This was my first TJ Klune book, I can say that I mostly enjoyed it. The beginning was difficult for me to get through, and I found myself feeling frustrated not knowing if I’d even like the main character. But eventually, I warmed up to the all characters and enjoyed this cute story of life and death, and life after death. And I even teared up a few times, which I wasn’t expecting. It’s a heartwarming read, pretty funny, and sometimes emotional.

Thank you for my early review copy. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I believe this book will be a huge bestseller.

*Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a free copy*

Under the Whispering Door certainly did not disappoint! I am in love with Klune's way of weaving a story. If you enjoyed the House in the Cerulean Sea, you will likely enjoy this one as well.
First of all, the cover is absolutely beautiful, and has a slightly spooky atmosphere, which ties in well with the contents of the story. There are ghosts, supernatural beings, romance, and many different varieties of tea.
This tells the story of the life that happens after death. Our main character finds himself outside of his body and attending his own funeral. Then he meets a reaper, who brings him to a tea shop that will change his life. Through the course of the book, he has to learn to reflect on what he did in his life while getting to know the people that are in his life now that he is gone.
The writing is beautiful, the characters are diverse and humorous, and the narrative drives home a message about second chances and empathy.

I really enjoyed all the characters and the deepness of the story. It made me laugh a cuple of times and seeing that this was a diffrent ghost story made me enjoyed it more. I learned with Wallace the meaning of being alive and oh the love story was a unique one and so lovely. The friendship was also a beautiful touch and really enjoyable. The only bad thing was that at the end things were magical and not real. I'd like it to stay real. But no matter what it was such a beautiful story and I gave it 5 stars

I SO enjoyed "The House On the Cerulean Sea" that I absolutely could not wait for this book! While I enjoyed "Whispering Door" and it ultimately moved me in the end, it just didn't seem as well written.

I LOVED the first 30 pages of this book. Klune's trademark humor instantly hooked me and had me settled in for another fantastic story about self discovery and finding the person you were always meant to be. But then, the story just sort of...stopped.

This book is ultimately more of a reflection on life and death, where you go when you die, what it means to die, and what you should do while you're still alive. Which is fine, but it wasn't what I expected, nor what I was in the headspace for.

The relationships are wonderful and the secondary characters are ultimately what save the book. The romantic connection came out of nowhere for me, and the ending seemed abrupt and problem-solve-y.

That being said, I did almost cry at the end. Or what I thought was the end. I'm sure many people will glean incredible lessons and tidbits from this book, but I'm not one of them.

There is nothing in the whole world that I love more than a TJ Klune book. His writing is stunning and I'm immediately engulfed into a whimsical world that he creates and I never, ever want to put any of his books down! Under the Whispering Door is another amazing story of a man who is essentially a scrooge and once he dies, he becomes a better human and this story unwraps him as he learns to have empathy and falls in love with the man he is stuck with before crossing over. This lovely, warm hug of a book made my heart melt and I finished it in less than 24 hours. It is a beautiful tale and you absolutely MUST get your hands on a copy the second it comes out!

This was a great book! Wallace is a fear and respected attorney -- but is largely unloved by the people in his life. One day, Wallace finds himself at his own funeral, with a reaper telling him that she is going to help him on his journey to the afterlife. The reaper, Mei, takes Wallace to an unusual tea shop to meet the ferryman, Hugo, will help Wallace take this next steps. But Wallace is not quite ready to move on, and ends up spending time at the tea shop with Hugo, Mei, and others, both of this world and not. While there, he, for the first time, reflects on the life he lived, what makes for a meaningful life, and what it means to build fulsome personal relationships -- all while considering what he wants for his next step.

This story is terrific -- a wonderful story of both grief and hopefulness. I'm a huge fan of the author's work. While this story is different in some ways from his previous books, it contains his signature balance of humor, pathos, engaging characters, and thought-provoking narratives.

Very highly recommended!

The premise of this book is great - I just didn't connect with it. I found it really slow and repetitive. And I didn't really bond with any of the characters.

I was given this book as an e-arc from
Netgalley for an honest review.

Let’s start of by saying, I haven’t read this authors most popular work ‘The House in the Cerulean Sea’ , so had no idea what I was getting myself into with this book. I went in completely blind.

