"Under the Whispering Door" is about a selfish man, Wallace Price, who died suddenly and was surprised to find himself at his own funeral. The only person who could see him was a reaper who was there to help him find his way. Instead of leading him to the afterlife, she led him to a tea shop located in a remote, wooded area. There, he meets the Ferryman, Hugo, who will help Wallace come to terms with his death so he can cross over to the other side.

But Wallace wasn't ready to leave, and he ends up lingering at the tea shop far longer than anyone expected. There, with Hugo's help, Wallace finally learns how to live and love again.

The book took a while to build up some steam. Normally, I'm not into slice of life books like this one but this one drew me in despite the slow start.

The things I liked about the book are the writing style, and the themes of love and acceptance. Wallace is a horrible human being when he arrives at the tea shop: he's vain and selfish and isn't concerned with anyone else's feelings or welfare. He comes around though and I got very attached to Wallace by the end, he's an awesome character who tragically learned to live life to its fullest only after he died.

The book has some serious themes: grief, depression, murder, and suicide. But TJ Klune deals with those themes with sensitivity. They really tugged at my heart-strings without laying it on too thick. To balance those heavy themes, the book also has an uplifting message of hope--that there is something better waiting for us after we cross over. That as long as we are loved, there is hope that things can get better.

I was very disappointed in the ending, though. I won't spoil it here, but I thought it would have been better if TJ Klune had taken it a different direction.

I laughed a lot while listening to this book and Wallace's emotional journey literally moved me to tears at times, so I'll give this book 3.5 stars out of 5 (rounding up to 4 stars despite being unhappy with the ending).

I really liked this book. It was so fun and diverse but took the time to deal with some tough subjects. I love Klune's writing so I knew I would like this book but I didn't know I would like it this much. It wasn't my favorite Klune book but that is just a personal thing. This definitely has potential to be a new favorite for tons of readers!

I dearly loved House in the Cerulean Sea, like many, and was so excited for Klune's next work. And, while I also greatly enjoyed this one, I do have some criticisms as well.

What I loved:

This book made me FEEL so much, especially in the last 40%. Anyone who has experienced death in their life will be able to feel the anguish, the resentment, and reluctant acceptance, that these characters go through. I think that T.J. Klune is so good at writing intense emotion, it's one of the things that makes him an auto-buy author for me.

I loved that we got to know the side characters as real people. We got their stories, their reason for choosing to be at Charon's Crossing, their desires, etc. I think is one of the things that I love in Klune's works: he is able to write "real" people who have full stories.

What didn't work for me:

The book has a slow start. I had to force myself to turn on the audiobook for the first few days after I downloaded it. There is a lot of setup that has to happen in order for the audience to understand what is happening, and I get that. But even then, it didn't feel like there was a lot of world building. I wanted to understand more about the rules of this weigh station and how death worked in this world, but we didn't get a very clear picture until after the half-way mark. That was probably an intentional choice in the writing, since Wallace is kept in the dark with vague answers as well, but it just wasn't what I wanted. I think this likely also was to keep with the theme of "you don't always know everything and that's okay".

The relationship kind of came out of no where to me. At one point Wallace is angry and confused while Hugo is trying to assuage and guide him. In the next moment, it felt as though there were deep feelings between the two. I think there was a lot of off-page interactions between the two characters, but I would have rather had that explored in more detail on-page.

Also, here were many parts that felt repetitive. I found myself thinking "didn't we already go over this" many times during some of the characters moments of speaking or thinking.

SPOILER START
Lastly, I *hated* the choice of ending. I think this story could have been so much more impactful and the message could have hit so much harder if Wallace had gone through the door. The Manager all of the sudden deciding, for some reason, to care about Wallace and what he wanted was abrupt and very uncharacteristic. It felt a little cheap to suddenly resurrect Wallace, like the Manager just pulled the ability out of his hat. I wouldn't deduct points for the choice of the HEA, but I would for the way the HEA was achieved.
SPOILER END

In the end, I will read anything that T.J. Klune writes. I love his work and although I had a few minor criticisms, I really enjoyed this unique story and how much it moved me.

