The following review will be posted on my blog, Sunday, January 22nd, 2 days before publication. It will be shared on Twitter and Instagram between that day and the day of publication, and has already been posted on Goodreads. The blog post includes links to order the books and to its Goodreads page, so readers can add it to their to-be-read books.






“This will be so good for you, Georgie. (…) You’ll finally be able to do all the things you want to do.”

Genre: Romance
Actual Rating: 5 stars
Spicy Meter: 4 fire emojis
Content Warnings: Discussed unhealthy relationships with parents, vandalism and crime, and being fired. Mentions drug use and fire arms. Contains explicit sexual content.

“Georgie, All Along” follows Georgie Mulcahy, a former Hollywood personal assistant, as she moves back to her small hometown to help her pregnant best friend on her last trimester and to figure out what she wants to do with her life moving forward. Whilst cleaning her besties storage room, they find a notebook they wrote right before starting high school, where they documented all the things they wanted to do back then—and then ended up not doing any of them. Georgie takes this as her sign. This notebook-bucketlist-thingy will help her find herself—and with the aid of her best friend and Levi Fanning, the older brother of her biggest teenage crush who’s crashing at Georgie’s parents’ place, she might accomplish just that.

Okay, so, thanks to this book, Kate Clayborn has become an instant-buy author for me. Like, “Georgie, All Along” was the last book I read in 2022 and yet I still know it will end up in my 2023 wrapped, right among my favorite reads of this year. It wasn’t just the spicy aspect to it, even though it was great—this book had so much character growth and development. The miscommunications are infuriating but justified. The love is not a slow-burn but it takes its time to settle in.

If you’re looking for a book that’ll make you feel things, then look no further. “Georgie, All Along”, in all its small town glory, will make you sniffle quite a bit. I don’t remember ever rooting for two characters as strongly as I rooted for Georgie and Levi. I’m all for a supportive significant other. I would legit date them both.

As Levi is a former bad boy, do expect to read about some triggering events. They don’t go into explicit details with drug use and such, but these things are mentioned, so if that isn’t your speed, maybe be careful about this one—although it, overall, isn’t the most prominent matter.

I would highly recommend this book to readers who enjoy close proximity tropes and former-bad-guy vibes, and who aren’t afraid of some spiciness in their reads. The chemistry between Georgie and Levi is undeniably, and they’re making it everyone’s business (and I’m here for it).

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ARC provided by NetGalley and Kensington Books in exchange for an honest review.

Publication Date: January 24, 2023

“It’s a bucket list, (…) except you’re doing it to start something, not to end it. What’s the opposite of a bucket?”

p.s. I would give so much for a friendship like Bel and Georgie’s.

Kate Clayborn does such a lovely job of character development and scene settings. I love her world building and her familiar yet unusual romances. They're great distractions, fluff without being total fluff—and this is no exception. She tackles some serious stuff and is respectful of it, while also writing a story that's at its heart a romance. And a homecoming, to Georgie's hometown as well as to herself. I would even argue that in some ways it's a romance with herself as well as her love interest. I appreciate that while the story setup and arc are what I want in a romance, there's more here to sink your teeth into. It's what Kate Clayborn is so good at. (I will say I could go the rest of my life without hearing "expansive" used as a personality trait, but that's on me.)

4/5 because at times it was a little slow for me and a few things (see: expansive) felt forced or overdone. But overall, very enjoyable. And I now want a soap-opera-worthy dressing gown.

Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington books for the ARC!

Georgie All Along by Kate Clayborn
Story starts out with Georgie and she just arrived back home from the west coast where she was an important assistant to a star.
Back home she's to help her bestie Bel and the birth of her child. They are able to reminisce about the past and how they got to where they are.
The memory book of their teen years is front and center and Georgie wants to finish the pledges and goals she had made. Bel and her plot the things to do.
I have never heard of the write on your arm for a wish but sounds like something a group of us would've done.
She stays at her parents’ house til Levi shows up with his dog and he's staying there also although the parents didn't know when she'd arrive. They are awkward with one another for a time but settle in and actually get to like one another.
She gets a job at the diner his siblings run, and later at the spa. They don't know how close she's become to Levi.
Love ending parts the best when the family actually make appearances in things that do matter.
Misunderstandings break them up and she's miserable and he needs to get his head on straight.
Like this new to me author with detailed descriptions, just handful of characters and story line. Would definitely read more of her stories.
Adult situations.
I received this review book from The Kensington Books and this is my honest opinion.

not gunna lie I only read this one because I have a friend named Georgie and she wanted to know my thoughts to see if she wanted to read it. its safe to say I gave her the green light. I really enjoyed this one and I couldn't put it down. I love Georgie!

