Literally amazing. I love anything from Kate Clayborn honestly. Definitely an amazing romance and loved the focus on the journey of self discovery. I can’t wait for this to be our next book club read

After their mother disappeared with a con man, Jess raised her half sister Tegan the best that she could. And if she happened to never mention that she’s received postcards from their mother, who can blame her for not wanting to upset their precarious balance? Jess learns that Tegan has discovered the postcards when two journalists from a podcast about the con man show up to help Tegan track their mother down. Jess accompanies them reluctantly to protect Tegan initially but as the trip progresses, she gains so much more.

What I loved:
-heartfelt and heartbreaking plot
-portrayal of unconventional family relationships
-format with snippets of podcast interspersed
-open and mature communication between Jess and Adam

This was a heartbreaking but beautiful story that I enjoyed immensely. I would highly recommend this to fans of romances with a deeper plot.

Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington for the advanced reading copy!

OMG what a beautiful book! I love Kate Clayborn’s books so much!!!
Hairstylist Jess Greene has spent the last decade raising her younger half-sister, Tegan, ever since their reckless mother ran off with a boyfriend she’d known only a few months. The same accomplished con man who was the subject of a wildly popular podcast, The Last Con of Lynton Baltimore. Now thirty-one, Jess didn’t bargain on Tegan plans to do exactly what Jess has always feared—leave their safe, stable home to search for their mother—and she’ll be accompanied by the prying podcast host and her watchful, handsome producer, Adam Hawkins.
Unwilling to let the sister she’s spent so much of her life protecting go it alone, Jess reluctantly joins them. Together, the four make their way across the country, unraveling the mystery of where the couple disappeared to and why. But soon Jess finds in Adam an unexpected connection she didn’t even know was missing, if only she can let go and let him in . . .
This story is like an expensive wine you just have to savor in small doses to enjoy all the experience. It´s not a book to read in a day. It’s deep, moving, and sometimes it seems that someone is ripping off your heart from your chest. Everything in this story works perfectly. The timing, the amount of aghast, the secondary characters, the bond between Jess and Adam. It’s a sweet slow-burn romance full of meaningful moments, and many romantic ones. I really like Jess, but Adam was incredible beautiful. I wanted to enter the story and just hug him.
I highly highly recommend this book.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This is a heart aching book. Jess's mother has disappeared, twice. The last time she left 21 years old Jess in charge of her 8 year old half sister, so Jess has given over her adult life to looking after Teagan - raising her and being the mother that their real mother wasn't.
But now Teagan is 18 and wants to find her mother. The key to this, is finding the con artist their mother ran off with. To that end, she contacts a true crime podcaster, who has been trying to track him down for years. Jess can't stop Teagan from going, so all she can do is go with her and try to prevent the worst of the damage.
Adan 'Hawk' Hawkins is the producer on the podcast.. He has his own reasons for being there and, much as he would like to, he can't protect Jess from harm either.
This story is a romance story at it's core, but it straddles the line between romance and women's fiction in the best possible way (I love books that do that!). It's a story about how we try to protect the people we love and how sometimes, we mess up. It's about sisterhood and sacrifice and how one person's disappearance affects the people she left behind. I had tears in my eyes in a few places.
This is a beautiful book. Romantic and heart felt.

<i>I received a copy of this story from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.</i>

3.5 stars, rounded down

Clayborn's books seem to be hit or miss for me. I've been chasing the high of <i>Georgie, All Along</i> ever since I finished it but <i>Beginner's Luck</i> wasn't anything special for me.

Unfortunately, this book also lacked that special spark.

Jess and Adam are wonderfully nuanced characters! It was a treat to see how the events of their lives have shaped them in even the small details. The moments where they learned about each other for themselves, those were some beautiful and poignant moments. But I didn't connect with them. I wasn't emotionally invested in their story.

The supporting cast of characters were great but again, it was hard to connect with them.

I loved how Clayborn really explored all aspects of disappearing and familial relationships. It's a romance book that makes you think a little deeper. It has a light philosophical bent, which is unique but I think is the vibe that made it harder to for me to connect.

It almost feels like us readers were meant to stay outside the story, in the way Salem and Adam couldn't stay outside their podcasts.

This book is solid, it's enjoyable, and I'm sure there's a loving audience for it. It's just not one of my favorites.

I had to wait a couple of days to digest this book before writing a review. I sat down on a rainy Saturday to read and finished it in one go. This one had me in my feelings HARD. The journey all of these characters go on, both literally and emotionally, the growth, the learning- it was so well done. So beautiful. Running to go read all of Kate Clayborn's other titles!

The "spicy" scenes were pure poetry. 🌶️🌶️.5 spice

🌶️🌶️.5= a couple explicit scenes but they're very poetic.

