Georgie Mulcahy has been in California for the past few years - busy living her life as a personal assistant in Hollywood. But Georgie soon finds herself without a job and on her way back home to the small town she grew up in.

Georgie isn't all too excited to be back home - high school wasn't always the best for Georgie and gossip spreads fast in a small town. But her best friend has since settled down there so it can't be all bad, right?! And while helping her friend get settled into her new home, Georgie comes across a fanfic she wrote. Most of it was silly stuff, but a lot of it was stuff that Georgie still wants to do - like jump off a pier and paint the town rock. Georgie feels restless being back in her hometown and maybe these small things will help her feel more in control of her life.

One person who is definitely not making her feel settled is resident hermit and once badboy Levi Fanning. The only Fanning Georgie was aware of was Levi's brother Evan and she had a huge heart eyes crush on him growing up. Levi Fanning is a man of a few words and when Georgie and Levi end up accidentally rooming together (whoops!) it's awkward and uncomfortable until they get to know one another.

When Levi offers to help Georgie with her list, they slowly begin to discover more about each other and themselves in the process. Will they try to make their budding relationship into something more, when Georgie never really wanted to settle down in her hometown in the first place?

I have read a few books by Kate Clayborn now and I seriously feel like every single book of hers is somehow better than the last?! And that's saying something because they have all been five star reads for me. I have so many pages and passages highlighted from Georgie, All Along. Passages about second chances, friendships, forgiveness and of course swoony love.

Georgie and Levi had so much chemistry and I loved their interactions. They were so patient and kind to one another. Forgiving their past transgressions because both of them were different people now than the ones they were in high school.

Kate's writing is always so beautiful. The way she talks about relationships - whether that be romantic relationships or relationships that her characters have with friends or family - really feels like she's speaking directly to you.

Highly highly recommend Georgie, All Along if you're looking for a book about second chances, friendships and love.

I loved this book! Thank you so much to the publisher, Kate Clayborn, and NetGalley for the early chance to read “Georgie, All Along.” This book was one of my most highly anticipated releases for next year and it did not disappoint. The characters were so strongly drawn, I wanted to befriend all of them. The romance between Levi and Georgie was sweet and romantic and beautifully paced. It is the kind of book you finish reading and want to immediately read it again. It is definitely a 5 star read and I highly recommend this book to all readers of contemporary romance.

4.5 Stars! Kate Clayborn does it again! I have LOVED her previous titles and Georgie, All Along is my new favorite. I love how the writing and dialogue has the feel of a romance without the cheesiness that can be so common. I loved the characters backstories, the side characters and their quirks, and also the ability that the author has for creating characters that you really do feel like you know.

Some detailed steamy scenes, but not frequent!

Thank you to Netgalley and Kensington Books for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review!

This is a romance full of whimsy, yet with its feet still firmly planted in reality. A very refreshing read, full of believable characters and behaviors. Georgie and Levi grow separately and together, and build a very down-to-earth relationship.

This is dual POV, which I usually greatly dislike, but it didn't bother me much here. It has the added advantage of giving insight into Levi's brain, without which he might come off as a bit of a jerk. However, the limited time spent in each character's perspective does create some distance between the reader and the characters.

Hugely solid and competent, but perhaps not iconic. Love Kate Clayborn forever, however.

There’s nothing like a Kate Clayborn novel, and Georgie, All Along might just be my favorite yet. It has definitely cemented her as my favorite romance novelist writing contemporary right now.

This book is magic. It sucks you in, making you feel like you’re right there in the room with Georgie and Levi — in her parents’ cluttered house, out on the docks, making your way through her ‘friend fiction’ list. I really, really loved everything about this story: Georgie’s journey of self-discovery, her friendship with Bel, and of course Levi Fanning. I am in love with Levi Fanning. If you like your romance heroes grumpy with a heart of gold, this is your guy.

