I love, and I mean LOVE, Kelly Link's short stories but I couldn't really get into this and that pains me so much to say.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I had a really difficult time settling into this novel. First, the paranormal isn't my preferred genre. The scenery was interesting and diverse, but the going was long and difficult. It was beautifully written but so descriptive that it meandered at times. There were entire chapters I felt were completely unnecessary, bringing nothing to the plot or character development (or at least not enough to make an impact) so that the story would lose nothing if they were cut. The multiple POVs were difficult to keep track of initially, too.

On the other hand, the remainder of the book came together, and at the 60% mark, I was invested. The prose was still beautiful but with more energy to fully engage you. The world-building was unique, and the characters were wonderfully developed, each bringing their charms, quirks, and, at times, reprehensible behaviors.

Overall, I think anyone who reads this book will be pleasantly surprised. Marked as 4 stars; actual rating 3-1/2 stars.

This was an amazing story and was very fun to read. I have to say I loved that she incorporated magic, romance and supernatural all into one. To read about everything that Laura, Daniel and Mo go through in this book. Kelly Link's writing is Chefs Kiss, I loved everything about this book and I can't wait to get a physical copy in hand and do a re-read.

The good: I loved the prose and I appreciated not ever feeling like the writing was over simplified for a ya audience. I also appreciated the diversity and representation in the characters .

The disappointing: It was a very slow read. I felt that there was a lot of rehashing conversations that could have been eliminated to speed up the first half of the book. It wasn’t until a little past half way that you finally begin to get to the action, and for such a long build, I felt that things fell a little flat at the end.

I wanted to like this book. The premise is intriguing and it came recommended by a couple authors I like and admire. However, after getting 15% into it, I couldn't finish it--a decision I didn't take lightly.

Link's prose can be beautiful. I found her voice interesting--like a stream of consciousness, but narrated in 3rd person? Occasionally points comments were made that gave me pause, but also took me out of the story. For instance, in the middle of a character trying to figure out how they died and how they were back from the dead and what the heck happened to them and two friends, there was a comment about where a particular phrase/idiom stemmed from. While the question prompted me to consider it, it also felt unrealistic for the situation. There were other portions where a character practically notices every toy and item out of place in a home and how chaotic and disastrous it was. It gave a great picture, but was it really necessary? Probably not.

While the premise was all there in the blurb, I didn't get a delivery of the promise of the premise by the time I had to set it down. And, honestly, I didn't feel connected to any of the characters enough to care what happens to them by then. I did like that there were multiple points of view, so you'd get a feel for each character and their experience, but there were so many at times it got confusing. There were other times that Link seemed to hammer a point multiple times, like I get it, Suzannah and Laura practically hate each other! According to other reviews, around 40/45% of the way through, things pick up, but I have too many responsibilities at the moment to wait that long for a payoff. Perhaps I'll pick it up again in the future when I'm looking for a slower moving book.

This book is marked for YA, and as a teacher, I can't think of many students I'd recommend this book for. I'm going to take a guess that this has a very niche audience. I'd probably recommend it to kids who read a lot and prefer slower moving books, who will allow a story to take time to develop. However, I think many teen readers would get frustrated and abandon it.

I was not expecting for me to love this book. First off the book cover is gorgeous, The title captivating, The plot was so original. The story is beautifully written, with lyrical and spellbinding, language. I really loved how magic, love, and music are interconnected and depicted throughout the book.

Many of Kelly Link's stories exist in my mind so vividly that I was really excited for this one. The Book of Love is filled with compelling characters and relationships that intertwine complexly over the course of the plot. Link's writing has a way of making the whole world fall away for me, and this was definitely apparent in this book. At times, the overarching plot felt less clear to me but I was so invested in the characters I didn't mind as they got sidetracked. I especially loved Susannah and Laura's arc and Daniel's relationship to his family. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to go on an adventure and feel a lot of love while the journey goes on. Thanks to NetGalley and Random House for the advanced copy.

I did not enjoy this book at all. It was trite. Boring, wishy washy and nonsensical. I’m sorry but it was a waste of my time

The prose in this book is beautiful. However, nothing happens in the first 40% and while it picks up after that, there’s no real climax. It’s a very unique and well thought out magic system and a great cast of characters. It was just a little slow for me. It wasn’t a book I was really itching to get back into or continue reading.

What a beautiful showcase of Kelly Link's talent. It's difficult to summarize such a weird book, but here's the best I can do: The Book of Love is about a group of teenagers that are brought back from the dead and face some unique challenges along with the normal struggle of being a teenager. The writing is rich and poetic. The characters are average and magical at the same time. The plot is slow moving, but I never felt bored. There were parts that made me laugh, but most of the book is pretty sad and dark. If you're like me, you'll definitely need to read something light and fluffy after this one.

Stylish, just like her short stories, kelly link has brought her wacky insight to the novel form. Lengthy, but filled with deep interiority. This is not a book concerned so much with plot, as high concept as it sounds. This is, like all great books, about people. Stunning depictions of grief and life abound in this hilarious high concept consciousness-thriller. Kelly link is one of a kind.

