Welcome book clubbers and literary lovers to yet another fabulous review!

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This month, I had the immense pleasure of reading the widely acclaimed Heart the Lover by Lily King. Innocently, for I had not done my research (I write with 90% heart, 10% brain), I thought I would enjoy this bookish romance of a university love triangle that splits and reunites after years of separation.

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More fool I then, that this story would endear me to its charming characters and brilliant writing before grabbing me by the labels and shaking me with the force of a hurricane with its severe emotional turbulence. This book definitely needs a warning for the faint of heart and easy criers (like myself).

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Heart the Lover is told in two parts, which could be referred to as BH and AH (before and after heartbreak). In part one, our unnamed narrator is a quiet achiever in her senior year at college when she catches the attention of star pupils and charismatic duo Yash and Sam. They invite her into their inner circle of cool intellectuals, nicknaming her Jordan for her Gatsby-esque golfing aptitude, whose quick-witted banter, passionate debates and chaotically fun card game delight her to no end.

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It is unsurprising that she falls hard for both Yash and Sam and, when feelings are acted on, all three are set on a path of what I can only describe as mutual emotional destruction*. Yearning, jealousy and betrayal is a heady and addictive combo, and Lily King perfectly captures the dizzying highs and crashing lows of first love made all the more complicated by a third party. I’ve not witnessed a more nail-biting ‘will they, won’t they?’ since Jim and Pam.

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As Jordan goes all in on one relationship that feels like fate, raising the stakes considerably, she blissfully plans for a future only for it to detonate in front of her.

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Like passing the wreckage of a car crash, one cannot look away.

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Cue part two, and Jordan is happily married with children when the ghosts of her past reach out for a final reunion. Whether Jordan decides to reopen old wounds for the sake of closure is an agonising decision made worse by the stressful realities of her life.

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Heart the Lover is an enthralling, tangled, beautiful story that reads like a great tragic romance for the modern day, and a testament to Lily King’s expertise as a writer.

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Infused with empathy, wit and humour and full of literary references bookish boffins will be tickled pink for, this book will find a place in your heart long after you have finished reading.

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5 out of 5 playing cards.

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*I will admit to being a touch dramatic, but not apologetic about it.

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