This book was so much more than I expected. As advertised, it’s about a woman who is gifted a book that turns out to be a magical gateway between doors, which is of course exciting at first, but then she soon realizes that others are out for the book, as well as the other magical books that exist. She is thrown into an adventure she didn’t ask for, yet feels the need to be a part of. The twists and turns that this plot takes were totally unexpected, and very intelligently thought-out. As a warning, it was also much more dark and violent than I expected, as in the villains are really villainous and it’s not glossed over. Nothing outlandish, just unexpected because I was expecting whimsical magic, but there’s actually a lot of thriller elements to this novel. That suspense only added to the story though, and I really did enjoy it. My only critique is that some of the dialogue felt forced or stiff, but it’s so hard to imagine what someone would say in an imaginary situation, so that’s not a huge problem in the grand scheme of things. Overall, 4.5 stars and I definitely recommend to any fans of magical realism and suspense. Thanks so much to NetGalley and William Morrow for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!

4.5/5

Thank you for this ARC in exchange for my honest review!
This book had such an AMAZING story and it was complicated and well thought out. I really enjoyed reading it!

It needs a bit of fine tuning with the writing and there were a couple chapters “nowhere and nothing” chapters that were very hard to follow. While I appreciate what the author was trying to create by changing the writing style to more metaphorical , I think the picture could have been painted in the same writing style.

All and all, def must read recommendation!

Most readers would agree that books are magical in the way they can transport you to another imagined world. What if books could literally transport you though? That is the premise behind The Book of Doors, a novel where magical books have the power to change you or change the world. These rare books are highly coveted which means the owners are in constant danger. Cassie is about to learn all about those dangers the hard way.

The Book of Doors is a fantastical journey through time & space that pulled me in and held me tight. While the very beginning of the story started off slowly, once I hit the middle section I could not turn the pages fast enough. I loved Cassie's relationship with Mr. Webber. I had vivid images in my mind's eye of the Fox Library and wished I could spend an afternoon in one of the cozy armchairs gazing at the view out the window. The play with time travel was such an interesting addition to the plot. There were unexpected twists and turns that kept me engaged and guessing the entire way through.

I wish the editor had removed the weight & eating comments made by both female main characters. They were unnecessary and disappointing. Additionally there was one character who was hatefully racist & misogynistic in a way that was really not needed for the story. Villains can be bad guys without using racist language. Thankfully neither of these issues took up much page space, but are both definitely things for readers to be aware of when embarking on this journey.

Overall I truly enjoyed The Book of Doors. For those that enjoy magical realism or fantasy as an ode to books, pick up this novel for a unique journey.

Thank you to @williammorrowbooks for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Reviews posted 2/19
Goodreads review: https://www.goodreads.com/amysalwaysreading
Instagram review: https://www.instagram.com/p/C3irmayxz92/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

✑ 4 ☆s (rounded)

”It was odd but beautiful, enigmatic and inviting, and Cassie wanted to pore over the pages and dream about whoever it was that had spent so many hours scribbling in the book. It felt like a treasure to her, this book, a mystery to occupy her mind.”

If there’s one thing you should know about me, it’s that I LOOOOOVE a magical realism moment!!!

The Book of Doors was no different. The FMC, struggling with grief & feeling stagnant in her life, is gifted an unusual book - one that can open doors to other places (and more). But, as quickly as she discovers the book’s secret, and the joy and adventure that comes with it, she also discovers the danger, corruption, and rot that follows in the power of controlling time, elements, emotions, & senses.

At times, the plot was a little slow & I also didn’t love how cluttered the different POVs felt sometimes. But overall, I loved the concept of the different books & the magic they each hold, the suspense & danger and dichotomy of protecting vs exploiting the books’ abilities, and I felt that the author did an incredible job weaving in friendship, grief, and the human experience into the story and the characters’ interactions.

Thanks to Net Galley and William Morrow for the ARC!

What an incredible concept & story! The author takes you on a whimsical journey with Cassie, Izzy, Drummond, & well-developed side characters. I loved how the story of good versus evil resonated with my mind & emotions. At times the evil was almost too much for me to move forward, but I just had to see what happened next. I can’t wait to see what Brown writes next! Thank you NetGalley for this advanced copy.

WOW! This book was magical! It started out slow but once it picked up I couldnt put it down. Truly an amazing read that I will be thinking about for a long time.

