2nd book of 2024 woo!

so today i finished Under the Whispering Door by T.J. Klune and I gave it 3 stars. i enjoyed the concept and plot. the humor was millennial with the phrase "GUYS, GALS, & NONBINARY PALS" making an appearance but it was nice. the desdemonda part with them messing with her was really fun. also i really enjoyed the side character plot lines with cameron, nelson, and nancy. though i have to say i would've liked if we saw wallace struggle more. like this guy was supreme asshole all his life then he has one near death experience and he does a complete 180?? and don't get me wrong we hear him verbalize how difficult all this is but whatever i can't really put it into words. and i'm ngl i couldn't really pin point how old wallace was 😭 like he's supposed to be 40-50 cause he dies of a heart attack and we can tell he's older in the beginning from the way he talks but as the story moves about he sounds like more of a 29-35 yr old. like hugo sounds older than him sometimes. the "manager" was really cool i wish he would've talked about that more along with the entire reaper/ferryman system. tat the end the manager implies that he isn't the most powerful and he has "higher-ups" managing him (i just think that would've been really nice to explore) the ending was cute with them all working together in the shop but it would've been much better if wallace went through the door. like i just don't get it, throughout the entire book it is drilled into us the importance of accepting life, accepting death and moving on. (and don't even get me started on that river metaphor like we get it) but all of a sudden the primordial being decides "actually no you do get to stay" and REVIVES HIM??? also wallace being considered "family" was so inorganic i didn't buy that for a second. anyway i liked it but the insistence on making this book a romance held it back from it's true potential