Some writers, great and otherwise, you read their work and can see the mechanics, see the construction buried in the plot. Whenever I read Lily King, her work is always the opposite: dazzling and fluid and effortless. Eminently readable and at times heartbreaking, I flew through Heart the Lover in two days. The characters felt like old friends, the settings were grounded with detail, and the plot was very human. A sadder book than I'm normally compelled to pick up, but I will read anything King writes.

Oh my gosh I loved this so much. My favourite Lily King novel to date. Gorgeous, profoundly emotional, hilarious in parts (I snorted), with a heartbreaker ending. I genuinely didn't want it to end.

Heart the Lover by Lily King is a tender, emotional, and complex story about life. Told in three parts, the story follows a group of 3 friends as they navigate their relationship with each other and with their own lives.

This was my first Lily King book and although I personally found it quite hard to get into at first, I ended up devouring it, finishing it in one sitting. The three characters and their struggles just felt so real and complex, and reading about their struggles ended up evoking such strong emotions in me. The third part in particular was my favorite part of the book, it was so so emotional and extraordinarily well written.

Thank you NetGalley and Grove Atlantic for this arc!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an early copy of Heart the Lover.
I’m honestly a bit speechless right now . I think I could’ve used an entire box of Kleenex while reading the second half of this book. No book has ever made me cry this hard. Lily King, you are SO talented. I can’t believe I waited until so recently to pick up Writers and Lovers, but THANK God I did it!!! I was not expecting this gut punch of a novel to follow it. I am blown away by how REAL Casey feels. Her emotions truly feel so well developed and raw. I genuinely felt my heart breaking with hers. Well written and developed friendships in fiction are genuinely SUCH a gift, and Lily delivers that. A standing ovation from me! 5/5 stars!

2025 has been so good to me. I read Fredrik Backman’s My Friends in early January and wondered how this earth could deliver anything better this year, but a couple of reads have left me challenged. This book is a masterpiece. Let me quote the author herself…” a great novel, a truly great one, not only captures a particular fictional experience, it alters and intensifies the way you experience your own life while you’re reading it. Then preserves it, like a time capsule..” The way I found myself inside this novel…when you can envision climbing inside of someone else’s words and story and being truly known and seen. It was truly beautiful. I found myself setting it down at times for a moment to breathe and recover, and I also dove into certain moments and just absolutely sobbed to release the profound emotions this invoked. Sometimes I think I could write a book, and then I read something like this and feel like I know absolutely nothing. Please, for the love of all things, don’t ruin this by turning it into a movie.

Loved this book and counting down the days till publication so I can buy it for people I know.
Lily King is a writer to study and emulate. Her sentences are exquisite and she developed characters so well, I felt that I knew them. Shocking, beautiful, romantic love. If we are lucky we get it, but maybe not with the person we marry. 💔

I think the ending of which his book was one of the most touching I have experienced especially when she felt while holding Yash's hand that she actually was holding her mother's. The love between Jordan and Yash was palatable for all to see which she expressed that she has always loved him in their final moments. This book really reiterates how important it is to be present because the reader never knows what could happen next. Jordan quickly realized that her and Sam was passing but it was Yash that she found true love both physically and emotionally. She had never loved anyone like him and in Paris, she found a piece of herself missing. However, this book does raise the question if this type of love is everlasting or should one seek stability. Yash even admits to Hink that he was unsure if he could have ever married. He liked his solitude much more than a constant companion. That is why Casey met and married Silas and had two boys with him. He was safe and stable and she did love him but in a completely different way. I absolutely loved this book and will read it again as I am sure I will pick up nuances that I didn't see initially.

I loved the book. Haven‘t been touched by a book since many months.
The narrator - we know her nickname - is so real and believable, through all stages we follow her. Yes, the book is about love - and so well and deeply moving written.
I hope it will find many readers!

Thanks so much to the publisher and Netgalley for this gem!

Lily King’s Heart the Lover is a quietly powerful, emotionally rich novel that lingers long after the final page. True to her signature style, King delivers a story that is intimate, intelligent, and deeply human—centered around love in its many forms: romantic, familial, and self-forged.

At the core of the novel is a college senior, first nicknamed Daisy and then called Jordan from The Great Gatsby, who is both vulnerable and resilient, navigating the fragile terrain of new beginnings and also grief after the loss of her mother. King’s prose is sharp but tender, layered with subtext and subtle insights that reward close reading. Her dialogue is deft and believable, and she has an incredible knack for capturing the ache of longing without tipping into sentimentality.

