THE KEY TO MY HEART, by Lia Louis, is a nice, slow-romance that deals with the incredibly heavy topic of grief. Natalie lost her first husband to a biking accident. As expected, this completely upended her life. Still grieving three years later, Natalie is trying to move forward, but then again, doesn't think she needs to move forward when she is still grieving.

With the "help" of her friends, she meets Tom at a local pub. They form a fun, easy friendship. And then, of course, it eventually turns into more.

I LOVED Eight Hours More by Lia. I think THE KEY TO MY HEART was just as enjoyable, but I did not like how elements of Nat's friendships were handled. I think her friends were toxic at times, yet, Nat also seemed to be oblivious to her friends own problems because she was grieving. The resolution was fast and not as detailed as I wanted it to be considering her friendships were a B plot in the story. This is a tricky subplot to write.

Nonetheless, THE KEY TO MY HEART would be a great read for any Lia Louis readers. I'm ready for her next book!

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for an e-copy of THE KEY TO MY HEART to review.

I rate THE KEY TO MY HEART four out of five stars.

Lia always knows how to give you the most heart warming story, but she also may make you shed a few tears along the way too.

Natalie feels like a real person. Her grief is real, her hesitancy to move on felt genuine, and honestly I just wanted to be her friend and sit and talk about all the things with her.

This story was typical of Lia and just a beautiful depiction of love, family, and even a little romance.

Lia Louis is definitely an auto read for me & this one was no different! I love her focus on the main characters arch, definitely character driven, with a sweet side of romance (albeit the incredibly slowww burn kind, but the waiting & the end make it all worth while). I feel like this gave me similar vibes as The Wedding Season by Katy Birchall of a woman finding herself after something has happened - and again, alllll here for it! Highly recommended if you liked Lia Louis’ last book or enjoy character driven novels with the sweetest side characters ever & a hint of mystery/intrigue!

Tropes:
-He Fell First
-Widow

The Good: My favorite part was probably the dialogue. Lia Louis definitely knows how to write. While reading I felt super immersed in the story. My emotions jumped along with the characters, I felt sad when they felt sad, happy when they felt happy. The writing was just so realistic, so amazing. There is a lot of light hearted banter, which I felt offset the angst nicely. I loved loved loved Tom, but I also loved Natalie. The character development in this book is also done very well. You can really see how Natalie changes and grows progressively in each chapter.

The Not-So-Good: The beginning, besides meeting Tom, was a bit dull for me. I don’t know if it’s just cause I’m transitioning from more fantasy/ series reading, but it took me a bit longer than normal to get into the book. Once I was in though, I loved it.

Overall: This is definitely going to be a book that I re-read. It just made me feel so warm inside. I loved the dialogue so much, seeing the relationships with all of the characters. The character development, as I mentioned before, was done spectacularly well. While it did take a bit of time to get immersed in the book, once I go into it, I was fully into it. I wouldn’t say that this is a new comfort book, there is quite a bit of angst as Natalie is navigating her grief, but it’s definitely one I see myself frequently going back to.

Hero Rating: Tom ranks at 4.9 stars for me. I really really adore him and appreciate him. I loved his character, how he interacted with her, how aware he was. From the second he was on the page I liked him. He says and does the sweetest things, and he is just so patient and open. I loved how he interacted with and treated Natalie. While I didn’t feel personally attached to him, like Aaron Warner or other characters, I really loved how he loved her. He’s definitely a top 10 book boyfriends for me.

Heroine Rating: Natalie ranks at 4.5 stars for me. I really liked her character. She was just very real. She made mistakes, she was often too caught up in herself, she broke down, she lived. I felt very connected to her and my heart hurt for her so many times throughout the book. Seeing her develop was truly wonderful.

Pace: Nicely paced. Medium-Slow

Triggers: Safe for most.
-Death of a spouse (past)
-Cheating (past. Not Heroine and Hero)

This book WRECKED me. I loved it so much. Following Natalie through this period of grief and growing and love and rediscovering herself after losing her husband 2 years before was everything I wanted..

Natalie turns to music as a way to cope with the grief, and has begun playing a piano in a train station on a weekly basis, when someone starts leaving sheet music of important songs in her life in the bench for her to play. She begins to search for whoever is leaving the music for her, making new friends and begins to grow into the new version of Natalie.

I loved everything about this book, and I truly loved Natalie and Tom. I can't wait to reread this book!

Thank you NetGalley and Atria Books for the arc!

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This wasn’t what I was expecting and I absolutely loved it. There’s a romance to be here for sure - a slow, sweet, charming friendship turned romance, but there are also wonderful and complicated friendships and siblings relationships and even a form of maternal-type love. Natalie’s grief and fear when it comes to moving forward without her husband was perfectly written - I simultaneously wanted to hug her and shake her.

There was humor and heartache and lovely writing, and was a pleasure to read (like all Lia Louis novels).

4.5 stars! I really enjoyed this sweet story about rediscovering yourself and finding a way forward when life doesn’t pan out as expected. I thought the characters were well-developed and the plot realistic. I got the ending I hoped for, but how it unfolded wasn’t completely predictable. Looking forward to the next one from Lia Louis!

