A tight, riveting and intimate drama of a woman struggling with the debt, sex and the death of her mother.

SUMMARY
Casey Peabody gets up early every morning to work on her novel, while trying not to think about her huge college loan debt, sex, or her mother’s death while vacationing in Chile last winter. Casey lives in Boston in an old potting shed that smells of mold and decaying leaves. She get a discount on her rent by walking her landlord’s dog. She’s thirty-one and rides an old banana bike she found at the dump, across the Charles River every day to work as a waitress at a restaurant near Harvard Square.

One evening, while attending a literary event she meets the handsome Silas, who she finds kind and interesting. Weeks later, Oscar, who is an established author and had recently lost his wife, walks into her restaurant with his two young sons in tow. Cassie instantly falls in love with the boys and promises to play miniature golf with them soon. Cassie soon finds herself torn between these two different men and two different futures.

REVIEW
WRITERS & LOVERS is a dramatic, moving, and clever chronicle of a woman moving into full adulthood. Thirty-one-year-old Casey is depressed and devastated by her mother’s sudden death, and the end of a romantic relationship.

Author Lily King has brilliantly captured the wretched and desolate thoughts and feelings a daughter experiences following the death of a mother. Not only does King tell us about how Casey and her mom would spend hours talking on the phone, and how Casey wants to call mom to tell her about these men, only to remember she is no longer here.

I adored how King continues with the mother theme as Casey begins reading stories in the biography section of the public library about famous writers and their dead mothers. Among other she shares, that George Eliot’s mother died of breast cancer, to Edith Wharton mother who refused to let Edith read novels until after her marriage.

Despite her grief, Casey refuses to give up on her dream of becoming a author. King effortlessly blends Casey’s financial strain, her love life, her waitressing gig and her six year attempt at writing a novel and takes her to the brink of disaster. You’ll want keep your head in the book to see what happens next.

Casey’s character development was delightful. You can’t help but feel her vulnerability, her pain and her desolation, as well as her courage and strength to never give up on her dream.

Despite the novel’s dramatic tone, it is chocked full of clever and witty quips. One of my favorite’s was Casey’s discussion of authors book cover photos. She shows Silas how male author photo’s alway look so menacing in a ‘I might have to murder you if you don’t read this’ way. Conversely, she shows him how women author photos are pleasing, pleading and even apologetic.

From the squawking Canadian geese at the river to the writers workshop with the blue giraffe, King has written a tight and delightful emotional roller coaster of a read that is not soon forgotten.

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. I read her novel Euphoria (2014) and loved it.

Thanks to Netgalley and Grove Atlantic for an advance reading copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Publisher Grove Atlantic
Published March 3, 2020
Review www.bluestockingreviews.com

A little slow to start but I really enjoyed the "meta"-ness of this book and often wondered how Casey and the author were similar or different in their writing experiences. And I am so glad it had a happy ending; the reader is left feeling hopeful about the future.

I'm not a writer or remotely creative person, so Casey wasn't an especially relatable character in that way. However, I think that many contemporary readers will identify with the internal conflicts she feels. At what point "should" you give up on your dream pursuits and forge forward into a "productive" life? How do you cope with losing your mother without an extensive support system? etc. I enjoyed the writing and the author made me feel like I was right there in 90s New England with the characters.

I'll admit that I went into Writers and Lovers, by Lily King expecting a fluffy, mind-numbing, romantic comedy style book. I was wrong as it was a pleasantly surprising and insightful book.
Casey Peabody is a tormented and aspiring writer who is six years into writing her novel. She is at a crossroads in her life that has stalled her progress professionally and personally. In the span of a few months, everything Casey has ever wanted in her life, all of her deepest desires and fears she never realized she had, are all given to her. The problem is that they are not wrapped up in a nice neat package, they are a hot mess of disarray, and Casey needs to figure out how to put them in order so that she can live her best life.
This novel is set in the late 1990s, which I love because it shows how people struggled with communication before we lived with emails and text messages in our pockets. Answering machines, letters in the mail, notes taken down on post-its for later. It truly was a little simpler without the technology to keep us connected, as it gave people time to think through responses and feelings because it took longer to get back in touch.
The insight into people is my favorite part of this book. Lily King wrote a book about the mess that is being an adult. She wrote about the insecurities of being a woman, of being a writer, of being a human. And it was beautiful to watch Casey's story as she sorts herself out and figures out what her best life looks like.

