If you (like everyone else) read The House in the Cerulean Sea last year, definitely pick this one up! The character development is fantastic and this story reached out and touched my heart. Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and publisher for an advanced reader copy of this book for an honest review.

Under the Whispering Door is TJ Klune’s latest heart wrenching hit! This story follows Wallace, as he is collected from his funeral and taken to a small village tea shop to process life on the other side. There, he meets Hugo, the tea shop’s proprietor and support person for souls passing on. What ensues is a lovely and compassionate story about love, loss, joy and grieving. What an absolute honor to read!

Klune consistently finds levity in the toughest of conversations, and Under the Whispering Door is no exception. It is the most comfortable I have felt reading about death in a very long time!

Please pick up this book!

Thank you to Netgalley for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this book. Unfortunately, I did not get a chance to read it prior to release date but it was worth the wait.

This was my first TJ Klune novel and I was not disappointed. There were a few small aspects that I didn't care for but overall this was such a good book. Its very heartfelt and the characters are ones that you can easily relate to and want to see good things happen for them.

I would highly recommend this book to everyone.

A compelling read. Beautifully written, well-thought-out characters, and a developed setting. Tackled some tough issues but in a digestible and conversational manner. I truly enjoyed this one!

What an absolutely amazing book. First of all, many thanks to NetGalley for introducing me to this book, as it is not my typical genre but I am so glad I still gave this one a chance as it is now one of my new favorites. I cannot remember the last time a book made me feel so much emotion, to the point where I was actually tearing up.

3.5 stars. This read was dense for me but enjoyable and heartwarming.

SPOILER ALERT!

My main issue that didn't make this a 4 or 4.5 star read was that Wallace and Linus from House in the Cerulean Sea have basically the exact same personality and identical character arcs. This drove me crazy for the ENTIRE book. Coupled with the fact that they are both thrown into a situation that they're not very happy about and then end up falling in love with one of the men in the unfamiliar situation and they then stay there with him and live happily ever after. It was too much. I needed a little creativity. The parallels were much too obvious.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

I'm so sad I didn't enjoy this one as well as The House in the Cerulean Sea. The writing was still there and characters..oh, I think this author has some kind of superpower for character creation. So vivid, unique, with great personalities and big hearts. And humor - loved that too. But I had problems with the plot. It wasn't for me. The idea was great! For me, it was too much philosophical talk between characters. I had a feeling that half of the book nothing happened. But I loved the parts when something did happen. And the romance part... I didn't see where that was coming from, it felt a bit forced. I still enjoyed this book and I think a lot of people will enjoy it. It felt like a self-help book written in a fictional world, but there was too much "self-help" for me if you know what I mean.

I went into this book with very high hopes! I absolutely loved The House in the Cerulean Sea, but it is important to note that this book is WILDLY different from Cerulean Sea. While I still adored this one, the characters lacked something and weren't as charming to me. It took a while to find the redeeming qualities of Wallace, although I do feel like you saw him evolve throughout the story. I will say this is a story that will absolutely break your heart and then put it back together again!

I absolutely loved this book! It shows the process of grief and death in such a great way! I highly recommend this book!

I was very excited to read Under the Whispering Door after how much I enjoyed Klune's The House in the Cerulean Sea. I was dubious...after all, there has been a lot of sad stories about death with a global pandemic and I also have had several friends and aquaintences die suddenly over the last few months. But there is something so engaging about how Klune writes that grabbed me from the first sentence and left me crying at different times throughout the book.

Klune's attention to detail, his use of atmosphere to help tell the story, and most of all his characters - all of these elements came together to tell an amazing story. Wallace Price is not a likeable man. He is selfish and thoughtless. He is completely alone in his life...and as he finds, staying alone while alive is much easier than it is after you die. When his Reaper shows up to escort him to the Ferryman. Hugo runs a tea shop and certain spectors have decided to stay on to help him out. Wallace and Hugo are very different people, and with the lurking threat of the Manager who could show up at any time, the reader gets to go on a wonderful, emotional voyage as Wallace learns more about life than he ever knew while alive

A wonderful unique read! After reading The House in the Cerulean Sea, I was very excited to read this one. I am a huge fan of TJ Klune writing style and this book was just as good as the last. I highly recommend

I laughed, I cried, I sat in silence, reflecting on everything I read. This book was absolutely beautiful. This is my second book read by TJ Klune and I swear that human being knows exactly how to tug on your heart strings and sit grieving a book you just finished and wish you could go back in time before you read it just so you can read it again. The character development, especially of Wallace, is chef's kiss, and the plot moves in a steady pace though there are moments where things start happening where you have to force yourself to go slow because STUFF HITS THE FAN. I loved it, and I would recommend it to anyone who is looking for a real tear-jerker and wants to read about life after death.

