TJ Klune is an auto buy author after House in the Cerulean Sea.

I couldn't put down this book. There's something so... Ghibli-esque... about his latest books. Under the Whispering Door is an enchanting ghost story. Even though the plot is so far-fetched, I was never dragged out of the story. Just accepting the strange and impossible is why I got into books to begin with, but I haven't read such a fantasy story in a long time.

If I were to describe this book in one word, it would be "cozy."

Under the Whispering Door tells the story of recently dead Wallace who ends up at a way-station before “passing on.” This way-station just happens to be a cozy, teetering little tea house filled with a few other ghostly companions, and of course, Hugo, the ferryman he happens to fall in love with.

The story is filled with whimsy, snark, and a lot of what it is to be human, whether good or bad. It has very similar vibes to House in the Cerulean Sea, and to me, the characters also felt similar. There’s a lesson someone needs to learn, and a teacher to teach it, the person becomes a better person, and they fall in love. If you enjoy T.J. Klune's previous novels, you will love this one.

The first half felt very slow, mostly filled with lectures on how to be human. However, once these evened out in the second half of the book, I found my feelings toward it changing. There were moments of brevity, but also very real, stark experiences of grief. At times I found myself actually clutching at my own heart. These are written so beautifully and are so nuanced, that it really does make the book worthwhile. T.J. Klune really is a masterful writer of human emotion.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to T.J. Klune, Netgalley, and the publisher for the opportunity.

So unique because of course, TJ Klune has imagination for days. I really enjoyed this unique, sweet adventure.

A crotchety, mean MC grows and grows and grows and you find yourself rooting for him. It’s queer, it’s quirky death themed and poignant. The love interest and supporting cast are POC (black, Chinese American) but that doesn’t get poked or come into play much. It was nice to have the rep all the same.

If you enjoy grandparents the grandpa in this one is silly and capital M, Mischievous.

I love the way Klune’s books transport me to worlds I never imagined. They’re fresh and original and wonky and wild and I can overlook anything that felt bumpy for the delight of that ride.

Under the Whispering Door explores grief and the concept of a life purpose. The main character Wallace undergoes some serious character growth from when he dies as a selfish lawyer to him finding what he was missing in his life. While this book gets really sad, there are some light moments injected in like the soft romance between Wallace and the ferryman and Wallace finding a family in the tea shop crew.

This was an okay book but I was expecting more after reading The House in the Cerulean Sea. I was expecting this book to have very vibrant characters but I found that they weren't comparable to THIHCS which made it more noticeable that nothing really happened in this book. I also kind of expected some ferryman mythology to come out of this but nope. Basically, the ferryman is a therapist who is there to listen to the ghosts and help them come to terms with the end of their lives.

Ultimately, I was just underwhelmed after the masterpiece that was The House in the Cerulean Sea.

Keep tissues close by if you plan to read this book, because you will cry and you will love it! This story was lovely, and it will punch you right in the gut. The characters are rich, vibrant, and even though half of them are dead, they are full of life! TJ Klune has masterfully written another novel of found family, and self discovery in a way that will make you question everything you know about yourself.

