This book was so, so, so, SO wonderful. I don’t even know where to begin. Thank you Macmillan Audio and a NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to and review this title before it’s release.

Wallace Price is a good lawyer, but he… is not a very good person. When he dies unexpectedly from a heart attack, he finds himself at his own funeral, where a reaper named Mei (who’s nothing like what you’d expect a reaper to be) comes to collect him and take him to a waypoint. Here, he will learn to accept this turn of events, reflect on his time on earth, and choose to move on. Only for Wallace, he finds much more.

I have heard such wonderful things about TJ Klune, and I was so excited to be approved for this on NetGalley. I was so immediately sucked in by the this take on what happens after death. It’s beautiful and bittersweet, and allows for so much charm and humanity to come through in the story. Wallace is a difficult person to like, and this is by design. In the beginning, he is an awful person who cares for nothing but himself and his own professional development. Through the story, we get to see him learn about empathy, friendship, trust, gratitude, kindness, and love. Klune develops this so quietly and so masterfully. Wallace’s character does a 180° turn, and it feels natural moving and believable. Wallace ends the story with not only an entirely different outlook, but with a family who has the ability to teach him that there is so much more to life than living. This book will leave you both endlessly amused as well as deeply touched. It was the kind of novel that I will think about for a long while.

The narrator for this audiobook absolutely BLEW ME AWAY. Every characters voice was so distinct. It felt like an entire cast. The way he captured Wallace and Hugo’s voices and inflection was absolutely perfect. I could go on and on with positive points about this. But really, there is nothing about this book that I wouldn’t go on and on about. I can’t think of a single issue I took with this story. Absolutely everything was wonderful, and the audiobook was an entire experience. I highly, highly recommend picking up this book.

This book has my whole heart. And I will shamelessly say I just bawled my eyes out to the last two chapters in the best way possible.TJ Klune, you are a masterful author. Moving, thoughtful, THOUGHT-PROVOKING, and touching, Under the Whispering Door gets a million stars from me.

It also is finally released and published in two days so set your alarms! This novel is a TREASURE.

Three sentence synopsis:

Wallace is a miserable, and angry lawyer who dies unexpectedly. After he dies, he enters a way station, a tea house where he will spend his time before he moves on to his final destination. Thats all I can say without ruining it but every character, setting, and plot point, you WILL fall in love with. And there is a dog, Apollo, who made my heart swell throughout the book.

Under the Whispering Door has somehow destroyed me and given me life at the same time. I have not cried while reading a book in a long time, and I was a complete mess reading this. Wallace’s story is an examination of death, what makes someone a good person, and the power of second chances. I love how the book blew up the Christianity version of god and death, and it did a great job of balancing heavy topics and humor. I was laughing so much while reading, especially with Mai and Nathan who I would like to get big hugs from. Hugo of course is perfect and a wonderful contrast to grumpy Wallace. This is one of my favorite found family stories I’ve read this year. Definitely check out this book if you like The Good Place. There’s a lot of similar vibes and discussions on death and the afterlife.

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review. The audiobook narration was fantastic and really immersed me in the story.

This was such a pleasure to listen to. I enjoyed "The House by the Cerulean Sea," but it felt a little too sweet, a little too forced -- a few too many little monsters. I still loved it, but it was easier to relate to Wallace and his after death search for remediation and redemption. Aren't we all hyper-focused on our work or goals at times - selfishly oblivious to how we affect others? (Guilty here.) Haven't we all worked with or for a workaholic Wallace or Scrooge? (Yup.) Don't we all wish we had a Hugo in our lives? Someone with a quiet loving heart that has faith in us whether we deserve it or not, who is willing to make us a cup of tea and just listen? And of course he has a ghost dog, a grouchy grandfather, and a temperamental first time "Reaper"/short-order cook. Klune reminds the reader that even the worst of us (Wallace) can change, forge meaningful relationships, and bring joy to others.
The narration was excellent - just the right amount of snarkiness. I am always looking for a feel-good read for my patrons, and I will definitely add "Under the Whispering Door" to my short list of recommendations.

