Jess has been raising her half-sister Tegan ever since their mother abandoned them 10 years ago. Soon after their mom leaves, Jess discovers that the boyfriend that their mom left town with is a con man who becomes the focus of a popular podcast. Jess has kept this secret to herself and was never expecting for Tegan to figure this out and she especially wasn’t expecting for her sister to contact the host of the popular podcast without her knowing. Jess now finds herself on a cross country road trip to retrace her mom’s footsteps potentially following leads right to her doorstep.

I liked the storyline and love Kate Clayborn’s writing. There was something about the pacing in this book that felt a bit slow to me, but overall, I did like this story and would recommend that others read it.

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

I really enjoyed Love Lettering and Love at First, so I was excited to get my hands on the an advanced reader copy of Kate Clayborn's latest book. This is wasn't what I was expecting and I should have read the blurb before jumping in.

This story follows two sisters, whose mother left them 10 years ago and ran off with a grifter/con-man. Today, with the help of a true crime podcast duo, including a dreamy new reporter, the sisters set off to find their mom.

It was okay, but not what I was expecting, 3.5 stars but rounding down.

Thank you for the advanced reader copy Netgalley & Kensington Books | Kensington.

Review posted to StoryGraph and Goodreads on 3/25/24. Review will be posted to Amazon on 3/26/24.

Jess has spent the last ten years caring for her younger sister after their mother disappears with a con man. She’s done her best to keep life as normal as possible for Tegan but when Tegan reaches out to a podcast producer about postcards from their mother everything changes. Salem Durant’s podcast was wildly popular and her new assistant, Adam, is trying to prove that he’s ready to produce a series about his close friend who has passed. To appease Tegan, Jess agrees to go on a three week road trip to the locations the postcards were sent from to see if they can’t finish out the story and find out what happened to their mom. Only time can tell if knowing the truth is better than wondering.

I loved this book so much. While this very much has the same rich characters and beautiful writing as Kate’s other books, this is a step into something slightly different. I love a road-trip searching for a con man that brings two sweet angels together. Jess is so closed off at first and you can totally understand why. It was so fun watching her open up and be herself. Adam is focused and determined but so soft and such a perfect landing space for Jess. I enjoyed Tegan and Salem and found they added such a richness to the story. I’m such a Kate Clayborn fan and I look forward to reading whatever she decides to write next.

My top two least favorite tropes are miscommunication and insta-love. Adam taking one glance at Jess and feeling a soulmate-level reaction? 🤮

If you liked Georgie All Along, I think you’ll like this. It doesn’t have the same lyrical writing as Love Lettering, but I think that’s because it’s straddling two genres (romance and mystery), which makes it hard to stay true to both.

The Other Side of Disappearing is such a beautiful story about love-- familial love and romantic love-- and how it affects us. It's a departure from Clayborn's other novels with a heavier subject matter and tone, but she delivered on all counts. I was swept away by the gripping premise and mystery, and I stayed bound to these very real, human characters as they changed and grew throughout their journey. I know I will be thinking of this book for a long time!

*Thank you Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Besides the emotional rollercoaster that was entering and yet tearing your heart out by the center and not letting go.

This romance reminds me of why I felt compelled toward romance to begin with. Because throughout every rendition it’s about loving someone. It’s about someone not being perfect but loving someone anyway.

This book became very meaningful to me for many personal reasons but at the core of this book is that we want to be loved, through our best, through our worst, and for who we are instead of who we portray ourselves to be by necessity.

The other books I have read by Kate Clayborn were heavier on romance and while this book was a bit different, I enjoyed it just as much as her other work. This is the story about sisters trying to solve the mystery of their mother's disappearance and opening up your heart to others even when it feels scary. The love story that develops between Jess and Adam is beautifully told and expertly paced to make it feel entirely real. I enjoyed the podcast plot point but there are so many books incorporating that medium right now. Overall I really liked this story and although I have some pretty strong feelings about Jess and Tegan's mother, I couldn't put this book down until I reached the end. Thanks to Kate Clayborn, Kensington Books, and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I haven't met a Kate Clayborn book I haven't loved, but I still had extremely high expectations after Georgie, All Along. That book was so good, I wondered if Clayborn would ever be able to write another book I loved as much. The answer to that was YES. The Other Side of Disappearing was as great of a read. Let me break it down for you.

