Georgie, All Along

I don't know how I'm feeling about this one. I didn't dislike it, but I didn't like it either.

Georgie finds herself back home and reevaluating her life. Having spent a life of people pleasing, she's ready to start figuring out her own wants and needs after rediscovering a ‘friendfic' she wrote as a teenager. An old high school acquaintance, Levi, helps her along on her journey of self-discovery.

The concept of this book is wonderful. I had really high hopes. Unfortunately, it felt like a strange mishmash of genres. The main plot felt like it wanted to be literary, but it was not written in a literary style. The romance plot felt like it wanted to be a romcom, but it wasn't comedic. While I liked the Georgie/Levi pairing, I grew bored of them quickly. I also found some of their romance scenes far too graphic for my taste. Disappointing overall, but ultimately comes down to a matter of preference and wrong assumptions of what the book was going to be.

Georgie and Levi are both ne'er-do-wells. Levi's got the reputation of being trouble, and Georgie just can't seem to get focused. When Georgie returns to her hometown after losing her job, she finds an old notebook full of things she had planned to do in high school, and she decides to take on those tasks now. And then she meets up with Levi...

I'm definitely not the target audience for this book, and it honestly did not work for me, but I've seen lots of other positive reviews, so I generously nudged my rating up a bit.

Thank you Kensington Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

We are still in the beginning of the year, and this would certainly be one of my favourite romances to be released on 2023 (being one of the all-time favourites as well).

The story follows Georgie, who returns to her small town after loosing her job, to help her pregnant best friend Bel, and to try to find what she wants to do with her life. Georgie is very good regarding satisfying other people needs but finds herself lost regarding her personal desires and dreams

While helping her friend going through old boxes from their childhood and adolescence, they found an old notebook of all the things they wanted to do in high school. Georgie feels inspired by her younger self, who had so many ideas and things she wanted to do and decides to fulfil the items of her list, hoping it would help her find her way now.

I enjoyed everything about this book: the writing style, double POV (with the approximately the same number of chapters for each character, which makes us connect at the same time, and with the same depth with both), the characters development, the vulnerability of the MC's, the impact of toxic masculinity on men growth and development, the way they work through their problems and try to be a better version of themselves, the way the MC's communicate, even if sometimes with a bit of a delay.

It felt honest and real, and I am truly honoured to have had the opportunity to get earlier access to this book.
I recommend it to all the contemporary romance readers, and to anyone who is in need of a bit of comfort and joy in their lives.