Cuore l'innamorato

by Lily King, Manuela Francescon (Translator)

La protagonista di Cuore l’innamorato, aspirante scrittrice, sa riconoscere una buona storia d’ i segreti e i sottotesti, gli alti e i bassi. Ma la sua storia d’amore più grande, quella che ha vissuto in prima persona, non ha mai seguito le regole. Nell’autunno dell’ultimo anno di college la ragazza incontra due studenti modello del suo corso di Letteratura, Sam e Yash. Grandi amici che vivono fuori dal campus nell’elegante casa di un professore in anno sabbatico, i ragazzi la invitano a entrare nel loro inebriante mondo fatto di fervore accademico, battute a raffica e partite a carte; la soprannominano “Jordan” e le fanno scoprire rapidamente i piaceri dell’amicizia, dell’amore e dell’ambizione intellettuale. La passione giovanile, però, è imprevedibile e lei si ritrova presto al centro di un triangolo amoroso complicato. Mentre la laurea si avvicina e si allontana, questi tre ventenni si trovano a fare scelte che cambieranno per sempre le loro vite. Alcuni decenni più tardi, Jordan sta vivendo la vita che sognava, e i giorni vulnerabili di un tempo sono solo un ricordo. Ma quando una visita a sorpresa e una notizia inaspettata fanno precipitare il passato nel presente, la donna torna in quel mondo che si era lasciata alle spalle ed è costretta a confrontarsi con le decisioni e gli inganni che hanno segnato la sua giovinezza. Con questo nuovo romanzo Lily King si conferma una magistrale cronista dell’esperienza umana e una delle scrittrici americane più importanti del nostro tempo. Scritto con la straordinaria sagacia e la sensibilità emotiva che ormai sono il suo marchio di fabbrica, Cuore l’innamorato è una storia profondamente commovente che celebra l’amore, l’amicizia e la forza del perdono. «Una scrittrice di cui non perdo un romanzo». Daria Bignardi, «Vanity Fair» «Lily King è uno dei nostri grandi tesori letterari». Madeline Miller «Commovente e profondo, una storia d’amore davvero emozionante sul tempo e sul rimpianto». David Nicholls «Lily King ha scritto un altro capolavoro. Questo libro trabocca della sua genialità e del suo cuore. Siamo davvero fortunati». Emma Straub «La struggente storia di King sull’amore e la letteratura, sulle strade intraprese e quelle abbandonate, sui nostri io passati che non ci lasciamo mai davvero alle spalle, è silenziosamente intensa e quasi impossibile da posare». «Booklist»

Genres: Fiction, Romance, Literary Fiction, Contemporary, Audiobook, Book Club, Coming Of Age

230 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 30, 2025

About the author

Lily King grew up in Massachusetts and received her B.A. in English Literature from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and her M.A. in Creative Writing from Syracuse University. She has taught English and Creative Writing at several universities and high schools in this country and abroad. Lily's new novel, Euphoria, was released in June 2014. It has drawn significant acclaim so far, being named an Amazon Book of the Month, on the Indie Next List, and hitting numerous summer reading lists from The Boston Globe to O Magazine and USA Today. Reviewed on the cover of The New York Times Book Review, Emily Eakin called Euphoria, “a taut, witty, fiercely intelligent tale of competing egos and desires in a landscape of exotic menace.”

Lily’s first novel, The Pleasing Hour (1999) won the Barnes and Noble Discover Award and was a New York Times Notable Book and an alternate for the PEN/Hemingway Award. Her second, The English Teacher, was a Publishers Weekly Top Ten Book of the Year, a Chicago Tribune Best Book of the Year, and the winner of the Maine Fiction Award. Her third novel, Father of the Rain (2010), was a New York Times Editors Choice, a Publishers Weekly Best Novel of the Year and winner of both the New England Book Award for Fiction and the Maine Fiction Award.

Lily is the recipient of a MacDowell Fellowship and a Whiting Writer's Award. Her short fiction has appeared in literary magazines including Ploughshares and Glimmer Train, as well as in several anthologies.

