I kind of liked the writing style but honestly, it was just too long and felt stuffed unnecessarily. I think I would have liked it more were it trimmed down.

I just really could not get into this book and ended up having to DNF. It’s a long book and I just couldn’t push myself to finish when I wasn’t personally enjoying it.

This was a wild ride. To be honest, I’m still not entirely sure what I read — there was a lot happening from resurrection, tiger attacks, quirky coffee shops, murder, winning the lottery, unicorns and much more. It truly kept things unpredictable.

It did take me a while to adjust to Kelly Link’s style. Once you adjust to the meandering, stream of consciousness style of writing, it was fairly easy to lose yourself in the story. The trick was picking out the important pieces of information the author was dropping as the mystery of the three teens’ deaths came to light. In my opinion, a lot of the writing could have been condensed. This book definitely didn’t need to be 600 pages long and that was my biggest issue.

While I didn’t love the shifting POVs each chapter (I lost track of how many characters it switched around to), it definitely added to the feeling that you were getting little pieces of the puzzle with each part and it did all come together in the end (mostly). For me it was a rounded up 3 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the early arc copy to review!

Wow. Kelly Link amazes me! I was just introduced to her work last year and was so excited to get an ARC of her first novel. I went into The Book of Love blind, I just saw Kelly Link and said yes, I'm reading that. I loved every minute of this book. I got a little nervous when I realized it was 640 pages, but I shouldn't have been. I was hooked from the beginning and couldn't put it down.

The novel opens with Susannah grieving the loss of her sister, Laura, her ex-boyfriend, Daniel and one of her close friends, Mo. We find out they went missing almost a year before and no one knows what happened. But, then, their high school music teacher magically brings them back and makes it where no one remembers they had been missing. There are magical quests, a goddess who wreaks havoc on this small, lovely, seaside town (Malo Mogge was horrible, but she was especially entertaining). There are weird dreams, a missing key, centuries-old magical characters, and more magical weirdness It was just so much fun and exactly what I hoped for from Link - weird and whimsical. It is dark at times, there are some truly heartbreaking events, but it's also full of love and hopefulness. I know it's a long one, but I honestly could have read more.

Thank you Random House and NetGalley for the e-ARC of The Book of Love.

Maybe it’s just me…. But I didn’t get this at all.


Kelly link writes very well- but maybe I’m just not smart enough for this one.


Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing an arc for an honest review

I attempted to read this book twice and could not make it past the first 5%. The writing went back and forth between characters and overall made very little sense. It’s possible that the story could be good but I just could not get past the confusing writing style. If you are into reading different writing styles, this book may be for you but it just wants not worth reading for me.

First, I think it's important to note that this is a novel by the incomparable Kelly Link who has a very strong narrative style that is NOT for everyone! Which is okay! But if you're a person who has tried Link's stories in the past and didn't enjoy them, this may not be the book for you.

Okay, with that aside, let's dive into the narrative. The plot centers around 4 main characters - Susannah, Laura, Daniel, and Mo. After dying and being resurrected by their music teacher, Laura, Daniel, and Mo are tasked with figuring out where they went and how they came back. Susannah is somewhat the reader character; she did not die and is not included in much of the discussion between the three, despite being one of the links that connects the three (and key to the mystery). The story weaves in and out of each character's narrative, denoted by the chapter titles, the book of ______ (the book of Laura, the book of Mo, etc). The narrative isn't completely linear; sometimes we go back to get important background information, and sometimes we go sideways to characters we didn't realize were important.

In the best way possible this novel feels like dream logic; it's winding and tangled and doesn't always make sense until you get another 50-100 pages in. The language is at times harsh and direct, and at times dreamy and fantastical. Like her other work, it is clear that every word and punctuation mark is chosen with clear focus and deliberation. I loved reading this novel; if you're a fan of somewhat dreamy and wandering novels that have beautiful writing, I can strongly recommend this novel.

