Writers & Lovers is a novel that I really thought was going to be a 5 star book for me. It had so many things I love, an exploration of grief and loneliness and identity/feeling loss...I think that the grief aspects of this novel were done so well and I did not have a bad time reading this. There was just something...missing for me. I’m not sure why. It was hard to for me to connect with the narrator even though she had all of the struggles that I usually relate to. However, I did think this was a good novel and I will still recommended it, it’s just not a new favorite like I anticipated.

I wanted to like this book more than I did. It was my first experience with Lily King, not yet having read Euphoria, and perhaps my expectations were too high after seeing it on so many folks' best of the year lists.

It was reminiscent of the experience I've had reading authors like Stephanie Danler. The prose is beautiful, and there were several lines I mentally underlined that felt like they completely nailed it in terms of both specificity and universality, but it also felt very meandering in the way that I wasn't fully sure what the central driving plot line was until about halfway through.

It's an extremely interior novel, and there is a humming anxiety that builds and builds as one blow after another comes the main character, Casey's, way - yet there also is a distinct sense of distance and detachment built into the narrative. I found myself wholly engrossed in exceedingly particular scenes and moments, but never fully immersed in her world.

Casey, a 31-year-old woman wants to become a writer. But when she sees her MFA friends who have moved on and settled with law or engineering schools ,she gets anxious. Casey is struggling to write a novel from past 6 years, grieving the loss of her mother, has over $70,000 in student loans, works as a waitress and lives in a rented, mold smelling shed. She is having a rocky romantic life. Ok, Casey is a mess.

Yet, Casey is a very likable character. She gets anxious about her decision of writing a novel, but still wants to do it. As a reader we watch Casey go through her life , her interactions with different people and situations. Lily King has created a very nice atmosphere in the book which just rang true in so many ways.

This was a wonderful, witty and heartfelt novel.


Thank you NetGalley for the ARC in exchange of a Honest Review.

In this novel, Lily King manages to capture the liminal space so many of us occupy as we balance what we love with what we feel we should love. What I enjoyed about this novel is the decision King made to center Casey's career struggles rather than her romances with not one, but two (!) men. As she mourns her mother and ruthlessly commits to a writing schedule many of us can only dream of with envy, Casey falls for a fellow would-be writer who is her same age, and whose apartment smells a little like socks. She also finds herself entangled with an older, semi-famous author who is a widower with two young children. Standing on the cusp of her thirties, she chews on the advice of her friend: "It's always a choice between firework and coffee in bed." In the end, wonderfully, she realizes that she actually needs to make a very different choice: what's best for her? Who sees her for the person she truly is? Who motivates and believes in her? I won't tell you the answer, but the ending is a beautiful portrait of a young woman leaning into the person she wants to become.

An excellent story of adulthood and following your dreams, however expensive they may turnout. It's a perfect read I think for those who love a good campus novel.

This book is for any writer who wants to be reminded of the sanctity of literary purpose. I am moved and gripped by the tenacity of the leading character to do the work amidst great obstacles. One line especially sweeps me up into her contemplative state, when Casey thinks, "I don't write because I think I have something to say. I write because if I don't, everything feels even worse."

I really slept on this one and regret not getting to it sooner. Casey is going through IT: her mom recently and suddenly died, she's reeling from a shitty situationship, she's broke and in debt, and she's been working on the same book for 6 years. The grief and pain here - and the struggle to know what to do with it, how to get through it, how to move forward, how to still be a person in the world - is a low thrum that carries you into and through every page.

There were moments that were heartbreaking and so many passages that just seemed to cut right through all the bullshit with carefully phrased truth in observation. I'm not sure why, but a part of me thought this was going to be something pretentious and eyeroll-worthy. Instead it's a meditation on grief and strength and dreams and figuring out what you want and what you need and growing up in your 30s. It was beautiful and I'm glad I experienced it.

A book about a struggling writer and her seemingly crumbling life - what's not to like? Lilly King's protagonist Casey is a down on luck creative writing major with a book she's been working on for six years, amid punishingly backbreaking shifts at a restaurant to repay her student loans and other fast mounting bills while living in a potting shed cum garage of her brother's friend. She also lost her mother and is on a downward spiral in terms of her health. After giving Casey so much to worry about, King also throws a lifeline or two in the form of love interests - one a middle-aged widowed author with two adorable children and the other a charming middle school teacher. Between balancing her love interests, struggling to finish her novel and coping with her anxiety issues, can Casey find herself? I have not been invested in a book like this in a long time and Writers & Lovers was an absolute joy to read as King helps the readers navigate through the trials and tribulations of a struggling artist that makes you ache and delight in equal measure. Brilliant book.

