MY HEART HURTS! Thank you to First Ink Books for sending me a proof copy for review!

I absolutely loved You’ve Reached Sam, so I was really excited to grt my heart broken again by Dustin Thao and his writing. When Haru Was Here managed to do just that.

When Haru Was Here is a beautiful novel about grief, and how differently it can be deslt with - like in this book where Eric experiences a lot of loss, and copes with it by making up scenarios. With the way this book was written, it wad hard to know what was real and what wasn’t sometimes. But that’s the thing with grief, it can make everything hazy and unclear.

I thought the writing flowed well, and all the emotions really came through on the page. I absolutely bawled at the end. 10/10 would cry again.

I am looking forward to seeing what Dustin Theo writes next, and if it will also rip my heart out! I am giving When Haru Was Here 4 stars, as I really enjoyed this book, though I woulr have liked a but more depth, but with how Eric is doing throughout the book, it makes sense that some things aren’t 100% clear or in depth, because grief is a thing that will grow and can encompass everything to be the focus.

This was my first read from Dustin and I really enjoyed I loved the season switch. Really sweet novel and would definitely now go back as I own You’ve Reached Sam and didn’t realise it was the same author until recently.

After loving You've Reached Sam, I knew this book would be one for me to sob over. And sob I did. Violently. On a bus. In fact, I cried so much that I had a wet jumper by the time I reached my stop. When Haru Was Here left me quaking, shaking and shocked, with a deep sense of longing for a different ending, and also a sequel. I've already got copies on their way to the bookshop, and you'd better know that I will be after every damn customer with a copy of this book in my hands, because it dealt with grief, loss and being human in a way that was so real and devoid of romanticisation, that I can't help but feel just so real, since finishing it. Thank you to the pub lisher for the ARC, and that you Dustin Thao for breaking my heart AGAIN.

Thank you to Netgalley for allowing me to read this ARC

This was an "all over the place" story but it worked very well since the story was about grief and our main character Eric's way of dealing with it. He seemed pulled in all directions and just plain lost at times and there were points where you weren't sure what was real and what wasn't

I don't want to give away too much but the ending was a tearjerker and I fully recommend this book (especially if you need a good cry) 😢🌸

This was a beautifully written YA tale full of love and heartbreak. We follow Eric as he explores grief and loneliness after the death of a close friend, and the situations he dreams up. The story is full of twists near the end and I wasn't expecting any of them! A great and easy read.

I loved You’ve Reached Sam so I was very excited for this one and it did not disappoint, I felt so many emotions whilst reading this and it definitely felt beautiful and heart-breaking all at once.

When Haru Was Here hit me right in the feels. Dustin Thao has this incredible way of weaving together love, loss, and the messiness of moving on in a way that feels so real and raw. I found myself laughing at the sweet moments and tearing up at the heartbreaking ones.

The characters are so well-crafted—I felt like I knew them personally by the end of the book. Haru's story is one that sticks with you long after you turn the last page. It's not just about dealing with grief; it's about celebrating the love that stays with us, even when the person we love is gone. This book left me reflecting on my own relationships and the memories that shape us.

If you're looking for a story that's both heartwarming and gut-wrenching, this is it. When Haru Was Here is a beautiful reminder of how love, in all its forms, can change our lives forever.

4.5 ☆
The last chapters??? They ended me.

I am emotionally damaged for life. I didn't cry the whole book until I got to THAT chapter. I didn't expect that and I cried so much I couldn't read anymore because there were too many tears falling down.
It was beautiful, tragic and heartbreaking, but beautiful.
The writing was magical as well as the setting, Chicago was portrayed in a gorgeous way!

Maybe the rating would have been a little lower (4 stars) but the emotions and the pain it made me feel are worth much more.

Thanks to Macmillan First Ink and NetGalley for providing me with this ARC!
When Haru was Here comes out everywhere on September 5th, 2024!

I really enjoyed this and adore this author so was very happy with this book. The characters and plot were good and addicting - very happy

I really enjoyed when I read You've Reached Sam so was looking forward to reading another of Dustin Thao's books.

This was enjoyable overall, and was a good depiction of grief, however I do think the characters were a little lacklustre, especially with most of the book being centred around Eric and Haru.

I think this would definitely be more of a read suited at young people, rather than someone in their 30s reading a YA novel, as it felt a little too young for me.

When an author is described as being the New York Times Bestselling Author of sad books like Dustin Thao does? You know you're going to need a month's supply of the softest tissues, your favourite blanket and a stuffed toy to squeeze so hard it might come to life only to tell you to think of the stuffing!

It won't be enough... nothing will truly prepare nor protect you from the beautiful sorrowful journey you will go on as you read When Haro was Here.

Eric Ly is a gentle soul, and I could fully understand his desire to protect his heart from the reality of grief. There is the before, and the after of losing his best friend Daniel. In Eric's mind, he is safe and the stories he creates protect him as the world and its realities fly past because his imagination is something he can control.

When Eric meets with Haru whilst in Japan before Daniel's passing, he has moments of utter joy that linger with him. I loved the glimpses into the festival the two inadvertently are thrust into and you can feel the many emotions Eric experiences during that time together and you as the reader cannot help but smile at Eric's happiness and wonder just why Dustin Thao has to hurt you.

I hadn't read You've Reached Sam, so I was unaware of how phenomenal Thao is at eliciting so many strong emotions from a reader.