This story will make you laugh and give you a little heart break too. All the emotions. Loved this one so much! Great narrator too on the audio!

I was so pumped to receive an advanced copy of the audio book for this one! I LOVED House in the Cerulean Sea this summer and fell in love with the quirky lovable characters and Klune’s writing style.

This was was just as adorable but with the emotional themes of death, grief, friendship, and love. This story is character driven and you’ll slowly fall in love with each of them..

This book both made me laugh and made me cry! TJ Klune has become an “always read” author for me!

Thank you to @netgalley @macmillan.audio for the ALC in return for my honest review.
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My thoughts…
Hmmm…🤔 This was my first book from TJ Klune. I’ve only read positive reviews about The House in the Cerulean Sea, I haven’t read that so, I thought I’d give this one a listen. The audiobook helped me finished this. I wondered if it was meant to be a character driven book because it started off that way, but then it seemed to have gotten lost in the theme of “taking a leap.” I would have liked to see more transformation in the romance, because that was also a big part of the story. And the ending…it wasn’t for me. But, the subject of how people deal with loss and grief differently was well communicated.

3.5 ⭐️

Under the Whispering Door made me experience many deep emotions. Wow, I don't even know where to begin! This novel is a beautiful story about the journey after the moment of death. TJ Klune explores the many emotions of death, including anger, doubt, grief, forgiveness, acceptance, change, and hope. This version of the afterlife is not exactly how I imagine it, but it was a unique and creative twist to reach the ultimate "whispering door." Tj Klune wrote a beautiful LGBTQIA+ romance fantasy. Under the Whispering Door gave me the perfect spooky season vibes. I'll be thinking about this book and the characters for a very long time.

Thank you, Tor Books and NetGalley, for this complimentary audiobook for my honest review.

Get ready to laugh out loud, and then get ready to weep. My emotions were all over the place with this book. I LOVE MM romance, and this is an excellent, fun story. It reminded me of the way Becky Chambers tells stories. More character-driven than plot-driven. And a really feel-good kind of story. It's not sci-fi like Becky Chambers, but it's just that feeling you get when you read her work, same thing here. I will definitely be reading the rest of Klune's books. The audiobook narrator did a great job as well.

I'm really thankful to the author, the publisher, and netgalley for a copy of the audiobook ARC.

“We don’t need you because that implies you had to fix something in us. We were never broken. We want you, Wallace. Every piece, every part, because we’re family. Can you see the difference?”

“The first time you share tea, you are a stranger. The second time you share tea, you are an honored guest. And the third time you share tea, you become family”

TJ Klune is a master storyteller who can weave the beautiful with the ugly and make for an emotional and gripping story about life and loss.
Wow. Just wow. This book was absolutely beautiful. It’s a book about love, life, death, grief, hope. It is a book about what comes next and what came before. It is a book about life and what it means to live. It is a book so full of soul and color. This is a story that will make you cry and then two pages later make you laugh. It has the sweetest found family trope. I loved every character so so much. I felt like I was a part of their own little group. The character development was fantastic and every individual story of grief had me in a puddle of emotions. I cannot recommend this book enough- this is a life changer for sure!!!
I was approved for the audiobook (my first netgalley audio ever!) and I loved it! The narrator is fantastic- I highly recommend the audio!

*Thank you so much to netgalley & the publisher for allowing me to listen to the audiobook in exchange for an honest review*

The Short Version: TJ Kline does it again, weaving a beautiful modern fairy tale about life, death, and living, truly living.

The Long Version: I got to listen to an arc of this audiobook thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan audio.

Disclaimer: I’m a huge TJ Klune fan, it’s routinely a battle Royale between him and Grady Hendrix as to who is my favorite modern author so I may be biased in his favor, but even so, Under the Whispering Door is so thoroughly enjoyable you’d be doing yourself a disservice not reading it.

