I have a few points because my brain is still processing and probably will be for some time…

•Dig deep into the GR reviews, there are so many thoughtful ones that made me pause and reflect on the mystery and magic I just read.

•Yes, this is a long book… I started reading it on my kindle and got to about 15%. I had a good grasps on characters and what was happening so switched to audio which worked really well for me. Upon finishing I thought… I would have loved to read this physically. Not on a screen. The audio was really well done but I think I may have missed some pieces. Also the length and pace really have to the story… when I wasn’t reading it I was thinking about it. I may have not had that connection if it was a shorter page count.

•This book gave me comp vibes of The Night Circus meets Stranger Things. I’m not sure if I’m even right about that but that’s how I felt.

This was my first dabble with Kelly Link’s work and I’m looking forward to checking out her short story collections so many rave about. This book is not going to be for everyone and I hope it finds it niche audience. I have high hopes on attaining a copy to revisit because my mind can’t stop thinking about these characters and magic system I just spent time with.

Thank you Penguin Random House Publishing Group & PRH Audio 📖
Releases 2/13

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I don't think I've ever read a book that felt both so magical and so true.


(Thanks to the author and publisher for the ARC I received through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.)

This was quite the interesting book and I was curious what a full novel by Kelly Link would be like so I am glad I requested it but I struggled through a lot of this. It felt way too long and while the premise was very unique I couldn’t connect to the characters until way towards the end of the book. I am not about reading about angsty teenagers and I love a good teen drama mixed with supernatural elements but this needed to be a lot shorter and tighter for me. I did still think some of the more action packed moments were good and I appreciate it was something new just not my cup of tea really. Would still add it to our library as I think some people will love this.

This is a weird little story. I found it mostly interesting and well done, but it's waaaay too long for what the plot/events end up being. I did like the small-scale feel of the story even where the supernatural/deities are involved. 3.5/5

It took me a while to get a handle on what was going on in the story, but that’s part of the magic with The Book of Love. It’s unsettling and takes us to places that stretch the imagination. I have seen some compare this book with American Gods, The Night Circus, or Addie LaRue, and there are some parallels, but this story kept me at a distance, emotionally, rather than making me feel for the characters too much, as some of those other books did. This book is lengthy, and while it’s full of beautiful prose and there’s cleverness in its moments of humor, I wonder if it would have benefited from some trimming. The comps I mentioned above that I read from others are pretty accurate, and I definitely got some China Mieville vibes, as well. I have a feeling this might be one of those “love it or hate it” books. I’m glad I had the opportunity to read it. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this eARC!

4/5 ⭐️
If you took the whimsical weirdness of Holly Black’s Book of Night and mixed it with how Olivie Blake’s books are more character focused, you’ll have a start to understanding this book. Even then, I don’t know if I can describe this book. I’m very grateful to another reviewer who wrote to expect this to be a slow, more so character focused story. It allowed me to mentally prepare for what I was walking into.
The premise of this story is super interesting, but then the book is mostly just following this set of strange and flawed characters as they deal with coming back to life and all the strange happenings that follow them. I really enjoyed these characters and their relationships and faults. Though it was an odd book. I kind of don’t know what I just read, but I enjoyed it. And it was very lovely. I found myself highlighting many lines on my kindle as I read.
So yeah, I would definitely recommend this book, but I would tell readers that it’s a little slow, its character focused more so than plot, and is like Alice in Wonderland level of strange.
Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House for providing an advance reader copy of this book for my honest review.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
I loved this book it was my first Kelly Link book and I will be reading more from her.

I mean, it's a full-length novel by Kelly Link, I was born excited for this! A lovely, tender story.

I really enjoyed this book. It was my first by author Kelly Link and after this one, I’d definitely pick up another of her works. I felt this story ticked all the boxes. It was funny, and heart felt. I highly recommend!

My unhelpful review would be that this is exactly what you expect from a novel by Kelly Link; the first half reminded me of her short stories that I don't understand (most of GET IN TROUBLE) and the second half reminded me of short stories that I love (everything not GET IN TROUBLE).

My slightly more helpful review is that THE BOOK OF LOVE has the weirdness, whimsy, and edge of pretentiousness of Link's short stories, and for the first 20-30% of this considerably sized book, I was doubtful that this was enough to sustain a full length novel of 600+ pages. After you get past that first bit though, Link focuses more on moving the plot forward and character connections that the vibes-forward flavor of the beginning melds into a more robust narrative.

This is the type of fantasy that borders on lit fic, filled with teenage characters who are so angsty and rebellious and write songs about sex and think about sex a lot and have sex a lot, but then you get characters implausibly named Malo Mogge and Bogomil and whimsical magic (that does seem like it mostly runs on vibes, to be honest) and centuries-long revenge missions.

