Thank you, NetGalley and William Morrow, for my complimentary digital copy for review.

The Book of Doors is nothing short of a mesmerizing journey. As someone who finds myself perpetually enchanted by the concept of books within books, this novel by Gareth Brown struck a deeply resonant chord. The idea that books are not just stories, but potent artifacts with the power to alter the fabric of reality, captivated me from the outset.

Every character in this universe, carefully crafted, felt alive, pulling me into their emotional journeys. I rooted for the flawed yet admirable protagonists and found the villains particularly captivating. Their complexity and crucial role in driving the narrative made them more than mere antagonists.

The inclusion of time travel as a seamless element of the plot further enriched the story for me, adding layers of intrigue without ever feeling overwhelming or confusing. Such a complex theme felt so naturally integrated into the fabric of the narrative.

My experience with "The Book of Doors" was profoundly engaging, offering a fresh and compelling take on the magic of books. For anyone with a deep love for books about books and stories that weave magic with the intricacies of time travel, "The Book of Doors" is, in my eyes, an essential read.

I'd first like to thank NetGalley for providing me this arc for a honest review. I will start by saying I did not finish this book and had to stop about 25% in because I found myself just not caring about the characters at all.

The idea of this book sounded so so good, which was why I was interested. I love books with magical realism, but this just fell flat for me. The very beginning was interesting, but as I kept reading I felt bored and disinterested. The mystery that was set wasn't a mystery I wanted to know what would happen. I typically do not DNF books because I hate not knowing what happens, or giving it a full opinion, but I just couldn't continue. I will not be reviewing this anywhere else besides here because I don't feel it's right to give a 1 star and review to the public when I didn't complete the read.

This book is pure MAGIC!!! PURE PURE MAGIC. I did not want it to end, I was taking my sweet time, especially when the action started in this book, and we have Cassie and other characters, literally trying to save humanity, because the book that was handed down to her might be way more dangerous than she thought.

This is how it starts out, we have Cassie who works at a bookstore, she has this adorable old man who comes in and sits and sips his coffee before closing. Anyway one day he passes away and next to him he has a book that he gave to her with a saying “Any door is every door.” Well, the way Cassie found out that this book is special AF was when she starts thinking of her fave places, she opens any door and it leads her there, that’s so damn AWESOME. I kept thinking to myself, I need this book in my life.

So we end up finding out that this book and others out there are magic and special, and if they land on the wrong hands they can do very bad things. We get introduced to so many cool people, Drummond is one of them, also known as the Librarian, and his family library housed the majority of these books, and some people had died for them and because of them. I am telling you this book was awesome.

This book had everything, fantasy, magic, time travel, some horror (because there some characters here who are so damn scary and do very scary things), and a little romance, it was overall exciting. I feel like this isn’t the end, not yet.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for the eBook ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really really really wanted to like this book. The description immediately grabbed me and had me excited to read it but, unfortunately I don't think this one was for me. I feel awful giving a negative review of an ARC but I encourage anyone who comes across my review to find out for themselves if this book is for them! I'm not one to discourage anyone from reading a book even if I didn't like it. So regardless of my dislike, definitely give it a shot for yourself. However, I did have to DNF this pretty early into it and here's why. To start off, the way the FMC was described as being too tall, too thin, chest too flat, just very self degrading things and i didn't like that. Also there were weird comments about eating food and calling herself nasty for eating pancakes, that all felt very unnecessary and just rubbed me the wrong way? Which, at the end of the day, sure it might not be a big deal but it just made me feel icky and you have to think to yourself "why is the author telling us this? what's the point?" and any conclusion y0u can come to is likely not a good enough reason, for me at least. Also, the pacing of how things were unfolding felt a bit off to me. The writing style wasn't the worst ever (a bit clunky though) and I can normally look past that and enjoy a book with that, but with everything combined, I couldn't bring myself to finish it. I found myself dreading continuing the book and even this review. I'm very disappointed because I really wanted to love this, especially with being a book lover and dreaming of traveling my whole life, but it just fell completely flat for me.

I had a hard time getting into this book but I realized by the last 3rd that the author had been laying groundwork for a lot of plot twists and realizations. There could have been several loose ends with this plot but they were all wrapped up very nicely and in unique ways throughout the last 3rd. I loved the way the book was organized into parts with chapter titles and interwoven stories that happened multiple times in different ways. Like I said, this could have gone badly, but the author left no stone unturned and I appreciated that. I think the character development for Izzy could have been better because I was not nearly as connected with her as I was with the other characters, so that led me to real apathetic at times. On another note, there were way too many semicolons, BUT that didn’t change the story for me. Thank you for sharing this story with me and the world.

