I was a huge fan of Writers & Lovers, but have struggled to connect with some of King's other works, but Heart the Lover completely broke my heart and put me back together again. I could not have loved this more. The characters are well-developed and so gosh darn real. The dialogue, too, is a huge strength of this story. I loved the structure of this book, the narration style. And the way that our narrator's name wasn't revealed until the end? Beautiful, genius, poignant, perfect. I am awestruck. This book is for fans of Writers & Lovers, readers of Ann Patchett, lovers of beautiful stories about all the different loves we experience in life. It was perfect. Thank you SO much for allowing me to receive and read this ARC--I think I found my top read of the year. I will be purchasing a physical copy upon its release.

i like the protagonist enough. the prose is terse and straightforward in a decent way and i feel it is thanks to the character herself. the way she's written feels engrossing to me, despite the near clinical prose. maybe it's because of the prose itself that she feels engrossing to me. whichever way we slice it, the fact of the matter remains: this is a decently written protagonist, which i already expected and was glad to find again from lily king.

as for the rest of the characters (that were memorable for me) sam is a character you'd pluck straight from the high horses of people you know irl. he do be one of those confident kids born with a silver spoon in their mouths, who, like the protagonist here describes, "grew up in a stable household so they create their own problems." the problem sam chose is shame and guilt stemming directly from his religion. it's so laugh-out-loud funny to read. that's the other thing: he's presented here with very little flair. the scenes he's in of course contains no laugh track, not even a tiny indication that the author herself is laughing, but his entire existence is so goddamn funny (pun intended).
yash, quiet and subtle and concentrating everywhere even in his sleep, is also a finely wrought character. he's very loveable and his journey in falling in love with our main protagonist is quite charming.

i'm not going to talk much about the other characters because it will reveal too much about the plot but all i'll say about it for now is i may be a bit discontented with how everything unfolded but that doesnt take away from the story's subtle charm. all in all this isn't necessarily my favorite lily king novel.

breaking my no spoiler rule in this review to say this, so skip if you prefer not to be spoiled, but related to what i said in the paragraph above:
<spoiler>the fact that this connects to Writers and Lovers (the only novel of Lily King's that I've read so far before this)</spoiler> endeared me to this story. i remember being so taken with <spoiler>Casey Kasem and the alliteration in her name,</spoiler> and everything else about her journey in that aforementioned novel.

thank you netgalley and grove press for an eARC in exchange for an honest review!

This might be my favorite book I’ve ever read. I’m about to start it back from the beginning right now. I’m pre-ordering it. I need to read everything Lily King has ever written. I want to read the books and articles she references in this book. I want my friends to read it.

“Always always.”

TY NetGalley, this one is unparalleled.

Absolutely beautiful. I was sobbing by the end and I tore through this novel in one day. I was feverishly turning pages as I read about Yash and “Jordan’s” love story in college, their estrangement and reunion decades later. This novel will move you. The story is so beautifully crafted. When King revealed the narrators real name on the last page of the novel, my jaw dropped. I will now be directly reading Writers and Lovers because I just can’t get enough of Lily King’s writing. I will be plowing through her backlist. Such a talented writer. Five star book for sure! I couldn’t love it more !

Lily King is a beautiful writer, and the prose in this book was lovely at many points. However, the story itself simply wasn't my cup of tea - it fell outside of my expectations given what I knew about the story. I think that many people will enjoy this book, however. It just wasn't my personal taste.

4.5/5 stars for me. I absolutely loved this book!

Wow. This book will have me thinking about it for a long time.

Heart the Lover starts with three friends who all met in college. This book follows the trio as the years go by and their lives become separate until something calls them back together. This book touches on themes of love, friendship, loss, and grief.

I absolutely devoured this book. This is definitely a book that you can read in one sitting, but be prepared to be emotionally wrecked by this book. Everything about this book was beautiful. I absolutely loved the way Lily King wrote these characters. They weren't exactly lovable, but you grew to understand them as they grew up. The way King writes about love and loss is so beautiful. I was so hooked on her writing. This book gave off Sally Rooney/ Normal People vibes in the best way possible.

I took a half star off because I found it somewhat hard to get into, and found it a bit confusing at times. However, I didn't want to put it down once I got into this book. This was my first time reading a Lily King book, and I definitely will be checking out her other books.

Thanks NetGalley and Grove Atlantic for this ARC! Everyone needs to go read this book.

