I had some trepidation picking up this book as I was not a fan of Writers and Lovers. But when the book is recommended by someone whose literary taste you respect, you pick the book up. I am very glad I did. Lily King‘s writing is compulsively readable when the book starts out our protagonist is in college where she meets two best friends. She demonstrates very little self-respect because she is willing to be treated poorly in her relationship and makes bad financial decisions to foster another. Fast forward to middle age and you mean a very different woman. As the song goes, she has wisdom born of pain. That wisdom provides her with the opportunity to right a wrong while setting her ego aside. I only wish that Lily King would have shared with us her protagonist’s growth.

This book is excellent! I read and adored Writers & Lovers, but I didn't even realize the connection between the two works until I was deep into this new novel. (However, reading Writers & Lovers is not a prerequisite for appreciating Heart the Lover..) This new book is proudly intellectual, but not in an off-putting way. The character development is so strong, the plot moves along at an engaging pace, and I appreciated that it's rather short. Lily King accomplished a lot in only 256 pages! I was completely invested in the protagonist's life. By the end, I certainly felt that the crying face on the book's cover was accurate and reflective of my own emotional state by the final page!

Thank you to NetGalley and Grove Press for the opportunity to read an eARC before publication date. I'm excited to share more about how much I loved this book with my followers and other book lovers online and in real life.

I loved this book! It drew me in right away. King captures love and grief in such a visceral way. I'm very glad I read Writers & Lovers first and would suggest other readers do as well. Thank you for sharing this novel with me!

Lily King's writing is gorgeous, which is why I enjoy reading her books--even when I don't love her protagonist, Casey. To be fair, I didn't love Casey in "Writers and Lovers," either. However, King's writing is so propulsive that you just want to keep reading--I read this in one sitting. During the scenes set during Casey's college years, I felt transported back in time to that period of my own life and how it felt to discover and learn things you didn't know you were missing. The scenes set during Casey's middle age were so poignant and beautiful and made me cry. I've been thinking about this one pretty much nonstop since I finished it.

Lily King has been an author I've meant to try for an absolute age, no thanks in part to the deserved love her books receive on Booktube. After reading Heart the Lover, I can see the praise is fully deserved and will no doubt get me checking out her back catalog.

Reflective in its nature, Heart the Lover begins in the final college year of three literature students during the 1980s, and we follow them across several decades. Character-driven, we explore coming-of-age, grief, first loves, and regret. Some readers may find the literary talk pretentious and long-winded. But I felt it really grounded the novel.

Overall, an excellent introduction to Lily King's work.

A Masterful and Emotional Story of First Love.

I am completely surprised by how much I enjoyed this book; I truly couldn’t put it down. In Heart the Lover, Lily King delivers a story with such emotional depth that I felt an immediate and deep connection to all the characters. From the moment the narrator, Jordan, is pulled into the intoxicating world of Sam and Yash, the rapid-fire banter and intellectual fervor feel incredibly real and vivid.

The book beautifully captures the unpredictable nature of youthful passion and the intricate, emotional triangle at its heart. It’s an emotional read that explores how the choices and deceptions of our past can come crashing into the present. I was completely invested in their journey, from their college days to their adult lives.

My only complaint is that I wish it could have been longer. The world and the characters are so compelling that I wasn't ready to leave them behind. It's a testament to Lily King's emotional sensitivity that she can tell such a rich and deeply moving story in a concise and powerful way.

This book is a must-read for fans of Lily King and anyone who loves a powerful story about love, friendship, and the long-lasting echoes of our past.

Thank you to NetGalley and Grove Atlantic for the advanced reader copy!

Thank you to NetGalley and Grove Atlantic for the ARC

Heart the Lover follows three friends who meet in a college literature class, and literature is at the heart of everything. At times it made me feel uncultured and a little inferior. Lines like “we read Proust in French because we both studied it in high school and we talk about moving to Paris” had me questioning my own reading life. The short, choppy sentences took me a while to get used to and it sometimes felt like a car crash I could not look away from.