Reviews

[Haley pham · Rating 5 out of 5]

If I weren’t in public I would have cried like a baby

[Brady Lockerby · Rating 5 out of 5]

my one 5 star of Octobe… a masterpiece dare I say?! I started and finished this in one day because I just needed to know how it ended!! This was my first Lily King novel and will definitely not be my last because the emotional rollercoaster of these characters and their relationships was so well done. I was a blubbering mess by the end and when a book can evoke that kind of emotion out of me.. 5 stars

[emma · Rating 5 out of 5]

sometimes i worry i'm too stingy with my five stars. then i read a book where i can tell from the start i'm discovering a new favorite and i know i was just waiting for that feeling.

(review to come)

---------------------
tbr review

a lily king release is coming. all is right with the world

(thanks to the publisher for the e-arc)

[Brooke Averick · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m in agony

[Kat · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don’t read a lot of literary fiction, but new-to-me author Lily King has made me question my life choices!

For those navigating their young adult lives or those who now have the benefit of hindsight into the choices they made in those vulnerable years, this story may resonate. It did for me. Suddenly I was back in my college days when life revolved around my friends, classes, work and contemplating my future. For me, that included who I would spend it with.

Our unnamed narrator is a creative writing major who is befriended by two astute young intellectuals, Sam and Yash, in one of her literature classes. They quickly adopt her into their small circle, sometimes as “Daisy” and other times as “Jordan”, and soon she’s spending more time at the professor’s home they’re housesitting than she does at her own place. As might be predicted, when three people are so close, things can get complicated and they definitely do.

The story unfolds in three parts with no chapters, but rather segments of the story, so you can still easily pause at certain points and not lose the thread. You see the narrator at three different points in her life: college, then two later points in the future.

I don’t want to say too much more, because it’s more impactful to let it unfold and surprise you, as it did me. I’ll only say that it was in turns tender, frustrating, relatable, gentle, funny and at times simply heartbreaking. To call this a romance would be a disservice to the book. Yes, there is romance and yes, it plays a major role in the story, but that’s not really the point of the book.

This story looks at the choices we make when we’re young and how they impact us, in both good and bad ways, for the rest of our lives. On the positive side, there’s the thrill of falling in love, setting goals for the future, the freedom and exploration of youth, and the joys of chasing your dreams. On the flip side, it also shows the impact of family dysfunction, ambition, youthful zeal, regret, grief, loss, and the struggle to forgive at times.

My only complaints are minor. First, there was a little too much going on in the denouement, with too many characters distracting from the emotional impact, and second, I’m really not loving that cover. It doesn’t fit the emotional tone of the book with the bright colors and hippie-looking eyes. This is a melancholy book and only the tears on the cover suggest that. It’s a me thing.

This is a story that lifted me up and broke me down, but I loved it because that’s life in a nutshell, isn’t it? Joy and sorrow are the seasoning that gives this life flavor, and this book captured it so beautifully. Also, the ending? *Chef’s kiss* It’s not a neat bow, but it’s real and I appreciate that.

I highly recommend this!

★★★★ ½

Thanks to Grove Press, NetGalley and author Lily King for this digital ARC to honestly review. It’s out on September 30. 2025.

[Emily May · Rating 3 out of 5]

2 1/2 stars. Heart the Lover is my first read by Lily King and I have mixed feelings.

I enjoyed the characters, the (totally pretentious) literary discussions and the romantic red herring in the beginning. Most of all, I loved the bittersweet tone of the whole story. The protagonist is a writer and the book is framed as her finally writing a story about "you", though we don't know who "you" is for a while. It is written in a way that is wistful and melancholy, so that I read feeling inexplicably sad even when nothing sad was happening.

The problem was that the more I read, the more sentimental it became. The pretentious philosophical musings swing back and forth between vaguely interesting and deeply annoying, and I got to the point where the combination of sentimentality and philosophizing made me wonder if I hadn't picked up a John Green book by mistake.

As we got into the later chapters, I was moved by what was happening but also irked by the cheesiness of some of the character interactions. I also thought it was easy to predict what we were building towards-- even early on in the novel --and was disappointed to see I was right.

