"Heart The Lover" did not live up to expectations. I was so excited about this new book by Lily King and I am so disappointed. All the characters are unbearable and not in a good way. Sam was very underused and his character had potential.

I haven’t ever read anything by this author so I wasn’t sure what to expect going in, but I found that I really loved her writing style and the way that she made the characters come alive through her words.

Always will be a huge fan of Lily King. Writers and Lovers and Five Tuesdays in Winter were both fantastic reads. However, I had a difficult time connecting with the characters in this story, which was the same feeling I had after finishing Lily King’s Euphoria.

I saw so many glowing reviews of this book on Goodreads, so, I could be the minority here but, with how heavy the subject matter of the latter half of this story was, I felt it was a bit lackluster.

I’m definitely going to pick up Father of the Rain sometime soon and anything King may write in the future.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Overall, beautifully written with lots of impactful moments to take away. I’d love to hear some interviews with the author closer to pub day with her reasoning behind the structure and format of this book because you never feel connected to the FMC. We don’t learn her name until the last sentence of the book. I know there is reason for that!

This book packs a punch! Lots of reflections on life, love, and loss.

I adored this: the follow-up AND prequel I didn't know I wanted or needed to Writers and Lovers. Lily King doesn't miss!

This one felt like sinking into a deeply familiar yet challenging love affair. King’s prose is as delicate as it is powerful, capturing those bittersweet moments when love feels both transformative and destructive. I was moved by the honesty with which the characters confront their desires and the inevitable heartache that follows—no sugarcoating, just raw, genuine emotion.

I’d wholeheartedly recommend this to anyone who enjoys literary romance that makes you think as much as it makes you feel.
Rating: ★★★★★ (5/5)

As a huge fan of Lily King's "Writers & Lovers," I was super excited for "Heart the Lover" and it delivered. Lily King truly masters her style of beautiful, pared-down writing that cuts straight to the heart of things?

The characters felt so genuine and the connections were unbelievably beautiful. Seriously, this book is beautiful and deeply moving. I could have read this book in a single sitting if I had the time. I devoured this!

Definitely recommend this one. If you love Lily King, you'll love this. This would have been 5 stars at the end but some of the content matter toward the end was something I typically avoid (especially as a mother). I completely understand why the author chose to incorporate it, just felt a little too forced and traumatic for my personal preference.

The main character is first called Daisy, then referred to as Jordan, both references to The Great Gatsby, yet we never learn her actual name until the last sentence. While told from her point of view, this level of separation keeps you at a distance even though the events are happing directly to her, a literary feat I found impressive.

This novel explores first loves, complex relationships, and how those you meet in your youth can have a lasting impact on your life.

I didn’t cry but I came close. I found the story that emotionally raw. It also filled me with nostalgia for my University days.

Writing this with the tears drying on my face. Read in practically one sitting (had to break for sleep lol). The most beautiful kind of love story--brutal, but beautiful. I'll be rereading Writers & Lovers, because there's a connection, and Euphoria, because it was my first by King, and then I'll be moving on to Five Tuesdays in Winter, because I haven't yet read it. And then I'll be buying a hard copy of this one when it publishes. Give me all the Lily King!

@lilykingbooks is an auto-read for me. Her writing is pared-down and moving and unapologetic. Her characters become friends. King’s ability to create a heart-aching love from the ether is nothing short of sorcery. I read most of this book with my hand over my mouth, eyes wide. The end of part one was a wallop. This novel is beautiful and deeply moving. May we all have a love like Yash. May we all have a partner like Silas.

Girl goes to college. Girl meets boy. Girl dates boy. Girl isn’t inexplicably drawn to boy’s roommate. Girl and boy break up (thank god). Girl and roommate build a love that rivals anything this reader has seen (read) before. But life gets in the way. It also marches on.

Thank you to @netgalley for this advanced copy. Look for this book in October. And find a quiet day or two to spend time with these people. You won’t regret it.

received a free copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Heart the Lover is a quick, heartwarming college novel. It traces the story of a woman and the three loves of her life through time. King writes with beautiful prose and captivates the reader. The ending is perfect. For fans of Kristin Hannah. I can’t wait to read writers and lovers now.

Do you ever read a book and know that it will stay with you for a very long time?
That is how I felt after finishing this book.

