Thank you to Kensington Books for this advanced copy of Kate Clayborn's "Georgie, All Along"

4.5 stars, rounded up

Georgie Mulcahy is at a crossroads in her life. She finds herself back in the town she grew up in, unemployed and ready to help her best friend as she prepares for her new baby. Her first night home, she finds herself reunited with a journal that she and her best friend composed before they went to high school. The discovery of the journal sparks a flame in Georgie for the first time since she left her former residence and job. She commits herself to do the things she once believed were most important. Her conviction to accomplish these things are reinforced by her best friend, Annabel, and later, her defacto roommate, Levi Fanning.

This book was like a coming-of-age book for an adult. I loved watching Georgie figure out the best parts of herself. The romance between her and Levi was so sweet and it was a good, slow burn. I love the way that Clayborn weaves her stories, making the characters so nuanced and showing how lovable they are. The love story always feels authentic and the conflicts feel real, yet not insurmountable.

I am so happy I got to read this book in advance. I can't wait for her next one.

I read this book in two days, as a mom of four that is no easy feat. I simply could not put it down.

Georgie, All Along is a love story in every sense of the word. The obvious love story is Georgie and Levi, I don’t know if I’d classify it as a slow burn, I truly think they fell early, but so complex and I love what they built together and how well they fit. Their character progression was so well done, when they cried, I cried. They really brought out the best versions of each other, and it was beautiful to read.

Secondary to them, Georgie and Bel are everything. True lifelong friendship, so much love and admiration, and I LOVE seeing books written where the women are so supportive of each other throughout all of life’s ups and downs. They were a heartwarming reminder of why those relationships are so important.

I hadn’t read a Kate Clayborn book prior to this, and now I cannot wait to read more. What a beautiful story, I will absolutely be adding a hard copy to my collection when it releases in January.

Georgia Mulcahy is suddenly whisked away from her bustling LA life back into her small hometown while she tries to figure out her next move. What she didn’t see coming, however, was the love of her life, in the most unexpected of circumstances.

In the beginning, I wasn’t sure if this was just another romance novel. But Clayborn proved this story was far from basic. I found myself relating to the complexities of the characters in ways I didn’t expect. Clayborn writes these characters to perfection and understands the importance of knowing yourself as an individual before being your best self in a relationship.

A wonderful romance that will keep you rooting for Georgie, Levi, and love!

I didn’t realize this was a sample and now I cannot rest until I read the entire thing!! Kate Clayborn is the master of a slow, emotional romance that intertwines the development of the couple with the progress that each character needs to make independently—I can’t wait for more Georgie.

I have so much gratitude to Kate Clayborn for writing this beautiful, comforting, heartwarming, and joyous story. Georgie, All Along is a wonderful story about going back, about second chances, and about realizing that you define yourself and your story. The friendship and the love in this story truly warmed my heart. The small town, summer setting was perfect for the ache of unsureness, the sometimes unanswered question of what comes next. I loved Georgie and Levi (a gruff, vegetarian, dog loving man who works with his hands and deserves the world, um hello what’s not to love!) in their own ways and I’m so glad we experienced this story from both their perspectives. Kate Clayborn’s way with words, the sweet humor weaves throughout (Yes, I’m talking about the endless cute nicknames Georgie’s dad had for her,) and the love this book encapsulated was truly incredible. I actually shed a tear when I finished this book because I had truly fallen in love with it and didn’t want it to end. I’ve already been recommending this book non-stop to people and I will continue to do so until (and long after!!) it’s release date!

A really beautiful book from Kate Clayborn (which is totally unsurprising, given Clayborn's track record). As always, she's doing just gorgeous things with language--watch how she uses the same words in different context throughout the story to echo, parallel, and contrast different viewpoints and expectations ("messy," "sturdy," "stable," "trouble," in particular, and the wave motif). And her characterization is so deep and so well-done that you're immediately connected to the characters. If you're going into this thinking that the book is all about Georgie, based on the title and the cover, it's not--it is very much about both her and Levi.

