Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC. This is my third Lia Louis book. The first half of this book was a bit of a slog for me as Natalie was such a sad sack. However, the last half... I couldn't put it down! Heartache, love, friendship, music, recovery and moving forward are all the wonderful themes of this book. Honestly would have been a 5 Star review if the upswing had started at about 30% instead of 50%.

Louis gives us witty banter with the occasional laugh out loud moment and heartwarming romance that is like cuddling under a blanket while watching a rom-com with your significant other. Once it got going, I didn't want the laughter and tears to end.

4.25/5⭐️

This is my third book from Louis, and I’ve loved them all (but this one not quite as much as the two previous). What I love most about her books are the unique and interesting storylines (and her characters aren’t too shabby either).

Natalie is a widow (early 30s) who is having trouble moving forward and finding her “old” self (if there’s one to get back to). As an accomplished pianist, she begins playing an old public piano at a London train
station as music has always been her salvation. One day she accidentally discovers a single sheet of music inside the bench…a favorite song that she played for her husband in hospital. Then more appear, each with a special memory attached. Could it somehow be from Russ, her deceased husband?

Meanwhile, her friends are trying to set her up and have her talk to an anonymous guy (Tom) at a bar. He turns out to be the son of a sweet friend that she’s made at the train station. They hit it off and become friends. As she gradually begins to heal, she joins a grief musical therapy group and then begins volunteering there. She makes a new friend there who may become possibly more. She makes up with her estranged best friend. But frustratingly she’s not able to discover who’s leaving her the music that has given her the spark to look forward to life again…until she does.

This is a story about love and loss, grief and hope, and ultimately finding a new you following major upheavals in life. My only complaint was a good bit of unnecessary bad language (which was distracting at times). But a sweet (though at times sad) story (also lots of great humor) that ultimately left me happy and cheering on Natalie.

My sincere thanks to the author, NetGalley and Atria/Emily Bestler Books for providing the free early arc of The Key to My Heart for review. The opinions are strictly my own.

I loved the author's first two books. This one was another good read - don't be confused by the cover. It isn't a light hearted romance, but more an exploration of grief and love and loss and finding yourself again. I loved the characters for her messiness and flaws.

Having never read a Lia Louis novel before, I didn't know quite what to expect when I opened her latest, "The Key to My Heart." My book-lovin' friends all rave about Louis's work, however, (in particular, that of "Dear Emmie Blue"), so I was fairly certain an enjoyable read was ahead of me. But little did I know how much I would adore it.

"The Key to My Heart" is an emotional, affecting story of a young widower struggling to overcome her grief and move on with her life. Written with warmth and sensitivity, it's an engaging and perfectly-paced read, one that romance fans will surely devour.

And its ending is to die for. The final romantic gesture of the story -- my heart flipped when I read it. It is pure perfection.

BUT.

The humor in the novel feels off. I found many of the jokes to be unpleasant and, at times, borderline lewd. The nature of the comedy employed by Louis just seems out of place and unnecessary in what is otherwise a very poignant novel.

Still, I refuse to allow a few unfunny one-liners to cast too dark a shadow on the lovely "The Key to My Heart." I recommend it with great enthusiasm.


My sincerest appreciation to Lia Louis, Atria/Emily Bestler Books, and NetGalley for the Advance Review Copy. All opinions included herein are my own.

This book is much more than a romance. It possibly explains grief better than i’ve ever heard. Being stuck,scared and feeling guilt. Every emotion tangled in your head. Natalie is still reeling from the loss of her husband and after 2 years her friends and family just want to fix her. With a musical puzzle to solve there just may be a way for Natalie to take control of her life and move forward. I realize depending on where you are in life stories have a different effect on you. This is my third Lia Louis book and absolutely the best. Thank you to Simon&Schuster for an early preview.

The Key to my Heart by Lia Louis
Publication date: December 2/22
Format: eARC
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Many thanks to @netgalley and @stmartinspress for the opportunity to read this ARC.

I am a big fan of Lia Louis! Just like in Eight Perfect Hours she is able to develop characters and relationships the reader can escape into. We quickly fall in love with Natalie, a young widow, who tries to move forward in her life. A musician, she finds mysterious piano music which helps her begin to have hope in the future. As she navigates this new path we are introduced to people who care for, support her, and become the most important people in her life. Still there are ups and downs and heartbreaking situations Natalie must go through to move on. I can’t say enough about this lovely book and recommend it.

