REVIEW: The Key to My Heart by Lia Louis

In The Key to My Heart by Lia Louis, Becoming a widow at age thirty-two was not something Natalie Fincher ever expected of course. Neither was being stuck with her and her husband’s wonky little cottage outside of London with a mile-long list of problems to fix. Oh, and then there’s the noisy foxes who–let’s say, get twitterpated at night, leaving her wide awake and with no one to commiserate. But it’s Natalie’s friends and family who are really getting to her lately. She knows they only want the best for her. The fact that they’ve taken it upon themselves to fix her up with every nice-looking guy at any of their social outings is what she can’t stand. Why can’t they see she’ll move on from her beloved Russ when she’s good and ready?

‘I’m sure there’s a horror movie pitch in it somewhere: widowed, clueless city-girl stuck in a ramshackle cottage wakes to find foxes shagging outside her window, and her water pipes frozen.’

Music is the other piece of Natalie’s life previous to her husband’s passing about two years ago that has been missing. It’s when sheet music of songs that are near and dear to her heart are left at the piano in the train station where she sometimes plays that Natalie lets music further into her life. The mystery surrounding *who* is leaving the songs is baffling. In some ways she hopes it was something planned by Russ before he passed. But as she searches for the answers and slowly acclimates herself to the outside world again, Natalie will soon have not one but two men paying her attention. It’s almost a bit too much. Although she soon finds that it might just be what helps her let go of her past, piece by piece.

‘I’m falling in love with him. And even if that ends tonight, when he knows everything, as much as it’ll hurt, it’s enough. To feel this. For my heart to be beating this beat again after so long of it being broken.’

The Key to My Heart was an absolutely lovely story that touched upon so many relevant–and relatable–subjects like grief, friendship, feeling stuck in life, and family drama, all told in a most heartfelt way by author Lia Louis.

‘I know I shouldn’t keep looking for music, hoping for it. But I can’t help myself. It feels too magical finding it. Too exciting.’

After finishing this charmer of a book, I find myself wanting to say “Poor Natalie” because of the myriad emotions our heroine went through while coping with the loss of her beloved husband a little over two years ago. But at the same time, I want to shout “Go, Natalie!” for her finally taking back control over her life, little by little, and putting her foot down when family and friends tried to (lovingly) push her into dating and socializing again. Natalie knew their heart was in the right place. But I totally agreed with her that she should be able to choose *when* she was ready to reappear fully into the world.

It wasn’t all grief and heavy emotions, though. Lia Louis wove into it all funny little moments between Natalie and her close friends and family that felt like a true snapshot of what life is really like. It wasn’t always pretty. But everything from the almost laughable condition of her fixer-upper cottage and the foxes outside at night who like to get, ahem, frisky (lol) to the way she was torn between friendship and a possible romantic connection with two great guys, it was realistic and raw. And I think it will endear Natalie to readers quite easily.

The other fun part–and bittersweet, we find out towards the end–was the mystery about who was leaving sheet music for Natalie to play at the train station. I had my suspicions. And I was partly correct. But Lia Louis did a great job with the twists leading up to the big reveal, which felt oh so right. Especially how it proved that music has a way of connecting people and bringing out so many emotions–some of which can help us heal from great losses.

QOTD: If you were left as the sole owner of a fixer-upper home, would you continue to renovate or say forget it and look to sell?

Book Info:

Publication: Published December 6th 2022 | Atria Books |

A heartwarming novel about hope after loss as a young widow receives mysterious messages of love from the “must-buy author” (Jodi Picoult) of Eight Perfect Hours.

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 favorite 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.