The friend fic and the whole idea of using it as a checklist to discover her current self could have been a tired romance trope reused, but Clayborn gives it some freshness by not slavishly sticking to the task and also removing the teenage crush from the completion of the task. I did feel that the bleak moment could be seen from miles away, and I was hoping, based on characters' previous reactions, that it wouldn't turn out that way--in a book that's really playing with standard romance tropes, it felt a little too predictable and easy. But this is such a small criticism for a book that came to play hard. 4.5 stars.

This book was so cute and had me laughing out loud so many times. I loved all the characters and how real they felt. I highly recommend this one if you are looking for quick easy read. Thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for a copy of the arc in return for an honest review!

When you start reading a Kate Clayborn book, you'd know instantly it was written by her because she has such a unique writing voice. I think what it is is that she can write in first person, but she manages to still leave you liking the characters at the end of the book without you thinking you've been reading a "me, me, me" story.
And now to the story - two very loveable main characters, Levi and Georgie, who you feel you know almost instantly, and a lot of side characters that you feel just as at home with. Throw all these people into a small town on a river, and you have the perfect setting for awkwardness, joy, and the need to find your voice and identity in who you are rather than in what you do.
This is one of Clayborn's best books, I think. Everything is so believable and emotive, and it all rolls to a very satisfying conclusion.

Another great romance by Kate Clayborn. I loved the characters and how they grew and figured out their needs and wants. Georgie and Levi were great together and I loved how they navigated the issues they encountered. There was space to figure things out and realising they were being unfair while being unfair. I also loved that the dark moment wasn't a real break-up but just space to grow. Amazing book.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

What a warm hug of a book. The main characters are so easy to love, and I really liked the way they sort of stumbled through things. The whole story focuses around the idea of picking yourself back up and trying again. I love that the story wasn't a perfectly straight line in terms of their relationship. They messed up and went back and tried again and grew together.

I will definitely be buying my own copy when it comes out because I'm sure I'll want to revisit it when looking for a comfort read.

A solid book, but not a favorite of mine.

Georgie was
free spirited
Thoughtful
Open
Flexible
Loving Affectionate

Levi was
Closed up
Guilt ridden
Thoughtful
Dependable
Deep feelings
Often affectionate

This was a story that moved a little slow. There were two very interesting main characters and several very interesting secondary ones. The 'notebook' was a great unique prop but it lost it's appeal for me after a while. The physical involvement happened too fast and furious and wasn't based a solid relationship. I think there was a great story inside this one but the noise surrounding it made it not as solid. I loved Hank!

Thank you to Net Galley for allowing me to read this book. The opinions are entirely my own.

I want to write sonnets about this book! And buy multiple billboards for it! And win the lottery solely so I can afford to donate enough to a fancy college so that they have to name the library after it! God, Georgie, All Along is cute. Which, of course it is — Kate Clayborn wrote it.

Her writing style reminds me a lot of Beth O’Leary and Emily Henry, in that while there’s romance at their core of their stories, it’s always so much more than just about romance. So much deeper. In Clayborn's case — and especially in the case of Georgie, All Along, which comes out in January 2023 — they're sweet and emotional and hot and often very, very funny. (Side-note: please go read her earlier, swoony Beginner’s Luck series, as well as Love Lettering and Love at First.) Before I continue ranting and raving about how much I adored reading this one (so much so I stayed up until three AM to finish), here’s a quick breakdown of the plot, courtesy of the publisher:

“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.”

To be blunt, the set-up didn’t totally grab me at first. I plodded forward with reading the e-ARC anyway because the idea of passing up a Kate Clayborn novel just isn’t in my DNA. And, to be blunter, the set-up still didn’t blow me away, even after I’d finished reading Georgie and fallen deeply, madly in love with all the characters and their lives and their quirks. The ‘friend-fic,’ a term I rolled my eyes at from the get-go, felt a little odd/weak/silly as a plot device, and Georgie’s epiphany at the end of the novel about her life and the direction it should take also rubbed me the wrong way. Oh, and the impetus for the third act break-up was painfully obvious within the first few chapters.

