Every once in a while reader magic happens and you come across a book you need in the exact moment you need it.

GEORGIE, ALL ALONG was that book for me. This is about as close to perfect as books get.

I like Kate Clayborn’s books just fine but she has a knack for writing characters I frequently want to shout at or simply bonk their heads together, that is characters who are frustrating in the manner in which they manage to get in their own way so often. I had a similar reaction in the early half of Georgie All Along, at a point where I was semi sympathetic towards both characters but hadn’t spent enough time with them to really care. However, as Clayborn does, they finally got their acts together, though not without some time apart to grow and figure their own stuff out outside the relationship (another trait of hers I'm noticing).

Sometimes going back can lead you in a different direction. Georgie learns this. SHe is not in the space she wants to be, but a trip back to her hometown will put her in position to be who she should be.

I loved this story it was heartfelt and fun. It kept me reading. I look forward to reading more by this author

Georgie All Along by Kate Clayborn
Rating (3/4) ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Publishing Date - 1/24/23
Thank you Netgalley and Kensington books for an arc of this book. I enjoyed this story. Cute rom-com. Looking forward to reading more of her books in the future.

I adored this book. From the very first words I was hooked. I was invested. I cared for these characters deeply and felt all the feels. I don't know how this author does it, but she always writes characters that I love so so much, that I want nothing but happiness for. Books that leave me with a hangover in the best of ways. Books that make me feel.

Georgie and Levi grew up in the same small town, but they didn't know each other back then. Georgie left and ended up in LA working as a personal assistant and living her life...until suddenly she doesn't have that anymore. Until suddenly she is supposed to think about what she wants and she doesn't know. The future is just blank like it has always been. Oh, I adored Georgie. She is pretty opposite of me in most ways so it was interesting to see her make her way, but she was the sweetest person. She cares so much for others and always makes things better for them. That is like her superpower even if she doesn't realize it. She was wonderful and I loved how she saw Levi right from the start. Saw what an amazing person he is and was drawn to him immediately.

Levi is like my kryptonite. Big, quiet, grumpy teddy bear. Oh, how I adore characters like this. He was so kind and so wonderful and oh, I loved him so so much! He has a lot of baggage, he wasn't always the best person in the past, but he is trying so hard to just be okay now. Oh, my heart broke for him. He is so afraid of bringing others down he kind of closed himself off for a long time. Until Georgie comes in and upends everything.

These two were perfect for each other. So similar in many ways and just wonderful to read. I loved being wrapped up in their world and watching it all play out. I loved the care they had and how they really saw each other. They were everything and I never wanted this book to end. This was one of those stories that I got so into reading that time just passed without me realizing it. I got to the end of the book and came back to the real world and realize how late it was. How it had gotten dark already without me noticing it. That is the mark of a great read. If you are already a fan of this author you will probably love this one as well. If not this is a great place to jump right in. I heart Georgie and Levi!

Thanks to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book

Thank you Netgalley & Kensington for the ARC. I am a big fan of Kate Clayborn books and this one didn't disappoint.

Georgie is a messy, wonderful and expansive character and her journey to self-discovery and connection gave me all the warm fuzzies. Levi's complex history and grumpy demeanor played well as a counterpoint to Georgie. I enjoyed the alternating perspectives and the added layers and personal growth throughout.

I would rate this at 3.5 stars over all.

A small town romance between the town "bad boy" and a woman back in town after living in LA for the last few years

Georgie is back in town staying at her parents house after living in LA as the assistant to the a successful director. She has never made plans for the future or figured out what she wants from life. After a mix up that has her and Levi, the town bad boy and recluse staying together in her parents house, they get to know each other even as they are both complete opposites. Georgie goes on a journey of figuring out what she wants from life and doing things for herself. While Levi learns to open up, and not define himself by who he used to be.

I appreciated this book showing that not having it together is okay, and the pressure imposed by those around you don't have to define your life. The self discovery aspect was really well done, the romantic plot was lacking though. I did not believe the chemistry between the characters. There were also a lot of moments that did not feel fully fleshed out.

There was a bit too much internal monologue about what a loser she feels like from Georgie for me. I just kept feeling embarrassed for her. The love interest is a broody, silent guy who turns out to be a real softie. His dog, Hank, was one of the best parts of the book for me.

I voluntarily reviewed an advanced reader copy of this book that I received from Netgalley; however, the opinions are my own and I did not receive any compensation for my review.

