Book Review: "Writers & Lovers" by Lily King

This is the story of Casey Peabody, a 31-year-old woman who has lost her mother and has been through a breakup recently. Casey has been writing a book for six years and has been trying to finish it while she breathlessly works as a waitress.

As the story unfolds, we can see how she has to deal with her lifelong friends that are getting married and start to have the lives they're supposed to have because of their age. King accurately describes that being over 30 doesn't mean your life's solved but actually starting; the character struggles mentally, financially, and romantically.

The first half of the book was really slow-paced for me compared to the second half, which is important somehow since you can feel the anxiety and hopelessness Casey has. Throughout the book, we can see more characters, like Oscar, Silas, Muriel, Harry, Caleb, and Adam but none of them has enough development. I still celebrate Muriel, Harry, and Casey's friendship, though, but I disliked completely one of her romantic relationships completely; I never liked the way he always referred or talked to her at all. Also, I felt as forced as she felt it.

Writers & Lovers isn't for everyone, maybe that's why I felt I wouldn't finish it. What totally makes it up are the parts about writing. King completely nailed it, at least when it comes to amateur writers like me, I don't know about the rest. She talks about the fears and expectations that come with it with the right words, and I know that more than one will feel identified with those quotes.

I could read this book thanks to NetGalley ;)

LILY KING grew up in Massachusetts and received her B.A. in English Literature from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and her M.A. in Creative Writing from Syracuse University. She has taught English and Creative Writing at several universities and high schools in this country and abroad. Lily's new novel, Euphoria, was released in June 2014. It has drawn significant acclaim so far, being named an Amazon Book of the Month, on the Indie Next List, and hitting numerous summer reading lists from The Boston Globe to O Magazine and USA Today. Reviewed on the cover of The New York Times Book Review, Emily Eakin called Euphoria, “a taut, witty, fiercely intelligent tale of competing egos and desires in a landscape of exotic menace.”