Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Wallace has worked very hard throughout his life, and would probably say that he felt fulfilled, if he had ever stopped to think about it. But then he dies suddenly, and finds himself at a tea shop, with a ferryman ready to usher his spirit on whenever he is ready. However, his time at this waypoint after his death challenges everything he thought he knew about life and purpose.

My controversial opinion is that I liked this even better than The House in the Cerulean Sea. The two have a lot of similarities, and I can understand some of the criticism of Klune’s writing. But I just felt so much for these characters, and that is a talent in and of itself. There is a lot of discussion of grief, compassion, and mental health. Wallace is not initially a likable character, but his regrets and his development are really powerful to experience. I loved the found family aspect, as well. There are some trite and clichéd messages, but they are delivered in a unique way.

It made me laugh, it made me cry, and if you are ready for an emotional journey, then I highly recommend this book!

“If we worry about the little things all the time, we run the risk of missing the bigger things.”

'Under the Whispering Door' follows our main character Wallace, a cutthroat and uncompassionate lawyer, who one day unexpectedly and VERY suddenly drops dead. What follows, is Wallace's journey into his acceptance of death and growing to become a better person in the face of moving to the hereafter - all done with the help of a friendly reaper and a patient ferryman.

Now I absolutely LOVED TJ Klune's last book 'The House in the Cerulean Sea', which was VERY different to this one...but also VERY similar. So I really did go into this with such high hopes, sadly I was a little disappointed! I didn't dislike it by any means but I think there was something missing for me personally.

However I will say the characters in this story were wonderful - TJ Klune has such a skill at bringing all characters, no matter how big a part they play in a story, to life. The absolute stand out being the character of Nelson, who honestly I could have read an entire book about quite happily! I will admit I did find it hard to warm to the character of Wallace, I think I did in the end? But honestly he really was quite horrid.

I enjoyed the humour throughout the book - although sometimes I felt it was a little wacky for wacky sake which I am not always a big fan of! But then on some occasions I couldn't stop laughing so it was a bit hit and miss. The element of found family throughout the book was really what I enjoyed the most, its such a wholesome and warming trope and I really do think Klune does it so well...however, on the other side of things, I did felt the romance elements of the story were really quite forced - but it didn't deter from my enjoinment of the book.

I think the story overall had a very lovely message, more so upon reading the authors note at the end where he reflects upon his own lose and coming to terms with it.

Overall, I would certainly recommend this book to others as it's one I think many could enjoy, I gave it a 3.5 overall as maybe not his strongest book and they are elements, in particular the ending, that honestly just did not do it for me.

Thanks to the publishers and @netgallery for the advance copy ebook - took me a while and actually buying the book to read it but I got there in the end!

I love how Klune writes such endearing characters. The majority of this book takes place in a tea shop and with another writer, that could become boring. But with Klune's writing, the whole story was heart-warming, bittersweet and funny.

While the writing of TJ Klune is always a special treat, the story of this one didn't grip me the way I thought it would. I'm not certain why, but perhaps it's because I found Wallace uninteresting and mean. I loved Hugo. And the concept had potential. But this just didn't hit home.

This was not my favorite of Klune’s. I found the beginning to be incredibly slow and I thought about DNFing multiple times but I’ve loved Klune so much in the past I held out hope that it would get better. And it did. I clocked it at 37% when it finally grabbed my interest and the rest of it was wonderful and the kind of funny, heartwarming and poignant characters and plot I was hoping for.

this was my first tj klune book and i am *obsessed* with it.

i cannot wait to read everything they put out in the future!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher, for this free review copy.

I absolutely LOVED The House in the Cerulean Sea, so I held this book up to his previous book. If you do that, you will be disappointed. They are very different, which is okay, but not what I expected at all. I still really enjoyed it, and am glad I took the time to read it. I’m still a huge fan of T.J. Kline and will whatever he comes out with next!

This was a rough book. I wasn't expecting it, somehow, to be so much about death and missed opportunities in life. Wept multiple times. However, it's also gentle and delightful. Klune either writes slightly obnoxious characters or narratives that rip my soul out, this is a soul ripper but in a good way.