I was invested in the coming-of-age story in part one, which I really enjoyed. Part two arrived suddenly and I needed a moment to catch up. Overall I liked this book, though I did not love it.

One line that stayed with me was this:
“You know how you can remember exactly when and where you read certain books? 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. And it preserves it, like a time capsule.”

Worth a read for fans of literary coming-of-age stories.

This book was hard for me to get into. I think if you liked Cleopatra and Frankenstein you would be into this book! I did find the ending to be heartfelt and real- which is the praise I have for this book- it felt raw and messy, just like real life.

A stunning and breathtaking story by none other than Lily King. The prose is unlike anything else and the emotion is so raw that I couldn’t help but cry on an airplane as I finished it.

The novel starts out when our three main characters are young and navigating college. The sticky relationships and academia vibes had me hooked from the start. Then, as the novel then moves into their adult lives everything becomes more mature and heavy. This was such an emotional journey and I loved every second.

Exceltional. Lily King blows me away. I read this novel of three friends and lovers at three different stages of their lives in a single day. King tackles first love and all the nostalgia that accompanies it. The longing of youth and those younger days--those breathless interactions --is felt on every page. Rich emotions, layered depth, and a voice that captivates. I savored every page of this book.

This is my first Lily King novel, and I understand now why I've only ever heard good things about her writing. The prose was gorgeous. The story is shorter, and every word is intentional. Too smart for me but also enjoyable enough of a story that I will reread.

CW: hospitals, death, grief, pregnancy

Thanks to netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Grove Atlantic for this advanced reader copy of Heart the Lover by Lily King. This book is a companion to the author’s last full length novel, Writers & Lovers.

In Heart the Lover, the reader meets Casey at the beginning of her senior year in college when she meets Sam and his best friend Yash. What evolves isn’t at all what Casey imagined, but it leads to a love story for the ages.

I can’t express how much I loved this novel. The writing is absolutely stunning, any vile word spoken by one character is matched with the most beautiful words from another. I was immediately transported back to college and the type of early love that is all consuming.

As an aside, I realize the book would lack the romance element that King writes so well in these novels, but I would love a book/novella focused on the time that Casey spent with her mother prior to her death. I’m not ready to let Casey go!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

4.25 stars! As I felt with "Writers & Lovers," it was a slow start. However, the slowness in the beginning absolutely pays off as the novel goes on. It was a quick read, as it was only about 250 pages. Since it was a shorter book, I appreciated how it was separated into 3 parts instead of numerous chapters. It felt cohesive and flowed well this way. Each part reflected on different times in the main character's life. Lily King really knows how to create a successful literary fiction story.

Some might not like it, but I honestly liked the pretentious feelings at some points. The writer had numerous paragraphs where she'd go into "literature talk." I genuinely loved those portions and looked forward to them.

Something that was incredibly different is that we did not learn the female main character's name until the last sentence. The whole time I was yearning to learn it, and it made me curious the entirety of my time reading. Instead, her friends would call her Jordan as a nickname.

Is there romance? Yes, there is. Is this a romance novel? Absolutely not, but it ties those themes in to create a bigger picture of love and loss.

Each character intrigued me, and I wanted to know more about them. The dynamic between the three main characters was addictive. The actions and thought processes were very reminiscent of how I felt during the beginning of college. You can make so many different choices and each can affect you in various ways. Warning: This book is sad. :(

If you liked "Writers & Lovers," you will love Lily King's upcoming book!

Thank you NetGalley, Grove Atlantic, and Lily King for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review. "Heart the Lover" is released on September 30, 2025!

There's definitely an audience out there for this, it just wasn't for me. I wasn't that big of a fan of the Academic setting for this book, but I did kind of like the reflection of an old relationship.