5 stars
What a mind blowing, amazing work of art this book is! Part magical, part illusion, part time travel, this book took me on an ever changing journey through space and time!

Cassie, a clerk at a NYC bookstore, receives a gift from an elderly customer upon his death. It’s a book, but not just any book. It’s The Book of Doors, which enables Cassie, and her bestie Izzy, to go through doors and emerge anywhere on earth! Rome, Paris, Prague, anywhere!
The magical book can also provide time travel, to the past and back again!
As expected though, the book is sought by many dangerous people, who will go to any length to have this book.

The different characters and settings we meet each have their own connection to this book, and many others like the book of Illusion, the book of pain, The book of health, and many more.
It’s a wild journey for Cassie, Izzy and the readers, and I highly recommend this amazing book!
Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Collins for the opportunity to read this book pre- publication, and give my honest review.

When I first heard about this book, I was so excited and I put in my NetGalley request immediately. It sounded perfectly suited to my taste because it was a mix of a love of books, magical realism, and a mysterious man with dark hair. Unfortunately, it fell very short of those expectations.

The overarching feeling I have right now is disappointment. The premise of this is so unique but that and the minimal world-building weren’t enough to keep me satiated. There were definitely things that I enjoyed and I think the character of Drummond Fox was interesting enough that I would enjoy another story from his perspective. However, every other character fell flat. They were all one dimensional, stereotypical, and a little boring. I don’t think I actually cared about any of them and therefore didn’t care about their relationships with each other.

The writing itself was so clunky and disjointed. Lots of telling and not a lot of showing. The dialogue felt like it had been written for teenage girls - like Gareth Brown doesn’t fully understand how people speak to each other and especially how women speak to each other. I have said time and time again that I don’t think men should write from the perspective of women because most of the time, they don’t know what they’re doing. The amount of times that the female characters in this book referred to weight gain or food going directly to their hips was alarming.

I’m not sure where to start with the pacing except to say that it was all over the place… I’m mostly referring to a specific section of the book where time passes so quickly that it made almost no impact on me as a reader - and it should have made an impact given the “importance” of it for the story itself.

I also think it’s important to note that one of the villains, if you can call him that, was unnecessarily racist and misogynistic. Listed below are some of my favorite quotes of his:
“Some fucking ape slapped me like I was his wife.”
“That fucking Black, bald bitch.”
“That Jap and his ape must have been working for her.”
“Sometimes I wish I lived back in the 1970s when the natural order was still in place. Life was so much simpler then. I could just give you a slap and send you away to make my dinner and nobody would even blink.”

I wish I had loved this. It is full of so much wasted potential and although I see what Brown was trying to do, and appreciate the attempt, it would have been better in someone else’s hands.

Thank you to William Morrow and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Magical realism, contemporary fantasy, books with powers, and people hunting these books for evil purposes. I absolutely loved getting lost in this book. Cassie is a 20-something working at a New York City bookstore when a regular customer dies of old age while she’s working. She grabs the book he had with him and sees a note that he has given it to her. With the Book of Doors, any door is every door - she can go to different places and even different times as long as she has a door to open and the book in her hand. But soon the hunters are after her and this highly sought after book. Can you imagine?!

This one comes out next week Tuesday, on 2/13, so this is your official notice to pre-order or add it to your library holds. Thank you NetGalley and William Morrow for the digital ARC!

Thanks so much for the ARC, NetGalley and William Morrow! This book was such an interesting ride. It took me a while to get into the book, but once I did, I could not turn the pages fast enough! I loved the magical aspects of this book and the message that it shared. I can't wait to recommend this to my friends!

If you like Time travel and magic realism, with a slow burn story, this one is for you!

I loved the premise of this book, if you could open a door and go anywhere, where would it take you? However, the pacing of the book was a little off to me. It would start to get fast and I couldn’t out it down, then it would slow down and I would not pick it up for a few days. I’m not usually a slow burn book kind of reader, so I think that if you love a lot of detail you may not have the same pacing problem that I did.

Overall, unique premise with all of the magic and time travel. Solid 3.5 stars rounded up to 4.

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

I really liked the premise behind this book, and was looking forward to a thought provoking read, but unfortunately, this was a miss for me.

If you like magical realism and time travel books, this may be the one for you. I felt like I was hanging onto a bell curve while reading this one. It was very slow and then started to get a little exciting, only to become very slow, again. It was tedious, and I never really wanted to pick it up. I probably should have DNF'd it as the pacing was clearly off for me, but I decided to power through with the hopes it would get better.

