TJ Klune does it again. This book has a similar feel to House on the Cerulean Sea but still felt wholly original. The romance was slow, real, and just so heart warming. This cozy type of fantasy book is quickly becoming my favorite.

A really lovely book about loss and queer love. I don't typically read fantasy novels, but this is a very special read.

I liked The House In The Cerulean Sea so much last year that I was worried whether a subsequent novel wouldn’t have to be a disappointment. But TJ Klune did it, Under the Whispering Door is a worthy follow up to last year’s favorite.

Wallace Price, a successful but arrogant and selfish attorney who lives only to work, finds himself dead at his own quite lame funeral, after a mid-life heart attack. A R
reaper, Mei, has come to collect him and take him to a tea shop in a little village where Hugo the Ferryman waits to help him cross to the next stage. Wallace is still angry not ready to go, but he is given time to reflect on the life he barely enjoyed and accept his death.
At the heart this book is a beautiful love story on how love means life. Wallace and Hugo are two very different people, but with Hugo’s help, Wallace begins to learn how to be a better person or ghost but the friendship and love that develops between these two is notthe sole focus in this heartwarming story. Other forms of love are celebrated, too: the love between a grandparent and grandchild, between two best friends, and between a human and their dog. It’s truly wonderful.
As with House in the Cerulean Sea, Klune’s warmth and wit shine through. Hugo, Mei, the reaper, Hugo‘s grandfather Nelson and Apollo the dog are delightful characters. Although the plot is about death and grief and is a little gloomy in places, it is given a thoughtful treatment so the result is heartwarming and hopeful and, ultimately more about living a good life while accepting life’s finality than about dying.

Under the Whispering Door is a book that many people are going to resonate with. This book is unique and original in its own way. It will make you cry, laugh and cry but leave you hopeful.

I have previously read TJ Klune's House in the Cerulean Sea and was so excited to receive a digital review copy of his latest novel, Under the Whispering Door. His previous book sucked me right in from the beginning and I was eager to get my hands on his next book.

Under the Whispering Door was an imagining of what comes next. What happens when we die? Following the death of Wallace Price, an uncaring, unsympathetic lawyer who cares about nothing and no one other than himself coming to terms with his death and figuring out what really is important in life. Wallace has to come to terms with everything he missed out on and that death is only part of the journey.

While imaginative, I found the first half of the novel slow. Strange things were happening, some explained, some not. I just didn't feel pulled through the story. TBH, I set the book down for a while and had to come back to it.

But the second half was redemptive. Really much more what I had been expecting from the author. The ending was very well done, which is always important to me. A good ending always feels like I've invested my time wisely in a book.

Forever waiting for more TJ Klune.

Thank you to NetGalley, Tor Books, and TJ Klune for the digital review copy in exchange for a review.

TJ Klune is back with another heartfelt novel that is sure to stun, especially after a year and a half of a pandemic where so many are struggling with grief.

As the synopsis says, Under the Whispering Door is about Wallace, a corporate lawyer whose only priority in his life is his job, and his journey after death. Wallace isn't a good person, but when he meets the people who are supposed to usher him into the afterlife, he begins to question his life choices and what it truly means to be happy and a good person.

Overall, Under the Whispering Door is a solid novel and I can see a lot of people really loving this. Klune really manages to capture the complexities of human life and what it means to live a life well-lived. There were several moments while reading this where Klune pulled strongly on my heartstrings. It often wasn't even the "big" moments, but the more subtle ones, that had my emotions going. Klune really shines in his ability to time a scene. What I mean by that is that in his plot sequences, Klune knows exactly what he needs to write in order to make the plot flow and move appropriately. This especially shows with his comedic timing. While this is a sadder, more contemplative novel, there were also several moments where I found myself laughing (cackling) out loud.

There were definitely moments throughout the novel, especially in some of the earlier middle chapters, that felt slow and redundant to me. There was a lot of dialogue between characters where they literally debated what it meant to be alive. These scenes slowed the novel down for me personally as I preferred the scenes where the meaning of the book was more subtle and less directly pushed. However, I can see people dealing more directly with grief than I am relating to those scenes.