THE WRITING:
I've said it before. Kate Clayborn's writing is magical. It grabs you in the very first paragraph and never let go. That’s how this book was. The reasons surrounding Jess going along with the podcast to find her mother were emotionally challenging and Adam had his own ghosts to deal with, but their romance brought a sweet lightness to the book. I was happy that this book was written in dual POV, so I got to know what was going on in both Jess’s and Adam’s heads. 

THE PLOT:
The Other Side of Disappearing was a solid romance, but it also offered a side of mystery and women's fiction. Jess and Adam felt instant attraction and a pull between them, but there was the podcast and the mystery of what happened to Charlotte and Lynton to muck things up. The convenience man stuff was interesting. Jess also had to emotionally deal with the fallout of Charlotte leaving Jess's much younger sister Tegan with her. Adam was struggling with why he was on this trip and how to keep his motivations from impacting his developing relationship with Jess. It was all perfectly messy, and I loved it. 

THE SETTING:
Jess, Adam, and the gang start out at Jess and Tegan's house, but they are quickly on the move. I enjoyed the road trip they went on and the different cities and states they explored to find answers. I'm not normally one for a lot of descriptions, but I enjoyed how Clayborn made the places along the way come alive. 

THE CHARACTERS:
I'm going to start with Adam because he is a little simpler to describe. Adam is a gentle giant. He was insightful when it came to Jess, Tegan, the trip/podcast, and even Salem. I loved that he always wanted to do the right thing for everyone involved. Jess was an emotional mess. My heart hurt for her. Raising Tegan happened so early in her adulthood, and she truly tried her hardest to be the best parent to her sister she could. Her mother leaving defined her life and coming to terms with that was hard. 

As for the side characters, two were the most important. Tegan, being the teenager she was, wasn't mature enough to understand everything her sister had done or given up for her. She was more focused on what she had lost and finding out why, which was understandable. Salem was the character I loved to hate. She was the force behind the podcast and her intentions were questionable at times. 

THE ROMANCE:
It was so sweet and tender! Jess and Adam should not have been making a connection while working together on the podcast, but their emotional bond and chemistry grew with each interaction. I loved how Adam was always on the lookout for emotional bombs and tried to protect Jess. My favorite moments between them were the times they spent together on Adam's family farm. I would not have minded more time there between them. 

FINAL THOUGHTS:
The Other Side of Disappearing was not only a beautiful romance but a search for truth, an opportunity to tell both Jess's and Adam's stories in the way they wanted, and a chance to for some of the characters to realize their loss might have actually been a gain. I loved every moment I spent with these characters. I am sad I am done reading this book, but I can't wait to find out what story Clayborn will tell next.

I LOVED this story. I wish I would have started it when I had the time to sit and read it all in one sitting because I was hooked from the first chapter. Starting in the middle of the night while nursing a baby and then needing to go back to sleep after two chapters was not a wise move because it was so hard to put it down until the next day! The pace of the book really draws you in and makes you want to keep reading to keep learning more without moving too fast or being overly stressful to read.
The emotional developments of every character, the twists and turns towards the end, THE TRAMPOLINE SCENE, it was all so well done and I wasn't ready for the story to be over, despite it coming to logical end. I wasn't ready to say goodbye to Jess and Adam's story when the ending came.
If you have a couple hours to devote to an amazing story with heart, suspense, character growth and two people meant to be together, this is a book you will want to pick up! You could also be like me and read it here and there over a couple days, but trust that these characters did not leave my brain all weekend in between reading times :)

This approval came right in time! It moved right up the tbr. Goegie, All Along was a favorite from a couple years ago and I adore her Chance of a Lifetime series (check it out if you haven't!)