I am going to make a bold statement, and say Lily King is just not the author for me. I so want to love her, but it is unfortunate that I just cannot.

Casey is lost in this world. She is in her early 30’s, her mother has recently died, she is estranged from her father and her brother lives on the other coast. Casey has a great education and strives to be a published author. She is also in massive debt, trying to make ends meet to pay her enormous student loans.

Let me be very clear, the writing is brilliant. I personally could not get past that were zero chapter markings. King really does divide the book into Writers & Lovers. When I was reading about the artist, I could absolutely not put it down. Intertwined are the many lovers of Casey, and I found myself just not caring.

This is a book that does get stronger as you read and you get more invested in Casey, however it just does not hold up in the end for me. Sadly, I believe I will be in the minority here, but I will say that I am learning that not every book is for everybody.

Thank you NetGalley and Grove Press for an Advanced Reader’s Copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

"It's like when you go into a dressing room with a three-paneled mirror and you line them up just right to see the long narrowing hallway of yourselves diminishing into infinity. It feels like that, like I'm sad for an infinity number of selves."

3.5 stars rounding up. I've got an internal battle going on in my head right now about this book because some aspects are very good and other aspects are very mediocre. Writers & Lovers is one of those books that I could never convince someone else to read based on a plot synopsis alone because the story-line is very sleepy. Our heroine of sorts is Casey, a 31-year-old aspiring novelist who works as a waitress in Boston. Former golf prodigy and present owner of mounds of student debt, Casey is trying to figure out what she wants to do when she grows up while kinda-sorta dating two different gentlemen - neither one of which seems quite right for her, but neither one is quite wrong, either. Her mother's untimely death, her father's overall ickiness, and observing her friends' literary successes as she's still struggling to write her first novel also contribute to her life as it stands in 1997, when this novel takes place.

Although the plot isn't riveting nor action packed, it is very real. Casey is an extremely relatable protagonist. I could see a piece of myself in her, and I think that's what King was going for when she fabricated this character. While Casey is meandering along in all aspects of her life - career, money, love, friendships, and family - she reminds the reader how easy it is to let one (or more) facets of your life fall to the wayside. Adulting is hard, and it's even harder when it feels like all of your peers have it figured out while you're still floundering. Even though I appreciate that King created a real-person-type character in Casey, it did make the plot very slow moving and boring at times. I read books to escape from reality, not to submerse myself in it further.

King's way with words is absolutely exquisite. I was reminded of Lorrie Moore's or Donna Tart's prose - none of these authors require flashly plots to write a good book. I found myself highlighting passage after passage to squirrel away and save for later literary enjoyment.

"A lot of studies say that despite all our fears in this country - death, war, guns, illness - our biggest fear is public speaking... And when people are asked to identify which kind of public speaking they are most afraid of, they check the improvisation box. So improvisation is the number-one fear in America. Forget nuclear winter or an eight point nine earthquake or another Hitler. It's improv. which is funny, because aren't we just improvising all day long? Isn't our whole lief just one long improvisation? What are we so scared of?"

My biggest gripe with this book is the ending. It's always such a disappointment to me when an otherwise good book gets ruined in the final pages. Casey led such a tangled, complicated, and messy existence in the vast majority of this book that it was a complete mismatch in literary styling when she was given her perfectly wrapped up rom-com ending in the final ~20 pages. For her to pick the "right" guy, land her dream job, sell her novel, and make bucketloads of money all within a few days time was unrealistic and wholly unexpected. King needs to watch more gymnastics so she can figure out how to nail that landing. Plus, gymnastics is just plan pretty to watch. We should all watch more gymnastics.

Casey Peabody has always wanted to be a writer. At 31, she finds herself waiting tables, living in a run-down garage and with several debt collectors on her heels. For six years she has worked on her novel but somehow it does not work out, too high the pressure from real life. When her mother died a couple of months before, she not only lost her confidant, but constantly feels the big hole this loss left behind in her. Then she meets Oscar, a successful writer and widowed father of two, who seems to be the way out of her misery: a lovely home, stable relationship, two adorable boys, a life without worries. But it does not feel right, especially since there is Silas, too, quite the opposite of Oscar. When Casey is fired from the restaurant and her landlord tells her that the house is to be sold, the anxiety that has accompanied her for years becomes unbearable.