I did not want this book to end! As soon as I finished, I went back and reread my favorite sections! There were so many.

Lia Louis has become one of my must-read authors during the past few years. The Key to My Heart did not disappoint! It’s heartbreaking, funny, hopeful, mysterious, romantic, and full of likable characters (minus one—you’ll figure out who when you read it!)

This ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

the key to my heart is and was just fantastic. Loved it and really enjoyed this story. I was hooked and loved it all.

It's been a while since I've read a book that I couldn't put down... and then came The Key to My Heart. Such a breath of fresh air. I loved reading about Natalie's journey. It was so apparent that she was so much stronger than she gave herself credit for. Yes, she was grieving, but she still had so much to offer. And she was hilarious!
I laughed out loud so many times - in between crying. Lia Louis really depicted the grief journey in such an authentic way from different perspectives. And Tom. Oh, precious Thomas Button. I could just keep him forever. He was so perfectly patient and tender with Natalie - never pushing, just standing in solidarity.
The Key to My Heart was also a reminder that so many people are dealing with grief and hurt in ways we may never know. Natalie's grief was evident as the loss of her husband was a visible hurt - but there were other characters with secret hurts and hidden grief that dealt with it in their own ways - and it was no less painful or traumatic. The Key to My Heart is a love story... but it's so much more than romantic love. It's about loving the life you have while mourning the life you lost. It's about loving your friends even when you don't understand them. It's about loving yourself enough to keep going - even when it's hard. (And btw, Lia Louis is HILARIOUS even in a book about grief)
I highly recommend The Key to My Heart as a must-read. Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books, Atria/Emily Bestler Books for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Call me a sucker for cheesy romcom. books because that is exactly what I am. I loved 8 Perfect hours by. Lia Louis so when The Key. to my Heart popped up on NetGalley it was a MUST read for me! And it did not disappoint!!

Natalie, a widow of 2 years, feels lost, her life feels empty and all she can focus on is playing the piano at the train station (where she can remain anonymous). But then one day she receives sheet music left behind by a stranger, and it happens to be her husbands favorite song...and it keeps on happening. This sparks a joy n Natalie that she hasn't felt in some time. This book was touching, emotional & vulnerable. I enjoyed Natalies journey of self discovery and finding her way back to life through music. But the love interest....that was the real winner. Loved this book and would highly recommend it

Thank you to Atria Books, Atria/Emily Bestler Books and NetGalley for allowing me to read and review this digital ARC

For some reason, I got two copies of this same book on my shelf so I am going to leave the same review for both entries.
As someone who has struggled with a lot of loss lately, this book was something that I needed to pick up. I like that it wasn't too heavy on the romance. This was a book that was overall a good book for me to read that felt like it came at the perfect time in my life. I think that it is essential to see these kinds of relationships where there is someone to depend on and befriend instead of just falling head over heels for at first sight. It sends a good message and has a good theme.
Thank you for the early copy in exchange for an honest review.

What a beautiful story! I loved this book so much! It was such a heartwarming read that I couldn’t put down. I was rooting for Natalie and loved the supporting characters too. I really enjoyed this and highly recommend adding this to your tbr list!


Look for ''They Key To My Heart” by Lia Louis, December 6, 2022!

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for this arc!

This book really wrung my heart out of so many emotions. It made my heart feel heavy with grief, but also light with its love story, in both romance and friendship. I felt it all.

But most of all— I felt so much love for our protagonist Natalie. Natalie’s life is led by the grief of the tragic loss of her husband, but bit by bit she finds her feet moving one in front of the other—seeing the life on the other side. At the heart of her journey is trying to unravel the mystery of who is leaving her sheets of music to play at a public piano. Music with great significance to her and her life with her deceased husband. The mystery was one my mind kept turning through a million theories and I quite liked its conclusion.

The romance was gentle and sweet— it took its time, leading by friendship and patience, which I’m so grateful for. It’s one that was wholeheartedly worth that wait. It was perfect.

If I have any complaint it is with the resolution between current and past friendships. I wish Nat had held her ground with boundaries, rather than being admonished for them. Sometimes we have to move on from certain friendships, forgiveness can be had but it doesn’t always have to tie up prettily like a bow. Perhaps I just felt overwhelmingly protective of Nat, but I thought she was in the right in needing her space, but more than that, for a story that rang so true to life I wish it would have reflected that in that not all friendships will last a lifetime. Only the true gems do. This is truly a minor qualm, and again, one brought up by how deeply I felt for our brave, wonderful protagonist.

Natalie deserves a happily ever after.

This one will stay in my heart for quite a while.

Thank you Netgalley and Atria Books for providing me an arc in exchange for an honest review.

I would like to note NetGalley has two pages for this book, and I was approved twiceover so I've provided the same review on each page.

I knew I had to read this, eight perfect hours was my absolute favourite holiday read in 2021.

I loved the characters, the awe moments and everything in between throughout this jolly book!

Would 10/10 recommend!