Jess Greene has been trying to move on from her past for years. Her mother left her and her step-sister Tegan and never looked back. When a well known true crime podcast host shows up at Jess’s door she realizes her past has come back to haunt her once again. Unbeknownst to Jess, Tegan discovered the postcards their mother had sent and contacted host Salem Durant to help track her down. Regan wants answers, specifically how their mother was connected to famous con man Lynton Baltimore. But Salem brings some help in the form of ex-football star Adam Hawkins who is helping Salem in return to have his own show green-lit.

From the start Adam seems to see through Jess’s tough veneer. The little signs that shows she really does care about Tegan and her relationship with her mother, no matter how hard she tries to hide her feelings. The four end up taking a road trip across the country based on the locations from the post cards. But will Jess and Tegan find their mother? What happened to Lynton Baltimore? And most importantly what will become of Jess and Adam after this soul searching, heavy adventure?

As usual Kate Clayborn delivers deeply satisfying story with troubled but endearing characters with a romance that touches your heart and has the reader rooting for the characters the whole time.

I devoured this story. I love that it’s all about how we define ourselves, what experiences molded the formation of those definitions, and whether they’re healthy or not.

While this is absolutely a romance (Adam, our morally huge hero, and Jess, our protective and padlocked heart heroine, are instantly drawn to and intrigued by one another, but it’s a slow burn and some serious trust-building that fortifies their bond), it’s actually the non-romantic and familial relationships that that shape this book. Jess is incredibly protective of her baby sister, Tegan, who she’s raised alone. And she fully throws herself into that role to try and make up for the fact that their mom took off.

Adam suffered a huge loss in a very public way, and it serves as his foundation for why he’s now in a career that wound up putting him directly in Jess & Tegan’s path.

These are heavy topics and trauma that have wounded both Adam and Jess, but the story is mostly centered around a true-crime podcast about Jess’ mom, whose whereabouts are currently unknown.

I was immediately intrigued by this plot (I’ll post the blurb in the comments).

It’s something different for a Kate Clayborn novel, but she still manages to approach it all with care and tenderness, which if you’ve read any of her previous books, you know is something you can rely on her to do. You’ll feel deeply, ache for the people on the pages, and swoonily sigh several times before reaching The End.

Also, I have to throw some serious bonus points out for a specific and pivotal H/h plot device, that in probably any other novel, would’ve gone a very predictable route, but quite pleasantly did not in this one. I want to elaborate more, but we’d be entering the Spoiler Zone if I did, so that’s all I’ll say.

This book was a little slow for me, but I enjoyed it. The "action" if you can call it that was very spread out, with not a lot happening in between, and the ending was a little unsatisfying except for one aspect of it. Overall, I would recommend you grab this from the library instead of buying.

Kate Clayborn is fantastic at crafting a very interesting premise and then exploring it with grace and nuance, and this is no exception. It's not hard to see the appeal in her work, even when a particular book doesn't necessarily work for me, such as in the case of this book. (Just not a fan of instant love, mostly.) I will continue to pick up her work going forward, as I am always impressed.

This is the third in a run of books I’ve been reading lately that happens to feature true crime podcasts as the driving force of the story. The upside: this one is less of a mystery or thriller than the others, but still has a more compelling and well drawn story at the center. It features complicated and well drawn characters. The downside: Omg the two narrators could not be more in their feelings. I like some emotional depth! And I like where their stories took us, individually and together. But some of the (many) tortured descriptions of their every interaction from the jump was… a bit much.

Jess and Teegan's mother eloped with a notorious man and left her children. Jess was 21 and Tegan was only 8 years old. Jess had raised her young sister alone, and then she gets a shock: Teegan has left school and is planning on travelling around the country looking for her mother. Her travel expenses are paid for by a crew of people recording and broadcasting everything as a live podcast.

I had a hard time with this book, primarily because I couldn't quite fathom that, to Jess, who the sisters' mother took off with was as important as the fact that she left them at all. The mother's attitude also shook me when they finally caught up with her. There is a romance in this book but it was not central to the story.

I received an e-arc of this book from publisher Kensington books via NetGalley, and voluntarily read and reviewed it.

While there was a nice bit of romance in this book, it was had more depth than many books of that genre. It is the story of a woman who at 21 was left to care for her 8 year old sister when their mom abandoned them. Now, ten years later, the younger sister wants to find their mom with the help of a podcaster. It deals with sacrifice, abandonment, siblings, parenting, romance and learning to live for yourself again. Thank you to NetGalley for the digital advance reading copy. I really enjoyed it. 4/5 !

A great story of two sisters struggling to make a life after their mother abandoned them for her con-man boyfriend. The depiction of narcissistic types in this book is really interesting, as is the evolution of the elder sister as she realizes her little sis is growing up and going to be just fine without her hovering. The instalove boyfriend was, as some have said, a little too quick, but sometimes the author has to take liberties. Overall I enjoyed this coming-of-age novel, although there were some minor loose ends.