What stood out to me was how King explored the tension between desire and independence. The emotional arcs feel authentic, and the small, real-life details—a gesture, a glance, a half-spoken thought—also carry weight. The book moves at a measured pace, which allows the characters and their inner lives to develop slowly and meaningfully. One of the novel’s greatest strengths is its restraint—King never gives too much away too soon. Instead, the narrative unfolds with subtlety, drawing you in gradually and keeping you engaged through quiet revelations and both small and large powerful moments.

Heart the Lover is a gorgeous meditation on what it means to be open to love after loss, and how finding connection often requires facing the truths we keep hidden from even ourselves. Fans of Writers & Lovers will feel right at home, and if you haven't read Writers & Lovers you will want to after finishing this one. Four and a half stars rounded up.

Thank you to NetGalley and Grove Press for providing me with a copy of the book. It will be published on October 7, 2025.

Lily King once again delivers a literary fiction masterpiece with her latest, Heart the Lover. While I’m not sure any book could top Writers and Lovers, Heart the Lover is filled with the same elegant and poignant writing that will undoubtedly propel King back to the top of the charts. Thank you to NetGalley and Grove Atlantic for the ARC.

Heart the Lover by new to me author Lily King, published by Grove Press, is a powerful storyof friendship, loss, first love. This coming of age, complex novel tells the story of three college seniors, is literally fiction of its finest, 4,5 stars.

No books make me weep like a Lily King book.

I loved this from start to finish. It's an emotionally resonant and deeply perceptive page-turner, and I really can't recommend it enough.

Thank you for this ARC! I loved this book!! I am a huge fan of Lily King and this might be my favorite yet. Her characters are so complex and so relatable. The love story was tragic and life affirming. I wanted more! If you enjoy family sagas told over many years and untraditional love stories, this is for you.

Stayed up until 2am reading this. Cried with tears streaming down my face which is extremely rare for me. The first part of this book was about a young woman meeting two men she virtually falls for simultaneously. I was tricked into thinking this was a quiet book about angsty relationships. Then it part 2 came. Oh. Oh wow. Then…part 3. The cover of this book is your warning of king’s sorcery. I’m blown away by the writing in its Patchett-esque way of describing people in the world. King will be a must read author for me forevermore. I hope people go in mostly blind to this one as I think the revelations in each chapter are what made this such an incredible reading experience.do share… but also don’t share, reviewers!

This is definitely a book that you have to stick with, as I found the first portion really slow and I did consider DNFing but then it gets much better and really comes together in the second half.

I really loved this book about first love, friendship and loss. Beautifully written and engaging. Highly recommend. 4.5 stars.

My first book from Lily King and it was wonderful. Even when the first part didn't really click/work for me I'm glad that I stuck with it to see the whole story unfold. The story really came to be the more I read and I know I would like to revisit and come back to it again now that I have the whole picture. I will be looking forward to Lily King other works in the future but for now I will revisit her backlog (Writers & Lovers has been on my list forever and it's about time I get to it too).

Lily King writes books that I’m unable to put down, and Heart the Lover is no exception. It’s the perfect balance of light yet thought-provoking and really struck an emotional chord with me (again). I was so excited and surprised when I read the connection to one of her other books, but it’s more fun to go in blind! Loved it!

I was kindly sent an advance copy of Heart The Lover via NetGalley, and I’m so glad I got the chance to read it early. This is the kind of novel that pulls you in quietly but completely — I found myself reaching for it at every spare moment, utterly absorbed in the story. Lily King’s writing is both tender and piercing. She has a way of capturing the vulnerability of love, longing, and loss with such subtlety that it sneaks up on you — and then breaks your heart. The last 50 pages in particular were devastating; beautifully written, yes, but emotionally gutting in a way that stayed with me long after I’d finished the book. What I loved most was how King explores the complexities of desire and connection — not just romantic, but deeply human. It’s a story about intimacy, yes, but also about grief, identity, and the ache of wanting to be truly seen. If you enjoy literary fiction with emotional depth and unforgettable prose, I can’t recommend this enough. Just prepare yourself — it’s one of those books that lingers.

What is truer here? … She encourages me to write from my own emotions’.

In Lily King’s Heart the Lover she is interested in the process of becoming as a writer and how lived experiences both inform and hinder this. The novel is set at university where ‘Jordan’ develops an intense intellectual friendship with two boys Sam and Yass. They delight in each others cleverness and there are romantic feelings too.

While the novel explores romantic feelings, it is the slow burn of the portrait of the artist as a young woman arc that really drew me in. It’s a compelling read and sweeps you along to it’s bittersweet finale.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the advance review copy.