Member Reviews
**Many thanks to NetGalley, Atria, and Lia Louis for a ARC in exchange for an honest review!**
“Music acts like a magic key, to which the most tightly closed heart opens.” ― Maria Augusta von Trapp
Just when Natalie thought she had everything figured out-perfect husband, perfect new 'make-it-our-own' cottage to share with said husband, and a dream partner and friend to co-write a splashy and magnificent musical---fate intervened. Her husband Russ ends up passing away after a tragic accident. Feeling broken, Natalie struggles to find her way in the life 'after' Russ, and her passion for music encourages her to 'play on'-but in a very specific way. Every day she visits a Tube station stop where a community piano sits and she plays for the people walking by. Aside from a few new friends at the coffee shop in the train station, this is Natalie's only true connection to the outside world.
It's been two years since Russ' passing, but Natalie isn't quite sure how to move on. When she sits down at the piano one day, however, she finds a surprise: someone has left her sheet music...incredibly SPECIFIC sheet music. Music that connects her to her lost love. At first she assumes Russ coordinated this with friends while he was in the hospital, prior to his passing, but she has a sneaking suspicion that someone else is involved. Is there more to the quiet and handsome 'notebook guy' Natalie knows from the coffee shop than meets the eye? Can her handsome new photographer friend Tom help her get to the bottom of the mystery? Or is it truly RUSS at the bottom of this magical mystery?
I've been itching to try a Lia Louis book for a while now, and as a hardcore music fan, I figured this was right up my alley. This had shades of a P.S. I Love You type plot towards the beginning (heck, it's even one of Natalie's first theories) but this story had a much different feel to it. While Louis spends a lot of time exploring grief as a concept through the eyes of Natalie and the friends trying to help her, I don't know as though I connected with the way she presented it overall.
I was glad to see Natalie perk up and get close to Tom and 'notebook guy' (as well as coffee shop owner Shauna, to an extent) but I also felt the narrative dragged on a bit at times. I would have liked a little bit more outright humor to balance the sad subjects, and some of the jokes in this one didn't really land with me. Even the little nicknames characters had for one another just seemed a bit off to me...again, nothing exactly WRONG with them or off-putting, I just didn't find it as charming as I hoped I would.
While I didn't dread picking this up, I never truly looked forward to it either and I'm not sure why. I think in some ways I fell in love with the premise more than the story itself, although there were some lovely moments and I consider myself a Lia Louis fan after reading. I think I was searching for a bit more whimsy to balance out the heavy but also perhaps a bit more of Natalie's inner reflections rather than her processing grief through the others in her life. I thought this would be more of a journey of inner transformation and I think instead it was more a journey of outward connection (which is completely valuable in its own way too and certainly makes sense for romance!)
While this book was a bit of a mixed bag for me, I'd like to look at it as 'that one track I'll probably always skip' from a favorite band's album. And of course THAT means I will still be eagerly snapping up Louis' next on record release day!
3.5 stars, rounded down from 4
I enjoyed Lia Louis previous book Dear Emmie Blue, so I was excited to read The Key to My Heart.
Natalie has everything she ever wanted until her husband suddenly dies. Now she is just plodding along in life. It's been over two years since he died but she just cannot shake the grief and move on. Even her beloved music isn't bringing her the same joy.
Natalie will only play the piano at the train station where she is basically anonymous. She stops there after her frequent visits to her husbands grave. When some mystery person starts to leave sheet music in the piano bench she is intrigued. The music is all relevant to Natalie's life.
I loved the characters and the correlation between music and feelings and memories. Music is an emotional thing to me and I loved that it was to Natalie too.
This book is sad, happy, uplifting, sweet and mysterious. I will be on the lookout for more books by Louis.
Thanks to netgalley and Atria Books for the arc.
