TJ Klune

It's by Heather Fawcett.

I love anything by TJ Klune.

Anything that's fantasy or sci-fi, anything world building, all of it, I am all in.

Honestly, the only thing I steer clear of is scary stuff because let's be real, life in my head is already pretty intense.

Look...

Because Klune's staying, right?

Not guaranteed.

Right.

They've nothing else sorted yet.

And when I say nothing else sorted, right...

Klune's off contract, Lola Hayes off contract, Oli Russell goes back to Wakefield, Kieran Rush is off contract.

Surely they'll try and keep Oli Russell.

It is a little novella, 160 pages.

It is called We Burn So Bright by T.J. Klune.

Oh, I've heard about

this one.

I think this is such a perfect example.

So I'm going to get really passionate about this one.

So I think this is such a perfect example of a book that is executed with perfect precision because you don't need 700 pages to get what TJ Klune does across.

160 was perfect.

Would you define magical realism for those listening who wouldn't know? Oh, yes.

So magical realism is like a TJ Klune book.

Like you're in the regular world.

I don't want to say Harry Potter, but that's the first one that came to mind.

It doesn't have the same book theme, but the coziness and the fantasy element really reminded me of The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna, which is about a witch who comes to be the teacher of three young orphaned girls in a world where w- witchcraft is either illegal or looked down upon.

And then it also really reminded me of The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune.

Like, just the type of book that feels very cozy and is gonna make you emotional, but feel like you believe in the power of goodness or books or something after.

Well, I think that's, like, a very good trio of recs for people.

Oh, good.

Remarkably Bright Creatures is so good, and then I love any TJ Klune.

Um, but-

Mm-hmm

The funky kids.

[laughs]

The Funky Kids, [laughs] TJ Klune.

Uh, uh, not Under the Whispering Door, though that is really good.

Okay.

And that book is called We Burn So Bright by TJ Klune, I wanna say.

And it is about this elderly, I would say, gay couple, and I think they're in their 70s.

They've been together for 40 years.

It was actually so...

It was really good.

I do think this TJ Klune guy, I've read another one of his books, which is The House in the Cerulean Sea.

I do think there are parts of it, or in a lot of his writing that is so hammering the nail on the head that you just, like, are like, "Okay, we get it." It's like, I don't [laughs] I don't wanna be rude, but I feel like that book, the Cerulean Sea book, he was very, a little preachy and, like, overly, like, telling you that it was a metaphor for being, like, gay or different.

The audiobook narrator, Daniel Henning, also was the voice of Gideon in the Atlas audiobooks.

He also does TJ Klune's audiobooks.

He's very good.

But he delivers this one line that's like, this bitch will live forever.

I mean, she doesn't owe us anything, [laughs] right?

Like, it makes me think of even TJ Klune, you know-

Uh-huh

...

Yeah.

And he wasn't gonna write that book again.

And TJ Klune has written books for so many years-

Right