Early Review – Under the Whispering Door by T.J. Klune (5/5 stars)

Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Fantasy/Humor
Length: 384 pages
Publisher: Tor Books
Release Date: September 21, 2021
ASIN: 978-1250217349
Stand Alone or Series: Stand Alone
Source: eGalley from NetGalley.com
Rating: 5/5 stars

“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.”

Series Info/Source: This is a stand alone book. I got an eGalley of this book through NetGalley to review.

Thoughts: This was incredibly well done, I really enjoyed every minute of it. This is a sweet story about life, death, friendship, and love that has a lot of humor in it as well.

Wallace isn’t a very nice guy; he is a lawyer who lives for his job and is incredibly demanding of those around him…and then he is dead. He finds himself being shepherded to a Reaper, the teashop-owningHugo. Suddenly, everything Wallace thinks he knows about life is changing.

The writing and story are fairly simple but there is enough mystery to pull the reader easily through the story. I loved the quirky characters in here and loved all the discussion about what it means to live your life well. There is humor in here too, as well as a number of heartwarming scenes too. This is a story that will make you laugh out loud, then have you in tears on the next page.

So far I have absolutely loved every T.J. Klune book I have read. I have read “The House in the Cerulean Sea” and the first book in the Tales of Verania series. The last couple books I have read by Klune (The House and this one) have been so comforting and entertaining, he is just such an amazing writer!

My Summary (5/5): Overall I adored this book. It’s just so quirky, heart-warming, comforting, humorous, and thoughtful. I love the way this book made me feel so happy and enjoyed all the introspection about life, death, and a life well lived. I will continue to immediately pick up any Klune book I see released!