Writers & Lovers Review

Writer and Lovers   
By: Lily King 
Released: March 3rd, 2020 
Pages: 320
My Rating: 5/5

Goodreads Synopsis: 
Blindsided by her mother's sudden death, and wrecked by a recent love affair, Casey Peabody has arrived in Massachusetts in the summer of 1997 without a plan. Her mail consists of wedding invitations and final notices from debt collectors. A former child golf prodigy, she now waits tables in Harvard Square and rents a tiny, moldy room at the side of a garage where she works on the novel she's been writing for six years. At thirty-one, Casey is still clutching onto something nearly all her old friends have let go of: the determination to live a creative life. When she falls for two very different men at the same time, her world fractures even more. Casey's fight to fulfil her creative ambitions and balance the conflicting demands of art and life is challenged in ways that push her to the brink.

Writers & Lovers follows Casey--a smart and achingly vulnerable protagonist--in the last days of a long youth, a time when every element of her life comes to a crisis. Written with King's trademark humor, heart, and intelligence, Writers & Lovers is a transfixing novel that explores the terrifying and exhilarating leap between the end of one phase of life and the beginning of another.

My Review:

Wow is all I have to say about this book. I flew through this one in two days and it was such a joy to read. Some of my favorite novels are character driven about people trying to find their way in the world (cue Eleanor Oliphant and The Catcher in the Rye), so when I heard that was what this novel was about, I immediately added it to my cart when I ordered my January Book of the Month box.

This book was exactly what I needed to read and feel. I have been struggling with a fair amount of anxiety and depression lately and, if I'm being honest, feeling liking like life has no meaning and we are all just here and nothing anyone does holds any purpose (*plays MCR and applies the blackest of eyeliners*). I feel like I have been struggling to find meaning in life and have been having a hard time getting inspired by anything (cue why I started this blog). This is why I related so much to the main character of this novel, Casey, a writer by morning and waitress by afternoon/evening, who is struggling to find her worth in the world. She is having a bought of bad luck and grieving the recent passing of her mother all while falling into relationships that leave her wanting and deserving more.    

Casey is easily one of the most likable characters I have read about in some time. I was rooting for her all the way all while laughing at her snide comments and crying at her turbulences. Casey helped me feel more hopeful because of the fact that no matter what got in her way, she never gave up. She never swallowed in the punches life threw her way and instead just kept on chugging along. Casey wanted to be a writer no matter what and she was determined to get there, however how hard. 

Writers and Lovers is an excellent read and you should immediately pick it up if you have not already. I cannot say enough praise about this book. It's the first book of 2021 that has really touched me in more ways than one and there are only a handful of books that I would even begin to put into that category (maybe I'll share a list of those in the future). Anyways, here's to staying determined and getting back on your horse even when everything else seems bleak because you can do hard things. 

Catch you later, 

Molly