This was the best heartwarming and feel-good romance. It made me smile and cry the best kind of tears. Thoroughly enjoyable!

Kate Clayborn does it again. She manages to build these incredibly realistic and deeply human characters and situations and you root so intensely for everyone and it’s just lovely. Like all Clayborn novels, Georgie, All Along made me cry.
It’s a dual perspective romance, which works because it’s the only way we’d have any idea what’s going on with Levi, who is flawed and so lovely and you just want to give him a hug but you know he’d hate it (unless it’s from Georgie). Levi and Georgie are both at crossroads, and they’ve got to work on themselves before they can get the HEA, but you better believe it’s earned.

Every time I start a Kate Clayborn book, I think, “hmm, I’m not sure I’m going to like this plot based on the description” but I needn’t worry, because she makes every plot (featuring lottery winners or calligraphers who hide messages in wedding invitations or nostalgic women who try to convince real estate developers of the loveliness of an old apartment building) worth it and grounds it in reality. Georgie finds a book of her writings from eighth grade and decides to do the things that she hadn’t accomplished but the story of her plan doesn’t ever become saccharine or sacrifice character for plot.

Sigh, this book was lovely and I can’t wait for others to read it. (Also, Bel is such a great best friend character and I want more of Levi’s brother and sister and Georgie’s parents!)

I received an arc from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Georgie, All Along by Kate Clayborn is the story of Georgie, a newly jobless after her movie star boss decided to go for early retirement and no longer needs a personal assistant. Left adrift and unsure of her wants after spending so many years dealing with everyone else's wants, Georgie decides to go back home to Darentville and help her childhood best friend, Bel, finish moving in her house and prepare for new baby, despite the reputation she has from high school as being somewhat irresponsible. In a town like Darentville, that is not something people easily forget

But Georgie's plans are derailed when she finds Bel has no need of help and her parents are off on a road trip across the country, and the town black sheep is house-sitting at her parents house and sleeping in her childhood bedroom. Georgie is at a loss of what to do, that is until she finds her old notebook from high school. With all the plans she had from jumping off the high rock to graffiti her intiials on the high school wall, Georgie decides that ticking off this list she made was she was in 8th grade will help her find the direction she needs now and Levi is her new companion in the quest to find the new Georgie, but will she find out that the new Georgie is in fact the old Georgie all along?

Once again, Clayborn delivers a masterclass in sweet romance. Highly recommend!

Note: I received a complementary copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

Georgie, All Along pretty much confirms that I will read anything by Kate Clayborn.

Georgie Mulcahy is a caregiver, at heart, and a made a career of caring for other people as a Hollywood personal assistant. She thrives when she is supporting other people in pursuing their goals. For most of the book, she's sees this as a failing when she is dismissed from her job. Georgie returns home to North Carolina to figure out what she is supposed to do with her life with the love and support of her family and friends. But maybe she figures out that she's always been following her calling and that maybe the people around her don't have their lives as figured out as Georgie thought they did.

This is also a really sweet grumpy/sunshine romance when Georgie has to share a house with Levi Fanning. Levi is a black sheep in his own family. After years of being a troublemaker, all he wants to do is keep his head down, work and take care of his dog. Georgie and Levi are so sweet together.

I really love Clayborn's storytelling and the humor that she injects in sensitive topics. There is always an underlying theme of some parental abandonment and that's true in Georgie, All The Way. I love all of the secondary characters in this small town romance especially Georgie's mom and dad. This was a fun, light read that's perfect for the beach, come summertime.

📒 Book Review 📒

Thanks to @netgalley and @kensingtonbooks for early access to this book in exchange for my honest review.

✔️ Forced Proximity
✔️ Coming Home Again
✔️ Grumpy/Sunshine

Georgie, All Along by Kate Clayborn was such a lovely read. It was the perfect balance of humor and heart - all the characters felt fully formed and real and wonderful and wonderfully flawed.