So, there. Those were my gripes. Now that they’re out of the way, let’s discuss more of the good stuff, which far outweighed any issues I had with the overarching plot.

For instance: you know that scene in The Hating Game, when Lucy defends Joshua from his awful father? There’s a (few) similar moment(s) in this book, and that whole trope, or whatever you want to call it, is just chef’s kiss on chef’s kiss on chef’s kiss. Levi’s familial troubles are painful to read about, but Georgie’s unending support for him (and his perfect dog, Hank!), to the point where she’d happily go to battle for him, is such a tender, wonderful thing to behold.

And if you’re wondering if this has steam, it has steam. (Levi . . . mmmm . . . yes.) Maybe not surprise-ghost-pepper-in-your-pad-thai hot, or even last-wing-on-Hot-Ones hot, but a solid level of spice. Like, a single, but extra spicy, jalapeño margarita. Lots of heated glances and couch make-outs and “mine” and blue eyes and excellent beards and, and, and…you get it. The intimate scenes are solid, swoony, and will make you blush, but nothing is over-the-top.

TL;DR - 10/10 would die for Georgie and Levi. Kate Clayborn, if you’re reading this, please make this a series and have the next one be about Evan or Olivia so I can die happy. Thank you.

Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Books for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!

If you enjoy uncomplicated books with little drama, this would be a safe one to pick up. It took me awhile to read the first half because it was just slow. The writing is good; I just didn’t have that pull to pick it up. The second half picked up a little steam but I just wanted it over. It’s not a bad book, it’s just not one I’ll remember or be at the top of my recommendation list.

At the center of the storyline is the “fic”- short for fiction. It’s, I guess, letters or stories the main character and her BFF wrote in high school. Georgie is back home and rediscovers it and decides to complete the “tasks” they wrote about in an effort to find her way. I was confused as to why it’s called “fic” (seems an odd choice) and for it supposedly being a central premise of the book I didn’t think it was focused on. Scenes would randomly pop up related to it but not mush detail.

All in all, I like some more drama and conflict when I read a book. This just wasn’t it.

Thanks to Netgalley and Kensington books for the opportunity to review.

I have literally loved Kate Clayborn since the first book. I picked it up on a whim and it took a couple of chapters for me to be hooked and fall in love. This was nothing different.

Kate's writing is absolutely fantastic and pulls you in so quickly, that you don't even realize it's happening. I blindly requested Georgie, All Along and was SO EXCITED to get this one because how could I not be? Georgie's journey of self-discovery feels daunting but she's such a great main character and kinda figures herself out without realizing it.

I wish I could give you this long spiel about what I love about Kate and why I think you should read her work, but I don't think you should take my word for it. I think you need to go run to your nearest bookstore or library and find whatever book of hers is sitting there and buy it. Trust me and her and just know you're in good hands. Kate builds a world big and small, time after time, and sweeps you right into the world as if it were your own. You're meeting characters as if you're right there next to them. You love them all the same. Georgie is a character that I think we can all connect with because I think we all feel lost or have felt lost after even a minor shift in our lives. She's forced to figure her life out and the way she sees fit is to revisit something she planned for herself a whole lifetime ago. Enter Levi, who is juuuuusttttt..... :D! <3! I LOVED LEVI. He and his dog made me so happy. I thought the characters all came together so well and I just want more. I need it actually.

BASICALLY, READ KATE. KC IS GREAT AND I LOVE HER AND I WANT THE WORLD TO LOVE HER.

Another solid Kate Clayborn book. This one took a bit for me to warm up to the chemistry between the two main characters, but once we felt the romantic tension it just built and built and was delicious. I love that Clayborn’s books always deal with a huge turning point or fresh start for the heroines and this one was beautifully done even if I didn’t relate at all to the heroine at this point in my life. The hero is the silent steady sometimes gruff man of my dreams.

This is my third Kate Clayborn novel and I have to admit, she seems to have a “type”. A gregarious open-hearted creative woman meets a traditionally successful (quant/doctor/business owner) but seemingly closed off man. But spoiler alert! While he may seem cold at first glance, he’s actually just recovering from emotional trauma and actually has a gooey center and a heart of gold and playful inner child that the protagonist brings out in him.

