I first want to say thank you to NetGalley, Gareth Brown and the publishers for allowing me to get an ARC copy of this book.

I wasn’t sure what to expect going into this book, especially with the comparisons I had seen about it being similar to midnight library, which I had recently read. I would like to note that I don’t agree with these comparisons besides the loosely related concept of stepping through time.

This book was a pleasant surprise and I was unable to put the book down after a while. Every character is written very well and gets you involved in their personal story and relationships with the books, even characters that we only saw for a chapter. Each character’s story comes full circle by the end and unlike most books, every loose end is tied by the last chapter, which was very satisfying. Pay attention to the small details throughout, they almost always came back up to make a connection.

Come prepared for a journey through time, problem solving, mystery and a vast range of emotions.

This book was an amazing read and a great debut novel for Gareth Brown. I can’t wait to see what else he writes!

Title: The Book of Doors by Gareth Brown

Publication Date- 02/13/24
Publisher- William Morrow
Overall Rating- 3.5 out of 5 stars

Review: Review copy given to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

The Book of Doors sets out to be a combination of a literary fiction and a thriller. I would say it somewhat achieves it’s goal. I found my experience to be that the book felt like it was spilt into halves based off genre. The first half felt like a heartfelt literary fiction that shaped up to be one of my favorite books of the year. The latter half was a thriller that was convoluted and had too many elements to it. Unfortunately because of the latter half of the book I ended up not enjoying it as much as I expected. Let me say more.

This book contains one of the most interesting worlds and premises I’ve ever read. This is a world where books carrying magical powers such as time travel, pain, despair, luck, etc. At the start of the book we get to know a few of these books and what they can do. As the book goes on there are more and more books to the point that I wondered what the point of them was anymore.

We get to know a lot of characters who were all truly wonderful all the way to the end. The Book of Doors carries a found family element with it that was endearing and heartfelt up until the last page. In the latter half of the book this wasn’t as prominent at the start but could still be felt.

Throughout the story we spend time with people who are “hunt,” these magical books for use and/or collection. There is some beautiful imagery in the first half that will stick with me forever. Picture you favorite ambience room and put that in a book.

There is time travel in this story and it all made sense for the first 40 percent. Then it felt like the author himself got confused or took things too far to the point that it no longer made sense. There is one really heartbreaking element to the main characters life that felt relatable and authentic. However, on the very last page the author basically took all the heartfelt away. You will only understand that if you read the book. With that being said some of you will disagree with me about that element, you may soak it up and love it.

That brings me to my final point. The story wraps up too neatly. I would have liked to see a more open ending that didn’t feel like everything tied up in a nice neat bow. Now, to you that may be something that you want or prefer in your books.

All in all I did really enjoy this book. The first 50 percent I will never forget reading and some of the scenes and moments will be in my mind forever. I am not upset I read this and will read from the author again.

This was a intriquing fast paced time travel read I found the story well crafted and the characters likable as they experienced growth throughout the book. They start out inmature and annoying but the two young friends do evolve as they must to meet their challenges. This book has all the elements one wants to read to escape from life. Intrique , mystery and time travel.

In the end its about unusual circumstances and rising to the occasion those circumstances require. I enjoy the descriptions of the travel although done most unbelievable. I would catagorize it as a magical paranormal mystery with a element of horiffic violence throughout. I felt the time travel aspect would have been so pleasant without the violence which has no place in the story other then shock value.
Alert: Be aware:
The end of part One has horiffic graphic violence and can be skipped . Skipping the violence does not take away from the basis of the story. This book written by a man also contains a lot of shaming of women's bodies and shames the women for eating. Its mysognistic and devalues the women characters. Those two aspects of this book were disappointing . The remainder of the story has value and is interesting.. Due to the above two elements I would normally rate it 2 stars but I give a extra star for charachter development and the time travel element.

I believe all of us readers can find something in common among us: we all love books. Hearing about this book for the first time made me truly interested, and let me tell you, it did not disappoint. I loved the fantasy and superpower aspect of books that isn’t always mentioned in stories. However, I love it when books themselves have a story set around the idea of what books hold in them. Besides the books, the characters were amazing with extreme intelligence and adventurous spirits. This is definitely a book you need to read this year.
Thank you William Morrow for sending me this arc in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you for the EArc NetGalley and William Morrow. What a tumultuous ride of love, hate, anger, persistence, found family and books. We are taken through a gamut of emotions in this story and just when you think you’ve hit a level point, you are thrown off balance again. The characters were frustrating at times but overall enjoyable to get to know. Great read.

Thank you to William Morrow for my arc!

I actually finished this book yesterday and needed a full 24 hours to decompress. This book is obviously a love letter to books and how they have the power to bring people together but its also about life and how you can't always go back and fix your mistakes and I cried so much reading this. I can't wait to have a physical copy so i can go back and highlight my favorite quotes because this story made me feel so seen.

