this book did not disappoint! I loved the plot and the story so much. I’m a big fan of Kate Clayborn’s writing style. I’ve enjoyed her past books a lot and this wasn’t any different, I liked it a lot. The characters were likeable and I really related to Georgie. The romance in this book too was so cute. The chemistry between them were amazing and made the book easier to read.

What a breath of fresh air this book was.

Georgie and Levi each have their own beautiful journeys in this story. It's another small town romance, with Georgie returning to her small Virginia hometown after being laid off from her job as an assistant to a Hollywood director, but this story is unique in its showing that it is okay to not always be thinking about the future, to just live in the moment, for yourself.

I loved watching Georgie and Levi grow and have their "reinvention."

Also,
as a William & Mary student, I'm jealous of Levi's A+ in Biology. As a lifetime Virginia resident and environmentalist, I loved Levi's dedication to protecting coastlines and the Bay!

I have already read a couple of reviews after I finished the book and before writing my review. It is fascinating to me how much there is in this book and how people focus on different aspects of its gorgeousness.

My biggest takeaway is the portrayal of vulnerability, especially male vulnerability. How it is seen as a weakness, how internalized this refusal to be weak/needing help, care, love is.

Georgie is great but Levi is everything in this book for me. On the surface an archetype romance hero – physically strong, wild past, breaded and brooding, silent. And here is Kate Clayborn twisting it all around and making him feel like real-life person with his fears and doubts and mistakes.

So much of this story is focused on how one sees oneself vs how the other see them. The way Levi sees Georgie as strong and capable and at the same time the way she thinks of herself as directionless, a blank (very much internalized opinion of other people).

We also see the best and the worst families. I loved Georgie’s parents, kind of hippy carefree spirits but loving and supporting her unconditionally, exactly the opposite of Levi’s parents. Intentional cruelty couples with disinterest is a deadly combination and leads to long-lasting trauma.

Georgie's best friend plot was amazing – changes don’t always work out, they don’t have to be forever. The possibility to change direction, start anew. It felt so real, not a fantasy where everything falls into place almost effortless, right from the first try.

The romance was exquisite. Strong internal conflict, delicious angst and slow burn. Subversion of the return to small town and everything is perfect.

Gorgeous writing, grumpy / sunshine but not really. Return to the past in order to move on in the future. Different definitions of success, family. Kindness and support mean everything.

I really, really love how KC writes her male characters – the complexity she allows them, the room for mistakes, the self-awareness, for growth and change. Especially in romance it feels to me there is more room given to female characters to not be perfect, to search for direction/purpose. And I love seeing the same freedom to be messy/weak to male characters.

In short, this book is in a tie-in with Love at First as my favourite by Kate Clayborn.

CW: parental abuse/neglect, violence, substance abuse (in the past), pregnancy complications

feelgood read
3,5 stars

This is a book that is very character driven. So, if you connect with the characters, your enjoyment of this book will be all-consuming and exceptional.

Georgie comes back home to her small town to "find herself" after losing her job in L.A. Suddenly, she is a roommate with her high school crush brother. Levi once was a troubled teen who is even now ostracized by his family. While she is trying to do a bucket list, she complained when she was in school, she reconnects with herself, her small town, and Levi.

Sometimes reading romance is all about the journey characters take us. While I could relate and sympathize with Georgie, I found this book only adequate and had no lasting impact on me as a reader.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

I loved this book! The characters were well developed and their journey was very believable and didn’t feel like anything I’d read before..

I’m a fan of the author (I highly recommend her Chance of a Lifetime series), and I was so excited about this new book. Georgie, All Along features Kate Clayborn’s beautiful writing style. She captures the emotion and internal thoughts without feeling too melodramatic… just honest and relatable.

This book starts with Georgie returning to her hometown, feeling dejected and lost, coming to terms with the fact that her life isn’t how she expected it to be – a life with no intentions. Chancing upon a “friendfic” she made with her friend during their teens, she comes up with the idea to make the lists in the diary as a guidebook to a new path in her life. She finds an unexpected partner to help her with her list, Levi Fanning, her unexpected roommate.

There’s a good balance between Georgie and Levi in this book, as individuals and as a couple. While I do enjoy the romance part of the book, what really shines for me is how both main characters understand themselves better as they get to know each other and let each other in their lives. They seem so different yet similarly lost, a theme I enjoy reading in books, especially when characters are in the age where society deems they should have their lives already figured out. I also appreciate owning up to your mistakes and not letting them define you. There’s also the theme of comparing oneself to others, something we’re all familiar with.