I tried so hard with this one, but it did not work for me. While the beginning definitely had a Midnight Library vibe to it - which I did not like - even if this one pulls off the world building framework a bit more cohesively, I couldn't get into this one. The magical framework of the world was slow to come together and relatively scattered, which wouldn't have been a dealbreaker. But with the multiple POVs early on from the beginning, I had a hard time having any of the characters solidifying for me. It was difficult to get a sense of who each character was and to sink into the mystery, while still reeling from the previous chapter. My favorites were Susannah and Laura, but I found myself dreading other character's POVs until we got back to them. The Book of Love is slow and unhurried. While I believe that it will find readers who like become absorbed in the almost stream of consciousness narration and atmosphere with a hint of whimsy, it felt a little bit like grasping pieces of sand in an hour glass for me.

This book has beautiful writing but something about it has me struggling to read and follow along. There seems to be a lot of meaningless filler that does not provide enough plot wise to warrant so much detail.

I am unable to finish this book as I am just not the target audience. I am unfamiliar with Kelly Link’s previous works and as such was not sure what to expect with her writing style.

I am sure that there are many, many people who would love this book. It truly has such a great premise.

When I was writing fiction some 25 years ago, Kelly Link was making a name for herself as a short story writer at the same time I was trying to (though I wasn’t making that much of a name for myself as it would turn out). Her latest book, The Book of Love, is her first novel. For that reason, and the length of time between her debut short story collection and The Book of Love, for anyone to say that this novel is highly anticipated would be a massive understatement. What’s more, Link has gone big and not gone home with this one: her debut novel runs some 640 pages! It is a massive undertaking to read, and anyone interested in reading this might want to take a few sick days off work or school to get through it. As the protagonists are teenagers, this might be classified as being a young adult novel, or a book for the young at heart, at least. However, with all of this said and unpacked, The Book of Love has been getting mixed early reviews from the major U.S. book publishing trade publications. Kirkus Reviews says “This book has many enchantments and moving moments, but it would have been better, and more magical, if it were shorter.” Meanwhile, Publishers Weekly trumpets this work as a “masterpiece.” “Link dexterously somersaults between tonal registers — from playfully whimsical (love and magic are both explained via a comparison to asparagus) to hair-raising and uncanny (a cat goes from grooming itself to devouring itself whole) — without ever missing a step,” says the latter publication in addition. So which one is correct? Well, it’s a matter of it being a little bit of Column A and a little bit of Column B.

The book is about three young friends or classmates — Laura, Daniel, and Mo — who have died but have been resurrected by their high school music teacher, Mr. Anabin. Anabin is a kind of wizard along with a man-animal named Bogomil, who both come up with a game for the teenagers to play. The kids must go on a quest to figure out how to use the magic they have been imbued with as reanimated figures. Two of the friends will be allowed to live, and the other two (another teen named Bowie has been reanimated but is of no relation to the others) will be sent back to the realm of the dead. Much of the book, then, details the travails of these youth as they fight to reclaim the lives they had before they died. From there, the characters pile up and the magic realism elements come into play as the teens make their way to becoming magicians who may or may not be tasked with guarding the otherworld as a “reward” for their efforts.

On the plus side, this is a highly creative and unusual book. Especially early on, this reads like an adult version (or young adult version) of the Harry Potter series. The whole book feels as though the author was making the story up as she went along, so the plot keeps you on your toes. It also helps that there are some appealing queer main characters in this, which is a refreshing change of pace from such characters usually taking more of a backseat in popular fiction. The book additionally can be read as a coming-of-age story as the main characters come to grips with both sex and death. And, getting back to the characters for a moment, they feel very real: there are children in the book who act like real children and not as a stilted version of adults. All in all, I’m pretty sure that fans of Link’s previous work will be pleased and will lap this up. However, the book is also Way. Too. Long. You could easily omit the mid-section of the book, which is boring and not particularly plot-heavy, and wouldn’t lose too much of the spell of enchantment that this novel casts. Another deficiency is that Link tends to overexplain things. Something will happen, and then a character will explain what has just happened to another character when it has already been explained. Link also drops a few balls in juggling temporal space: action will happen, and then the proceeding chapter will go back to before that action, but from another character’s point of view — which makes for a bit of a confusing muddle.