If whimsical darkness is a category, that’s where The Book of Doors belongs. That might sound like a lot of fun, and I commend the author’s effort, but I did not enjoy this.

Initially, I worried that I’d chosen a fluffy book. It was as soft as a Sherpa lined goose down pillow in the beginning, which is much cozier than what I generally desire in my reading choices! I wanted the horror the synopsis hinted at.

And I got it. Even though this somehow maintains a sense of whimsy throughout, it was rather brutal at times.

That didn’t quite salvage the story for me, but it certainly made things interesting.

Let me tell you what I’d envisioned when I read the synopsis: A powerful book that allows the main character (and the reader) to take extraordinary journeys all over the world. A story full of atmospheric travels that make readers want to believe in magic until *gasp* the main character opens the wrong door. Once she crosses the threshold into a dangerous place, readers will teeter on the edge of their seats.

I had it wrong. The travels were relatively rare and lacking in enticing detail. The story also included time travel, which I had not anticipated, and it didn’t add to the plot in the way you might expect. I thought it felt very basic. This device didn’t do anything particularly new or interesting, and the narrative lingered entirely too long in one time period.

The characters felt so much younger than they are supposed to be. At times, it almost felt like a middle grade read (which I would have been fine with if I hadn’t chosen an adult novel), and this made some of the violence incredibly jarring. Savagery didn’t mesh well with the book’s general tone.

The way the plot moved forward was built on a number of conveniences. Despite the complicated nature of the story, it failed to embrace true complexity. The simple writing style laden with similes and repetition, continual reminders of Cassie and Drummond’s attraction to one another, and overly detailed scenes that left little room for imagination all caused this fantasy to be far less fantastical than it should have been.

The Book of Doors didn’t take me where I wanted to go, despite having the ability to. You know it’s a bad sign when you’re quite done with the tale long before it’s actually over. For the record, I saw it through to the end, but I might have done so kicking and screaming.

I am immensely grateful to William Morrow and NetGalley for my copy. All opinions are my own.

I love so much the idea of this book. I need a movie ASAP, the pacing was fine to a fantasty book but what caught my attention immediately was the plot and the death at the beginning

3.5/5 Stars

Upon seeing this book I knew it was made for me.
✓ A gorgeous cover
✓ New York UES bookshop setting
✓ Book about books
✓ Traveling to beautiful destinations
✓ Comparison to Midnight Library and Addie LaRue

I was so excited about this one and loved the premise. The unique plot is really where this book shined. Very magical with excellent setting and enjoyable characters that kept me engaged. I also loved the ending. I think the story could easily be expanded on into more books.

Where the book went wrong for me was the writing. Since it was being compared to books like The Midnight Library and Addie LaRue, I had really high expectations as the writing for both of those is beyond stellar. While this had similar elements in the plot, it fell short in execution, lacking in the atmospheric feel and complex characters that the other books have.

Overall, I still very much enjoyed the book and believe a lot of readers will love it. My expectation were just so high that I ended up a bit disappointed.

I really enjoyed the premise behind The Book of Doors— the magical books, time travel, and battle between light and dark really drew me in. Books have the power to transport their readers anywhere in the world, basically acting as literal (and figurative) doors to any possibility imaginable. It follows the story of quiet and spunky Cassie and her friend Izzy who are brought together by the mysterious Book of Doors, left behind at the bookstore Cassie works at. The story then progresses in a manner than reminded me of a mix between The Midnight Library and Ink Blood Sister Scribe.

I enjoyed the emotional aspect of the story, especially with the wide range of characters from all different backgrounds. The book collectors made for a convincing villain, even if I did find some of the methods for making the villain “more villainous” (some really quite gross and problematic views) to be somewhat lazy writing. Generally, I prefer a villain that relies more on backstory and motive than hateful personal views.

Overall, I did enjoy the story and its whimsical nature, but am not really sure the authors writing style, especially with characterisation, was to my personal taste.

Overall Rating: ⭒ ⭒ ⭒ ½
I debated not finishing this book, but I’m glad I did.

The start of the book promised a cozy fantastical mystery full of exploration and the warmth of books. Cassie Andrews receives a mysterious, magical book as a gift from a man she doesn’t really know, and soon after finds that the book can transport her anywhere. For a while, Cassie is overjoyed by this book as she and her roommate travel to different countries, restaurants, and marvel over the magic of the Book of Doors. Meanwhile, the book slowly starts introducing other characters:

Drummond Fox, the owner of the mysterious Fox library. He is on the run from a terrifying character called The Woman, and other malicious book hunters like Hugo Barbary.

Azaki and Lund, a book hunter and his large and quiet bodyguard. These two get a call from the Bookseller and fly off to New York to hunt down the mysterious and coveted Book of Doors.