5 star-Jordan meets Sam in a lit class in college and is introduced to his roommate Yash. So begins friendships and love between the three that spans many years. I fell in love with Jordan from the start,it was such an attachment that I wanted to give her advice and then would get upset that she didn’t follow it…this book was such a roller coaster of the lowest lows and the highest highs. It felt real and raw. The total cliche, I laughed, I cried, but I did. This will for sure be one of my top books of 2025. I haven’t read anything like it, but I will be out there looking for the author to again make me feel the way I did reading this book. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Tenderly rendered, full of wit, keenly observant of the human experience. I had to put down this book because I didn’t want to leave the world Lily King created.

There is a “reveal” (it becomes fairly transparent about a quarter of the way through the book) that may be polarizing. I don’t want to say too much, but although I was initially disappointed, Heart the Lover is so gorgeous that I didn’t care.

The ARC has an editor’s letter at the beginning, which I assume will be removed for the final publication? I would recommend skipping the editor’s letter because it alludes to the “reveal.” Although it is not super mysterious, I would have loved to have organically made the discovery.

Thank you to NetGalley and Grove Atlantic for the ARC!

The novel follows three friends who meet in a college literature class and their relationship as they begin the early part of their adult lives. I couldn't put this down - I stayed up late to finish reading and was left crying by the devastating ending. It was nostalgic and so beautifully written.

4 stars ⭐️

Thank you NetGalley and Grove Atlantic for the ARC in exchange my honest review!

I fell into this book as soon as I opened it and it consumed me. My heart broke a few times over and tears were shed. By the end I was desperately trying to keep reading through my tears. However, there is a sense of peace coming out of this that life can still turn out right even when it goes… wrong. This is one of those books that leaves you something when you close it.

This was my first Lily King book and it won’t be my last after this. Heart the Lover was a quick read about complex relationships (read it in a day) but the depth that it’s able to achieve in such a short amount of pages is astounding.

⭐️ Plot - this was a very character driven story about love, loss and friendship set up in a peculiar format that keeps the story about said characters very interesting. I’ve never read a book quite like this, it could be borderline suspenseful/twisty at times and very straightforward at others.

⭐️ Characters - Wow. These characters jumped right off the page. Lily King wrote people that we all know. These characters were so raw, genuine and realistically flawed and frustrating . I wanted to reach through the pages and simultaneously shake and hug them all.

⭐️ The romance - It was gorgeous. Just gorgeous and also terribly heartbreaking and sad. I loved this book so much primarily because this what complex love really looks like. It was done perfectly.

⭐️ You may want to look into trigger warnings.

Overall, this was such a beautiful and poignant story. The only thing that kept it from a full five stars was that some of the parts seemed choppy to read through and other parts (especially towards the end) felt drawn out and focused on the wrong things. These issues did pull me out a bit at the end, however I appreciate that not everything went perfectly. I do feel like that hit the nail on the head regarding the theme.

Definitely recommend if you want a good cry!

Lily King has done it again. Her writing feels timeless and classic but fresh, all at once. She is an instant read for me and this might be my favorite so far.

Euphoria is in my top ten reads of the last decade and I enjoyed Writers and Lovers and Five Tuesdays in Winter, but Heart the Lover? The nostalgia, the very genuine portrayal of life changing love at that very specific age where you’re just trying to find footing in the world, where every single decision can make or break you now or twenty years down the line (but you don’t know that yet!), all of that just flew from the pages into my brain, my heart, and it’s still dancing around in there. If you’re not ready to reflect on all the decisions of your late adolescence, maybe wait on this one. But if you’re ready for the bittersweet, King’s beautiful, sparse language, and something fast paced without giving up anything on its characters, pick this one up.

Thank you to NetGalley for the e-ARC!

Heart the Lover begins as a lively coming-of-age story, made addictive by the unnamed narrator’s witty voice and the delicious tangle of her budding relationships. Twenty-five years later, she is forced to reflect on the choices she made those decades ago. Chock full of love at its most earnest, Heart the Lover is a poignant exploration of grief, fear, forgiveness, and what we risk when we fail to risk vulnerability.

I devoured this book in a day, though it might be more appropriate to say it devoured me.
The protagonist’s unassailable optimism had me rooting for her from the first lines, and the academic banter at the center of her new relationships was so much fun. I was so absorbed and hopeful, I entirely forgot the contents of the back cover, and I was not prepared for the time jump in the least.

