I thought I would like this book. I really enjoyed The House in the Cerulean Sea. However, this book fell a bit flat for me. Under the Whispering Door follows the life...or in this case death of Wallace Price, a curmudgeonly lawyer. Wallace is a jerk, and he doesn't care who he hurts. After firing one of his paralegals, Wallace suffers a fatal heart attack. After his death he meets Mei, his reaper. Wallace is incredulous about his recent death and wants to keep business going as normal. Mei eventually introduces Wallace to Hugo, his ferryman. Hugo and Mei change Wallace's "life" in this tale reminiscent of a modern day Christmas Carol. I found myself struggling to like Wallace, despite his new and improved attitude in the afterlife.

Quirky characters, a tea shop, a love story, and learning the lesson to be a better person and to enjoy life while you can. These are all things I took away from Under the Whispering Door.

Wallace Price is not a nice person - a lawyer, he values efficiency and winning over all else, including human relationships. So when he suddenly dies of a heart attack, there are few mourners at his funeral. This is Wallace's journey to discover what his life actually meant and what he was missing from it. Wallace is a character that experiences a ton of growth throughout this story as he finds a place to be happy.

Favorite Quote: “The first time you share tea, you are a stranger. The second time you share tea, you are an honored guest. The third time you share tea, you become family.

If you liked House on the Cerulean Sea you'll love this one too!

Thank you NetGalley, TJ Klune and Tor Books for this ARC - I am left with a strong reminder we only live once and to make each day count!

Thank you NetGalley for this book.

Oh wow does TJ Klune knock it out of the park again! I loved The House in the Cerulean Sea and wasn’t sure what to expect this time around. Granted, this book isn’t in any way related to Cerulean, but a second effort might not be as rewarding. But this book is just wonderful. Full of heart and love and kindness and all that is good in the world.

From Goodreads: When a reaper comes to collect Wallace Price from his own funeral, Wallace suspects he really might be dead.

Instead of leading him directly to the afterlife, the reaper takes him to a small village. On the outskirts, off the path through the woods, tucked between mountains, is a particular tea shop, run by a man named Hugo. Hugo is the tea shop’s owner to locals and the ferryman to souls who need to cross over.

But Wallace isn’t ready to abandon the life he barely lived. With Hugo’s help he finally starts to learn about all the things he missed in life.

At first, you really hate Wallace. He’s a terrible person, but to really appreciate how he evolves, he has to start out rough. You love Hugo and the others in the tea shop (no spoilers), and watching certain people move in and out of their lives is interesting. But the kindness that Hugo shows from day one is so wonderful. Klune, in my book, has written another lovely book. I will gladly recommend him to anyone and look forward to his next publication.

RATING: 3/5 STARS

I am a huge TJ Klune fan, so it's a bummer I didn't love this book like his others. The concept was so unique and I ordered the setup for the story. I just wasn't able to connect with any of the characters and there wasn't enough action for me propelling the story forward.

TJ Klune just knows how to write a book that will take you away from this world and you are so happy about it. Under the Whispering Door is magical and captivating and I can't wait to read more and more from Klune. This book will pull at your heartstrings and it will make your feel so great.

This damn book took me half its length to get into because the main character was such an asshole. I did not like him and that clouded my judgment of the other characters. But something changed halfway through. He changed and I was suddenly flying through the book and by the end I was crying. It was beautiful but by golly, it was ugly as a husk (read the book and you'll know) in the first half or so. I was reminded of the movie Ghost through this whole book, of the denial, anger, acceptance, and reluctance of death. Then the joy of life, the celebration of life, and memory of life. I found much of the words meaningful by the end and damn if the feeling, if not the words, are going to stay with me.

I forgot to review this one, but this one was definitley different from house in the cerulean sea. The writing was still really good though! I’d be interested to see a YA fantasy like this

This book took a while to kick off and the author had to work to change my mind about Wallace. Ultimately it's a sweet queer love story about death and how to really live.

A delightful book full of adventure, action, and thrills. Fun to read, engrossing world building, and very descriptive imagery made it feel like it was cinematic. It's hard to resist the story as it drives forward. Would recommend.

“𝘋𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩 𝘪𝘴𝘯’𝘵 𝘢 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘞𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦. 𝘐𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘣𝘦𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨.”

What an absolutely special book. I was one of the many readers gushing over last years The House in the Cerulean Sea, so I was absolutely thrilled when I received a copy of Klune’s follow up. While the cover of Under the Whispering Door definitely elicits the same feelings as The House in the Cerulean Sea, this is most certainly not a sequel, and indeed is written for a slightly different audience.

I admittedly had a hard time sinking into the writing style, which felt a bit tonally unbalanced. The language, moral cadence, and humor all feel middle-grade—and even a bit slapstick—but then there’s cursing and conversations about sex…so not middle-grade. It feels like TJ Klune is writing to a demographic that is specifically adults wanting middle-grade stories.

