Title: You Must Read The Books of Doors by Gareth Brown

I wanted to have a title for this review that was more subtle or unique or magical. I think with this book though, I just don't want to beat around the bush. You must read The Books of Doors by Gareth Brown next year when it comes out. I got an early copy from Net Galley and I feel extremely lucky. So you have to read this one. Thats an order. You just have to. Okay, maybe I should tell you about the book and what I think of it and then you'll be convinced.

The Book of Doors stars a young woman named Cassie who works at bookstore. One day, her favorite customer Mr. Webber dies. He leaves behind a special book called The Book of Doors. Cassie quickly finds out that the book can take her places. She just has to find a door, think of where she wants to go, and then open the door to a totally different place. And The Book of Doors is not the only book. There are other special books that do other things. And thats all I'm going to tell you about this book. The less you know about it, the more you'll enjoy it!

There are so many surprises in this book. There were two times, at least, where my jaw was literally open. My mouth was hanging open and I couldn't believe what I just read and I had to go back and read it again. The Book of Doors is full of fantastic things: wonderful characters, surprising books, plot twists that stun, and an ending that gives closure and also leaves you wanting more.

I want to pause this review for a moment and say hi to the writer. Hi Mr. Brown. Loved this book. Please, please, please, please, PLEASE write a sequel. I want to see more adventures in this world with these characters. And I really want to see more books, in the real world and in this fictional world.

Back to the review: The Book of Doors is the best book I've read this year so far. I'm trying so hard to not reveal anything else about this book. I've only told you about one of the characters in the book. I've only told you about the book of Doors and hinted there are other books. There is just so much more to The Book of Doors. Its stunning. Its going to be one of the best books of 2024.

Are you convinced yet? I hope so. I'll be very disappointed in you if you don't read this book. Seriously. If you love fantasy and magical doors and wonder and an intriguing new mythology, then keep this book on your radar.

The Books of Doors releases into the world on February 13, 2024. Thank you so much to Net Galley and William Morrow/Custom House for providing a digital copy of this book for review. Also thank you Gareth Brown for the wonderful story. I just love this book!

I approached "The Book of Doors" with high expectations, enticed by its promise to capture the wonder of novels like "The Midnight Library," "The Invisible Life of Addie Larue," and "The Night Circus." Unfortunately, my experience fell far short of the anticipation.

The writing style felt more like a narration that talked at me. Instead of immersing me in a captivating story, it felt as if I was reading a list of events. This lack of narrative finesse made the reading experience feel tedious, and I struggled to connect with the world the author sought to create.

Another significant drawback was the absence of likable characters. While none were inherently bad, the lack of depth and relatability made it challenging to invest in their stories. Despite multiple attempts to engage with the book, I found the characters simply unexciting and failed to develop any sense of care or attachment.

The somewhat confusing story pacing and pov added to my dissatisfaction. On several occasions, I found myself struggling to because reading this book felt more like a chore than a joy. The absence of the anticipated magic and charm left me disheartened, particularly given my genuine excitement based on the book's advertised comparisons.

In the end, "The Book of Doors" did not resonate with me. Perhaps it caters to a different taste, but I found it lacking in the enchantment and storytelling that drew me to its advertised peers. Unfortunately, despite my efforts, I could not finish it and this book simply wasn't for me.

“The Book of Doors” is an enchanting tale, perfect for fans of “The Starless Sea,” “The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue,” and “The Midnight Library.” The storyline captured my interest from the very first chapter. There were times when the pacing picked up, and the good vs evil pursuits were thrilling. The world-building was magical. The found-family friendships were sweet. “The Book of Doors” fits squarely in the “books about books” category for fantasy readers.

Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Many thanks to @williammorrowbooks, @netgalley, and @harpercollins for my #gifted copies. Pub date 2/13/24.

I'm saying this right now. This will be THE book of 2024!!!!!!

This book was absolutely incredible from start to finish, and I can not believe this was written by a debut author. I am not a big fantasy reader, but the synopsis just sounded good, and I was in the mood for something different. I am so glad I read this, and I am sure this will be the most talked about book of 2024!!! This will definitely be a reread for me. That's how good it is! Definitely add this one to your list. You will not be disappointed!!!

Cassie works at a cute little cozy Bookshop in New York City. She is gifted a book called The Book Of Doors by her favorite customer, Mr. Webber. Cassie is about to discover this is no ordinary book. This book is magical and will take her to any door in the world as long as she is standing in a doorway and holding the book. Cassie also soon discovers that a lot of people are searching for The Book of Doors, and she could be in danger. I loved all the characters in this book, and I will definitely be thinking about this one for a long time! Gareth Brown, I will be reading everything you write!!!