Turns out her type is my type too. It could start to feel cliche, but because it’s well-written and the characters have depth to them (including the ensemble! And I love a good deep ensemble of people trying their best!) it just works. I’m not sure I’ll ever love a Kate Clayborn as much as I did Love Lettering, just because a Brooklyn-based hand lettering enthusiast falling for a math PhD was spookily close to home, but this felt like a return to form after Love at First, which was perfectly fine.

While not a pandemic book, it definitely fit with the vibe of coming back to your hometown as an adult and feeling a little lost and alone that many of us went through in the last couple of years. It’s a bit of a love letter to the loners and the weirdos and you know I can’t resist that. So a solid romance, worth a read.

Source of book: NetGalley (thank you)
Relevant disclaimers: none
Please note: This review may not be reproduced or quoted, in whole or in part, without explicit consent from the author.

What a beautifully *expansive* book.

I usually think of Kate Clayborn’s as being a focused and detail-orientated (that’s not any sort of backhanded compliment, it’s a …a … front-handed compliment because it’s something I really love and admire about her work) writer but there’s something undeniably sweeping about Georgie, All Along. I think in the emotional sense, more than anything, because it also retains the tight character work and intricate writing that has characterised all of KC’s previous books.

Georgie, All Along is basically a “returning to your small American hometown” story—which, I will say right now, is not my favourite trope because I simply lack the required cultural touchstones. But, hell, if KC writes it, I’ll read it, so here we are. And, don’t get me wrong, I’m pretty sure she’s *doing something* with the return-to-hometown trope/premise, because the hometown is itself complicated (it’s currently reinventing itself from backwater to tourist trap) and the characters have complicated relationships with it. In any case, our heroine Georgie (not short for anything), the daughter of amiably chaotic parents, has always had a reputation in Whereveritisville for being flaky, unreliable, and unmotivated. Since leaving, she’s worked as an executive assistant in LA, where she is known for her dedication and efficiency. Her boss, Nadia, however, has spontaneously retired, and Georgie—facing up to the reality that she’s never really known what to do with her life—has decided to temporarily return to the town where she grew up.

There’s things for her to do there, of course: support her best friend, Bel, who is married and pregnant, and has just moved back herself, and housesit her parents plants. But there are complications too, for example, the presence in her childhood home of Levi Fanning and his neurotic dog who Georgie’s parents have managed to double-book with Georgie (something that feels like plot necessity initially but makes perfect sense when you meet them) and the re-discovery of the “friend fic” Bel and Georgie created before high school—a repository of all their hopes and dreams that Georgie feels might somehow help her unlock her future.

As you can probably tell there’s a lot going on here. There’s Georgie’s relationship with Bel, Georgie’s relationship with her family, Georgie’s relationship with the town, Georgie’s relationship with herself, her past, and her future, and—finally—Georgie’s burgeoning relationship with the initially closed-off Levi. And, because of this, there are times when the book feels a little sprawling and structurally chaotic (although there’s a degree to which this is very reflective of its heroine, so I’m inclined to see this is a feature, not a bug) but, ultimately, all these connections come together absolutely beautifully---rendering this one of the most emotionally kind of nourishing? romances I’ve read for a very long time.

It's not a book without hardship—there’s genuine suffering in Levi’s background and Georgie’s sense of herself as blank and ambitionless can be hard to read at times—but it’s mostly a profoundly warm, hopeful, and accepting book. I’m a bit surprised its scheduled for a January release because I read it on a piece of decking overlooking the Cherwell, with the sun pouring over me, and my hair trailing in the water to keep me cool, and I felt very much connected to Levi and Georgie on *their* decking overlooking *their* river. Perhaps I’m just over-invested in the sunshine/grumpy dynamic of the central couple but it seems so fundamentally a summer read to me. Although probably come January we’ll all need a little literary brightness in our lives—in which case, Georgie, All Along will be a balm so, y’know, get it on pre-order ASAP.