Which—look—I’m all for that.

I often argue that adults should engage in younger stories (ahem, watch cartoons) so if this is becoming a new genre, I’m in. It just means that the writing is something I needed to acclimate to.

And once I settled into the writing, I found the story to be fantastic. The conversations around setting boundaries were especially delightful, and some of the scenes had me outright sobbing and running to my fiancé for extra hugs. Read this book, and make sure you have a box of tissues handy.

This book is so well written, I found myself devouring it before I could stop myself! The characters are affable and the plot is most interesting! I would re-read it in a heartbeat!

This book was simply beautiful! It took me longer to get through that the authors last book but I ended up loving it just as much. It really made me rethink my view on life and shows that life is all about perspective. This author has a way with words and the writing style almost seems flowery and lyrical at times. The world building for this book was so imaginative and interesting. I didn't want to put this book down after the 40% mark. Heartbreaking but beautiful and bitter sweet.

TJ Klune has done it again. This imaginative,
Illustrious novel is unexpected and will tug in your heartstrings. We all deal with losing loved ones, and this novel understands what it means to be human and coming to terms with our own mortality. My one comment is that I think the ending should have gone differently, but I adored this book.

✨Book Review✨

Wow, oh wow, this book was amazing. I went into it without reading the summary because I enjoyed TJ Klune’s other books, The House in the Cerulean Sea and The Extraordinaries. (And, actually, I don’t recommend reading the official summary because it gives away some plot points that happen pretty late in the book.)

📖 Here’s what you need to know: Wallace is a career driven attorney that all of a sudden dies of a heart attack. He’s attending his own funeral (where no one has much nice to say) when he meets a woman who tells him she’s been sent to bring him to the ferryman who will help him transition “to the other side”. Reluctantly, Wallace follows along and finds himself along the way.

💭 Why I liked this book:

It’s hilarious and profoundly serious all at the same time. There were chapters where I was barking with laughter and moments where I was crying so much that tears were obscuring the page.

It’s a great example of a found family story and all the characters will grab you by your heartstrings.

The world building surrounding how life after death works was interesting and thought provoking. Klune clearly thought out every detail to the point where it seemed like a very realistic interpretation of what could happen.

✨Last word: READ THIS BOOK. ✨

Content Warnings: mentions of death, grief, suicide, death of a child

Outstanding and beautiful book that I wish I could read for the first time again and again. This is a must read.

I have an intense love for TJ Klune and have enjoyed everything I've read by him up until this point but this book just absolutely did not do it for me.

As much as I typically enjoy TJ's quirky writing it just absolutely did not do it for me here. For a story that is attempting to be a meditation on death and dying this is about as deep as a kiddie pool and as emotionally moving as my morning cornflakes.

This book attempts to do a few things and I think it fails at each.
1) moving journey of emotional growth for Wallace the shitty white man mc and it was a fail
2) found family and it was a fail
3) discussions of death and loss and dying that tug at your heart strings, which it tries its best at throughout the narrative but then spits in your face as a reader by the end.
4) crafting a swoonworthy romance between Wallace and Hugo which is perhaps the biggest fail of all

There's also something to be said about the magical endlessly patient POC emotionally rehabilitating this shitty white man but I don't want to be too political in this review. Overall it did nothing for me and I wouldn't recommend it.

TJ Klune has done it again. He is now an auto buy author for me. I thought I couldn't love this story anymore than I love House in the Cerulean Sea but I was wrong, so very wrong.

Under The Whispering Door tells the story of Wallace Price who wakes up at his own funeral and the aftermath of his coming to terms with his own death.
I love a good character arc and Wallace's is one of the best. I adored our motley cast of characters and their interactions with each other. Hugo, Mei, and Nelson are fantastic and I dare say I loved them just as much if not more than even Wallace himself.
This story made me absolutely sob at the end. What a beautiful way to handle such a difficult topic. This story gave me hope and comfort as well as made me laugh and cry. Needless to say, I had ALL the emotions.

This was a very enjoyable and reflective book. I had a good time getting to accompany the journey the characters went through and think the writing made the story very well paced, so i'm sure anyone who read it would also enjoy it.

Received a digital ARC of this book via NetGalley.

This was soooo good. I loved the sprinkle of old mythology in modern times. Not going to lie, I teared up a little in some parts. My book club is reading the authors next book, now I’m super pumped if it’s anything as beautifully written as this one. This one is definitely worth the hype!

Dnf @ 20%

I really wanted to like this book but overall I was extremely bored and uninterested. I tried multiple times and in multiple formats to read this but ultimately it couldn't pull me in. The story has a really great premise and the cover was stunning but I wasn't feeling a connection to the characters and didn't feel the need to pick this up and would ultimately prioritize other books that were pulling me in faster. I will still continue trying other books by this author as I do find them to be interesting but unfortunately this one just wasn't for me.