I loved the author’s previous work, but unfortunately this one was a miss for me. I found the insta-love romance difficult to believe given the personality of the FMC. The plot dragged along while also feeling rushed in places. I did not feel connected to the characters and the emotional tone of the book felt forced.

No one gets you in your feelings like Kate Clayborn!!!
This book is definitely one of my favorites of hers, if not my favorite.
Adding the element of a mystery plus the family drama to the romance, took it to another level. I adored Jess. Her maternal life looking after her younger sister, juxtaposed with her tough exterior, made her super appealing to me - and Adam, oh gosh, you are going to love them together.
I didn’t see the twists and turns and the way Tegan’s character developed was really moving.
Huge thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the digital arc, what a buzz!!!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Other Side of Disappearing is a book inspired by true crime podcasts, in that Jess Greene and her sister's mother ran off with a famous con man about a decade ago. There was a really popular podcast about him about a decade ago too and now that Jess's younger sister is 18, the podcast host and her assistant Adam have shown up on Jess's doorstep bringing it all back up. The plot of this book results in the four of these characters going on a road trip wherein they meet some interesting people, have a whole lot of difficult conversations, learn a lot about themselves, and also, along the way Jess and Adam fall in love.

Setting plot aside, this book is written by Kate Clayborn and if there's one thing that Kate Clayborn excels at, it's writing a really gorgeous book with a melancholic tone to it. (It should be noted that Kate Clayborn is in fact really good at many things.) I mention the melancholic tone because I really think that's an important thing to understand about her books before you pick one up. Do not pick this book up anticipating a really good, fun time because while this book is FANTASTIC, it's not really fun. This quote from later in the book is one that resonated with me for a lot of reasons, but mostly, I think it's just really good at getting across a lot of what I want to say about the book. "She wants me to remember loving Jess Greene wasn't ever going to be easy."

Jess has walls up. Like, her walls are sky high. They are rock solid. Her entire life, since her mom left, has been about keeping her baby sister alive and well and healthy. Jess as a person in her own right is really not her priority. This affects her interactions with literally everyone in the book and it can make it hard, I think, to really understand her as the reader. But I think if you give this book a couple of chapters, it wins you over. Jess wins you over.

But this book is dual perspective and contrasting Jess with Adam is also so interesting because Adam has depth to him. What you see on the surface is a big former football player who has a chip on his shoulder because he blames football for the fact that his best friend is dead by suicide. Both Jess and Adam have a lot of issues with trust, some issues with abandonment, and just a lot going on personally. But their connection is undeniable, no matter how hard Jess tries.

The way the two of them stutter step their way into falling in love is absolutely magical and I loved it so much. Honestly, I really love this whole book. Give it a few chapters to fall into the world, but I have a feeling once you're in, you're in because you've got to know what happened (historically) and what's going to happen on this road trip too.

I am just foaming at the mouth for anything Kate Clayborn writes and this is no exception. I adored this book, It had everything pulling me in 100 different directions in the best way? I was invested in everything from the podcast itself to the sister dynamics to the actual love story with adam to jess’ feelings toward her mom to adam’s grappling with his best friend’s death to adam’s dynamic with Salem and Salem’s obsession with the Baltimore story. It was an intricate web of people and plots and relationships but Kate wove it beautifully. She is just a master at her craft and I’m obsessed with her brain.

I had pegged this for a mystery, but not only is it a cozy mystery there’s romance thrown in as well!
When Jess’s mother abandoned them, she took over raising her half-sister Tegan. Tegan is eighteen now and wants to know what happened to her mother. For all she has managed to do in the past, Jess realizes she can’t protect Tegan from this any longer. Not only is Tegan looking for answers, but she has also discovered that their mother may be connected con artist Lynton Baltimore, the subject of a true crime like podcast. By reaching out to the podcaster, Tegan has once again piqued her interest and brought the podcast host, Salem and her protective producer, Adam Hawkins to Jess’s doorstep.
As they road-trip in search of their mother to unravel the mystery of her disappearance, Jess finds that she is losing the control of the protective bubble she has placed around her and Tegan for the past decade. As her fears and vulnerability surface, can Jess trust anyone but herself? The ending was great in respect to the main characters; however, I would have liked a little more in regard to the mother.
Not usually a fan of insta love, but this happened organically and there was a some build up/denial, so it wasn’t a jump all in off the bat and it worked for me! There are themes of heartbreak, discovery and resilience throughout the story, as well mental health and the impact on the ones that love you.

Rating: 5/5
Tropes: road trip romance; cozy mystery; secrets with everyone but you

Truly unique story that is the perfect combination between a cozy mystery and romance. Yes, it was insta-love for Jess and Adam, but I had insta-love for them as well. I couldn't stop reading because I had to know what happened next.

Jess has emotional barriers due to the way her mother disappeared from her life (twice), and raising her younger sister, Tegan. Adam has personal motivations for exploring journalism and pursuing Jess and Tegan's story about their mother. I loved the way these seemingly conflicting storylines were woven together and ultimately resolved.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.