The first bit of the book was slower to get into and I was unsure whether I would enjoy it. But when I did… wow! This was a book I was not expecting to love but did. The characters are so lovable and grow on you, the story line and the characters develop. It was so so much more than I expected.

This book features a man who has passed away and has to find peace in who he was to move on to travel through the door to whatever it is there is, after life. The main character didn’t live the best life, wasn’t the most likeable kind of person and lonely. However, when he arrives at Charring Cross he meets Mei (a reaper), Hugo (a ferryman), Nelson (a dead grandad) and Apollo (a dead dog). Throughout this story you see how these unlikely characters help each other to become their better selves and with some other elements thrown in such as fake clairvoyances, poltergeist behaviour, and lots of cups of tea.

This book focuses on personal growth, relationships and friendships all mixed in with the added dimension of life/dead and what happens next.

A really beautiful book that turns unlikable flawed characters into loveable flawed characters you want to root for. It can get quite emotional at time and TW for: death, suicide, murder and just generally those dark matters.

I had high expectations based on previous works that the book didn´t fulfil.. I found the story quite cliché. The main character stars from being a scrooge to redempt himself after death.

A book that makes you slow down, pause, and appreciate the life you have. Once again, the character development was complete. You become invested in the lives and deaths of the characters through their wonderful conversations and actions. A book about death but hope and humor still shine through.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review. TJ Klune has done it again. I now have two favorite books written by him, this one and "The House in the Cerulean Sea."

The story is about Wallace Price, who is a ghost refusing to cross over after he has died. He also refuses to believe he is dead. From there he is given a certain amount of time to cross over and he meets some amazing characters. He meets Mei, Hugo and some other people. This book is so sweet and even times a little heartbreaking. I loved every minute of reading this, and this solidifies that I will pick up more books from T.J. Klune.

I will definitely be rereading this when I get my final Barnes and Noble preorder!!

Things I liked:
I've only read one other TJ Klune book, The House in the Cerulean Sea, and I can say that between these two, Mr. Klune has some fun, quirky humor. The best is when he makes fun of corporate drones (though as someone in education, I think anyone with a 9-5 job can relate). The quirky humor fits well into the setting and tone of his story, which is a light fantasy that is part slice-of-life (even if this one deals with death) and part character reflection. It's a fantasy that sits just on the edge of the mortal world, feeling like there's a chance this really does exist. I also liked the ideas that this book was trying to portray-- a character who dies who goes on to learn more about what it means to be alive and how to accept their death. It's sad but can be really impactful.

That brings me to what I don't like:
The story only seems to just scratch the surface of the themes it was set out to portray. I never really felt the impact or saw how the main character, Wallace, grew from it. The book was also very long and drawn out. Roughly at the 50% mark it just started to feel repetitive and not really advancing the story at all. It's not meant to be a plot-driven book, but even so it should've felt like there were new ways for the author to develop the characters. Lastly, there is a romance involved, but I personally was not sold on it. The characters didn't like each other that much from the start, and then it seemed all of a sudden they did like each other. I think this was in part to the drawn-out repetitive bits-- we could've taken some of that out to better focus on the relationship between the characters,

I'm still happy I read it and if you like TJ Klune, you won't be too disappointed. It still very much has his vibes and humor. But I've just read better from him and wanted a little bit more.

Thank you to the publisher for providing a free eARC via Netgalley. All opinions are my own.

Thank you NetGalley, T.J. Klune, and Macmillan-Tor/Forge books for the ARC. I was excited to receive this book since I have heard such good things about Klune’s other books. I also want to say my review of this book is separate from my opinions on the recent scandal. I struggle with the idea of death and the unknown a lot and although this book is a fantasy, it was nice to read about a subject where the outcome is pretty much always positive. I loved so many of the characters in this book and was thrilled that there was a ghost dog. I do have a hard time believing that a person who was so nasty in life would change that fast, even in death. I also got 90% done with the book and was like “okay this feels right,” and then it threw me for a loop. Once I was completely done, I understood the choice though. I didn’t love everything about this book, but I loved it enough that I will probably give Klune more of my time.

Well delivered unique story about Wallace who dies and discovers how he should have lived. Very enjoyable with lovely warming characters, this book is definitely worth a read for all fans and new fans of TJ Klune!