Though Heart the Lover is getting a lot of buzz, unfortunately, it’s not for me. I found the writing a bit pretentious and the pacing too slow for my taste. I’ve picked it up three times and struggled to push through. Maybe it’s me, maybe it’s timing…but I might try again in a few months to see if it lands differently.

Who will enjoy this:
• People who enjoy reflective fiction
• Readers who love academic/literary settings and slow, character-driven stories
• Anyone who enjoys themes of first love, regret, and bittersweet nostalgia

Who might not:
• Readers who want fast pacing or strong plot momentum
• Those who get frustrated by overly “literary” prose
• Anyone who struggles with unlikable or underdeveloped characters

Thank you NetGalley and GroveAtlantic for the ARC.

"You knew I'd write a book about you some day." The newest Lily King doesn't disappoint. It tugged at my heartstrings and made me cry at the end, elevating a basic college love triangle into something bewildering, intricate and meaningful.

This is a story of first love and first heartbreak, the first half told in the college years of the characters and the second half set when they are middle aged and playing at adulting.

Yash and Sam are graduate teaching assistants at the FMC's English class, whose name we don't know till the end but is nicknamed Jordan. They first notice her through her writing. Sam and Jordan have a fling first, but they are very awkward together and very much not right for each other. Yash is the foil for everything Sam isn't. Sam is a deeply religious Baptist with a purity pledge, and has a toxic, vindictive personality. But Jordan falls for his friend group, and in particular, Yash, whom she becomes obsessed with.

They have a fiery on again, off again romance, culminating in a fateful choice when Jordan needs Yash the most for a consequence of their love that will impact their lives forever. But Yash isn't there for her, dashing their future together.

Later in life, Jordan is a successful writer, married to a loving husband and the opposite of adventurous, restless Yash, with two boys. Yash has become a hotshot attorney, but chose to remain single. Their first love has reverberated throughout their lives as Yash faces his final moments in a cancer diagnosis.

Despite the Oprah-esque setup, I thought the story was brilliant, I was drawn to the characters and their complicated friendships, and I loved the author's quiet prose that stays with you. I loved the message that sometimes the love of our life isn't the one we most need to be happy, and all the tragedy and heartbreak that comes with growing up and finding your way through limerence vs true love.

This is a beautiful, heartfelt and moving novel and I was honored to get an early copy.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance review copy. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I have a huge gaping hole in my heart after this book! I cried, made a sad playlist and then cried some more the next day (and I don’t cry easily from a book). I can’t get the characters out of my head and I’m kind of mad at it (in the best way).

A beautifully written story that sends your heart on the roller coaster that is first love, love triangles, carefree youth, and all the beautifully reckless choices that come with growing up. Then, the characters are in adulthood and all I can say is that this is when your heart will start to just shatter into a million pieces.

This one made it into my VERY selective favorites list

A couple of years ago, I was lucky enough to receive another ARC for one of King's novels, "Writers and Lovers"; and I have loved her ever since. I really enjoy her writing style and prose, her clarity and sentence structure. I thought her work with the narrator was very clever, especially as the book was written primarily in a first-person narration, that only used the protagonist's nickname.

Going into "Heart the Lover," I expected a book set entirely in college, and not the life-spanning novel I ended up getting. I think the book was, ultimately, sadder and more intense than I was expecting, but I really enjoyed it nonetheless.

This was my first Lily King book and it will not be the last! I absolutely loved the way it was written, both the prose and the construction of the story. I was absolutely eating up this book and loved it so much. Highly recommend if you like emotional, well written lit fic. I adored!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This novel moved me. So compelling in writing and tone that I time travelled back to when love was more innocent but somehow the stakes felt that much higher, and made it that much more complex as one comes to know oneself through knowing another. Heart the Lover captures the ebbs and flows of a loving heart--its courage, its vulnerabilities, its faith and its pain -- with moving details that only the best kind of writing can capture. I can't wait until this is released and I can recommend it to the groups I facilitate.