Cassie lives a pretty simple life. She lives with her best friend Izzy in NYC. She goes to her job at Kellner Books in the afternoon and closes most nights. Cassie is very friendly to an old man that comes in every day. One evening the man passes in her bookstore and Cassie is so sad. She ends up noticing a book next to him and inside is a note to her which is weird but very sweet of him, so she takes it.
What ensues is a magical universe that opens to Cassie and she is very excited and wants to fully embrace this new world but Izzy warns her there has to be a bad side. Soon the two realize the bad side but they are too far in at that point
I can honestly not believe this book is a debut novel I'm shocked by the pros and the incredible story line that this author was able to create. I was completely enthralled by all of it. I could not put this book down.

As a lover of magical realism and time travel fantasy, I adored the Book of Doors. This novel begins when an elderly customer passes away in the bookstore where Cassie works, leaving a strange book in her possession. She quickly discovers this book gives her the power to turn any regular door into a door that will take her to any place or time she imagines — and that it's not the only book with magical powers. After using the Book of Doors just a few times, Cassie begins running into other people who hold different books — and running from a mysterious, dangerous woman who will do anything to collect all the magical books. The rules of this magical version of our world were plotted masterfully, allowing the reader to be carried along on Cassie's adventure without breaking the spell of the story. What I loved most of all were the relationships Cassie develops with the fellow book-holders she meets along the way — and the bittersweet loss she experiences through the passage of time. I'd highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys magical realism or fantasy.

I'm giving this one 4.5 stars rounded up to 5. It would have been a solid 5-star read, but I found the first half too slow and occasionally boring. However, the second half was so great that it entirely made me forget I was ever bored.

The Book of Doors is brilliantly magical, mysterious, and action-packed. Even with all that action, a few parts actually brought me to tears. There were so many twists and turns in the second half that it was a bit of a roller-coaster. The ending left me with questions still and wanting more, but sometimes I enjoy not having everything neatly wrapped up. It lets my imagination take over.

This ended up being one of the most entertaining books I've read in a while. I highly recommend it.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Absolutely loved this book!! This is magical realism at its finest. The story moves along as the characters develop in an organic way. I can already say this will be a favorite read for me in 2024.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I was intrigued with the idea of this book and it’s so very unique.

I liked:
I loooovee Cassie and Izzy from the first page. I was sucked in. Then, the chapters themselves start jumping. Almost creating a sense of time-travel for the reader!

The descriptions of places were lovely. I enjoyed imagining what Brown was describing.

I struggled with:
The extreme violence - felt out of place in an otherwise vibey story. The characters inflicting the violence were also cartoonish in how they are “bad.”

But, the main reason I struggle to give this a 4 star fully are the racist descriptions of characters. He does it in a way that almost feels okay which just feels so wrong.

With some coaching on how to describe people and develop his characters, Brown might be a fun author to follow!

A book about magical books that grant powers to the person who holds them? Sign me up! Cassie is given The Book of Doors by a customer at the bookstore where she works. The book is mysterious, with writing and drawings she doesn't understand. She soon finds that this book can open doors to literally anywhere in the world. What she doesn't know is that this book is part of a collection of extremely powerful books that grant powers to those that use them. There are those who want to keep those books safe and those who would use these books to cause harm to others. I liked how this book was written. I will say that the first half of the book builds very slowly. I was interested in the story and where it was going so I definitely kept going, but it was definitely slower than I would normally like. The second half picks up the pace as the events start to unfold. I thought this half of the story was really engaging and I kept wanting to know what was going to happen with the books. The dialogue sometimes felt a little clunky, but I think once I understood that characters more, I didn't even notice that anymore.