Kate Clayborn makes me cry about how relationships in her books stand out. They are all so beautifully written you can’t help but be sentimental. Be it with friends, a family member… or a newfound family.

Thank you to Kensington Books, for the eARC.



highlights: (spoilerish!)


✦ small town
✦ introvert - extrovert
✦ supportive friends, family
✦ character development
・contains open-door scenes

Although it took me a while to get into the reading once inside it has turned out to be a good book, overall. For my taste, there is too much internal dialogue which makes me think it would be an ideal read for Emily Henry fans.

It has dual POV-which is always appreciated-and one of my favorite clichés: forced closeness. Georgie is a ray of sunshine and Levi is a badass grump.Is there a better combination? I say no. Levi joins the long list of literary crushes.

I'd say it's a VERY character driven book (including Hank, the dog). So much so, that I would have liked to know a lot more about Bel.

The author's pen is nimble and fresh and makes the reading go by without you noticing.

It is a book for all of us who do not know what we want from life or what our place is, but are willing to discover it hand in hand with love.

Many thanks to Kensington Books and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read and review this story.

PS: I'll make sure to post about it on instagram on its release day :)

I don’t read much m/f romance these days, but I’m always up for one of Kate Clayborn’s because they’re so thoughtful and tender and honest. She writes complex, well-drawn characters who are dealing with relatable, real-life problems, and while not ‘flashy’ or full of drama, her books nonetheless pack a real emotional punch. Her newest release, Georgie, All Along seems to be a retread of the ‘protagonist returns to small home-town and finds love and a new direction in life’ trope – and, to an extent, it is – but in Ms. Clayborn’s capable hands the story transcends the trope and becomes something simultaneously deeper and refreshingly different.

Georgie Mulcahy always had a reputation for being a bit flaky and unreliable in her hometown of Darentville, Virginia. She didn’t amount to much at school and never had any real ambitions beyond it; but her ability to live completely in the ‘now’, to adapt and to think on her feet proved to be exactly suited to working as a PA to high-powered (and high-maintenance) intensely creative – and often intensely chaotic - people in the entertainment industry. For the past three years, she’s worked for Nadia, a well-known screenwriter and director, but when Nadia decides – spontaneously – to retire, Georgie is left at a loose end, coming face to face with the fact that she’s never really had a plan for what to do with her life. With Nadia’s suggestion that she can take the time to do “all the things you want to do”, Georgie decides to head back home for a little while, spend some time with her best friend and her family while she works out what she wants to do next.

Arrived in Darentville, Georgie stops at what she remembers as the general store but which she is surprised to find is now somewhat more upmarket than it used to be. In fact, the whole town seems to have undergone a transformation, the slightly shabby place she remembers giving way to new housing and shops and the signs of a flourishing tourism trade. It’s this ‘renewal’ that has drawn her best friend, Bel, back there, to a new life in a new home with her husband and their soon-to-be family (Bel is eight months pregnant). Georgie decides to buy them a couple of strawberry milkshakes – hopefully they’re as good as she remembers – only to be realise she’s left her purse in her car. Embarrassed – she’s only been back in town less than a hour and already she’s living up to people’s memories and expectations of her as a total flake – she’s checking her pockets just in case, when a guy wearing scruffy work clothes and an irritated expression, steps in to pay for the shakes so he can buy his own stuff and be on his way. The guy is pretty dismissive when she says she’ll pay him back; that, and the knowing looks on the face of the other customer – one of her former teachers – only bolsters Georgie’s determination that when she leaves town this time, she’s going to have figured herself out and worked out what she really wants.

One of the things Georgie had banked on was being able to help Bel out in some way – maybe with unpacking or getting the nursery ready – so she’s a bit disappointed to discover that Bel is on top of everything and doesn’t really need her help at all. She brightens a little when Bel takes her to a room full of boxes and bags that she realises contain a lot of stuff from when Bel was younger – and becomes excited when she finds the notebook containing their eighth grade ‘friendfic’, story after story about what they’d do once they got to high school, surprised to discover her teenaged brain teeming with ideas – albeit on a small scale - about her future. She decides to take it home with her – maybe she’ll be able to work out what happened to that girl (who had actual intentions) - and decides that if she can make some of her teenage dreams come true, she’ll be able to get closer to finding a new path for herself.

Georgie’s parents – who are retired – are away on one of their regular road-trips, so Georgie isn’t expecting company when she goes back home, but she’s in the middle of reading through the fic when she hears a key turning in the lock and the familiar creak of the door sticking before it opens to reveal the guy from the store. And his huge, lumbering dog Hank, who barrels right in.