While I personally felt the payoff was worth my initial struggle, this is definitely not the most approachable book and I would struggle to recommend it broadly.

Not my genre, and a bit too farfetched for me to get invested in. I love the cover, the title, and the author's first name. I could not get into the story and skipped around a bit. I know there's a lot of hype around this book. I'm sure it will do well with the correct readers. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

This one was not my usual read, I knew little about this one going in and saw it as an highly anticipated fantasy read for 2024 so requested the ARC when I could. The more I read, the more fantastical it became, and while it is certainly fantasy, it is not the typical fantasy read I grab.

It was magic and real life all intertwined in a surreal way that left you wanting more and questioning what would happen next. It is both wholly weird but also will leave you awe-struck at what Link is able to accomplish with her words and the world she created here.

The way Link portrays each of her characters is so tangible. As a middle school teacher, the way Link paints and personifies each person in this book is so realistic and refreshing that she is able to capture the wholesomeness and ridiculousness that embodies teenagers. Susannah, Daniel, Mo and Laura all had traits that made you want to root for them but also made you question their motives.

The whimsy and magic captured in the pages outweighs the bizarre in The Book of Love and makes it a great read! Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing for the advances copy of The Book of Love in exchange for an honest review.

Mo, Laura, and Daniel are dead. Well, they were. When they suddenly find themselves escaping the realm between death and the afterlife, they are tasked with mastering their new magical abilities and getting one step ahead of a nasty game they fear will send two of them back to the dead. The Book of Love is a fantastical journey between life, death, and back, with endearing characters you're rooting for to stay in the realm of the living.

I'm not typically a fantasy fan but Link manages to juggle a complicated storyline with many characters and lots of lore in a way that is refreshing and easy to follow. With both beautiful prose and hilarious one-liners, Link's writing makes this book so much more than a fantasy. Even now after finishing The Book of Love, I'm finding myself still thinking about its world and its characters. Highly recommend even for folks who don't normally read fantasy!

The Book of Love revolves around the profound themes of grief and the process of maturation, as individuals strive to establish their identity within society. This thought-provoking narrative explores the lives of a cohort of young adults, who, after being revived from death, confront a plethora of obstacles. While the plot may progress slowly, I was entertained while reading it didn't get bored.

The concept was kind of different - three teens come back from the dead and have to perform some magical tasks to either go back to being dead or serve the death goddess. It was completely bizarre. I can't understand why it is this highly anticipated book of the year. The only saving grace was the last few chapters when they started talking about their love for each other, and family, and friends and how that's really what's important in the world. But it took more than 600 pages to get there and I'm not sure why I continued reading.

I was really excited for this book because the description sounded amazing but for me it was just a little too long and slow. That said, I thought it was very beautifully written and I look forward to reading more from this author in the future.

DNF- I couldn’t enjoy the writing style and was confused about what was happening. Thank you for gifting me an arc but this is a no for me.

I really wanted to like THE BOOK OF LOVE because its description sounds so promising: three teenagers are resurrected a year after going missing. Laura, Mo and Daniel work to solve the mystery of their deaths, and the blurb promises magic and all kinds of love. This plot is right up my alley. Quirky, strange, and a little dark.

THE BOOK OF LOVE sounds wonderful, but unfortunately I had to call it quits about a quarter of the way through this very long book. I may want to try again in the future when I’m in the mood for something that builds slowly, but right now I don’t have the attention span to appreciate Kelly Link’s (at times) beautiful prose. I do like long books and stories that are told from multiple points of view, but I didn’t feel much connection to any of these characters. And there are many passages that don’t add to the story (at least not so far - maybe they would have if I stuck it out) and I just can’t do it anymore. If I can’t manage to go on, I have a hard time imagining many YA readers having the stamina for this one, either.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for the early digital ARC of THE BOOK OF LOVE in exchange for my honest opinion.

This novel is a lot like Link's short stories, which I love. A little fairytale, a little fable, all mixed up with modern sensibilities. But the bigger, baggier format of a novel allows the story to get sloggy and tedious. I almost bailed on this book several times; I kept going because I like Link's ideas and tone so much. I really hoped she'd make my time worth it.

Ultimately, I think this would have been better as a story. Or maybe, maybe, a couple of linked stories. I just don't think the expansion yielded anything that couldn't have been said in a short story.

Thanks to netgalley for the advance copy.

I thought this was a beautifully written book, but I think I would've loved to read a chapter or a few chapters of it, but maybe not the full length book. It's 600 something pages and I don't think it has enough tension to propel me forward. It's quite funny at parts, mainly when the mundane clashes with the supernatural or just teenagers being teenagers. It's heartfelt too. Just too rambling and too long.