Raise your hand is you never dreamt of writing a novel. Isn’t that what we as avid readers long for? To intrigue others with what is lurking within ourselves and, of course, to be praised and complimented for our artistic capacities. Well, that’s just one side of being a writer, many more authors will actually have to face a life just like Casey: never to know if you can make the ends meet, frustrated because the writing does not move on, the words do not come, taking on any job just to survive and organising the writing around working hours. Lily King has painted quite a realistic picture of a novelist’s situation in “Writers & Lovers”. Yet, that’s by far not all the novel has to offer.

Her protagonist belongs to the generation who struggles to grow-up. They have been promised so much, they were full of energy in their twenties, but now, hitting 30, they have to make a decision: giving up their dreams for a conservative and boring but secure life just like the one their parents lead or going on with a precarious living that feels totally inadequate. No matter how they decide, it could be the wrong choice and the fear of not picking the right thing paralyses them, an overwhelming anxiety takes over control making them incapable of moving on or doing anything at all. They are stuck in a never-ending rat race which covers all areas of their life. Casey is the perfect example of her generation, highly educated, intelligent, good at dealing with people but nevertheless full of doubts about herself and frustrated by the constant setbacks.

I totally adored the novel, it is somehow a coming-of-age at a later age novel. The characters are authentically represented, the emotional states are wonderfully conveyed and thus easy to follow. Even though there is quite some melancholy in it, I did not feel saddened since it also provides a lot of hope just never to give up since all could turn out well in the end.

Very emotional coming of age story. Raw feelings for a woman to have lost her mother as a young adult now struggling with love, writing and her student loans. Very well written.

I asked to read this book as my friend told me about it and what she reads I read but I am not always sure if I like it, because our tast is not the same.
I shouldn't have worried- this is a *beautifully* crafted book in so many ways and the writing all serves a function. It's not sunshine and rainbows, though- it's about one young woman's recovery from a significant loss (her mother, still young) and how she learns to navigate the world again without that emotional anchor in her life. At times, Casey's journey can be difficult, but then the author will shift the narrative and bring so much light to the story that it shifts everything.

The most beautifully written scenes are when Casey interacts with two young boys she comes into contact with as the novel progresses (trying not to spoil anything)- I don't think I have read such honest, thoughtful, true-to-life writing about how children think and act and "bounce off" adults as these passages. I was so impressed by that- usually authors either infantilize children or make them so precious and fake that my teeth hurt just reading about them. Casey feels real, the kids feel real, their interaction made my heart break open in the best way.

I wish to thank NetGalley and the publishers Grove Atlantic and Grove Press for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this book. I have voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

The story line is about a struggling writer trying to get her book published. It is one that has been written many times so it is not unique. Lily King introduces us to Casey who works in a restaurant and is overhead in debt. Her apartment is tiny, smelly and very basic. She dreams of publishing her novel. Lily King introduces us to all of Casey’s friends and develops a story that keeps you reading and wanting more. The story parallels many of the hardships we all have in life and how we overcome them.

This author was not one I was familiar with prior to reading this story. While I did not love the book, I did enjoy it but found the story just too predictable.

I was not a fan of Euphoria, but I think it's good to revisit authors. The premise of this one sounded good enough to give Lily King another shot and I'm glad I did.

Casey is a holdout who has dreamed and worked hard to be a writer even as all her other aspiring author friends (save one) have left that dream behind. Now 31, she's in the midst of a crisis: she is grieving the sudden death of her mother, lives in a crappy shed, works a low-paying job and is severely in debt, recently got dumped, and can't finish her novel. Then two men come into her life and she's now got the added stress of a love triangle.

The fact that Casey, the main character, is a writer and lives in the Boston/Cambridge area resonated with me, a would-be writer living in Cambridge. I pass the same streets she did on her way to work and so I could picture exactly where she was as she rode her bike through the cities. This story is kind of quiet, yet compelling, and the details of Casey's experiences felt deeply personal, especially as the stressors in her life increasingly weigh on her.

Even as the pressure on Casey mounts, this book never got too, too heavy and I was thankful for the hopefulness in the story.

