Lily King's novel Heart the Lover (2025) was all over the 'Best Books of 2025' lists at the end of last year. I kept seeing it raved about on social media but it didn't really pique my interest. Perhaps it was the title or the cover that put me off. I figured it was a chick-lit romance, which is definitely not my thing. But when some book bloggers I admire, and who have similar tastes, gave it high praise I thought perhaps I had judged it to quickly and ordered a copy.
She and Sam eventually break up, but Jordan wants to remain in Yash's orbit. They realise they have feelings for one another but Yash doesn't want to betray his best friend. Their passion is too intense and they fall deeply in love and begin planning a future together. But it doesn't pan out the way they expected and they eventually they go their seperate ways, falling out of regular communication.
Decades later, Jordan is a successful writer, living with her husband and children in New England. She has a surprise visit causing her to remember the past and the decisions she made when she was young. She now has to reconcile the past and hold on to her present.
I found Heart the Lover instantly relatable. It reminded me of my days at Trinity College, campus life at the University of Toronto, the poverty of our student years, the intellectual debates, the pressure of the assignments, and the share house I lived in with my greatest friends. This novel also reminded me of many fantastic college campus novels like Donna Tartt's The Secret History, Sally Rooney's Normal People and John William's Stoner.
King is the bestselling author Euphoria and Writers and Lovers. Heart the Lover has just been longlisted for the 2026 Women's Prize for Fiction. I am looking forward to hearing Lily King speak at the upcoming Sydney Writers Festival in May.
I am so glad to have read Heart the Lover. I guess the lesson here for me is not to judge a book by its cover! Well, I am judging it, the cover is terrible and doesn't do the novel justice!