Sometimes grumpy/sunshine is over the top (and sometimes that's fine!). However, I loved how grounded it was here in the characters of Georgie and Levi. He's not an angry-surly grump - he's a quiet and controlled and stoic one. She's not a bubbly and effervescent sunshine - she's social and chatty and a little out of the box and game for anything. I loved that - and I loved how they just complemented each other.

I adored the build up of the romance between the two of them as well - it felt like a good quiet simmer with all the mutual pining and I felt like I was vibrating with that "Omg just boil over and kiss already whyyyyyy is it taking so long" feeling.

The secondary characters are excellent here as well. Loved Georgie's BFF and Georgie's softie parents and Levi's siblings too. And Hank, the dog, the best third wheel.

I give this 5⭐️ and I highly recommend especially if you love the above tropes. Also, it kind of hit me the same as The Dead Romantics (though this has no ghosts but more steam). This publishes on January 24!

Steam 🔥🔥
Banter 🗣️🗣️🗣️
Swoon 💕💕💕💕💕

Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC. Typically I don't tend to do well with angst. The deeper I get into the story, the more I start to feel like one or both main characters needs therapy (or more of it) than they need a partner.

This, however, was not one of those books. Yes, the characters have issues, some long-wrestled with, and yes, they have stuff they need to work on, but the angst doesn't overwhelm the story, and creates just enough friction. It's clear how they can help and nurture each other without being some deus ex machina solution to any and all trauma. It's really well done and sweet as all Clayborn romances tend to be.

There are also a lot of refreshingly "regular folks" elements in the story. No billionaires here, no people so quirky you kind of worry about their stability. Yes, there is quirkiness (again, Clayborn) — Team Rodney! — and there is a variety of people, and some gentrification, so money does play a part. But this is just a variety of folks living and loving and figuring things out. And not always getting it right. There was something really refreshing about it.

There was plenty to dig into with the world and the love story, and very satisfying, though it felt like a really fast read. It also felt like there was potential for several other books in a series... or not, which I also find to be a sign of success. Overall, sweet, substantial, very human, and highly recommended.

I loved Kate Clayborn’s LOVE LETTERING so jumped at the chance to review her upcoming book. Life can be messy - sometimes it’s not easy to find your way, especially after you’ve been running away for so long. GEORGIE, ALL ALONG captures this beautifully. 4🌟.

The story centres around Georgie. Previously living in LA as a personal assistant, an unexpected upheaval sends her back to her hometown - where she comes across the diary she wrote with her best friend whilst in high school. The diary was filled with a bucklist of things she wanted to do. Georgie has the horrible realisation, she’s been burying her head in the sand when it comes to living.

Enter Levi, super hot brother of her high school crush, also with many of his own past demons he is struggling with. Levi offers to help her in her quest to fulfil her teenage wishlist. Will this task help them both find their way?

Things I loved:

Flawed and complex characters
Small town romance
Told from alternating POVs between Georgie ad Levi
Laugh out loud moments
Thought Provoking

My heart - this charming book left me feeling happy and hopeful. I definitely recommend, especially if you’re feeling a bit lost. You’ll realise, you’re not alone. Out Jan 24. Posting on Instagram this week.

Georgie, All Along is a heartbreakingly tender and beautiful book about finding your way. It is a book about how life can be messy sometimes – like the book’s heroine, Georgie, is – but it is all the more wonderful because of it. And even though things are hard sometimes we don’t need to have all the answers, we just need a soft place to land.

This was my first book by Kate Clayborn and I was overjoyed to receive an ARC – and I have already preordered a physical copy, too, because I can so see myself rereading this in the summer, sitting on a dock of a bay somewhere, with my feet in the water and a warm breeze rustling my hair. This book is like a warm summer’s day, or the perfect cup of coffee in the morning, or a nice warm hug – the story wrapped me in and made me feel all warm inside. And even though the story sounds pretty simple – a young woman returns to her hometown ten years after graduating high school and while also trying to find herself finds her soulmate in the local grump – it is anything but because the writing is so beautiful and the story, told from two different points of view, paints such a vivid picture of who Georgie and Levi used to be, who they are now, and who they might want to be in the future – even though there is more to life than making plans and living head, as they both come to realize. I already know this will be one of my favorite books of the year.

emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted medium-paced
Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0

I don’t have enough words for how perfect this was. Kate Clayborn has a way of filling your heart all the way up with her stories. Georgie and Levi’s was no different. I loved this book very much.

