BOOK REVIEW: Georgie, All Along

Georgie, All Along by Kate Clayborn
Publication Date: January 31, 2023

I didn’t stick to our traditional Words About Words review format for this review because I really had more to say than a bullet point list would allow me to. It’s long, almost 1k, but if anything, I hope you add this book to your TBR because it was my favorite book of 2022.

Plot – Georgie has been a PA for the last couple of years, only to have her famous boss decide that LA wasn’t for her anymore. Georgie is now jobless and heads back to the town she grew up in. Georgie is a bit lost with what she wants in life and finds a journal from middle school with all her tween self’s dreams/wants. She starts to hope that by revisiting her childhood dreams, she will find her adult dream. But, that is easier said than done when her best friend is pregnant and can’t participate in most of the activities or the fact that she can’t stop thinking about Levi Fanning, her new temporary roommate due to a mixup. 

I — have no words?? I love Kate Clayborn’s books so much. I read all of them in 2021 so I’m a newer fan, but she has such a way with words and Georgie, All Along is just flawless. I’m the type of reader that likes to fly through books. I want to fall into the stories and be sucked in until I finish the book. Due to life, this is not how I can consume stories anymore. But, Georgie was that rare book where I was sucked in and didn’t want to turn the pages because I didn’t want it to end. I reread lines of dialogue. I set the book down to feel the feels. I forced myself to sleep at a reasonable time. But I still finished it in one weekend and looked forward to reading it each night. 

What I actually want to say is I LOVED THIS SO MUCH which is valid, but doesn’t really give you much. If you want tropes it’s small town, grumpy/sunshine, but that doesn’t really tell you much either. And reducing this book to its tropes really does not tell you much about it at all either.

This book is about a person who is trying to figure out her future by looking to the past and a man who can’t move on from his past.

IT’S JUST GOOD

I’m a big character person and I like seeing characters working through feelings (bc I don’t do that lol) and Kate is the master of that. There are pages where the reader is just inside their heads and feeling their emotions with them. And it does’t feel boring!! Both Levi and Georgie are going through some things emotionally and Kate shows the work. Even when they have conflict with each other and others there isn’t just a quick resolve. As the reader you understand why the characters are acting in certain ways even if you don’t want them to do it.

I’ll be honest once I started reading this I saw how some of it was going to go, BUT IT DOESN’T MATTER IF YOU KNOW THAT X IS GOING TO HAPPEN. Just being around Georgie and Levi is a joy and Kate takes you on a journey so lovely that it doesn’t matter that you know where it is going.

Levi’s POV had me on the floor. This man is GONE for Georgie from so early on and yet doesn’t feel worthy and being inside his head made this story all the better. ALSO LEVI IS JUST THE BEST? LIKE HE IS GRUMPY BUT CARES FOR HIS DOG that has its own trauma and he helps Georgie’s parents with their house and cares about the climate?? I cannot. 

I really appreciated how mature this romance is. Sure, they have disagreements and there is a third act break up but THERE HAS TO BE BC THEY NEED TO WORK THROUGH THE ISSUE. And they do. There are many instances where they just talk and they both want their relationship to work so they put in the work.

Georgie though. Ooof. I relate to parts of her in a way I haven’t related to a character in a long time. Not her messiness or her boldness, but her reflecting to her younger self and her listlessness and just wanting to find what’s next. It also helps that she is 28 and I will turn 28 a few days before this book releases. 

AND HER FRIENDSHIP WITH BEL. I loved the difference in career paths and how neither resents the other for anything and that scene at the end had me in TEARS and I just UGH.

I JUST LOVED THIS SO MUCH

Kate’s writing is always praised are for GOOD REASON. I wanted to underline everything here. And when I reread it on my kindle I did highlight something (or many somethings) in almost every chapter. It’s less flowery than Love Lettering or even Love at First, but it shines in its simplicity here. She has these short sentences that just made me want to wallow in my feels while also being able to nail human emotions. 

WHEN GEORGIE SAYS ILY FOR THE FIRST TIME AND LEVI’S REACTION WAS EVERYTHING I — (i need to take a minute)

THIS BOOK HEALED ME

The friendship fic part of the book was a little weird and didn’t 100% work for me (we’re at like a solid 95%) BUT IT PROPELS THE PLOT SO WE NEED IT and I loved LOVED the idea of looking back at what your younger self wanted versus what your adult self wants. There is often a dismissal of what kids think is important and this book easily could’ve fallen into the trap of LOL she didn’t know anything, but Kate and Georgie treat Georgie’s younger self with so much respect that I CANOT EVEN HANDLE IT. I could relate to the reflection back to ones younger self so much. I’m a year younger than Georgie, I’ll be her age when it comes out (SOBS) and I’ve been thinking about my teenage self a lot lately and this book maybe healed some of the thoughts that I’ve had regarding her and the person I was versus the person I am now.

This book is literally a perfect romance novel* and Kate Clayborn is a master of her craft. Like damn what a novel.

*perfect for me

If it wasn’t clear — 5/5 stars

*thanks to the publisher for an ARC copy; all thoughts are my own*

If you’ve made it this far, thanks for reading!

xoxo, Tree

Other books by Kate Clayborn’ that I’ve reviewed –
BOOK REVIEW: Luck of the Draw
BOOK REVIEW: Love at First