There’s a lot I could talk about with this book, but I’m worried about spoiling it. Not that it’s really built on mysteries, exactly, (although there’s a bit of “why is Levi so grumpy all the time”) but it genuinely feels like a journey best shared with its characters. But in summary some of the things I loved: both Georgie’s and Levi, with all my heart, the gorgeous, gorgeous writing, the setting, Georgie’s benignly chaotic parents, Georgie’s relationship with her best friend, Bel, which is deeply loving and supportive but also complicated as most long-standing friendships are, the broader cast who are mostly characterised just enough to feel fully-rounded, Levi’s neurotic dog who constantly farts at inopportune moments, the way that, while the book sort of has a villain (or at least an antagonist), the character is never centralised in the lives of the people he’s hurt, the fact that Georgie and Levi’s relationship is simultaneously quiet and breathtakingly romantic, the conclusions Georgie comes to at the end of the book and the book’s broader exploration of its themes and questions.

There are, however, a couple of specific things I want to get into specifically, just because I think I can celebrate them without wrecking the book, and also because they meant a lot to me personally.

One: the writing. Just, the way KC writes consistently rocks my socks. Compared to something like, say Love Lettering, which has a more self-consciously artful style, reflecting the way the heroine perceives the world, Georgie, All Along has a deceptive simplicity to it which means it bounces along very readable and very funny (dropping lines like this like they’re nothing: " 'Okay, so,' I finally say, which everyone knows is the agreed-upon code for best friends when one of them is about to drop some kind of bomb." I cackled uncontrollably) and then just catches you right in the feels with its unabashed emotional clarity:

“I clench my back teeth, letting a wave of old, familiar embarrassment pass over me. I thought I’d let go of the shame about this part of my life, the way I was basically medicating myself twenty-four hours a day. It’s no different from what millions of people do, good people who are in pain or unsure of where to turn; good people who need a break from everything in this world that’s hard and sad and unforgiving.”

I know there are some people for whom the self-conscious carefulness of KC’s writing can sometimes jar. I am, like, a gazillion not one of those people. Gimme all your wild stylistic experiments, I want to roll around in them and call them daddy. But this book … I honestly think there’s a kind of magic in it: the writing is just this perfect balance, I think, reflective of its two protagonists and effortlessly resonant to the reader. If you’ve bounced off another KC book, this might be your re-entry point.

Okay two: I’m always nervy of over-talking about this because I’m sure there’ll be people to whom it comes across as mansplainy or like I’m somehow trying to make broader statements about women writing men or whatever. These are literally just my personal feelings as an individual who has experienced life in a particular sort of way and responds to books in ways that inevitably shaped by that. I don’t think there are good or bad, or wrong or right ways to write men (or people in general): I just happen to really like the way KC writes romance heroes. Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s 100% okay to write a hero who is some walking abs, whose penis bobs up and down like it’s not waving but drowning, and who maybe has a feeling in the final 10% of the book.

But I think, for me, what KC balances exceptionally well is a hero who can exist both as successful object of desire (Levi does manual work, for God’s sake, guy is ripped like woah) and is a fully rounded, emotionally nuanced human being in his own right. And what I find it particularly fascinating the way she tends to use typical hero “tropes” (the hero of Luck of the Draw is a taciturn alpha, Reid in Love Lettering is Mr Buttoned Up, and Levi is, of course, Grumpy) to gently interrogate the way socially constructed gender codes shape and affect her heroes. To put in super blunt terms, the fact that it’s damage and toxic masculinity that creates these paradigms we are taught to find so desirable and admirable. Ultimately her men are always so much more than their tropes and, by the time she has peeled back the layers of them for us, we realise it is no longer the trope we are finding attractive but the person, with all his complexities and frailties and rough human edges.

