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bailedI tried, but I couldn‘t get into it 🤷🏼♀️
Under the Whispering Door | 
pickI loved this one. A cosy fantasy exploring life after death, set in a tea shop.
Wallace died having lived a life focusing on his career and ambition, and having not being a nice person. But after death he is brought to a tea shop by a reaper (Mei) and meets Hugo, a ferryman whose job is to help him come to terms with death before crossing over.
Here Wallace has a chance to become a better person and find the family he never knew he was missing.
Although this has Klune‘s trademark quirk and poignancy it didn‘t hit quite the same for me as The House in the Cerulean Sea.
pickWallace was a hard working man. He had no friends-none at all. When he died his funeral was sparsely attended. Wallace was collected by a “Reaper” and taken to a tea shop where the dead pass through on their way to the next phase of eternity. The tea shop owner Hugo is filled with compassion and understanding. He is very kind. Finally, Wallace is given a week to cross over. In life he worked in death he found himself. Amazing novel! 5/5
pickA lush and bittersweet tale of "life" after death that ponders whether we can find our truest humanity after we pass.
A little fantasy, a little romance, and a lot of heart - I really enjoyed this book. I laughed, I cried... as a grieving person this one really hit hard.
Also, dog lovers take note - this story features a fabulous pup! ❤️?
pickBeautiful and unexpected. My husband and I were both pleasantly surprised by the story even if the characterization of Wallace as a lawyer was a little clunky. Highly recommend this one (and it is a very quick read!).
pickKlune‘s mind is fascinating! Everyone is talking about fantasy these days and they‘re referring to faeries or dragons, but this is a different kind of fantasy. An interesting take on death, afterlife, and in between. Full of emotions from grief and sadness to hilarity and love, all leading to people connecting to one another. Book #50 in 2024
Switching back and forth between book and audio, narrated by Kirt Graves.
Happy Pride month!
🩷❤️🧡💛💚🩵💙💜🤎🩶🖤🤍
pickWallace is an asshole.
And then he dies.
But he doesn‘t cross over right away. He is met by a reaper who escorts him to Charon‘s Crossing, a tea shop that doubles as a portal to the afterlife run by the enigmatic Hugo.
Wallace is given the opportunity to come to terms with the life he lead and the death nobody grieved and ended up finding a purpose, a family, and a home.
Sometimes you have to die for your life to begin.
pickWhat an empathetic book! How tender. How bittersweet. How deeply poignant. For a book so absorbed with death, it's strangely life affirming, and isn't that such a wonderful paradox? It emanates such fierce humanity that it's a palpable thing, an innate goodness that you get to hold in your hands with all the messy complications of this equally terrifying and wonderful business we call life and death. I can't resist returning again and again 🫖.
I love this journey more than anything, which is why I can't resist returning to this cosy world of ghosts and tea shops again and again 🫖.
#fantasyfiction #romance #tjklune #quotes #currentread #reread #lgbtqia #ghosts #cozyfantasy #charon #utwd #afterlife #bookish #booklover #bookquotes
This story never fails to warm my heart.
#fantasyfiction #romance #tjklune #quotes #currentread #reread #lgbtqia #ghosts #cozyfantasy #charon #utwd #afterlife #bookish #booklover #bookquotes
I'm of the mind that I'm family now, since this is my third time reading this book! 🫖
pick4.5 ⭐
Still fresh in the throws of grief, I wasn't certain if I'd be able to get through this. (I didn't know what it was about prior to the trigger warning at the beginning.) Decided I was going to try it anyway, and I'm so glad I did. It broke my heart several times and put me back in that initial loss mindset. I cried. I cried like a fool actually. At my desk. At work. But it was such a good story and so well written. A truly beautiful tale.
pickIn posing the question "What will you do with the time you have left?", TJ Klune gives us another funny and heartwarming story about life, loss, grief and tea.
I laughed, I cried....I appreciated life just a little bit more.
But not tea..it's like warm water with yard clippings...I'm more of a coffee kinda guy.
"It was enlightening to see that you were a proponent of manscaping when you were alive. I'd hate to think you'd neglect it only to spend your time here with a topiary garden in your pants." - Nelson
????Nelson ragging on Wallace does not get old. This guy is by far one of my favorite characters ever.????