I can’t recommend this book enough. Kate Clayborn deserves all the stars for this one.

Georgie has moved back to her hometown looking to rediscover the personal momentum for her life she once documented in a “friend fic” she and her best friend wrote before high school. Levi is a former town trouble-maker just keeping his head down and working hard to keep away the reputation of his youth. Levi offers to help Georgie on her path to rediscovery, and the two become inseparable as they are able to cut through the outward persona and reputations they’ve been given to see the truest, brightest, and loveliest versions of each other.

I am absolutely in love with this story. Georgie is so open and connected to everything and everyone, even when she’s unsure of where they’re intentions lie. Levi is the sweetest cinnamon-roll hero who deserves the happy ending he gets in this book. both characters are in need of some understanding and acceptance for the life they’ve chosen to have, and Georgie and Levi are able to be that for each other. neither of them were very understood by the people where they grew up and now live; both though can see the kind and loving souls beneath the surface which means the world to them for different reasons.

the themes of family and friendship in this book are truly beautiful. we see two very different types of families, and how they affected each character. I don’t know if I’ve ever wanted so badly a happy ending for a family-friend unit as much as the MC’s in a book ever. I will say I was not disappointed, and the way all the people who love each other come together at the end is truly lovely (it made me cry).

I loved Georgie and Levi together so much. even after a bit of a bumpy start, neither of them let’s fear or insecurity stand in the way of something they know can be amazing. I was a little worried at first this might be a love triangle trope, but it absolutely is not. this is a beautiful story of beautiful people who find peace and security in themselves, each other, and their loved ones. one of my absolute favorites 💛

(there were several typos and grammar infractions right now but ik this will be edited out later. I didn’t include that in rating the book)

My heart is so *so* full. 🧡 This book is so beautiful, and so beautifully written, too.

To oversimplify the basic plot, it goes like this: Georgie goes back to her small hometown after losing her job to "find herself". She planned to crash at her parents' place while they're away, but was met with a surprise: Levi, former town badboy and trouble maker, current town hermit. Levi was staying at Georgie's parents' place temporarily (while his house gets fixed), unbeknown to Georgie. Forced proximity and meaningful interactions has both their walls lowering. If only they could both let go of their pasts to make space for their future.

The story might sound familiar, but let me tell you right now, it's *so* much more than that. It is filled with meaningful, emotional, and engaging content. This book just envelopes and immerses you completely. The story and the characters, their arcs, are honest, and tender and just truly heartfelt.

𝘌𝘹𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘷𝘦. 🧡

I first read a teaser sample for "Georgie, All Along" in Publishers Lunch's Buzz Books: Romance, and was quickly hooked, so once I saw it was available to request on NetGalley, I jumped immediately. I've been wanting to read Kate Clayborn's books for a while now, as reviewers have recommended them as really well-written contemporary romances, and I'm glad I got the chance to read this newest one!

"Georgie, All Along" focuses on questions and worries I'm sure many young people have: Am I good enough? What is my purpose in life? Does my past define me? After losing her job, Georgie moves back home and wonders about her future -- she feels lost and without purpose, and then she stumbles across a notebook from high school laying out all sorts of fun plans and things to do before graduation. Georgie sets out to complete those goals, trying to do all of the adventurous things that the younger her came up with, thinking this might be the key to discovering a new path in life. A complication in these plans is an unexpected roommate -- Levi, who was known as a troublemaker back in Georgie's high school days, and who's been estranged from his family for years. The two discover they have a lot more in common with each other than they thought, and together, begin to work out their insecurities and past traumas.

This was a really sweet book. It balances humor with healing, and I felt the moments of romance were done really well (maybe a little cheesy, but I truly loved watching Georgie and Levi's relationship progress!). I also loved the supporting characters, especially Georgie's parents and her best friend Bel. This is a great contemporary romance, and I'm excited to dig into Clayborn's backlog of books.