I've seen reviews that compare this book to The Midnight Library and The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, neither of which I loved, so I guess there's no surprise that I also felt the same about this book.

Thank you Netgalley and William Morrow for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This was a novel of juxtapositions. I felt all the feels while reading this. It was cozy yet adventurous, Heartwarming and heart wrenching, imaginative but felt so real. Every page of this had me hooked. If you like adventures and books this really is for you. Honestly I recommend this book to everyone.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book to review. This is out February 14th!

More like 3.5 stars. This was a hell of ride! Time traveling and magical books that heal, transport, change your face?!, so many cool ideas. I loved the concept, and I really hope this is made into a movie or series. However, the character development wasn’t good and the dialogue was a bit off. There were some weird racist and sexist comments from the villain, that honestly, were just unnecessary, and left me feeling icky.

Sometimes a book catches you by surprise in the most pleasant way and for me, this was one of those books. The premise of this book was incredibly interesting, and I went into it expecting to like it. I did not expect to like it as much as I did, and it now lived rent free in my brain.

Cassie lives a very typical New York life working at a bookstore when one day one of her regular patrons gifts her a book; The Book of Doors, where any door can be a door. The book lets Cassie travel anywhere she can imagine by transforming any door into a portal to anywhere in the world. The problem is that other people want The Book of Doors and not all of them have good intentions. Cassie has very quickly found herself in a dangerous world she knows nothing about and with no idea who to trust.

This book was magical realism at its finest. The magic was believable and well fleshed out. The tension was palpable in the best possible way. I was deeply invested in the characters and the outcome of this story. Everything was well explained without being overdone. For a debut novel this was spectacular and one of those rare occasions where a debut author became an auto buy author for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of the book. I leave this review voluntarily.

I will admit, this book took me a while to get invested in, but once I got there, I was all in! I couldn't wait to read more!

This book primarily follows the story of Cassie Andrews and her life in NYC. She works in a book store and a friendly man named Mr. Webber is a frequent visitor. One night, he leaves her a book in the cafe of the bookstore and it completely changes her life! Cassie is thrown into a world full of magic and danger with excitement behind every door ;) hehe

My biggest issue with this book was the immaturity of Cassie at the beginning. It almost did me in. I didn't think I'd be able to finish this one, but I pushed through and it ended up being better than I expected in the end! Cassie grows up A LOT in these pages and it makes ALL the difference.

There is opportunity for sequels and I'm looking forward to reading them if Gareth Brown writes them... just as long as we get mature Cassie and not the one that's annoying lol.

This book felt like a note to the readers and adventurers to go out and chase after the lives they desire. The concept of these magic books, like the Book of Doors, were very cool and interesting. I definitely loved the scene where Class and Izzy traveled with the book for the very first time. It felt whimsical and childlike wonder come to life. I liked Fox Drummond and how he continued to carry on despite all that he lost.

Though the two things I took issue with in this book were the pacing and showing over telling. I feel like these would have made the characters and tension of the plot truly shine. Overall, was a good book with a very interesting concept.

This book kind of confused me. Cassie read like a kid, and the first 25% of the book felt like a YA novel. But then it switches characters and a bunch and there’s a bunch of cursing (which isn’t unheard of in YA) and violence, but it all feels like a book that should have been YA. Even the writing felt YA, but it clearly wasn’t intended as a YA book. I kind of question why - it’s a bit younger than it should be for adult fantasy, and that would be fine, but it feels lost. I don’t know - I just liked it in theory but found myself thinking it felt unclear who the audience was and how the writing fit into place.

A twisty mystery with a touch of magic. A book about books with characters you grow to love and hate. Highly recommend!

When Cassie Andrews has a bookstore patron die during her shift, a book left behind changes her life in mysterious ways.

One part science fiction/fantasy, one part adventure story, and all exciting, this novel takes the reader on a wild ride along with Cassie. As she meets other people with magical books, the mystery of where they come from and the underground community around them pulls her deeper and deeper into dangerous waters. Some scenes are quite gory because the books allow for some wild fight scenes. This book was an exciting page turner that at times twisted my brain in a pretzel, but I felt that the explanations were enough and the outcome satisfying. I would read more by this author (this is a debut!) and/or more in Cassie's world in a heartbeat.

This was such a unique story. It had elements that reminded me of The Midnight Library or The Starless Sea. I also made connections with One Dark Window with the unique magic systems (this one had books instead of cards). I love how the author was able to take basic fantasy elements and make it his own. It is hard to find a unique fantasy book and this book is truly that.