The characters themselves were pretty interesting. While Cassie is the main protagonist, there is a relatively large ensemble cast and each character is explored further throughout the book. I liked Cassie generally. While she jumps right into believing the magic of the Book of Doors, she is rightfully skeptical of the new people in her life until she spends time with them. Her friend Izzy is similarly unsure about everything and is swept up into this world despite her misgivings. Drummond Fox, the Librarian, is a quiet man working to ensure the safety of the books and making sure the books don't end up in the wrong hands. The villains are truly evil in this book and sometimes over the top. Somehow though, they are still believable. There are a few other characters that play important roles throughout the book and I felt like they were developed really well for secondary characters as well!

Overall, I really liked this debut! I thought it was a perfect balance of whimsical and magical with some mystery and action as well. I would definitely recommend it and I'm looking forward to reading more from the author!

I DNF’d about 30% in. I am also a big mood reader and this could very much be a me problem. This is just not for me. The time traveling/ jump in characters was confusing. Overall It didn’t hold my interest and I found myself having to re-read pages.

This is a very unique premise and it has a lot of layers and nuance that can make it difficult to follow along at times. But it kept my interest the whole time. Lots of intrigue and mystery, this was a wild ride until almost the end.

Thanks to NetGalley and Harper Collins for the arc.

Thank you NetGalley for the arc!

I enjoyed reading this book and thinking about the possibilities that could happen. Overall I liked the idea of the magic books and what they were capable of. The story did have some interesting twists that I didn’t see coming, but were also not surprising in a sense. There were a few plot holes at the end that were kind of confusing and not explained.

I read the first 30 percent and skimmed the rest. This could have been good. Great even. Except for the terrible written female characters and blatant racism. Really, the villains are the only black characters? The women are obsessed with body image? Hopefully this was taken care of before it was actually published.

This book was quite a ride! I really enjoyed it after I got through about 20% of it. I don’t know what it was about that first 20% but it took me a while to get through it. After that I flew!
The story was so unique and fun. I am hoping that there is a sequel!

I liked the multiple perspectives - this can sometimes be overdone but this book wasn’t.

I didn’t really like the Izzy character. Or her relationship with Cassie- why do they only have relationships with each other? Where are their other people? It didn’t need this information but I definitely was curious.

I love the concept of “The Book of Doors”, and was very intrigued in this story telling.
This was very well thought out and an interesting weave of magic and time travel. I was not expecting the dark portions with villains etc but this just added to the mystery.
That being said, there were parts that felt very slow to me, and I had to push through them.
The ending was beautifully told. Looking forward to other books by this author.

Thank you to NetGalley for this advanced copy in return for my honest opinion.

Pub date: 13 Feb 2024

Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinions.

I wanted to love this book so much! I did somewhat like it but it had so many slow parts I felt like quitting…and because of that it took me forever to finish.

I absolutely loved the idea of this book and it’s so very unique. But I feel like I couldn’t connect well with the characters and there were things the villain says that hint at racism and that just wasn’t for me. I understand it’s the villain and they are supposed to be bad but it felt over the top unnecessary.

I could definitely understand how some people will love this book but I think maybe it just wasn’t for me.

3/5 stars because I love the concept I just wish some parts had been tweaked a bit before it was released.

Thank you to Net Galley and William Morrow. I was pleasantly surprised with this book. Fantasy is not my normal genre and sometimes has a hard time capturing my attention, but this book peaked my interested right away. I loved the premise of this story about a book that can open a door to anywhere. It was a quick read. Check it out!

Thank you to Netgalley and William Morrow for making this book a Read Now and allowing me the opportunity to read an advance digital copy early!

This book is unfortunately a DNF for me, however, it's a temporary DNF. It's just not the book for me right now. I'm hoping later on, I'll be in the mood for magical realism/contemporary fantasy and can pick this back up again at a later date. I dropped this book at 40%.

That said,

The writing in this book is gorgeous. Gareth Brown is a artful storyteller. This book is a piece of classic art while also feeling incredibly believable. The premise is familiar—young adult finds magical object, magical object leads danger to them, older wiser soul rescues them and reveals information that the magical object is apart of a much bigger world that's been hidden from normal eyes—all familiar but the premise of magical books with different abilities, especially one that allows one to travel anywhere in the world and time, gives the familiar premise a fresh take.

