This book is really divisive and I think that's in a big part of how it's marketed/categorized. It leans heavily into literary fiction but has strong fantastical elements. So if you are a strong fantasy reader, the writing style can be difficult. If you are a literary fiction lover, the story elements can completely take you out of the story. But if you appreciate both genres, this can easily be a 5 star read for you. It's extremely character driven, the speculative elements are strong but don't dominate the narrative, and the relationship between the sisters has a lot of depth and complexity. I think it's an excellent written book, but it definitely needs the right audience.

Did not finish book. Stopped at 40%.

The premise is absolutely fascinating: at some point in a reality alternate to ours, doors appear out of nowhere in various places in the world. They lead to strange new worlds entirely unlike anything anyone has ever seen... and they call to some people. These doors slowly become a part of society: as a site of pilgrimage and central to their own religion, as a presumed hoax, as a heretical deviance in nature. Twins Ayanna and Olivia are born into a split world: their father a member of the religion of the doors, and their mother a devout Catholic. At the dissolution of their parents' marriage, they live separately and evolve into two funhouse mirrors of each other: similar in appearance and design, but their view of the world around them skewed in harshly differing ways.

Ayanna is the focus of the book, growing up with the doors as some sort of nonsensical but benevolent entity, the focus of her father's religion. When she comes of age, their practice involves a grounding ritual of self-acceptance that allows individuals to walk through the door. Due to the divergent nature of the fates of those who have attempted to enter previously, it is very much a leap of faith. Olivia, having grown up with their rigid mother, comes to support her sister--and makes a decision that alters their entire family's lives irreparably.

Going into the book, I didn't quite expect such an emphasis on religion and religious philosophy. While I generally don't have an issue with either subject, I tend to find them to be quite a heavy topic that I can't comfortably deal with for too long. Once I got into part two of the book, Ayanna's mental state deteriorates and the action of the book becomes much more haphazard, jumping around in time in a way I couldn't easily follow and demonstrative of darker thoughts I try to avoid delving into myself. For this reason, I was having a lot of difficulty getting through the book. I will try to return to it at some point, but sadly, it simply isn't for me right now.

If you are ready for a fascinating and philosophical dive into religion, alternate worlds and an exploration into the familial bonds--and trials--of a Black family in the Midwest, try this book out! If you have experienced the loss of a sibling or are sensitive to religious trauma, however, I'd steer clear, as it may evoke some difficult feelings.

Where I currently am, I would give this book between two and a half and three stars.

So much thanks to NetGalley and Amistad for giving me a digital ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Current rating: 2.5 stars

Review posted to StoryGraph: May 18, 2025 (https://app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/ac0b1010-d595-4648-9665-c9a860d37094)

I was really intrigued by the blurb for this one, and the cover is fabulous - unfortunately, I found the story to be a bit all over the place and could not get into it... It felt like it opened in the middle of the story and I couldn't figure out what was going on or where things were going. This one wasn't for me...

I have no idea how to judge the quality of this – because it’s much more Lit Fic than Spec Fic, and I can’t judge LF at all. Loved The Women Could Fly, but this seems pretty different and very boring to me personally. I kept falling asleep (in the middle of the day) while trying to read it.

Just a case of wrong reader for the wrong book, I think!

I loved this book. It was mostly about faith and grief. And I like how both topics were handled. Ive read 2 other books by Megan Giddings and I loved both of them. This definitely solidified her as a favorite author.

I finished Meet Me at the Crossroads this morning and immediately checked out Megan Giddings Lakewoods from the library. That’s how much I loved this book! I hadn’t read anything by Giddings before, and when I read the description of “ …Crossroad,” I wasn’t sure it would be for me, but the themes explored here are much greater and deeper than the synopsis. I tagged this novel as sci- fi because seven mysterious doors suddenly appear throughout the world and when the doors open, they appear to lead to new dimensions in the universe. The doors open and what is viewed through them differs at times. Of course many will want to walk through them and do. What happens to those who go through the doors varies also. A religion is born. I thought the logical name of the new religion would be “the doors” ( because ima huge fan!). It wasn’t. But what strikes me most about the book is not the plot, it’s the deep treatise on grief, love, and family, (chosen and biological).

…”Once, the spirit sang that love was two intersecting paths. In a small ranch house, a mother converted her grief into red wine. She spoke to herself, to the wind, to God. Each utterance, a different attempt at penitence. If you apologize enough, if you make yourself small before glory, the universe will open its arms to you.

Sometimes, late at night, sometimes after enough prayer, the mother heard her lost daughter’s voice, like music drifting in a window from very far away.

When you are lucky enough to have the dead speak to you, listen.
When you are lucky to be given a miracle, you must see it.
When you are lucky enough to be loved, you must treat it like a seed. You nourish it in yourself, yes, but you are meant to instill it back into the world. To not do this is a sin.”

I loved this book and give it my highest recommendation

I was really excited to read this book based off of the description. The beginning was interesting to read, but was also very confusing with POVs changing left or right with what felt like no rhyme or reason. By the middle I was bored. It’s entirely possible I just missed the whole point of the story, but I did enjoy reading this book.

This book did not work for me. Way too fantastical and unreal I didn’t really enjoy how the plot wasn’t cohesive.

Abandoned this one around 60%. I was hoping for a sci-Fi / Fantasy vibe and this was more gothic ghost story? Interesting liked the premise.

In this mesmerizing novel, twin sisters Ayanna and Olivia are captivated by the appearance of seven mysterious doors that promise to lead to a new world full of beauty and resources. But as they explore the unknown, their bond is tested, and when one sister goes missing, the other is left to unravel the truth about what happened. Megan Giddings weaves a story of faith, love, and the complexities of family in a thrilling exploration of a new, dangerous dimension.

