LOVE LETTERING BY KATE CLAYBORN

LOVE LETTERING

KATE CLAYBORN

KENSINGTON BOOKS

12/31/2019

 

In this warm and witty romance from acclaimed author Kate Clayborn, one little word puts a woman’s business—and her heart—in jeopardy . . . 

Meg Mackworth’s hand-lettering skill has made her famous as the Planner of Park Slope, designing custom journals for her New York City clientele. She has another skill too: reading signs that other people miss. Knowing the upcoming marriage of Reid Sutherland and his polished fiancée was doomed to fail is one thing, but weaving a secret word of warning into their wedding program is another. Meg may have thought no one would spot it, but she hadn’t counted on sharp-eyed, pattern-obsessed Reid.
 
A year later, Reid has tracked Meg down to find out how she knew that his meticulously planned future was about to implode. But with a looming deadline and a bad case of creative block, Meg doesn’t have time for Reid’s questions—unless he can help her find her missing inspiration. As they gradually open up to each other, both try to ignore a deepening connection between them. But the signs are there—irresistible, indisputable, urging Meg to heed the messages Reid is sending her, before it’s too late . . .

Praise for Love Lettering
 
“Delicious and beautiful and perfect.”
—New York Times bestselling author Sarah MacLean
 
“This book will wake you up in the middle of the night aching for these perfectly imperfect characters.”
—Sonali Dev, author of Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors


THOUGHTS:


Kate Clayborn’s book, Love Lettering was truly a work of art for me. I was engrossed with the story from the very first page. I did not stop and was fully engrossed with the story and the characters. Clayborn wrote a beautiful love story that developed organically with amazing dialogue with all the swoon and feels you will crave for.


Our amazing story begins with Meg Mackworth, who is a popular and talented hand lettering artist who was working with a couple on their wedding program. Meg knew without a doubt from their first meeting that Reid Sutherland and her gorgeous fiancée’s marriage would be doomed to fail. Meg decides she would incorporate a hidden and secret message within the wedding program design. Unbeknownst to her, Reid was pattern obsessed and noticed the sign Meg left in their program.
A year later, Reid tracks down Meg to let her know she knew about the message she left and asks questions before he leaves New York permanently. This starts an unusual friendship and an unlikely connection with each other. Meg is trying to gain more inspiration for her new project, Planner of Park Slope, and works with Reid trying to find these hand lettered signs all over the boroughs of New York City. Will Meg be as astute in reading the signs Reid is leaving for her?

There were parts of the book where the writing was just so perfect when Meg and Reid start to recognize their attraction for each other, and that part really took my breath away. There were many moments like that where Clayborn’s writing sparks with brilliance in the way she writes the story. Nothing forced but oh my goodness, how do you pull at all my heart strings!!


I was glad to see hand lettering featured in the story as handwriting is becoming a lost art – but happy to see that there is a trend in its growing popularity among artists, and in social media that is influencing many more people. I notice that after reading this book, my appreciation and taking notice for hand lettering signs have increased and at times makes me smile and think what Meg and Reid would have thought about this.


Thank you to the amazing team at Kensington, Michelle Addo and Samantha McVeigh, for their wonderful support of this amazing book.


5 STARS!!!




AUTHOR INTERVIEW:

1.    Can you describe Love Lettering in three words 

This is so difficult—so many words are swimming in my head! I think the top three things I was going for, though: romantic, emotional, and artistic.

2.      Writing romance is certainly your niche! Reading Chapter 11, I had tears streaming non- stop from my eyes! I had goosebumps, and the dialogue was so heartfelt. Who is your inspiration when you write these beautiful dialogue that builds up slowly and beautifully?  

Oh, thank you for saying this—I worked for a long time on this particular chapter! I don’t know that I have a who for inspiration here, but what I would say is that very often, when I’m working on a book, key pieces of dialogue will come to me very early, almost like they are the most authentic representations of that character, giving me cues for how I need to write their stories overall. And once I have pieces like that, I think about about how to build the story around those snippets of dialogue. So in the chapter you mention, I knew from a very early point of drafting the book some of the lines I wanted Meg and Reid both to say at this point in the story, and I had to think about what would get them to the place where they could say those lines: what state of mind would they be in, what would their comfort level with each other be, what do they believe about themselves and each other? Thinking through those questions helps me to think about the dialogue that should lead up to these lines, the setting where they should be said, the small movements that will accompany their speaking. And so I suppose the characters themselves were the inspiration, if that makes sense? 

3.      What was the book you read that made you cry? 

Hmm. I’m a little ashamed to say that I don’t often cry when reading! But this summer an audiobook definitely did it: Beth O’Leary’s The Flatshare. This was a really charming, really lovely book about two people sharing an apartment who go for a long time without ever actually meeting, except through the short but sweet notes they leave for one another. It packed such an emotional punch, and I think this was intensified by the narrators’ voices, which were so great! I also welled up recently while reading an ARC of Kennedy Ryan’s The Kingmaker—important, emotional issues and an intense love story, too.  

