This wasn’t an easy book to read. I realized that it was so well-written that I was feeling all the emotions that the characters felt. When Wallace was confused, stressed, or sad, I felt the same way.

"Under the Whispering Door" was both heartwarming and heartbreaking. It was about death, grief, and what comes after death. I found myself feeling anxious for the characters and sobbing multiple times - TJ Klune knows how to make me feel his words straight to my core. The characters, especially Wallace, were so multi-dimensional I felt I knew them and wanted to give them all a big hug. I loved this book so much!

What a lovely book.

Somehow this book is about life more than it’s about death, even with a reaper and a ferryman as main characters.

Seriously heartwarming. ❤️

I’m not at all surprised that this book was a 5 star read. Klune adds a quirky twist to reality in the same style as Cerulean Sea. The characters are all unique and interesting and the story flows so well. This is a story all about life, death, and what makes a family. Just like Cerulean Sea, the romance isn’t the primary plot but is important to the overall story. An adorable, not steamy, queer love story.

CW: Death (Suicide/Murder/Long Illness), depression, anxiety/panic attacks

Rep: MM (Gay/Bi)

While I felt the story dragged a bit, taking place in one setting for the majority of the book, the characters completely won me over. As with all of Klune’s books, the writing was fantastic and I laughed out loud so many times. The ending was just so perfect and I definitely cried more than once. I would definitely hand sell this one to any reader dealing with grief and mourning and needs a little laugh, even those who aren’t hardcore genre readers.

First thank you to @Netgalley who provided an advanced copy for review.

Second about the rating; 3 stars for me is a book I enjoyed reading, but don't forsee re-reading anytime soon.

Third, the review. To begin, my impression is that this is a character, not plot, driven book. What does that mean? It means that the story is really focused on character development, connections, and growth. For those familiar with anime or manga, its like the slice of life genre. Some plot does come into play about halfway through, with a snippet or two before that so it's not completely out of nowhere for the characters. As a result, the pacing can feel off. My advice is to keep going.
Overall it was an emotional journey. I didn't realize how well TJ Klune was able to build up my emotional connection to the characters until it was over.

Do I recommend it? Yes, yes I do. Dont expect to be able to compare it to The House in the Cerulean Sea; it's not that kind of story. As the blurb mentions, it centers around Wallace after his death. As you can imagine, that isn't a joyous event so be prepared for all of the emotions that come with that.

NetGalley sent me an advanced kindle version of this book early for my honest review. It doesn’t come out until September.

I have 20% left in this book but I have enjoyed reading it this week. It’s about death and life and love and happiness and hurt. And doing better. Highly recommend.

Those of you that are familiar with TJ Klune's work, you know it's high praise to compare something to The HOuse in the Cerulean Sea... And I'm currently fighting the internal struggle on whether or not I'm going to place this one above it or not in terms of pure joy... Both are fantastic, both are books you MUST read, and if you enjoy even the slightest bit of paranormal/after-life fiction, grab this book immediately!

7 out of 5 stars. I'll be buying multiple copies!

I got an advanced reader copy through NetGalley and boy howdy am I glad I did!

This book is WONDERFUL! A really rather awful man dies, is taken by a Reaper to a tea shop that is also an afterlife way station and...well, then stuff happens. Really wonderfully written and emotionally powerful stuff happens.

I read this book in about 6 hours. I didn't want it to end and couldn't wait to get to the end. It is in turns funny, hearfelt, and emotionally resonant. I cried multiple times during the last 20% of the book.

The book explores themes of loss, grief, and love. It also presents a cohesive and imaginative vision of the afterlife. I was reminded of authors like Christopher Moore and A. Lee Martinez who know how to build a fantastic framework into the modern world.

The characters are great, the story is engaging, and the writing is wonderfully paced. I loved, loved, LOVED this book!

