It's a common refrain for authors to write novels with a protagonist who loves books and/or is an aspiring writer (just because that's a familiar trope, this observation is not meant to be disparaging -- I adore such books). In Writers and Lovers, Casey has experienced loss and heartache and is navigating her new normal. She is grieving her mother's death, living in a barely habitable space, and waitressing in a high-end restaurant. She finds pockets to write, but too many other demands on her time and finances make a change in her circumstances feel impossible.

Writers and Lovers pulled me in. I grew anxious as Casey juggled two different relationships, became stressed when I feared she was on the brink of ruin, and sighed with relief as the novel ended. King's descriptions of loss and grief are relatable for those who have gone through similar experiences, and her accounts of writing being an anchor resonated: "I don't write because I think I have something to say. I write because if I don't, everything feels even worse." 

Writers and Lovers is Lily King's fifth novel, but my first introduction to the author. King's writing style feels natural and engaging, reminiscent of my experiences reading Ann Patchett. I have already acquired her book Euphoria, and it's just waiting to be moved to the top of my reading list.

(I received a digital ARC from Grove Atlantic via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.)

Writers & Lovers follows Casey Peabody as she struggles with the unexpected death of her mother, trying to become a writer while working as a waitress to support herself, and dealing with relationships that never seem to be quite right. Casey has held onto her dream of becoming a writer even though most of her friends who had the same dream have given up on theirs. Casey has been working on her novel for six years, but can't seem to finish it. Meanwhile she has started seeing two men she truly likes.

I enjoyed following Casey's struggles in life and sympathized with the character. Life decisions are hard and getting the courage to do so is elusive. I enjoyed the writing style and was easily immersed into Casey's world.

Thanks to Lily King and Grove Atlantic through Netgalley for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

Let’s just get right to it. I loved Writers & Lovers! It’s my favorite book so far this year and I can say with confidence that Lily King’s novel will be making an appearance on my Best Books of 2020 list. Rather than sum up what this book is about, I’m going to share the many reasons why I liked it so very much.

King’s Storytelling – I’ve seen some call it uneven, but I didn’t see that. From start to finish I was captivated by Casey’s story and fully immersed in Lily King’s gorgeous writing.
Grief – In the story, Casey (already estranged from her father) has recently lost her mother and King’s exploration of her grief resonated throughout the story. She made me ache for Casey’s loss.
“I might still be capable of feeling happy. She will want to know that. But I can’t tell her. That’s the wall I always slam into on a good morning like this. My mother will be worrying about me, and I can’t tell her I’m okay.”

“During the day I miss the novel. I’ve lost access to a world where my mother is a little girl reading in a window or twirling in fast circles on the street, her braids raised high off her back. Outside of that novel she is dead. There seems no end to the procession of things that make my mother feel more dead.”

“I’m in the mood to call my mother, that happy shift in the wind mood. I calculate the time in Phoenix. Nearly noon. Perfect. The bolt retracts, and I remember she died.“

The Writing Process – I enjoyed getting to know a character that had been completely consumed by the creative process for years. To her own financial and personal detriment, Casey could not let go. I also appreciated how self-aware Casey was, constantly questioning herself and where her life was going, yet through it all, she kept at it.
Relationships – In the past, Casey has been involved with men who were never quite right for her. As Writer’s & Lovers unfolds she meets two very different men, both writers like herself, each adding a layer of confusion to her life.
“It’s a particular kind of pleasure, of intimacy, loving a book with someone.”

Cast of Characters – I thoroughly enjoyed the entire group of characters that moved in and out of Casey’s life and I especially enjoyed those at the restaurant where she worked.
The Ending – Casey’s crisis point and its resolution worked for me. I even got a little teary at the end.
From start to finish, I delighted living in Casey’s world, watching the evolution of a young writer on the brink of change. Obviously, I highly recommend Writers & Lovers.

Note: I received a copy of this book from Grove Press (via NetGalley) in exchange for my honest review.

This is a beautiful story about a woman who is dealing with love and grief and the writing life. It is well-written and captivating. Definitely going to be a big book this year because it has broad appeal to anyone who loves a story told with care, but also dealing with important and tough topics. It will be an emotional rollercoaster, but will be worthwhile to ride.

How much of this was autobiographical? I kept wondering that as I was reading the book.

I liked Writers & Lovers, but it did not live up to Euphoria (that would be hard, as it is one of my all time favorite books). This wasn't a book that I couldn't put down, but I overall enjoyed this bildungsroman for struggling writers, and finished it in a few sittings. I think Lily King is a fantastic writer; she seems to have a way of making every word meaningful.

We may read this for book club. I look forward to it, as I think there are many topics that could lead to a lively discussion.

