This book was an emotional ride. The best way I can describe the way I felt as I was reading it would be grief. It wasn't the rawness of fresh grief, or the grief that bubbles up in your lungs and steals your breath no matter how long has past, it's the quiet everyday grief that you hold on to. It was filled with quiet feelings of joy and loss and longing and hope.
Watching Wallace make his way through his journey of death and acceptance was wonderful. Watching as he got to know and love Mei and Nelson and Hugo was heartwarming and wholesome and hilarious.
This book is everything and once again TJ Klune has shown that he is a master of making you laugh and cry and fall in love with these amazing characters. I can't recommend this book highly enough.

TJ Klune is a master storyteller and just has a way with his characters. I didn’t quite love this one as much as The House in the Cerulean Sea, it did find it heartwarming and sweet. Readers won’t want to miss this redemption story.

I always thought it was singularly amazing that the emotional overture of the Green Creek series, and the heart-stuttering whimsy of The House in the Cerulean Sea were written by the same person; because tonally they are very different. Under the Whispering Door is the exquisite merger of these two styles that TJ Klune has mastered so well. It is a book that confronts pain and grief with all the reverence that such topics deserve, but also maintains a light of delicate optimism, fun, and extraordinary friendship with humor and a touch of magic.
It is a brave soul who approaches the subject of death with anything but reverent temperance. Mortality is something that both scares and saddens us until we are forced to confront it head-on. Then, during the grieving process, some people see the joy that can be found. The kind of joy that has you cracking inappropriate jokes in a hospice room, or that allows you to recall fond but subsequently embarrassing memories of those who have passed away. It is in that emotional berth that this novel finds itself. It is the laughter that accompanies the sense of loss, and it does it so perfectly that I have resigned myself to failure at ever being able to properly convey how amazing this book is.
Did Under the Whispering Door make me want one last conversation with a deceased loved one? Yes. Did it force me to question what I will leave behind in this world after I am gone? Yes. Did it make me happy? Undeniably yes. Despite my love for TJ Klune’s other books, I have no pause in claiming Under The Whispering Door as my favourite of his works thus far. It is sad, ridiculous, chaotic, emotional, funny, and I feel like somehow it has made my life better by having read it. That sounds a little melodramatic, but it’s true.

I had first read TJ Klune’s novel, The House in the Cerulean Sea and I had loved the way he wrote. As I expected, I was not disappointed with Under the Whispering Door. Klune has a unique style with words that is, simply put, comforting.

One of my favorite parts of this particular book is how we can learn from it. We feel the anger, despair, heartache, guilt, and more along with the characters and we learn alongside Wallace. Under the Whispering Door could be helpful to anyone of any age above middle school as grief can really affect anyone (as Hugo had said, it’s not always big deaths)

While I would love to say this book has absolutely no flaws, no book is completely without flaws. I thought there was a tad bit too much time spent on describing the scenery and setting.

As a reader, I find myself bored when there is an extreme focus on the background and not what is happening and I find my eyes skipping to the end of paragraphs even when I didn’t want to. I enjoy having some freedom with my imagination when it comes to imagining settings and I noticed myself just ignoring things mentioned about the scenery and filling it in myself.

This had definitely become less of an issue as I read on and had never made me even think about putting down the book.

A final note, I’m torn between loving and hating the ending – while I love a happy ending, it felt almost like it wasn’t meant to go down that road. As much as I wanted that happy closing, it felt like a backtrack and what Wallace had learned didn’t really have much truth to it anymore.
But I can’t say I absolutely hate it cause it’s a happy ending.

A very special thank you goes out to the publisher and netgalley for granting me an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

T.J. Klune is a master storyteller and his stories are always packed full of imagery that pulls the reader right into the story with him. Under the Whispering Door is no exception. I could see the characters and the setting so vividly in my mind, yet the description never became so overbearing that I skimmed. No, with T.J., I always devour every single word.

