Under the Whispering Door by T.J. Klune
Fantasy, LGBTQ+
Rating:
Synopsis
When a reaper comes to collect Wallace Price from his own funeral, Wallace suspects he really might be dead.
Instead of leading him directly to the afterlife, the reaper takes him to a small village. On the outskirts, off the path through the woods, tucked between mountains, is a particular tea shop, run by a man named Hugo. Hugo is the tea shop’s owner to locals and the ferryman to souls who need to cross over.
But Wallace isn’t ready to abandon the life he barely lived. With Hugo’s help he finally starts to learn about all the things he missed in life.
When the Manager, a curious and powerful being, arrives at the tea shop and gives Wallace one week to cross over, Wallace sets about living a lifetime in seven days.
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Review
Under the Whispering Door is my third T.J. Klune book, and I have loved all of them! Not only are his stories incredibly imaginative, but his writing is terrific!
I liked all of Klune’s books because of the journey and growth his main characters go through. In this book, online in the others, Wallace is not a good person. He’s a pretty terrible person. I enjoyed that this wasn’t shied away from, and I loved seeing Wallace come to terms with that and try to fix it.
Like Klune’s’ other works, the side characters in this book make this story. Nelson especially was one of my favorite characters, and I loved every scene he was in. He brought so much joy and wisdom. Mei was also great, especially for a bit of sarcasm and comic relief.
There were a couple of things I didn’t love about this book, the ending felt a little too good to be true, and the love story felt a little forced. I didn’t see a lot of chemistry between Hugo and Wallace. This book would have been fine without a romantic storyline, and this is from a person who loved the romance in all of my books. I would have preferred that the book just focus on Wallace’s journey and maybe hints at the romance.
Overall I enjoyed this book, and though I had issues with it, I would recommend it.
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I also enjoyed this book and agree, the romance was rather rushed and not necessary in the story. Having said that, it didn’t cause me to like the story less.