Levi Fanning is the black sheep of his well-to-to family as well as being Darentville’s ‘bad boy’ – despite being in his thirties and the owner of a successful business. He’s also the older brother of Evan, on whom Georgie once had a massive crush, and is clearly as surprised to find Georgie in the house as she is to see him there. It turns out that her dad had offered him the use of the house for a few weeks because his own is having some badly needed repairs done – and had forgotten to tell Georgie about it. As a set up, I admit it feels a bit contrived, but once we meet Georgie’s lovingly chaotic, free-spirited parents, it becomes perfectly plausible.

Georgie and Levi embody certain romance novel stereotypes (she’s the ‘quirky’, ‘flighty’ heroine, who travels with belongings in trash bags in the back of her car and doesn’t have a Plan; he’s a grumpy, shy loner with a troubled past), and one of the things I really enjoyed about the story is the way the author shows that Georgie’s ‘flightiness’ is part of what made her so very good at her job, how her adaptability, intuitiveness and creativity are great strengths. Levi’s backstory emerges slowly, but his bad reputation is down to his going through a more than rebellious phase that continued into young adulthood which has led to his being estranged from his family. In the years since, he’s worked hard to make something of himself and to dispel that old image – but the locals have long memories and he keeps himself pretty much to himself now, keeping his head down, doing his job and kind of creeping around the edges of life, believing he doesn’t deserve anything more. By contrast, Georgie comes from a loving – if somewhat scatty – family, who always loved and supported her, giving her the space to make mistakes and be a mess - but it’s only now that she starts to see that what they were really encouraging her to be was herself.

These two are authentic and honest with one another and are prepared to give each other time and space when they need it. I loved that Levi is able to really see Georgie when others – even those closest to her – aren’t always able to, and that while Georgie always calls Levi on his bullshit she’s never aggressive or unkind. She doesn’t push him for more than he’s comfortable sharing but also makes it clear why she’s calling him out and that she wants to understand and help if she can. They both make mistakes – Levi, in particular, makes some choices I wasn’t happy about - but when they do, they take responsibility for them and do their best to fix them.

This is one of those books where nothing much ‘happens’ but where there’s a lot going on under the surface. The relationships – Georgie and Bel (the revelation as to the origins of the friendfic is just brilliant), Georgie and her parents and, of course, Georgie and Levi – are all beautifully written, and the romance is poignant and charming.

Georgie, All Along is a treat of a read, a wonderful story of love and self discovery to sink into and get lost in.

I get the appeal of this one, but it wasn’t for me. The pace was slow - the writing was fine but a bit much-ado-about-nothing. Mundane. There wasn’t much to figure out or think about while reading it if that makes sense. The characters seemed very simple and even the inner thoughts seemed without much complexity. I appreciate Kensington sending me an arc.

I stayed up late to finish this book, with tears in my eyes, totally in love with these characters! Georgie, All Along follows Georgie during her late twenties, saturn returns crisis. She returns to her hometown from LA while in between jobs and starts following a bucket list that her teenage self wrote. She meets Levi during this time and they start to go through the bucket list together. While following this list she gets back in touch with who she is and what she wants in life, and finds love along the way. Georgie is messy, impulsive, sunshine, and Levi is quiet, independent, and grumpy. There's forced proximity (there's only one bed house)! There's a neurotic rescue dog! There's friendship and chaotic parents and dancing barefoot on docks! The writing is the kind that makes me want to highlight passages and put them on my bedroom wall.
Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington for the ARC. ARC was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

"Longtime personal assistant Georgie Mulcahy has made a career out of putting others before herself. When an unexpected upheaval sends her away from her hectic job in L.A. and back to her hometown, Georgie must confront an uncomfortable truth: her own wants and needs have always been a disconcertingly blank page.

But then Georgie comes across a forgotten artifact - a "friendfic" diary she wrote as a teenager, filled with possibilities she once imagined. To an overwhelmed Georgie, the diary's simple, small-scale ideas are a lifeline - a guidebook for getting started on a new path.

Georgie's plans hit a snag when she comes face to face with an unexpected roommate - Levi Fanning, onetime town troublemaker and current town hermit. But this quiet, grouchy man is more than just his reputation, and he offers to help Georgie with her quest. As the two make their way through her wishlist, Georgie begins to realize that what she truly wants might not be in the pages of her diary after all, but right by her side - if only they can both find a way to let go of the pasts that hold them back.

Honest and deeply emotional, Georgie, All Along is a smart, tender must-read for everyone who's ever wondered about the life that got away..."

So this book is telling me, I really need to make a list.

