*spoiler-filled summary*

Have you ever read a book and wondered how the author’s mind is able to create such elaborate stories and intricate characters? This is how I felt about the Book of Doors by Gareth Brown. When I started this book, I had no idea what to expect with this concept of a magical book, capable of opening every door. I started to imagine what I would do if I owned the Book of Doors. Probably never drive again and save a lot of money on flights. I thought the main character, Cassie, would discover new cities and make profound discoveries about life and happiness. Instead, I was pulled into a whirlwind adventure about secret societies, evil villains, and time travel.

Time travel is one of the main points of the book. Honestly I am amazed at how the book kept me on my toes at where the characters would travel to next. I enjoyed every minute of this book and I adore all the characters.

Aside from time travel, grief is heavily touched on in this book. Cassie’s relationship with her grandfather and Mr. Webber was heart-warming to see. I loved that she used the book to connect with them even after they passed away. It makes me wonder what it would be like to talk to someone at an older age, an age they never got to see in their lifetime.

Overall, the premise of this book was spectacular. I enjoyed my experience reading this book. I felt that it was thought-provoking and I often catch myself wondering what I would do if I had a Book of Doors.

*side note*
I am still not over the ending of Hugo Barbary and Rachel. I can’t believe how full circle it was knowing where the villain came from and why she changed so suddenly. I quite literally audibly gasped.

Love love loved this book ! Fantasy, action, adventure that really held my attention. 5 stars.
I have no negatives for it.
Cassie works in a book store and lives a quiet life with her friend Izzy. Mr Webber is a customer who has become a friend to Cassie. He loves to talk about books and encourages Cassie to read “The Count of Monte Crisco”. Mr Webber passes away in the store after giving Cassie a book.
When she returns to her apartment, feeling depressed, she opens the Book of Doors . The friend soon discover that any door will lead them somewhere else in the world, even the past .
Cassie and Izzy travel to distant places and meet up with a book hunter that wants the magic book but he wants their trust. He warns of others looking for their book with violent intentions.
Wonderful story that ends perfectly. Thank you NetGalley and the author for allowing me to read in exchange for my honest opinion.

First and foremost I'd like to thank netgalley for sharing my arc copy of the book of doors. The plot of this book was very intriguing and I even encourgaed several friends to pick it up. A few of them really Loved it. Personally, I really enjoyed the unique magic system that the books provided. However, I did struggle thru in overcoming my uncomfort for some of the darker themes. I think it just wasn't the proper genre for me. Thank you again for the opportunity

I love the idea of a book filled with magical doors and would love to find such a thing myself. This book, however, just annoyed me.

The author holds the reader's hand way too tightly. There are lots of bits like, "the old man sighed, as if he was sad." I can draw my own conclusions here! If you can't think of another way to tell me the guy is sad other than to outright tell me, you need to be practicing your craft more. Context clues were already there, please trust me enough to figure out what the sigh means on my own.

I got bored. The sweet, smart, bookish and beautiful Brooklynnite with the sassy roommate, the cute quips about finding magic doors and the interminable expressions of disbelief about the magic doors, wonderment at what to do about the doors, just the whole production felt cliched and predictable. I didn't trust the author to take me anywhere I wanted to do with this one.

Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for providing me an eARC in exchange for my honest thoughts.

🚪 fantasy, magical realism
📖 time travel
🚪 good vs evil
📖 Special books
🚪 friendship, found family, love, loss, grief

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (5/5) Okay I loved this book!! I finished last night and have been bouncing between four and five stars ever since. I finally landed on five because for one, this was the first book I've read in a while that made me sad instead of relieved when I knew it was almost over and two, this read like a magical movie and it was truly a unique and fun adventure.

