I loved this romance novel so much. It was just what I needed after reading a couple dark books in a row. Romance novels for me can be cringe-inducing or swoon-inducing, and this was the latter.

Natalie is only 32 years old and a widow. She thinks her friends think she’s broken because it’s been two and a half years since his death, and she hasn’t moved on. In addition to losing the only man she ever loved, she also lost her best friend after a truth is revealed. Natalie stopped teaching and working on her music when these two terrible things happened, but she would play the battered piano at the rail station. She began finding pieces of music that were important to her and her ex, Russ. She wonders if Russ somehow knew that he wouldn’t make it and set up someone to put these pieces of music here.

So there’s a mystery along with hoping that Natalie moves on, and that really compelled the first part of the novel. You’ll fall in love with the new love and everyone else, I assure you.

Thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to review this novel, which RELEASES ON DECEMBER, 6, 2022.

I'm such a fan of Lia Louis's writing. She has such a way of writing about the challenging experiences we all face in life - the loss of a loved one, struggling to learn how to live your life independently. I thought this book was really touching. I loved how the relationship between Natalie and Tom developed as she discovered more and more about the person she wanted to be without her late husband.

Two and a half years after her husband's death, Natalie Fincher feels like everyone is just expecting her to move on by now. Yet, Natalie isn't really sure she even wants to be who she used to be. When someone starts leaving her sheet music of her husband's favorite songs, Natalie unexpectedly finds herself enjoying life and opening up to new possibilities.

After loving her debut (Dear Emmie Blue) and being disappointed by her sophomore novel (Eight Perfect Hours), Lia Louis finds her stride again with a sweet love story with nuanced characters. Louis handles Natalie's widowhood with care, showing the complicated process of grief and giving her a gradual path toward a second love that starts with friendship. Although this feel-good romance has no steam, the characters are very British, so there is lots of swearing in their casual banter, which I don't mind but some readers might not enjoy.

My Rating: 3.5 Stars

Lia Louis did it again, another great story! Heartbreak, love, mystery what more could you want in a book? Loved it!!

First half: 3 stars, second half: 5 stars. This moved a little slow for me in the beginning. Once Natalie started spending more time with Joe and Tom, I was a lot more interested. I loved the banter between Natalie and Tom. The reveal of the mystery was not all that surprising, but there was another surprise toward the end that was so touching it brought tears to my eyes. This is the third book I've read from Lia Louis and I've enjoyed them all. I'm looking forward to reading more from her.

Thanks to NetGalley for the advance copy!

A wonderful book following Natalie’s journey after losing her husband. I love when book combine my three favorite things. Winter, music, and love!!, If you love second chance like romances you’ll love this book by Lia Louis! Thank you for the free arc copy!

I loved Lia Louis's other books so I was really looking forward to reading this story. It did not disappoint! It is emotional, sweet and has a little mystery included. Our main character is dealing with the loss of her husband and is having a hard time moving on and still very much dealing with grief. Then she meets some new people and things begin to start looking up. Loved it! Thank you for the opportunity to read and review Netgalley!

I always look forward to Lia Louis' books, especially around the holiday time and was really excited to read this one once I found out it was coming out. i enjoyed it alot! Thank you so much for the opportunity to read and review this one. Can't wait for the next one!

This one took me a little bit to get into but once I did I LOVED it, it was heartfelt and sentimental and it proved that there is still love after loss.

Natalie, our main character is struggling with the grief over the loss of her Husband and is feeling like all her friends want is for her to just get over it. Her friends introduce her to Tom and they strike up a friendship. Tom is there for her in a way that no one else is and when mysterious music starts showing up at the Piano in the Subway Natalie sets off to figure out who is leaving it and finds more than she could've ever hoped for.

This book was AMAZING, I'm not going to lie though.. I teared up a few times.

I received this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This was a good read about opening yourself up to love but it was a bit slow at times. Understandably for the MC but boring for the reader.

The pace of the storyline was to slow for me. I lost interest after a short while. DNF.




****************************I received an ARC for my honest opinion from NetGalley.**************************************

What a sweet story! Natalie’s journey is a tough one, trying to figure out what to do with her life after a major loss. Charming cast of characters here. Love all the relationships and friendships. Hits a lot of dramatic themes - grief, forgiveness etc… A few “British” sayings I didn’t get (being from the U.S.) but I enjoyed this!

I'm not usually a sappy reader, but MAN this book got me in the feels!

I loved Eight Perfect Hours, so I knew I had to pick up Lia Louis's next book. If anything, The Key to My Heart just took my love for her to the next level! This book is sweet, but it also handles grief in a very real-feeling way. It doesn't gloss over the loss of a loved one and the desperation to hold onto them in any way you can. Louis also focuses on the struggle of just not being able to move on yet, despite all your friends and family thinking you should have.

