There was a lot that I liked about this magical realism gothic fantasy horror love story (yeah, lots of genres!). It’s a sort of period drama with marzipan, vengeful ghosts and a mystical being (who is sometimes a cat?) that has the ability to help ease the sadness of people by recording their stories on special books, and another person has the ability to make keys the sad people can use to unlock a door to a place they can visit to get closure and comfort. Yeah. I didn’t love it though. I’m not sure what it is that moves a book from like to love in my mind – for instance, The Ten Thousand Doors of January, by Alix E. Harrow, and The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern where both books with a similar feel and yet something about those two books blew me away and I full on love them.
It has lots of good reviews though, so maybe it’s just me that didn’t fully get it?
Sarah Wray Writer 