Fans of The House in The Cerulean Sea will find a lot of the same wit and charisma that they so loved in Under the Whispering Door, but they should also be prepared for a wholly different novel that I am sure they will love all the same.

Thank you so much to TJ Klune and his publishers for granting me a copy of this novel for review through Netgalley.

📚Book 41 of 2021: Under the Whispering Door by T.J. Klune

🙏🏻Big thank you to NetGalley and Tor Books for the E-Arc!

❗️Trigger Warning: discussion of suicide, murder, loss of a child

💬Reader’s Digest Version: Wallace, a curmudgeonly lawyer, is not known for his sense of humor or generosity. Ruthless in life, Wallace suddenly finds himself vulnerable in death after a sudden heart attack. Wallace finds himself in the care of two complete strangers. Hugo and Mei are the ferryman and reaper. Their job is to help Wallace reckon with his own death and help him cross over to the other side. Reluctant to their care at first, Wallace eventually melts under the genuine kindness of Hugo and Mei. Eventually, Wallace finds himself on a journey bigger than grappling with his own life and death.

🏃🏻‍♀️My Take: Damn. This book was a gut punch to my soul. I found it a little hard to get into it in the beginning. The story dragged along and seemed, at first, to be a little predictable. Then, shit got real. Really real for me. Having lost someone I love this year, this book made me uncomfortable and at times sick to my stomach, but not in a bad way. Under the Whispering Door resonates with the truth of how little time we really have. How attached we are to earthly things, and how letting go of these things can lead to our ultimate freedom. Being a mom, there was one particular part of this story that had me sobbing uncontrollably. I wont give away the details, but it made me realize how fiercely much I love my children and the incomprehensible devastation that losing a child would bring. This book made me think about things I don’t like to think about. I almost quit reading it. It was too hard and too close to home for me, but I’m so glad I stuck with it. Under the Whispering Door will haunt me for a very long time.

Under the Whispering Door comes out September 21st..make sure you check it out!

My Rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/5

Thank you NetGalley, Tor, and TJ Klune for an opportunity to read an advanced copy of Under the Whispering Door.

This is arguably one of the most highly anticipated books of 2021 for readers everywhere, and it's not hard to see why. TJ Klune once again beautifully creates a world with such astonishing characters that make you feel all the things. Wallace's character development from beginning to end was so well-written and emotional, without question it was my favorite element of the book.

If you're going into this one expecting the same vibe as The House in the Cerulean Sea, be warned, this book is far heavier. Klune explores the topics of death and grieving extensively, and I was in constant tears for the last 25% of the book. Any novel that evokes such emotion from me gets an easy 5 stars. I strongly recommend having tissues ready and waiting while reading this one.

Under the Whispering Door is on sale September 21, 2021!

Firstly, the synopsis. Wallace Price is a selfish lawyer who dies suddenly. What follows is a spiritual journey as he finds himself stuck in limbo under the careful watch of a Reaper named Mei, a Ferryman named Hugo, and a few other spirits who all play important roles in helping him discover that it’s never too late to become the best version of yourself.

I cried a lot during this book. It is one I will return to as I experience hard deaths in my future. Just as in his previous book, The House in the Cerulean Sea, TJ Klune takes a hard subject and writes with wit and beautiful character development.

Which brings me to a messier but necessary conversation. I read the House before I learned of the controversy surrounding Klune’s inspiration for it. As a behavior specialist, my heart was full of love for the “unloveable” characters, especially Lucy. When I learned that Klune’s narrative was directly harmful to indigenous groups because of his inspiration from Canada’s residential schools and his lack of discussion or willingness to be open and learn, I was really disappointed. An author has a unique platform, and I think while everyone, even authors and other elevated people, can make mistakes, they also have the responsibility to grow as we all do.

Which brings me to my conclusions I have learned in life that oftentimes, multiple truths exist at once. And so I hold two truths about this. TJ Klune has a gift to take hard subjects and lessons and create magical narrative around them to help others. He also has used his gift in a way that is harmful to some, as any gift has the potential to build or tear down, and I hope that he can come to a place where reconciliation, humility, and learning is his priority.