This one was heavy and dealt with some hard topics. Definitely check out the TW before you read.

Read this if you...
- love a good sister bond
-want to make your own podcast
-love a cinnamon roll MC
-enjoy getting fired up

I adore this author's writing style and I did get a little teary eyed at the end which usually makes it an automatic five star read.

Thank you to Kensington Books and Netgalley for an ARC of this book! I’ve willingly read and reviewed it. All opinions are my own.

I have been anxiously anticipating THE OTHER SIDE OF DISAPPEARING since I knew of its existence and I’m happy to report that not only does it contain one of my newest book boyfriends, but the book is full of complicated emotions and enviable relationships.

Jess is shocked when, upon running home to grab something she forgot, she opens the door to a giant, handsome man and his much smaller boss who are on her doorstep, prepared to record Jess’s account of her mother’s second disappearance from her life, this time with a notorious con man.

Without going into too much detail, Jess soon finds herself on a road trip with the younger sister she took guardianship of when her mother left, a famous podcaster, and an ex-college football player with a history of going viral on the Internet, trying to find the woman who has vanished from their lives.

THE OTHER SIDE OF DISAPPEARING is a romance novel interwoven with a compelling mystery. A lot of times it’s difficult to believe in a scenario where the two halves of a couple are instantly drawn together, but the immediate connection between Jess and Adam was written in a way that had me forgetting how little time these two characters had spent together before falling in love. I was constantly hoping for these two to figure things out as they navigated so many ups and downs throughout the journey to find Jess’s mom.

The romance, however, is only one part of this incredible story. Kate Clayborn really explores the effects abandonment has on the relationships and lives of the people left behind, whether to follow a con man to locations unknown or out of desperation for a little relief.

This is a book I’ll be thinking about for a long, long time.

Thanks to @kensingtonbooks for sharing with me an early copy of The Other Side of Disappearing by Kate Clayborn!

I adore Kate Clayborn, and while this sets my expectations for her new releases high, she never fails to meet them. Clayborn wrote in her acknowledgements that this book felt like a risk, and while I understand what she meant, I also think it doesn’t depart from her stories in the ways that matter. She writes sweeping, beautiful romances between characters whose trust in each other allows them to be vulnerable — and that changes everything.

The Other Side of Disappearing is about the ways in which we betray each other: exploitation by con arts and podcasters and the sports industrial complex, and by the people who are supposed to protect us. But it’s also, perhaps more than any other book Clayborn has written, about trust. It’s trust, however fledgeling, that opens a door for Jess and Tegan to learn the truth about their mother’s disappearance, and it’s trust that allows Jess and Adam to finally be seen — not by the world, but by each other.

I love Jess and Tegan and Adam, and I hope that you enjoy their story as much as I did. The Other Side of Disappearing is out March 26th.

I’m intrigued to know what’s going on after reading the synopsis of this book - which my first assumption it’ll be heavy on mystery / family, yet didn’t expect that it also (mainly) came with such warmth and fulfilled romance as well.

The tension in connection between Adam & Jess definitely got me good from the start, which had me kicking my feet, blushing, aching and not once had I stop rooting for these two to finally be together. Love the tension from the start that then blossomed into a real and truly what we needed kind of relationship towards the end.

As for the mystery / family plot in this story - I can say that it’s good, it doesn’t feel drag-ish, and everything been revealed towards the end. Indeed there are some heavy topics inserted into the plot (mental health, trauma, family issues, etc) but those aren’t triggering for me. I can relate to most, as well as to the fmc Jess, yet I think these whole topics had been carefully laid out & nicely written as well. To those who can relate - some parts had been like a reminder / self note, some parts were like a truth revealed towards our own self, and towards the ending it’s like telling us that it’s okay, that we will find the happiness that we deserves as well as our own true selves, despite the ugly, heavy past that shaped us kinda badly all these years of growing.