Thank you to NetGally and Tor Publishing for this audiobook!

Under the Whispering Door is the unconventional tale of Wallace, a deplorable human and lawyer who has a heart attack and dies. He's reaped by first-time-on-her-own reaper Mei who delivers him to Hugo, the ferryman and purveyor of tea at Charon's Crossing Tea & Treats. Wallace is certain there must be some mistake. He can't be dead. He has things to do. It's not too long that Wallace learns that perhaps he is exactly where he's meant to be.

Klune writes some really in-depth and compelling characters. Hugo reminds me of my best friend, Nelson is hilarious, and even Wallace turns out to be someone to like. However, I cannot review this book without talking about Mei, the best character in this book. Mei is spunky, fierce, and a total character (not to mention a reaper), so basically she's everything I wish I could be. Speaking of characters, we've all decided Alan sucks right?

This was my first time hearing anything narrated by Kirt Graves, but he was great! He reminded me of John Malkovich at times. I love the voices he did for each of the characters. He really brought them to life.

I loved this book, so a BIG thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this ALC.

4.5 stars
Another great TJ Klune book. While I like Cerulean Sea a little better, I still loved this one. The characters were absolutely fantastic. Found family is one of my favorite tropes. I think my favorite character was reaper May. She was so sassy. The main character Wallace was...a jerk. In life. When he died I was thinking "that's what you get," while knowing from the synopsis that he will have a "life" changing experience in between life and death. Tea shop owner and ferryman Hugo was such a huggable character. He was so understanding and patient.
I think the point of this book is to really make you think about death and how you may regret the things you've done in your life given the chance to look back. And how maybe meeting one person can change your whole way of thinking.
This book deals a lot with grief. And it deals with different kinds of grief. The grief of Wallace dying unexpectedly from a heart attack when he still felt like he had so much life left to live. The grief of a mother, the grief of a man who committed suicide because his partner died unexpectedly. And every kind is so different.
I'm so glad I read this book!

Unfortunately this one didn’t quite do it for me like Cerulean Sea did. It was extremely slow and if not for the audio I would have dnf’d (I should have). Lots of good reminders that you cannot do life alone and how to best use the time we have left.

This isn’t goodbye. We shall see one another again. I’ll most definitely return to this author and his work.

Wallace is a successful lawyer that doesn't have time for anything except being successful in his career, ignoring any interpersonal relationships in the way, but when he suddenly dies of a heart attack he is taken by a reaper to Hugo, a tea ship owner and the ferryman who will help him to cross over once he comes to term with all his life decisions.

As someone told me, this book wasn't about the plot twists (since it's quite predictable), but about the journey. This author writes beautiful stories with magical worlds that really captivate you, and although I personally didn't find it as heartbreaking as others have (and I'm a crying baby), it did havw a lot of wholesome moments that really touched me. The characters were fun, rhey had a great dynamic and chemistry and who doesn't love a queer relationship?

Really enjoying these “cozy fantasy’s” from Tj Klune. I loved the concept of this story, but could not get over how much I hated Wallace. Klune did too good of a job setting up the type of person he was so I just did not buy his growth, or appreciate he story at all. Would’ve loved to learn more about Mei or Hugo than Wallace. I will definitely recommend and continue reading Klune’s next cozy fantasy!

This audio does NOT disappoint. I read a physical of this and it blew me away, but boy oh boy is this audio a great contender as well. The narrator has such a way of using the third person voice that also feels so... close to the characters. This story has my whole heart!

I am quickly becoming a TJ Klune fan. After recently reading House in the Cerulean Sea, I knew I found the will to devour this book. Wallace, Hugo, May, Nelson, Apollo… I cherish them all and fell in love with them so quickly. This story touched on the sensitive subjects of death, suicide, murder, and what comes after all of it with a deep respect for all the different ways people would find theirselves in the afterlife. I adored this book, and the narrator made it even better than I could imagine. I cant wait to pick up a copy of this book when it releases.