Warning: I’m doing my best not to spoil anything in this review and I think I’ve succeeded in avoiding spoilers, but this review is a little trickier than most to do so, so reader beware.

Under The Whispering Door is a story about Wallace Price, a dedicated attorney who has time for little else in his life, that is, until he dies. Suddenly Wallace is forced to face his mortality and the big questions of life and death. To help him, Wallace meets an interesting cast of characters who try to help him understand what it’s all about and how to come to terms with his own mortality.

TJ Klune is one of the best authors I’ve come across at blending effortless humor and ludicrous plot with weighty topics like the meaning of life. He wields all of his skills in this story and each component is well executed for a highly enjoyable story.

Each of the characters is fully fleshed out and while most of the character development is focused on Wallace, there are sufficient arcs for the other characters that they don’t feel stagnant or like window dressing.

As usual, Klune doesn’t trip up on pacing, even momentarily, the events unfolding briskly, but not in a rushed way.

Another unique talent Klune has is the way he makes the fantastic elements of his stories feel realistic, like there may be magic in this world we just haven’t tapped into. It really immerses you in the stories and gives you that sense of wonder that I personally had watching Disney movies as a child. It’s so rare to see but what makes his books so enticing.

The dialogue is whip smart without feeling unrealistic, and with the exception of one crutch phrase I’ll mention later, the prose is on point throughout as well.

The Narrator for this audiobook was very good, he succeeded in elevating the emotion of the narrative at every turn, and while the male voices occasionally muddled, there was a good amount of differentiation between each of the characters.

I loved this book through and through, but that’s not to say there were no drawbacks and while they’re probably a touch on the nitpicky side, they’re real.

First, having read House in the Cerulean Sea this year as well, I couldn’t help but see never ending similarity in the narrative construction, character composition, and romantic development. Both stories are highly enjoyable, with Cerulean Sea edging out Whispering Door, but seeing so many similarities worries me Klune may be too formulaic and that further entries in his adult fantasy collection risk becoming tiresome because you know exactly how the theme will unfold before you begin. This is only his second adult fantasy book so I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt, but there were times this felt like a retelling of cerulean sea, just meditating on a different concept.

Second, as in Cerulean Sea, the antagonistic forces in the novel are vague and there’s no clear antagonist, more a hodge lodge of momentary antagonists. It doesn’t hurt the novels enjoyment, but without something definitive to root against, I feel the story fails to reach the heights it could.

Lastly, and this is SUPER nitpicky, TJ Klune says swallowed thickly way too much. I noticed it first in his extraordinaries series but he says it all the time and it’s gotten to the point it’s nails in a chalkboard for me. Sorry for anyone I point this out to who then can’t ignore it, but as an emerging premier author of the time, I hope Klune continues to elevate his craft and not catching crutch phrases like that always make me fear the author isn’t working hard enough to elevate their craft.

Overall, another stunning novel that will appeal to a variety of readers and send you ping ponging through a range of emotions in the most satisfying way possible. A 4.5 rounded up and a huge recommendation to all.

Component Ratings
Concept/Idea: 5 out of 5
Protagonist: 4.5 out of 5
Supporting cast: 5 out of 5
Character Development: 5 out of 5
Plot: 4.5 out 5
Pacing: 5 out of 5
Humor: 5 out of 5
Prose: 4.5 out of 5
Dialogue: 5 out of 5
Narrator Performance: 4.5 out of 5
Ending: 4.5 out of 5

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an electronic and audio copy to review.

This book tore my soul apart in the best way possible. I loved Cerulean and was so worried about whether this one would stand up. It does - it is different but gives the same vibes and same warm hug feeling. I cried. I laughed. Mei and Nelson are perfectly perfect characters. And Wallace and Hugo? Oh there are so many reasons to love them, even though it might not always be easy. Such a beautiful book of life, death, and love.

3.5 stars

The beginning of this book brought back all the feels from The House in the Cerulean Sea. In fact, there was even a couple mentions of the Cerulean Sea in this book.