As Cassie continues to explore the book, the remaining cast of characters–good and bad– slowly begins to draw closer to the Book of Doors, and danger ensues.

The overarching plot in itself is gripping; there is a mystery that slowly unfolds through varying characters as they slowly come together. The guiding questions of which pushed me to continue reading the book. However, while this mystery unraveled, there were many other aspects of the book that tempted me to stop.

Although the characters were diverse, and their coming together was compelling, the overall writing of each one was flat. Their dialogue often felt forced, and sometimes strayed away from the plot, or current focus. Attempts at humor by the characters were dry, unappealing, and pointless. At the beginning, Cassie also seemed ill-tempered, selfish, and a pretty bad friend as she continually ignored Izzie’s fears, or was outright annoyed with them.

There was also an unexplained fixation on food, specifically bread and carbs? Croissants and pastries and cake and donuts were mentioned again and again, to the point where I kept seeking explanations for these foods, but there was none. It felt as if they were just there so that the characters could have something to say.
Related to the food, there was a very suspect fixation on Izzie and Cassie’s bodies. Izzie was worried about becoming fat, although she was ‘very beautiful.’ and Cassie was thin and tall and flat chested. Why was that relevant? In addition, non-white characters were often described by their race, especially when they were being insulted. And idk about anyone else, but a white man (the author and the character) insulting a woman by calling her a ‘Black bitch’ just doesn’t sit right with me. Brown seemed to give the villains character by making them sexist and racist, which is a very outdated form of characterization, especially since race and sex were not the focuses of the book–do better.

Finally, there were many significant events that seemed very pointless at the time of their happening. Later on, they were explained, but the way it was written did not allude to their relevance, and I almost dnfed multiple times just because things kept happening that didn’t make any sense.

Overall, the book was very slow and boring until the last half, where it picked up at a remarkable speed and everything began to finally make sense. Although the writing was consistently flat and overly descriptive, the ending almost made up for the miserable time I had at the start of the book. The use of the books, the unraveling of the main conflicts, and the explanations to all of the supposed plot holes was fun, well done, and almost bumped the book up to four stars. The ending was cozy, satisfying, and I generally loved the main cast of characters at the end. However, the writing, the dialogue, characterizations, and questionable discussions of women, bodies, and race, made it hard to thoroughly enjoy the book.

I didn’t hate The Book of Doors. I’m not mad that I read it. I think the plot is very interesting and the characters are compelling, but the writing choices and pacing knocked it down, and all I can come up with is that I really wish this was better executed. It could have been very good.

Overall Rating: ⭒ ⭒ ⭒ ½

Thank you to Gareth Brown, William Morrow, and NetGalley for this Arc in exchange for an honest review.

Cassie Andrew's is living a quiet and content life working in a New York city bookstore when her life takes a turn for the unexpected. An elderly patron of the bookstore passes away and the magical Book of Doors falls into her hands. Cassie becomes swept away with the power of the book and her quiet life quickly becomes more exciting and dangerous than she could have ever anticipated.

The book incorporates elements of magical realism with time travel and a love of reading that had me intrigued from the get go. I have to admit that in the first few chapters, I was skeptical. As I kept reading, though, the pacing of the story quickly accelerated into something more meaningful and cinematic than I expected. Brown deftly weaves in different points of view from the characters that eventually converge to an adventure with many twists and turns that had me gasping with surprise and just enraptured with Cassie's quest to find a sense of belonging.

I will always love a book with found family and this definitely delivers even if these friends find each other under dire circumstances.

Initial thoughts: THIS BOOK… WAS SO GOOD.

I will be shocked if this book is not a best-seller. Wow, wow, wow. This book took me for a ride! And I am blown away by the fact that this is a debut novel.

Once I finished this book, I could not stop thinking about. Even now, I am writing this review days after finishing it, and it’s still at the forefront of my mind.

I had so much to say about this book, that I made a 30 minute podcast episode ALL about this book, to be released closer to pub day. Be warned, the episode has spoilers, so make sure you read the book prior to listening to that episode!

I am so excited to interview the author, Gareth Brown, for the podcast! I can’t wait to pick his brain about how he came up with the ideas for the plot. (The author interview episode will be spoiler-free)

The story and the writing itself made for a phenomenal reading experience. I am not an annotator, but I have 37 highlights of beautiful writing from this book saved on my Kindle.

Let this chaotic review speak for itself: add this book to your TBR list.

I’m happy to have been able to read this as an e-ARC, but I can’t wait to buy a physical copy to display on my shelves!

Thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow for sending me an ARC of The Book of Doors in exchange for an honest review.

