Literary Fiction — 4⭐️

In her senior year of college, a young woman becomes entangled in a love triangle with two close friends, Sam and Yash, which alters the course of all their lives. Years later, she returns to a world she left behind.

I’m a big fan of Lily King’s work, and thought this doesn’t come out until October, I couldn’t keep it waiting on my shelf any longer.

This one is for my fellow lit fic girlies that like complex relationships, coming-of-age, the human experience, and non-traditional love stories.

Overall, a tender, aching book that you’ll want to devour in one-sitting.

“Love is not a weakness. People get in its way. People are weak and perilous, not love.”

Thank you @groveatlantic @netgalley for the gifted copy in exchange for an honest review. Out 10/8!

Heart the Lover is a roller coaster ride for your emotions. I laughed and cried while reading this novel that had, at its core, a narrative of love and friendship between three college students, two men and a woman.

Sam and Yash have scored a great house to live in for their senior year. It belongs to a professor and they, being the class favorites, get to housesit while he is on sabbatical. Sam is religious, possessing a belief system that forbids sexual intercourse prior to marriage. Yash is an academic, a student of English literature and philosophy. Into their lives comes a young woman whom they nickname first Daisy, and then Jordan. (In fact, the reader does not find out her real name until the last page of the book).

Ultimately, the novel is about love in its many forms, all of which take our breath away and leave us panting for more. "Love is crushing. Love is something you let yourself feel at your own peril, despite your better sense." Despite the risks entailed in letting yourself fall in love, there is a very clear message throughout this novel: "It is the only form of hope we have."

Jordan, Yash and Sam fall into a complicated love triangle that persists well beyond their college days. At first, Jordan and Sam are together but this is awkward as Yash also desires Jordan, and Sam is his best friend. How they navigate this situation, or let it pull them into its undertow, is explored with analogies to literature and philosophy. Readers will find themselves reminded of philosophers and great literary figures as the book progresses.

The beginning of the novel was slow for me but once it revved up, after about 1/3 into the book, I was hooked. I couldn't get enough of these three helpless beings caught up in an emotional riptide that had them fighting to stay afloat. The author is clear that "Love is not the weakness. People get in its way. People are weak and perilous, not love".

That we open our hearts to love, and its potential for heartbreak, is an act of both courage and impulse. We are driven to connect and be a part of something greater than ourselves. No matter the messages we send ourselves about imminent danger or demise, we can't help but follow our hearts.

Despite being a short novel, it is written with Lily King's mastery of fiction. Perhaps it is even auto-fiction to some extent as Jordan hopes to be a writer and the prologue tells the reader that this book is about someone in her life she's not previously written about.

I thank NetGalley and Grove Atlantic for this early review copy. This review reflects my opinions only.

Bravo, Lily King! What a heartfelt, moving narrative 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. Bittersweet and beautifully written, this is a deeply moving love story that celebrates literature, forgiveness, and the transformative bonds that shape our lives. Heart the Lover is an unforgettable, and with a delightful connective thread to Writers & Lovers but can be read on it's own.

i read this in one sitting on the plane and cried so hysterically that i had to ding the call bell for the first time in my life to ask the flight attendant for tissues….

this was actually heartbreaking from maybe midway through all the way until the end. it was two twenty three year olds desperately in love but love was just not enough to sustain them. they made selfish choices, both good and bad. and then everyone at the end coming together around a deathbed, because what do selfish choices matter anymore in the wake of such tragedy.and then her moving on and having this full life and still feeling all that love… all these people having huge emotional journeys of their own that you never get to see, just see parts of and their impacts. crazy.

<i>“i have loved you all my life,” i whisper. ‘see you after the next bang.’</i>

and i don’t know if this counts as a spoiler or not but im being careful anyway. took me until the very last line too to finally make the connection on who our narrator actually was… and holy shit!!! that literally set me off so badly… my love you deserve happiness why will lily king not stop putting you through the ringer! i am kind of obsessed with how real this life is though like casey has truly done everything and lived and loved and been this whole fully fledged person even while she’s been struggling. casey i love you!