As someone named Georgia, I hate reading books where the main character has my name or something super close to it. It gives me the ick, and I always struggle to fully immerse myself in the story because I spend the whole time trying to rid myself of that ick. But I love Kate Clayborn's writing so I trusted her, and let me say this: the representation in this book of how people constantly sing to you/ reference to you every song in existence that has the word Georgia in it, if your name is Georgia/Georgia adjacent is off the charts, A+ to KC on that alone. because for some reason having that in the story allowed me to let go of the ick. I cannot explain why, but it just worked. I will admit that there is a lot going on in this book, which maybe for some readers might make it a challenging read, but for me made it so fully nuanced and realistic. The characterization of the town, the relationship between Georgie and her best friend Bel, Georgie's parents, Hank the dog, the entire "friend-fic plot (which quite honestly for me was the part that was the weakest for me). I could deep dive into any one of these areas of the story (minus that last one) and spend twelve pages examining how KC is a genius for including them as part of the plot. But seriously, I loved this book. I loved Georgie and I loved Levi even more. He is the grump of the grumpy-sunshine dynamic, but he is so much more than just that. He is so vulnerable and sweet and noble, and the way that he loves Georgie and shows that love is just *chefs kiss*, swoon, gut punch, heart melt, all of it all at once. Lastly, the writing. Oh the writing. After Kennedy Ryan, KC easily has the best contemporary romance prose. It's both simple and stylistic at the same time, and it never feels like it's too much. All in all, this book is excellent and I already know that it will be on everyone's list of favourite books from 2023.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Georgie, All Along was a lovely read. The characters that Clayborn created felt real, and as I followed them throughout the book, my heart strings were pulled as they worked through the issues posed to them. Levi was a wonderful grumpy cinnamon roll of a character who has a hidden soft interior; and Hank stole the show as well. I found the issues that the couple faced realistic, but I do wish that Georgie was using something other than the friend fic to guide her time at home. I felt that there wasn't enough description of what was in the friend fic, asides from Evan's name with hearts for the a's.

Aside from that small quibble, this was a great read that readers of Kate Clayborn, Emily Henry, and other contemporary romance authors would really enjoy!

Oh man I loved this book.

Georgie Mulcahy has spent the majority of her adult life being a personal assistant to Hollywood royalty. After her last employer quits showbiz and leaves her unemployed Georgie isn’t sure what to do with herself any more. She finds herself back in her hometown staying at her parents’ house while they are out of town. Back in her hometown where old inadequacies start to surface, Georgie has to figure out what she wants next in life now that she’s starting to realize her life has been all about helping others live their best life. She comes upon a old journal she wrote in HS and decides to live out her old plans and dreams in hopes of figuring out a new plan for her life when she runs smack into Levi Fanning.Turns out her parents had also agreed to let Levi stay at their house while they were gone creating an uncomfortable situation. As Levi and Georgie start to work around each other and co-exist the pull they feel towards each other cannot be denied. Will old ghosts keep them from finding happiness in the now?
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This book is everything I love in a book. Small town dynamics— faced proximity — family drama — a grumpy cinnamon roll hero — fun pet characters. I mean, that is the recipe for a winner in my opinion. Add in Kate Clayborn’s beautiful writing style and this is a 5 star read.

Clayborn’s writing is swoon worthy. I love her stories with her amazing cinnamon rolls and poetic love stories. This one is maybe her best though. The family dynamics in this one will make your heart squeeze. These characters are the kind that stay with you for a long time. The way these two found each other amongst all of the small town politics and framing drama is sweet and beautiful.

This book is a solid 5 stars and one of my favorites of the year for sure! Be sure to grab this one on release day. You will not regret it.

I voluntarily read an advanced copy to this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

My heart is bursting with all the feels!!
I really REALLY loved Georgie, All Along. If you’ve ever felt like you just didn’t fit because your life goals/plans have just felt blank, you’ll feel so seen here. Not everyone has a clear path for their lives and this book really helps point out that that’s ok too.
I absolutely adored the love and friendship that develops between Georgie and Levi. And the friendship between Georgie and Bel is so sweet and funny and truly a balanced friendship that reminds me of myself and my closest friends.
KC is the queen of quippy dialogue and spicy love scenes that you just don’t want to end. Plus, the characters are so well developed and so relatable. Perfection.

Advanced copy of this book provided by NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review.

Grab your tissues, another masterpiece from Kate Clayborn.

Georgie returns home after sort of losing her job and intends on regaining her own narrative. There she meets Levi, or rather ends up rooming with him in her quirky parents' house, who has spent years rebuilding his life and local reputation. It's grumpy meets sunshine the way only Clayborn can do it.

Georgie is a little not NLOG but not in an obnoxious way: she's independent and competent. She worked in Hollywood and I greatly appreciate the way Clayborn talked about LA without making a mockery of it. I loved Levi as the strong silent type (with a Pinterest!!) who recognizes when he messes up with Georgie and really makes an effort to make things right, who owns his shit. And Hank, poor, sweet, farting Hank!

