Book Review: "Under the Whispering Door" by TJ Klune

In Under the Whispering Door, one of two books coming from TJ Klune in the next few months, we learn that it’s never too late to make your life the way you wanted it to be. Even after you’re dead.

How do I write a review of a book for which I have no words? To quote one of my favorite YA books, We Contain Multitudes, this one utterly undid me.

Wallace was a successful lawyer. He should be a success; he thought about nothing but working harder and doing better, even at the expense of those around him, including his employees. No one would ever say he was nice or friendly or compassionate or even considerate, and he didn’t care.

The next thing he knows, he’s watching his funeral. And then a reaper comes to collect him for his journey onward. Wallace is angry about being dead. He demands that things be fixed because his firm has work to do.

The reaper takes him to meet Hugo, the compassionate, handsome owner of a peculiar little tea shop. He’s also a ferryman, assigned to help Wallace get ready to cross over to his final destination. He’s seen anger like Wallace’s before and isn’t fazed, but he's determined to help Wallace reach his own understanding of the situation at hand.

But as Wallace starts accepting his death, he starts seeing his life for what it was, where he went wrong. More than that, he starts to realize the beauty of vulnerability, the power that comes from surrounding yourself with love and kindness and companionship. Is it too late?

Klune’s The House in the Cerulean Sea was my favorite book of last year and this very well may be my favorite of 2021. Moving, quirky, thought-provoking, and beautiful, it’s a book about living—even when you’re dead.

NetGalley and Tor Books provided me with a complimentary advance copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making it available!!

Under the Whispering Door publishes 9/21.

Book Review: "Gay Bar: Why We Went Out" by Jeremy Atherton Lin

Jeremy Atherton Lin's Gay Bar: Why We Went Out is an interesting juxtaposition of sociology and personal memoir focused on gay bars.

Pre-pandemic, did you go to bars or pubs often? Did you frequent them when you were younger?

At different points in my life I enjoyed hanging out with my friends at bars. There’s a camaraderie at bars that’s always fun to watch as an observer, as everyone goes to bars for different reasons, but the less enamored I became of crowds the less frequently I went.

In Gay Bar: Why We Went Out, Lin traces the history of the gay bar through time, from truly secret places where discovery could be deadly, to places where joy could reign unfettered, even for a few hours, from places where people gathered to mourn, to spots that have their own places in their neighborhoods.

Lin also touches on his own experiences at gay bars through his life, mainly in three cities—Los Angeles, London, and San Francisco—with a few others thrown in sporadically. He talks about what it’s like to feel like you belong in a space, the furtive and sometimes shocking discoveries and encounters he had, and the connections he made—one in particular which changed his life.

This was an interesting read for Pride Month and it’s very well-written and well-researched. However, I felt like the book struggled with what it wanted to be. Was it a memoir or social commentary? I also wish Lin had touched on the role gay bars play in small communities—it’s much different than the meccas he touched on.

Book Review: "Together We Will Go" by J. Michael Straczynski

The upcoming novel from Babylon 5 creator and Sense8 co-creator J. Michael Straczynski, Together We Will Go, is a powerful, moving, and sometimes humorous look at suicide and assisted suicide.

Mark is a depressed writer who can’t seem to sell any of his work. He’s at the end of his rope, so he buys an old tour bus and plans to drive cross-country, ending in San Francisco. He also places an online ad searching for travel companions.

But this isn’t just any road trip. Mark is looking for people like him, who have no more strength or desire to keep on living. At the end of their journey, they’ll drive the bus off a cliff.

He gets a tremendous response so he has to figure out who seems legitimately interested in ending their lives and aren’t just suicide tourists, along for the ride, or looking to share the story to the media. After hiring someone to drive the bus (until its final stop), they begin picking up their passengers across the country.

The people who join the trip are all suffering in their own ways—from chronic pain, mental illness, fatal diseases, loneliness, guilt, addiction. And as the group grows and makes “bucket list” stops along the way, frictions occur among the group, some have second thoughts, motivations are questioned, and some are even kicked off the bus.

Together We Will Go is a quirky, sad, thought-provoking look at the ideation of suicidal feelings and what drives people to that end. It’s told in a combination of narrative, text messages, transcriptions of audio files, and emails, and a majority of the characters narrate. I definitely cared more about some characters than others, but overall this story evokes some real emotion.

When you have that many characters and a unique narrative style, it’s sometimes hard to follow, and I definitely found some stories more compelling and powerful than others. But this book definitely packs a punch and I won’t forget it anytime soon.

NetGalley and Gallery Books provided me with a complimentary advance copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making it available!!

Together We Will Go publishes 7/6.

If you find yourself thinking of suicide and need to speak to someone, call the National Suicide Prevention Hotline at 1-800-273-8255.

Book Review: "Him" by Sarina Bowen and Elle Kennedy

Him is the hot, sexy, emotional M/M hockey romance I didn’t realize I’d been missing all my life.

This one was definitely a #Bookstagrammademedoit. My friend Abby and a few other Bookstagram friends have been talking about hockey romances, so I, as a fan of hockey and, well, hockey players, figured I’d give this one a try.

Wes and Jamie had an intense friendship when they were teenagers, playing at an elite hockey camp in upstate New York. Their rivalry made them better players and Wes was constantly involving Jamie in dares and pranks. Then after the summer they were 18, Wes just walked away and cut off their friendship. Sure, things got a little weird one night when they were drinking that last summer, but so what?

Four years later, their college teams are both in the Frozen Four championship. Both have been drafted by the NHL. But what Wes wants more than anything is a chance to see his old friend again, a chance to explain why he felt he had to end everything.