This book caught my eye on Goodreads and I was so excited to take a chance on more fantasy books and read this one. Cassie’s adventure was such a fun, but sometimes emotional, ride to be on! I loved reading this book and it was not what I was expecting but in a good way. This book about books truly felt magical because as I was reading about time travel, I felt like I was time traveling to when I was younger and fell in love with the Molly Moon series. This unique story was about friendship, bravery, and so much more, and I know that I’m gonna think about it for a long time. I think it sets you up for more adventures so that’s exciting too! I would recommend it to anyone who likes books about books and would like to escape reality, travel all over the world and across times, and join in on a battle between joy and despair. Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow Books for this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Wow - just wow! When one of Cassie's favorite regular bookstore clients dies, he leaves her a book. A book with mysterious symbols and images, most of which are unreadable, beyond the brief note he leaves, telling her it's the Book of Doors. The gift begins a magical adventure on which Cassie and her roommate Izzy embark. But it's not all fun and frolicking. In fact, owning the Book of Doors is one of the most dangerous experiences imaginable.
A mix of magic, travel, relationships, and thriller, this brilliant book is worth staying up with for "just one more chapter."

The Book of Doors is extraordinarily well written. I've been recommending it to all my friends and colleagues who are fans of literary fiction, with a good dose of fun.
When Cassie, a bookstore clerk in New York, finds a beloved customer dead in the bookstore cafe, she's additionally surprised to find that the book he's carrying has an inscription to her. It's the Book of Doors.....and so begins Cassie's magical travels throughout the world & time. Of course, time travel comes with a dark and dangerous side....
For all of us who love a good adventure, love books, and demand the very best writing...The Book of Doors may be the book of the year.

I really enjoyed this book. It does start a bit slow, but picks up and give all sorts of twists and turns, making me binge it in one sitting. Very unique and a great debut. Definitely recommend and I can't wait to read more books from Brown.

I loved this book! It was such a unique premise and execution. It might even make my top 10 of the year! Right from the beginning, I was fully invested in finding out more about the books and what was going to happen. The whole organization of the book, how it was set up and executed, was perfection. The only negative thing I can say is that the narration for the audiobook didn’t quite work. Cassie is an American character so having a British narrator who attempts an American accent for all of the dialogue (save Drummond), wasn’t the best casting decision. Otherwise, she was a great narrator for a British character-centric book. I read 90% and listened to the last 10%, so I’m glad I read as much as I did since I might not have rated it as highly if I’d listened to the whole book.

FIVE HUGE STARS!!!!

My only complaint was that I was too busy to read this is one sitting because I hated having to put it down at all!!

This book was a suspenseful and propulsive fantasy adventure. It was a love letter to books, a found family story, a web of mystery and secrets, and a highly engaging standalone fantasy. I loved Cassie as a main character SO MUCH and I loved the structure of the story as well.

As a huge time travel nerd, I was obsessed with the mechanisms of the time travel in this book! I also loved that this felt firmly rooted in fantasy rather than scifi - it made the time travel feel almost mystical.

There were so many loose ends as this book went on that I was worried there wouldn't be time to tie them all up, but I shouldn't have worried. Brown masterfully wove each storyline together and tied it all up with a neat bow. I was so impressed with the scope of this book and what he was able to accomplish in only 400 pages.

Vibe-wise, this book felt like The Night Circus or Addie Larue. It gave me those fantastical magical realism vibes that a great contemporary fantasy should give! This will most likely end up as a favorite of 2024 for me.

READ THIS BOOK!!

Thank you to Netgalley and William Morrow for providing me with this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

The book starts with Cassie, a bookstore employee who is given a mysterious book by an older gentleman right before he dies. When she opens it, she realizes that there is something different about this book. All readers know that books can take you places, but in this case that sentiment is quite literal. Cassie has found the Book of Doors, which lets her travel via book. She learns that there are other magical books out there, each doing something different. There are also people who will do anything to get their hands on all of them, especially Cassie’s book.

This is one of those “it’s not you, it’s me” books. I wanted so badly to love it. The premise is so full of wonder. Unfortunately, for me, the book was not. I don’t mean that in a harsh way, just that the writing was much more straightforward than I expected. I went into it expecting lush, descriptive writing, like Erin Morgenstern’s or Alix E. Harrow’s (in my defense, the book was compared to The Night Circus). While the writing was solid, it did not have that sort of dreamlike quality that I was hoping for. However, that sort of writing isn’t for everyone, and I think that the less flowery prose would work well for the majority of readers. It just wasn’t what I wanted.

