163. Why Read TJ Klune

I grabbed the photo above from TJ Klune's Goodreads page (not his website). I love that both pages both show his photo with his dog...or perhaps a borrowed dog who's quite cute and likes having its photo taken. Plus, check out the Santa-Saturn-stars-snowflakes-sword-unicorn sweater -- awesome!

If you’ve been reading my blog for more than ten minutes, you know how I feel about romance novels: love, love, love. I’ve written less about sub-genres that fall under the romance umbrella. I like historicals, rom-coms, contemporaries, and thrillers. (Hello, Selena Montgomery!) Up until recently, I would have said that you couldn’t make me read speculative romance with a ten-foot pole. (I know there's a dirty joke there, and I'm not mad about it.) That’s where my writing partner and book guru comes into the story. (Hi, MC!)

For her book club, I read TJ Klune’s Under the Whispering Door. Then, on her further recommendation–I believe her words were, “It’s like a book hug”–I took The House in the Cerulean Sea from the library. Wowza! These books absolutely provide a warm literary embrace.

But they’re both so much more. I’m going to list some aspects I liked about them without any spoilers because if you haven’t found TJ Klune yet, you need to.

• Both books offer traditional romance tropes within a story that’s about other things.
• The speculative elements come from magical realism (elements of magic within an otherwise Earth-set story) rather than other-universism. (I knew it wasn’t a word before my spellcheck underlined it for me. I hope you’ll roll with the distinction, and if you know a better way to phrase it, say so in the comments.) I don't want to spend my time in other universes.
• The characters aren’t all the same as each other. Klune offers a range of kinds of diversity.
• The books don’t show diversity as an afterthought; we see people grappling with how we treat others because of their differences and what those thoughts and actions can teach us about becoming better people.
• They have ROFL-funny and tear-inducing-touching moments.
• The writing reads easily while it offers great lines and poetic syntax/diction.
• Did I mention that both books offer a sweet romance happily ever after?

I’m going to stop gushing now because if you have already read both of these books, you’re eagerly awaiting his next book or finding his other books to put on your TBR. If you haven’t read his books, I leave you now to get crackalacking. Either way, let the world (aspirational noun usage) know what you think in the comments below.