Thank you to Kensington Books for providing me a digital review copy of "Georgie, All Along" via NetGalley!

This book is IT.

Like, it is truly spectacular.

I was sucked in from page one, and generally didn't do ~life~ for 24 hours because of how invested I was in this story. I could NOT put it down. It was lovely, and raw, and real, and incredibly swoony and compelling. The writing is incredible. The characters are genuine, and I felt so *seen* in so many parts of this story. This book is a journey of the best, most heartfelt, heart-wrenching, and transformative kind.

GEORGIE ALL ALONG is a book I'm going to be re-reading and keeping close to my heart for a long time.

A big thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Books for the e-ARC in exchange for my honest, unbiased review.

I've been a huge Kate Clayborn fan since her breakout novel Love Lettering, and Georgie, All Along is now my favorite Clayborn yet. In her talented hands, the cliched "good girl falls in love with the town's bad boy" gets a new twist: both MCs have reputations of being wild and (in Levi's case) dangerous. When Georgie Mulcahy loses her LA job as a personal assistant, she decides to come home to Virginia for the first time in a decade. She plans to stay just long enough to figure out the next steps, give the finger to the teachers and others who thought she'd never amount to anything, and help her BFF Bel, who is expecting her first child. An old notebook of "friend fiction" that the BFFs wrote as young teenagers, spelling out their fantasies of all the wonderful things they would do in high school, serves as Georgie's inspiration: she will do all of the things her younger self imagined, and that will somehow lead her to her true path, the antidote to her lack of vocational direction.

Levi Fanning acted out all through his childhood, which led to some disastrously bad choices in the service of defying his controlling father, who tried unsuccessfully to mold Levi into his own preppy image. He's been back in Darentville for a few years, keeping his head down and running his small dock repair business. He still feels pretty broken inside, so his initial interactions with Georgie are surly and blunt. But when the two become unlikely housemates, Levi slowly starts to open up, and a spontaneous kiss from Georgie eventually becomes a passionate relationship. But his insecurities and Georgie's determination to pick a career path instead of drifting along might mean their affair is a short one.

I really liked Georgie, who lives to be helpful to others, but only sees a blank space where her future is concerned. Clayborn always does good female friendship subplots; Georgie fears that her relationship with Bel is growing more distant, but the real reason for the change is unexpected. Georgie's parents are modern hippies whom Georgie views with one part embarrassment and two parts loving gratitude. Even Darentville is interesting; what was once a unremarkable, slightly shabby town is now a tourist attraction, so the "heroine returns to small town and finds love" trope collides head first with redevelopment and gentrification.

But Levi just steals the book away. I'm so glad Clayborn uses dual POV so we can see what he is thinking and feeling even when he's silent. His stoic exterior hides a wounded but kind heart. You can see it when he interacts with his dog Hank (whose timely farts diffuse several tense situations), and as he supports Georgie's quest, even if he doesn't quite understand it. He experiences a lot of growth in the book, and Clayborn's unusual decision to let him narrate the last chapter (in dual POV the heroine usually wraps up the book) demonstrates that she's aware that Levi is one of her best, most complex, and lovable heroes.

Clayborn writes with depth, humor, chemistry, and a talent for staging both the Third Act Breakup and the Big Groveling Gesture. The book feels grittier than either Love Lettering or Love at First, which takes it out of the fairytale realm. But that just makes the love story that much more rewarding.

ARC received by Netflix in exchange for honest review.


comme

can’t thank netgalley and kensington books enough for this arc!!!

oh kate clayborn, how i’ve missed you. and that’s saying a lot when i find myself rereading my favorite parts of luck of the draw every other day.

my heart is so full right now and i loved these fictional people so much, definitely a 5 stars read!! georgie, all along is a beautiful story not about reinventions, but about going back on what you currently know and knew about yourself, and trying to find yourself through all of that. beautiful, hurt, humans feeling lost, seeing how and where they fit in, humans with a range of emotions and feelings that can go from perfectly normal to oh so complex, complicated. my favorite kind of story!!!

i loved georgie’s character a lot, her family, bel and harry, levi’s siblings, levi… oh levi, how much i loved this man!!!! but who are we kidding, it wasn’t georgie, it was hank, all along. hank’s the main character here.