TJ Klune has a unique way of writing that feels very welcoming and homey to me. He especially knows how to write characters you can fall in love with.

However, I felt the plot was lacking here. It took over half of the book to even get to the main plot. And I’m all for character driven novels. I just didn’t feel like that was the aim of this one.

Thank you to NetGalley for a digital ARC and MacMillan Audio for an ALC of this nook in exchange for my honest review.

I absolutely adored The House in the Cerulean Sea, so Under the Whispering Door was one of my anticipated reads of the year. It did not disappoint. This book was everything I needed in my life. I'm also a big fan of the show, The Good Place, and this book is basically the love child of The Good Place and A Man Named Ove.

In Under the Whispering Door, we follow Wallace Price. Wallace Price is not a particularly good person. In fact, the book opens up on a scene where he firing a very nice woman that has been having a rough time in her personal life and certainly didn't think she was being called into Wallace's office to be fired. Then Wallace dies, alone in his office. The next thing Wallace knows, he is at a funeral... his own funeral. There aren't many people at the funeral, but one of them just happens to be a reaper.

The reaper takes him to a teashop. The teashop is not like any regular teashop though. In this teashop lives a man named Hugo. Hugo is the owner of the teashop and in his spare time, he also is the ferryman to souls who need to crossover. Wallace struggles with the fact that he is actually dead and that he didn't really live while he was alive. Hugo and the other inhabitants of the teashop help Wallace realize what he missed out on in life.

This book deals with grief and what it means to live. It was both heartwarming and heartbreaking, and I devoured every word. All the characters were perfect and this book is my favorite of the year and I doubt another will be able to take its spot. <3

Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for allowing me to listen to this advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. This book was amazing, heart wrenching, and full of love!! This story is so heartwarming and heartbreaking at the same time. The audio is amazing and the narrator strikes the perfect tone for this lovely tale. All the characters are distinct and unique without distracting from the story. I will be purchasing a print copy to keep on my shelf. Such a profound and beautiful story.

I loved The House in the Cerulean Sea so I was delighted to have the opportunity to listen to the audio version of this new release (Publication Date: 9/21/2021.). Thank you Macmillan Audio!.
This story follows Wallace Price just before his death and through his process after death. Wallace was not a kind man in life and gradually we learn what led him to who he was. The story then becomes a fantastical imaging about what happens after death. The cleverness of this tale is imaginative and powerful. The other characters the reader meets ( May, Hugo etc.) are well developed and feel like friends.
This work shares a theme with the House in the Cerulean Sea about family and finding "your people". Wallace does remind me of Linus. In addition it deals empathetically with the human condition/frailties and offers a vision of afterlife without overwhelming religiousity. I did shed some tears but the work is overwhelmingly uplifting and positive.
Can't wait until Sept 21 to purchase a copy of the printed book, but highly recommend the audio version for all who love Audiobooks.

I listened to the audio version of this book. Klune tackles the subject of death and what comes after in Under The Whispering Door. I am thrilled to find an author that writes about LBGTQ characters without making their sexuality a huge focal point of the plot or a learning/growing plot for straight characters. They just are what they are... so refreshing. This novel made me laugh out loud a million times, and tear up a bit as well. This book was narrated by Kirt Graves, who did a fantastic job at creating different voices for the characters. I particularly liked the voice he created for Hugo, the ferryman. I know this book will be compared to Klune's last work, The House in the Cerulean Sea, but they are very different and distinct works (although there is an easter egg for readers in this book to find). The only flaw in this book is the lack of editing in the length, there are times it runs on a bit too much and there are scenes that do not feel necessary. I greatly enjoyed this book and look forward to more books by Klune. Thank you to Netgalley for an advanced listening copy of this audiobook.

"Under the Whispering Door" is about a selfish man, Wallace Price, who died suddenly and was surprised to find himself at his own funeral. The only person who could see him was a reaper who was there to help him find his way. Instead of leading him to the afterlife, she led him to a tea shop located in a remote, wooded area. There, he meets the Ferryman, Hugo, who will help Wallace come to terms with his death so he can cross over to the other side.