This book has left me with such mixed emotions. T J Klune is an autobuy author for me and I had every expectation of loving this book when I read the blurb. And…. i loved some but I also disliked some of it.
We are introduced to Wallace who is a big shot lawyer at a top firm but is also a complete asshole. We get a glimpse of what he is like when he’s alive and then we are shown the after life once Wallace is dead and he is being taken to the way station between this world and the next where you get a chance to get used to the idea of being dead before you move on. We are introduced to Mei the repaer who leads Wallace to the tea shop which acts as the way station, Hugo the tea shop owner who is also the ferryman who guides soul to the other side and Hugo’s dog Apollo and grandfather Nelson who are both ghosts who haven’t yet moved on.
The characters, the premise and the setting were all quirky and unique and had the typical Klune touch which makes them flawed but endearing except for Wallace. I knew he was the protagonist and that we were supposed to come to love him but I just didn’t. Atleast not for the first half.
I was expecting a character arc that shows Wallace’s change from this asshole character to someone who burrows into the bottom of your heart. Or atleast someone I can root for. But that didn’t happen. One second we are shown his bad side and then we are just told that he’s changed. We are seeing his change, or he’s changing but there’s no progession to this and that just left me confused. I wanted to love this character, I was prepared to love this character but I was not given any reason for it except that the other characters somehow do.
The chemistry between Hugo and Wallace was also lacklustre. I just didn’t understand why Hugo would fall for Wallace. And Hugo as a character was also a bit difficult to love because there was just a bit too much preaching going on there that I wasn’t a big fan of. The messages were all wonderful and great but it didn’t add anything to the story or the characters.
Nothing much happens in the first half after Wallace reaches the tea shop and the pace drags on and on. But I did love Mei and Apollo and Nelson and there was just enough humor mixed in to keep me going just a little bit more. And that did finally pay off after the 50% mark.
Things start picking up towards the middle and the second half becomes the book I expected from T J Klune. I ended up sobbing my heart out and forever in love with most of the characters in the book. Wallace does redeem himself towards the end and I got more invested in the romance as well. The second half explores grief and death in the beautiful way I was hoping for from the start and will definitely pull on all your heartstrings. The ending was predictable but it still left me in a puddle of tears.
So objectively this book deserves 3.5 stars but since the second half was sooo good and left me in tears that I can’t help but add half a star to round it up to 4 stars.
If you are a T J Klune fan, I would recommend that you give this a try because the second half is worth it but if you are new to T J Klune then I would recommend his previous works more than this one.

If you loved House on the Cerulean Sea, you will fall in love with Under the Whispering Door. Wallace Price was a jerk attorney and overall bad person. Was because he is now dead. When he wakes up as a ghost at his own funeral, we follow him as he makes his way to a tea shop called Charon’s Crossing where Hugo, a ferryman, is meant to help him cross over.

Despite having some funny and heartfelt moments, this book deals with some heavy topics. Death, grief, regret, and empathy. I loved how cozy this story is. The characters are similar to those from his other story, and I fell in love with all of them. The found family trope in this story is well done. The overall story is an emotional rollercoaster, and I feel like everyone needs to read it immediately.

I received an advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

Okay, wow! This book was like...almost too much for me? It’s really just the grief cry we all need after the past 14 months we’ve all had, it’ll be another great healing read for everyone! So, so grateful I got to read the ARC!

WOW!!! Tj Klune does it again. I didn't think I would love any book as much as I loved The House in the Cerulean Sea but this was pretty darn close. This book was advertised as A Man Called Ove combined with The Good Place and I love the both of them. I think it's a pretty accurate assessment.

I'm not sure how you can have a book be both heartwarming AND hearbreaking but here we go. I can't recommend this enough!

The House in the Cerulean Sea was the first book that I read by Mr Klune but this has convinced me to go back and read all his other books!

Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan Tor-Forge for the ARC of this in exchange for my honest review. This was one of my most anticipated books of the year, and when I decided to read almost exclusively queer books for June, I knew this had to be one of them.

I’m a little bit broken in the best way after reading this. It was sweet, and equal parts heart warming and hopeful and heart breaking. Anyone who loved The House in the Cerulean Sea should absolutely add this to their TBR (and if you haven’t read it yet, get on that)

Wallace is a pretty awful person when he dies, but has such a lovely redemptive arc in death that you can’t help but root for everything to go his way. The side characters are all amazing, complex, and interesting. This book was everything I wanted it to be.

I found this to be another delightful story by TJ Klune! Wallace is a rather horrible human and he dies a sudden death. He is taken by a reaper to a kind of death halfway house run by Hugo to get ready to move on in his journey. There Wallace meets a cast of quirky characters who enable him to get ready to move on… but of course they didn’t count on him becoming a member of their family . The love story is sweet, The philosophy is wonderful. Lovely book!