4.5 stars

As I get older, I’ve realized there are just some genres that don’t land for me anymore. Romantasy, I’m looking at you. This also applies to large crowds, bad iced coffee, and suspiciously generous Yelp reviews. Are we really giving Applebee’s more than 4 stars these days?

But Heart the Lover? This book feels like it was written for my middle-aged soul. A powerful, 267-page stunner.

I just finished Lily King’s latest and was already feeling raw, but this one hit like a grown-up punch to the gut. Heart the Lover spans a few decades, beginning in the 80s, though honestly, it could be set in any time. The main character, Jordan, meets Sam and Yash in her senior year of college. Together they form a tangled, intimate triangle. Their lives loop in and out of each other’s as they age, grow, fall apart, and always seem to find their way back.

There’s literature and longing. They talk about Anna Karenina, Aeneas, and Henry James. They dream of being writers, lovers, and lifelong friends. The book explores ambition, heartbreak, identity, grief, and the complexities of loving people across time.

The reason I mention aging is simple. The choices we make when we’re young can shape everything that comes next. Whether in high school or college, we all have that one moment where we ask what would have happened if we had chosen differently. But after finishing this beautiful book and crying my eyes out, I realize I don’t need to dwell on the what-ifs anymore. I just want to hold on tight to what already is.

DO NOT MISS when it's release on 10/7! Thanks Grove Atlantic & Netgalley for the ARC!

First of all, thank you NetGalley and Grove Atlantic for gifting me a free copy of this book. This has now become one of my favorite books. I don't even know where to start with this one. This book is beautiful but also so incredibly heartbreaking. I found myself invested from the moment I started it and I simply could not put this book down. This is a story about friendship, relationships, and even loss. It's about how each decision we make greatly impacts the trajectory of our lives. It's even a great example of how it's possible to find peace in our choices. We follow Jordan, Yash, and Sam from the moment they meet in a college course. Jordan finds herself intrigued by both Sam and Yash, and both of them shape her life in more ways than one. These characters are flawed. In fact, I found it so hard to root for one of the characters, but in the end I couldn't help but grieve alongside each of them.

All of three of these character's growth is unique and beautiful in their own way. I laughed, smiled, got so angry, and even sobbed at the end of this book. It is so rare to find a story that is as compelling as this one. One with characters that you grow to love and cannot stop thinking about. I finished this story in a day. Started in the morning and finished late at night because I simply could not put it down. Even long after I finished it, I could not stop crying and thinking about this story.

5 stars for me, and I will definitely be rereading, recommending, and buying the physical copy of this book as soon as it comes out!

This may be a spoiler so you can stop reading here if you please, but the ending of this story packs a punch if you've read another one of King's novels, which I do not want to name for fear of spoiling. This is my first King novel, so I wasn't aware until I picked up another book by her immediately and saw something that connected it to this story. I thought that was incredibly interesting.

Heart the Lover was a devastatingly gorgeous tale of two people finding each other. The empathy I felt for the main character was so tangible I was crying at multiple points in the story.

As with all of Lily King's works, this novel is beautifully written, brimming with complex characters and intricate relationships. While I genuinely wanted to connect with the story, it just didn’t resonate with me as much as I had hoped.

In Heart the Lover, we meet a young woman during her senior year in college where she is studying for an English Literature degree. Known only as Jordan (a nickname she acquires based on a character from The Great Gatsby), she forms a tight bond with Sam and Yash, two charismatic best friends and star students in the program. Living together in the house of a professor on sabbatical, the three fill their days with a mix of heady academic debates, playful card games, ambitious future planning, and a growing attachment for one another. Jordan soon finds herself at the center of an emotionally fraught triangle, and the choices the friends make during that time have consequences that reverberate through the subsequent decades. Years later, Jordan is a married, successful writer whose seemingly settled life is disrupted by unexpected news. Her return to that formative world forces a reckoning with past decisions, lingering regrets, and some truths she has long avoided.

