Heart the Lover by Lily King @lilykingbooks #RebeccaLowman @simon.audio @simonaudio.bsky.social #HeartTheLover

the setup…
Our narrator begins her story when she was a senior in college where she meets two young men in her 17th Century Lit Class. Sam and Yash are house sitting in a grand home owned by a professor on sabbatical. Sam takes her out and invites her into their world of smart conversation, made up card playing and academia. They give her the nickname Jordan and thus begins the tangled relationships that will have a lifelong impact.

the heart of the story…
As with most literary fiction, it’s complicated. Jordan is interesting and is a writer who crafts what she feels and experiences. While it’s Sam she begins with it’s Yash who she most connects with intellectually and spiritually. Following graduation, she makes choices that are exhilarating and heartbreaking. Decades later, Jordan has a very different life and comes face to face with that time of her youth for a reckoning.

the narration…
Rebecca Lowman delivered the perfect performance, subtle in her delivery and allowing the elegant prose to standout without embellishment. She let me “hear” the story clearly.

the bottom line…
There’s an unusual structure to the story (only three chapters) that makes so much sense by the end. The beginning was a bit lofty and I wondered if I’d be able to connect. I’m glad I hung in there because it shifts later, slightly, to something more. I got swept into the complications and have to admit I was in tears at the end. It’s beautiful writing about the choices we make in our youth that leave indelible impressions for the remaining of our years. It’s not a simple triangle and we only learn Jordan’s real name at the end. Not knowing it allowed me to better know her.

Book Info

• Release Date: September 30, 2025
• Narrator: Rebecca Lowman
• Audio Length: 5 hours, 52 minutes
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio

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