I am a member of the American Library Association Reading List Award Committee. This title was suggested for the 2021 list. It was not nominated for the award. The complete list of winners and shortlisted titles is at <a href="https://rusaupdate.org/2021/02/2021-reading-list-years-best-in-genre-fiction-for-adult-readers/">

Writers & Lovers is a story about heartbreak and doing what you love, no matter how hard it may be. Like becoming a published author. Casey is down on her luck for most of this novel which was kind of a downer to be quite honest. I felt for her and was rooting for her happiness and success the whole time. I'll be honest, it took me a while to get into the writing style and ultimately the storyline in this book so the first half was slow-going for me. The last half I flew through though! It definitely picked up and by the end my heart was so so happy!

That's a sign of good writing, when the reader gets so invested in the characters and the story and then feels pure elation for the main character when something finally goes right. I love that. So while the beginning may be slow, I recommend sticking with it. You will not be disappointed!

This book....this book. Where to begin. I have been an avid fan of Lily King since reading her novel Euphoria but this book, dare I say, surpasses all her others. Her prose is eloquent, subtle, and devastating. Casey, a 31 yeah old writer, has recently lost her mother. Through her grief she grapples with her own self identity. Yes, she has two romantic encounters and this is what many reviews will focus on, but the heart of this book asks, what does it mean to be a woman alone in the world?

This is a beautifully written, lyrical coming of age novel about a woman struggling- struggling for love, struggling for purpose and struggling for success. King does an admirable job with an intimate portrayal of the protagonist Casey, who we root for while recognizing her flaws. I'm not sure I loved this book, for no reason other than there wasn't enough "action" for me, but I fully recognize how successfully King was able to emotionally engage me... and the ending is perfection. 4.5 stars rounded up to 5.

A lovely and engaging story. I was captivated by its heroine, and couldn't wait to see how her story would evolve and resolve. Definitely recommended.

Serious literary fiction should invoke deep thought, consideration of one's own circumstances and possibly foster change to those circumstances. It comes at the right time, with the right message. For this reader, perhaps this wasn’t the right time.

Casey, a current waitress, former budding junior golf star, and hopeful writer is struggling in most areas of life. Her mother has died, her income barely covers her rent, much less her student debt, she suffers under the illusion of becoming a writer, and has now gotten mixed up with not one but two men.

The weight of all these concerns is overwhelming, and her level of daily function is minimal. Even with all these issues, and the innate desire to like protagonists, Casey isn’t particularly relatable or likeable. She’s neutral. At 31, she still seems young, impressionable and lacking in self preservation skills. This coming of age novel is a bit slow, and compounded with a main character short on appeal, didn’t deliver much impact.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for providing the ARC and the opportunity to review.

I found myself recommending this one many times over the course of the summer and fall. Included it in my Best Books of 2020, the annual post of my favourite reads. The full Instagram post with book covers gallery is at the link.

I *love* it when writers write books about writers and writing (ha!) so this was extremely my type of book. At its core, this book was very sad -- but it was also extremely hopeful.

I would like to thank Grove Atlantic for providing a copy of this novel via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I previously read and loved Lily King's novel, Euphoria. Writers & Lovers was a pleasure to read from beginning to end. It is a quick read and Lily King's prose is beautiful and keeps the reader engaged throughout. She brilliantly captures an important period in a writer's life. We meet Casey who is a struggling writer in her early 30's who has come to Massachusetts after the passing of her mother. With this story, Lily King captures that feeling of returning to a place you grew up in. She navigates the struggles and sacrifices of a writer trying to get her first book published. This story really speaks to anyone in the arts and even anyone who has a goal in life that seems unattainable at times. Lily King does an excellent job of explaining the motivation of writers everywhere and why literature is so important. There was one particular conversation towards the end of the book about what people should take with them from reading that really resonated with me. I highly recommend this novel .

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for ARC. A quiet but moving story about a young woman in transition from heartbreaks both big and small as she finishes writing her first novel and meanders through life’s challenges. While she was 31, in many ways this was a wonderful coming of age story.

While I wasn't all that find of Casey, I going be lot to hold Pinterest in this book. The passages about the writing process were well written and true to life. An interesting read for me.

I am intrigued about the creative experience and the life of writers. This book has given me some insight into the struggles and possible successes of a creative path. I was also interested in how Casey, the main character handled her ever changing grief around the death of her mother and her feelings about her father objectifying women and Casey too. I found the first half of the book difficult to follow but very much enjoyed the second half.