This is an enchanting LGBTQIA+ romance fantasy about a ghost who refuses to cross over to the afterlife because of the found family and love that he experiences after he dies.

Wallace Price is a terrible human who has zero empathy for others. He does not have time to any compassion and only cared about himself & his success as a top-level lawyer. When he suddenly has a massive heart attack, dies & wakes up as a ghost at his own funeral to find out only 4 people attended his funeral. Not a single person says a nice thing about him. He becomes ridiculously incredulous as he thought so highly of himself. The reaper, Mei picks him up & takes him to a teahouse in a very small town where a ferryman will help him transition to the next place. Wallace stays longer than expected & slowly starts to learn the meaning of “living”. The romance is sweet & slow beginning with a tentative friendship that blooms into love “between a man who lived to help the dead and a man who died to live”.

While there are quirky characters in this novel & lots of laugh out loud moments, this is unlike the wholesome, lovable book that is The House in the Cerulean Sea. This is about regrets, grief, death, the afterlife but also hope, redemption, forgiveness, & love. It is told in a gentle, loving bittersweet way.

I really love TJ Klune’s approach to writing about bleak subjects by using humor& wit. He brings a lighthearted twist to these topics that can still make you cry & laugh. My favorite characters are definitely Nelson & Apollo. They are hilarious!

Thank you Tor Books for gifting me this ARC!

PUB DATE: Sept 28, 2021