Don’t wait too long to read this book like I did. This is one of those books that needs to be read as soon as possible, because it’s that amazing. Like his last book, The House On The Cerulean Sea, this book is a TJ Klune masterpiece.
Prepare to feel all the feels. I laughed and cried, loved and lost with the characters in this story. There is no way to read this book and not fall in love with the characters. They are a diverse group of unique and amazing souls who love with their whole heart. There is no way to pick a favorite character, they are all equally wonderful.
The premise of the story is that there is more to life, and it’s time to start living it. But it’s also about how death is not really the end. Hard topics are touched on like suicide and religion, but done so tastefully. And, underneath it all is a love story.
Everyone should read this book. I loved this book. I’m going to push this book an everyone I talk to from this point on.

Gorgeous meditation on life and death. It is slower than Cerulean Se and much more character driven. TJ Klune is such a great writer of soulful characters.

Wallace has died, and when a reaper comes to take him, he struggles to cope with the face that he has died. When taken to Charon's Crossing, he meets a wide variety of people, some just like him (dead), some he cannot interact with (alive), and those who can interact with the dead and alive. As he learns to cope with his death, he learns about the life he lived and his regrets.

To start, I did not like Wallace. He wasn't a character I found myself rooting for which can make reading a book tricky. I did like the overall story though and how it approaches death in a different way. I loved Hugo, and enjoyed Mei and Nelson's humor. The ending was not my favorite, as I personally had hoped it went another way, but still an enjoyable book.

Thank you NetGalley and Tor Books for this e-ARC.

I'm not going to lie, this took a little bit to get into but once I got 50% of it I was completely enthralled with the story. My throat hurts from crying the last like 10% of the book. This was beautiful

“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 was a tug-at-all-your-heart-strings story of a reaper who’s meant to accompany a ghost to the afterlife, but instead leads him to the life he missed out on. There is a unique and singular swoon-worthiness to the romance between Wallace and Hugo.

I adore the LGBTQ+ rep and the found family trope because it always seems like you found your tribe within the characters in the book. Read it if you want a fantastical story that explores how to live well, life after life, and diverse characters.

CWs: death, loss and dying

I haven't been able to pick up TJ Klune's books since his ill fated recent interviews. As much as I loved his past works, i think unfortunately, I am going to have to not finish this book and avoid him for the foreseeable future.

I was underwhelmed with this new book. As many others, I loved Under the Cerulean Sea and was hoping for the same emotional impact. 2.5

I don’t think I’ll leave a rating… I’m just not feeling it. I honestly don’t care what happens. I have such a massive tbr, and while I loved Cerulean and wanted to love this, I don’t want to finish this one and if I did it’d be because I’m forcing myself through it.

The idea of the book is interesting and the characters distinctive in their personality. Throw in afterlife and you have a pretty good starting point to a story. The story was different than any I have read. It had its funny moments and it got me a little moved. But for me the story was too slow and too still so it got boring at parts. The story has a romance side to it which was also slow, which I do not mind, but the signs of affection were too small for me to feel much for them during most of the book.

I thought it was good, but not amazing. But I do also get why this book is so well liked by maby others. It just wasn't written in a way that touches me. It has all the ingredients for an amazing book, do if you do not mind a slower paced strory then go ahead and try this out!

In the beginning I loved Wallace and hoped to read more of him as he was in the beginning. He's change could've been slower in my opinion. I loved Nelson all through the book.

Ps. I got Morgan Freeman vibes of him!

If you haven’t read this book yet, you need to! It was just as good as the first book in the series. This book had me laughing, crying, and falling in love with the characters. This book was filled with witty banter, heartfelt moments, and touched on loss and grief. I highly recommend checking it out!

Another great book from TJ Klune!
Thank you for the opportunity to read this book.

Welcome to Charon's Crossing.
The tea is hot, the scones are fresh, and the dead are just passing through.

When a reaper comes to collect Wallace from his own funeral, Wallace begins to suspect he might be dead.

And when Hugo, the owner of a peculiar tea shop, promises to help him cross over, Wallace decides he’s definitely dead.

But even in death he’s not ready to abandon the life he barely lived, so when Wallace is given one week to cross over, he sets about living a lifetime in seven days.

Hilarious, haunting, and kind, Under the Whispering Door is an uplifting story about a life spent at the office and a death spent building a home.

I had high expectations for TJ Klune's work after reading The House in the Cerulean Sea, but I stopped reading this one at 77%. The characters were so unlikeable and the plot was so repetitive that I had no interest in the conclusion.