I've been dying to read this! I'm so happy to have been given the chance to read the Arc! It is as brilliant and as fantastic as expected. I didn't want to put it down or for the story to end. It was an immersive time travel, magic, and fantasy adventure.

Books like this are why I love reading! The Book of Doors is a magical, imaginative, and immersive novel. Within its pages you will find magic, fantasy, time travel, endearing characters, and friendship. You can so easily get lost in the world of books that Brown creates. I never wanted the story to end, but I couldn't stop myself from turning to the next page. People who enjoyed The Midnight Library (Matt Haig), The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue (V.E. Schwab), and The Cartographers (Peng Sheperd) will love this book.

Main character Cassie finds herself in possession of what looks to be an old journal when her favorite customer at the bookshop she works at passes away. However, Cassie and her roommate quickly find out it is not just any journal or book. It is the Book of Doors. As one holds this book and imagines another location, they may enter to this place through any door that they open, past or present. While Cassie experiments with this newfound magic, she soon discovers that she is in danger. People with ill intentions are after this book. There are countless books out there like Cassie's - The book of pain, joy, shadows, matter, despair, and more that have yet to be discovered. This niche group of people who are after these special Books - with both good and bad intentions - will not stop until they have it in their possession. Cassie, and the crew seeking the books of power, endure a wild adventure with a thrilling end.

I adored the themes of friendships and the characters, especially Mr. Webber. I loved how quickly we dive into the story. There was no long, drawn out backstory to the books; we are introduced to the magic within the first 50 pages. There are many characters and books to keep track of, though. I found it helpful to make notes of who is who. If time travel is in fact a possibility in this lifetime, I hope my past self is getting out of her head and living life in the now, just as Mr. Webber advised Cassie to do. I can't wait for this to hit the shelves soon. Hopefully others love it as much as I did!

Thank you go NetGalley and William Morrow for this advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review. This review is also posted on Goodreads.

A thrilling, fast-paced adventure exploring time travel and the power of books.

If you stick it out, this book gets so good. At first, I found it to be a little slow moving, and was slightly confused by all of the various stories taking place within the book. But I promise once you pass the halfway point, things are gonna start clicking and making sense. Each of these stories is very important to follow along with, and all come together for an explosive ending!

The Book of Doors follows Cassie, a quiet and grief-stricken bookseller living in New York with her vibrant best friend, Izzy. Cassie is gifted the mysterious Book of Doors by an older man who frequents the bookstore moments before he passes away unexpectedly. What follows is a journey around the world and through time as Cassie discovers the existence of other magical books, people hunting those books, and the looming danger of "the woman", an enigmatic collector who relishes in using the books for evil.

Normally, time travel books are hit and miss for me. However, this book was so thoughtfully orchestrated and felt realistically possible. There were times when I thought I was catching a flaw in the plot, just for there to be a twist in the next chapter that threaded it into the story. That being said, there were a few major points to the story that, without leaking spoilers, I wished had been explained better.

All in all, this book easily earns 4 stars from me, and I highly recommend it for anyone looking for an adventurous imagining of time travel and magic, without the feel of a science fiction book.

I absolutely adored this book, I love a great book about a book. Cassie was so easy to connect with and I felt her pain during certain parts of the novel that I won't reveal so I can avoid spoilers. It is a personification of how I personally feel about books - every door is any door, with the right book. If you love The Midnight Library, you'll love this.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!

Ugh, this is a no from me. Had some nice elements and potential, but poorly executed and too much negative to save it.

Pacing was just off and made the plot feel ridiculous. Comments made about woman’s body and eating habits is triggering for anyone with eating disorders and generally problematic for anyone to be reading. Similarly, poor choices were made related to characters using problematic language related to race. This needed a good sensitivity reader that it clearly didn’t have.

I appreciated being able to read this book. At times the story was interesting but other times it was not to me. Would be good for lovers of fantasy and magic.

Thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow for the opportunity to read this ARC.