This book may not be for everyone. If you're looking for a light hearted (gay) rom-com, or you live in fear of death, this may not be the book for you. Under the Whispering Door's main plot line is very heavy and the slow burn romance is subtle to the point of felling like just another cause and effect of the main character, Wallace, learning life lessons through his death. His relationship with tea shop owner and ferryman, Hugo, is no more important than the relationships with the others who are present in the half life he finds himself in.

That's not to say there aren't light moments as Wallace navigates his new role as a ghost in Hugo's tea shop. There are laugh out loud moments that come courtesy of a strong cast of characters that I won't spoil. I dare anyone not to fall in love with the Reaper, Mei or Hugo's ghostly grandfather, Nelson who are constant presences in the tea shop.

This is a story of life and death, how it effects the dead and the ones they leave behind. It's a story of redemption both for our decidedly prickly main character and for those he finds himself surrounded by. It's beautiful and leaves a lingering sense of hope in its wake. What happens when we die? No one truly knows, but this story makes me wonder if it's not something to be feared after all.

This was my first book written by TJ Klune... I heard that so many of my friends loved House in the Cerulean Sea so I was super excited to be approved for this early copy of Under the Whispering Door.

Honestly, Wallace reminded just a little bit of my own husband at the start of the book! Not so much being a jerk but being a workaholic where not much else seems to matter... because work provides for everything else in life. So, I was drawn in to see where this book would take Wallace.

Thankfully, it took him to Charon's Tea Shoppe where he met Hugo, Mei, Nelson, and Apollo. This is a story of found family and not taking life for granted. To marvel in the little things and to appreciate the joys in spite of the hard times.

It is also a book about empathy. Hugo is such a wonderful character. An amazing soul but not perfect. Someone who goes through his own struggles but is 100% there for others during their hard times.

I'm not going to pretend that I didn't see the theme and ending long before I read it... but this book is more about the journey than the destination... much like life.

Author T.J. Klune’s The House in the Cerulean Sea was a delightful pandemic novel, popping on and off the New York Times Bestseller list all year and setting science fiction/fantasy records on Amazon in 2020. Under the Whispering Door isn’t a sequel, but it’s definitely a spiritual follow-up: Klune traces similar light fantasy territory and delivers some serious queer longing. The main character dies within the first few pages of the novel but, thankfully, that doesn’t stop the power of love.

I included Under the Whispering Door in my summer preview for Book and Film Globe: https://bookandfilmglobe.com/fiction/eight-books-to-take-you-into-fall/

Thanks to NetGalley and Tor Books for the ARC.

Under the Whispering Door by TJ Klune is a heartfelt masterpiece. It will have you experience grief and fear of the unknown, yet still have Klune’s overarching humor to lighten the mood. This is a ride I hope everyone will choose to experience.

At the beginning of this novel, Wallace seems like a corporate lawyer that does only what is best for the company, ignoring what’s best for the people themselves. He has a strict code of “efficiency is best,” and personal matters are for the unimportant.

Following the cold open of the novel, Wallace discovers he’s dead when he shows up at his funeral and meets his reaper. If you’re expecting a skeleton in a long cloak, be prepared to be pleasantly disappointed. The reaper takes him away from the big city to a tiny tea shop in the middle of nowhere. There, he meets the ferryman who is meant to help him understand death and pass over. Again, the unexpected is seen, as there’s no River Styx and no boat and ferryman.

At the teashop, Wallace learns what life could have been like, filled with kindness and companionship. He learns there’s more to life than being a lawyer in a high skyscraper. There’s peace, quiet and beautiful stars to view.

Once he gets attached to his new “life” as a dead spirit, the Manager, the ferryman’s boss, shows up. The Manager gives Wallace 7 days to say goodbye. With this timeline, Wallace will learn to truly experience the five stages of grief and will see what it’s like to be grieved.

This novel is an adventure in death and love, and it is unmatched.