Those whom can’t relate might be puzzled of what I’m rambling about here and I apologize since I don’t wanna contain any spoilers in this review. The main thing to keep in mind is that this story uncovers about parenting (absent parent) - the people that left you when they’re supposed to be the ones loving and wanting you the most. Those act of course, shaping you into the kind of person that won’t trust other people, not easy to love, hardly open up and more, which indeed not only affecting you, but other people around you & your life as well. There are also other things such as about marriage + roles & mental health been layered lightly in between - bipolar, emotional abuse, loss / grieving, hence do take note of these tw as well before you start reading.

Overall, I don’t find this book heavy to read, since even I can relate to those topics, I found it not triggering me, yet more like it’s spoken / bring to light on my behalf regarding some of those issues / behaviors that I can relate to. The romance story of Jess & Adam really helps I guess, as their tension-then-blossoming-relationship always makes me at ease. I’m also satisfied regarding how the plot uncovers, yet wish it could be more for the ending part. It’s fine, but I guess I just expected more. Still, such a good read indeed ❤️

A great read, following sisters Jess and Teagan, with podcast hosts Caleb and Adam as the travel across the country trying to track down their mother and the con artist she disappeared with.

This freaking book!

Kate Clayborn has written another masterpiece. The Other Side of Disappearing is the perfect blend of contemporary romance and true crime podcast. If you're like me and thoroughly enjoy both, you will love this story.

The FMC, Jess, is so relatable. She's grown up tough because she had to be. After being left by her mother not once but twice, and the second time being left to raise her younger half-sister, she's learnt to be closed off and to not trust people. Despite it all, she loves her younger sister (Tegan) wholeheartedly and only wants to protect her from the world (and their mother).

Enter Adam, the MMC.

From the moment Adam lays his eyes on Jess, he's fallen head over heels. This handsome giant with a heart of gold has his own issues, though, and can recognise something in Jess that matches himself.

I absolutely loved Jess and Adam's journey. It had moments of insta-love but was mixed with enough depth to make it feel like they've known each other for much longer. And Adam was perfect with helping with Tegan, who had a plethora of her own issues.

To be honest, I wasn't a fan of Tegan (or Salem, the podcast host) at the beginning, but I grew to like them. I won't go into too many details, as I feel you need to read this book to fully experience their growth.

Overall, The Other Side of Disappearing was a beautiful story. It had moments of emotional turmoil, hurt, and sadness. It touches on some hard topics (please read trigger warnings beforehand!). But it was also a story of love, hope, finding yourself, and learning to trust. It also had the absolute sweetest epilogue that left me wishing it wasn't the end. I couldn't recommend this book more!

Perhaps it’s my fault for not reading the publisher’s blurb, but I was quite excited for a new Kate Clayborn book and I figured I didn’t need to do that. However… I probably should have. The set-up is that Jess has been acting a mother-substitute for her younger half-sister, Tegan, for ten years. Their mother ran off with a man who turned out to be a skilled con man, about whom a true-crime-style podcast was made. Now that Tegan is 18 and ready to leave for college in a few months, she contacts the podcast host and she and Jess (reluctantly, for Jess) wind up joining the podcast host, Salem, and her assistant, Adam, on a road trip to try to track down their missing mother and perhaps the con man she ran off with. There’s an instant attraction between Jess and Adam and they are both very wary about acting on it, so this is a slow burn romance.

My take: I think there have been too many books focusing on podcasts lately; I guess that’s the latest “thing.”

Weirdly, I had just finished another book that featured an older sibling being a caretaker (in that case, for both the disabled father and the younger sister), so it was a bit hard to keep the two stories separated in my mind. Not the author’s fault, just bad timing on my part.