Maybe the love story was a little bit rushed for me, because I love pinning and slow burns. But it works for Georgie, and how she is in life.

This was soft but also full of raw feelings, and exactly the type of romance I needed to read in one sitting.

Thank you netgalley for the ARC !

Oh, my heart! This book is so adorable and I loved to see Georgie find her path in her own way in her own time. They're both just so likeable and real and I rooted for them both so hard.

I also love books that are lower on the drama scale, and where adults can have adult conversations without flipping out over miscommunications (looking at you, 80% of romance novels out there). Georgie and Levi had some stuff to get through, but they did it like actual mature grown ups which I really appreciate. I love them and their story so much and will recommend this one to anyone and everyone!

P. S. At first I was a little confused as to why this whole to-do list thing was so important to Georgie and her storyline, and yet we really didn't participate in much of the actual items with them at all, but I've decided I love everything else so much I just don't care.

P. P. S. I don't even like dogs but the truth is Hank is the best dog ever and he also deserves 5 stars all on his own ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ those are for you Hank, you earned ‘em

I'm a big fan of Kate Clayborn but this one was a miss for me. The first 20% was just unbelievably slow. I had a hard time getting engaged with any of the characters, and when there was a hint of an upcoming romance with Levi amidst that, I didn't really feel any chemistry or excitement about it. It felt like the first 20% could be condensed into about a fourth of what it is now. I'm just not sure if I would have kept going if I had borrowed the book from the library instead of getting an arc on netgalley.

3.5 ⭐️ I really wanted to love this one. And parts of it I did. I just felt the character development was lacking. Things seemed to drag and happen suddenly all at the same time. It took me way too long to connect to the main characters. That was probably my biggest issue with the book. Plus I didn’t love Levi. He was just meh for me so it made it hard to get into. I know I’m in the minority because so many loved this one. I didn’t dislike it I just didn’t love it. And I’d definitely read a sequel.

Personal assistant Georgie has never put herself before others. She came across an old book that she wrote as a teenager and it became a guidebook for her. Levi, one time troublemaker and current town hermit offerred to help her and the two become close....

Love the chemistry between the two main characcters. It's a cute story filled with some serious issues... The story is magical and very sweet. I really enjoy it.

Thanks to the publisher for the arc.

Kate Clayborn is an auto-buy for me, and her newest romance Georgie, All Along confirms her place as a top tier romance author. A burned out personal assistant heads home to sort herself out while housesitting at her parent's place, but it turns out they invited the town's bad boy whose home is under renovation to stay there as well. This is a book about discovering who you really are a little later in life, The pining and chemistry are off the charts, and I adored how family members (of both the adorably kooky and wicked variety) were seamlessly interwoven into the central romance plot. You'll gobble this one up!

This was a solid read. The characters and situations felt very real. The first half of the book flew by. The last part of the book was a little bit of a struggle. How many times does the male protagonist need to mess up and make up? Two was ok, the third time was a little bit overdone. Library patrons should really enjoy this title.

Overall, this was a cute one! It was sweet, then a little spicy, and ended sweet. There were some serious portions, and some family drama but still felt somewhat like a sweet hallmark channel movie (in a good way!) I’d recommend to a friend!

Favorite quote: re childbirth: “im in awe of anyone who’s ever done this, frankly; everyone who has should get a million dollars and also an opportunity to punch someone they don’t like in the face” - I agree wholeheartedly 😂

Georgie, All Along has the bones of a highly-recognizable setup: Georgie Mulcahy has just lost her demanding, high-powered job as a personal assistant to a Hollywood star, and responds by stuffing her (very few) belongings into trash bags, throwing them in the back of her car, and driving home to the small Virginia town she grew up in. Once there, she discovers that her parents, off on a road trip, have "double booked" themselves a set of house-sitters: Georgie, and Levi, the taciturn, bearded older-brother of the golden-boy football star she used to be in love with in high school.