[Maxwell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lily King owes me financial compensation for ripping my heart out and stomping on it. 4.5 stars

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5
I was worried that this was going to be too much of a romance story … I don’t read those… but it definitely wasn’t.
This is the story of three college seniors … a literary love story, love triangle.. and friendship and literary pursuits.
It’s about the decisions we make in youth that affect the rest of your life…old regrets, unresolved losses in middle age.
This story is raw, tender, and honest and takes us through three decades of the narrator’s life.
Loved, loved, loved!

Publishing September 30, 2025

Thank you to Netgalley and Grove Atlantic for the ARC!

[Rosh ~catching up slowly~ · Rating 3 out of 5]

In a Nutshell: A literary fiction focussing on a young woman, the men in her life and how they affected her path. Begins shaky (probably because the key characters are young adults and didn’t resonate with me), but gets a bit steadier as it progresses. Not as whimsical as the cover suggests, but the title is the good fit for the plot. Thought-provoking, but also dragged, pretentious and unnecessarily depressing. Those who have read ‘Writers and Lovers’ might enjoy the secret connection this book has to its plot, but this is written as and works as a standalone. Recommended, but not to all.

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Plot Preview:

In the senior year of college, our unnamed first-person narrator meets two students in her Literature class: Sam and Yash. The trio become good friends, and engage regularly in battles of the intellect through banter, discussions, and card games. The boys nickname the narrator “Jordan”, and that’s who she becomes for them. Two of them start developing feelings for each other, but soon, certain choices alter the situation for all three of them.
Cut to a couple of decades later, when forty-something “Jordan” is finally living the life she wanted, having pushed the memories of youth and first love behind. Then one day, the past arrives at her doorstep.
The story comes to us in three distinct timelines, each from a specific point in the narrator’s life. The first and third sections are in her first-person point of view, while the middle timeline is addressed in the second-person “you”, with “Jordan” addressing that entire timeline to someone unnamed. We figure out in the third section who this “you” is. The true identity of “Jordan” comes only at the end.

This book is officially a standalone. However, if you have read this author’s most popular title, “Writers and Lovers”, you will find a surprise connection to that story. In terms of timeline, this book, because of its huge time-jump in between, works as a sort of prequel-cum-sequel to the earlier novel. But each of the novels is independent, so you needn’t read one to enjoy the other better.


Bookish Yays:
💘 The opening sentence. Instantly intriguing!

💘 “Jordan”. A mostly interesting character with a realistic approach towards life.

💘 Short and fairly quick, despite being character-oriented and introspective.

💘 The characters act their age in each section, which is commendable given the time span of the story. You can actually see some maturity in the third section when they are all older.

💘 The title, the meaning of which we learn only on reading the book. It suits the book in various ways.


Bookish Mixed Bags:
💕 The three sections don’t have chapters. So it’s essentially a book with three giant chapters. (Or rather, two giant chapters and one tinier one.) Thankfully, you have transition breaks in between, so you can still pause at those points.

💕 The trope of keeping the narrator unnamed keeps the mystery alive. Then again, it is silly to keep referring to her as “Jordan”, thereby subverting the whole point of an unnamed protagonist. Such a writing choice is supposed to add to our curiosity, not feel gimmicky.

💕 The prose is quite lyrical and thought-provoking, often using the character’s introspective mood to deliver pearls of wisdom. However, the writing is also pretentious, especially in the first section with its overdose of literary classic and philosophical discussions. It feels like the book is trying very hard to prove how esoteric the trio are in their thinking. But this flops because it keeps the reader distanced from relating to the proceedings. Moreover, the three characters aren’t that highbrow for the rest of the book. Seriously, why couldn’t the conversations have been a bit more grounded? Who talks like that in real life?!?

💘 The story instantiates the three types of love: attraction-based, compatibility-based, and practicality-based, which is quite interesting. Despite so many relationships, the book isn't a romance in the true sense of the word. Yet, in a strange contradiction, the book is all about romance. Most of the introspections and interactions centre around love, both present and lost. This become boring after a while.

💕 I have a fondness for the second-person voice, and it is used nicely in Section II. However, the abrupt change to second person in between two first-person sections jars a bit.

💕 I absolutely love the cover, but it absolutely doesn’t fit the book. I expected something far quirkier given that whimsical artwork. (I adore those daisy-petal eyes with the falling petals doubling as tear drops. How clever and imaginative!)