I am not sure where to start with this review. On one hand, I did enjoy the overall story of The Book of Doors. A story filled with magic books and doors, bittersweet moments, and a sense of wonder. The main character, Cassie discovers a magical book that can open doors to anywhere, but quickly learns that the world of magical books is highly dangerous and many will do anything to own one of these books. On the other hand, there are definitely some aspects of this book that felt a bit off to me. The pacing of the story speeds up and slows down seemingly at random, and the whole story has a convenient feeling to all the major plot points. Which sometimes can work, but it felt like the power of the books became an easy way to tie up the loose ends of the story. Also, some of the characters felt a bit one-dimensional. While I enjoyed reading this story, I think it falls a bit short of the books it is being compared to. I do think that fans of Addie LaRue or The Midnight Library will enjoy this read, it does not quite capture that same sense of magical wonder and heartache. Thank you to Netgalley and William Morrow for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley and William Morrow for the opportunity to read The Book of Doors as an eARC in exchange for an honest review. If you are not a fan of negative reviews, I would probably not recommend reading this one. Potentially minor spoilers (just a few out-of-context quotes).

The Book of Doors is marketed as being "for the types of readers who have flocked to the Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, The Night Circus, and Babel". As these are three of my favorite books in existence, you can imagine how much I was looking forward to this title. Unfortunately, when new releases are marketed as being similar to these books, I find that I am often disappointed- this was no exception.

I had extremely high hopes for this book; even just the concept sounded like something I would enjoy, aside from being compared to some of my favorite books! Part of me does feel bad giving a negative review to this book, knowing that it just wasn't for me, (because that does not mean that YOU, as a reader, wouldn't enjoy it); but I knew within 6% of the way through that this book was not my cup of tea. There were things in this book that really rubbed me the wrong way; let me tell you why.

First of all- the pacing of this book felt completely off to me. I don't want to spoil anything, but even though this is a fantasy novel, the way that the plot began to unfold felt very.. unrealistic, for lack of a better word. Sort of rushed? Then, within the first few chapters, the fmc was described as being "in her own eyes, too tall/too thin/her hips too narrow/her chest too flat/her eyes were big and wide like deer's", which felt.. unnecessary. There were many additional unnecessary comments about eating/food, which was irrelevant to the plot (for example, fmc #2 talking about how she LOVES bread, but can't eat it because it'll go straight to her hips! She later goes on to call herself disgusting for eating pancakes and bacon). I understand how this kind of stuff isn't a big deal to other readers, and that's totally okay! For me, I find it unnecessary, and it leaves a bad taste in my mouth when I read it.

The pacing, writing style, and plot continued to disappoint me throughout the rest of the book, but the part that made me decide that this book was ABSOLUTELY not for me was some specific quotes from a specific character. The character in question is the villain of the story, and refers to another female character (who is Black) as "that f*cking Black, bald bitch", before referring to another character duo as "that Jap and his ape". This same character later on in the book says, "one of the worst things that ever happened was when all you women started thinking you were equal to us men... sometimes I wish I lived back in the 1970's when the natural order was still in place". And here's the thing- I get that this is "the bad guy". I understand that he's supposed to suck as a human being. But I feel like there was probably a way to write the exact same storyline, the exact same book, the exact same plot, without having to say those kinds of things.

If you're reading this review, or even this book, and think, "you know, that kind of stuff doesn't bother me, that's no big deal, it's just one character"- that's fine. In my eyes- I just find it unnecessary (and honestly, just icky). I don't think it is necessary in any sense to have a character say those kinds of things. By the time this book comes out, it will be 2024- I would hope that authors would no longer feel the need to include those kinds of quotes in their books by now. That content alone is plenty for me to have not enjoyed this book, but even if those quotes weren't included, I still don't think I would have enjoyed it.

Overall, I was disappointed in this book. I recognize that I used the word "unnecessary" probably too many times in this review, but I truly could not think of another word that better describes how I feel after reading this. I will be giving this title a 1-star for Netgalley and Goodreads' sake. This is the first truly negative review I have ever written, and I will be spending the rest of my evening trying not to apologize for it. (I'm sorry).

This one was, regretfully, a DNF at 36% for me.

Cassie works at a bookstore in NYC. One night while closing, a regular customer dies while chilling in the bookstore. On his (dead) person is a book with a handwritten message to Cassie saying that it is the book of doors and it belongs to her now. The book turns out to be magic; it can open any door in the world. Cassie and her roommate Izzy start experimenting with the book, but their adventures are soon brought to a halt when they meet Drummond Fox who warns them they are in danger. There are more magic books and there are collectors of these books. Some of these collectors are very bad people. And that's as far as I read.

I appreciated what this book was trying to do, but it didn't work for me. Brown is trying very hard to appeal to readers and travelers--he describes each setting in the story which so much depth. The thing is, the descriptions weren't that great. At one point, Cassie, Izzie, and Drummond are eating croissants in Lyon after escaping a violent scene from a magic book hunter. Here are some of the MANY quotes about the croissant that Cassie ate:

" Finally Cassie relented, lifting the croissant to take a bite. It was good: hot and buttery and flaky."