If you’re dead inside and need to feel something pick up this book. Everyone who loved Cerulean Sea can rest assured that you will not be disappointed by Under the Whispering Door.⁣
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This book explores so much and does it really well. We have loss, grief, remorse, romantic and platonic love, second chances, found family, diversity and queer rep, and a ghost dog! ⁣
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I’m a sucker for a good curmudgeon redemption arc and our MC, Wallace, is about as curmudgeon-y as it gets. It's been compared to A Man Called Ove but while Ove was an endearing and well-meaning old grump, Wallace is just a straight up no good asshole. As such, no one really cares when Wallace dies and he’s forced to face the consequences of the life he lead in his afterlife but finds that maybe our time amongst the living is not the end all be all and that there could be more waiting for us. Theres no greater gift than a second chance.⁣
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I did feel like there were similarities between Wallace’s relationship with Hugo and the relationship between Linus and Arthur in Cerulean sea that felt a little “copy & paste”. ⁣
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This is a review of the Macmillan Audio production from Tor Books narrated by Kirt Graves. Overall I thought the narration was alright but at times felt a bit deadpan and I did not like the narration of Mei’s lines at all. I think I would have given this a higher rating if I had read the book and made up my own voices in my head lol.

This audiobook destroyed me. I have NEVER ever ugly cried over a book. I finished this book at 130 in the morning and I’m still tearing up now over it.

Such interesting characters. There will be some you like and some you really don’t. This isn’t an easy topic but if you can handle death talk it’s also beautiful to see the arch of life.

There’s only one narrator but he does such a wonderful job on differentiating the characters voices. I forgot it was only one narrator a lot of times.

Tw- death (obviously), suicide

This book was magically growing; however, the narrator for this one was a little lack luster. I was disappointed in the telling of the story after reading it.

This one wasn't quite as wonderful for me as Klune other books. I know so many people have absolutely loved this one, but it just didn't click for me the way the others have. I didn't love the characters, and for me, Klune's books are so much about the characters. They are people that you fall in love with, and you want to give hugs to. I didn't feel that way about anyone in this book, and it made the story a struggle for me.

I know so many people loved this one, so I would recommend that people try this one out for themselves!

I was provided a gifted copy of this book for free. I am leaving my review voluntarily.

I think that I enjoyed aspects of this book, which is why I gave it four stars, but found the book really lacking in substance for the most part. Mostly the character development and the dialogue at some points. It felt kind of rushed for me in some parts and the timeline was moving too fast. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’ll probably really anything that TJ Klune writes now that I’ve read House in the Cerulean Sea, and I’ll still recommend this book to everyone I meet, but there was just something… missing.

I found the MC, Wallace Price, to be… underwhelming. I think he really brightened as a character when he was interacting with the others, but I found that he alone did not carry the book. Same with the ferryman, Hugo Freeman. Hugo did grow on me as a character over time, but it really took me awhile to start to enjoy his presence throughout the story. Absolutely LOVED Nelson - best part of the book. 10/10

Now - this ARC was also an audiobook and I could’ve disliked both Wallace and Hugo because it took me a long time to get over the narrators interpretation of the characters. I absolutely hated how he did the voices and, oh god, especially how the narrator voiced Mei’s (the reaper helping Wallace Price) character. I don’t know if I would recommend the audiobook version to anyone, but I would definitely recommend reading it.

I will also say that this book made me laugh a bunch once I got over how frustrated I was at the narrator. Mostly laughed at Nelson and at times, Mei.

Who knew a book about death could be a love story? In this tale, a tea shop doubles as a crossing over spot for the recently departed. Depending on what they have to work out, their stays could be long or short. It's interesting to learn about the semi-permanent characters of the tea shop and their stories as well as meet the newbies as they trickle in. While I felt the book could have been condensed by 50 pages or so, it was still a very enjoyable read.

Waffling a lot about my rating on this one, it still might change. Some parts of this are 4 star and some are 2 star, so I guess settling on 3 is good. I liked this book, but didn't love it like I did The House in the Cerulean Sea, which was one of my top reads last year.

What I liked:
This is such a heartfelt, humorous story about an angry man named Wallace who has died and is now in a waystation disguised as a tea shop, in the company of Hugo, his ferryman, and Mei, his reaper. Also there are ghosts Nelson (Hugo's grandfather) and Apollo (Hugo's dog).
The book gave me lots of warm feelings about what it means to be human and how even the most hardened hearts can be changed and people can grow.

