Disappointed. Did not care for writing style. Weak character development.
I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

I loved this book! I was hooked from the beginning. The details she used to describe the characters and events were so spot on. I chuckled to myself as I read them . They are little things we all notice about people but never utter. The descriptions of the sudsy forms she created with baby shampoo on the two little boys she was babysitting were instantly recognizable to me as I had made them with my children. Her job waitressing was clearly something she must have experienced... they were so well written. The novel is narrated by Casey and her first person point of view is essential to the success of the story. This is a personal story and it reverberates throughout this wonderful book.

If you've ever loved, lost, or done both at the same time, please read this book. 31-year-old Casey is a writer trying to figure her life out after her mother passes away suddenly. Saddled with unending student loan debt, a dead-end waitressing job, a recent heartbreak, and a novel on it's 6th year of completion, Casey wonders how she can go on.

This novel explores being both a post-collegiate young person in the U.S. today and a beginning writer trying to break in to a cutthroat and cruel field. Along the way you will laugh with Casey, share her heartbreak, and celebrate her joys.

The beginning started out a little slow for me and I wasn't sure I would be able to get into the novel, but her descriptions of working at the Iris restaurant and the cast of characters working along side her drew me in. It was an excellent and engaging read for the remainder of the story.

A solid 4 stars!

Thank you to Net Galley for the Advanced Reader Copy and the chance to share my thoughts!

Well written and as other reviews have pointed out great imagery of Iris. it was interesting that Lily
King as a mature writer would chose to portray a millennial perspective, While it didn’t seem timeless
in a Sally Rooney type way it stuck with me and I appreciated it more as I tried to read other fiction on offer

A sharply observed tale of a writer’s tumultuous journey. 31-year old Casey Peabody is the very definition of a struggling writer — deep in debt from student loans, living in near-squalor, and six years into her “Great American Novel.” Her mother’s sudden and recent death coupled with a devastating breakup have left her with debilitating panic attacks and general anxiety. Making it through each day is not a done deal.

So what makes this book worth reading? For me it’s King’s writing and her ability to meticulously document every aspect of this character’s experience — both personally and as a writer. In many ways, it was hard for me to read about Casey — because we really don’t know her that well, we also live the stress of not knowing if she will be able to get through this period (I’m going to cheat and tell you that she does get through it). In other ways, though, Casey is such an appealing character — her insights and experiences as a writer are fascinating, as are her thoughts about books, teaching literature, and literary criticism. I particularly enjoyed the details of a writer’s workshop near the end — her engagement with the exercises were intriguing.

I love her writing — I felt like I was highlighting every other line. The opening paragraph was perfect — it set the stage and drew me in with just few short lines:

“I have a pact with myself not to think about money in the morning. I’m like a teenager trying not to think about sex. But I’m also trying not to think about sex. Or Luke. Or death. Which means not thinking about my mother, who died on vacation last winter. There are so many things I can’t think about in order to write in the morning.”

A few more great quotes:

“I look back on those days and it feels gluttonous, all that time and love and life ahead, no bees in my body and my mother on the other end of the line.”

“It’s like a dream, the way they transform from sloped strangers, a man with a crackled bald spot and a woman in a gold jacket, into my father and stepmother.”

“Bob chooses this moment to put his hind legs through his front legs and produce a soft tan coil of poop at the base of a Japanese lilac.”

“I didn’t much like the writers Paco did, men who wrote tender, poetic sentences that tried to hide the narcissism and misogyny of their stories.”

“I should be wary of the guy who locks in too soon. It’s a sort of premature commitulation.”

“There’s a particular feeling in your body when something goes right after a long time of things going wrong. It feels warm and sweet and loose.”

“All problems with writing and performing come from fear. Fear of exposure, fear of weakness, fear of lack of talent, fear of looking like a fool for trying, for even thinking you could write in the first place. It’s all fear. If we didn’t have fear, imagine the creativity in the world.”

“Admire me. Admire me. Admire ‘judge’ and ‘courthouse’ and ‘seven sharp.’ I don’t like myself around Adam. I don’t think he wants me to.”

“The bees in my chest stir. A few creep down the inside of my arm. One conversation can destroy my whole morning.”

“I love these geese. They make my chest tight and full and help me believe that things will be all right again, that I will pass through this time as I have passed through other times, that the vast and threatening blank ahead of me is a mere specter, that life is lighter and more playful than I’m giving it credit for.”

I am always grateful for Netgalley allowing me to read and review books...this book is certainly one I am thankful for.

Narrated by Casey, an author/waitress whose life has spun out of control after the mysterious death of her mother. Despite her own sorrow and depression, the world is unkind, further cutting into her fragile emotional state.

The concept of well-educated people living in poverty, trying to pay back endless student loans, afraid of needing medical care, because they are uninsured, is very timely in our current political climate. References to “Me Too” and other sex scandals and coverups are blended into the plot.

Somehow, with all the issues that Casey faces (there are many, which I won’t enumerate) the novel has a sense of hope and triumph. I was totally engaged by the beautiful writing and the heroine who never lost her ability to love and care. I’m still rooting for Casey and thinking about her....that’s what makes for a great novel.

The synopsis for Writers & Lovers by Lily King sounded like it would be a book I would enjoy. Unfortunately, the story fell flat for me. I was unable to connect or care for the main character and found myself reading just for the sake of getting through the book. The book did have some witty dialogue between the characters and interesting takes on the struggles of a writer. Overall, an okay book for me. I want to read other books by Lily King because I did like her writing style, and I also may return to this book at a later time to give it another chance.

#WritersLovers #NetGalley

Writers and Lovers was a different read for me. I must say it is very true to its title. An aspiring, if that’s the correct term, is dealing with the sudden loss of her mother on vacation,and Luke a would be poet writer ,she met at a symposium out in the woods. The heroine is both writer a long time waitress, the latter being the only way to keep her head above water from defaulting on her student loans. With her it’s not just writers block that keeps her from succeeding it’s the fact of losing her mother so far from home and family that compounds her loss. I found the element of her life at the restaurant intriguing and revealing at the same time. I also found the restaurant scenes very real. A tried to rally for her triumph but in the end I found her too self important to surrender to her craft. Writing!

I love Lily King. In this novel, Casey is a server at a high end restaurant which is so spot on I dreamed about my own experience waiting tables in college. Cast is also an aspiring writer with an interesting and heartfelt synopsis centered around a character based on her recently deceased mother. She is looking for love and we get to experience the early doubt and witty dialogue of new relationships. Her take on other writers, her art, her debt, are just a few of what makes this character grow. I will be reading this one again!

Copy provided by the Publisher and NetGalley