An enjoyable rom-com. Natalie and Tom have great chemistry filled with clever bantering . . . until they hit some obstacles. Natalie and Notebook Guy's relationship is more staid but steady. But as Natalie gets to know these two men, she slowly starts to heal after the unexpected death of her husband Russ two and a half years ago. Luckily, Natalie has some great female friendships that keep her going when she is at her lowest. All-in-all, an enjoyable read. Of the three novels that I've read by Lia Louis, I must say that I liked Dear Emmie Blue the best.

I usually love slow burn romances, but this one just didn't click the way I'd expected. I also really struggled to get into this because it wasn't always lighthearted and I think I'm just not in the headspace at the moment to read books that need me to invest a bit more energy.

Either way, maybe I'll read it again someday and enjoy it more. But for now, this was a bit of a miss.

Thank you to the publisher for kindly providing me with an ARC via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

I somehow had this ebook approved twice? So I’ll be copy and pasting the first review I gave of it.

I haven’t read anything by this author before and I was very excited to get this advanced copy from Netgalley! I really did enjoy the book overall and I’d rate it a solid 3.5 stars.

The Key to My Heart by Lia Louis was one of those books that starts off pretty slow but gradually picks up pace. The storyline hit a little close to home for me and maybe that’s why the beginning dragged on a bit. It could be a personal thing.

Natalie lost her husband her husband two and a half years ago and just wasn’t as ready to move on as her friends would’ve liked. They meant well but I was on Natalie’s side with this one. I don’t think anyone really has the right to say when the appropriate time is to move on or even really bring it up at all. That said, I do understand that her loved ones just try to look out for her.

The second half of the book really amped up and I ended up loving it so much more than the first half. I would recommend this as a cute romance read to anyone looking for something cozy.

I enjoyed reading such a sweet story of loss, healing, and new love and life. This book did take me a little time to finish, though I did enjoy the banter between Natalie and Thomas a ton.

Lia Louis hold the key to my heart. Reading her books feels akin to sitting down with a feel-good romcom like ‘Notting Hill’ or ‘You’ve Got Mail.’ They are comfortable and swoony and re-readable and so, so lovely.
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So, needless to say, I was ecstatic when NetGalley approved my request for her December release. It did not disappoint.
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Natalie’s whole world shattered two years ago when her husband, Russ, died. She’s struggled with grief ever since, and has struggled to find joy in life. But then, she begins to find sheet music in the stool of the public piano she’s started playing at…songs that were significant to her and Russ. Who is leaving the music for her? And could this be the spark that will unlock her heart once again?
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This book made me cry and laugh out loud. The characters were oozing with humanity, and charm, and were so likeable.
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Highlights:

🚺 Women’s fiction with depth (this is more than a mere romcom)
💞Love triangles
🔎A bit of mystery
😢Grief journey/death of a loved one
🧡Friends to lovers
🎵Healing power of music
🇬🇧All the British cultural references (who doesn’t love a little Cliff Richard razz?)
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Thanks so much to NetGalley and Atria for this advanced e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this book! It followed Natalie on her journey of grief, growth, and healing. But it was more than that. It was touching and funny, and I just loved the banter! I would definitely read more by this author.

This book was everything I wanted it to be. It had me turned pages without even realizing. It was so good!

4.5 stars

Lia Louis is such an incredible writer. She weaves together so many littles details into these beautifully complex stories. Nothing is ever quite what it seems, but everything always comes together so wonderfully in the end. The Key to My Heart is a novel about growth and change. It's a story about grief and all the ways that one processes it (or not). It's a story about family and friendship, as well as loss, forgiveness, and healing. There is also a very sweet/no steam (only kissing) romantic subplot, but the focus of the book is Natalie's journey.

The romance doesn't take center stage, but a highlight of the book for me was obviously Tom. Steadfast, ultra gooey cinnamon roll Tom. The romance was so incredibly sweet and the slow burn friends to lovers was amazing (especially after such an awkward meet cute/disaster). I loved the epistolary elements and their joking and back and forth always brought a smile to my face. It's a bit of a winding road for these two, but it was well worth the wait. The scene at the exhibition brought happy tears to my eyes.