Aaaaah THIS. BOOK IS PHENOMENAL! Did it make me feel like The House at the Cerulean Sea? Yees, it had the same vibes, bit more layered and it was so nice to see Wallace! Did it make me cry? Yes.
The writing style is beautiful, picturesque, vivid and imaginative! Definitely a must read after the first book although they are treated as stand alones.

Under the Whispering Door is the story of Wallace, an unforgiving attorney who finds himself dead of a heart attack. Wallace is brought to meet his Ferryman, Hugo, by his Reaper, Mei, and finds himself stuck in a tea shop purgatory until he decides he’s ready to move on.

TJ Kline obviously spends a lot of time loving his characters into existence. They are so detailed and special and often times, endearing, although somewhat unbelievably. I just find them *too* *too* for my taste. I read House on the Cerulean Sea prior to this and much the same found that all the elements of an enjoyable read for me were there, the end result wasn’t my taste.

Book Review: Under the Whispering Door by TJ Klune ★★★★

For some people, life starts at 40. For miserable, corporate manager Wallace Price, life started when he died. Better late than never.

TJ Klune’s new novel, Under the Whispering Door, takes his breezy fantasy stylings and tackles a love story beyond the grave. When Wallace attends his own sparsely attended funeral, he meets Mei—a reaper tasked with helping him take the next steps in his afterlife—who brings him to Charon’s Crossing Tea House to meet its young Ferryman, Hugo. Will Wallace come to terms with his sudden death and choose to step through the titular doorway with Hugo’s help? Or will this stubborn, self-important man make life hell for those around him?

Coming to the book now, the specter of Covid-19 hangs over Under the Whispering Door, set almost entirely within a single house, where danger lurks outside its boundaries. But the setting never feels claustrophobic. Wallace’s journey is an internal one and those around him (including a fellow specter, Nelson, and Hugo’s deceased dog, Apollo) manage to push him in new directions.

Klune’s world is often filled with over-the-top characters (like the wannabe medium Desdemona), but each has a strong emotional core. The affection between Wallace and Hugo is touching and well presented, even if seemingly doomed from the start (that tends to happen when one of you is dead), and the found family in the tea house form a compassionate and feisty unit.

However it is a side character that packs the most unexpected punch, the “husk” Cameron. Having rejected the Whispering Door, Cameron wanders the exterior, slowly turning into a mindless spiritual zombie—a lost soul—a warning of what will happen to Wallace if he tries to run away. It’s a chance encounter with Wallace that turns the book on its head. When I thought I had predicted the book’s finale, it introduced a stronger thread that turned it from an entertaining read, to an enthralling one.

For a romantic comedy, Under the Whispering Door deals with some very heavy material, with themes of death—obviously—along with homophobia and suicide all handled with a sensitive touch. One minor quibble is that the book doesn’t know when to call it quits, with the epilogue running long, diluting the impact of the ending.

Under the Whispering Door manages to examine the world of grief with humour and heart, turning a seemingly whimsical novel into something more substantial.

Under the Whispering Door by TJ Klune is published September 21st 2021.

Death can be a hard topic to broach, especially in a dynamic and funny way. Yet Klune brings empathy and humor to this very topic. Under the Whispering Door, Death is the main character and everything else is revolving around it. Wallace is the character you want to hate and have probably encountered in life. Someone that you feel sorry for in a way that allows you to dismiss them. Through the course of the story, we realize that Wallace had lost himself and what really mattered. The relationship between Wallace and the secondary characters makes him endearing and lovable, even if it takes more than half of the book to get there. The depictions of grief, sadness, and redemption are real and authentic. While in some areas the plot seems to wane, this may have been done intentionally. Making the reader feel the restlessness of Wallace and time in general.

