By Jessica Searcy Kmetty
I heard about this book from a group member in a book club I joined last year on Facebook called “The Peanut Blossom Book Club for Recovering Readers.” I figured that since it is January, and she had highly recommended it, I’d give it a try.
This book has a beautiful cover! While we know not to judge based upon this factor, it was intriguing. I would probably classify this book as portal fantasy at its best, which is outside of normal genres for me, but I’m always open to branching out and discovering new favorites.
The story takes place in several worlds, at different times with different languages and cultures. The doors are the portals used to travel through these dimensions. It’s a well written storyline that pulls you along through interwoven tales of several characters and ultimately illustrates how love transcends class, race, religion, language and even worlds without being overly sappy.
The Goodreads book description says:
In the early 1900s, a young woman embarks on a fantastical journey of self-discovery after finding a mysterious book in this captivating and lyrical debut.
In a sprawling mansion filled with peculiar treasures, January Scaller is a curiosity herself. As the ward of the wealthy Mr. Locke, she feels little different from the artifacts that decorate the halls: carefully maintained, largely ignored, and utterly out of place.
Then she finds a strange book. A book that carries the scent of other worlds, and tells a tale of secret doors, of love, adventure and danger. Each page turn reveals impossible truths about the world and January discovers a story increasingly entwined with her own.
Lush and richly imagined, a tale of impossible journeys, unforgettable love, and the enduring power of stories awaits in Alix E. Harrow’s spellbinding debut–step inside and discover its magic.
If you’re looking for an escape, this is a good one. At 374 pages, it’s longer than many of the fiction books I read but it didn’t drag, so it didn’t feel unreasonably long and I finished it in just under in 2 weeks. If you’re looking for something different, you may enjoy this read!