"It's never enough, is it? Time. We always think we have so much of it, but when it really counts, we don't have enough at all."

This is now the third time I have sat down to write a review for this book. I honestly don't know if I was ready to have this book in my life, but I am thankful to have read it. Under the Whispering Door is a charming and warm, fuzzy blanket of a book that wraps itself around you and makes you feel safe. This is a book about dealing with grief and loss, a very tough topic in and of itself. It makes you look inward. Have I lived the best life I could until now? At a soul deep level, am I truly a good person? If I had to do it all again, what would I have done different? There are no easy answers to these types of questions. I don't know if I ever would have asked myself them at all if I had not read this book.

Though there are moments in this book that were hard to read, ( mind the trigger warnings my friends) the entire book contains an underlying message of hope . Hope that there is still time to live one's best life. Hope that once we've overstayed our welcome on this Earth, that there is something more, something wonderful and magical still to come. Our loved ones we've lost may not be here anymore, but they still left behind their impact on us. They live on in our memories, never truly lost, and hopefully they are also in that better place we like to imagine when we think about what comes after.

T.J. Klune wrote this book while he was grieving the loss of someone dear to him. You can see it in the pages, in Wallace asking all his questions and moving through the 5 stages of grief. Before you even begin the book, there is a dedication that already starts tugging on your heart strings. I had tears at numerous points in this book, but fans all know TJ's gift is that in between torturing your heart, he always makes it smile. I don't know whom the target audience was for this book exactly, but I think the message it leaves us with is needed in times like these. It would be a welcome read for both adults and young adults alike. After all, who couldn't use a little more hope in their lives?

If I wouldn't have known about the Cerulean sea, the cover of Under the whispering door would have done it for me. And if the cover would have been plain black,the synopsis would have been enough to make me want to read this immediately. Thank you so much, Netgalley and the publisher for letting me read the arc, I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Funny, sad, heartbreaking and heartwarming, Wallace Price gets another shot at Life after dying of a heartache. And he needs it. So does Hugo, who might be more lonely than he realised. Add an adorable dog, a grumpy but oh so loving grandpa and a feisty reaper with a heart as big as a planet...and make most of them ghosts... And there you go. You won't want to put this down. Have a box of tissues ready. I sure needed them

I had very high expectations for this one after LOVING the house in the cerulean sea and it did not disappoint. It was a slow burn book in the best of ways. I grew to love the characters and the concept and the entire book. It was a story that slowly crept into my heart and I adored it.

Wallace was a character with so much growth and I loved seeing him develop and realise the differences he can make to peoples’ lives. Hugo was a complete sweetheart full of honour, integrity and kindness. Their developing relationship moved me to tears at times.

The rest of the crew at Charon’s Crossing were delightful too! I loved Nelson and Apollo - they were a source of such laughter and entertainment. I also loved Mei and how dedicated she was to helping others and to helping Hugo. The found family in this one is incredibly special and moving.

This is a book that felt so profound and was so moving. It was full of heart and soul. Wholesome and hopeful. By the end I had tears streaming down my face and I am so grateful that I was able to read an e-Arc of this one.

Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan Tor.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

What will you do with the time you have left?

Wallace Price is a heartless shark of a lawyer. He doesn’t care about friends or family - until he dies of a heart attack, that is, which is when he finds himself looking down on his dead body. At his funeral, which is unacceptably only attempted by his law firm partners and an ex-wife with nothing nice to say, Wallace is found by Mei, a Reaper, who takes his soul to Charon’s Crossing.

Hugo Freeman is a tea shop owner, and a ferryman, who helps the dead cross over and through the whispering door to the great beyond. Souls that refuse to cross become soulless Husks who As Wallace gets to know Hugo and his team, and settle into Charon’s Crossing, what will he do when the all-powerful Manager tells him he has but one week to live before crossing the whispering door? Will he be able to fit a lifetime o living in seven days?

This was a slow, beautiful and poignant book about grief and loss and love. At times funny, at times sad, I loved all of it. Not as much as Cerulean Sea, but this was a great book. Thanks again to TJ Klune for a book about found family with excellent rep!


