Great on audio. Heartbreaking story about divorce and infertility. Loved the setting of Croatia.
Romance and loss are big parts of this story.

I had mixed feelings about this book, and I was glad to see that there were others here who agreed, despite the book's exceptionally high rating. I would rate this a 3.5, but rounded up because, although I really did not like many of the characters in this book (any of them?) it is saying something about the author's skill that kept she me reading until the bitter end. (After the bitter middle). I was first interested in the story because of the setting in Croatia, since I know very little about the country. In that respect, I thought the author did a great job of bringing the place to life.

Hilje's main characters also came to life for me, but their almost pathological obsession with each other (even beyond the original couple) did not always ring true for me. I thought the premise—wanting an epic love story but instead being crushed by a brutal reality— was compelling. But I had a lot of questions I would have liked to ask Ivana and Vlaho...and I guess that's a measure of success for the author's ability to make me care enough to ask. If you are looking for an easy summer love story, this is not your book. But, if you are looking for a story about flawed people doing their best to keep their heads above water in life and love, you're all set.

Should I mention that this book also really made me want to visit Croatia?

Slanting Towards the Sea is a literary romance set on the stunning Croatian coast filled with lost love, heartache, grief, and new beginnings.

Through this book, Croatia’s sea sparkled under the summer sun and twinkled under the stars at night. The olive trees stood tall while the cicadas droned and the soft smell of sea salt and cut grass filled the air. The drinks and song flowed freely as the locals filled the town at night during the festa. The setting was rich and savory, my very favorite companion through the book.

The characters are flawed and messy. Their love story is complicated, intense, and claustrophobic. It lives in the grey area. I had trouble feeling empathy for the self inflicted traumas and cringed through every poor decision the main characters made (can we say toxic?) but couldn’t put the book down.

I very much enjoyed this debut! I loved the writing and I’m looking forward to any other following books by Hilje. Crossing my fingers for some slightly more likeable characters! 😅

Grab this one if you want to read a literary romance set in beautiful Croatia!

Publication date: July 8, 2025
Pages: 336

Thank you so much to @netgalley and @simonbooks for the advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review!

I loved being transported to Croatia through this story. Ivona’s marriage comes to an end when a devastating secret leads to divorce. She remains close to her ex-husband and his family while continuing to struggle with her unresolved feelings.

When Ivona begins dating again, the dynamics within all of their relationships begin to shift. Now, she must confront the secrets and emotions she’s long buried.

I loved the setting, Croatia almost becomes a character in the story. The descriptions of the beaches, olive groves, and village scenes were vivid and immersive. I can’t wait to visit it!

The novel was beautifully written and deeply engaging. It’s layered and emotionally charged, a story filled with regret, grief, loneliness, and the search for identity.

Such a beautiful debut. I truly enjoyed it and would recommend it!

Thank you so much to @netgalley & @simonbooks!

This was a lovely complicated love story. I enjoyed the setting in Croatia and the love the two main characters had for each other.

I loved the writing in this book, Lidija Hilje has such a lovely way with words and excellent character development. I loved the settings, especially the olive grove, which I could picture so vividly.

I loved reading about Croatia, a place I've always wanted to visit -- the descriptions made me want to go even more.

At times I felt pretty frustrated with the characters for some of their choices, although I understand why they did what they did, and it lead to quite a bit of tension in the book which made it hard to put down.

This was very impressive for a debut novel and I am really excited to read more by Lidija Hilje in the future!

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced copy of this book!

Lidija Hilje's debut novel presents a haunting exploration of love, loss, and the weight of choices that reverberate across decades. Set against the backdrop of post-communist Croatia, Slanting Towards the Sea follows Ivona, a woman caught in the emotional wreckage of her divorce from Vlaho nine years prior. What makes this situation particularly complex is how she has remained entangled in his life—serving as godmother to his children and maintaining an uncomfortable friendship with both him and his new wife Marina. When a new romantic interest enters Ivona's world, the delicate balance of their intertwined lives begins to unravel, forcing long-buried secrets into the light.

