Really loved this story. Made me feel every emotion, which I like when I read. Beautiful story. Writers and Lovers was good but I enjoyed this one even more.

One of the best books I read this year, so far. I had read and liked, but not loved King's previous books so I wasn't sure how I would feel about this one but I really loved every moment I spent with this story. I loved the characters and I loved the writing. I loved the characters' journeys. I loved the ache that lived at the core of the story and in each character. I loved how joy and sorrow could live side by side in this story. I loved how it can be full of both hope and heartache.

I cannot recommend this one enough.

with gratitude to netgalley and Grove Press for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

. Lily King is a seasoned author and yet this is the first of her works I’ve picked up. HEART THE LOVER is her latest and having gobbled this up in a few sittings, consider me a newly converted fan!

Comprised of three parts, we follow Casey as an aspiring writer in college where she becomes tangled up in the attention of fellow students Sam and Yash. 20 years later, Yash visits Casey for the first time since college. And finally, all three meet again for one final time. I’ve deliberately kept this vague,and don’t want to spoil the plot for anyone! But trust me, it’s good.

I think what won me over most with this is that it’s a love story while still feeling literary with a rich, aching drama that felt like real life. It’s a relatively brief novel and I initially worried Casey and Yash in particular would be kept at a distance, but the writing is so beautiful that I was soon invested in their sliding doors interactions throughout their lives. That ending was so emotional and heartbreaking

One of my avid reader friends gifted me two books by Lily King a few years ago and she's been a writer on my radar ever since. I currently have a book hangover after finishing

Heart the Lover. King has a gift for depicting human emotions and relationships as they grow, develop and change over time. We follow three characters from the end of their college years through their mid-40s as they fall in and out of love and friendship with one another and others, They are complex characters who have their own flaws and make some choices that hurt others, but they are also very human.

This book was an emotional rollercoaster (in a good way) and King somehow skillfully ended the book in a way that I felt was uplifting and heartbreaking simultaneously. Wow.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Grove Atlantic for this e-arc.

4 stars

I loved Lily King’s WRITERS AND LOVERS so I was excited to get a copy of this, and while I didn’t think this short book was as good as that one, I still enjoyed it.

The unnamed narrator (this is done is a slightly annoying way….you’ll see) meets roommates Sam and Yash while in college. They are more intellectual than she and she steps up her game to match them. We follow her through the remainder of her time in college, then immediately thereafter, then in several episodes through her adult life when the past returns to haunt her present.

I know this is a rather vague description of the story but I really don’t want to give anything away. It’s a short book, and it’s good, a nice love story which goes into what happens when things go wrong but, underneath, love remains.

A nostalgic novel, more than a coming-of-age but rather a coming-of self story, an exploration of the ways that relationships can impact your life and your self knowledge. Our narrator allows us in her head but does not reveal all, keeping the reader surprised by revelations that feel earned. I could not put down this book and finished in one day!

I love Lily kings writing! I have read one other book by her, and I was obsessed! This book is amazing, and I’m so lucky to have got my hands on this arc! This book was amazing!

I read this in two days. I would’ve read it in one if I didn’t had other things to do.
I was expecting to feel big feelings, but I wasn’t prepared for the emotional journey this book took me on.
Lily King has a way of writing that is so, so beautiful without being to lyrical or adorned. I think she writes very human. I’m always fully convinced her characters are actual, living people. That makes me care for them so much more. This also means I suffer terribly when she does what she does to them. I had to read the last 20% of this book through tears, actually sobbing out loud. But I loved every second of it.

I read Lily King's Writers and Lovers some years ago and was excited to see that she came out with a new novel. One thing I loved about Writers and Lovers is how King writes about literature--I actually picked up quite a few books through her writing. Heart the Lover is no exception to that as the protagonist is also a literature buff, and I really can't go into that more without giving away too much of the plot.

To be honest though, I didn't find the tagline that intriguing. I don't find the prospect of love triangles that interesting (although I did laugh a bit at the mention of "throples" later on in the book) and I do agree with some of the criticisms that some of the characters are not that well-developed. But Jordan herself is fully realized and I felt her pain at numerous points throughout the story. The talk she gives in Iceland about how great books intensifies your own experiences is so true, and that's how this story made me feel by the end.

Loved! Devoured it in a day. I did not expect the twists and turns, but still loved them and thought they were all so well developed.

Oh, my heart... let me just gather my weeping mess of a self off the floor, and I will share my thoughts. ----- Okay. Lily King has done it again, and Heart the Lover is my new favorite of her books. I've come to associate her with rich academic settings and emotionally complex characters. What I didn't expect was to be gutted by this latest release, and make no mistake... I loved every minute of it. ⁣
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Heart the Lover is a coming-of-age narrative told in three parts. Part one immerses the reader in the academic world as we follow Casey ("Jordan"), Sam, and Yash and their complicated relationship dynamics during their university years. Each of these characters was so complex, so real that they utterly popped off the page. ⁣
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Parts two and three take place 20+ years later when fate brings them back together. Without going into too much detail, I will say that I really appreciated how this novel was constructed. It allowed me to dive deep into these characters and then revisit them down the road when they've gained maturity and life experience. It felt full circle. It also served to sharpen the emotion in this story, making it an achingly beautiful and poignant read. It's been a while since I've been so completely consumed by a book... or so affected, for that matter. Thank you, Lily King, for putting the gorgeous upcoming Heart the Lover out into the world.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the free eARC of this book in exchange for a honest review! I was truly thrilled to receive an early copy of Lily King’s newest work, and it ended up being one of my favorites this year.