Bookish Nays:
💔 The initial chapters of Section I. I almost DNFed the book at the strongly YA writing with the dominant focus being on physical attraction and the characters’ behaviour being utterly self-centred and judgemental. It suited the characters’ ages to some extent, but it wasn’t what I expected from a literary work. I have a feeling many readers (especially those like me who aren’t fans of YA-style writing) will DNF the book in this section, which is sad because it does improve somewhat.

💔 The men in the story. I couldn’t find them any of them believable or likeable. Running away seems to be their solution to most problems. (Funnily, the men in ‘Writers and Lovers’ were also the same.)

💔 The various themes: first love, heartbreak, grief, hope, choices, what-ifs. All create a melancholic effect, but somehow diluted in approach. The plot was spread too thin.

💔 The nonlinear structure with its random back-and-forth was a test of my patience. I wish the flashbacks had been limited, and better indicated.

💔 Seeing one of the characters be half-Indian in ethnicity excited me. Unfortunately, except for his name and a vague reference here and there, the India connection is never utilised to the fullest. Considering how key he was in the proceedings, this is disappointing.

💔 Section III. Initially, I felt that it might add value to the plot, but it went in an unexpected direction, turning the story into misery lit. Also, it was filled with too many needless characters and hence felt cluttered.

💔 The miscommunication trope. So very annoying in this one!


Overall, I genuinely expected something witty and quirky given the title and cover. But this ended up highly introspective and depressing. The initial content also was a big turn-off. Thankfully, the plot matures with the protagonists.

I began this book directly after completing “Writers and Lovers”. Except for the singular point of commonality, I didn’t find the plots interdependent in any way whatsoever. But it was good to get a broader view of the same world. The editorial team might have made the deliberate choice of avoiding timeline references to hide the connection between the two novels. But the time jump and the ages of the characters anyway tell us what we need to know.

Recommended to those literary fiction readers who believe that the human soul develops only through suffering. There are hardly any moments of joy in this book, so it would help if you aren’t looking for something light-hearted or happy.

2.75 stars.


My thanks to Grove Atlantic for providing the DRC of “Heart the Lover” via NetGalley. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

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[Canadian Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lily King is a lyrical, insightful writer. This is another story that tugged on these heart strings.

Jordan, Sam and Yash meet at college in the English program that leads to a romantic entanglement.

We move through Jordan’s final year as she completes her thesis, is in love and there is a certain lust for life. But as life happens, choices are made, paths are changed. Yet, the past is reignited when Jordon hears from Yash a decade later. Vivid memories and emotions reawakened from that one year that changed the course of Jordan’s life.

A story of regrets, heartache, grief, and forgiveness. The complexity of relationships, of friendships, of love that can survive after years of separation and silence.
4.5⭐️

**The title I'm not a fan of - it’s actually a card from a game.**

[Angela M · Rating 4 out of 5]

4+ stars
The complex relationships between three college seniors evokes thoughts on the power of creativity, the writing life , the depth of friendship , and enduring love. A young woman is nicknamed Daisy at first by two young men in her literature class then calling her Jordan ,both characters from The Great Gatsby by the way . They live together for a while, read together, philosophize, play made up card games as friendships and love relationships develop.

After finishing school , they make thought provoking decisions . Choices to be made - friendship over love , religious principles over love , the creative life over love . These are decisions they made when they were young and we see the impact on their lives, nearly 30 years later . Revelations of the truth , loss, forgiveness and the possibility of hope. It was a deeply moving story.

We don’t find out the narrator’s real name until the last page. I have thoughts on that , but won’t be a spoiler . If you loved Writers & Lovers this is a must read .


I received a copy of this book from Grove Atlantic through NetGalley.

[JanB · Rating 1 out of 5]

I loved, loved, loved Writers and Lovers and had very high hopes for this highly anticipated release.

Unfortunately I found the characters in this book to be insufferable pseudo-intellectuals. I read to 35% and couldn’t take any more

* I received a digital review copy for review. All opinions are my own

[Ron Charles · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even I, who married my college sweetheart more than 40 happy years ago, read Lily King’s new novel about what might have been in a state of blubbery longing.