Georgie, All Along was one of my most anticipated books of 2023 as I am a huge fan of Kate Clayborn's writing. In Georgie, All Along I did get the beautiful writing and wonderful characters I expect from her books.

I adored Georgie and Levi. Georgie is a sunbeam. She is a loveable, caring free spirit who has a knack for solving problems and living an expansive life. I want her to be my BFF, because I know she will always have my back and brighten my day. As the book begins, she is full of self-doubt and see herself as blank and ambitionless. This was hard to read at times, but I appreciated her journey to self-discovery and self-acceptance through her friendfic.

Levi appears to be the complete opposite of Georgie. At first glance, he seems cold and aloof. As you peel back the layers, you see that he has experienced genuine suffering. He doesn't easily let people in. Levi is an incredibly vulnerable and loving soul. This is first evident in his relationship with his neurotic rescue dog Hank. Georgie is the perfect person for Levi. She calls him on his crap, but she knows just how far she can push this vulnerable man. Seeing Levi open up his life put such happiness into my heart. He is now one of my favorite male romance heroes.

Some other things I loved about this book are Georgie's kooky parents, her relationship with her best friend Bel, and the antics of Levi's dog Hank.

All in all, Georgie, All Along is a warm and hopeful book that left me feeling happy and fulfilled.

Thanks to NetGalley and Kensington Books for an ARC of the book.

This delicious and sweet book has it all. Characters so real you can't help but love them, as they grow to love themselves and each other. Kate Clayborn carries us along on an intimate journey of self discovery grounded by great writing, great dialogue and great depth. It was a multi-sensory delight from beginning to end, from milkshakes and green beans in pasta to dock boards underfoot and a dog named Hank. It's charming, it's rich, and it will tug at all your heartstrings.

Georgie Mulcahy has made a career out of serving others and now it's time for her to put herself first. When an unexpected career change sends her home she comes across a forgotten "artifact" - a "friendfic" diary she wrote with her best friend in middle school. She decides to use it as a guidebook to get back on track and in turn discovers way more than she bargained for in the end. What she truly wants isn't on the page of a dairy but right in front of her after all.

If you read only one romance novel this year, make it this one. This was a lovely, endearing, joy of a book and I loved every page. The characters are so loveable, relatable, and well-developed. It's a heartwarming romance but not so sugary sweet that you are rolling your eyes the entire time. It's a plot that feels like it could really happen to anyone!

There is so much love in this book and not all in the traditional sense. You have your developing couple, of course, but you also have best friends who love each other so deeply, love of family, friends that feel like family, and a dog you can't help but fall in love with too. It's also a story of forgiveness and redemption as well.

If you are trying to find yourself in the new year, this is a must-read. If not, this is a great read for anyone who just wants to read something that makes them feel good.

PS On the spicy scale this one is 4.5/5 chili peppers!

Thank you, Net Galley and Kensington for my e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I was not expecting to get an ARC of this book and it was truly a surprise when I got approved. The beginning was very slow but I enjoyed the writing regardless. Georgie & Levi were so adorable together! This was such a feel good book with a good setting, great plot, memorable side characters and an insane amount of chemistry between Georgie & Levi. Their grumpy-sunshine dymanics was so fun to read and the book was packed with humour. I really liked the writing style and I am looking forward to read more of the author's future work.

I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange of an honest review

Oh my, what a great book. Georgie, All Along is the story of a woman, Georgie, whose job in the California movie industry ends and she travels back home to small town Virginia to find the next chapter in her life. On her first day back she runs into Levi, a man she vaguely recalls from her high school years, and it is at that point that I fell in love with this book. For me the book's best parts were about Levi. It is rare in a male-female romance novel for the male character to be so well written. I look forward to reading more books by Kate Clayborn.

<i>Thank you Kensington Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read the ARC in exchange for an honest review.</i>

We are still in the beginning of the year, and this would certainly be one of my favourite romances to be released on 2023 (being one of the all-time favourites as well).

The story follows Georgie, who returns to her small town after loosing her job, to help her pregnant best friend Bel, and to try to find what she wants to do with her life. Georgie is very good regarding satisfying other people needs but finds herself lost regarding her personal desires and dreams

While helping her friend going through old boxes from their childhood and adolescence, they found an old notebook of all the things they wanted to do in high school. Georgie feels inspired by her younger self, who had so many ideas and things she wanted to do and decides to fulfil the items of her list, hoping it would help her find her way now.