I loved the author’s House by the Cerulean Sea, so I was looking forward to reading this novel. The premise is that Wallace, an extremely obnoxious lawyer, dies suddenly. He is met at his funeral by Mei, a reaper who guides him onto his next step, where he meets Hugo the ferryman, Hugo's grandfather Nelson, and Apollo, a friendly canine who is also dead. (Anyone who has lost an animal companion will like the description of Apollo’s passing: “He took a breath…and then, he didn’t. The vet said it was done. But he couldn’t see what we could. [Apollo] was still here. Full of pep and vigor as if all the ailments of life had just faded away.”) In some ways, the premise reminded me of the play Steambath, or a very long episode of The Twilight Zone--interesting, to be sure, but a bit drawn out. I also wondered about the deus ex machina ending. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.

TJ Klune writes with such sweetness, and I love how intentional he is about representation.
This was a pleasant story, but it was as if Klune was trying to force Wallace’s and Hugo’s story into the formula that worked so well in The House in the Cerulean Sea. And the fit was kind of awkward.
Charming, but without that special magic.

Thank you, NetGalley and Macmillan, for the electronic arc.

For some reason, this one just didn't hit the way that Cerulean Sea did. I think it was the characters—I felt very attached to the characters in Sea very quickly, and at a third of the way through this one I didn't feel much for any of them yet.

After reading The House in the Cerulean Sea, I had high expectations for Under the Whispering Door. And while it met those expectations, I didn’t find myself as completely drawn in as I did with The House in the Cerulean Sea.

That being said, TJ Klune has a way of making the characters so realistic that they hurt to read about. One of my favorite things about this book is that, while I didn’t relate very much to any of the characters, I still was able to connect with them. Every character felt like a real person, and I loved every one of them.

The only thing I didn’t like as much about this book is that the worldbuilding felt a little bland. I was left with so many questions in the end, and there were a few worldbuilding plot holes that irritated me. The character development more than made up for it, but I was a little disappointed that my questions about the setting weren’t answered.

Overall, I loved this book. Not quite as much as I loved The House in the Cerulean Sea, but all the same, it was one of my favorite books this year. And now I want a cup of tea.

“TJ Klune’s Under the Whispering Door cleanses my soul with hope, humanity, and the perfect cup of tea. Klune’s prose is dazzling—Under the Whispering Door sparkles, entertains, and enchants, all while sharing incredible insights on loss, acceptance, and dignity. The characters and world that Klune creates are whimsical, fantastical, even mythic—yet ever so heart-wrenchingly relatable. There is so much to love in Under the Whispering Door, but what I love the most is its compassion for the little things--a touch, a glance, a precious piece of dialogue—healing me, telling me that for all the strangenesses I hold, I am valued, valid—and maybe even worthy of love.”—Ryka Aoki, Light from Uncommon Stars.

T.J. Klune seems to have invented a genre that I simply can’t get enough of: corporate fantasy. He takes something marvelous and full of fancy and turns it into something regulated, full of paperwork and tedium. This sounds awful, of course, but THEN, somehow, astoundingly, he gives it a soft landing. He puts the whimsy back into it. He assures his readers again and again that he gets it, that in the end it’s all about love, and compassion, and connection.
I simply adored this sweet, hilarious book. If you loved The House in the Cerulean Sea I am sure you’ll love this one as well, but for new Klune readers, this will appeal to fans of The Good Place and Terry Pratchett and anyone looking for a story about death that has, and I only give this minor spoiler to reassure, an unashamedly JOYFUL, champagne-glasses-clinking happy ending.

A wonderfully soft, poignant book on death, life and love. This book quite literally broke my heart, and I loved it. A new favourite.

Thank you to NetGalley and TJ Klune for the advanced copy of this book. I don’t know how TJ Klune does it but his books always manage to hit me in all of my feelings.

What happens after we die is something most people wonder about. I know that I do. This book is so beautifully written and gives such a wonderful picture of what could be once we are no longer here physically.

I was lucky enough to get an ARC through NetGalley. If you, like me, walked into this book expecting the literary warm hug of The House on the Cerulean Sea, you are in for a rude awakening. Under the Whispering Door is an incredible novel about grief, death and all of our emotions around death. TJ Klune does an incredible job of making you love, even the most unlovable, characters. This is a story you feel down to your deepest soul. Amazing book, I just pre-ordered the hardcover so I could share this with friends and family.