But Wallace wasn't ready to leave, and he ends up lingering at the tea shop far longer than anyone expected. There, with Hugo's help, Wallace finally learns how to live and love again.

The book took a while to build up some steam. Normally, I'm not into slice of life books like this one but this one drew me in despite the slow start.

The things I liked about the book are the writing style, and the themes of love and acceptance. Wallace is a horrible human being when he arrives at the tea shop: he's vain and selfish and isn't concerned with anyone else's feelings or welfare. He comes around though and I got very attached to Wallace by the end, he's an awesome character who tragically learned to live life to its fullest only after he died.

The book has some serious themes: grief, depression, murder, and suicide. But TJ Klune deals with those themes with sensitivity. They really tugged at my heart-strings without laying it on too thick. To balance those heavy themes, the book also has an uplifting message of hope--that there is something better waiting for us after we cross over. That as long as we are loved, there is hope that things can get better.

I was very disappointed in the ending, though. I won't spoil it here, but I thought it would have been better if TJ Klune had taken it a different direction.

I laughed a lot while listening to this book and Wallace's emotional journey literally moved me to tears at times, so I'll give this book 3.5 stars out of 5 (rounding up to 4 stars despite being unhappy with the ending).

I really liked this book. It was so fun and diverse but took the time to deal with some tough subjects. I love Klune's writing so I knew I would like this book but I didn't know I would like it this much. It wasn't my favorite Klune book but that is just a personal thing. This definitely has potential to be a new favorite for tons of readers!

I dearly loved House in the Cerulean Sea, like many, and was so excited for Klune's next work. And, while I also greatly enjoyed this one, I do have some criticisms as well.

What I loved:

This book made me FEEL so much, especially in the last 40%. Anyone who has experienced death in their life will be able to feel the anguish, the resentment, and reluctant acceptance, that these characters go through. I think that T.J. Klune is so good at writing intense emotion, it's one of the things that makes him an auto-buy author for me.

I loved that we got to know the side characters as real people. We got their stories, their reason for choosing to be at Charon's Crossing, their desires, etc. I think is one of the things that I love in Klune's works: he is able to write "real" people who have full stories.

What didn't work for me:

The book has a slow start. I had to force myself to turn on the audiobook for the first few days after I downloaded it. There is a lot of setup that has to happen in order for the audience to understand what is happening, and I get that. But even then, it didn't feel like there was a lot of world building. I wanted to understand more about the rules of this weigh station and how death worked in this world, but we didn't get a very clear picture until after the half-way mark. That was probably an intentional choice in the writing, since Wallace is kept in the dark with vague answers as well, but it just wasn't what I wanted. I think this likely also was to keep with the theme of "you don't always know everything and that's okay".

The relationship kind of came out of no where to me. At one point Wallace is angry and confused while Hugo is trying to assuage and guide him. In the next moment, it felt as though there were deep feelings between the two. I think there was a lot of off-page interactions between the two characters, but I would have rather had that explored in more detail on-page.

Also, here were many parts that felt repetitive. I found myself thinking "didn't we already go over this" many times during some of the characters moments of speaking or thinking.

SPOILER START
Lastly, I *hated* the choice of ending. I think this story could have been so much more impactful and the message could have hit so much harder if Wallace had gone through the door. The Manager all of the sudden deciding, for some reason, to care about Wallace and what he wanted was abrupt and very uncharacteristic. It felt a little cheap to suddenly resurrect Wallace, like the Manager just pulled the ability out of his hat. I wouldn't deduct points for the choice of the HEA, but I would for the way the HEA was achieved.
SPOILER END

In the end, I will read anything that T.J. Klune writes. I love his work and although I had a few minor criticisms, I really enjoyed this unique story and how much it moved me.

Thank you to NetGally and Tor Publishing for this audiobook!