Mr. Brown also shows excellent use of 'voices' when swapping POVs. Its so easy to get lost in multi-povs, but I found that the author is able to give each POV their own unique voice that allows the reader to keep track of whose pov we are following with ease. Personally, my favorite so far is the POV of The Woman. She's got me morbidly curious about her.

The book does start extremely slow, enough that it's made it rough for me to keep reading. I ended up giving up at 40% and decided to just come back to the book later. I will update this review later if/when I return to The Book of Doors.

The plot of this story was very interesting. At first I thought there wouldn't be much depth just based on reading the synopsis, however Brown made this story very deep with many layers by adding the concept of time travel and seemingly endless magical books.
Overall, I thought this book was very good and strong. I do feel that it was a bit long in some parts, but overall I did think it was fun to read and interesting.
Thank you NetGalley and William Morrow for the opportunity to read The Book of Doors as an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of Book of Doors!

This book was excellent! I felt like it was a slow start, and I was a little slow on the uptake of the *magic* that was truly central to the tale. However, the pacing picked up (quickly!), and the book was ultimately quite a page-turner!

I loved the characters, and I felt like I understood them more as the book went on. There were multiple plot twists I didn't see coming, and I actually felt like the magic made sense by the end of the book -- which I feel is rare!

I loved the complexity of the storyline and felt like it was a well-thought-out tale. Would be great for lovers of time travel, metaverse, or magic books -- none of which is typically me! Rather, I was attracted to the story for the character development, the emotion, and the unique concept.

I recommend this read! 4.5/5 stars

“𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘉𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘖𝘧 𝘋𝘰𝘰𝘳𝘴. 𝘏𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘥, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘥𝘰𝘰𝘳 𝘪𝘴 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘥𝘰𝘰𝘳.”

What an enchanting book! Seamlessly blending elements of time travel, fantasy, and magical realism, this book will definitely appeal to fans of 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘐𝘯𝘷𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘓𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘈𝘥𝘥𝘪𝘦 𝘓𝘢𝘙𝘶𝘦. As the main protagonist, Cassie takes readers on a thrilling adventure as she is given an unusual book that unlocks both the ability to travel to anywhere in the world but also to different time periods.

The story leads us on a journey filled with great danger and strange characters. There are lots of people who want Cassie’s book and would do absolutely anything to take it from her. There are other magical books besides Cassie’s, and the person who holds the books also possesses extraordinary abilities.

I had the book, but the audiobook was tremendous, especially the voice for the very unusual Drummond Fox.
Marinda Raison’s skilled narration really gave each character their own unique voice. I highly recommend listening to this story in audio format.

The clever time jumps, good vs. evil, and unique characters made this an unforgettable story. This book world make an amazing movie!

(Many thanks to William Morrow Books for providing me with a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.)

One of the best books I've read. I started one evening and finished the next evening. It kept my interest the entire time. I couldn't see the ending because the author kept me guessing & the plot gave many options. I liked the characters and they moved well through the story. I'm amazed that I was so captivated. There isn't much I can write about the actual story without giving something away & I don't want to ruin it for another reader.

#Netgalley #TheBookofDoors #GarethBrown #HarperCollins #WilliamMorrow #mystery #amazing

I received an advance reader copy of this story. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher! I was a little torn throughout my entire reading of this book. There were some parts I liked, others that I hated, the writing style being one of my biggest issues. It was really difficult to get through many intense scenes and some dialogue unfortunately. The magic system was also a little hazy and hard for me to understand and agree with at times, and I think the characters could’ve used more fleshing out; they felt a little one dimensional. There is definitely a compelling plot and heart to this story that will resonate with some audiences, I just wasn’t the best target. My final rating ends up at 3/5 stars rounded up from a 2.5.