I love a good story that is well told, and this book is both. Casey is a thirty-something,would-be writer, who is working as a waitress trying to pay off student loans and finish her book, after her mom has died. And all this she is keeping just below the boiling point. Enter 2 boyfriends, and it gets even more interesting, but not in a chick lit way. The characters are very well developed and the descriptions are sublime. The pacing was very interesting - just when I thought it was getting a bit complacent, it would ramp up. I also learned quite a bit about how authors perceive other authors writing. Very enjoyable!

Thank you to NetGalley and Grove Atlantic and Grove Press for the ARC to read and review.

The story follows Casey as she wraps up writing her first novel while she attempts to make ends meet working at a prestigious Boston restaurant. Casey is a struggling writer struggling more than just creatively. She is grieving the loss of her mother, trying to put her disappointment in her father behind her, ignoring creditors that have the potential to ruin her life, and, as the story unfolds, trying to choose between two men who have very different things to offer her.

I was anxious to read this one because I am a sucker for a good love triangle and books about writers. There were many parts I could identify with, and I think many others could as well. King describes the struggle of young adulthood well and the ways we try to come to terms with our disappointment at how our lives are actually ending up, while also having pride in our accomplishments. King covers so many topics in concise and insightful ways - grief, loss, heartbreak, rivalry, friendship, sexism. Her characters are interesting, flawed, and likable. Casey makes some poor decisions, but I found myself understanding her motivation and confusion, like I was back in my own waitressing days in LA hoping to catch a break soon. Now that I’ve sat with it for a couple days, I find myself wishing there had been a bit more. I still have some questions and wish the two love interests’ characters had been fleshed out a bit more, especially Oscar’s. Overall, I was captivated from the first few pages. King made me feel a lot of different emotions through these 300ish pages, and I enjoyed all of them.

Beautiful descriptions of details and perfect for writers! Alas, I am not a writer so I struggled a bit with the first half of this book but I do feel like writers would connect more with the main character during this portion and would better understand her struggles. The second half picked up pace and I was able to relate to the main character, Casey, much better. I struggled with my rating on this one. The first half got a 2 and the second half got a 4 so I went with a 3 overall. Read this if you are a writer or if you have ever felt anxious because your life wasn't going the way you wanted it to and you want to feel understood and hopeful.

Thank you to NetGalley & Grove Atlantic for allowing me to read an advance copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

Writers and Lovers
Lily King
⭐️⭐️⭐️
Release date 3-3-20

I had a difficult time getting into the book and connecting with characters for the first half of the book. I wanted to love it and I tried but something was missing for me. There were times when I felt nothing was happening and I couldn’t figure out what the point of the story was. Halfway through I started to feel for Casey in how she was raised and how her childhood shaped her to be. She was a struggling writer, stuck in a dead end job, she was missing her Mom and she struggling with the a bad breakup. I started rooting for Casey and wanted to see which lover she would choose. I’m glad I read it but wished I would of felt more of an attachment to the storyline.

Thank you to NetGalley and Grove Atlantic for providing me with and Advanced Readers’ Copy for an exchange of my honest review.

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I received an electronic advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review. Thanks to Netgalley and Grove Press.

This book feels like the cross over between a romcom and literary fiction. It’s telling the story of Casey, a woman transitioning from her 20s into her 30s while feeling behind and struggling in pretty much all areas of life - her career, her health, her family, her living situation.

The book was a really easy and fast read because it felt very relatable to me and captured the struggles of a, not quite young, adult very well. In my opinion, it did, what the HBO show „Girls“ tried to do but failed. I also liked that none of Casey’s love interests were not primarily there to save the day for her and she herself had a feminist thing or two to say. On top of that, this seems to be one of the few books that actually depict the career of a writer in realistic, not romanticizing light.

The book did read very meta and stream of consciousness like and it wasn’t always clear where the story headed but overall I very much enjoyed reading it.

I found this to be a fascinating book that tells the story of Casey, a 31 year old struggling writer. Actually she is really struggling in all aspects of her life as she wrestles with who she is, what she wants to do with her life and with whom. She has no money, huge debt and has recently lost her mother. She’s feeling quite alone in the world, living in a moldy tiny apartment and waitressing with people she hates. She gets involved with two men, but are either of them right for her ? She is experiencing panic attacks when suddenly the pieces of her life start falling into place. She is easy to relate to because certainly we have all felt lost and panicked as we try to settle into adulthood.

I love words and books. I love books about books and writing.   Also books about relationships filled with raw and real human emotions.   Lily Kings new novel Writers and Lovers had all of these and then some.     Perhaps it was simply perfect timing for me to read this one but the pace and nature of this story felt just right.     I've recently read too many books reminding me about human ugliness in various shapes and sizes, war on a global scale, Colombian drug lords and guerilla warfare, refugees escaping unsafe territory.    By no means though am I suggesting this was fluffy and filled with unrealistally beautiful people.     The characters were believable and it provided what I imagine to be a genuine representation of the life and struggles of an aspiring writer.     I very much enjoyed the change of pace and found it a pleasure to read.