Hello, familiar genre waters! "Returning from your high-powered job to your small hometown only to find love with the hot older brother of your former crush" is one of romance's tales as old as time. And something I really appreciated about Georgie, All Along is that - while it inspects and questions and deepens its own relationship to this well-trodden genre staple - you never get the sense that it's looking down on it, or denying why it attracts readers.

That being said, this book is very much offering its own take. One way it does that is via its flashy "pick this book up" hook: upon returning home, Georgie discovers a "friend fic" that she and her best friend Bel wrote. And so Georgie - who is lacking direction in her life after losing her job - decides that maybe going back and living out her high school dreams, one by one, might give her a better idea of who she is and what she wants. And who better to help her than the grumpy older brother of the very same high school crush whose name is all over this friend fic in puffy sparkle pen? The fic is, on the surface, Georgie, All Along's principal invention - the hook it uses to bring readers to this iteration of a romance plot classic, rather than any other.

And... I don't want to say the "friend fic" has nothing to do with how this book creates its own version of a genre staple. But rather than being the fundamental innovative element, it served more as a thematic touchstone. One that the text could return to as it developed an incredibly nuanced deconstruction and exploration of two questions at the heart of its own genre referent: what is the appeal of "going back" home? And what is it that connects readers, on a human level, to the archetypes of a "flighty and somewhat aimless" heroine and the "taciturn outcast" hero?

So here's where I start to fall apart and lose coherence, because I kind of cannot believe how well this book does both of those things. I must say, I had my skepticism firmly in place for the "going back" element of this story from the very start. I have... the opposite of any interest in going back to where I grew up, either physically or (perhaps especially) emotionally. So Georgie's idea that she could somehow gain clarity on her life by returning to who she was and what she wanted when she was in high school was, to be perfectly frank, not appealing to me in the slightest. But I should have trusted Kate Clayborn, because if there's one thing she does well (though, trust me, there's more than one), it's having a central a theme in each book, and finding all kinds of interconnected ways to explore it without letting it take over the emotional experience of the novel, or crush it with thematic didacticism. This is A SKILL. I just love how the author creates these grounded, enormously specific stories about things like "going home and relocating my high school friend fic" or "feeling blocked in my job as a hand-letterer of bullet journals" or "trying to help my fake fiancé buy a summer camp because of our shared guilt over his brother's death" without ever sacrificing the breadth or universality of her thematic threads.

So even if, like me, you would sooner throw yourself off a pier than be anything like you were in high school... there's something intriguing here about the idea of what it means, in a broader sense, to go back. To pick a point in your life where things went down one path, and imagine what it would be like if you took another. And the truth - which I think this book understands - is that on a macro level, we can't ever really do that: go back and do life differently. Nor, necessarily, should we want to. But I loved the small moments where Georgie and Levi mess up with each other, and extend each other the grace to go back and try the interaction differently. There are all kinds of returns in this novel, large and small, but that was probably the one that meant the most to me. Even though this book depicts new love, the thematic exploration of ... iterativeness, for lack of a better word, really resonated with my experience of a longer-term relationship as well. Sometimes you have to keep going back to the same points, the same fights, the same apologies, and keep trying until you know how to progress away from them differently. And it can be really hard to extend the patience to someone to keep trying to go back. I loved how Georgie and Levi did that for each other. And I loved how "going back" felt, all at the same time, like an exploration of a familiar romance trope, a very specific story element for Georgie and Levi's narrative, and a universal consideration of what it is we're really seeking when we try to return.