It is a coming-of-age, a dark academia, a story about family, a tragedy.

This is a beautifully written and relatable story about love, creativity, and the crucial choices made over the course of three decades in a woman’s beautifully rendered life.

I don’t want to give too much away because getting swept away in King’s prose and complicated, fully rendered characters is something that must be experienced, not described.

A boyfriend, the boyfriend’s best friend, the connection between them and the unwillingness and struggle to sacrifice their relationships and desires.

<b>‘Isn’t love a form of hope?’ I said.
‘No. Love is crushing. Love is something you let yourself feel at your own peril, despite your better sense.’
</b>
Lily King does not write in my usual genre, and yet I am always drawn fully into her books.
This is a book to be savoured, but also binged. A book that spans three decades of a woman’s life starting in 1957.

You don’t actually learn her name until the very end!

I did find the time jump discombobulating and I did lose some of that connection to our narrator in it. We missed so much of her life to make her what she had become and where she had come, compared to the prior intimate details about every aspect of her college life and the year after.

<b>The feeling catches me off guard.
Oh. Love.</b>

There is an alluring thread to Writers and Lovers!

Arc gifted by Grove Atlantic.

4.5⭐️ This is literally fiction at its best. I felt so many emotions and didn’t even hope for certain outcomes because I knew I could just trust in the author. I was not disappointed!

This was my first five star of the year. I will read everything that Lily King writes. She evokes so much emotion into the characters and into every page. This book was heartbreaking but beautiful. I can’t remember the last time a book made me cry so much.

Great writer but I really could not get into this story. Thanks for the opportunity to read but it was just not for me. Good Luck with the boo.

I don’t usually read romance, but Heart the Lover really worked for me. It’s set on a 90s college campus and the whole vibe felt familiar without being too nostalgic. The setting is sharp and detailed without trying too hard.

What stood out the most was how real the relationship felt. Yash and the main character have a connection that’s believable and grounded. Nothing overly dramatic, nothing cringey. Just two people figuring it out in a way that felt honest.

The writing is clean and thoughtful. Lily King has a way of capturing emotion without dragging it out. I was surprised by how much it got to me. Quietly emotional, not overly sentimental.

It’s the kind of book that stays with you for a while. Simple, well done, and unexpectedly moving.

Lily King is a gift! This was hugely anticipated by me and it delivered, One of my favourite writers of them all.

This was such a beautiful book about friendship, choices, love, enduring relationships and I will continue to think about it for a very long time.

You knew I’d write a book about you someday. This is how one of my new favorite books of the year, Heart the Lover, begins and I was hooked at line one. I’m so sorry to bring an October release to you now, but I LOVED this book and I want to tell you about it. It also has connections to Lily King’s Writers & Lovers if you want to read that in the meantime (it’s not necessary, and I didn’t love it as much, but I do LOVE Five Tuesdays in Winter by King).

Our narrator understands loves books and she loves love stories. She is a lit girl like us and loves a trope like hamartia, but her love story is much more complicated. She meets two guys in college and quickly becomes entangled in their lives. They call her Daisy, they call her Jordan, yes, nods to Gatsby, but I’m calling her our narrator as King is doing some interesting things with that. She’s gotta make a choice between the two, and does, and we meet her decades later when all her past decisions re-emerge in many ways.

I hadn’t seen reviews for this, so I didn’t know this was going to gut me. I didn’t know I was going to audibly sob on a plane and refuse to turn my phone off airplane mode until I finished every last, beautiful page. Before 2025 happened to me, I may have not found all the events of the ending believable, but now…I believe it and I FELT it. I recommend this to fans of Catherine Newman. This won’t be the last you hear from me on this one.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Lily King has written a beautiful story of friendship, love, and loss. I loved the opening line, "You knew I'd write a book about you someday." Drew me in immediately to find out who is "you."
There were so many great quotes in this book, but among my favorites is, "All literature rests on the promise that we change, we grow, we have epiphanies, become better, understand our flaws." That says it all about the first person narrator of Heart the Lover. We are along for a wonderful ride as watch her change, grow and understand her flaw. I feel like I knew the narrator intimately, but never knew her name, nor the subject of her award-winning novel. And I didn’t need to know because this book was so rich in characters, I only wanted to know their life stories. I didn’t want it to end.
Thank you, Grove Press for giving me the opportunity to review this book.