The novel's greatest strength lies in Hilje's ability to render Croatia as a living, breathing character alongside her human protagonists. The country's transition to democracy mirrors the personal transformations of the characters, while societal pressures and generational expectations add layers of complexity to their already fraught relationships. Hilje's prose can be genuinely beautiful, capturing the Mediterranean landscape and the emotional terrain of her characters with equal skill. However, the writing occasionally stumbles with jarring metaphors that pull readers from the story's immersive atmosphere.

The central relationship between Ivona and Vlaho is both the novel's driving force and its most challenging aspect. Their connection feels authentic in its intensity and dysfunction, but spending an entire book inside Ivona's melancholic headspace can be emotionally exhausting. Her choices often feel frustrating rather than sympathetic, and the romantic angst that permeates the narrative may test readers' patience. Yet there's something undeniably compelling about this damaged love story that keeps you turning pages, even when you want to shake sense into the characters.

Slanting Towards the Sea is ultimately a novel that will divide readers. Those drawn to literary fiction exploring themes of regret, sacrifice, and the roads not taken will find much to appreciate in Hilje's emotionally raw debut. While the heavy subject matter and sometimes maddening character decisions prevent it from being an easy recommendation, it succeeds as a thoughtful meditation on how the past refuses to stay buried and how love can be both salvation and destruction. Thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the ARC!

After learning some devastating news, Ivona divorces the love of her life. Her hope is to allow him to live life without her holding him back, but seeing him move on hurts more than she could imagine. Now she is working a basic, if boring job, and living with her father. When she meets a new man however, her friendships begin to change in a way she never expected.

Just over here continuing with my literary, character driven reading! Like seriously, who would have thought? I fell head over heels for this love story, even though it was filled with bumps and bruises. This story wasn’t your typical love story, so if that’s what you are looking for, this is not where you’ll find it. This book was heartbreaking, and you will find yourself rooting for Ivona every step of the way. I found myself just wanting the best for her, even when she made decisions I didn’t agree with. In the end, I just really enjoyed this read!

Thank you to @simonbooks for my gifted copy of this book!

I will try this book again in the future - I imagine it will be a great read on a cozy winter weekend! I couldn't get into it on my first try.

Ilona and Vlaho met as university students in Zagreb. Their fertility struggles and Ivona's inability to find meaningful work and consequent depression haunted their marriage and she ended it without fully explaining why. Now Vlaho has moved on with a new wife and two children, with Ilona remaining close to them, much to everyone's bewilderment. She is caring for her ailing father while struggling to maintain ownership of the family olive grove and estate.

As everything starts to fall apart, Ilona finds a solution, far from ideal, as well as a new relationship. But adding her new love interest to the unusual Vlaho-Marina-Ilona love triangle makes it implode as well.

Beautifully written, this novel captures the complexity not only of family relationships but also that portion of the Balkans. I spent time there in 1990, just before everything changed, and Hilje's portrayal of contemporary Croatia shows the truth to the adage, the more things change the more things stay the same. Not gonna lie, though, it made me homesick for that spellbinding, frustrating region. #SlantingTowardstheSea #NetGalley

This one took me a minute to get into this book, but once I was there, I was all in.

The story follows Ivona as she navigates her life post-divorce from the love of her life, her ex-husband Vlaho. The divorce is set in motion by her, but only from pressure she gets from Vlaho's family after she receives a life-changing diagnosis. He moves on and she is forced to watch and yearn for him from afar, even still maintaining a cordial friendship with Vlaho and his new wife, Marina, who also happens to be a friend of Ivona's. While this isn't a story that will grip you or filled with twists and turns, it still will fill your heart and get you thinking about life, love, and regrets. I felt so badly for Ivona throughout most of the book and wished she would find what would fill the gaps in her life. One of my favorite parts was when, after she sells her family hotel and property, she takes it upon herself to remove her beloved olive trees and have them taken away for a new beginning. The metaphor for her cutting back the branches in sacrifice to thrive elsewhere hit me hard. I understood what Ivona was going through and loved how the author pulled us gently through her trauma instead of hitting the reader over the head with it. I highly recommend for any reader who enjoys character-driven but complicated and messy family and relationship dramas, you will love getting your heart broken alongside Ivona.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this in exchange for my honest review!