That all said, The Book of Love is a novel that has all of the hallmarks of a book written by someone who has been best known up until now as a writer of short stories. Going back to the review in Kirkus, Link could have benefitted from an editor with a stronger hand. Still, I don’t want to be churlish as Link is an intriguing writer and highly — to borrow a word from one of those reviews — uncanny fabulist. In some ways, she is one of the very best writers we have working in the field of magic realism. She promises in the acknowledgments of this novel that her next one will be shorter, so The Book of Love might be a case of a writer ironing out the lumps and figuring out how to best write a novel. I am confident that — when it comes to the subject of novel-based work — Kelly Link can only get better from here, and here’s to hoping that her next book doesn’t take 25 years to write. While The Book Of Love didn’t need to be told on an epic scale, it is an epic story of both love and magic and is an agreeable enough palate cleanser for more of the same. I’m looking forward to what might be next from the pen of Link but hope that the sophomore novel doesn’t turn out to be difficult. However, as the winner of a MacArthur Fellowship “Genius Grant,” Link has already proven she is one of a kind, so I am hopeful that Link can only get better from here — the only way forward is up — and that The Book of Love is just a middling novel written by someone learning how to write one.

This one was not my cup of tea. I have not read the author before and did not know what to expect. I couldn't get into it, it was a little different for my tastes. I think others, especially familiar with the author, will enjoy it. It is also 632 pages, which is quite long for me.

I can't lie this was very a strange of a book. I did not finish it. It was too magical and weird for me to get into.

Unfortunately this book was not for me. I'm sure it will find its audience. I wanted to like it. ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for a fair review.

I know there are people out there who are going to LOVE this book. The writing is beautiful, lyrical, and whimsical. Sadly, I don’t think I’m the audience for this book. I also could’ve not been in the right headspace! This book is almost 700 pages and requires serious focus. I felt like I kept missing things and having to go back and reread. I started to develop a complex, honestly. I feel as though it could’ve been shorter without losing the magic. Approach this book without hurry or need of a something to propel the story forward and I think you’ll enjoy it!

The Book of Love is out 2/13/24.

Thanks to Random House and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I’ll start off by saying the idea of this book is great. Three kids go missing, presumed dead, which they are, and end up materializing in their high school teachers classroom. Laura, Daniel, and Mo have died but they don’t know how and can’t remember anything from the last year they’ve been gone. Their teacher Mr. Anabin, gives them the chance to be brought back to life in exchange for their participation in some magical tasks. There are villains, tigers, magical beings, ghosts, everything I would want in a magical realism story. However, this was WAY too long and drawn out. There are pages and pages of meaningless filler and nothing really happens. I love a good character driven story, but this one lacks there too, not making me care about anyone except maybe Susannah. While the prose is beautifully done, I couldn’t wait for this to be over. Three stars for the writing talent, which is clearly wonderful. Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The Book of Love will be published Feb 13, 2024. It is Kelly Link’s novel debut. She is best known for her short story collections. I’ve previously read White Cat, Black Dog, her previous short story collection published last year. It was bizarre and weird in the best of ways. You can expect something similar with The Book of Love. It is a multi-POV tale of friendship, chaos, magic, and keys.

The Book of Love has all of the elements of the perfect novel. It’s magical and weird. There are talking animals, gods, a band of teenagers–no, really: three of the characters are in a band. There are magical doors to other places, a quaint sea side town, lgbtqia+ representation, a mystery, and basically everything else you can come to expect from Kelly Link if you’ve read her previous short stories.

It’s a challenging book to summarize but the basis of it revolves around four teenagers and their entanglements. At the start of the novel, Mo, Laura and Daniel are dead. Susannah is grieving this loss–one her sister, one a dear friend and one a situation-ship–until she’s not. Then, all three show up back in town, tasked with particular goals by their music teacher.