If that description of the plot sounds like a cross between a clumsily rendered campus novel and the script for a telenovela, rest assured that this book is anything but that. In the capable hands of author Lily King, Heart the Lover unfolds beautifully as a juxtaposition between the passions and follies (and lamentable choices) made in youth and the introspective reflections of those earlier actions that come in later years. Structurally, the novel is divided into three sections: The first portrays the fateful senior year in college when Jordan, Sam, and Yash first form their intricate relationship while in their early twenties; the middle section occurs during the following couple of years when Jordan and one of the friends deepen their relationship with devastating consequences; and the final part occurs more than twenty years later and brings the friends back together once again, albeit for a heartrending resolution. At the end, we even learn Jordan’s real name, which provides a satisfying connection for those familiar with some of the author’s previous work.

I really enjoyed this novel, which is the first of King’s books that I have read. While I might have gotten more out of the experience if I had read some of her other efforts—Writers & Lovers, in particular—I found the prose to be marvelous and quite affecting in the way it captured both the youthful longing and mature reflections of the central character. I also enjoyed the myriad literary references scattered throughout the story; that was a device that could have been a cloying show-off move, but it was handled deftly here and added greatly to the richness of the tale. (I especially appreciated the nod to Independent People, a personal favorite I was unsure anyone thought about anymore.) Beyond that, the author’s dialogue throughout the book really shines—she was able to capture so well all the nuanced meanings in the things people say to each other. This is an easy book to recommend to any reader who prizes intelligently crafted stories in which emotional development matters more than overt action.

Synopisis: In the fall of her senior year of college, the narrator meets Sam and Yash, two intelligent classmates from her Lit class. Throughout the year, she finds herself drawn into their world of card games, deep conversations, shared books, and eventually, a love triangle. They first call her Daisy, then Jordan, after the Great Gatsby characters. As graduation approaches, they each make decisions that shape their lives. Decades later, a surprise visit and unexpected news pulls Jordan back into her youth.

Review:
Edit: Jaw dropped twice during this.. once while reading the book and then twenty minutes after finishing it IFYKYK!!

Just like in Writers & Lovers, I found Lily King’s writing here to be quiet, intimate, and immersive. I do wish the book was longer so we could’ve gotten more depth, as some parts felt a little rushed. However, each act seemed to provide more of that depth so maybe that was intentional. I wish there would have been more added to Yash and Sam's story, especially Yashes. I think it could have added that something I felt was missing. That being said, I loved Act One with the college setting and the exploration of love, friendship, and ambition. In the later acts, I really felt the tension of being torn between the past and the future. Even with past regrets and the truth surfacing you could feel the love underneath it all. Overall, I loved this novel, but I think if it had leaned a bit more into the other Characters it could’ve been even stronger.

Lily King is back and with another beautifully written literary novel. The love triangle was really well done, and it's easy to get lost in the pages. I also enjoyed the setting of the English program and college housing.

This was my first read by this author and I was pleasantly surprised by this lovely story. It was story of friendships and relationships and the choices we make throughout our lives and how they effect us in the long run. It was beautifully written and I realized by reading other reviews that this book connected to Writers and Lovers written by the same author so I'm going to have to read that soon. Definitely recommend this one. Maybe it could be more impactful if I would've known to read Writers and Lovers first but I still enjoyed it. Please check trigger warnings.

Heart the Lover by Lily King truly captivated me, delivering the kind of emotionally resonant narrative that I always seek out. King's writing is, as many have noted, nothing short of extraordinary—a masterclass in literary perfection that draws you in from the very first page. The story, centered on Jordan during her senior year of college and her complex relationships with Sam and Yash, felt incredibly authentic. King delves deep into the nuances of love, friendship, and the lingering impact of decisions made in youth, making the characters so well-developed that they felt remarkably real, almost like friends I was watching navigate their lives.

This novel is divided into three distinct parts, all told from Jordan's compelling perspective, which allowed for a rich and intimate exploration of her inner world. I found myself completely engrossed in her journey, experiencing a wide range of emotions right alongside her—some moments were genuinely heartbreaking, a testament to King's powerful storytelling. It's rare to find a book that evokes such strong feelings, and I can certainly understand why some readers reported sobbing while reading; it truly touches the heart. Heart the Lover is a profound and beautifully written exploration of human connection and the weight of the past, and I highly recommend it for anyone who appreciates a deeply moving and exquisitely crafted contemporary novel.

