3.5/5

Cassie works at a bookstore in NYC. One day, her favorite customer silently passes away and gifts her a book -- the Book of Doors. She soon learns that this book has special properties, allowing her to travel anywhere just by opening a door.

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The Book of Doors made for a very refreshing read. At first, the plot seemed a little convoluted, but everything did come together beautifully in the end. The story itself was captivating, with surprise twists and turns that I never saw coming.

However, while the story and narration was great, there were some parts of the dialogue that nearly made me DNF the book. For example, one of the female characters makes some very unnecessary comments about food and how it impacts her body ("I am disgusting. It’s midnight and I am doing this to my body." -- all because she ate pancakes AND bacon). In another instance, one of the villains uses a term that some now consider a racial slur to the Japanese community.

Overall, I am quite glad that I still gave the book a chance. It was a great book to start off the year, with such an interesting premise and unique story.

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

When Cassie is left a mysterious book, she and roommate Izzy soon find that its special powers turn doorways into portals, allowing them to travel instantaneously all over the world. Such power does not come without danger as they realize that their Book of Doors is just one in a collection of magical books. Good vs. Evil, time travel, and adventure are packed into this fast-paced, suspenseful story.

The Book of Doors by Gareth Brown has been on my 2024 list for a while, so I was very excited to get an advanced copy from Netgalley and the publisher. I saw it pop up on a few lists and I am a full sucker for every genre this falls into… time (space?) travel, books about books, books about bookstores, etc., ad infinitum.
Cassie Andrews lives in New York City with her best friend Izzy, and has my dream job in a bookstore. One evening while she’s closing the store, her favorite customer dies in the bookstore holding a book. When she opens the book, she sees that it is called the Book of Doors, and that he’s written her a note that he’s leaving the book to her.
The Book of Doors, she soon finds out, is a magical book that can open any book on earth and can take you there instantly. Even more, the book can take you back into the past if you ask it to. Cassie and Izzy experiment with the book and start to figure out what amazing things it can do, but soon realize that it isn’t the only magical book out there. And of course, there are some Very Bad People hunting all of the magical books. This begins our adventure in time and space.
It’s definitely a fun and poignant read, especially if you like magic, time travel, and adventure. The characters are well written and believable and the scenes are so visual.
I really enjoyed it, and now this author is definitely on my radar now and I am eager to see what he comes up with next. Thank you to Netgalley for sending me an advanced copy in return for my honest review.

This was a captivating time travel read with well-crafted storytelling and character growth. This story offers escapism with intrigue, mystery, and time travel elements. Criticized for unbelievable aspects and unnecessary horrific violence. Warning to skip graphic violence at the end of Part One. Regardless, this was an interesting read and I definitely recommend it!

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for this ARC!

Overall, I really enjoyed this story. Some parts dragged on for much longer than I'd have liked, but then others I was absolutely glued to the page.

Its a FANTASTIC (in every sense of the word) storyline, that's dripping with details. Would absolutely recommend to others to give it a try.

Thank you to NetGalley & Author Gareth Brown for the eARC of The Book of Doors.

I have had my eyes on this one for a while so I was excited to get a copy of it on my kindle! I really loved it!! The author developed such a unique and mystifying atmosphere! Will be reading more by them!

It was an okay read....interesting enough to keep me reading and finish the book, but not something that I would tell everyone to go out and read. It had a very interesting concept, but there were a lot of things that I kept questioning and it seemed like the author was trying to wrap things up too neatly at the end. Also, I don't think that some of the books made sense....the book of mists?

Rated 5/5
This ARC was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I loved this book! I have read 4 books so far in 2024 and already know that this is going to be in my top 3 for the whole year. The writing was great and so vivid. I felt like I was apart of the story. I could see the scenes play out and felt like I was on the journey along with the characters. I’m going to be recommending this one to my friends and family upon release!

Book of Doors attracted because it’s fantasy adventure with a little time travel thrown in. It also is about books. I enjoy a book about books.

The story was interesting but not a page-turner. It seem to be same ole, same ole u til the final chapters when real action begins.

Given that this Graeth Brooks first book, I will look for more from him. He will probably improve with practice.

Thank you to Net Galley for the digital ARC!
Despite the initial confusion during their introductions, it was interesting to see how I continually appreciated and was fascinated by all of the characters, even the “bad guys”. The characters are all so complex and intertwined, new tidbits are constantly revealed even up to the very end.
At times, there was a sort of wordiness and odd sentence structure that made me trip over the story at some points. I found myself having to reread certain sentences a couple times.
Overall, this book had my jaw dropped, eyes tearing up and even letting out a chuckle or two at several different points throughout the story. I highly, highly recommend!

I can’t wait for it to be out and about as I wait enough to scream all about it. Plus, I just know that this is going to be our book club’ book of the month. I enjoyed it so so much.

I really enjoyed this book. Very new and interesting concept. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in fantasy/magical realism novels.

The first half of this book was stunning - gorgeous storytelling, a childlike perspective of this unique magic, and a convincing adventure. This felt a lot like if Addie Larue had taken a more diverse approach to it, and I was very invested in Cassie and what she would do! I cried multiple times through this book and found Cassie’s exploration of grief with her closest people to be the strongest part of the book.

Where the book fell flat, however, was the second half. The most glaring issue I had was that there was a lack of purpose. The protagonist had no motivation to continue her journey and agree to help save the book of doors and stop the villain(s) from using them for evil. She happens upon the book of doors and has a fun little time, then Drummond shows up and tells her of all the intense, high-stakes danger she is in, and she’s just on board with waging this battle for this book? Especially when Cassie seems very naive and does not give the impression a main character willing to put herself in harms way for no reason.

I also wished the author had picked one villain to focus on and give us a backstory as to how they became the evil person they were - and I thought the woman was a good villain! But I didn’t understand her & in my opinion it is crucial to let readers understand your villains reasoning and motives, not just “because she wants to.” Barbary seemed useless and just offered setbacks for our main characters without actually doing anything worthwhile to the plot. I think he distracted from what could’ve been a fantastic, well-rounded villain.

I still really enjoyed this story! I love unique tales of magic, and the author’s flow between past and present was flawless, which is not easy to do!!

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.

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