Many thanks to TJ Klune, NetGalley and MacMillan-Tor for this e-ARC!

I love this book. Wallace was someone we can find anywhere and it made him relatable to the readers, not validating his actions and decisions in the past. This centers in the character development which is the thing I look forward the most in a story, how Wallace digested everything that came so quickly into his life (and death). I love Hugo, Mei, Nelson, and Apollo, how they together showed the readers the power of friendship, compassion, to give someone the space they need. I love the jokes (even though it talked about a heavy topic around death and losing beloved people), the jokes balanced the story. I don't know, I just don't like the blurb that mentioned the 7 days given by The Manager, when it came only the last few chapters of the book. Overall this book is impressive.

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.

Content warning: suicide.
*Author makes a note at the start about reading with care.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC. I loved House in the Cerulean Sea and was thrilled to get an early read of this week.

As I read in the start I was reminded of the movie “Click” at times (which was a good thing in my case).

This book is powerful and poignant, a mix of fantasy and real life, blended together with poetic lines and some lines that had me giggling.

My one small issue I had was a section where a woman was noticed to be sitting with her “girlfriends” which I thought was an odd word choice for a book to describe female friends of a heterosexual character when the book had been so LGBTQI inclusive.

Under the Whispering Door by T.J. Klune

Expected publication date: September 21, 2021

Date read: September 13, 2021



Wallace Price is a high-powered attorney who doesn’t have time for friends, family, or really anything but work. After a Reaper comes to collect him at his funeral, he expects that he might really be dead. But instead of bringing him to some afterlife, the Reaper brings him to an out-of-the-way tea shop, run by a man named Hugo. In addition to owning a tea shop, Hugo is also a ferryman, guiding souls to the afterlife. But Wallace isn’t quite ready to give up the life he barely lived, and, with Hugo’s help, he begins to learn about all the thing he missed out on in life, like family, friendship, and even love.

I recently finished - and adored - The House in the Cerulean Sea by this same author, and I was curious to see how this book would stand up. Well, if you liked Cerulean Sea, this book does not disappoint. They have a different feel to them - Under the Whispering Door is darker, as any book with death as its main subject matter pretty much has to be. It’s still definitely by the same author, though. Even serious topics are handled in an almost whimsical way. And the love story is just as adorable.

I thought that the characters in this book were wonderful. Hugo is a very complicated character and must have been difficult to write - he has to be charming and sweet and grounded while also being surrounded by death and duty. He is one of the most interesting characters I’ve read in a long time. Wallace, I feel, might have been an even more difficult character to put down on the page, but for different reasons: his character started out as a total jerk. After the first chapter I wondered how we were ever going to end up rooting for this guy. But I shouldn’t have worried. The other characters were also wonderful in their own ways; I especially loved Mei, the Reaper, who might have been my favorite of the bunch.

This book also has its really dark and serious moments. There are some truly scary and/or loathsome characters. There is frank discussion of death - natural, murder, and suicide. There is a character who deals with panic attacks. And there is the underlying question behind the whole thing - what is waiting on the other side.

Even after reading Cerulean Sea and being familiar with Klune’s style, I was not expecting this book. He found a way to make the afterlife both serious and funny, never stepping too far in either direction. And I worried that a love story between a living man and a ghost would get cringy, but I was pleasantly surprised by the direction it took.

This book is not for everyone - you need to be comfortable with a fair amount of magical realism in your stories. But I think it was a beautiful way of looking at death and regret and it made me laugh and cry just pages apart. One of my favorite books of the year.