The story was entertaining for the most part. I actually enjoyed the middle part of the book the best. One of the closest books I can compare it to is The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern in terms of its ideas and scope. They vary vastly in execution. Where The Starless Sea is whimsical and fairytale-esque, The Book of Love is magical, gritty and the tone reminded me of Wanda Vision at times.

I will admit The Book of Love fell short for me overall. The book is 640 pages. I found myself bored during stretches of it, although I was always intrigued enough to come back to it.

Since it’s her first novel I expected it to be quite a smaller book in both scope and size but Link really said GO BIG OR GO HOME.

Either way I will continue to pick up her books in the future, both novels and short story collections, because her stories always feel unique to me even if their execution doesn’t always hit.

Thank you to Netgalley & Penguin Random House for an advanced reader copy of this book.

Wow—this novel is strange, skillful, wise, and non-conforming; essentially all the things a story should strive to be.

We follow a group of friends through a dark and surprising journey after their disappearance—were they murdered? Run aways?—as they return to the lives they've left behind tasked with trying to understand what happened to them. It gradually becomes apparent that this task is part of a larger quest to find something lost—in order to prevent a dangerous history from repeating itself—and understand their own magic. I so appreciated how this book's pacing chose to unfold, instead of following a boring and predictable route, and while it does ask its readers to dwell alongside it in moments of darkness, it rewarded with even brighter moments of hope and clarity. This was my first time reading Kelly Link and I cannot wait to fall into the rest of her backlist.

Thank you for the arc, this felt incredibly choppy to read and it took away from the story. I was immediately having to look up stuff in the first couple pages that felt like wasn’t necessarily important to the story. It just wasn’t flowing for me.

In a smalltown high school, three teenagers have suddenly returned a year after their deaths. They’re given a series of magical tasks to complete in order to stay with their families and friends. Through a web of danger, they try to solve the mystery of their deaths.

Link tells this story from various perspectives in language that feels like a stream-of-consciousness prose-poem. The story meanders and pulls in supernatural and magical elements. It’s beautiful, but the plot gets buried within the language and details. As you know from all other reviews, this book is LONG. Though the premise is compelling and the language is pretty, this book is a commitment. This is a book I would do best to read in small doses over a long span of time. Because of this, I have not finished the book, but I hope to come back to it in the future in small increments.

I think that long-time fans of Kelly Link will enjoy this book, and readers who love detail, characterization, and atmosphere more than plot. Huge thanks to NetGalley and Random House for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for a review.

This was my first Kelly Link book. The description was so fun and at times I felt that excitement to keep reading, but overall this one felt like a slog for me. I think it would be fun for certain readers but it wasn't a hit for me. The combo of realism and supernatural felt like too big of a leap for me to get over.

The Book of Love showcases Kelly Link at the height of her powers, channeling potent magic and attuned to all varieties of love—from friendship to romance to abiding family ties—with her trademark compassion, wit, and literary derring-do. Readers will find joy (and a little terror) and an affirmation that love goes on, even when we cannot.
Late one night, Laura, Daniel, and Mo find themselves beneath the fluorescent lights of a high school classroom, almost a year after disappearing from their hometown, the small seaside community of Lovesend, Massachusetts, having long been presumed dead. Which, in fact, they are.
With them in the room is their previously unremarkable high school music teacher, who seems to know something about their disappearance—and what has brought them back again. Desperate to reclaim their lives, the three agree to the terms of the bargain their music teacher proposes. They will be given a series of magical tasks; while they undertake them, they may return to their families and friends, but they can tell no one where they’ve been. In the end, there will be winners and there will be losers.
But their resurrection has attracted the notice of other supernatural figures, all with their own agendas. As Laura, Daniel, and Mo grapple with the pieces of the lives they left behind, and Laura’s sister, Susannah, attempts to reconcile what she remembers with what she fears, these mysterious others begin to arrive, engulfing their community in danger and chaos, and it becomes imperative that the teens solve the mystery of their deaths to avert a looming disaster.