Lia Louis sure knows how to write a story of human emotion and connection. The Key to My Heart also discusses the reverberations of grief in a sensitive and tender way that I very much related to as someone who has also recently lost a loved one.

Natalie is 32, a pianist, and a widow of 2.5 years. After losing her husband, she began playing the piano at a subway station. She has recently been finding sheet music in the piano bench there that hits too close to home to be a random coincidence. This sets her on a path of self-discovery that leads to new friendships, healing past wounds, and perhaps even love.

I loved the way this novel discussed the experience of grief and finding a new way to live and be after loss. Despite the sorrowful beginning, I found it highly enjoyable to spend some time in Natalie's world, and the secondary characters were great. I didn't find the red herring romance particularly believable. And while the sheet music mystery was a driving plot point, I felt that at times it detracted from the true story, oddly enough. Nonetheless, this was a lovely, cozy read that I highly recommend!

Big thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley for providing me with an advance reader copy to review! It was lovely.

I loved Eight Perfect Hours so I was extremely excited seeing a new novel by Lia!

The Key to My Heart by Lia Louis is a wonderful story.
It didn't take me long to fall in love with the story and the main character Natalie.
It is so easy to empathize with her and to will her on to happiness.
Her journey is emotional, beautiful and I couldn't help but cheer her on every step of the way.
A charming, endearing story with lovable characters.
The character development is absolutely brilliant.
The writing flowed easily and I could see the story playing in my head like a movie.
I enjoyed this story as much as I did the previous one and I so look forward to reading more.

“I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.”

Atria/Emily Bestler Books,
Thank You for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!
I will post my review to my blog, platforms, BookBub, B&N, Kobo and Waterstone closer to pub date.

Thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the e-arc.
Wow. What a beautiful, and beautifully written, story. You would think from the description that it might be sad, but it really isn't. It's life affirming. It's hopeful. It's uplifting. It's romantic, even though I'm not sure I would classify is as romance. It shows the true essence of friendships. If you've haven''t read Lia Louis yet, grab this book. If you have read her other books, this is by far her best yet. You will finish it with a smile on your face.

This is so far my favorite Lia Louis book! It’s even better than Dear Emmie Blue! It’s so sentimental, genuine, heart warming with it’s realistic, lovely characterization, promising plot with honest approach to sensitive subjects. The author just played a magical symphony with the strings of our hearts. She knows how to touch the souls with her powerful words.

I wanted to give hugs to Natalie and tell her everything is gonna be all right at each chapter.
Here’s the recap of the plot;

Natalie Fincher is having a problem to move on with her life, living in a wrecked cottage needs a lot of restorations as the horny foxes outside giving her sleepless nights.

Two and half years ago, her husband had an accident. She kept playing piano in the hospital to connect with him when he was in coma. It worked! He came back. But then…she lost him forever.

Now she’s stuck in a house she’s planned to rebuild with her husband and she cannot sell the place because guilt feelings to say goodbye to a place she bottled up memories are eating her inside.

Her plans to create a musical with her best friend has failed after they fell apart.

One day when she waits for the train at St. Pancras station, she sees a piano. Suddenly she gathers her courage to play it without thinking any further. And it turns into her routine to play the piano on Tuesday and Thursday mornings and heading to coffee shop close to the station to chat with lovely owner Shauna.

One day she finds sheet music left for her next to the piano. That is not regular sheet, that is her husband’s favorite song. As the days go by she finds more sheets related with their marriage and their happy times. Could her husband try to connect with her? Could someone close to the couple be involved in this?

As Natalie conducts her own investigation about the mysterious person who is leaving the sheets, she finds herself bumping into charming photographer Tom she’s met in the bar and befriending the Notebook Guy she’s seen at Shauna’s coffee shop.

She slowly realizes the life is full of surprises but if she wants to embrace them, she has to learn how to let go and give herself time to heal!

I loved the revelation about the big mystery and the romance parts! Especially the last gesture at the end made me cry so hard!

It absolutely deserves my musical, poetic, photographic five stars!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for sharing this incredible digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest opinions.

2.75 stars. This one was hard to rate. I liked it enough to care about the characters and read it to the end but... but... but...

Thank you NetGalley and Atria Books for providing me this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I was really excited to read Lia Louis' latest book as I loved her first two, "Dear Emmie Blue" and "Eight Perfect Hours" so much I bought the ebooks and audiobooks and have read/listened to them several times.

However, this latest story just didn't engage me the same way. I loved the main character and the author really captured how the people surrounding Natalie just didn't get how long the grieving process takes. That first scene in the bar brought back memories of me in a bar with friends after my mom had died and how they kept trying to cheer me up and move on with my life. So well done, Lia Louis, on that!

I also liked the idea of the story but somehow the execution lacked a certain something. I found Natalie's friends, Lucy and Roxanne, to be well intentioned but annoying and, without giving away too much about the plot, one of the scenarios with another one of her friends just didn't ring true for me.

I did love the HEA which was quite satisfying. So... bottom line, this story is worth reading but not this author's best effort.

Lots of f-bombs.