*I received a free advance reader copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review*

This book is both beautiful, sad and honest. It's a story about grief and loss but also about finding yourself and your purpose through the people who encourage and surround you. For our main character, Wallace, he's had a pretty bitter life. He's not the nicest guy and he's fallen into bad patterns and practices, but when he dies very suddenly and is picked up by Mei, the Reaper, he learns there's a whole lot more to life than he knew.

Wallace is a dislikeable character at first and it took me a while to really engage with him. Although he clearly isn't the best, Hugo, the Ferryman, sees more in him and it's his job to try and help Wallace find the good in himself before he crosses into the afterworld. Wallace and Hugo's relationship takes a while to form and blossom, but as a reader following their journey it was a refreshing one to see.

Nelson and Mei and Apollo are the three other major characters we see a lot of. Mei is a reaper so she collects spirits, including Wallace's, and brings them to Hugo for him to do his work. She's a caring young lady and empathetic and does her best for those that she loves and helps.
Nelson is Hugo's grandfather and also a ghost. He stays in the house/Tea Shop where the majority of the story is based to keep them company and look out over them.
Apollo is a ghost dog, and let's be honest, a ghost dog was always going to be a good addition to the story.

As you see a the story unfold you see that the afterlife and the present merge as grief and passion war with one another. These two main characters are great together and both help one another and I very much enjoyed following their story. 4*s from me :)

A huge thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with this eArc!

I have previously read some of TJ Klune’s books and enjoyed some of them, I love the whimsy and unique aspects of them! This one didn’t fail to impress!

I highly recommend!!

Am trying to write this review properly but I am still crying after finishing this wonderful book! I will try to make sense .

We follow Wallace who is an absolutely horrible man who dies and gets taken to a tea house where he is being helped to pass over to the beyond. He is helped by Mei (the reaper) , Hugo (Tea house owner and ferryman of the dead) , Nelson (the ghost of Hugo’s grandad ) and Apollo (Hugo’s ghost dog) .

I reached about 30% through this book and started to have a few doubts if it was for me. It’s more thoughtful and deep than Cerulean Sea and not as funny but how wrong could I be? I sobbed for the last 20% and I think I love it even more than TJ Klunes previous book. Maybe . It’s just beautiful .

I adored The House in the Cerulean Sea, so I was so excited when this came up on Netgalley. And wow, it did not disappoint. I read it in 2 sittings and cried for a solid half an hour after finishing it. The characters are marvellous, the plot perfect, the pacing fantastic and I will buy anything else TJ Klune writes. As sad as I was at the end, I know it's made my perspective on life that bit better.

A queer love story that explores life, death and everything in between, I recommend this to absolutely everybody.

This was exceptional.
There's really no way to describe it.
I laughed, cried, laughed some more and now I want a cup of peppermint tea.
Amazing writing, story, characters.
So many feelings. Painful in a delicate way.
Yep, this is Klune. I love it.