There are some books you just know, right away, you’re going to love.

From the first sentence, they pull you in. You’re dunked into their world, water swirling over your head, and it’s as refreshing and exhilarating as the first cannon ball of summer.

The voice is perfect, welcoming you to this new world you know you’ll miss as soon as you close the cover. The setting is vivid, encompassing you completely so that when you look up, you feel viscerally removed. The world within the book feels real, while the world we inhabit outside of books seems like the true fiction.

These kinds of world shattering books are rare, but not that rare. And you know, from the first sentence, that this is the one, your book soul mate. You want to be friends with the characters, to hear what they’d think about your life. You just want to sit in their world a little while longer, so these stories always end too soon.

Love Lettering is one of these books that wraps you up as if in a warm embrace and doesn’t let go.

Meg is a rising star in the hand lettering scene, on social media and in the business world. She’s running her small business successfully, but she’s removed herself from the wedding scene since hiding a message in a wedding program.

Reid hates New York and is preparing to leave, once he ties up a few loose ends at work and in his personal life. Meg is one of those loose ends in the personal life, as he is the groom from the hidden message wedding program. He shows up in her shop one gloomy spring Sunday, having found her secret message and wanting answers.

What follows is an intriguing plot with exceptionally likable characters in a setting so well described its a character unto itself. As spring flows into summer and Meg and Reid’s lives become more intertwined, the stakes only grow.

I absolutely adored this book. Every word, the way Meg thought, the hints of magical realism so subtle you’re left wondering if you imagined it. This book is exquisite, and I could not pull myself away from it. The dialogue was incredibly well crafted, the narrative nuanced, the entire cast of characters well developed and thought provoking. I would instantly pick up a book featuring any of the side characters, from actress Lark to best friend Sibby to the shop owner to Lachelle, a fellow crafty businesswoman. I’m almost mad these people aren’t real, because I want to befriend them outside of the magical world Kate Clayborn created.

I absolutely loved this book, and now much shuck all responsibility to read Clayborn’s backlist. I’m also oddly inclined to learn the art of hand lettering and illustration, so be forewarned that reading this book may spark creative urges.