*Thank you NetGalley for giving me an Advanced Reader’s Copy in exchange for an honest review.*

I love TJ Kline and this was no different. He creates amazing worlds and characters. I loved the aspect of the “holding” tea shop after death and the human individuals that work there.
I loved the characters and the end development, but the thing I struggle with a bit was the romance. I didn’t feel like it was flushed out enough and it seemed so rushed. It had insta-love vibes and that made me not feel or relate to it enough.
All in all, I enjoyed it.

Thanks to Netgalley and Tor gifting me an eARC for an honest review.

I was late to the House in the Cerulean Sea craze, picking it up in early 2021; however, like most others, I devoured that book in just a few days, unable to put it down. So far it's been one of--if not <i>the</i> best reads of 2021 for me, so to say I was excited for Under the Whispering Door is an understatement. This book has been on my TBR list for as long as I knew it existed, and was easily among my most-anticipated reads of the year.

So, it is with great sadness that I say that I didn't enjoy UTWD nearly as much as I enjoyed THITCS. The cover blurb promises a story about life, love, grief, and death (and everything in-between). Unfortunately, I didn't feel that the book lived up to any of these promises.

I'll start with the story. Like THITCS, there's not much I can actually spoil about the story that isn't revealed in the cover blurb. Wallace Price is not a good man--he's a Scrooge for the 21st century, and by all accounts--including his own--he lacks empathy, compassion, kindness, and charity--basically anything that would make him a decent human being. He's the Extremely Upper Management of THITCS distilled into a single person: rules, order, structure, work govern his life, and there's little room for anything else. Honestly, the only hint in the first 100 pages or so that he's an actual person rather than a caricature is that he wears sweats and flip flops on the weekend.

Given all of this--and his apparent self-awareness of how unlikeable he is as a person--it's kind of confusing that he's surprised when more people don't show up at his funeral after he dies, unexpectedly, of a heart attack. The only people in attendance are the partners at his law firm and his ex-wife, none of whom have anything nice to say about him (which, again, shouldn't be surprising, given that he has nothing nice to say about either himself or any of the people who bother to eulogize him). It's in this somewhat inexplicable state of shock that a Reaper--Mei--finds him and leads him to a "way station," where a ferryman named Hugo will ostensibly help him "cross over" to... something. Death? The Afterlife? It's unclear. But, <i>trust us on this</i> (say Mei and Hugo, both of whom have no actual idea where people go after they cross over and are merely blindly following orders from a Higher Power who is definitely, unequivocally <i>not</i> God with a capital G), it's better on the other side.

Okay, so now Wallace is stuck in this way station--a four-story house in the middle of the woods that also doubles as a tea shop--with Mei, Hugo, and two other ghostly residents: Nelson (Hugo's grandfather) and Apollo, a dog. Wallace is told that he has all the time he needs to cross over (which, in this case, entails walking/floating through a literal door on the fourth floor of the house), and that Hugo's job is to help him get to a place of "readiness." The "help" that Hugo is ostensibly meant to provide takes the form of several existential discussions about life and death, wherein Wallace and Hugo a) agree that Wallace was a terrible person in life, and b) fall in love.

Wait. What? Back that up.

Here's the issue I had with this book--and the issue I have with <i>all</i> books about death, apparently: It's only after Wallace dies that he learns the value of living. This book is meant to be a meditation on the human capacity for change, growth, and love, but what <i>are</i> all of these things to a human experience that has already expired? There are no <i>stakes</i> in this game. It costs Wallace <i>nothing</i> to change his behavior after his death, whereas it would have required <i>enormous</i> introspection and growth for him to change his behavior in life. Wallace's ending is already written at the point he enters the tea shop--he is already dead, and he's not going to get any more alive, <spoiler>(well... more on that later...)</spoiler> so the transformation he goes through in the tea shop is, ultimately, pretty empty. He has no reason <i>not</i> to change at this point; his life is over. All the people he hurt while alive are still hurt, and all the meaningless hours he wasted on work are still wasted. His "change" means nothing to anyone except to him, which... actually just confirms the narcissism that lead him to a lonely death in the first place.