Cassie Andrews lives a fairly simple twenty-something life in New York City. She lives with best friend Izzy, and works in a bookstore. When a customer passes away in the store, he leaves Cassie a book inscribed with a note that says it’s the Book of Doors. Cassie soon learns that this book has the extraordinary power to turn any door into any other door, allowing her to travel to and from anywhere in an instant. But she also learns that there people who will stop at nothing to take the Book of Doors from her, and that there are other magical books in our world that give their bearers’ other powers ….

To say more about The Book of Doors would run the risk of spoiling parts of the story, so I’m going to keep this review really short. But I can say I LOVED this book. The plot is full of twists and turns, not the gotcha type, but just the story going in unexpected directions as more is revealed about these magical books. Characters and plot threads arrive and then seemingly fade into the background but they circle back again and again and, by the end, every one ties neatly together. The book is so beautifully written and paced that I still can’t believe it’s the author’s first novel. It’s a story full of wonder that’s simply wonderful. And the fact that there’s an opening for a sequel? The cherry on top. This book deserves all the hype it’s getting and more. A must read!

Add this to your TBR list! I have a feeling this book will take the world by storm upon release day.

Thank you NetGalley and William Morrow for the eARC.

This book was a phenomenal masterpiece. The intriguing enigma in which you’re faced with at the beginning begins to unravel slowly as you get sucked into the world in which Gareth Brown weaved.

The multiple POVs was an incredible stroke of genius that added to the story. They mystery that surrounds a magical book only becomes more tangled before sorted out.

The story takes place in modern day with a twist of fantasy! Cassie and her friends partner up to save the world from nefarious people that want to do harm with the magical books.

Gareth Brown crafted a clever, original, and refreshing book. I couldn’t put it down; with each turn of the page it got better and better. I definitely recommend this book to those that love danger, mixed in with fantasy, a dash of mystery, and magical books that opens the door to many possibilities.

I am overjoyed to give this book my first 5 stars of 2024! I cannot wait to read more from this author.

Such a good story! I really kept my attention and I enjoyed the read. Lots of good twists and very well-written. I'd definitely recommend!

Thank you NetGalley and Gareth Brown!

This book was phenomenal. Truly captivating and masterly crafted. The aspects of magical books, a perfectly fleshed out time travel plot and interesting characters-I can't wait for the sequel!!


I will update with relevant links to reviews on Goodreads and Youtube once posted.

This is a doozy of a book, but very well laid out and presented. It read a bit like a YA novel but for the five or so 'bad words' sprinkled in the book. I could not get a feel for the ages of Cassie and Izzy, so when they started the time travel, that was a little confusing. However, the plot was solid all the way through and I loved how things connected throughout the book and then finally ended. All of the characters stayed true to form from beginning to end. I think Lund was probably my favorite.
This one takes you on a roller coaster ride with time travel, beautiful places and descriptions, and lots of action. It gets a little tricky when they use the book for time travel instead of making lateral moves with it, but it really does all fit.
I received a prepub copy of this book in return for my honest review. It is long, but worth reading.

After reading the blurb for The Book of Doors by Gareth Brown, I was eager to read it. I started reading and soon wondered if the person who wrote the blurb had read the book. I did not find myself liking any of the characters. The characters were underdeveloped. Cassie lacked personality and Izzy was a downer. The characters reactions were off. If I open a door and find something unexpected, I expect the character to be surprised, wonderous, curious, and “how in the world.” There were comments about eating and food that were unnecessary (female body shaming comments). The antagonist is a sadist, but we are not told why. The villain seems to kill for no other reason than it brings her pleasure. There is extreme violence (torture). I was not expecting such gore. The stories pacing is either too slow or too fast (more telling than showing). The book did not have a flow. It jumps around from character to character as well as from different timelines. It makes for a confusing tale. I thought the book was drawn out with repetitive details. There is also foul language and terrible racial comments. I really did not appreciate the comment that the worst thing that ever happened was when women started feeling they were equal to men. The ending was anticlimactic. The Book of Doors lacked magic, fantasy, and fun. This booklover struggled to complete The Book of Door, but I did it helpful for my insomnia.

Quite an excellent tale. Gareth Brown presents an inventive tale of magic and adventure. At least, I think it's magic? The action all revolves around "magical" books that give the reader power over many things: Matter, Pain, Luck, and more. The main protagonist comes across The Book of Doors which makes every door the same door. Open up the door to your Manhattan apartment and step out in an alley in Paris, France. Just imagine the possibilities! A small spoiler is that the doors need not all be in the Now. Time travel is an implicit and intricate part of this narrative (you find out pretty quickly) and much of the inventiveness is in how time travel is used. Including one time when it is not, per se.

Full disclosure: I received a pre-publication proof of this book from NetGalley in exchange for a review. A review I am most glad to give! I've already suggested this book to several friends and now I suggest it to you.