This was incredible! I wouldn't expect anything less of Lily King — she's brilliant.

"You knew I'd write a book about you someday" — what a way to start a book!!

Heart the Lover is a novel told in three parts, detailing three very different moments in our narrator's life, who is called Daisy and then Jordan (yes, from The Great Gatsby) throughout pretty much the entire novel; we only find out her true name at the very end of the book. Part I details her time at university, when she becomes close to two other students in her 17th-century lit class: Sam and Yash. They make so many memories spending time together at the house of a professor who's on sabbatical and had asked the boys to look after the property. Parts II and III are time jumps from that time and take us on a journey that invites us to reflect on the choices we make in life and their consequences.

Part I had a lot of echoes of Writers & Lovers, with its love of literature and language, while Parts II and III reminded me a lot of the yearning in Celine Song's Past Lives. I grew really attached to these characters — I loved them and was frustrated with them at times. I felt like this book was a lesson on life, love, friendship and how we need to make peace with our choices, even when they’re painful. It's the type of book I can see myself reading again and again in different moments of my life; it's the kind of novel that grows old with you. Lily King's prose is at the same time accessible and able to convey complex emotions — I can't get enough of it.

If I had to sum up this book in one quote, it would be this one:
"Love is not a weakness. People get in its way. People are weak and perilous, not love"

I cannot thank Grove Press enough for the e-ARC! It was an unforgettable read.

this book feels like a bruise you keep pressing on just to see if it still hurts.

I finished this book with that specific kind of ache you get when someone you haven’t thought about in years suddenly appears in your mind, and you realize they never really left. That’s what this book does—it doesn’t shout. It just sits there quietly until you start listening.

Heart the Lover is about first love, but not in the way most books are. It’s about the kind of love that marks you without asking permission. The kind that teaches you something you didn’t want to learn. Jordan is seventeen, caught between Sam and Yash—two people who see her, challenge her, undo her. It’s intellectual, it’s emotional, it’s obsessive. It’s all very delicate and deeply intense in the way teenage love often is, even if we pretend otherwise.

But what really got me is the structure—how it loops back, years later. How memory isn’t stable. How we keep returning to certain moments because they never really stopped happening. The last section knocked the wind out of me. Not because it was shocking, but because it was so quietly devastating. The way it recontextualizes everything that came before. The way it refuses to give you easy answers. It reminded me a little of Writers & Lovers, but more interior. Slower. A little colder. More haunted.

Lily King doesn’t do drama. She does weight. Every sentence feels like it’s carrying a history. And this one? This one lingers.

I loved Heart the Lover. Lily King’s writing is as beautiful and thoughtful as ever. The story follows a young woman at university as she becomes entangled with two close friends, Sam and Yash. What unfolds is a tender, complicated love triangle that lingers long after the last page. It’s messy, emotional, and deeply human.

I’d recommend this to anyone who loves contemporary fiction that’s both gorgeously written and emotionally resonant, especially if you’re drawn to stories of love, friendship, and the ways our past never really leaves us.

As a huge fan of writers and lovers I was so thrilled to read an early copy of King’s newest and WOW it did not disappoint. King manages to capture the human condition so very well and succinctly. I’ll be thinking about this one for a long time.

Loved this. Maybe my favorite Lily King yet. Kept putting off reading the last 10% because I was dreading finishing it. One of the best contemporary writers we have.

Lily King writes with such tenderness. The details she crafts within the novel’s characterizations pack a lot of life into this short novel. The feeling of being a young, pretentious, and alive 20-something builds, and then collapses as middle age and sickness catch up to the protagonists. 3.5 stars, but definitely recommend.

You knew I'd write a book about you someday, is where our story kicks off, but I quickly forgot that there was any reflection; I was already so immersed in the story of three well-read, deeply intellectual college students, and their relationships with each other.

Lily King is a masterful writer, seamlessly weaving past and present. And she makes a unique decision to withhold our narrator's name until the last poignant moment, a literary choice I will be pondering for a while.

With the literary sensibilities of Lily King's Writers and Lovers and the heartbreak of The Light We Lost, 'Heart the Lover' is a novel for the litfic sad girls of the world.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.