The minute they see each other, they slip back into their old routines. But Wes, who is gay, knows that what he feels for Jamie can’t be reciprocated, although he’s mostly okay with that because he missed his friend so much.

They wind up spending the summer between college and heading to their NHL teams working at the same camp they went to as teenagers. It seems like old times, and as they grow closer, Jamie realizes he has a lot to learn about his old friend—and himself. And both have key decisions to make about their future.

The steam factor is HOT in Him, but the romance factor is, too. The book touches on homophobia, self-esteem, and parental issues as well as the boundaries between friendship and love. I felt like there were so many times things could have become melodramatic and they didn’t, which made me love the book even more.

So now I’m a hockey romance fan! I’ll certainly be reading the sequel to this, called Us, very soon!!

Book Review: "The Layover" by Lacie Waldon

Enemies-to-lovers? Forced proximity? Tropical locale? Yes, please! You get all of that and more in this debut rom-com from Lacie Waldon, The Layover.

Ava has been a flight attendant for 10 years. But this is her last flight—now that she’s engaged she doesn’t want to be gone all the time.

She’s looking forward to this flight, which includes a layover in Belize—it’s a nice farewell gift and a celebration of her engagement. And then she discovers he's on her flight—Jack Stone, the sexy pilot-turned-flight attendant. Her nemesis. The one person she truly humiliated herself in front of one night.

Of all the people…but Ava is determined to make it work. And when the Belize layover turns into a longer stay at a resort because of mechanical difficulties, she can’t believe she’s trapped with him. Why is it he doesn’t seem to understand why she hates him?

Rom-com fans, you know the drill. As Ava and Jack team up for a little matchmaking on behalf of their colleagues, she starts to realize that maybe he’s not the devil she’s always thought he was. Maybe the hyper-organized, routine life she’s about to embark on with her ego-driven fiancé isn’t the one she really wants after all?

As I’ve said before, part of the charm of rom-coms for me is their predictability. I love that you mostly know how The Layover will go, I love the enemies-to-lovers trope, and because Waldon is an actual flight attendant, it’s full of authentic details.

I’ll admit Ava is a bit annoying at the start with her hatred of Jack, and I felt like her emotional arc was a little rushed, but this was still such a fun, cute, romantic story. (And as if I didn’t already check out all the sexy male flight attendants?)

Book Review: "Between Perfect and Real" by Ray Stoeve

Between Perfect and Real, Ray Stoeve's debut YA novel, is a poignant, thought-provoking, hopeful look at a teen’s struggle with his identity.

"I think I might be trans."
"I mean, I know I am."
"I think."

From the moment he saw videos of transgender guys on YouTube, Dean knew that’s what he was, why he didn’t feel completely comfortable as a lesbian. And when he gets cast as a “nontraditional” Romeo in his high school’s production of Romeo and Juliet, it makes him long to assume his true identity.

But the realization of who he is causes more stress. His mother barely can handle his being gay and still calls him by his dead name—how will she take this news, when she’s reinforced gender roles for as long as Dean can remember? And what about Dean’s girlfriend, Zoe? Will she still want to be with him if he's male?

As the play approaches, Dean has a lot of decisions to make. And as he struggles with the acceptance of classmates and revealing his truth to those he loves, he seeks help from friends and others who have gone through these same decisions and had the same questions. Dean’s life may never be the same, but isn’t freely being who you are worth it?

This book was really good—it’s funny and sad and angsty and heartbreaking and hopeful all at once. I give Stoeve so much praise for not creating a utopia where everything is perfect for trans kids but also skirting the line that would have turned this book into melodrama, however real that may be, too.

I enjoyed these characters and, as I often do when reading YA, I felt so happy that books like Between Perfect and Real exist for today’s youth. So glad this was part of my Pride Reads this month!!

Book Review: "Brat: An '80s Story" by Andrew McCarthy

Brat: An '80s Story contains Andrew McCarthy's recollections of his acting heyday in 1980s films.

I went to high school in the mid-1980s. (Whatever. Be nice to the old guy or get off my lawn.) Pop culture in the 80s was great—while some of the movies and TV shows look colossally bad now, a lot of them have sustained their charm and bring back so many memories. (I even remember with whom I saw certain movies back in the day.)

I first noticed Andrew McCarthy in the movie Class, which wasn’t very good, but Rob Lowe was in it, and long before I understood why I was obsessed with him (still am, cough), I had to watch everything he was in. Anyway, I remember McCarthy was almost an anti-hunk, and he had the most expressive eyes I’d ever seen on an actor.

McCarthy went on to star in two of my most favorite 80s movies—Pretty in Pink and St. Elmo’s Fire—as well as Mannequin, Less Than Zero, and that crazy movie, Weekend at Bernie's. It was during that time he got lumped into the group of young actors called “The Brat Pack.” (Ironically, he didn't even attend the event at which a few of his acting peers merited that nickname.)

In Brat, McCarthy recounts how his career started and touches on the movies he’s most known for. It’s not a tell-all by any means and he doesn’t trash anyone, but I really enjoyed his memories of that time and place. He also talks about family problems and his struggles with alcoholism, particularly during that time in his life.

And there even were a few things I didn’t know—that he was offered the lead in Some Kind of Wonderful and turned it down, and that John Hughes showed him the script for Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and McCarthy expressed interest, but nothing came of it.

The fact is, McCarthy is a good writer. He’s written a travel memoir which I loved and a YA novel I’ve not read yet, so this was enjoyable for more than the sense of nostalgia it gave me. So many of the actors from that time period are still acting (at least periodically), so it’s fun to see how far they’ve come.

I know there are some of you who have never heard of him or his movies. Humor me and don’t make me feel decrepit, okay?