All of which contributes to some (I mean, in my opinion, your mileage may vary) really delicate explorations of vulnerability, especially male vulnerability, in KC’s books, and Georgie, All Along is no different. I’ve burbled on before about the romance genre complicated relationship with vulnerability. I think, to me, one of the strengths of the genre is that it does create safe space in which vulnerability can (and should?) be explored. But where exploration ends, and fetishization begins, especially when if it’s the vulnerability of people who may not share an identity with the writer, is … I mean … that’s a line so thin as to be invisible, and is necessarily hugely subjective. I do think, however, there is a tendency, especially in m/f romances, for male vulnerability to almost be … a prize that is offered to the heroine, either in penance for the hero treating her badly, or as proof that she’s “the one” for this particular man in that he has dared to show weakness in front of her. For me—and again, I am speaking purely personal—there’s something very natural about the presentation of male vulnerability in KC’s writing: it may be shared with the heroine (and, indeed, the reader) but it always ultimately belongs to the character and the text treads as gently as the heroines do around these socially-charged exchanges of intimacy.

Levi is potentially one of KC’s most vulnerable heroes—he has gone through a lot, and made some bad choices, although this part of his history is never dwelled upon or treated casually—but I loved how carefully he is treated. While Georgie always calls him on his bullshit, when his damage begins to negatively impact her, she never pushes him for more than he is able and willing to share, and the reader, likewise, is encouraged to interact with Levi’s past in a similarly respectful way. Romance is a genre of emotion and connection, but there are times to allow characters privacy. I never felt that I needed more from Georgie and Levi than I was offered—I felt terribly close to both of them by the time I finished the book and full of tenderness—but I also deeply appreciated the text’s willingness to draw away as well as pull my close.

And finally three: this is another complicated one, because aren’t they always. Listen, I love KC’s writing, I sincerely do, and I read romance for *romance* not sex (although, obviously, sex can be part of romance). But for me personally, I’ve never super connected with the sex scenes in the other KC’s books I’ve read. I mean, they’re fine, but they always felt oddly heteronormative to me as well as occasionally disconnected from who the characters. Like in Luck of the Draw where Zoe and Aidan bang in a shower they have explicitly described as gross on several previous occasions and, let’s be real, shower sex is bobbins even when the shower isn’t gross, or Love Lettering, where the heroine has had issues, in the past, with reaching orgasm through PIV but the hero hammers it straight home. And I recognise it may sound weird to be “complaining” about heteronormativity in books that are ostensibly about straight people but, well, heteronormativity is like the patriarchy. There are people it is doing very direct harm, but basically it’s hurting everyone. And I should add that it’s not wrong to want to either have or read about heavily PIV-cantering sex. It’s just neither the only nor always the best way for a P and a V to interact, and the problem with all sex scenes hinging on this specific act, and a specific version of this act (he enters her in one smooth thrust, she is immediately internally stimulated by this, he whams himself back and forth, they both come simultaneously) is that it confers a universality on what is actually a fairly, um, atypical way to guarantee satisfaction for both parties.

Anyway, where I’m going with this, is that Georgie, All Along has some really lovely sex scenes (including one where the heroine gets herself off, and the hero doesn’t) that both reflect the characters involved and contribute meaningfully to the emotional trajectory of their relationship.

Err…okay. So that’s a lot. But hopefully testament to how much I loved this book, and how rich and satisfying I found it. There were a couple of things that didn’t wholly land for me—I honestly found the whole friendfic concept a bit twee, but that’s a me thing, and I felt it worked in the context of the book of the whole, there’s a nonbinary character who literally has zero personality apart from being a waiter and having they/them pronouns (I’m all for inclusion but this strayed perilously close to tokenism for me—again, your mileage may varied), Levi is absurdly coy about the existence of his own aroused dick, no idea why (probably another me thing, just I’m a call a spade a spade kind of person, and it strikes me as weird in contemporary-set books to have characters who will contort themselves into linguistic pretzels rather than name a body part, unless it’s directly part of their character that they will), and there’s a scene at the end between Levi and his estranged brother that is really cathartic and powerful but also involved two men discussing feeling weak and being strong very explicitly. As in they say the words weak and strong about six times between them in a single page of text which … err … is a lot. Don’t get me wrong, the scene as a whole works wonderfully, but those are such significant and loaded words, especially for these two characters, especially at this moment, so their overuse makes the scene emotionally and thematically blunter than it needs to be. But this is also the kind of thing that might well be caught in a proofing pass, since it’s not about the scene itself, it’s about literal word positioning: so another mileage may vary / might actually not exist when the book comes out type situation.