Natalie is a widow who is trying to find her life again post loss. She works and barely handles her friends, but she is far from living a fulfilling life. But when someone begins to mysteriously leave the sheet music for her husband’s favorite songs at the station’s piano, Natalie begins to feel a sense of hope and excitement for the first time. As she investigates just who could be doing this, Natalie finds herself on an unexpected journey toward newfound love for herself, for life, and maybe, for a special someone.
This book was so heartbreaking and simultaneously heartwarming. we see progression of Natalie come back to life as she finds new purpose and friendships. I do have to admit, it took me a while to get invested. I found myself skimming and it took me a while longer to read than normal, but the last third of the book was so beautiful and made it all worth it! I loved the love triangle, and the little webs of connections were so satisfying. Overall this was a very enjoyable book.
Thanks to the publisher for the ARC in return for an honest review.
When I first met Natalie, she was still in the throes of grief. Here she was, a young window reeling from the untimely death of the man she thought would be her forever. My heart ached for her. There was this pressure, from those who loved her, to move on, but she couldn’t. Instead, she pushed people away and abandoned all things she enjoyed.
Gosh, this was such a wonderful story! The plot was a good one, trying to figure out who was leaving the sheet music for Natalie, but the best thing about this story were the characters Louis created to be a part of Natalie’s healing journey. Shauna, Tom, Notebook guy, her sister, and college friends all formed a fantastic support group for Natalie even if she wasn’t always ready for what they had planned for her.
Lia Louis knows how to tug at my heartstrings! Packed with humor, warmth, and emotion, I absolutely loved taking this healing journey with Natalie. Losing her husband so tragically resulted in Natalie losing pieces of herself. By rekindling her love for music in a different way, she was able to heal and open her heart to new people, experiences, and possibilities. Overall, this was a perfect and beautifully told story.
Since I read and loved Dear Emmie Blue by Lia Louis, I have always looked forward to her next book! The Key to My Heart was a slow start for me, and I was worried that I might be disappointed with it. I was almost halfway through the book before I really felt connected with it. But then I loved the last half and stayed up way too late to finish it!
It's about Natalie, who is mourning the death of her beloved husband. She is a pianist who regularly plays at a train station and begins to find sheet music, featuring songs that were meaningful to her and her husband, sitting in the piano bench. While trying to figure out who is leaving the music for her, Natalie meets two men who help her realize that maybe she can still find life and love after loss.
This is a sweet and clean romance that I think will be enjoyed by many! I don't know if the slow start was due to the book or just my mood at the time. But once it hooked me, I really couldn't stop reading. The characters are fun and interesting, and it's an uplifting story though it deals with heavy topics like grief.
Also, Thomas Button is the best!!
Thanks to Atria Books and Netgalley for sending me an advance copy in exchange for my honest reivew. This book will be available on December 6!
Book Review
The Key to My Heart by Lia Louis
*previous book Eight Perfect Hours and Dear Emmie Blue
Triggers
Grief, loss
Thoughts
Takes you on Natalie’s journey of self discovery while she continues to grieve the loss of her husband. Begs the question, who are we without our spouses? How does an interdependent relationship affect our sense of selves? Can you lose yourself in someone else?
Nat struggles to put a name on her feelings, to voice her wants, prioritize herself , to reject the guilt associated with loss ….. these are all themes that truly resonated with me. I immediately became emotionally invested in her journey for inner peace. I wanted her to finally feel content with herself and her choices. If Natalie can calm her inner critic…. Maybe I can silence mine too.
I also really loved the connection portrayed between music and memory.
So many moments in my Past are connected to a song…. The feelings I had when I heard it…. This aspect of the book was in perfect harmony with Natalie’s narrative.
Overall
An emotional and uplifting read- full of hope and promise.
Thank you to @atriabooks and @netgalley for my gifted copy In return for an honest review. Opinions expressed are my own.
Ever since reading Dear Emmie Blue, I am an absolute fan girl for Lia Louis' books. They always pull on my heartstrings and leave me smiling and swooning like a loon by the end. The Key to My Heart is no exception to this rule. I enjoyed it from start to finish.