I put off writing this review for so long because I knew I did not have the words to express how much I loved this book and how deeply it moved me.

I saw another reviewer call this a “one sit, audible sob, beautiful book” and I really don’t have a better way to describe it than that. This floored me. We see the reverberations of our choices in youth come back decades later for our narrator, and it is both poignant, moving, and heartbreaking all at once. I just thought this was done with so much skill and grace.

Without giving anything away, the subject matter of the end in particular was so visceral for me that I felt like I was in the room with the characters. So many reflections on life, the setting and place transported me right back to college, the dialogue is spot on, the characters are lived in, real, flawed. Everything felt so intentional here, not a sentence out of place. Even the title was a stroke of brilliance.

I think this is King’s best work yet and I will continue to proclaim this - I truly wish it was longer!!! I stayed up late to finish and by the end I couldn’t see through my tears. I think this one will be a huge hit this fall. For the first time in years, I plan to reread this book once I can get a physical copy in my hands. A triumph, a shining 5 stars. Thank you Lily King!

Heart The Lover felt more like a YA novel trying to feel adult than an actual adult novel, and I even had to double check it’s genre listing to make sure it wasn’t for a teenage audience. The writing was incredibly choppy and felt low commitment, it felt like a debut novel and King is a seasoned author so there is really no reason for that kind of undeveloped writing. None of the characters felt developed in the slightest. simply like cardboard cutouts things just happened to, and it read so juvenile, formatted like “this happened, then this happened, then I said this, he said that, we went here, now it’s a week later and I’m here at this place, then I moved there, then I ate this.” No cohesion, no development of a comprehensive narrative, no depth, other than the storyline begging to be seen as deep and tragic. The plot felt so formulated, like an outline instead of an actual finished work. I felt similarly when reading Talking at Night by Claire Daverly; Flat characters written for a contrived tragic relationship to evoke emotion but nothing is developed enough to warrant said emotions, and ultimately coming across as extremely falsely pretentious and fake deep. It insists upon itself.

Thank you to NetGalley for the chance. This one started out strong for me but almost to midway started to lose the appeal. I only really liked one of the male leads which perhaps led to my fading interest as the novel wore on. Did not finish at 55%.

A beautifully written reflection on the way people come in and out of our lives, Heart the Lover is one of the most emotionally compelling books I've read in a while. King's ability to capture the tiny moments that make up falling in love is astonishing. Will be singing the praises of this one!

I would gladly assign "Heart the Lover" a rating of more than four stars. The emotional impact of the ending was profound, leaving me with tears in my eyes. Lily King, the author, has masterfully woven a captivating tale that revolves around three extraordinary characters: Jordan, Sam, and Yash. Their journey begins during their college years, where they encounter the complexities of love, the pain of heartbreak, and the challenges of growing up.

As the narrative unfolds, we witness the evolution of their relationships and the pivotal decisions they make, ultimately coming full circle as we reconnect with them two decades later in their adult lives. The way King portrays the intricacies of their connections and personal growth is nothing short of remarkable. This book is undoubtedly a valuable and enriching read that I would highly recommend!

The way I see myself in Jordan isn't even funny. This book is such a whirlwind of emotions. I laughed, I cried, and I generally had a fantastic time reading this novel.

This is not a romance, but it is a love story that unfolds over many years. If you enjoy books that really explore the evolution of characters over time and how early influences shape our futures, this book may be for you.

I particularly enjoyed the parts of the book focused on young people at university who are very bright and are eager students of literature and creative writing.. These are the students who inspire their professors with their promise and engagement

It’s hard to say too much more about the plot without spoilers, but alas these lovers are a bit star-crossed.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I don’t have the vocabulary to describe how beautiful this book is. This book spoke to my soul. Lily’s prose is so simple yet so effective- I could feel narrator’s emotions. I need to read more of Lily King’s work- I’m hooked!

Thank you to NetGalley and Grove Atlantic for an advanced copy of the new Lily King book! This was my first introduction to Lily King, even though I’ve had Writers & Lovers on my shelf for a while now. Definitely moving that up on my TBR. Heart the Lover is, at its core, a book about love (as you might guess from the title). It explores how love shifts and reshapes over time: from romantic to platonic, to that sharp kind of anger that’s really just love in disguise. It’s about friendships that mark you, that change you, that pull you back to a version of yourself and a moment in time that no longer exists. It’s also a book about literature. About the joy, connection, and triumph that can be found in a community of readers and writers. There’s so much longing and regret woven throughout these pages. The main character falls in love in college, and that love stretches across decades, mixed with both pain and beauty. The ending broke my heart a little, but in that satisfying way that reminds you some relationships really do transcend understanding. I loved it.