For those of us of a certain age, “Heart the Lover” is nostalgia distilled to black ink. Like a lonely English major, the book stands entirely on its own. But if you know King’s work, you’ll appreciate how this new story wraps around her previous novel, exploring a young woman’s life before and after “Writers & Lovers” (2020).

Here we meet that narrator when she’s about to graduate from college. She’s so talented that a professor reads her work to the class, and yet she remains deeply intimidated by more confident male students — particularly Yash and Sam, who sit in the front row of their 17th-century literature course. When Sam makes some impossibly esoteric comment, she readily agrees. “What else can I do?” she asks us. “I am a mere student, and he is a scholar. That much is clear right away. I’ve never met a scholar who wasn’t a professor. And Sam isn’t even a grad student. He’s a senior, like me.”

King captures her guileless sense of awe with just a dusting of parody that never grows silly or bitter. This is a campus only partially reformed by the feminist movement. Almost all the English professors are men; the narrator might earn As in English, but she constantly undersells herself. Soon, on something between a date and a pilgrimage, she follows Sam to where he lives with Yash — not in a dorm, of course, or even in a fraternity (so gauche) but in the book-lined home of a professor who’s away for the semester.

It’s there that the narrator, who came to college on a golf scholarship she quickly lost, acquires the nickname Jordan, a wry allusion to Jordan Baker in “The Great Gatsby.” She’s flattered by the chummy sobriquet, being invited to hang with the cool kids. “I can tell they all like me better once they’ve......

To read the rest of this review, go to The Washington Post:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/...

[Terrie Robinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

In her senior year of college, our unnamed narrator meets Sam and Yash, two scholarly students from her 17th-century Lit class. Initially, they call her Daisy, then nickname her Jordan, neither of which is her real name. These two best friends invite her to be part of their exhilarating world of intellectual intensity, blistering wordplay, and rowdy card games. She embraces the love and friendship, but she has no idea how being part of this edgy and complex trio will impact her life, and theirs, for decades to come...

Heart the Lover accentuates what I enjoy about Lily King's effortless writing style. The first-person narration fits the story and allows the reader to get to know the unnamed protagonist, who is authentic, honest, and vulnerable. I love this character.

However, this was a slow starter for me, and most of Part One was a struggle. I couldn't connect with the characters of Sam and Yash, and found both unlikable and self-centered. Although I enjoyed the story overall, I couldn't get past how I felt about either one, and as a result, King's storytelling fell short for me.

Heart the Lover is a book I liked, but I didn't love it!

3⭐

Thank you to Grove Press and Lily King for the gifted DRC through NetGalley. This is my honest and voluntary review.

[emilybookedup · Rating 5 out of 5]

WOW this book was so beautiful!!!!! this was my first by her but won’t be my last.

🎧 tip: this is fab on audio, good narrator & less than 6 hours! best if you can listen in large chunks as there are like 8 chapters and each is really long.

i binged this in one day bc i couldn’t stop thinking about it and bc it was SO good. wow i loved it!! beautiful story about friendship and love and it’s also very emotional at the end.

this kind of gave me TOMORROW AND TOMORROW AND TOMORROW vibes in a lot of ways (the 3 friends, the romance, the end…) which is a fave of mine as yall know. i was definitely extremely teary eyed at the end and it was just so good.

here’s what you need to know…. you have 3 main characters: Jordan, Yash and Sam (see! even the same MC name as T3 lol!). they are in college and they become intertwined besties that turns quickly into a charged love triangle. after graduation, things change and a phone call threatens to make everything come crumbling down. decades later, Jordan gets a surprise visit that crashes her past and present 👀🥹

this was my first by her and i think i should have read WRITERS AND LOVERS first but oh well 🤣

TLDR: a quickie and goodie you should sneak in before EOY! only 256 pages!

[Olive Fellows (abookolive) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well that destroyed me. I really wish the publisher would have been a bit more honest about what this book actually is, though.

Regardless, Lily King is in her prime, and I love to see it.

Click here to hear more of my thoughts on this book over on my Booktube channel, abookolive!

[Liz Hein · Rating 5 out of 5]

A one sit, audible sob, beautiful book.