Georgie and Levi are the kind of people who just share something special! Kate Clayborn did a terrific job of walking us through the development of their relationship…the ups and the downs! Loved this story and the ending!

The way Kate Clayborn understands romance and intimacy, whew....

Georgie, all along is such a quiet, angsty, satisfying novel that it's a good thing my family left me in this house alone - my feelings never would've fit with everyone here!

Clayborn has once again given us characters that try and are admirable and flawed; they are beyond appealing and lovable. They are so recognizable in their struggles and thoughts that this book was engaging from the beginning to the end. I got so caught up that I was nothing by a puddle by the time Harry's shoes are slapping in the hallway and I'm left wondering why do they give me these arcs when I can barely put together a coherent thought. I just wind up a puddle of feelings after Kate murders me with that pen.

Her books, tonally, are super similar. She can write a rural river town as well as she writes typography. in a city. The setting here lives and breathes as much as any character. I love how connected to the space she made Levi, and how <I> expansive </I> Georgie was. I thought the execution of "do overs" and going back among the best I've seen in this genre. She uses dual point of view and I find Levi's distinct, but it has the side effect of his chapters feeling a little rougher. Nothing that detracted, but for one of the best writers doing this they didn't feel as carefully constructed as her other writing. I'd say this was purposeful - and maybe it was- but Levi was not impulsive or thoughtless - or rough! and I don't know that it always fit narratively. But that is like 1 point deduction of 100. maybe it might help if Clayborn wrote a book I didn't like so I didn't have to feel like a fan girl. I also heavily related to Georgie, the best kind of person of chaos with a knack for problem-solving. I don't want to sell any kind of part of this book short. It is wonderful.

Or even so I could write some kind of reasonable review?

Anyway, I love her themes here on home, something she really seems to like to highlight in her writing. The way she writes love and intimacy. It's the best kind of comfort.

Oh my God, I loved this book SO MUCH. I absolutely understand why Kate Clayborn has super fans. This is the third book I've read from her and while I loved the other two, I LOVED this one with all CAPS and explanation points!!!!!! All the feels in this one. ALL. THE. FEELS. Levy, especially, was so well developed and I felt like I really knew him. His backstory, his current "hang-ups", his love for Georgie were so well done. A beautiful romance with two engaging main characters, a loving dog, and side characters that really brought the pages to life. It's only the second day of the year and I already predict this will be one of my favorite books of 2023.

Loved it. So happy that I decided to give this author another try. I did not finish one of her books previously. Just couldn't get into it. This one kept me turning the pages, laughing and crying. Thanks to the publisher for providing a copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary.

Georgie, All Along by Kate Clayborn is my first book of 2023, and my first Kate Clayborn book. It is a sweet, small-town contemporary romance, with characters who are both struggling with their lives, but very open to changing and improving. Despite having vastly different family dynamics, Georgie and Levi really connect and their story is heartwarming and satisfying.

Thank you to the Publisher and NetGalley for giving me this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Georgie, All Along is a sweet story about finding yourself after far too long trying to run away. Georgie has always loved helping people and is quite good at it, but when her former employer moved on and suggested that Georgie do something for herself, it threw Georgie into a tailspin. She tries to second-guess herself by going through her old teenage journal, which proves unsuccessful. Her unanticipated roommate helps her see herself in a different light and makes all the difference as they both find love. I really enjoyed the characters and situations in this story. I recommend.

Georgie, All Along is a contemporary romance by the author of Love Lettering, Kate Clayborn. After losing her PA job in Los Angeles, free-spirited Georgie returns home to a small town in Virginia until she decides what to do with her life. There she meets a reformed bad boy and a former troublemaker, Levi. In recent years Levi turned his life around. He leads a quiet, trouble-free life until Georgie's arrival.

Georgie, All Along is an enjoyable small-town romance with interesting characters and a sweet love story. I had fun reading it, but I didn't love it as much as Love Lettering.