4.5 Star Rating.
So many people loved this book and I am one of them. I started this book in December but ended up putting it down and picking up some other books. I am a moody reader and was in the weirdest mood so it did take me a bit to get into the story. But once I got into it I became completely captivated by the story. The premise was really intriguing. Wallace Price a successful lawyer dies. Wallace was a horrible person, unempathetic towards anyone else but himself. He was completely self-absorbed and cantankerous. A reaper, Mei, is at the funeral and takes Wallace's ghost to a tea shop where the Ferryman Hugo prepares Wallace to go through a door and pass on to what is next. I love that the weigh station is a tea shop. I love that @TJ Klune creates these whimsical locations with such rich quirky characters and even though the subject matter is tough in nature he weaves in a sense of humor giving them a light-heartedness. The characters have very deep conversations sprinkled with philosophical nuggets. The themes that stuck out to me were death, acceptance, grief, love, and the idea that it is never too late to change who you are and your contribution to the world. Wallace underwent a huge transformation from the person who landed at the tea shop to the person he ended up evolving into. I also liked the idea of family near the end of the book. It was a sentimental emotional acceptance that the characters loved Wallace and invited him to be part of their family. I always find it heartwarming when families are created through situations and experiences not necessarily because of DNA.

Two of my favorite quotes from the book...
“Everyone loses their way at some point, and it’s not just because of their mistakes or the decisions they make. It’s because they’re horribly, wonderfully human. And the one thing I’ve learned about being human is that we can’t do this alone. When we’re lost, we need help to try to find our way again.”

“Death isn’t a final ending, Wallace. It is an ending, sure, but only to prepare you for a new beginning.”
I would encourage you to pick this one up. It stays with you long after you finish reading it. Those books to me are the best.

Thank You @McMillian- Tor/Forge & @NetGalley for a digital arc in exchange for an honest review.

This book was amazing. In a way, it felt entirely different and yet similar to 'The House in the Cerulean Sea'. The way I see and experience death has been transformed by this book, and it has been an emotionally moving and thought-provoking reading experience for me. Klune has done it again by presenting a deceptively simple concept about what it is to be human.

CAN WEPLEASE ADD MORE STARS TO THE RATING SYSTEM?????? 🤣
There aren’t enough stars for how this book got into my heart.
Oh how beautiful this was to read. Quirky and poignant, Kline seems to write effortlessly about the human condition.

The story begins with Wallace Price terminating an employee for one mistake in an otherwise spotless record. Though Im used to the redemption theme and I assumed I’d eventually hate him less, I didn’t imagine completely falling in love with Wallace.
When Wallace age 40, dies of a heart attack, his funeral is small in attendance. Hes there and in shock, also there is a girl in a suit, the only other person who can see him.
She turns out to be his Reaper, the person tasked with getting him to the Ferryman who will help him cross over.
Wallace is terrified.
When they make it to the place of transition, what Wallace sees isn’t what he expected. It’s a tea shop in the middle of the woods calls Charon’s Crossing.
The Ferryman is a soft spoken gentleman named Hugo.
The rest of the story is basically a lesson on what to appreciate in life before it’s too late. Unfortunately for Wallace it is. But with the help of Nelson, Hugo’s grandfather who has yet to go through the Door, Apollo the ghost dog, Mei his Reaper, and of course Hugo- Wallace finally learns how to live, what’s important, and what really isn’t.
He becomes…. He becomes. The new Wallace doesn’t even resemble the old one. He cares about his new friends. Friends! Plural! Wallace finally has people to care about and who care about him.
But the tea shop is not permanent, it’s simply a place to stop while you accept your death and in some cases, your life.
So Wallace must accept that his real life will be short, temporary and oh so beautiful.

"In death, Wallace has never felt more alive"
This story about living in the moment and not taking a single chance for granted is intertwined with the message of living life to the fullest until you're full.

Now, this does feel a bit cliché and repetitive... and it does read similarly to The House in the Cerulean Sea, but I appreciate this story.

Not to spoil much, because there was an ending. that didn't surprise me... and I somewhat predicted... but there is a lot of growth when it comes to the crossing before being content to go to the other side-which Wallace learns will coincidentally fall in love....while being dead?

I am hoping someone loves this more than me, but I think this is a worthy book that is worth the pages given.

Tha k you Netgalley for giving me an arc ahead of release, just now making sure my thoughts were true and accurate to my feelings.