Long story short, and this was—looking back—an incredibly long story (sorry): Georgie, All Along is an absolutely phenomenal book. It’s not my favourite KC—Love Lettering takes that spot, simply because it speaks to me very personally—but I think it might be her best work to date. There’s an ambition and a boldness to it that belies the smalltown setting and the quiet connections it celebrates, and above all such a non-obnoxious sense of hope. This is a book that is not afraid to be messy sometimes and—like it’s heroine—is only the more beautiful for it.

Georgie, All Along by Kate Clayborn
🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC

THIS BOOK! I loved it. Georgie just lost her job as personal assistant in Hollywood, and travels back to her small hometown to figure out what to do next. A miscommunication with her hippie parents leads her unexpectedly share their house with Levi, a quiet man who runs a dock-building company in town. They both carry less-than-ideal reputations (and baggage) from high school, and have stuff to figure out.

Georgie and Levi’s chemistry was so strong and believable, and I really loved the build of their trust and intimacy. I absolutely loved the dual POV in this book, and I really felt the voices of each character. I especially enjoyed Levi as a character, my heart ached for him. Also his dog Hank is probably my favourite fictional dog ever. I loved all the side characters. Georgie’s parents don’t get a lot of page-time, but they felt fully drawn.

This book was tender, earnest, heartfelt, and joyful in so many ways.


🌶🌶/5 low-moderate steam

Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington for the ARC in exchange for an honest review

CW: estranged family, pregnant side character (experiences Braxton-Hicks, and has last her mother, experiences grief of loss of parent), abusive boarding school, self-medication with drugs (past)

I would recommend if you're looking for (SPOILERS)

-m/f contemporary romance
-accidental roommance
-forced proximity
-opposites attract
-the cutest rescue dog
-a quiet cinnamon roll
-a chaos
-strong friendship
-small town/coming back home


Gosh this book. The craft, the sexual tension. This book was a joy to read, but also was just so well written. I kept tying to put it down because I wanted to read it slowly to let it soak in but then immediately picked it back up because I needed to know what happened.

I loved the premise of this. The notebook you fill in your dreams of now and the future with with your best friend. I loved Georgie. Chaotic, authentic, and just a people pleaser. Living her life taking care of others, coming back home when her best friend is pregnant, taking care of her parents house, living her life as an assistant, or a waiter. Her entire life has been taking care of others, and it brings her joy. She's loud and lovely.

And in the way that happens in romance novels there's a shortage of houses in town and Levi needs a place to stay and ends up at her parents house. And he is just gone on her immediately. Soft on her, soft on his dog, just a soft boy, who I want to hug and protect from this world. Life has been hard for him but he still is able to look at Georgie and just fall for her. Spoil rotten sweet Hank (I could write a whole review on my adoration for that sweet pup) and is just a sweetheart.

The secondary characters were just lovely. Especially Georgie's friendship with Bel. This book is just perfection. But it's beating heart is the beautiful romance of Levi and Georgie as they fall for each other. They both recognize what the other needs, and love the other for it.

This book is absolute perfection.

Steam: 3

This book. THIS BOOK!!!! I cannot begin to describe how much I loved GEORGIE, ALL ALONG. The only bad thing about it is that I finished it way too fast. Kate Clayborn's characters are always so fully fleshed out, you can understand where they are coming from and can believe that these are people that exist for real somewhere. I want to be friends with Georgie, and Levi. Don't even get me started on Levi. I didn't think Kate could ever write a MMC more perfect than Reid, but I think she did it with Levi. The two of them made me swoon, and laugh out loud, and kick my legs in the air like a five-year-old with every one of their interactions. I was so invested in literally every single storyline of this book. Kate Clayborn is truly a master at her craft, and I am always more in awe of her talent with each new book she releases. Please, everyone, do yourself a favor a buy a copy of this book. I know I will!