The past couple of years since the pandemic have been hard, and I typically avoid the topic of grief in books because it's my escape. I was hesitant to pick up this book because it focuses on a young widow, but ended up loving this book so much! It ended up being really healing for me to watch someone else process through their loss in a way that I never could have expected.

All that gushing to be said, there were some points that felt a teensy bit drawn out or slow to me. Take that with a grain of salt, though, because I tend towards plot-driven books over character-driven ones anyways.

Thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion!

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.

Lia always knows how to give you the most heart warming story, but she also may make you shed a few tears along the way too.

Natalie feels like a real person. Her grief is real, her hesitancy to move on felt genuine, and honestly I just wanted to be her friend and sit and talk about all the things with her.

This story was typical of Lia and just a beautiful depiction of love, family, and even a little romance.

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

All the hearts, all the stars. This was SO good! I loved the mystery of music sheets appearing, the whole range of emotions the reader experiences right there with Natalie.

I want to immediately start again at page 1 and watch it play it out now that I know the end. :)

The Key to My Heart follows Natalie, a young widow that is finding it very hard to move on from the loss of her husband over 2 years ago. A former music teacher that was on the brink of releasing a musical she was writing with her friend finds that she is now only able to play piano anonymously at the train station.

One day she starts to find sheet music to songs that were significant in her life and marriage. With this music, she starts to find happiness in life again.

This book is a truly touching journey of finding yourself again after feeling lost amongst the crowd and finding the strength to not forget, but to continue on.

Lia Louis did a fantastic job taking the reader on a journey from feeling lost to found.

Thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

The Key to my Heart
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: Romance
Format: Kindle eBook
Date Published: 12/6/22
Author: Lia Louis
Publisher: Atria Books
Pages: 352
GR: 4.43

I requested a digital advanced readers copy from NetGalley and Atria Books and providing my opinion voluntarily and unbiased.

Synopsis: Natalie Fincher has it all—a handsome new husband, a fixer-upper cottage of her dreams, and the opportunity to tour with the musical she’s spent years writing. But when her husband suddenly dies, she’s devastated. She only plays piano where she can be anonymous. When anonymous sheet music of her husband’s favorite songs at the station’s piano, Natalie begins to feel a sense of hope and excitement for the first time. As she investigates just who could be doing this, Natalie finds herself on an unexpected journey toward newfound love for herself, for life, and maybe, for a special someone.

My Thoughts: While there is romance in this novel, the first half focuses on Natalie and grieving her husband’s death, struggling to move forward. Louis has an uncanny ability to write about grief in a graceful, poetic way that just warms the heart. The last part of the story had me in complete tears, it was so touching, endearing, and just perfect. The characters were well fleshed out, had depth, were emotional, wonderful banter, chemistry, and were written in a creatively genius way. The author’s writing style was complex, graceful, connective, authentic, and brilliantly written. The tone of the story was perfectly set, you could feel the emotions Natalie was going through. The pacing and flow of the book was perfect, everything happened just at the right moment. This comes out in December and I would suggest preordering!

I really empathized with the heroine, Natalie Fincher. Having been widowed 2 years already, she simply cannot find inspiration or motivation in her life. The grief is still hanging over her, but her friends and family want her to be the old, fun Natalie again. She’s a musician and was well on her way to bringing that talent to the forefront before her husband died, but now she’s content enough to play public piano in a train station anonymously. However, sheet music starts mysteriously appearing and each time it is a piece that holds significance to her memories of her husband but she has no idea who is responsible for this. It begins to spark a bit of life into her trying to figure this out and she begins to make new friends, too, who didn’t know her from before so they don’t carry the same expectations of who she ought to be. Natalie isn’t looking for love, but her life is at a standstill, trying to decide if she can move on from the future she originally created with her husband or carve a new one for herself and leave him behind. Her struggle was palpable and her attention to detail could be selective given how wrapped up she was in her own world. I enjoyed her journey, how she found meaning again in music and how she could share that with others because music was also her therapy. Then there’s the topic of her spouse who she misses dearly but the new friend that she has now seems to be beyond helpful and supportive as she slowly discovers that she enjoys his company. This slow burn of friendship first was both sweet and funny, giving her exactly what she yearned for at the time and I loved how neither of them were even considering the other as a romantic prospect at first. The purpose behind the sheet music and who was responsible lends a tender note to the story in how people are often touched by artistic expression and need that shoulder to lean on in difficult times. Finally, I also appreciated how Natalie reconciled with her longtime friends because ultimately, they love her and want the best for her and she needed them. Even with the melancholy theme, there was still plenty of humor and entertaining dialogue mixed in with some life lessons.

This was a very sweet and comforting book to read. It was a relaxing and funny read, with a deep amount of heart. I loved the main character Natalie's humor and she was flawed but understandable. I'm not sure if I would consider this book a romance. There was romance but it felt more like a book about finding yourself after being incredibly lost. I highly recommend this book. It was one of those books that put you in a good mood after. Thank you to Netgalley for the chance to read it.