I received an Advance Listening Copy of this book thanks to the publisher and Libro.fm. All opinions are my own.
This was the 100th book I finished in 2025 and it’s a delightful serendipity that it was both a book I was looking forward to and one that lived up to my expectations.
I’ve read only one other book by Lily King (see my review of Writers & Lovers here) and I really enjoyed the realism and honesty of King’s writing. Her characters were great – they felt real and their struggles felt real and King never went for the easy drama or cheap, emotional responses. I think this skill is even more in evidence in Heart the Lover and we see here both a more mature protagonist and a more mature writer.
The story is split in two, both narrated by the same character. In the first half, she is a young woman in university. She’s floated through her years there until she meets two smart young men, Sam and Yash. They draw her into their world, full of thought and books and passion, dubbing her Jordan (as in Jordan Baker) and this alters both her identity and the way she thinks of herself. In the second half, years have passed when a tragedy splits open our narrators current life and throws her back into the paths of Sam and Yash.
The book is short – less than 6 hours on audio – so I don’t want to give things away. There aren’t twists but there are unfolding that were lovely to follow as I listened to Rebecca Lowman’s excellent narration. I’m glad that I knew nothing beyond the blurb of this novel before I began it.
In the first half, King does an excellent job of evoking youth and university life. Late nights, philosophical conversations, intense crushes, the weird jobs you have or places you live. I loved my university years and King brings them to life so astutely and delightfully, while also evoking the uncertainty and pressure that you can feel when you are 21 years old and have no money and so many years ahead of you.
The problem with a book split in two parts like this is often that when you move to the second part you find yourself missing the first part. And I thought I would feel that way before because I wanted to stay in those years with those characters and I wasn’t sure about following them forward to their late 40s. But again King handles her characters with such gentleness and intelligence. They are them but they are different, just as we all are 20 or more years out of university. Here again, King doesn’t go for cheap emotionalism or easy drama – these are real people with real relationships that are clearly built on the foundation of years. I was tearing up by the end even as I listened to it come together in a satisfying conclusion.
Highly recommend.
Karissa Reads Books 
Fantastic to hear that you rated this one – I absolutely loved Writers and Lovers, her last book, for many of the same qualities you describe here.
If you like Writers and Lovers I feel confident to say you will also like this!
I remember being totally engrossed by Writers and Lovers but not loving the novel, which is a weird combo. It’s almost like it was TOO real, and I couldn’t see where the story was going, but I wanted to know where it was going.
I can see that. It feels very lifelike to me, which can almost be unsatisfying because we might be looking for more drama or heightened emotions.
I’ve never heard of this author, or Writers and Lovers. I seem to have missed something, everyone above loved it!!! How is this such a huge gap in my reading? LOL
I just read her for the first time this year! She’s been around for a while but seems to be steadily gaining popularity. I recommend starting with Writers & Lovers.