I went into this thinking it would be a cutesy fantasy and I put it off because that wasn't really my mood. Well I was wrong, because things get DARK at times. I don't want to spoil but I will say that it's multi-pov and one character in particular is not a nice person and their view is quite disturbing. So keep that in mind because although it didn't bother me, I'm not sure this will be for everyone. Feel free to dm me if you need more on this before deciding to read. Anyway, it all begins with main character Cassie. She's just a normal young adult working at a bookshop in NYC. Until, one night an old man who's a regular customer dies in the shop and Cassie discovers he has left her a mysterious book. She quickly discovers it is not a regular book, when she and her roommate are able to transport through doors while in possession of the book. What begins as a fun night out hopping through doors in New York, turns into a journey through different places and time, and ends in an epic battle against evil.

Overall, I'm not a huge fantasy reader but books like this make me think I should read more in the fantasy/magical realism genre. So I definitely think The Books of Doors can be enjoyed by casual fantasy readers like me! Lastly, this was a DEBUT novel! I'm so impressed and will definitely be reading the author's next work.

I was not able to finish the book and therefore do not feel that I can give an unbiased review about the book, its plot, characters, or the author's work. I might revisit this book at a later time and finish it then, but not right now.

The books of doors… the book of light… the book of safety…. the book of pain…. Was I able to keep tracks of all the books???? The answer is no. Did I love this book? Yes, so much yes. If you’re a book lover most likely you will love this fantasy! So much fun and honestly I went to almost all my emotions here. Cassie and her grandpa, then Izzy and even Mr Webber. LOVED IT.

This book was fantastic! The concept of books doing different things, like offering join or inflicting pain was perfectly done! The ending leaves it open for a book 2 and let me tell you, if there is, I. Am. Here. For. It. Definitely recommend this book if you're a fan of Addie LuRue! Same kind of feel.

Thank you William Morrow for the gifted copy of this book.

The Book of Doors is a captivating fantasy story involving magic books, time travel, villains, and a "normal" woman that gets dragged into a world she was previously unaware of.

Cassie works at a bookstore and one night, one of her customers gives her a strange book. The Book of Doors can transport you to any place and time if you can visualize the door there. Cassie thinks this is super cool and her and her roommate spend an evening traveling all over NYC. However, others out there want this book and will do whatever they can to get their hands on it. It turns out there's a bunch of different magical books out there in the world, and people collect them to use for good and/or evil.

I loved the premise of this book and was really excited to dive in. The first couple of chapters sucked me in, but then the pacing got off. Most of the first 2/3 of the book was really slow. I feel like I read 100 pages and I'd only be at 15%. The last 1/3 or so really picked up and I flew through the ending. There's also a lot of time travel and parts got a bit hard to keep track of. There's an elaborate plan at the end and I found myself having to reread pages to keep track of what was going on and how the plan worked.

The creativity that went into writing this bumped it up to 4 stars. The world building with the various books and what each specific book does is fascinating. I also liked the time travel aspect because it added an extra layer to the plot that enhanced the magic.

Looking forward to more from this author!

If you could open a door to anywhere, where would you go?

I am a sucker for magical realism and this book did not disappoint. This is a fantastical, magical, thrilling, and poignant story that I absolutely devoured and I highly recommend to anyone that loves magical realism. I was shocked that this is a debut work. Even more shocking (and exciting) there seems to be a sequel in the works! At some times it felt like there was a lot of set up (which makes sense if there is going to be a sequel...first books are usually set up heavy), but it didn't take away from the overall power of the story.

I loved the premise of this book but I felt as though the tone was inconsistent. It went from a fairy-tale-ish feel to f-bombs and liquified corpses. The two psychopathic characters were too much and felt like cartoon villains. I also didn’t feel like the other characters were very well fleshed-out… in particular the relationship between Cassie and Izzy felt very flat to me. The book had a lot of potential but didn’t quite go from good to great.

Thank you to the publisher - I received a complimentary eARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This review took me a week to write because I have so much I would love to say but I don’t want to spoil any single part for anyone.