Of course, because Hugo's literal job is to be a loving shepherd to lost souls, he falls in love with Wallace during the month Wallace spends in the tea shop. I did appreciate that the two of them didn't dance around their attraction the way Linus and Arthur danced around theirs in THITCS--they were pretty open about it, which did make the ending a little more resonant. But again, by the time Wallace has to cross over the threshold into whatever comes next, it just kind of feels like he's getting exactly what he wanted at the beginning of the book--people to mourn him when he's gone. His constant refrain to Hugo--"Please don't forget me"--seems to drive home the point that the thing Wallace wants most is to be <i>remembered</i>. Love, connection, companionship--those end up feeling like mere currencies for the purchase of Legacy. Which is, I think, not <i>supposed</i> to be the point of this book. But, unfortunately, it's what I took away.

I said I'd talk about the ending as well, so here it is (spoilers, obviously):

<spoiler>At the end of the book, Wallace is basically forced to cross over (despite assurances earlier that no one will rush him). But, of course, because this is a fairy tale of sorts, he is given seven days to put his ghostly affairs in order before he walks through the door. To demonstrate his "change," he spends these seven days performing acts of altruism--helping both the living and the dead cross their own thresholds of grief and pain. And, because of how good he's apparently become at being a ghost therapist, he is given the gift of resurrection.

Again... what?

The entire book to this point has been an exploration of the stages of grief (Kubler-Ross is mentioned early and often, no metaphors here) and how pivotal and life-changing/life-affirming it can be to reach acceptance and cross into the next stage of one's journey. But... Wallace is apparently the exception? (Well, Wallace and some guy named Pablo, apparently.). Apparently his week of no-stakes benevolence is enough to earn him a shot at redemption, and he is granted another chance at life.

Almost any other character in this book deserved this more than Wallace. Lea, certainly. Cameron, yes. Nelson, probably. THE DOG, most definitely. Wallace had an extremely privileged life and he threw it away because of narcissism and selfishness, and, you know, <i>privilege</i>. He never <i>suffered</i>. He simply caused others' suffering. But because he "learned to love" in his month as a ghost, he gets to live? <i>Why?</i></spoiler>

Fans of Klune in general will probably love this book. It has all of Klune's stylistic quirks (long, existential conversations, lines of wry humor, lots of meaningful near-touches) and an aesthetically comforting setting. But for readers who are only familiar with--and expecting another--THITCS, I fear that this book will fall flat. There's a promise of depth to UTWD that's never quite fulfilled. Nonetheless, I'd love to see Klune tackle the weighty subject of Death again... just in a way that better captures the experience of <i>living</i>.

This book was lovely. Very emotional; and not because it deals with death but because it deals with what happens after death and grief.
Reading Wallace’s character development was emotional and eye opening. Lots of existential questions were pondered while I read this book.
I teared up and I laughed and I love when a book does that for me.
I love the authors way of writing. He really pulls emotions out of me and paints beautiful imagery with his words. I don’t know why this stuck with me but I love how the author puts an importance on the sanctuary of bedrooms, of the window into a person’s personality, and makes the reveal of them to the MC so special.
The ending did leave me a little unsatisfied. A little too “neat.” I didn’t know what I expected but I think I would have preferred something a little more—unexpected.
Still a beautiful read with important themes and messages.
CW: mention of suicide and child death

Another engaging read from TJ Klune! I, like many others, loved The House in the Cerulean Sea. Be warned: This is not quite the same type of heartwarming story.

Wallace is a partner at a big-city law firm and not a great guy. When he drops dead in his office, he's in complete denial. He is taken by a reaper from his funeral and ends up at a tea shop in the woods - a waystation run by the ferryman who will shepherd him on to what's next, whenever he's ready. There, he gets the time to come to terms with what's happened. With the help of the strange and lovely inhabitants of the tea shop, Wallace finally figures out what life is all about.