I loved the strong emphasis on sisterhood/female friendships in the novel - the highs and the lows. Priya, Shauna, and Jodie (Jodie's entire family really) were all stars and I loved them so much. The grief and sadness is balanced well in the book thanks to all the hilarious and witty banter. The big mystery wasn't a huge surprise, but I liked the addition of the curveball (for the spark - insert happy tears emoji!) when all was revealed. If you loved Lia Louis' previous novels, you're sure to love this one too!

CW: repeated parental infidelity, death of loved ones, guilt, grief, cheating ex, MC’s date and spend time with OW/OM prior to starting a relationship, strained friendships, FMC's BFF & husband drunkenly slept together in the past (prior to them dating) and they kept it a secret from the FMC, discussions and mentions of: bicycle/hit and run accident, surfing/ocean rescue accident, hospitalization, induced comas, and infections/deteriorating health

Absolutely loved it. I worried when the beginning started feeling a little slow but it was a great set up and a believable journey of grief. Well done. And I adored Tom!

Natalie lost her husband a few years ago and is really struggling to "move on". She feels so much pressure from the people around her to do so that she spends a lot of time avoiding them.

One of the few things she enjoys is playing a public Piano in a train station a few days a week. But someone has started to leave sheet music in the bench for her, and it's all music that has significant meaning to her.

In her journey to figure out where this music is coming from and what it means, she finally starts making new connections and feeling like she might be ready to start letting go.

Books about grief always hit me incredibly hard, especially when dealing with the loss of a spouse because that's something I often can't stop myself from worrying about. Natalie's grief, guilt, and shame feel incredibly real and poignant. My heart was broken for her at the beginning of the book and watching her slowly come back out of her shell and being to heal made me very happy.

This is not a romance, but there is romance in it. The story overall is about people who are in pain or who've experienced trauma finding ways to heal and ways to connect both with their old and new friends.

It's a bit of a slow read in some parts but it's very much worth making it to the end.

Thanks to Netgalley and Atria books for the advanced copy of this book!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the Arc. This book is exceptionally slow. I really wanted to love it and there was some poignant moments but I had a very hard time getting into it because it was just such a slow moving book.

This book totally swept me away completely, and was such a wonderful read. I found myself tearing up multiple times, as the content is really quite heavy. Natalie is grieving the surprise death of her husband. There are friends and characters that are like big hugs, and others that grate on your nerves. I found the author’s descriptions of grief, and the depth of Natalie’s difficulties to feel very real, very raw. I loved the gentle humor dispersed throughout the book, as it really helped lighten the darkness. I found the writing to be really lovely, very engaging and quite beautiful. The romance is gentle and wonderfully sweet. I loved the book and can’t wait to read more by Lia Louis. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to provide an honest review.

This book is so precious! It’s about loss and grief, starting over, rekindling, old friendships. I had a hard time putting it down!

I learned so much from this book. It taught that HOW or WHEN to STOP grieving.

There were two significant plot twist in the book, that literally had me saying OMG out loud!

Natalie was so strong, and such a forgiving person. I really adored Tom’s character in the story.

I don’t want to give too much away, but PLEASE GET THIS BOOK! You won’t regret it!

THE KEY TO MY HEART, by Lia Louis, is a nice, slow-romance that deals with the incredibly heavy topic of grief. Natalie lost her first husband to a biking accident. As expected, this completely upended her life. Still grieving three years later, Natalie is trying to move forward, but then again, doesn't think she needs to move forward when she is still grieving.

With the "help" of her friends, she meets Tom at a local pub. They form a fun, easy friendship. And then, of course, it eventually turns into more.

I LOVED Eight Hours More by Lia. I think THE KEY TO MY HEART was just as enjoyable, but I did not like how elements of Nat's friendships were handled. I think her friends were toxic at times, yet, Nat also seemed to be oblivious to her friends own problems because she was grieving. The resolution was fast and not as detailed as I wanted it to be considering her friendships were a B plot in the story. This is a tricky subplot to write.

Nonetheless, THE KEY TO MY HEART would be a great read for any Lia Louis readers. I'm ready for her next book!

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for an e-copy of THE KEY TO MY HEART to review.

I rate THE KEY TO MY HEART four out of five stars.