This isn’t my typical genre and I am so glad I took a chance to get out of my comfort categories. I loved this book. It’s thought provoking and you really have to pay attention. I think that I need to read the book again just to see the breadcrumbs the author left throughout that make sense now after reading.

I sincerely hope there is a follow up book because I’m not ready to close the door on these characters. (Har har see what I did there?)

This is the perfect book for any fantasy and book lover. There is so much magic and adventure packed into these pages and I really enjoyed my time reading through this book. I wasn't entirely sure what to expect from this book, as I often find that there are so many books that promise something magical for book lovers, but ends up not being quite what you're hoping for, but this one really hit some wonderful points. I would say the pacing was a little off at times and there were a few plot points and areas of the story that didn't quite flow as smoothly as I'd hope, but overall I think this was a really solid story that I had a great time with! I'll definitely look for more from Gareth Brown in the future.

I loved the Book of Doors! I appreciated the Time Travel element as well as the narration. I would read more from this author.

An amazing and colorful story of books and magic and time travel. There is a dose of good versus evil as the plot thickens. Cassie begins the tale in a bookstore where she befriends an older man. The story is ever expanding and vivid and filled with an eclectic cast of characters. It was a wonderful wild romp of pure imagination.

This book was provided by NetGalley. The review is my own.

Very few books make cry. I don’t think any other has had me tearing up in chapter 1! This was a great read and I look forward to reading it again.

You can tell that Brown enjoys a good library. The story he developed was inventive, and brought a new aspect to the trope of "magical books." I can see this novel being adapted into a movie, and I think some of the scenes would fit better in that format. Aspects of this were gory at times, especially referencing Hugo Barbary and The Woman. I felt those were unnecessary. The ending of the novel surprised me, and tied a lot of elements together. Brown did time travel well with this, and developed his characters to the extent one can expect in a thriller novel.

Cassie discovers she's not the only one who owns a magical book. There are book collectors and hunters vying for the powers possessed by different books. In the wrong hands, the world could be destroyed. Cassie and Izzy soon meet individuals who want them for power and individuals who want them for education.

Along the way, you will meet Mr. Webber, an old man who often visits the bookstore where Cassie works. He is also the individual who gifts the Book of Doors to Cassie. You will encounter the owner of The Fox Library, Drummond Fox, which houses the largest collection of magical books. There will also be book hunters like Hugo Barbary, Mr. Izaki, and Lund, and, of course, the bookseller and the woman.

The Book of Doors starts slowly, but eventually, the story reaches a point where it suddenly picks up, creating a whirlwind experience for the reader. The author, Gareth Brown, does an exceptional job at developing every character you meet, as well as having a well-developed magical New York City where most of the action takes place. Pay close attention to everything you read; you may find Brown is foreshadowing quite a bit. He includes just the right amount of plot twists and suspense to keep the story alive. Overall, I enjoyed the immersive journey "The Book of Doors" took me on, and I highly recommend it to anyone seeking an enchanting escape into a world of magic and adventure. Whether you're a fan of magical realistic fantasy or simply seeking an impactful read that will keep you on the edge of your seat, The Book of Doors is bound to suck you in. With its memorable characters and tasteful plot twists this story will leave a lasting impression long after the final page is turned.

Thank you to William Marrow Publishing and NetGalley for an advanced reader's copy in exchange for my honest review.

Oh boy, did I love EVERYTHING about this book! It was completely engrossing practically from page one. Very exciting. A true battle of good versus evil. All of the stars! Thanks to NetGalley and Harper Collins publishers for the arc. The novel is out now, read it immediately.

When Cassie is given a book that can open a door to anywhere, she is thrilled and immediately starts to explore. In fact, that premise could be the start of a whole adventure novel. But in this book, there is much more going on. The world contains highly sought-after books that can do magic, and all sorts of people pursuing them. At times violent and other times full of wonder, the book kept me so interested. I'd highly recommend it.