I could tell what would cause the third act break up but I liked the way she pulled it off and how it allowed for other aspects of Levi's life to mend (and this is where I truly lost it).

Levi could give Reid from Love Lettering a run for his money. Almost.

Not to forget about Bel and Henry (with the nice shirts).

Anyway, this book was fantastic and funny and warm and filled my heart to bursting.

A sweet romance blend between the homecoming and roommate tropes with enough of a twist to keep it interesting. The love interest isn’t her high school sweetheart, it’s his older brother that she never knew! It was a nice story, but I didn’t feel a connection with the characters.

Big thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

Amazing!!!! I have always CONSUMED anything by Kate Clayborn. Her poetic writing is just a spoon full of sugar for me.

Oh my sweet Georgie, your quirk is my kind of nectar. And your broody forced roommate, YUMM!! Levi Fanning does the things as an on page book boyfriend.

My only beef is that we had to wait so long for them to communicate. I hate lack of communication. This is a me problem though, not a book problem.

Thanks Sourcebooks for the advanced copy! This is a WINNER

Thanks so much to Kensington Press and NetGalley!

This was such a good read!

Georgie's job as a personal assistant is ending so she returns home to her small town. Her parents are traveling, so she thinks she will be alone in their house. Except she isn't alone. Her parents forgot to tell her that they are letting Levi Fanning stay at the house while his is undergoing renovations.

Georgie is also helping her childhood best friend Bel prepare for the birth of her child. While cleaning out a room, Georgie and Bel discover an old notebook from high school with different ideas to help someone start anew. She decides she's going to do everything in the notebook.

I loved this book because there's a bit of a love story as well as stories about friendship, families, and starting over/finding yourself. It's not distracting but a beautiful quilt of perfectly written stories that are touching. I will check out more from this author!

Unfortunately this was a major issue for me.
this was so incredibly internal and long winded. I personally needed more action and less internal speculation about would of could of should of, etc.

Georgie and Levi were the perfect pair in theory and it all worked out in the book, but when Levi could only muster up one or two word responses in all conversations, I checked out.

This had the right supporting characters, the cute dog, the wounded love birds, but it was so slow and long winded and repetitive for it to click for me. Sadly this didn’t work for me.

This was a fairly enjoyable read overall, but it felt overly long and drawn out for me.

Georgie All Along is about a woman trying to figure out what she wants out of life after her boss up and quits her career, leaving Georgie, her personal assistant, very abruptly. Georgie’s pregnant best friend begs her to come home for a while as she figures out what her next move will be, and as they go through their childhood treasures she finds a “friend fic” that the girls wrote together as a kind of way to imagine how they can conquer high school—basically stories about the experiences they hoped to have. Georgie decides to try to have these experiences now to see if she can figure out who she wants to be? I guess? Even though this is supposed to be the plot of the book, this part often seemed like an afterthought.

Anyway, she encounters Levi Fanning, the reformed local bad boy, in her house (forced proximity trope) and they proceed to develop feelings.

This book is soooo internal, which makes it feel slow paced and way too long. Levi is monosyllabic to the point that I don’t understand how Georgie fell in love with him, and although his POV chapters are very sweet, he’s painted as such a wounded bird that I was expecting a big emotional payoff when he finally confronted his family—which we never really get.

The friend fic should have been the driver for events throughout the book, and yet it felt like it was almost forgotten, and I didn’t buy into how it would help Georgie in the first place. Given that she was working in L.A. I figured maybe it would become her idea for a screenplay, but instead they just spray painted a rock and jumped into a river and called it a day.

The forced proximity trope also had promise, but that ended around 50% into the book! Why?! Once you commit to a situation, stay with it!

There is a bit of spice in this book, two scenes with medium detail. I would have wanted more tension building up to it though.

Not a bad book by any means, I just felt like I wanted more.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Oh my, I just found my new favorite author.

Georgie is a free spirit, who found herself as personal assistant to a big shot in Hollywood. Except now, her old boss is reinventing herself and doesn’t need Georgie.

Levi started off as nothing but trouble in a small town but has been making amends quietly and stoically every since while being disowned from his family. Too bad Georgie’s 8th grade journal is all about her and Evan, Levi’s younger brother and their dream life together. Because - Georgie might just be what finally cracks the Levi-shell.

What this book has, that I didn’t see coming, is a real look at a father-son dynamic which is almost never discussed. Levi and his Dad have had some really bad moments, and that has affected his family more then Levi ever realized. Digging into this with his brother, these are some of my favorite scenes in the book.

Loved this book.

Flew through this rom com! It was so enjoyable—part romance, part womans fiction, and part comedy. It all fit together seamlessly. I loved Georgie do much. She was such a fun and likeable main character. I really loved her relationships with all the side characters too, it added so much flavor.

I cannot wait for more from Clayborn.