Cassie irritated me at first. She seemed willfully naive, especially when she was with her best friend, Izzy. They seemed very surface-level and I wanted more depth from them, particularly Cassie. My attitude toward her changed over the course of the book, as her worldview was slowly widened. It was interesting to see that sort of character development and I have to give the author major credit for being able to do that while also delivering a book where a lot is going on. The other characters added to the narrative, but my favorite was Drummond Fox. He was a less straightforward character, which I really liked. Maybe he was trustworthy, maybe not. Those kinds of characters always have me leaning forward in my seat a little bit, curious as to what their motives are.

The book becomes almost a game of cat-and-mouse, taking characters not only in and out of locations, but throughout time. That being said, the pacing was a bit choppy for me, dropping me out of the story several times. I was never able to be fully invested.

The villains were extremely evil, with The Woman setting a great example in how to be awful (I’m reminded of that old saying, “when she was good, she was very, very good. But when she was bad, she was horrid). I do wish she had a name throughout the story, instead of just being referred to as “The Woman” because I kept thinking of Sherlock. Again, my fault.

There was a lot happening, and the premise of the book is unique and exciting. Most readers will more than likely enjoy the chase and the ultimate showdown, so to speak. I might have enjoyed it, had I not expected something completely different. Unfortunately, The Book of Doors was a miss for me.

Thank you @bibliolifestyle @williammorrowbooks @netgalley for my gifted copies.

A book about magical books? Say less. Cassie lives with her best friend Izzy in NYC and works at an independent book store. When one of her favorite customers dies in the shop, Cassie finds he’s left her a gift. It’s an odd book with an interesting message, ‘This is the Book of Doors, hold it in your hand, and any door is every door.’ Just hold the book, envision the door you’d like to go through and amazingly, you’re there. Past, present, Italy, France, or sometimes somewhere sinister.

I really enjoyed this story. The magical books were very interesting and there were a large cast of characters to root for and just as many villains to root against. There were a few places the pace dragged but time travel leads to some repetition so that’s to be expected, think Prisoner of Azkaban. It got very dark at times which was unexpected but worked well to tug at your heartstrings. There are so many twists and turns you will never see coming and all my questions were answered by the last page. I am surprised this is a debut and look forward to reading whatever Gareth Brown writes next. If you’re a fan of books like The Night Circus and The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue then give this one a shot!

This book was amazing. Absolutely amazing. It was beautiful and I enjoyed every single moment I spent in this world.

DNF - the premise of this book was so interesting. When I started reading, though, the writing was just so hard to keep reading. It was juvenile and stilted, and it was impossible to get invested in the book. Maybe for someone else, bit this one qas just not for me.

A really interesting magic system, combined with a bit of a love letter to books - this story is everything you could possibly want from a fantasy. I was hooked!

Thank you to the publisher for providing a copy for review

Cassie Andrews lives in NYC as a bookseller. One of her favorite customers, Mr. Webber comes into the shop to read and dies. He leaves her a book with strange writing and a note. As she returns home she tells her roommate and best friend Izzy about Mr. Webber and the book. She starts to recall her trip to Europe and her time in Venice. As she walks to her bedroom and opens the door she finds that she is in Venice in the rain. She then understands her book is magic and can open doors anywhere.

A Book of Doors.

As the story progresses we are introduced to more characters. Those who want to protect the books and those who want the books for evil. There are also more good & evil books.

This book was written so well that I could picture it all like a movie. A fantasy with good, evil and time travel. I will definitely be thinking about this book for a long time and definitely be rereading it again. A must read.

This isn’t my normal choice of books, I decided to request it because of it being an upcoming title for a box subscription. I was pleasantly surprised by the writing style, characters, plot, etc. It’s definitely a unique book that I would recommend in the future to friends. The magic system, the time travel, the enchanting storytelling all add up to a great story. I’m looking forward to reading more from this author in the future

I thought this book was absolutely incredible. I’d give it 10 stars if I could. It was so masterfully written, and weaving the plot points as time was ping ponged back and forth was just… wow. So many things make sense the later you get in the story and really make you think about how in a way the past is already set. Because if you were to go back and change something, then that already happened because future you already thought about it. So the present wouldn’t change because that was supposed to happen.
Also I loved the concept of the books as individual powers, such as pain and illusion, and the backstory of how the books came to be was also mind-blowing. I wish I could say more, but I don’t want to spoil, and I want you to be just as amazed and enamored by every plot twist and revelation as I was.

Thank you Bibliolifestyle, William Morrow, and the author for this wonderful book! It truly transported me elsewhere.