This is a lovely story, by turns gut-wrenching and charming. I loved the character growth and the atmosphere. It is also quite sad. It deals with death - of a parent, a child, a pet, a partner - and the grief left behind when they go. In this world, we see the grief of both the deceased and the loved ones, and it can almost be overwhelming. This is somewhat balanced by the charm and humor inherent in Klune's writing. At the core, this is a love story. Wallace meets Hugo, the ferryman, and the two grow to care about each other over the course of the book. There were some aspect of the end that I didn't love, but they were not enough to change my opinion of the book.

All in all, a beautiful story about life, death, and what we leave behind.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing this digital ARC for review.

Wallace has died but isn't quite read to pass to the other side.
Enter the Ferryman Hugo who is going to help Wallace to see the good in himself before her makes his final destination.

This book is whimsical and enjoyable. All the characters are lovable including the ghost dog "Apollo".
While the story is about the ending of a life, it is also about the living of a life.
I found the book full of emotions both sad and happy, it made me laugh and think.

I found it to be an inspiring story coming along at a very important time. Full of both tears and Hope.

Thank you Netgalley and Tor Books for the advanced electronic copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Under the Whispering Door was my first foray into T.J. Klune's writing, and I'm so glad that I gave into the hype. Klune's novel explores death, grief, and learning how to live and love again when your life is over.

There's a whimsical sense of humor and a penchant for hope threaded throughout the novel as Wallace, a middle-aged man who is more selfish jerk than anything else, dies suddenly. Wallace travels with his reaper (Mei) to a tea shop/waystation for the newly dead, and it's there that he meets Hugo, Hugo's grandfather Nelson, and Apollo the ghost dog. It's there that he reflects and finds who he is and who he could have been underneath the anger and selfishness.

I adored Under the Whispering Door from start to finish. Klune's writing style is soft and cozy, even while he tackles such heavy topics as suicide. A profound exploration of humanity and grief, of love, loss, and moving on. I cannot wait to see what Klune writes next (and can't wait to read what he has already written). Pick this one up if you love found family, character-driven stories featuring queer BIPOC rep, and laughing through your tears.

CW: death, grief, mentions of (off-page) suicide and homicide

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Books for the free advance reader's copy in exchange for an honest review.

This destroyed me. I am an emotional wreck after finishing this one.

The subject matter of death and where we go when we die is one that always gives me anxiety and fear. TJ Klune did a tremendous job at writing a story that can everyone can connect with. The different depths of grief, love, family, learning to let go and move forward, and personal growth in our characters was stunning. How death affects the living and the dead I thought was written really well too.

Hugo and Wallace together had this beautiful dynamic with each other. How they were there for each other in this sadness and also for things like Hugos panic attacks. They didn't dismiss the trauma of losing a loved one either suddenly or otherwise. The bit with Cameron just makes my heart twist with sadness. You really feel all the heartbreak in this book.

Definitely read this one when it comes out on September 21st. It was beautiful and be prepared to have tissues on hand.

Thank you to @netgalley and @torbooks for approving me for the earc of this beautiful book for an honest review.

Loved it. Talk about great character development from Wallace Price. One of the few books I've read this year that made me cry.

Wallace thinks he has good life as a successful lawyer but after he passes away and only 5 people attend his funeral (one he doesn't even know), he realizes he didn't really have any friends and he wasn't a nice person at all. A reaper collects him and takes him to a ferryman who lives at a tea shop. Their jobs are to help Wallace cross over. As Wallace reflects over his life and begins to make friends, he realizes what he missed out on in his life. Mei the quirky reaper and Hugo the patient ferryman are great characters. When the strange Manager appears, Wallace's afterlife takes a different turn. Like The House in the Cerulean Sea, Klune tells a unique, fantasy story with interesting characters.