Wow. I was completely blown away by this book. The austerity of the writing makes it feel raw and real and just breathtaking; I think when you get the flowery adjectives out of the way and just let the story flow, you end up with something so close to the real human experience, so vulnerable and so resonant that it will stay with you always.

So anyway, by way of Synopsis; Casey’s life is a tangle of anxiety, debt and grief. She’s lost her mother, she’s been ghosted by her boyfriend, she’s being chased by debt collectors and she’s working a dead end job while she writes on the side. She’s not exactly living her best life and yet...
I love Casey’s resilience, I love that the entire story is subtly overtoned with a love of books and writing and writers and I love that in the darkest parts of this story, there’s no shying away from the ugly stuff. Life is hard! And the more we pretend it’s not the more people feel marginalised when their entire life doesn’t look like an Instagram feed. That’s just my rant though.... this story so incredibly captures the human experience in all its imperfect glory.

A gorgeous read that I want on my shelf. Highly highly recommended it.

Thank you to Grove Atlantic and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

It took me a while to warm to Casey, the protagonist of this book, but once I did, the author's writing wrapped me up like a warm quilt on a winter's day, and ending the book felt like leaving a friend behind. The beginning of the story seems disjointed and chaotic, until you slowly realize this is a true reflection of Casey's life and thoughts, and her struggle to get through each single day. Despite the bleakness, there is lots of humor in this book, a couple of adorable little boys, and great conversations about books, words, the writing process, and emotions.

Highly recommended!

I fell for this girl, Casie, from the start, she is the writer and lover. Casie is wound up from the start, after making a big move across the country she feels like a failure; failing at writing, failing at love and even failing at her part time serving job at a restaurant called Iris. Lily King writes this story with passion, compassion, raw wit almost as if she is Casie. The story is wonderful, the writing so good and this book will wrap you up and keep you happy until the last page. Thank you #NetGalley #GrovePress #LilyKing

"Writers and Lovers" has its title in the right order: the book is primarily about the craft of writing. The torment of writing; the delight of writing. The aversion to writing; the all-consuming desire to write. The guilt of not having written, the need for discipline in order to keep writing. The abrupt departure of the muse. It’s only fitting that the novel is well written. Some sentences are so finely crafted that they hit the reader like a bolt from the blue.

Young Casey is working as restaurant wait staff in Boston, dealing with bereavement, post-traumatic stress, health scares, heartbreak, and debt. Debt—from student loans, of course—may be causing Casey the most anxiety of all; she calls it her “looming blank specter.” An unfinished novel, six years in progress, is calling to Casey over the din of angry diners and debt collectors. She’s clinging to the impractical dream of life as an artist and always wants to call her mother, forgetting that her mother died months ago. As the novel progresses, she’s torn between two different men, both of whom are also writers.

Readers will root for Casey to reach the next stage of her life, with good career, stable finances, good health, a healthy relationship, or, at the very least, a good, published, profitable novel.

I received an advanced readers copy of this book from the publisher and was encouraged to submit an honest review.

Publish date 3 March

This book follows Casey and her current stagnant life which although she is discouraged she is also determined to to commit to becoming a writer and having the creative live she always wanted.

As someone who considers themselves a creative person I thoroughly enjoyed this book and Casey's fight for her right to a creative life. I like that all though her life is pretty much at rock bottom she still finds a reason to dig herself out if the rut and carry on.

I was really fond on Casey's growth through the book starting of as what seemed like quite a reckless person or atleast making some reckless choices to becoming more grown up and yet still not compromising on the things that truly matter.

I enjoyed one of the romances in this but did not like the supposed good choice guy at all for her. I also really liked the family relationships in it. With the delving into her past relationships with her parents and then also her relationship with her brother.

Overall it was a very enjoyable book and I am interested to read more by lily king.

Thanks to netgalley for sending me an arc of this book in exchange for an honest review

I was so excited to receive this eARC from NetGalley, and the publisher, Grove Atlantic, because I was enthralled with the previous books that Lily King has written. I thoroughly enjoyed her latest novel as well, although this story about a young woman (31) grappling with grief after losing her mother unexpectedly and trying to figure out her life, is quite different from her bestseller, ‘Euphoria.’ I imagine that will come up in lots of reviews once this book is published.