There are some stories that entertain and delight, stories that let you escape, and then there are stories like this - that touch you deep inside and make you feel, make you ache, and cause you to reflect on your thoughts.

This is a stunning debut. It is both atmospheric and incredibly affecting. Within the narrative, you find the contrasts between the beauty of the Croatian coastal landscape and olive orchards, with the grief of a marriage ended, as well as the longing for the love that lingers.

This is a complicated love story. I wanted to take sides, and, admittedly, I did.
The author presented a compelling portrayal of character flaws, betrayals, and arguments on both sides so vividly that it evoked a strong sense of empathy in me.

I don’t often get choked up over stories, but I was so moved by Ivona’s journey; my heart hurt for her. Not only is this a love story, but it is also about sacrifice, womanhood, loneliness, and self-discovery.


Thank you @simonbooks #SimonBooksBuddy for the #gifted book and ebook via #NetGalley.

Slanting Towards the Sea is a heartfelt and deeply beautiful story of loss and strength gained.... This cover alone is an attention grabber!!

Thank you to Simon & Schuster for the free ARC via NetGalley! All opinions are my own.

This is an emotionally complex, beautifully written novel about main character Ivona, who feels stuck and left behind as she navigates life in her late 30s in her native Croatia. She divorced her husband, the love of her life, a decade earlier but is still involved in his life. She's watched him remarry and build a new family with children, even as she remains in love with him. Meanwhile, her ability to pursue her professional dreams is limited by her role as her elderly father's caretaker and by the Croatian economy's growing pains coming out of the communist era. The book explores several themes, including what we owe the ones we love and what we owe ourselves; the echoes of guilt, obligation, and loss across generations; and how we learn from our mistakes and find our own paths in life.

This book was very intriguing and ended up as a like, not a love, for me, but I think it will be a 5-star read for many readers and already has become one in many cases. The prose is gorgeous, which is all the move impressive given that author Lidija Hilje wrote the book in her second language of English. It's difficult for me to pinpoint what kept me from connecting fully with the story. It could be that I was so frustrated with some of the characters' decisions, including Ivona's. And those decisions are central to the entire plot arc. I also spent a significant portion of the book feeling emotionally drained, but not necessarily in a good way the way I do for some books. I will say that the end of the book addressed some of my frustrations at least in part.

The setting, mostly along Croatia's Dalmatian coast, was stunning. Ivona's ties with the land and her home country, even as the obstacles of living there stifle her dreams, were compelling. This book did an excellent job of shedding light on life in other places and societies, which is one of the best things about reading.

Since I ended up reading after pub day, I listened to a lot of the book via Libby as well. Imani Jade Powers did a fantastic job with the narration. I also appreciated hearing the correct pronunciation of the various Croatian words and names throughout the book.

Although I didn't connect quite as strongly with this book as I have with others, I still recommend it if you're looking for an emotionally complicated and thought-provoking book to help you explore the lives of others from wherever you happen to be reading.

What a well written and emotional debut! This was so atmospheric- I’ve never been to Croatia, but she made me want to visit. These characters will stay with me long after I finished the book.

Nine years is a long time to hold on to an ex. Ivona’s dynamic with her ex and his new wife was tense and at times just plain strange, but that underlying discomfort made the story interesting .

I appreciated watching Ivona come into her own, especially as a firstborn daughter trying to find her place and prioritize herself

There’s a particular kind of book that doesn’t shout its heartbreak. It unfolds slowly, like tide against stone—persistent, elemental, inevitable. Slanting Towards the Sea is that kind of book.

