-out to @fatedmatespod because I 100% picked up my first Kate Clayborn book after listening to #derekcravenday

I've only read one other Kate Clayborn book, which I enjoyed, so I was hopeful about this one. I felt for Georgie as a character. It very much fulfills the trope of happy sunshine girl meets grumpy guy (which I want to like that trope). It's romantic and the sex scenes were very steamy. Overall I'll give it a 3.5.

My first book by Kate Clayborn and I hope it won't be the last.
Georgie, All Along was amazing! I loved every aspect of the story. Small town girl makes it big in Los Angeles until an unexpected wrench was thrown in. Small town girl, Georgie, goes home to reevaluate her life and where she goes from here.
Georgie is staying at her parents since they are on a road trip in their RV, but someone forgot to communicate that her parents found a house sitter already. Levi and his dog, Hank, find themselves face to face with Georgie and she isn't dressed appropriately. Georgie is flabbergasted at the premise of Levi and Hank staying at her parents house. Hank stole the scenes in this book. He is so lovable and affectionate.
Geogie is helping her best friend, Bel, unpack boxes from their move and Georgie happens to find a notebook that she and Bel created in high school. It contains things they wanted to do before graduation, well to say the least they never did the things. So, Georgie commits to doing them.

The story was brilliant and kept me reading well into the night. I didn't want to put it down. The pages just flowed so easily. Like I said at the beginning this is my first book by the author and I hope it won't be the last. I thoroughly enjoyed Georgie, All Along.
The characters were wonderful, and I laughed quite a bit. Also, can I just say that Levi is swoon worthy.
Highly recommend!

Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Publishers for allowing me to read an advanced digital copy of this book for an honest review. These are my words and my words alone, while not eloquent they are from the heart and I truly, truly loved this book.

Georgie, All Along was an amazing and sweet grumpy/sunshine romance. Georgie and Levi have remarkable chemistry and banter. I loved reading Levi's point of view - Clayborn isn't afraid of showing his vulnerability. The pacing was a little slow at first - but I was definitely hooked and had to see their story through. This novel was charming, witty, emotional, and joyful. This was the first novel that I read from Kate Clayborn, but definitely won't be the last. Thank you to Kensington Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this novel.

4.75/5 stars! "To All the Boys I've Loved Before" meets "Honey Don't List"! This is a fun-filled, spicy, and wonderful romantic romp with grumpy sunshine, and slow burn vibes. I devoured this book. It just felt like the characters had me wrapped up in a fuzzy blanket and handed me a little mug of soup; like that is HOW cozy this book felt. I adored Georgie and Levi was EVERYTHING! Highly recommend for an easy, sweet contemporary romance read.

I received an advance review copy for free through NetGalley, and I am leaving this review voluntarily

I could relate to this book SO much! Georgie, the insecurities, the small town…everything. Georgie and Levi fit together perfectly. I felt like I was there with the characters with the dual point-of-view and the way the author describes the setting. Love, love, love Georgie!

Another stunning romance from Kate Clayborn! I loved both of our main characters in this one and loved how their personal journeys over the course of the book really played into deepening their relationship by the end. With both of their POVs you could really feel the love for each other coming off the pages. And the author really nailed their connection. I really understood why they felt so at ease with each other so quickly and thought they fit so well together. I especially loved reading Levi's point of view. I could feel his southern drawl through it which I loved. The small town setting in this one also felt really well done. It didn't lean into the "quirky small town" vibe and felt very real. I enjoyed the side characters a lot as well and especially thought she did a great job with writing Georgie's parents to be quirky but without feeling like they were constantly saying "omg look how quirky we are" when they were on page.

I had high hopes for this one but I just was not connecting. What in the world is a fic? I was confused and at 50 percent the couple still had barely had a meaningful conversation so I gave up.

I couldn't get enough of Georgia, All Along! I rushed through reading it because it was so good and then I was sad when it was over. I love Kate Clayborn's books and this is definitely my new favorite! Levi and Georgie are perfect together and their love story was just so captivating. I enjoyed the friendship between Georgie and her long-time bestie Bel and watching Bel try to do the friend-fic diary ideas with Georgie. All in all, this was just a fun book to read.

If you like Christina Lauren's books I think you'll like Kate Clayborn too!

Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review. All opinions are my own.

Publishes 24 January 2023.

Georgie Mulcahy is a very talented assistant. She was a natural at assisting in the Hollywood atmosphere and was highly sought after. When her boss suddenly quits the Hollywood scene, Georgie is adrift and decides to take a break back in her hometown, with the excuse to help her best friend who is about to have a baby. As she helps unpack her friend's house, she discovers a book with their hopes and dreams for high school enclosed, "friendfic." In desperation to discover who she is and where she wants her future to head, she decides to go through he book and complete all the great activities that they never actually did together. There's just one hurdle... Levi Fanning. He was promised to stay at her parent's house while his own was under construction. Always a pleaser, Georgie lets him stay, but that rocky relationship causes lots of problems. And it was so much fun to watch it play out.

