20 Books of Summer Book 14 Review – The Key To My Heart

Title: The Key To My Heart

Author: Lia Louis

Genre: Contemporary Fiction/ Romance

Goodreads Rating: 4.44

My Rating:

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Source: ARC

Synopsis:

Sparkly and charming Natalie Fincher has it all—a handsome new husband, a fixer-upper cottage of her dreams, and the opportunity to tour with the musical she’s spent years writing. But when her husband suddenly dies, all her hopes and dreams instantly disappear.

Two and a half years later, Natalie is still lost. She works, sleeps (well, as much as the sexually frustrated village foxes will allow), and sees friends just often enough to allay their worries, but her life is empty. And she can only bring herself to play music at a London train station’s public piano where she can be anonymous. She’s lost motivation, faith in love, in happiness…in everything.

But when someone begins to mysteriously leave the sheet music for her husband’s favourite songs at the station’s piano, Natalie begins to feel a sense of hope and excitement for the first time. As she investigates just who could be doing this, Natalie finds herself on an unexpected journey toward newfound love for herself, for life, and maybe, for a special someone.

My Review:

I’d like to thank NetGalley and Orion for approving me for an ARC of this book. I have read and adored Lia Louis’s previous books and when I learnt that this one was about piano music I was super excited.

The story follows Natalie who is a widow at the age of 32 and is struggling to come to terms with the death of her husband two years ago. Her friends keep trying to help her ‘move on’ and she feels like she is drowning in the endless questions of what comes next for her. The only thing that seems to help is music so when someone starts leaving her sheet music, that means something to her, at the tube station piano she can’t help but see it as a sign.

From the start I felt like Lia Louis had seen into my soul and beautifully described what it is like to play an instrument. I have played the piano for 24 years and now teach others how to play so could completely relate to Natalie and how healing the piano can be. It’s the thing I turn to when I’m feeling overwhelmed or stressed and it is also the thing that can ignite emotion in me but the greatest joy is seeing what it does to other people. Lia Louis captures this to perfection and delivers a powerful message between the pages.

I was so intrigued to see who was leaving the sheet music and felt myself playing detective along the way. I’m pleased to say I never guessed which was a pleasant surprise to me. Seeing how Natalie changed throughout the story and coped with making the big decisions felt not only believable but completely natural. You wanted to see Natalie find her own way and emerge from the cocoon she’d been hiding in and with the help of a few lovely friends she does.

The supporting characters were brilliant too and brought a light heartedness to the story. From Priya with her sleepgasms to Natalie’s adorable sister Jodie there were plenty of characters to remember and treasure. Obviously I loved Joe and Tom and whilst I was team Tom the whole way I liked the friendship she had built with both of them.

All I can say is wow what a book! I seriously can not put into words how much I love this book. It was everything I hoped it would be, emotional, hopeful and full of so much love. It explores grief in it’s many forms and reduced me to tears, especially at the end.

Two words: Sublime. Perfection.

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