Rating: 5/5 stars

Trigger warning: death, sexual harassment (and joking about it)

Whatever I expected before picking this one up was thrown out the window and obliterated. I had known that TJ Klune was a popular and well-written author. I knew that this book was going to be good. I just didn't realize how good it would be.
There is something reassuring about his writing that doesn't drag you down into it or anything like that. Rather it welcomes you in, offers you something comforting, and invites you to stay. And that is an invitation you can't turn down. Because you don't want to.
You want to sit and stay and feel every emotion and feeling he writes, the happy and the sad. Because it feels genuine. This is a story that talks about death at length and at points in vivid detail. It walks you through the five stages of grief in such a way that you almost forget that it is essential to the story. Not that it becomes insignificant, rather it happens so fluidly and naturally. It's never choppy or overly in your face. You are gently guided through each phase. You feel the characters, anger, and depression just as much as their joy and happiness.
Getting to read Wallace's journey through these stages and watching his character grow and change was beautiful. There is no other word for it. You can't help but to root for him and want things to change for him. Especially with Hugo standing by his side. What a loveable (and cute) character. Their budding relationship was also the most adorable. And it never felt like it was overshadowing the main storyline. I don't know how, but Klune was able to perfectly balance the romance aspect with the death aspect and not make it seem like a doomed relationship.
Klune managed to create a cast of characters so amazing, so adorable and funny and charismatic I just wanted to meet them. To talk with them. To high five Nelson, who is probably my favorite.
When I finished this book, all I could think about doing was giving it a hug. I was tearing up and yes, I did start to cry at least twice while reading it. But I wanted to hug it and give even just a smidge of the comfort it gave to me back.
Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan-Tor/Forge for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

TJ Klune’s books hit different. There is no other way to describe it. His books always make me feel all of the feels. I laugh and I cry.

Simply put, Klune’s books make you feel.

This book is about life in all of its intricacies. The good, the bad, and the ugly. When we meet Wallace Price, he is not a good person. He’s selfish and a workaholic. Then, he dies. And it’s in death that Wallace meets the people who will show him what life is truly about: the connections we make with others. Mei is a firecracker and loyal to her core. I want to be her best friend. Nelson is the comic relief and grandfather we all deserve. And Hugo, sweet Hugo, is one of the kindest and purest characters I’ve ever read about. Hugo’s compassion and empathy are inspiring.

Wallace’s journey is an emotional one, and I mean that in the best way. His journey isn’t an easy one which is what makes it such a rewarding reading experience. You’re going to cry happy tears, sad tears, and tears of pride while you read this book.

This book is a must-read. It really helps put life into perspective. It’s easy to get bogged down by our day to day responsibilities, but ask yourself: are you truly living? Are you happy? Are you allowing love into your life? If you answered no, it’s not too late to fix that. It’s never too late to find yourself and true happiness.

. . . ⭑ ⭑ ⭑ ⋆ ⭒
Sometimes when I’ve read a book, I finish with a very clear feeling on how I will rate it - this is not one of those times. I struggled quite a bit with settling on a rating for this one, and even still, I’m not sure about it. So bear with me as I work through my feelings.

I really enjoyed the plot premise of this book, and it was executed well - it was interesting, it was clever, and it was the right amount of humour mixed in with seriousness. Objectively, it was a good book. Subjectively, for some reason, it just wasn’t enough for me. At times, the storyline was very moving, but I wasn’t particularly moved. Maybe my cold, dead heart needs some resuscitating and I’m basically a monster in need of an emotional intervention, but either way, this didn’t root deeply enough to really sink it’s teeth into me.

I absolutely adored the love story, and in the aspect of romance, this hit the mark and gave me those warm and fuzzy feelings. In fact, I enjoyed all of the relationships presented in this book - I found them to be accessible and not uncomplicated, which is no small accomplishment in writing. I do think that the character growth of Wallace felt a bit forced, which I think created some distance for me in connecting with him as a character, despite enjoying the relationships that he formed with other characters.

It’s been a long time since I read a book that fell deep into the fantasy/magical realm, and maybe that’s partially why I’m feeling conflicted, because of my distance from the genre, but it just wasn’t satisfying enough of a read for me. But I think it could have been, which is frustrating.

Maybe my expectations were also too high, setting me up from the beginning for disappointment, but regardless, there’s definitely some things I enjoyed about this one and there’s also something missing for me, but I do think it worth a read, especially if you enjoy contemporary fantasy.

~ 👩🏻‍🦰

Under the Whispering Door is heartfelt and humorous, but it didn't connect like the first story. It is still an enjoyable read and I liked seeing how the characters grow and what happens next.