(Sidebar that nobody asked for: I actually think though that, maybe, while this book starts out with time and "going back" as its major theme, it gently morphs that into being about taking up space and finding place? I know "this book is about space, not time" sounds horribly esoteric but I promise it's just so gently woven into the book that it works perfectly)

Anyway. I have already taken up too many words of this review without talking about the characterization of Georgie and Levi. Which is just... masterful. Especially, I think, in the way it interrogates the "flighty, quirky, disaster heroine" archetype with Georgie. I mean, she starts off the novel in a car full of her belongings in a trash bag, wearing quirky, wrinkly overalls, and forgetting her wallet while trying to buy strawberry smoothies- a predicament she needs to be rescued from by the hero. But as the book unfolds, the writing lends that characterization SO much depth. And, crucially, it asks readers to consider how at least part of our haste to label women as flighty is (gendered) misunderstanding and stereotype, but also how some of those same characteristics - creativity, adaptability, responsiveness to others - are in fact great strengths. I loved how Georgie's personality made her a good friend and an amazing asset at her (current and former) jobs, and how the book never, not once, lost sight of that. Also, the book is able to really clearly distinguish between how others see Georgie, how Georgie sees herself, and how the people who love her see her, and yet combine all three for a fully-realized, three-dimensional character.

I think what's going on with Levi is a bit more subtle, but no less powerful. He has a pile of romance hero stereotypes to match Georgie's: he's got a beard, he's the town hermit, he's shy, he's gruff, he's good with his hands, he's the Older Brother. A lot of this seems like very straightforward code for Romance Novel Man. But I think - as with Georgie - the author is very thoughtful in showing the reader what elements of Levi's personality are external misunderstanding and gender stereotype, and which elements merit a much more thorough grounding via backstory and exploration and understanding. Something I thought a lot about while reading is the idea I came across recently in an unrelated reading, positing that books don't belong to genres so much as they use genres. And I think that's exactly what Kate Clayborn does with Georgie and Levi: rather than trying to make them belong in genre-hero-and-heroine boxes, she uses recognizable codes of "romance novel depictions of masculinity/femininity" to create characters, but also deconstruct where those codes are coming from. Genre in Kate's work - especially the characterization - often feels like the terms of what she's working with, rather than its boundaries or its limits.

And I think part of what is so magical about these characters who come to us with so many different dimensions, is that almost every reader will find something about them to connect to. Even if neither Georgie nor Levi feel exactly like us. In my case, while I don't think I've ever really read to people as flighty, there was something very relatable in Georgie's feeling lost in her career, and her deeper worry that everyone around her knows what they want from their life but her. And Levi. Obviously I am not a beardy man with a checkered past who builds docks for a living. But I connected really deeply to the specific depiction of his shyness and introversion ... the way it's both just a part of who he is, and an outgrowth of his bone-deep fear that people will dislike him for taking up any space in their lives.

Anyway, I say this not to get overly personal but to point out that... this depth of characterization is what made the ending of this book work so well for me. Without going into detail, both Georgie and Levi go through some tough stuff at the end, and while I didn't love exactly how those hard moments were catalyzed (this is maybe my only major complaint about the book), the emotional aftermath of the low moment is done really well. And throughout it all, I kept coming back to the fact that while these characters were suffering... the book was taking so much care with them, and extending them so much grace. By giving them space to learn and grow, even in the tightly-packed pages of the final 20%. And most of all, by creating moments where both Georgie and Levi benefit from others' kindness and support, while being really compassionate about how they react in the absence of those things. And I think, precisely because these characters are so dimensional and so open to points of personal connection with the readers... reading it felt like seeing those parts of myself treated with care, as well. Which is a very special thing.

Anyway, this is a very moving, well-written, thoughtful, and lovely book, which might just make you feel a bit of much-needed care while you read. I highly, highly recommend.

Disclosure: I received an ARC from the author, with whom I am friendly on Twitter.