I enjoyed the beginning of this book a lot. It started off with a bang and really gave us some insight as to the type of person our main character Wallace was. Wallace was this mean, cold and calculating man who was only focused on himself and work. He didn't care about how he treated others or how others perceived him. He unfortunately dies and the story follows him in the afterlife as he is able to reflect back on his life and we watch as he deals with his grief and comes to terms with the type of person he was when he was alive.. The middle of the story kind of slowed down for me. There were parts that were funny, there parts that pulled at my heartstrings, but there were also parts that just seemed to really drag on. I really enjoyed the characters and how they all brought something different.. This book also dealt with topic of grief very well and at times made you sympathize with Wallace and other characters mentioned in the book. I wished this book could have been a little shorter and the ending wrapped up a little nicer because it felt a bit rushed, but I can see lots of people falling in love with another one of TJ Klune's stories.

Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for allowing me early access to this book in exchange for an honest review.

OK, this book wrecked me in the best way. TJ Klune's books just make me happy and warm and fuzzy while also passing along an important message. This book centers around grief and dying, which you wouldn't think would be a comforting read, but I promise you it is! Klune shares with us many hopeful messages about life after death (despite none of us knowing what truly waits for us) and the stages of grief.

As expected, the characters were my favorite part of this book. How can you not be in love with Nelson and Hugo and Mei and Apollo? And, of course, Wallace too. There was a scene about halfway through where Wallace's character literally had me in tears I was laughing so hard. Yes, in a book about death, I laughed so hard I cried. I think that says a lot about Klune's storytelling ability.

If I get a bit nitpicky, I would say the romance in this novel was not very well-developed. I did feel that we as readers missed how the characters somehow went from "we annoy each other" to "we're madly in love and can't imagine being without each other." I will say, though, that I still enjoyed the romance aspect. As the romance was not the point, in my opinion, this didn't really change my feelings about the book.

Overall, I definitely recommend this one. I can't wait to read more of Klune's backlist and excitedly await any new books he's working on.

A profoundly unique and genuinely warm hearted work of utter wonder. Gently crafted characters that are developed beautifully and a story that will bring you to tears. Absolutely magic

After reading The House in the Cerulean Sea, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on this author’s newest release. Ecstatic doesn’t begin to describe how I felt when I received an ARC from NetGalley.

Once again, this author has left me awestruck. It’s hard to convey how much I loved this book and the feelings it evoked in me, but I’ll give it a shot.

Wallace is not a nice person. At all. He’s a workaholic who cares very little for the employees at his law office. After he dies of a sudden heart attack in his 40s, all he leaves behind is a failed marriage and his firm – no family or friends, not even a pet. At his sparsely-attended funeral not one person has a kind word to say about him. There, he meets a feisty reaper who escorts him to a peculiar tea shop to meet the ferryman. The tea shop is a kind of layover for the recently deceased until they’re ready to move on. Here, Wallace experiences the five stages of grief – anger is a big one for him – and eventually has some earth-shattering moments of self-realization. He may have been alive, but he never really lived.

Besides the ferryman and reaper, there are a couple of other characters at the tea house, and I fell in love with all of them. They felt like family by the end of the story. As with The House in the Cerulean Sea, humor is still prevalent along with plenty of heartfelt moments. I’m not a person who cries easily over books or movies, but I’m batting a thousand with Klune.

This novel is about love, grief, friendship, family, a wide variety of teas, and truly living. It’s also about death and what might come after, but it’s dealt with in a light-hearted, thought-provoking, moving, and beautiful way. As with The House in the Cerulean Sea, it’s a book I’ll recommend to everyone I know, reader or not.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Another masterpiece by TJ Klune!

This follows Wallace, a stone cold lawyer who doesn't care about anyone but himself and his success. That is, until he suddenly dies!

Wallace attends his own funeral and makes some harsh realizations about his life. A reaper shows up to take him on his journey and from there it is a wonderful story of friendships, heartbreak, coming to terms with death, and discovering what makes us human.

It was beautiful and sad and eye-opening all at the same time. The characters were so well written they felt like long lost friends.

It was the kind of book that you don't want to put down but you NEED to put down to just digest what's happening and give your heart a breather lol

I was hoping for it to end in a different way and felt low key disappointed UNTIL literally the last like 3 pages when everything tied up PERFECTLY and then decided there was no other way for this story to end! Just fabulous!

Highly recommend this book. Actually no, I am TELLING you to go read this book no questions asked, go... right now. What are you waiting for?