Considering that 'The House in the Cerulean Sea' was my favourite read of 2020, I went into this with fairly high expectations and anticipation. TJ Klune has such a knack for writing books that are cosy and feel like warm hugs while also being able to shatter your feelings, and this book delivered all of that in spades! I had some long and loud laughs but it also tore at my feelings and had me ugly crying for... a good chunk of that ending. Safe to say, this was quite the emotional journey but I honestly didn't expect it'd be anything different! 😂

This was a real slow-burn of a story but with it's simple and compelling writing, it was still a relatively quick and easy read. There were moments when the writing did more "telling" rather than "showing", which made it feel a bit clunky and detached, but the story is infused with TJ Klune's witty and humorous charm, and I loved it! Fitting with the pace, I felt this was more of a 'quiet' story—it's not flashy but it's full of heart and it creeps up on you with a grounding sort of comfort. I wouldn't necessarily say this was an uplifting read either but it does explore worthwhile topics like death, loss and grief, and poses questions such as what does it mean to be alive, what constitutes a well-lived/fulfilled life and how to cope with death. The story has platitudes aplenty about living your best life, being kind to others and being the best person that you can be, and I have to admit that there was little subtlety in the telling. But while I don't think it introduced anything new or groundbreaking to the discussion I personally had no problem with that and still managed to thoroughly enjoy the story for the cheesiness it does bring.

What made my enjoyment of this story so full however was the amazing cast of characters that Klune brings to life. They are quirky and endearing and they wormed their way into my heart so quickly! I took some notes while reading and 90% of them were variations of: "OMG STAHP I LOVE THESE CHARACTERS SO MUCH!!!" (I'm not even kidding lol.) The found family trope is one of my all-time favourites and there is big found family energy in this that makes it so easy to feel invested in these characters and their stories. Wallace, Hugo, Mei, Nelson and the adorkably clumsy ghost-doggo, Apollo, tugged so hard on my emotional strings. They had me laughing and crying and all I wanted was to hang out at the tea shop and be friends with them.

Hugo was such a soft, empathetic cinnamon roll who lived for tea and to do his best to help those who've passed to cross over. Mei is a reaper who brings souls to Hugo and I loved her so much from the moment we meet her. She's loud and hilarious and so full of life that it just beams off the pages! Much like Wallace, Nelson and Apollo are ghosts and semi-permanent residents of Charon's Crossing Tea and Treats. Nelson is Hugo's grandfather and I loved this man so freaking much! He was fun-loving, mischievous and delightfully cheeky, as many endearing grandfatherly characters are. Being so big-hearted, generous and patient made all the characters complete opposites of Wallace, but in finding himself surrounded by them, it was great to see him come to the realisation that being kind and selfless reaps greater rewards than being cold and cruel, and that perhaps being surrounded by love and warmth is better than having everything and still, nothing. The romance between Wallace and Hugo was also heartachingly sweet. It's a slow burn that grows steadily from wary strangers, to steady friendship and builds up to a great love. Their inability to interact as people normally would created a feeling of such bittersweet longing and oh, my. They were easy to ship!

Although the plot was predictable and it was clear where the story was heading, I was still a little disappointed that it ended the way it did. I know a lot of people will love it and I probably would've too had I read this a few years ago because who doesn't want that well-rounded happy ever after? However, I felt that it was just too neat and simple (idealistic even?) and in a way I felt that it even took away some of the story's power. But did it stop me from being completely emotionally devastated? No. Was I still quietly ugly crying into my pillow at 2AM and wondering how I could make it all hurt less? Yes. Did it still leave me wanting moremoremore of these characters and other stories from the Charon's Crossing Tea and Treats shop? Abso-freaking-lutely, yes!

Overall, I think that if you like TJ Klune's writing, humour, and characters, then I think there's a very good chance that you will enjoy Under the Whispering Door. I can't wait to see what Klune comes out with next!

If you're a fan of The House In The Cerulean Sea then I think you will love this one as well. The main character, Wallace, wasn't such a likable guy in life and now he's found himself at a tea house waiting to cross over. While he waits, he has time to reflect on his life. It's got the wonderful characters, the humor and the heart that we expect with TJ Klune's stories. I highly recommend it!

After careful consideration I have decided not to read and review this book based on problematic news regarding this author. Thank you to NetGalley and the team at Tor/Forge for the opportunity.