Casey is the protagonist and readers get the sense her life is quietly unravelling.  She's in serious debt, has health concerns but no health insurance, working as a waitress barely covers her rent and she's grieving the sudden loss of her mum earlier that year.
She has dedicated the past six years to penning her first novel but her confidence is flagging.  On the romantic front she hasn't fared much better and we journey with her as she meets and becomes torn between two very different men.   Throughout the book I felt the anxiety mounting and I so wanted the best for our girl Casey so it was lovely to end on a note of hope.

My thanks to this new-to-me author who I'm sure I'll read again, to Grove Atlantic and of course to NetGalley for the opportunity of reading this digital ARC in exchange for an honest review which it was my pleasure to provide.

I really struggled to get through this book. While I appreciate access to the inner life of a character, the internal monologues of the main character felt overdone, distracting, and ultimately aimless. I am usually a fan of literary fiction so I anticipated enjoying this one, but the writing felt too dense and the plot too thin. In spite of exploring themes related to class issues (debt, career change), the author's voice came across as a bit uppity compromising the entire credibility of the narrator. I would recommend this book to fans of Meg Wolitzer and Anne Patchett, who enjoy a character driven novel.

Super excited to see this become a March BOTM pick.

This was a lovely, enjoyable contemporary fiction. Perfect for any woman in her 20s and 30s who feels behind in life. All of Casey's ambition, hopes and dreams become sidelined as she was busy dealing with the difficult parts of life. She's recently lost her mother, and has to deal with the grief of that loss, She's swimming in debt, struggling with becoming a writer, while still working double shifts as a waitress. She is stuck and lost. She must work through everything, including relationships, in order to find a path forward.

I received an advanced copy of this novel through NetGalley for an honest review.

Casey Peabody is a writer. She is an artist through and through. Casey is a compilation of everything she has ever written and ravenously read throughout her young life. At 31 she never expected to feel so lonely, but since her mother tragically passed away this creative soul can no longer feel the words. The last 6 years Casey has spent traveling the world, waiting tables in bougie restaurants and working on her novel. She is exhausted by all the details that once inspired her, including all the men she cannot seem to hang on to. While working at a bistro in Boston Casey crosses paths with a cast of quirky characters that may be just what she is looking for. She must dig deep inside herself to find the answers. Highly recommend this unique, imaginative journey of self discovery that is perfect for any book lover as the eloquent words of author Lily King take you away.

My guess is that this book will have mixed reviews. I think you have to really connect with the characters and the writing style, which unfortunately I didn’t really do until the last 3rd of the book. Up until that point I would have given this book 2 stars. There are several times I wanted to DNF it, but kept going because it was an ARC given to me by the publisher and netgalley (releases 3/3/2020)

I had a really hard time figuring out characters in the beginning. I don’t know if I was distracted or if it was just the writing style. I will be honest and say nothing really happens in this book. It is a story about a young writer whose mother dies and she breaks up with her boyfriend. Then she has two other love interests while she works at a restaurant and writes a book. That’s about it. I’m starting to want to change my rating to 2 stars. I’ll say 2.5 and leave it at 3. Because I do think there will be those who really connect with this book, it just wasn’t me.

It's 1997 and Lily is treading water. Her mom died, she's in $70,000 of debt, she works as a waitress and makes extra by walking her landlord's dog, and she's trying to finish her novel. Oh and she's 31. You might have to resist the impulse to tell her to grow up (I know I did) but this turns into a quite interesting discourse on writers while including a love story of sorts. Should Lily choose Oscar, who has success, money and two quite cute children, or Silas, who has none of that but who seems to relate to her better? There are some lovely phrases here and nice characters but in the end, this felt like a romcom for fans of literary fiction. That's not a bad thing. Thanks to the publisher for the ARC.

This book is rich with emotion and real life issues that a reader can really identify with. The the theme of loss really resonated with me and I could not put the book down because I really wanted to see Casey fulfilled. I can't wait to discuss this book with other readers. I have some stuff to unpack!

Though I have very little in common with the main character, Casey Peabody, I felt like I could relate to her so much. Like most women, our twenties and early thirties can be a time of exploration, discovery, mistakes, and revelations. I loved following Lily through the instability of these years. I found the description of her time waiting tables funny and honest. I didn't care much for her early boyfriends, and found those parts a bit dragging and aimless. But at about the halfway point, both Lily and the book seemed to blossom. She seemed more sure of herself and I started to respect her choices a bit more. Casey is grieving the loss of her mother, but these heavy moments are balanced out well with witty dialogue between Casey and her co-workers and friends. There's so much to love about this book. Pick it up if you want to experience the emotional roller coaster of life as a thirty-something aspiring writer.

This just was not for me. It was too slow and I found the main character to be too depressing. I like a bit of angst in a protagonist but I was getting bogged down in her sadness and struggles. I love the setting in Boston but also find restaurants to be a boring workplace for a book. This is the second one I've read this month that was set in a restaurant and both were a struggle to get through.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book.