Tragedy strikes when Ayanna's twin sister disappears through a mysterious door and she spends her life haunted by spirits. A slow moving tale.

The premise to Meet Me at the Crossroads sounded promising, but the plot was a bit too meandering for me.

On one summer morning, seven mysterious doors appear, leading to a new dimension filled with beauty and resources, beckoning people to explore. However, what seems like paradise soon reveals hidden dangers.

Ayanna and Olivia, twin sisters from the Midwest, have different ideas about what lies beyond the doors. Their bond is tested when one sister goes missing, and the other must find her and uncover the truth. This tale explores adventure, sisterhood, and the perils of exploration.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of Meet Me at the Crossroads.

I thought of the Bone Thugs-N-Harmony song, "The Crossroads" when I saw the title.

Naturally, from the title and premise, I thought it was about the mysterious doors that led to another world.

Instead, the narrative is all over the place, rambling about religion, living your life, grief, family, relationships, sisters.

It's confusing and I was confused.

I read for fun, to enjoy, to experience, and though some of the comments made in the novel was interesting, I couldn't figure out the point of the plot.

What about the doors? Where did they come from?

All the potential in using the doors as a springboard for life and love, beliefs and spirituality was wasted on Ayanna and her life after losing her twin, Olivia.

Are the doors good? Evil? Neutral? Whatever you want it to be?

The narrative charts Ayanna's life before and after the doors appear and her loss, how she copes and doesn't, her ability to see ghosts and how she deals and will deal with the aftermath.

I didn't dislike Ayanna but I didn't like her either; the narrative was just hard to follow and figure out.

It wasn't about the doors or the relationship between the twins. It wasn't about Ayanna's family.

What is the story really about?

I couldn't help but feel all the religious discussions was a not so subtle way of pushing the author's personal agenda.

This could have been so interesting, wild and dark and magical, but it was not what I imagined or hoped for.

MEET ME AT THE CROSSROADS is achingly human and beautiful and wise. The book follows a young woman trying to piece together what actually happened to her twin sister when she disappeared behind a mysterious door that opened into another world. It offers solace instead of comfort, unflinching in facing the ineffability of the world (both its terror and grace). Speculative fiction more true than plenty of "realism."

pretty well written fic with some well-written ideas. 4 stars. weirdly and intriguingly mesmerising in the story.

Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC. I always appreciate Megan’s thought-provoking stories. I wasn’t sure initially where this story was going, and felt a bit confused. But as I read on, the themes of life, grief and growth really resounded with me. Ayanna was a complex character but I connected with her! The doors appearing still has me a bit miffed but…overall, this was a decent read & story.

I know I’m not really into the story when I start skimming pages, so I decided to DNF.

Thank you to NetGalley and Amistad for the eARC.

I came for a speculative portal fantasy that's more on the emotional side, but I got a meandering ghost story that didn't really focus on anything, and I wasn't vibing with that. I was pretty invested in the first 20% or so, when the story was still about these seven random doors that suddenly appeared across the globe and lead to someplace unknown. I liked how this phenomenon was explored through the perspective of a family, first a glimpse into the life of the parents and later switching to the daughters' experiences with the doors. And it was interesting how the daughters, Ayanna and Olivia, were identical twins with very different lives and different opinions on the whole door situation – one is wary of them, and for the other they are a religion. I was really looking forward to exploring the doors, because they were described as all kinds of weird: some open to pretty landscapes that might be heaven, through some you can hear the voices of dead people, some make people straight up explode. But the book never goes there. After the first part, the story only follows Ayanna as an adult who is handling grief and is figuratively and literally haunted by spirits. That might sound good, but the book was now only about her everyday life, and that wasn't cutting it for me. I think this will work very much for people who often read literary fiction, but I was hoping for way more on the fantastical / speculative side of this story. I also had some problems with the writing style. It's not exactly flowery, but it's also not straightforward and it uses a lot of words for very little happening. Not my thing, but I can see many readers liking this book.

Huge thanks to NetGalley and Amistad for providing a digital arc in exchange for an honest review.

Ayanna and Olivia are twin sisters, who live separately due to their parents different religious beliefs. Olivia lives with her mother, a devout Christian, and Ayanna lives with her father, a leader in a “taboo” religion that involves 7 mysterious doors that appear suddenly throughout the world and lead to other worlds. When one of the twins goes missing, we follow the other twin as she navigates life without her best friend, while also navigating managing her grief and the grief of all the adults around her and trying to live a “normal life”.

💭 My Thoughts
This was easily a five star read for me, and out of all of the author’s novels, this one has become my favorite. As a lover of science fiction and speculative fiction, I appreciated the way the author wove in themes of that currently permeate today’s society (i.e. race, gender, religious beliefs, sexuality, capitalism), while also incorporating the doors as an unknown/mysterious element. We don’t learn a lot about the doors throughout the novel and I believe that was the point. Despite how the doors came about, the impact on society and religion were notable, and Ayanna and Olivia were deeply impacted by their appearance. This is where the author primarily focuses, and this is what I enjoyed most! The lessons the surviving twin learns on grief, religion, family, friendships, race, love, queerness, spirituality, etc as she matures into adulthood is the story, not the doors, and I enjoyed every single magical page of it. Having finished the book a week ago, I still find myself thinking of the book and what I took away from certain parts. I plan to re-read again and again! 5 ⭐️

✨One of my favorites quotes✨
“When the soil and rock could not speak of Gold, the spirit sang that your love must not be like a net, letting some of your catch fall through. Your love must be as firm as a clasped fist. If you cannot love like this, you do not know love.”

🙏 Thank you NetGalley, Amistad, and Megan Gidding for this free eARC in exchange for my honest thoughts.