What didn't work so well:
As I said in one of my updates, some of the humorous sections, such as Wallace learning how to change his clothes, are more farcical, kind of physical comedy written more for an eventual viewer of a movie than for the reader. Some parts with the medium and such just felt silly, which would have been fine if that is what the book was about but it's not really. It's more of a contemplative story in the end.
This book doesn't mesh with my belief system about death, and that's fine. It's fantasy. I could have overlooked it if it would have been fresh and original but the Whispering Door and going through it feels like a mashing together of parts of things that people already believe and didn't wow or touch me like it should have. I never really "got" the Manager or what he was supposed to be. I thought the conclusion with Wallace was wholly unsurprising and would have liked it much better if it had gone a way I wasn't expecting rather than taking the easy way out.

My complaints don't mean that the book was a bad read or that you should avoid it, it was just disappointing because I was expecting SO much more after Cerulean Sea. I listened to this as an audiobook and narrator Kirt Graves does an amazing job with the various voices and distinguishing the characters. He provides whimsy when it is needed and somberness when it turns that way.

All in all, it's a good book, just not as great as I was hoping for.

I really liked Klune's The House in the Cerulean Sea—published March 2020/read May 2020—so, I was thrilled to be granted the opportunity to read his new book before publication.

This book has two of my absolute favorite ingredients: lots of humor and relationships. It also has diversity, inclusion, heartbreak, and grief. Not many books make me cry. This one made me cry several times, particularly near the end, and out of sadness, rage, and joy. That's quite the trick!

There's a lot going on in the story, with several interlocking storylines. One storyline was particularly unpleasant, and I think the book would have been at least as good without it. I can't say that I enjoyed the aforementioned emotional rollercoaster, but it was incredibly effective. Even though Wallace was an unlikeable so-and-so in life, we're really rooting for him from very early on. Perhaps that's due to the tea shop residents: Mae (the reaper), Hugo (the ferryman), Nelson (Hugo's grandfather), and Apollo (the dog), who are all fantastic from the outset.

4.35 stars

Thank you, NetGalley, Macmillan Audio, and Tor Books, for the audio ARC of the book in exchange for an honest review.

4.5 ⭐️

REVIEW: This book has similar sprinklings of the fun whimsical writing that we loved in The House in the Cerulean Sea, but covers a much more somber topic. This is not a love story; this is a story on death & life &. Its beautifully written and exquisitely captures a range of human emotion. This is an easy & quick read, but take your time; there are lots of hard topics in this book. Even when covering the topic of death, the author does an amazing job of adding in light hearted moments & interactions so the book isn’t so emotionally heavy for the reader.
Pro tip: Keep tissues & water (or your favorite cup of tea) nearby to stay hydrated!

The narrator does an amazing job portraying each character && brings the emotions to life. High recommend the audiobook version (plus you won’t need to stop to wipe any tears before reading).

Under the Whispering Door by TJ Klune is a beautifully written story about life, death, acceptance and love. It touches on questions as to what happens when we die as well as free choice. There are so many levels to this book, but all are remarkably touching and deeply rooted into human nature.

Wallace Price is a big time ruthless lawyer. We meet him as he is preparing to fire one of his employees who has given everything to his company. The next thing Wallace knows is that he is attending his funeral and being met by a reeper. Wallace is stunned to see how little people are affected by his passing and begins his journey through the afterlife.

Wallace meets a host of characters that seem different from him, people he would have never interacted with in his living life. Wallace goes through many experiences in this afterlife allowing him to reflect on the life he once led.

Under the Whispering Door is a book that I could not put down. It is a fast, easy read with so many likeable characters. There are parts that will make you laugh, parts that will bring tears to your eyes and others that will make you smile. Prepare for all the emotions while reading TJ Klune’s, Under the Whispering Door available September 21, 2021.

The narrator for the audiobook did a fantastic job making this book come to life. I loved the way he was able to express emotions for the characters as well as give each character a unique voice.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Books for this free ARC in exchange for an honest review.