This book was absolutely gorgeous. Found family. Discovery of passions. Working through grief, loss, and learning about the depths of love and family. I'm definitely going to be recommending this one to people for awhile to come.

Wonderful in a soft, heartbreaking manner. I made a joke about this one killing me softly with its song and stand by it. This book isn't comfort food like The House in the Cerulean Sea so if you're expecting that, you'll be disappointed. Under the Whispering Door features found family and even a ghost dog (aka the bestest boy). Highly recommend to anybody who needs catharsis but a more gentle version than most of the other options available.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy!

I was a mess when I finished this. The story follows the recently deceased Wallace Price, a scrooge who gets a second chance at himself in the tea shop between the living world and whatever lies beyond. It is heavy on the heart, but in a landscape based entirely on loss and grief, T.J. Klune lightens the reader's spirits with a shining love story. Pour me a cup of tea: I'm in.

This book is an easy and quick read even while addressing very difficult subject material surrounding death. This book is charming and the characters are well distinguished, and just like House in the Cerulean Sea, has a unique charm all on its own.

The House in the Cerulean Sea was one of my favorite books from last year, so I had very high expectations for T.J. Klune's Under the Whispering Door. Telling the story of Wallace Price, who recently died and is taken to a waystation for ghosts who need some assistance crossing over. There, he meets an eclectic group of characters who help him reevaluate who he was in life, and who he could be going forward.

Under the Whispering Door shares similarities to The House in the Cerulean Sea, with its fantastical setting and premise, but focuses on mortality and what it means to live a good life. At times it gets a little treacly, and it's a little longer than it needs to be, but the characters are so well drawn that it's hard to not be caught in the book's magic.

Under the Whispering Door is simply lovely, and those who fell for Klune's previous work will love this one.

Thank you to Macmillan-Tor/Forge for providing an ARC.

This was a beautiful, but difficult read. Wallace is a terrible person, until he dies. After he dies, he meets several people who help him change and teach him that there is more to life than work. The writing is amazing, but it felt like the plot dragged a bit in the middle. There is a lot of talk of feelings and questioning why the world works the way it does. It was also a slower read because I could really feel Wallace's despair at various points, and I needed to take breaks while reading. By the end of the book, I was crying my eyes out. I wasn't sure how it was going to end, which helped me keep reading. Overall, not my favorite TJ Klune book, but definitely a solid read.

A slew of five-star reviews today. I can't wait until everyone gets to read this, and I can hash it out with everyone. If you loved The House on the Cerulean Sea, this will pull on your heart the same way.

Under the Whispering Door unfolds like a rose bud, slowly and beautifully. Where TJ Klune's previous title, The House in the Cerulean Sea, was a fun, quickly moving, fantasy novel for new adults, this novel is for adults looking for a thought provoking and richly developed fantasy exploration of what happens after death. Hugo is "The Ferryman" tasked with getting souls ready to cross over to the next world. TJ Klune wrote characters that came alive for me. I cared about each and every one of them. When I finished this novel, I felt the need to sit and think about it. I am sure that it is one that I will look to reread in the future.

I went into this book blindly having just recently read Klune’s previous novel, The House in the Cerulean Sea. What was true about that book is true about this one— the plot line is wholly original with delightfully flawed characters you can’t help but love. The similarities end there though. Under the Whispering Door is filled with darkness, sadness, and some of life’s deepest questions. In some parts, this book is like a cup of brewed tea; it is warm, cozy and comforting. In other parts, it can leave you feeling a bit empty. This book takes on very tough topics like death (obviously), murder, suicide, child loss, and parent loss. The great triumph of this book is that it manages to do it in a way without completely breaking your heart. My only criticism would be that in some parts, the dialogue felt very drawn out and disconnected from the overall storyline and leaving me wondering where the book was headed. It always got there in the end and I think it was a smart move to not have the reader trudge through darkness for an entire book without some lighter moments, but I felt it could have less focus on the sub plot that didn’t add to the overall storyline or depth of the characters.

TW for death, suicide, murder, child and parent loss

Thank you to the publisher for this ARC!