TJ Klune has been publishing for a while, but he only really showed up on my radar with The House in the Cerulean Sea (one of our Subjective Kind of Chaos nominees!). And while I loved that one, I’d say that he levelled up with Under the Whispering Door. It takes the cosy atmosphere of Cerulean Sea, and adds further depth to it by discussing death and the afterlive(s). I should say at this point, Under the Whispering Door comes with a massive trigger warning of death, self-harm and suicide. If those are topics that cause you discomfort or might trigger distress, please avoid reading.

If the trigger warnings I mentioned above don’t put you off this, please, please pick this up. It is amazing and beautiful and it talks about tea so much – and tea is the second best thing when you need to feel better (the best thing being a good book). Hugo is the most adorable cinnamon roll character and I love him to bits. Its not his story, first and foremost, but he is what made me fall for it. Because Wallace is a DICK. A huge self-centred dumbass. And that is his main story arc. Coming to terms with who he is and growing into someone bigger and better than himself. He’s the kind of person who fires an employee because they made a tiny mistake after twenty years at the company with no second thought.

But all that changes after Wallace dies and meets Hugo. Accompanied by a charming cast of side characters, he undergoes a massive character development arc in a sort of halfway-house between life and death, where Hugo acts as a ferryman. Under the Whispering Door brings back all the charm that made people fall for The House in the Cerulean Sea, except that it’s deeper, expanding the comfy vibes to philosophising about life and death and how to make the most of the time we have with the people we love.

This is a delightful book, with fantastic quirky characters, a cute queer romance and feelgood vibes, while still addressing deeper themes and trauma. I highly recommend it.

TJ Klune really brought it in this one. This is so much like The House in the Cerulean Sea, yet worlds apart. But it made me sob all the same. IT’S SO FREAKING CUTE.

In this novel we follow Wallace Pierce, a mundane divorced businessman running a firm with his three friends. He’s a no-nonsense kind of guy, with no sense of humour whatsoever and takes everything seriously. And I mean everything. He doesn’t exactly believe in anything. All he wants is to keep working in his firm and get the satisfaction of firing employees.

So I guess you can believe me when I say that Wallace is quite dumbfounded to find himself standing in front of his casket looking at his lifeless body on the day of his funeral. He’s then whisked away by a Reaper, Mei, to a tea shop, where he meets his ferryman, Hugo, Nelson, who is Hugo’s grandfather, and Apollo, a wholesome little dog.

From the moment he sets foot in the tea shop, Wallace simply refuses to believe he’s dead. He witnesses the weirdest of things, from not being able to touch anyone or anything, to a hook with a cable protruding out of his chest. He eventually begins to grasp the idea, as he becomes closer to everyone.

I simply adored the found family trope in this book. At first, everyone except Hugo is not very keen about him. But it’s what they’re meant to do (help lost souls cross over, that is), so they do it. But as they learn stuff about each other, and themselves, they draw closer, and are soon an inseparable band of best friends.

Hugo and Wallace are my new favourite otp. They’re literally so cute together and have stolen my heart. I liked that it wasn’t a very insta-lovey situation and eventually grew into something they both never expected.

Hugo is a very optimistic, calm person (yes he’s alive), and helps Wallace understand the true meaning of life and death and how we need to live life to the fullest because we might never have enough time.

Nelson is the sweetest grandfather ever, and Apollo and him make a great pair. They’re the kind of people you could never get bored of and would always want to be around. Mei too. I love that we have Asian representation in this book through her. She’s such a feisty, sassy young woman, and I can’t help but love her! She’s such a mood!

There’s so much conflict in the story, which I definitely wasn’t expecting, but it only made the book more enjoyable and worthwhile.

Oooh the ending. You think you know what’s going to happen. Trust me, whatever you’re thinking, it’s not going to happen. My jaw was left hanging. It’s a not a plot twist, per se, but it’s so unexpected that I wouldn’t have seen it coming from miles away.

Overall, Under the Whispering Door is my newest addition to my favourites shelf, and I CANNOT WAIT FOR EVERYONE TO CRY OVER THIS WITH ME.