I enjoyed everything about this book: the writing style, double POV (with the approximately the same number of chapters for each character which makes us connect at the same time and with the same depth with both characters), the characters development, the vulnerability of the MC’s, the impact of toxic masculinity on men growth and development, the way they work through their problems and try to be a better version of themselves, the way the MC’s communicate, even if sometimes with a bit of a delay.

It felt honest and real, and I am truly honoured to have had the opportunity to have earlier access to this book.
I recommend it to all the contemporary romance readers, and to anyone who is in need of a bit of comfort and joy in their lives.

I am a huge Kate Clayborn fan and I have been so excited about Georgie, All Along from the moment I first heard about it. I did a happy dance when I got approved for the ARC!! Kate Clayborn has a way of writing that infuses her romantic tales with an abundance of charm and the everyday settings and scenarios with a touch of magic.

I related to Georgie as soon as I read the synopsis, and I imagine many others will too. Who among us hasn't felt a little lost and adrift after life threw us a curveball? How many of us are all too familiar with that "blank" feeling when we try to figure out what we want or what's next? I loved that when Georgie was faced with that curveball and blankness, she turned to her hometown, her long-time best friend, and her beloved parents. I loved that the friend-fic of her and Bel's youth became more than a just a nostalgic memory....it became a road-map to the future.

Georgie is a ball of chaos and a loveable mess and I thoroughly enjoyed joining her on her journey of self-discovery. Levi is the grumpy, (perceived) bad boy with an absolute heart of gold who, by joining Georgie on her quest, is finally able to untangle the past that has haunted him. Watching their relationship unfold was utterly beautiful, especially since the dual POV allowed the reader to see it from both viewpoints.

While Georgie and Levi are the focus, this story has a host of delightful side characters: Georgie's high-school BFF Bel and her husband Harry, Levi's estranged siblings Olivia and Evan, the various co-workers and friends that are part of Georgie and Levi's life, and, of course, Hank. I challenge any reader of this book to not fall in love with Hank. I also absolutely adored the relationship Georgie had with her parents! They were a bit hippie and oddball, but so open-hearted and loving. I 100% teared up when Georgie had her "soft place to land" revelation.

I definitely recommend this book! It's out January 24th.
Thanks to Netgalley and Kensington for allowing me the opportunity to read an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.
4.75/5 stars (will show as 5 on sites that don't allow for partial stars)

“and my God, the way she looks out here. Sun and salty water, trees all around. A dream I didn’t know I had, coming true.”

Georgie All Along is a story about self discovery. About not having everything figured out and living in the moment. About living a life you are proud of. Full, expansive, bright. Filled with soft vulnerability, heart, and growth. I loved every single character. They were so messy, real and relatable. I throughly enjoyed going on their journey alongside them.

“Are you calling me trouble?”… “I’m calling you the best thing that ever happened to me”

✨READ IF YOU LIKE ✨
•Small town romance
•Sunshine/ Grumpy
•Friends fic
•Forced proximity
•A bucket list of sorts
•Cutie Pit bulls
•Strawberry milkshakes, pizza on the grill
•Dual POV

“but I can tell he’s watching, can tell he’s looking at me like I’m the moonbeam he once said I was: bright and rare and mysterious.”

Georgie Mulcahy has an unexpected change in her career prompting her to move back to her small hometown in Virginia. She returns home to live with her parents and figure out what is next for her career and life.

Georgie ends up with an unexpected roommate, Levi Fanning. Levi also grew up in the area! He has the reputation of a troublemaker and a complicated past. Levi has a hard time opening up to new people and doesn’t tend to put himself outside of his comfort zone. Georgie becomes that outside of his comfort zone in this hometown slow burn romance.

It was so much fun to follow along as Georgie returns to her hometown revisiting familiar places and completing tasks from her high school diary. Overall this book is so well written! The characters are deep, emotional, and relatable. It is hard not to fall in love with this storyline!

One of my favorite parts about the book was Georgie’s hometown! It reminded me so much of a special place in Virginia, the Northern Neck. A cluster of small towns about two and a half hours from DC, near the Chesapeake Bay, horrible cell phone service, oysters, docks, antique shops, and a beautiful waterfront Inn. All the small town charms were spot on!

Georgie, All Along releases on January 24th, 2023! I recommend this book if you are looking for a sweet hometown romance that packs a punch! Especially recommending this book to my all Northern Neck friends who enjoy a romance read! You will love reading about Darentville, Iverley, Blue Stone, and The Shoreline!

I loved Georgie, All Along so much that I added all of Kate Clayborn’s romance reads to my TBR!! Can’t wait to check them out.

Thank you, NetGalley and Kensington Books for the chance to read this book in exchange for an honest review!

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️