"I love croissants in France."

"It was a cold morning, but she was wearing her old greatcoat, and her woolen scarf wrapped around her neck, and she felt warm and cozy in the chair, with the coffee in her stomach and the taste of the croissant on her lips."

"She once more felt herself trembling, as if the beneficial effects of the croissant were wearing off"

"'You don't have to like it,' Drummond said. 'But drink it. It's good for you; just like the croissants in Lyon.'"

This last croissant quote was my final straw.

There is a plot, but it's clunky. The storyline kind of gets lost in the onslaught of these commentaries on tiny details. My biggest issue with the book, though, was the flat characters and the showing rather than telling. I felt no connection to anyone we met in this story. I kept confusing Cassie and Izzy because neither of them had a personality. There were other characters being introduced, but I couldn't find the patience to explore them any further. I REALLY wanted to love this book, being a book-lover and a traveler myself, but it was a complete miss for me.

The beginning of this was a little slow or something to me - I just didn’t want to delve deeper in to it but I’m so glad I did. It was enchanting, magical and wonderful. The characters honestly didn’t matter so much to me. I was far more invested in the story and the books. This gave me the same feel as Cloud Atlas or even Cloud Cuckoo Land. Everything is connected and entwined and I love when authors are able to weave together the threads of their story in that way. Overall a good read!

I really enjoyed this book. It took me by surprise. I was thinking it would be a fun fantasy story about books, I was wrong. It was suspenseful, and heartbreaking at times. It kept me at the edge of my seat throughout the second half of the story. I love how there are many book with different magic aspects to them. They can be used for evil purposes, but also good. It just depends on the user of the book if they want to cause pain or happiness. They story follows the life of Cassie. She is left a book by a regular customer. Her whole world changes once she picks up the book, The Book of Doors. If you enjoy suspenseful fantasy about books. I recommend picking this one up next year!

I really enjoyed this book so much! I flew through this book and I was so upset when it was over. The plot was fast paced but not much which is what I really enjoy. I am obsessed with the characters and can not wait to read more by this author. I will be recommending this book to all of my friends and family.

A book about books? Sign me up! This was a great fantasy story for booklovers and anybody who just loves a good story about good versus evil. This take on time travel was also interesting without being overly complicated, and I loved how everything is tied together by the end.

This was such a fun and unique book, and what I thought would be a light-hearted story had a lot of depth and a little darkness in it—perfect!

When one of her favorite customers dies, Cassie 'inherits' a book that opens any doorway. Her and her friend Izzy get caught up with some bad people (and one very evil one) who want the book, and also a handful of good people. There's time travel and intrigue and you slowly get to know how everything fits into place. It was a great read and a devoured it in days.

Thank you so much to the publisher, author, and NetGalley for the ARC! I think this will be one of my reads here that I follow up with a published copy of the book.

This was a fun book with plenty of magic and time travel and bad guys and the like. Perfectly entertaining, though I didn't feel honestly that it was up to the standards of some of the other books mentioned by reviewers. It was a good, solid, F&SF story but didn't have the depth of character or smooth / literary writing of my real favorites.

Eep my first ARC, thank you NetGalley! This book was advertised as being very similar to the Midnight Library and the Night Circus, both of which are absolutely true. However, unlike those two, I really enjoyed this book! While the writing style and themes were similar, I think this book was better executed :)

I was expecting something a bit more whimsical and lighthearted, but this ended up being darker than I expected. The book follows Cassie, who unexpectedly acquires a book that can open doors anywhere called (you guessed it) the Book of Doors. What follows is quite an adventure involving magical books, cutthroat book hunters, and many new friends.

Also unexpected, time travel! I am very iffy on time travel as I think it’s really difficult to do well, but this is one of the best interpretations of time travel I’ve read. I appreciated the explanations of both open and closed time travel in a way that fit into the story, as this made it a lot easier for me to understand. I also felt like the author did a good job of wrapping everything up and tying all the loose ends together so that by the end of the book, everything connected back.

POV was third person, and jumped from character to character. I think multiple POV can get confusing, and while I was a little lost to begin with, it all came together nicely. My only real complaint was the pacing as some bits felt fast and others slow. As a result, it took me a while to get through the first half of this book, but I ended up flying through the second half.

Overall, I thought this book was a hit! Definitely recommending this one!