Set along the coast of Croatia, this novel thrums with atmosphere. You can hear the cicadas, feel the weight of the sun off the water, taste the sea salt in every page. Hilje doesn’t just describe a place—she writes the feeling of being tethered to it, of how landscape seeps into the bones and the choices we carry.

Her writing is tender and precise, full of longing and emotional undercurrents that aren’t always named but are deeply felt. The story moves through memory, exile, and complicated love with a kind of haunted stillness. This is a novel about the weight of what isn’t said, about the ache of intimacy that lingers even after geography or time should have washed it away.

It’s also gorgeously structured—fragmented in a way that feels true to how we actually experience loss and belonging. Hilje captures how hard it is to be known, and how easy it is to disappear, even in the middle of a life.

I finished this book with a quiet ache in my chest. All the stars.

Thank you Simon & Schuster for the gifted book.

Set on the Croatian coast, Ivona divorced her ex husband Vlaho over a decade ago and it broke her; now she scrolls his social media nightly to remain close. Her best friend married Vlaho and Ivona is their children's godmother so she is often with the couple. Because of all of this and living in a small town, Ivona has not moved on, she has also moved back into her childhood home and is now the caretaker for her father. Finally, one day she meets someone who could possibly help her move on. Now that she is with someone else, she can see a future but her past is keeping her from truly moving forward.

This book hurt my heart as I read. It's beautifully written and while I found the situation and dynamics painful to read, I really did love this subtle novel. I cannot think of another novel set in Croatia, and the unique world after communism was a great backdrop for this story. Ivona shares her soul with the reader and we hurt for her while she tries to put herself back together. This novel is so rich with beautiful descriptions of the Croatian coast, of familial and romantic love, grief and friendship. I had seen so many rave reviews of this that I felt I had to read it and I am so glad that I did. It's a top read of the year for me.

4.5 stars

Thank you to Simon and Schuster and NetGalley for the ARC to review

This is a hauntingly beautiful story about a lifelong love. We meet our main female character as she is stalking her ex’s Facebook and find out that she is the one who initiated their breakup. We see how their lives are intertwined almost a decade later and how their love has affected her. This story was beautifully written and had a gorgeous setting (it made me want to pick up and visit Croatia). All of the characters in this novel are flawed and I loved to see how they all are both hiding parts of themselves at times and are true to themselves at other times.

I recommend this if you like complicated love stories and stories with flawed characters. I recommend this if you want a great summer setting - you can feel the summer in this book - the Sun, the Olive Grove, the water.

Slanting Towards the Sea was so beautifully written by a Croation author whose second language is English. I was mesmerized by the story of Ivona and Vlaho who met in college, were married for 10 years and then divorced. They both wanted children and unfortunately Ivona was infertile. The reader knows from the reason that Ivona divorces Vlaho, but Vlaho doesn't know. She simply tells him that she doesn't love him anymore. Then, Ivona becomes friends with Marina and Marina becomes Vlaho's second wife. They have two children together and Ivona remains close with them and becomes an aunt to their children. Once Ivona meets another man, Asier, and begins to fall in love with him and the triangle becomes a square, that's when things get a little complicated. Would Ivona and Vlaho get back together or would she create a life with Asier? I literally could not stop reading because I needed to know!

This doesn't often happen, but I really loved ALL of these characters so much! I can't even pick a favorite. Ivona was deep and a little depressed, but I wanted her to be happy. I wanted her to have a successful career and the love of her life! Vlaho was amazing and Asier was so kind and so much fun. Marina had the exact opposite personality of Ivona. She was so positive and happy and I enjoyed the friendship between her and Marina.

I also really enjoyed learning about living in Croatia and the mesmerizing beauty there. I highly recommend this book. It was definitely a 5 star read for me!

Thank you to Simon and Schuster and NetGalley for the ARC of this book which is available now!