Natalie is still mourning the loss of her husband when we meet her. She's occasionally playing the piano in the train station on her way to visit his gravesite twice a week. Out of the blue, she starts finding sheet music for songs that were meaningful to her and her husband. In the process of trying to solve the mystery, she starts to forge connections with new friends and build new relationships in a way that helps her begin to move forward.
The mystery of who is leaving the sheet music for Natalie pulled me in but once I was enmeshed in the story, that element faded quickly to the background as my heart broke for Natalie working through her very complicated grief and trying to move forward in a way that felt authentic to her. I absolutely loved Natalie's friendship with Tom as it evolved. Every little inside joke, time spent together doing nothing, and every time he made her laugh, butterflies just erupted. I wish they both would have seen it a little sooner, but Lia Louis is certainly a fan of the last-minute reveal.
Content warnings: an exploration of grief; descriptions of death by motorbike accident; descriptions of death by surfing accident; infidelity experienced by a side character; social anxiety
Thanks to NetGalley and Atria for the advance copy. All opinions are my own.
Despite this book being about loss and grief, the author does a great job of balancing it with hope and friendship. There were some moments that caught me off guard, in a good way, and I look forward to reading more from this author!
Thank you to Nethgalley, the author, and the publisher for this copy in exchange for a honest review.
{Huge thank you to @netgalley and @atriabooks for this free book to read and review!}
✨B O O K•R E V I E W✨
•The Key To My Heart-Lia Louis
•Romance
•Out December 6th
•4.5⭐️/5
“That’s because it’s change,“ Russ had said, crouching, placing two gentle hands on my pajamaed knees. “You’re a bit rubbish with change, that’s all. But change is good. Life doesn’t happen without it.”
This is the story of a young woman dealing with the loss of her husband and the impossible task of moving on.
This is a heavy read but the way the author was able to convey the feelings of loss, guilt, uncertainty, and-through it all-love, into this story was incredible. It is definitely sad but also so full of hope, new beginnings, friendship and love. A must read!
Lia Louis writes with such lightness about such a heavy topic, grief. This book tells the story of Natalie, who in her early 30’s lost her husband and has been having a hard time moving on with her life since. That’s until fate brings into her life two people who will help her feel alive, loved, and understood.
I always have a hard time reading about characters who are grieving the loss of a loved one, I get too emotional and tend to need to take breaks or stop reading. There’s a fine balance for me to be able to handle the story and keep reading and Lia found it. This story makes you understand and relate to the character but it’s uplifting and it gets better the more you read. It does start a bit slower but that’s just because the author gives the reader the background story of what happened to the MC and writes a lot about her feelings.
For me, personally, the book got more interesting 40% in, when Nat and Tom start connecting more, and I could feel Nat’s feelings for him slowly growing. There’s no spice in this story, the MCs only kiss at the end, but their chemistry can be felt every time they talk and connect.
My favorite character was Tom, he’s such a cinnamon roll hero, what he did for Natalie at the end?! Both occasions 🥹
Overall, it was a lovely read and I would recommend it. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I was so excited to be able to read this advanced copy of Lia Louis' latest book. "Dear Emmie Blue" is one of my favorite books ever, and "Eight Perfect Hours" was good but missed some Emmie charm (at 4 stars for me) - I am happy to state that "The Key to My Heart" bumps back up to so much that I loved from Emmie Blue that I felt was missing from Hours.
This book follows the story of Natalie, who is grieving after tragically losing her husband a few years before. I found her to be an endearing character from the get-go (her friends, not so much, although most of them grew on me). I think Louis' portrayal of Natalie's grief is very genuine - having myself been lost in a world mired in grief, wondering why/how the rest of the world is acting normal when nothing is normal anymore - Natalie's grief cloud was poignant and resonated with me.
So much is woven together into this book, and bits of Natalie's past are revealed as the story carries on. While this book is being marketed as a romance, I really think it is much more than that - the focus is more on Natalie healing with a large dose of friendship and a dash of romance.