This was a fun read. There is some seriously open door romance in this one to skip through. A little bit of language as well. Otherwise such a fun book. Would have been 4 stars without all that.

Thanks to NetGalley and Kensington for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I ended up having a very favorable opinion about Georgie, All Along. But it took me a long while to get there.

When Georgie Mulcahy’s job as a personal assistant ends, she heads to her childhood home with big questions about where to go next. Once home, she finds a notebook from eighth grade where she and her best friend wrote fiction stories regaling their grand plans of the amazing life they’d have in high school. Convinced the youthful musings will help figure out her future, Georgie goes about completing events from the notebook.

Liam Fanning is somewhat of a town outcast, even though he owns his own business, works hard, and keeps his nose clean. But small towns have a long memory and it's hard to shake a bad reputation earned in your youth. When Liam and Georgie first meet, it’s awkward. Their second meeting? Even more awkward. Which kind of describes Liam in general. But then Liam starts helping Georgie with the tasks from her notebook and what starts as a sweet friendship quickly becomes much more.

Kate Clayborn’s writing is superb in this story and I found myself rereading lines because I just loved the way she worded a sentence and the images she was able to evoke with her phrasing. There was a lot to love about this book.

I loved Georgie’s sunshiny attitude and could completely relate to her feeling bereft at not knowing what to do next in her life (even into my late 40s I used to say I didn’t know what I wanted to be when I grew up) - society puts so much pressure on us, even at a young age, to figure out what we are going to do with our life and not everyone figures it out by their 20s.

And I LOVED Liam and his complicated feelings, his love for his dog, his determination to work hard and be a good person. I loved how Georgie and Liam’s relationship developed and grew organically. There was SO MUCH I liked about this story.

But I found the pacing to be slow and, up until the last 15 percent, I wasn’t ever able to compel myself to read more than two or three chapters at a time. I think one thing that contributed to my not feeling a strong pull to the story is that we had to wait so long to find out exactly what happened in Levi’s past that caused him to be estranged from his family. Even though half the book was told from his point of view, he stayed a stranger as much to us as he did to Georgie. But once all was revealed, OH MY HEART, I couldn’t put the book down. And the ending was perfection.

So I’m not sure how I feel about my rating. I enjoyed reading this book immensely - I loved the characters, I loved the writing and the story, I really loved the ending. But I just don’t feel like I can give a book that took me eight nights to read more than three stars…

* thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Books for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review

Rating: 4.5 Stars

They say you can never go home again, but that is just what Georgie did. When her career came to a halt, she returned home to loving parents and a ride-or-die friend, but also to memories of feeling less-than which amplified her feelings of being untethered. Georgie was seeking clarity about her future, and she believed the answers could be found by revisiting her past via a friend fic she wrote in her teens.

Enter Levi, bad-boy black-sheep of the Fanning clan. Levi was working through his own murky past. In his youth, Levi was not the well adjusted, responsible man Georgie met who was so kind and caring. He loved his dog, owned a business, and was giving. However, he often hid parts of himself due to worries about stepping out of line. Levi’s storyline broke my heart because he really was something special. I was glad he stumbled into Georgie’s world, and it was beautiful watching these two find some clarity together.

This book had the charm, wit, and humor I have grown to expect from Clayborn, but the stars of this story were Levi and Georgie. I adored them. Their romance was one I was terribly invested in, and I was also so invested in Levi and Georgie. I wanted them to figure things out, to see their worth, to heal their wounds. I was excited about what the future held for them, and this was a great and satisfying journey.

What to say about this book? I think I loved it, but I’m going to have to sit with it a little bit to know for sure.

⭐️ rating: 4 STARS ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
📖 genre: romance, woman’s fiction
🔥 steam: open door but less explicit terminology
tropes: forces proximity, opposites attract, small town

I loved the characters of Georgie and Levi. I loved how the chaotic energy and the calm, reserved demeanor complimented each other. I loved being able to see into both of their heads and see as they both came to love the parts of themselves that others had made them feel bad about.

Other things I liked:
✨ The sheer amount of happy couples that Georgie had in her life. Her parents might have been unconventional, but they definitely gave her high standards for love. Same with her best friend.
✨ The idea of revisiting past goals and resolutions
✨ Georgie & Levi’s conversations
✨ Honestly most of the MCs interactions. They were the perfect combination of awkward, endearing, and hilarious

Stay tuned to this review. As I sit with it, it may change.

SWOON. Georgie returns home in an attempt to figure out the next steps in her life (but she's definitely feeling listless and lost). While helping her best friend go through some storage boxes, they uncover a notebook from high school that carried a lot of what Georgie considered to be big hopes and dreams, in addition to the starring role of her longtime crush. Georgie finds herself thrust into a forced proximity situation with the older brother of that crush and things begin to heat up.

Levi Fanning was a troubled youth and feels that everyone in their small town still considers him to be. He works hard to keep his nose clean and to stay on the straight and narrow. Georgie enters his life like a whirlwind, upending his quiet and calculated existence.

These two captured my heart and I'm sure they'll capture yours.