You knew I’d write a book about you someday. This is how one of my new favorite books of the year, Heart the Lover, begins and I was hooked at line one. I’m so sorry to bring an October release to you now, but I LOVED this book and I want to tell you about it. It also has connections to Lily King’s Writers & Lovers if you want to read that in the meantime (it’s not necessary, and I didn’t love it as much, but I do LOVE Five Tuesdays in Winter by King).

Our narrator understands loves books and she loves love stories. She is a lit girl like us and loves a trope like hamartia, but her love story is much more complicated. She meets two guys in college and quickly becomes entangled in their lives. They call her Daisy, they call her Jordan, yes, nods to Gatsby, but I’m calling her our narrator as King is doing some interesting things with that. She’s gotta make a choice between the two, and does, and we meet her decades later when all her past decisions re-emerge in many ways.

I hadn’t seen reviews for this, so I didn’t know this was going to gut me. I didn’t know I was going to audibly sob on a plane and refuse to turn my phone off airplane mode until I finished every last, beautiful page. Before 2025 happened to me, I may have not found all the events of the ending believable, but now…I believe it and I FELT it. I recommend this to fans of Catherine Newman. This won’t be the last you hear from me on this one.

[jocelyn • coolgalreading · Rating 5 out of 5]

i need to lie down

[fatma · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars

Heart the Lover is basically whatever the literary equivalent of Oscar bait is. Imagine if someone was like what things can i write about to make a book feel ~Deep~ and ~Meaningful~ and ~Profound~, spun a wheel, and then included just about everything that could tick those boxes. I can't talk specifics without spoiling this, so I'll write more under a spoiler tag, but this is not the kind of novel I would've expected from a seasoned author like Lily King. It's a novel that presents itself as--and is very desperately trying to be--poignant and insightful, but is actually quite emotionally hollow. A poignant novel is not a novel that contains as many Poignant Things as possible. That's not how storytelling works. To put it more bluntly, this is a lazy book, one that forgoes the work of actually imbuing its story with significance in favour of borrowing significance from its Serious and Literary subject matter.


Okay, getting into the spoilers:

Heart the Lover ends in the death of a character from a terminal illness. And let me tell you, I am just so tired of books being perceived as more "meaningful" or "serious" because they end in a death. It's so easy to end a story with a death and then have your main character reflect on Life and Mortality and Love etc etc. What's much harder to do is the work of actually negotiating meaning through your story, not just assuming it. The problem with the way death is used in this novel is that it's a device, nothing more; something to use to lend gravity to a flimsy story with barely any heft to it. (I was going to say this novel would've been more interesting if it had another ending, but the more I think about it the more I feel like the whole story falls apart without its ending. Take out the death at the end of this book and what you're left with is not much of a story.)

I mean, why figure out an interesting way to develop your characters' stories when you can just have one character die at the end! I cannot stand this kind of facile storytelling. Rather than tell a story, flesh out ideas, develop characters, it coasts on the assumed significance of its ending: death, the ~Ultimate Ending~. A character's death then becomes a surrogate for meaning and significance and profundity. No further explanation or elaboration is needed from the author, because what could be more significant or thought-provoking than death? More than facile storytelling, it's also just BORING. I expected so much more from Lily King, and frankly I'd be lying if I said I didn't regret reading this book.

[Christy fictional_traits · Rating 5 out of 5]

'It was gorgeous and tender. Everything in it is working toward this mood, this ache, this very tactile sensation that gets deep in your bones'.

It's Jordan's (well, that's what two of her friends have nicknamed her) senior year of college, when everything changes, after meeting two friends in her English class. As their friendships deepen and change, so too does their understanding of themselves and their futures, 'We'll have our farewell to youth together'. However, growing up is hard, and when one of them chooses a 'sensible' option about their future, the resounding ramifications are not, can not, be fully addressed until decades later, '...we are all vulnerable to tragedy because we are human'.

Books like these should come with warnings. It started off so tame, I wasn’t sure if it'd be to my liking, and then suddenly I was swallowed up: consumed, only to be spat out in tears by the end. 'Love is crushing. Love is something you let yourself feel at your own peril, despite your better sense'. Yes, this is fundamentally a love story but it is also a story about living your life, seizing your opportunities, and not waiting for a better time, 'Maybe it's true...that the past and the future don't exist, that this is the only moment we ever have, this moment right now...'.