Just started listening to this... the guy is an asshole. Is he supposed to be that way?
#BookishMonopoly
2023 favourite books, ranked from left to right, top left to bottom right. Some combination of emotionally resonant and a DAMN GOOD TIME. Pretty obvious that T. Kingfisher joined my list of favourite authors in 2023.
pickFirst read in March of this year, my December reread confirms, this is my favourite book read in 2023. Everything it makes me feel, how it talks about grief, loss, forgiveness, humanity, redemption, letting go, love, belief...the fully developed characters, the funny and poignant moments, casual queer rep, the unique fantasy elements. I was worried that it wouldn't hit me the same way the second time but I was laughing and crying all over again.
It‘s never enough, is it? Time. We always think we have so much of it, but when it really counts, we don‘t have enough at all.”
😭😭😭💔💔💔
Tux, get the tissues!
#Adayinthelifeoftux
pickWow! This is a beautiful emotional book about death and grief. Not as fun and light hearted as The House in the Cerulean Sea, but amazing cozy thought take on mortality and the after.
Go Chiefs!! 🏈🙌🏻
What are you reading tonight? 📚
Here‘s to everyone having a great Monday!! 🍷 🍾
Loving this book! 💙✨🌟
“We don‘t always see what‘s right in front of us, much less appreciate it. It‘s not until we look back that we find what we should have known all along.”
Loving this one 💫
#LitsyLoveReads
My best reading buddy!! Apparently I read several chapters in this one that I don‘t remember reading so back to chapter 4! I think I was reading and took my sleep medicine 🤪
Does this ever happen to anyone else?!?!
#Adayinthelifeoftux
#Catsoflitsy
pickI cried so hard my dog (dog! like Apollo! insert crying face emoji!) came to check on me.
pickIt's perhaps odd that I love TJ Klune's cosy fantasies so much. Generally, I steer away from the whimsical and the saccharine. Under the Whispering Door has that otherworldly, fairytale feel that I don't always connect with.
But who am I kidding? This was thoroughly charming. It brought a smile to my face and a tear to my eye. Charon's crossing felt like home, and the story tugged on my heartstrings in all the right ways.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Time for the #midyearfreakoutbooktag - condensed version. Picked out 9 books that I loved/stayed with me the most, that I read in the past 6 months. Top three make the all time favourite list. Safe to say this is the year of T J Klune and I cannot WAIT to get my hands on In The Lives of Puppets.
so-soBook #36
3/5
It really bothers me when the synopsis on the back of the book is misleading. This one led me to believe that it's about a dead man trying to decide how to spend his last week on earth before crossing over. In reality, it's more than halfway through the book when he is given that time line. There are good parts, but overall I found the story underwhelming.
Questo libro è fantastico e ti fa riflettere su argomenti importanti e proprio per questo lo consiglio dai 14 anni in sù. È triste ma la ironia dei personaggi sdrammatizza tutto.
pickFinally got around to reading this one prompted by my #AuldLangSpine list from @Laughterhp & while The House in the Cerulean Sea edges out as my favorite, this is a close second. I love the ability Klune has to make me both laugh & cry to & grow & redeem his characters. I have been staying away from “sad books” for a while now as it doesn‘t help my depression, but the sad moments of grief & loneliness are served with a big side of humor & hope.💙
pickThis was good and had me laughing out loud more than once. I liked it for the most part, except for the ending. Still like House in the Cerulean Sea better.
pickHeart achingly beautiful. I think this might be my favourite book, ever.
Laughing and crying simultaneously doesn't happen to me often reading books, but it's a manifestation of the book itself, there's sadness, even spookiness, but also joy, strength and so much love, empathy and forgiveness, redemption. 1/3
pickThis is my March #doublespin #bookspin book. And once again this author took me on an emotional Rollercoaster of laughing and crying. I love the idea of a better life after death with total acceptance. Too bad we don't have that here. Truly a fun and touching read. @TheAromaofBooks
so-soThis was not as good as The House in the Cerulean Sea. It was slow to start and I didn‘t really care for the ending. I did enjoy the middle section and I love Klune‘s writing.