I really liked the quirky yet lovable protagonist, Casey, and was totally engrossed in her journey from the beginning. Set in the Boston area, she is currently trying to finish a novel that’s been in the works for several years and supports herself by working as a waitress in a high-end restaurant for as many lunch and dinner shifts as she can (so she can write in the mornings and also manage to live plus pay off student debts.) Her experiences at the restaurant, details about her camaraderie with co-workers, as well as vignettes of some of the patrons, are realistic and often humorous, though certainly not a sugar-coated portrayal of restaurant work

Deep in debt and living cheap in the potting shed outside the home of a friend of her brothers’, Casey is having a tough time with life. I enjoyed how the details of her past adventures and lovers, and also with her childhood and memories of her mother, were revealed little-by-little, interspersed with the events of her current life. It was as if a photograph of the character became clearer and sharper-edged, more real the longer it developed.

I was intrigued by Casey’s relationships with lovers and friends (many of whom are writers, some no longer writing, having sold out their writerly dreams) as well as certain, interesting day-to-day choices that are ultimately revealed as connected to her past as much as her present state of mind.

Coming to terms with grief is not easy, especially when you must ‘keep it together’ to survive and your support system is a bit paltry. Add to that an existential crisis regarding your loftiest artistic dreams and recent devastating heartbreaks in love, and life can be tough to handle. I admired that Casey persevered, through panic attacks and misunderstandings (and two potential, almost accidental, love interests, not counting a couple of adorable children.)

I did not expect the ending, though. Some might say it was too pat, but I, for one, rooting for Casey throughout, even when she made some rather odd decisions, was exhilarated and uplifted. No spoilers, but I was glad that something, at least, went right for our heroine. I highly recommend this novel and can’t wait to see what Lily King comes up with next.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Grove Atlantic for the opportunity to read this in advance of publication.

This book is full of life. The character development makes me feel like I'm leaving a good friend as a finish the last page. While I don't have personal experiences that match Casey's, the writing made me feel as though I have a good understanding of what she is facing. Definitely won't be for everyone, but I loved it!

It's not just about "that".

It's about everything........

Lily King presents the character of Casey Camila Peabody in hues of bright colors that have faded over time. Casey is the product of faulty decisions of her own making aligned with those of the people residing within her circle of family, friend and foe. She's adrift in a sea of could haves, should haves, and never haves.

It's 1997 in Boston and 31 year old Casey peddles her banana bike that creaks to the rhythm of things gone to rust and decay. Loaded down with student debt, Casey takes to waiting tables at the upscale Iris diningroom located on the Harvard campus. We'll meet her bevy of peculiar co-workers and an intolerant manager. Pressed uniforms are hard to come by when you're living in someone's renovated pottery shed turned into questionable living quarters. Casey always seems to be one step ahead of life's Black Hole.

King has a way with off-the-beaten-path characters as we've seen in Euphoria (My favorite). As the story unfolds, we'll view Casey in terms of her heavy past, her complicated present, and the agony of a dimly lit future. She shelves the profound impact of her mother's recent untimely death. But the flashbacks visit her often and relentlessly. When you don't deal, life deals the hand for you. That's what makes Casey's character so relatable. She longs for stability in a vastly unstable world.

But what is at the core of Writers & Lovers is Casey's beloved novel that she's been lugging around for six years. She writes in spurts and often has nothing but fruitless days. She travels back and forth between unproductive and hardly productive. But because of Lily King's superb writing we'll witness glimpses of Casey's "becoming"........slow and steady and knotted here and there. Bravo, Lily King for giving us a front row seat.

I received a copy of this novel through NetGalley for an honest review. My thanks to Grove Press and to the talented Lily King for the opportunity.

“Writers & Lovers” by Lily King is a thoroughly enjoyable and well-written book, with relatable characters that will stay with me long after I finished the last page. It is the story of Casey, a struggling novelist who is working as a waitress to make ends meet, while also trying to come to terms with the sudden death of her mother. From the very first page, I was invested in Casey’s story and I read this short book very quickly because I could not put it down. I enjoyed reading about Casey’s romantic involvements-they were just so realistic. “Writers & Lovers” is the coming-of-age-story of a woman in her early thirties and it will resonate with many readers of that same age group. The writing is just beautiful and this book explores so many different emotions. It is a must-read for 2020.

Thank you so much to NetGalley, Grove Press, and Lily King for the privilege of reading an advanced digital copy of this fabulous book. I will definitely be recommending it.