4.      What does your writing process look like? Do you have a favorite writing spot? Routines? Quirks?  

Well, as my answer to number 2 probably indicates, my process is not very linear,  and so in spite of the fact that I’m generally a pretty organized person, my writing can be something of a mess as it’s happening! I almost always start with handwriting (big surprise!)—basically, I write down everything I can think of about the two main characters I have in my head. I think about everything from how they look to what they like to eat to where they go to relax, and most of it never makes it into the book, but it’s helpful for me to know who the characters are on a pretty deep, specific level, because that’s how I can make them feel the most real and authentic and consistent to me (and I hope to the reader). Then I start toying with dialogue, with scenes, with the voices of secondary characters I want to introduce. Somehow, that’s all worked out to end in a finished book! I do have some favorite spots to write in—the most ergonomic option is in my home office, which is quiet and soothing and lovely. But I also have a very specific spot on the couch I like for those days where I need to feel a little cozier while I’m writing. Oh, and—I always like to have a candle lit…something about it is comforting to me. 

5.      What are you currently reading and what books are on your nightstand currently?  

I’ve got a couple of books I’m reading right now—I’ve been treating myself to a few pages each night of Dr. Jen Gunter’s The Vagina Bible, which is absolutely mind-blowing in terms of making you reflect on how little information so many of us are taught about our own bodies. I’m also reading Diana Biller’s The Widow of Rose House, which I’ve been hearing folks rave about for weeks. Finally, I’m so lucky to have an advanced copy of Rebekah Weatherspoon’s A Cowboy to Remember—such an anticipated read for me! 

6.      Just like Meg who experienced her creative block and her wonderful way of finding inspiration, how have you found inspiration in the books you write?  

Meg’s creative block was something deeply personal to write about—I think anyone who is creative might be able to relate here, and thinking through the various struggles of that block was at times painful and at other times really liberating. When I’m in a good creative space—when I’m decently well-rested, for example—I can really take inspiration from anywhere: the lyric of a song, a mannerism I observe in someone during my day, a bite of food that’s full of flavor. But when I’m a little less well-rested, or when I’m worried I’m all out of ideas, I try to remember this very good piece of advice a fellow writer once gave me, which is to think about how I want my readers to feel when they’re reading my story. Do I want them to feel aching with longing over a crisis my characters are in, for example, or do I want them to feel giddy with happiness over a brief moment of physical contact? When all else fails, I try to think of feelings as my source of inspiration—what makes me feel something when I’m reading a truly great book. 

7.      I love how you wrote Reid’s character. What’s the most difficult thing about writing characters from the opposite sex?  

I don’t know that I would say there is something more difficult for me about writing a person of Reid's gender, but what I would say is that a character like Reid—someone who is quite shy and reserved—is always a challenge. I wanted Reid to feel to the reader like a very genuine, very noble person, but also a person who doesn’t always say the right thing, a person who really struggles to be comfortable in his environment. But when he’s also a person who doesn’t say much—well, it’s tricky! As I wrote Reid, I relied a lot on the very quiet things he does to show who he is: his manners, his caution, his kindness, his empathy. Every movement Reid makes is telling, and that meant writing his character had to be very deliberate.  

8.      Did you hide any secrets or hidden messages in your book?  

I suppose I like to think of every book of mine as having secrets, themes beneath the surface that I hope readers will think and talk about. But in the acknowledgments of this book in particular, I thank friends of mine, and tell them that their voices exist in the pages of Love Lettering—I think that those are my hidden messages in this one, small tributes to people I know and love who inspire me every day to be a better writer, friend, and person. We’ll see if they find themselves in the pages of this one! 

AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT:

Kate started writing stories on the extra wide-ruled notebook paper her first grade teacher passed out for handwriting practice, dreaming up everything from fairy princesses to secret agents, to fairy princesses who were also secret agents. She got gold stars for her handwriting, and side-eyes for the secret agent stuff.

Those stories were packed away in a memory box while Kate grew up and did lots of things—a master’s degree, a PhD, work, travel, home renovation, life in general—always with a book at her side.

A jolt in the form of a great romance novel reminded her to start writing stories again, but this time on a laptop (though she still has excellent handwriting).

These days Kate’s favorite stories to write are the ones that make people snort-laugh and happy-sigh—stories about smart, strong heroines who face the world alongside true friends, complicated families, and good men who recognize exactly how amazing the women they love are.

Kate is lucky enough to spend her days reading and talking about all kinds of great books. When she’s not doing that, she’s writing them, thinking about writing them, or remembering edits she needs to make in them. There’s also the thing where she takes long walks around her neighborhood and makes her handsome husband and sweet-faced dog listen to her talk about books and writing. They’re never bored and she’s not single-minded at all.