I do have to say though that the romantic gesture at the end was one of the sweetest I've ever read, and the meet cutes between Natalie and the male characters were so great.
I also love the side characters so much - Shauna the most, and also Tom and his brothers, and maybe even Joe a little bit. Natalie's girlfriends annoyed me at first but grew on me.
As someone who doesn't read open door romance novels, I especially appreciate that this one is kept fairly PG-13 - while there is discussion of innuendo, on-page is just kissing. I will also throw in a content warning for language - there is a lot of it, which was a bit much for me personally and I could've done with less of that.
While this one wasn't quite as high as Emmie Blue for me, it is for sure a 5 star and one I will read again. Highly recommend.
Thanks to Atria Books and Netgalley for the free advanced copy - all opinions are my own. Book read for a buddy read with @thechicklitbookclub.
A perfect cozy read about Natalie, a young widow who lost her husband. She is having problems moving on as anyone would, but her friends don't understand. While in the hospital Natalie played him songs on the piano.
Fast forward to Nat walking past a public piano, someone is leaving her sheet music that have significant memories for Natalie. Is this her husband sending her messages? Did he set this up?
Natalie meets Tom on a one off night and they become friends, but is she ready to move on?
I loved this book, it was heartbreaking, yet heartwarming on a young woman learning to live life again.
I loved Natalie, her grief was so raw and real. I can't imagine being in her shoes.
Thank you Netgalley and the Publisher for my ARC.
I loved The Key to My Heart!
Natalie is a young widow. Two and a half years later Natalie hasn't been able to move past her grief. She is still living in the cottage her and her late husband planned to fix up and just going through the motions, She still sees her friends occasionally bit is frustrated they don't understand her pain. She still plays music, but only in a London train station where she can be anonymous.
Then someone starts leaving sheet music for her husband's favorite songs at the train station's piano. She sets about trying to figure out how and why this is happening. As she does, she has to confront her emotions as her life begins to expand. Little by little she is living again, but is she ready to love again?
"The Key to My Heart" by Lia Louis is a beautiful tale of life during/after grief and how unexpected treasures can fall into our laps when we least expect them to. This is a lyrical, beautiful story about life after loss that is perfect for anyone looking for a bit of healing in their lives.
Natalie's husband died over 2 years ago and she is stuck. Just stuck in a life rut. Her friends are trying to help her and get her out of the house. On once of these outings she meets Tom and they become friends. This is book of grief and learning to move on, of friendship and why we all need friends that love us, and love. I really enjoyed this book. I received an advanced readers copy and all opinions are my own.
I loved eight perfect hours and this one lives up to my very high expectations as well. Perfect winter read
THE KEY TO MY HEART is a beautiful love story that with its weightier topics of loss and grief transcends the romance genre and becomes more of a contemporary offering.
Louis' writing is witty yet tender. She truly has an ear for dialogue and imbues the narrative with feeling and charm. Her cast is strong—she fully fleshes out her characters and readers will be just as vested with the supporting characters as they are with the main players.
Another exquisite book!
Natalie, a musician, is a young widow who has been drowning in grief for a couple of years. All of the sudden she begins to find meaningful pieces of sheet music left about for her to find. These pieces of music were ones that held a special place for she and her late husband. She is trying to move on with her life, considering dating, etc. She is also determined to find out who is leaving this music for her to find.
This book explores grief and love after loss. The storyline was different. The pace of the first half of the book was a little on the slow side for me. It took me a while to feel connected to the characters and their story. Overall I appreciated the story and the main character's struggle with grief and finding love after loss. I just never felt a spark with this book.
3.5, rounded to 4 for Goodreads & Netgalley
It is a cute book, but not my cup of tea. I struggled to get into it at first which made it hard to like the characters. I think a lot of people will like this book though
This was a great read. The premise was unique, and Nathalie's journey through grief (and how it affected those around her) felt authentic. I liked the piano and music therapy aspect of the novel, and the love story was sweet.