Georgie, All Along by Kate Clayborn
Published by Kensington Publishing Corp. on January 24, 2023
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Pages: 340
Format: Hardcover
Source: Bought
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Sometimes the hopes, dreams—and stories—of our past can shape our future selves in the most powerful and unexpected ways…

Georgie Mulcahy has returned home from L.A. with her career in flux and her future a disconcertingly blank page. Her once slightly shabby Virginia town has transformed itself in recent years, but some things remain the same—like her wonderful but absent-minded parents forgetting to mention that they’d already offered up their empty house to someone else. When Georgie rediscovers a “friendfic” diary she wrote in high school, filled with the possible lives she imagined for herself, she wonders if it’s time she did some transforming of her own…

Much to her embarrassment, many of the fantastic adventures Georgie once envisioned for Future Georgie revolved around her high school crush—the golden boy younger brother of her current roommate—the town misfit. Yet beyond briefly wondering what happened between them, Georgie finds herself wondering what happened to herself. The Georgie who wrote those pages was daring, confident, eager to grasp opportunities with both hands. Is it too late to become that girl again? To find out, Georgie just might have to pick herself up, dust off some of those teenage ambitions, and see what they spark…

my thoughts:

I know it’s still relatively early in the year but it’s safe to say that Georgie, All Along is going to be on my top reads list for this year. While I felt that this one spoke to me personally in a lot of ways, I think everyone can find a little bit of themselves in Georgie and Levi.

I picked this one up on a whim, looking for something cute and quick. It does meet those criteria but it has a lot more to it than that. It touches on some heavier topics but they blend seamlessly with the rest of the story so it never feels like too much. No one aspect of the story overpowered the others; the friendships, romance, family relationships, as well as personal growth for both Georgie and Levi, blended perfectly together. The humor also helped to temper some of the more serious aspects and there were times I couldn’t help laughing out loud. (Not to say I didn’t also find myself tearing up at times.)

Tropes:

• Forced proximity
• Grumpy/Sunshine
• Cinnamon Roll Hero
• Roommates
• Small Town
• Slow Burn
• Opposites Attract

Yes, it’s a lot of tropes but I have to say, they were very organic to the story and it never felt like the story was written for the tropes.

Characters:

• Georgie – chaotic, quirky – A lot to take in at first but once you get a feel for her, it’s impossible not to find something about Georgie to relate to.
• Levi – grumpy, misunderstood, emotionally scarred – I immediately connected with Levi, maybe even more so than Georgie. He had some definite emotional growth to go through but I loved him from the start. Seeing him come out of his shell with Georgie was absolutely adorable.
• Hank – Levi’s dog – Don’t get me started. I could write a whole review just on my love for Hank.
• Bel – solid, caring – Georgie’s best friend may have been the opposite of her but their love for each other showed from the start.
• Harry – Bel’s husband – His love for Bel was perfect and they were so cute.
• Georgie’s parents – These two are where Georgie gets her chaos and quirk. Pretty much every scene with them had me laughing.

These aren’t all the characters but definitely some of the best.

Overall, Georgie, All Along surpassed all my expectations, a deep, heartfelt story with all the trappings of a perfectly imperfect romance. Georgie and Levi have stolen my heart and Kate Clayborn has earned a new fan.

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