There was some excellent character development, particularly for Jess, as she finally begins to grapple with the impact of her mother abandoning her (twice). And for those who prefer to know these things, be aware that there are a couple of rather spicy, open door scenes, including one in a rather memorable location.

On the whole, this wasn’t a bad book, but it wasn’t what I expected from this author. The love story was almost beside the point, with most of the book spent on the four of them tracking down clues to find their mother and/or the con man.

Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Books for the opportunity to read an advance readers copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Books for providing the ARC.

Greetings from the other side of the crying jag this book caused.

After reading Georgie, All Along last year, I knew that Kate Claybor was going to have me ugly crying before the end, and sure enough, she did. This book, while wrapped up in a true crime unsolved mystery type deal, is more about navigating relationships with the people we care about most. It was soft and it was hard, but most of all, it was so deeply honest and breathtaking that it is hard not to marvel at what transpired.

This book is an absolute emotional roller coaster, but in the best way possible. These characters are so vulnerable and imperfect that it is hard not to love them. They are what brings the heart and warmth to this book and Clayborn did them so much justice and then some.

Do yourself a favor and give this one a read.

Twenty pages in and I knew I was hooked. True crime podcasts, a disappeared mother and two girls, one only 21 when she took over raising her sister, combine into a fantastic story of trying to become whole again. Jess thought she had hidden those five postcards from their absent mother, trying to protect her little sister, Tegan. Apparently, not only did Tegan find the postcards, but she reached out to a podcaster, Salem, who famously covered the con man her mother left with. The sisters agree to a road trip with Salem and her assistant, Hawk, to go to five locations where the postcards were postmarked. Along the way, they discover a birth mother really does not always constitute a family. Finding people that love and protect you are a much truer family.

Jess became the legal guardian of her sister when she was only 21 and her mom abandoned them by fleeing town with an infamous con-artist. Only 5 cryptic postcards provide any clues as to where they disappeared to, and when her sister finds them almost 10 years later, she contacts a famous true crime podcast team in the hopes they can help her find her mom. Jess begrudgingly agrees to go on the cross country road trip with her sister and the two podcast journalists to shield her sister from hurt and despair when she doesn’t find what she is searching for on this trip.

Adam became a journalist after his football career imploded when he took to social media to criticize the culture of the college and professional sports field for their lack of mental health access when his best friend committed suicide. He wants to produce his own story about his friend’s life, and *needs* this trip and podcast story to be a success. However, the minute he meets Jess, he wants to know her and her story for himself, not for mass consumption.

Rather than just creating ‘stereotypical archetype’ romance main characters, Clayborn uses the novel to explore the ‘why’ and question the accuracy of each element of Jess and Adam’s personalities. Each interaction and conversation between them becomes a hard-earned moment of trust and vulnerability.
 
Watching these two fall deeply in love, Adam expanding Jess’s sense of security and Jess offering Adam a place to be real, was a beautiful journey.
My absolute favorite part was reading Adam’s thoughts any time he was around Jess; god he loves her so much and you will be underlining, highlighting, re-reading each beautiful thought; seriously. The book is more than just their love story, the mystery was propulsive, and the story is also about reconciling with your past, sisterhood, family, grief, and finding your path forward while knowing your true worth.

Mysterious, romantic, vulnerable, and full of gorgeous prose, this book is such a beautiful journey!

The Other Side of Disappearing is Kate Clayborn's newest novel. The story line involves two sisters and a disappearing mother. Also, a true crime podcast team that wants to interview their mother and the con man she ran away with. Mix in a romance between one sister and a handsome podcaster for spice. The story id compelling, as is the romance.

Kate Clayborn writes beautiful prose and well thought out characters. In this departure from her normal scenario there is a mystery. I have enjoyed her books, but this one missed the mark for me. I don't do well with 'head-speak', I prefer conversation. That aside, the theme, characters, and emotions all ring true---and Clayborn captured them perfectly.

I would recommend this book those who read romance , women's fiction , and books with fraught family relationships.