A review by bethreadsandnaps
Heart the Lover by Lily King

4.25

 

4.25 ⭐️

HEART THE LOVER by Lily King 

While I really did like this novel, I have to start out with a complaint. I detest when an author is unnecessarily coy. Sure, coyness is part of a thriller, and in that context I would say coyness is part of the ride you signed up for. 

However, this is literary fiction. Coyness is not needed, and it actually incensed me in this one. 

In this novel, our unnamed narrator (nicknamed Jordan) is a senior at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill - the same school the author went to. There she meets Sam, and they start up a relationship. Sam and his roommate are housesitting for a professor, and Jordan ends up spending time at the house because it’s an awesome professor’s house and so much better than where she lives. She becomes part of the friendship circle and their parties, which include playing card games that involve “heart the lover”…until she and Sam break up. 

Spanning over several decades, Jordan’s first love always stays with her. I love how the author describes the time Jordan spends with these young men, the minutia of their time together. It brought back those college memories so well to me, and it made me ponder how personal this novel is for the author and how much of the author is in Jordan. As my own daughter is only a year away from college, I can’t wait for her to experience these unique moments that are so impactful to that time in a person’s life.