Published By: HarperCollins
Pages: 384
Released On: 26/02/2026
Have you ever wished you could live inside a book? Welcome to the Astral Library, where books are doors to new worlds.
Alix Watson knows one thing: unlike people, books will never let her down. Working dead-end jobs to make ends meet, she takes nightly refuge in the reading room at the Boston Public Library, dreaming of far-off lands.
Until she stumbles through a hidden door and is transported to The Astral Library, a place where the lost find sanctuary within their beloved stories.
But when a shadowy enemy threatens to destroy the library, Alix must flee from danger through the Regency drawing rooms of Jane Austen and the back alleys of Sherlock Holmes’ London as danger closes in …
*****
Thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins for the advanced copy of this title in return for an honest review.
I mean, it’s a book about books and libraries and stories and magical worlds – what more do you want?
I won’t go into detail about the actual plot because I think part of the magic comes from discovering it yourself.
The premise remined me a bit of Matt Haig’s The Midnight Library (which I loved), and there are elements of that in terms of the feeling it gave me, but it is also very different. But I think if you loved Haig’s book, you’ll love this.
I really felt for Alix. She reminded me of me sometimes – not her background as such – but the fact she’s down on her luck, struggling for money to pay her bills, and just wants somewhere to escape to. She is a wonderful main character and I was on her side from page one. There are many other characters, in the real world and within the library and the book world, and they’re all good (if not morally so) characters who do wonders for Alix’s story.
As a bigger girl, I love reading female characters who are bigger and not just because the author wants to tick a box. Alix is a bigger girl yes, fine, but it’s merely mentioned rather than focussed too much on. Which is good, because thinner characters never have their weight as a plot point. It doesn’t affect the story but it was nice for me to see.
It does get a little repetitive in the middle. That’s not necessarily a negative, but I did find myself thinking it was all a bit too samey.
According to Google, the average novel is 250-350 pages, and so at over 380, it is slightly longer than average but it didn’t feel too long or slow. I read it in one day because it was so addictive.
I really struggled to decide which book world I would want to live in, there’s so many. I love thrillers and crime novels but I’d rather not be caught up in a murder. Maybe a nice historical romance; large manor houses and fancy frocks and handsome suitors? That sounds doable.
The chapters are longer than I’d have liked, because I love a short chapter and I find a shorter chapter helps the story whizz by.
It’s fun, funny, serious, romantic, adventurous, fantastical, magical, nostalgic, and just wonderful. There are more serious elements, tragic, tense moments, but it doesn’t bring the tone down.
It’s a love letter to libraries. Libraries are important, particularly for young children who may not have a book at home, but they’re also a haven, a space people know they will be safe in. And Kate has taken that idea and rolled with it; the power of a library and the healing power of storytelling.
I have not read any of Kate’s books before but this is exactly the kind of book I would gravitate towards and I’ll definitely keep my out for her other works.
Books By Your Bedside 