How can so much be packed into just over 100 pages? The language is so simple, the reader feels like they're having a conversation, or reading a journal, perhaps this is what makes the emotional impact so much more forceful when it hits. Any literary fiction lover will love this.

'A great novel, a truly great one...it alters and intensifies the way you experience your own life while you're reading it'.

[TheConnieFox · Rating 5 out of 5]

♥ My Overall Thoughts ♥

This literary fiction novel got me hooked right from the start! The way this author brought the story to life with the way she writes was extraordinary! To me, this is the definition of literary perfection! I felt the dynamics of love in this book, along with the very descriptive imagery. This is the first book that I have read by this author and it simply blew me away! It is about love, loss, grief, friendship, acceptance, control, compassion, ambition and choices! It is beautifully written, captivating and really examines the complexities of love. I found the female main character to be lovable! This is written in the female main character’s point of view. Furthermore, It is written in three parts. This book may not be for everyone, but it was definitely for me! I am grateful to have found such a wonderful new author and book!

♥ Book Synopsis & Rating ♥

“Heart The Lover” centers around a young woman, who quickly gets nicknamed Jordan by two male students in her literature class. It is Jordan’s Senior year in college and she gets involved with these two boys on campus named Yash and Sam. These two boys are best friends and live together off campus. They start inviting Jordan over to their house and things start to become complex between these three characters. As the story unravels, the choices that were made between all of these three characters ultimately changes their lives forever. Overall, I give this a 5 out of 5 stars!

♥ Thank You ♥

Thank you to NetGalley, author Lily King and Grove Atlantic | Grove Press for this digital advanced reader’s copy in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.

♥ Content Warnings ♥

Content warnings include grief, trauma and the complexity of relationships.

♥ Genre & Who I think would like this book ♥

This book is in the general adult literacy fiction genre. I think people that love reading literary fiction novels that explore the complexity of love and a triangle relationship would enjoy this one!

♥ Publication Date ♥

This book is expected to be published on October 7, 2025!

♥ Quick Review ♥

🩷 Love Triangle
✔️ Literary Fiction Genre
🩷 Love and Loss
✔️ Grief and Healing
🩷 Sacrifice and Consequences
✔️ Complexities of Relationships
🩷 Emotional
✔️ Very Well Known Author

》* 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ * 。° 。 • ˚《

❥ ୨⎯ Connie ⎯୧ ❥

ツ౨ৎ

[Marialyce · Rating 1 out of 5]

I just can’t fathom the childishness of the characters.

[leah · Rating 3 out of 5]

i didn’t know anything about this book before starting it, and that’s the best way to go into it (especially if you’ve read one lily king book before….)

at its core heart the lover is a simple love story, tracing the relationship between 3 young people during their college days into their adulthood. but it’s also about love itself and the way love endures over the years, even when the nature of your relationships change as you get older. largely, the characters in the novel are reckoning with the end of their youth and all the complexities that brings - regret, mortality, and the decisions we make in the past which shape our futures. i found some parts a little saccharine, clearly striving to elicit an emotional response and create a sense of poignancy. it’s easy to predict where the story goes, but overall, getting to read lily king’s writing again makes it worth the while.

3.5

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ok she gagged me a bit at the end there i can’t lie. review & thoughts to come soon!

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update: i got the arc!! thank you @canongatebooks, reading this asap

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how am i supposed to wait until october for this

[jay · Rating 5 out of 5]

every once in a while you will pick up a book that will remind you that between all of the trash out there there’s still treasure

heart-achingly beautiful, i knew it would be a new favourite from page one, i can’t wait to reread it

[Jessica Woodbury · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short but poignant novel about love and time passing and life and death and grief and a billion other things that pull your heartstrings. But I loved having them pulled. This is the story of one relationship, though it's not immediately apparent who the "you" is that the narrator is speaking to. It was a joy to read, hit me right in the feelings without any manipulative tricks, and I was just happy for King to take me along on this ride. Hit me very much in my melancholy middle aged heart.