The wreckage the second half of this book wrought was sudden and thorough. I was emotionally leveled (in the best way). I didn’t expect how much joy and heartbreak would come from experiencing a protagonist who can grieve the past without regretting it. Lily King renders human emotion with so much consideration. To her, I say — thank you so much for this book. You owe me a pack of tissues and a hug.

It's 11pm on a Saturday night. I'm the Mom of a 10 month old, so I know I have a 6:30am wake up call. But I decide to read the first chapter of Lily King's highly anticipated new novel HEART THE LOVER to get a taste before sleep. Cut to, 2am and I'm finishing the book in bed, huddled under the covers with my Kindle, everyone in the house sound asleep and I'm bawling because this novel just cut me to my core. I simply could not put it down and it made me truly emotional - which books rarely do, surprisingly.

So, with all that said, yes. I adored HEART THE LOVER. Sure, the concept is putty in my hands - a coming of age story of a girl in college in the 90s, first love and first heartbreak, following characters over 3 decades. Everything I love in a story. But when this is combined with King's incredible writing, which I can best describe as sinking into a warm pool of her words, floating between her gorgeous sentences and knowing you're safe with her and where she is going to be taking you, that is where the book soars.

I don't want to give too much away, but if you liked WRITERS & LOVERS, King's most recent book, this is a must-read for you. I loved the wit and world-building of the characters, the surprises within the plot, and the emotional highs and lows. I loved it and you will too.

Thank you for the chance to read this beautifully written and moving novel. Tightly structured, it also has the feel of a minor epic. It depicts a young woman’s coming of age, beginning when she’s at university and following her into her 50s. It touches on themes of education, friendship, love, and loss, managing to capture the complexities of a life with the lightest of touches.

It’s my first Lily King and now I can’t wait to read more! Read it if you like Sally Rooney, Donna Tartt or Sigrid Nunez,

This is one of the most memorable books I’ve read in 2025 and easily my favorite new release of the year so far.

Before this, I’d only read Euphoria by Lily King, though Father of Rain and Writers & Lovers have been on my list forever. Now I know I need to read them as soon as possible; I loved Heart The Lover that much!

The premise immediately drew me in: a campus setting, literary and philosophical references, and a story about three friends whose connection reverberates through their adult lives. I expected to enjoy the intellectual themes, but what surprised me was how deeply I connected to the emotional heart of the novel.

Despite the references to literature and philosophy, which will definitely resonate with fellow book lovers, this novel is anything but pretentious. It’s emotionally rich and completely approachable. King’s mastery of dialogue, detail, setting, and character brings every scene to life.

I flew through this and have already recommended it to friends. I even told them I’d happily reread it with them once it’s released. I loved this story, these characters, their flaws, their humanity.

The title, the structure, the second-person voice, every element is brilliantly done.

Highly recommend. Huge thanks to Grove Press and NetGalley for the advanced copy!

Lily King is one of my favorite writers, so I was thrilled to read Heart the Lover and it did not disappoint! We meet "Jordan", nicknamed for the Great Gatsby character, as a college student. She falls in love, and this is the story of that relationship over the decades. It's not what you think! The story gets more intriguing as it goes on. King writes so beautifully, and never predictably. I find it impossible not to be affected by her books! Loved this one and am already wishing for her next work.

I seem to be in the minority here, but Heart the Lover just wasn't for me.

There's no denying Lily King's writing is beautiful — lyrical, poignant, and at times quite immersive.

That said, I struggled with the story, especially in the latter half. Without giving away any spoilers, the decisions made by the female main character left me frustrated and disconnected. They felt so unfathomable to me that I found myself pulled out of the narrative, unable to relate or even understand her choices.

I've seen so many glowing reviews, and I wish I felt the same. But this one just didn't land. A solid 3 stars for the prose alone, but the emotional payoff I was hoping for never really came.

Thank you NetGalley and the Publisher for the ARC.

This book was emotionally devastating for me, which means it was a five-star read. Lily King's writing is exactly what I want to read, every time, and I don't know why I haven't read all her books yet. What am I waiting for? I sink into her words and I don't want to leave. It took me a minute to get into this one, because I wasn't sure if I cared about this girl and her relationship with a terrible boy. But it wasn't about the terrible boy -- it was about a lovely one. I almost want to read it again right now.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an advance reader's copy of this novel.

Thank you to NetGalley and Grove Press for the ARC!

This really brought back so many memories of my time in Champaign! My only issue is the end of the book and the character’s decision making. No spoilers here!