I stayed up waaaay too late finishing Slanting Toward the Sea.

My favorite type of books are ones that examine what happens when good people face tough situations and there are no easy answers. Ivona and Vlaho’s love story should have been simple and straightforward, but family expectations and living in a complicated country cause them to veer off course. This story toggles back and forth between the start of their relationship and present day. At several points along the way, I was sure I knew where the story was headed, but I was surprised again and again. This is an achingly beautiful debut that examines what happens when you grasp great love and then it slips through your fingers.

I’d be remiss in not adding how much I enjoyed learning about Croatia, which I knew embarrassingly little about beforehand. It’s a complicated country, and Ivona has complicated feelings about it, which added such a unique element to the story.

This is a beautiful book. Evocative descriptions of the Croatian coastline, a sympathetic main character struggling with so much loss, and trying to find the courgae to move on, and a love triangle—I was mesmerized from the first page. Ivona's ex, whom she still loves, has remarried, although he keps Ivona close. She's the godmother to his children, a friend to his new wife. When someone new appears, he stirs from his complacency. To move forward, Ivona must face her painful past and her complicated, deep attachments to him and to a property she can no longer afford. Her bravery as she assumes these challenges is deeply moving. I loved it.

Set in Croatia, Slanting Towards the Sea is a literary gem, haunting in its beauty. In simplest terms, it's a love story between a man and a woman who meet as students, later marry and divorce, but who, we learn, never fell out of love. But the scope of Slanting is expansive, embracing political and economic changes in the once war-torn country, changes that have limited the range of choices to be made by the story's narrator, Ivona. At heart, the story is about choices, our own and the ones we feel are forced upon us. It's also about the power and the limitations of love.

The writing is sensual, the settings sublime. The reader is literally transported to Croatia and can smell the ocean, feel the lushness of the olive groves, hear the seasonal winds. Lyrical references to the sea are laced throughout, underscoring the author's love for her native land.
As Slanting begins, Ivona is in her late 30s and living with her father. The only one of two siblings caring for him after he suffered a debilitating stroke, Ivona is working against impossible odds to rescue her father's dream to run a hotel on land they own but can no longer afford. The relationship between father and daughter is fraught, but with an unspoken tenderness underlying it.

In backstory, we see the younger Ivona fall deeply in love with Vlaho. The two build a life together, a fragile union at times as Ivona's career choices are limited by the constraints of Croatia's economy and social policies. Their marriage is eventually shattered by a medical diagnosis and a terrible secret. Vlaho remarries and has children; Ivona remains a friend to Vlaho and his wife and is godmother to their daughter. When years later, Ivona begins a relationship with another man, the delicate balance among the threesome is upended.

As Ivona and Vlaho face an emotional reckoning, life-changing choices must be made. Along the way, there are lies and betrayals, but these are not bad people. They are simply humans aching for love.

As a reader, I ache with them.

Meaningful, poignant, and purposeful. A beautiful story of grief, love, and the inevitable. It roped me in from page 1 with its welcoming and thoughtful prose.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the ARC.

This book was fantastic and entertaining to read. I loved learning about a new-to-me country and setting. The characters appeared authentic and the situations they find themselves in were well written. I liked the author and hope for more of their work soon. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

Oh, this beautiful book! It was my perfect read. I absolutely adored it. The viewpoint character Ivona shares her heart and soul with us - we feel everything she feels as she navigates love and heartbreak, making impossible choices, facing the unfacable, The setting - Croatia - was so vividly portrayed, it's definitely a character in the story. Through Ivona, we experience Croatia's beauty, its traditions and the way it frustrates and disappoints its citizens. This added layer of interest worked so well with the narrative playing out on the page, complicating Ivona's decisions. My only regret about this book was that I read it far too quickly because I wanted to know what happened. I will definitely be reading it again. Soon.

This book broke my heart in so many different ways. Lidija writes in a way that brings you right into the characters' stories from the very beginning, brilliantly using beautiful figurative language while weaving the lost love story of Vlaho and Ivona. We go on a journey between the past and present where over the course of 20 years, we watch their love story bloom, grow, and devastatingly fade away as people come and go and life continues on. I loved so many things about this novel...the language, the setting of beautiful and complicated Croatia, the thought-provoking story. This would be an excellent book club pick.

a beautiful debut about love, family & life with characters that felt real, flawed and human. the cover drew me in to this story and i'm happy i read this.. so many quotes highlighted that really made me pause, think and feel for a second. will definitely be looking forward to lidija hilje's future works!

thank you so much netgalley and simon & schuster for the arc 🤍