[Court Zierk · Rating 4 out of 5]

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ 1/2

Poetry in motion. These words sing with perfect pitch, and dance their way off the page into yearning hearts. This isn’t a tidy love story. It’s messy and non-linear. It captures heartbreak and lost love, but somehow still emanates hope. It explores all variations of love, platonic to romantic and everything in between.

Literature fiction can be hit or miss for me, but when it hits, it does so with sledgehammer force. This one obliterated my defenses and filled my scattered remnants with endearment.

[Sophia Eck · Rating 1 out of 5]

John Green and Nicholas Sparks eat your hearts out

Heart The Lover felt more like a YA novel trying to feel adult than an actual adult novel, and I even had to double check it’s genre listing to make sure it wasn’t for a teenage audience. The writing was incredibly choppy and felt low commitment, it felt like a debut novel and King is a seasoned author so there is really no reason for that kind of undeveloped writing. None of the characters felt developed in the slightest, simply like cardboard cutouts things just happened to, and it read so juvenile, formatted like “this happened, then this happened, then I said this, he said that, we went here, now it’s a week later and I’m here at this place, then I moved there, then I ate this.” No cohesion, no development of a comprehensive narrative, no depth, other than the storyline begging to be seen as deep and tragic. The plot felt so formulaic and chopped up, like an outline instead of an actual finished work. I felt similarly when reading Talking at Night by Claire Daverly; Flat characters written for a contrived tragic relationship to evoke emotion but nothing is developed enough to warrant said emotions, and ultimately coming across as extremely falsely pretentious and fake deep. It insists upon itself.

[Cindy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I couldn’t have asked for a better love story from Lily King. I devoured this in a single day — it’s messy, flirty, and deliciously complicated in all the best ways. Set against a collegiate backdrop, the love triangle feels real and tender, full of those confusing, heart-thumping moments that make King’s writing so addictive.

If you loved Writers & Lovers, this one’s a must. The stories are beautifully connected, though Heart the Lover stands on its own. (Someone in my book club spoiled the tie-in for me — I won’t do the same!) Still, I’d recommend reading W&L as well to get the full, glorious picture.

[Keri Stone · Rating 4 out of 5]

Our FMC begins her senior year of college meeting two friends, Sam and Yash. She’s immediately drawn into their circle, spending time at the home they are house sitting, being pulled into conversation and card games. They call her Jordan. As these things happen, passion finds Jordan and one of the men, and the dynamic shifts. Then continues to shift as they find their way forward in life and love.

We skip forward many years, when Jordan’s life is settled, until a surprise visit. As she is slowly brought back into relationships from her past, the events from the those times and decisions made have to be faced. And maybe, she can see things from new perspectives.

This is a book that deserves to unfold as it’s read. Lily King is a new author for me, but she writes beautifully of the joys and hardships we face throughout life. I love that she honored the importance of past relationships, while showing that life moves forward. I’m between a 4 and 5 on this one, because I was so drawn to these characters.

[Shantha (ShanthasBookEra) · Rating 5 out of 5]

"From the New York Times bestselling author of Writers & Lovers comes a magnificent and intimate new novel of desire, friendship, loss, and the lasting impact of first love."

Three college seniors become friends. Sam and Yash nickname the narrator and protagonist Jordan. They are intellectual and all enjoy writing. During the year, they live at a professor's house who on sabbatical. They enjoy academic debate, raucous games, and hopes for future success. They become close friends, lovers, and share intimate secrets. As a woman, Jordan has to work twice as hard to get noticed by her professors compared to her male counterparts, including Sam and Yash. As they reach middle age, circumstances bring them together where they all need to confront their past and reflect on the lives they've led and secrets they've kept.

This book is why I love literary fiction! It is raw, emotional, highly intimate, and beautiful. Lily King's prose is poignant and evocative. She expertly explores love and loss as well as coming of age and identity. Jordan discovering who she is is central to the novel. I devoured this book in under a day, and it moved me to tears. The characters became real to me and will live rent-free in my mind for a long time to come. King masterfully packs all of this in just 250 pages. Those who have read Writers and Lovers are in for an extra surprise. This is a must-read for lovers of literary fiction.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Grove Atlantic, and Lily King for an advance reader's copy in exchange for my honest review.