Under the Whispering Door by TJ Klune

Biggest, hugest thank you to #netgalley for the ARC for this book. It was…beautiful and haunting (pun not intended).

Just like the book opens, I am opening this review on the content warning. This whole book is about death, grief, and the passage to the afterlife. But it’s also very TJ Klune in that’s it’s about found families in unexpected places and in very quirky houses.

RECOMMENDATION 1: Buy stock in your favorite tissue brand now. This one is a tear-jerker. And I am not a crier.

RECOMMENDATION 2: Have your favorite tea on hand and keep the kettle full.

Over the course of reading this I drank:

- Bigelow’s Perfectly Mint,

- 123 Farm’s Organic Lavender Mint with their Mint Sugar,

- Fraser Tea’s Honeybunch Berry Dandelion, and

- Fraser Tea’s Take Me to the Tropics.

Tea and Under the Whispering Door are the perfect pairing.

Wallace has died. Mei, his Reaper, has brought him to a tea house (he never liked tea) to meet the ferryman, Hugo. Hugo’s tea house/actual house is already occupied by the ghost of his grandfather, who hasn’t crossed over yet because he’s still taking care of Hugo and Hugo’s childhood (ghost) dog, Apollo.

Even though it’s Hugo’s job to help Wallace come to terms with death and to find the desire to crossover, what he actually does is show Wallace how good of a person he could be. How good this tea shop and these people (and dog) are. Wallace ends up helping the residents with lots of problematic cases, alive and very much not, he catches the eye of the Manager.

I think the only reason this book isn’t a five-star for me is because the subject matter isn’t as charming as say, a house for “dangerous” and adorable magical orphans. Otherwise, it’s perfection. It’s gorgeous and soft and kind. It’s exploratory and deep. It’s all the flavors in your favorite cup of tea crossing your tongue.

Go read this one if you can. It’s exemplary. -Ford