Kelly Link has been on my radar for years, but I never quite got to her since I'm not generally a short story reader. When I saw this book pop up it seemed like a perfect opportunity to finally experience her writing. First things first, this is a long book (over 600 pages), and is not a quick read. I think that the style and length will definitely not be for everyone, (I've read some of the more negative reviews here and I can see where they're coming from), though I ended up really loving The Book of Love.

This book is hard to describe. On the surface, it is a sort of supernatural mystery centered on three teenagers who died/vanished a year before the story begins and are now just as mysteriously returned to life. Of course their return has conditions, there is strange magic involved, and two rather inscrutable men know what's actually going on but are refusing to give direct answers. The answers are doled out slowly throughout the entire length of the book, frequently in bits and pieces and out of order as the narrative skips from person to person. There are numerous points of view given, and each one helps to create a more complete picture of the people important to the story (whether central or peripheral).

The real strength here is the writing. It is beautiful and atmospheric and I can completely see why everyone has been raving about Kelly Link to me for years. She manages to create an entire town of fully realized characters and tell a complete story while never losing the slow dreamlike quality with which she begins. There are some books in the weird/supernatural genre that start out feeling cool and mysterious but end up feeling more and more mundane as answers are revealed and more of the mystery unfolds. Kelly Link manages to maintain the sense of dreamy otherness throughout the entire 600+ pages, which is wonderful. I didn't always like all of the characters, but she always made me understand where they were coming from and interest me in what they would do next. The way that the narrative skips from person to person does sometimes feel like reading a series of short stories (in a good way), and once I really got into the story everything flowed very nicely.

Like I said earlier, this book won't be for everyone. It is very long and the style might be too slow and dreamy for some. For others it's a wonderfully weird story about friends, family, magic, love, grief, and the choices that we make.

I can’t remember the last time I was this excited about a book release. I have been a Kelly Link superfan since Stranger Things Happen, and have been watching her odd, wonderful, beautiful career unfold ever since. I cannot overstate the gift it is to hold a novel-length Kelly Link book in my hands and know I have chapter after chapter of her charming and bizarre prose to remind myself that everything is a metaphor but also, in her world, sometimes people are actually demons and/or thousands of moths. I held my breath through every POV switch, and wanted, with every atom in my body, for these characters to survive, to thrive, to come back—and stay back—from the dead for keeps. No matter if she writes another five short story collections before her next novel, I will be waiting.

Far too lengthy without substantive context, wordy and repetitive, and flat characters. I'm sorry, but I did not enjoy this read at all.

"In the long-awaited debut novel from bestselling author and Pulitzer Prize finalist Kelly Link, three teenagers become pawns in a supernatural power struggle.

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.

Welcome to Kelly Link's incomparable Lovesend, where you'll encounter love and loss, laughter and dread, magic and karaoke, and some really good pizza."

I mean Pulitzers and pizza right?

My feelings about this book are a very mixed bag. It gives off "American God" vibes - a very old and powerful god still walks around humanity and she's fickle and vain. She's looking for something and four teenagers in a small northeastern US town are being forced to look for it. Three of them are back from the dead. All of them do magic. Two of them I can't stand because they use their magic to impose their wills on their friends and families and I'm upsetti-spaghetti that they got happy endings.

While the story was interesting, it was also extremely long (600 pages on Storygraph!)... and there was absolutely no need for it to be that long. The author felt the need to tell the events of every day from multiple POVs, including from side characters who only get one or two POVs in the entire book. The prose wibble wobbles between grandiose and ode-ish (reminiscent of older English books) and new, modern prose (this is also inconsistent in the dialogue) that causes some whiplash throughout the story.

Overall, this book has real strengths - the story, the characterization - but eventually the story drags itself down and needs to shed some weight.

I honestly feel that this book will be great for some people, unfortunately I am just not one of those people. The prose of this story while it is beautiful did not draw me in. I felt like I was standing outside the story. Added to that, this an extremely long and slow paced book. I almost placed it as a DNF, but managed to keep reading.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This book is hard to explain. Not plot wise (I don't tend to go into plots in reviews just my thought) but hard to know who to recommend it too. The book was atmospheric and exceptionally written and very character forward plot wise. And it would be easy to say if you like those things and the synopsis already interested you then this would be great for you, but it's long. And it drags. And I tend to find that how long a book feels is entirely dependent on who's reading it. So I'd say this book is most definitely worth the try but just keep that in mind if you're not someone who wants to push to get to the "good parts"

Gorgeous novel about messy teens. At times the prose was a bit annoying or the pieces didn’t quite fit but everything in total was gorgeous. Thanks for the arc

Kelly Link is obviously a gifted writer and her mastery of language is on full display here. Unfortunately, The Book of Love was not for me and I think the length and density will make it a tough sell for first-time readers of her work.