Eric and Haru are so well-written and the world they live in was eloquently done so you do indeed feel like you're in Japan experiencing the wonder of the festival or the vastness of Chicago which I knew little about. But it's the journey of grief that had me snuffling at first, casually wiping my eyes and then bereft with choked up tears that made my eyes burn. It's Eric's pain that is tangible and one which is relatable to anyone who has lost someone suddenly and doesn't know quite how to move forward each day. He may go through the motions, but he also makes decisions that are ill-thought-out and are hard to witness from the page. Alongside my tears, I was livid at Eric but from first-hand grief, I remember that you sometimes wanted to remember you're alive, no matter what.

This is a story that will make you cry - a lot. It will make you wish to enter the pages of the book and hold Eric tightly and smile with contented joy at his time with Haru because he's happy then and the weight of grief lifted momentarily.

Prepare for a journey, and share in your favourite tissue company. Because Dustin Thao truly deserves that title. I'm off to curl up with my teddy again because Eric and his life will linger for a while.

I don't think I was remotely emotionally prepared for this book. Dustin Thao brings us such a harrowing yet beautiful story of grief, loss and loneliness. It's such an amazing feeling when a story can bring out all the emotions for the reader. After You've Reached Sam I admit I wasn't quite sure I'd enjoy it but actually I loved it.

I loved Eric's character and really felt for him and the way he wasn't able to cope with reality due to the amount of grief and heartbreak he was feeling. It was devastating. I definitely didn't expect the ending but it made the whole book make sense.

The writing is simply stunning and I truly look forward to what the author writes next.

Dustin Taos books never fail to make me sob and this one has managed to do just that once again.After reading you've reached Sam i didn't think there would ever be another book like it,with a similar plot,character dynamics and so on but this one managed to be so different from that book while also giving me those same feelings that i felt when reading ‘You've reached Sam”.

I wasn't sure what to expect when going into this book,i went in completely blind and i'm glad that i did so.The plot of this book was a complete mystery to me but i trusted the author and so when we started to get into the plot and we met all of these new characters i found myself not being capable of putting th book down.I read the entire thing in one sitting and ate it up.

The plot twist had me GONE i felt as if the author had made me feel so many emotions and as soon as i settled on one (happiness) my heart was ripped out of my chest and then left to just break - Heart Brokenness aside,the plot twist was so good in true Dustin Tao fashion and i couldn't even bring myself to be mad about it because of how incredibly written it was.

Dustin Tao never fails to impress me with his work and i will continue to read everything and anything he writes in the future.

A subtle romance, on grief and growing up

Thao returns with his sophomore novel, a gay teen romance that intersects with grief and coming-of age. Although a happy ending might seem impossible thanks to the set-up, the protagonist's growth and passion helps to fill out this contemplative but rolling novel.

From Eric's initial entrance, you root for his happiness, which is challenged over and over again by low and high stakes. The novel builds until the very end when almost all the mysteries are resolved, except for one, and even that has an ending, if not an explanation.

Worth four stars for anyone's money.

I have been so eager to get my hands on this book, but I really feel underwhelmed with this book. I was expecting so much from this book like the relationship between Eric and Haru, and the tears. But there was none of that unfortunately. I wish there was more of Haru and Eric, but I feel we did not get enough of their relationship throughout the book, and there were a lot of characters that I did not know what their role was half of the time, and they did not develop the story in anyway. And lastly no matter how much brain power I put into reading this book I could not tell what Haru was, I could not tell if he was alive, dead or a hallucination, because it kept tripping me up half of the time. Like he can feel so real most of the time and not. I loved You've Reached Sam so much and was super excited for this one because I thought I could relate to this story, but honestly I didn't. But this book will not stop me from reading the rest of Dustin Thao's work. I love his ideas, but this one was not executed in the way I thought.

Having been a huge fan of ‘You’ve reached Sam’ I was so excited to read ‘When Haru Was Here’ by Dustin Thao.

Dustin’s writing is almost poetic, and I truly love the writing style in both novels.

Although I loved the writing, I found the story is a little rushed, whilst seeming to be a slow burn at the same time.

It’s evident throughout that we can’t rely on what Eric’s experiencing as reality- but it felt as though the whole story was lacking a vital piece or satisfying conclusion.

The reveal towards the end of the book seemed a little like one last try to pry emotion from the reader, and didn’t seem to tie the story together as nicely as I’d hoped it would.

This was still a touching read and I’m so excited to read more of was Dustin Thao comes out with in future.

Eric would like his best friend to become more than that, but instead he meets Haru for one day in Tokyo - and then again when he's back in America. How is it possible?

This delicate novel is an exploration of grief and mental health, friendship and loneliness - and love. All kinds of love. It's magical and heartbreaking, for fans of "They Both Die at the End" and "Before the Coffee Gets Cold".

Thank you to Macmillan and NetGalley for this ARC!

I was really excited to be approved for this ARC since I have heard nothing but incredible things for Dustin Thao's debut novel and thought the premises for his books seem really interesting.

Unfortunately, this book was not for me. I did not feel attached to the characters and I was bored for 95% of the book, the only part I really enjoyed came in the last few chapters. This says that it deals with grief but I didn't think that it did at all. If I hadn't known from the blurb that this was meant to be an important part of the story, then I wouldn't have known until the end.

Eric was incredibly immature and with everything happening to him, there was so much room to explore his emotions and how he is coping. Haru (at least the hallucination version of him) was incredibly two-dimensional and robotic so he failed to draw any emotions out of me either.

My favourite part of the book was reading Jasmine's letters and finding out she was also dead and not moving away like we initially thought. Some things were not adding up throughout the book, but this was a good twist that came towards the end. I also liked how Eric ended up running into the actual Haru in the epilogue and the book ended on a more hopeful and open note.

This was pretty good but I found myself losing interest in parts and found it difficult to connect to the main character. This is a very emotional and poignant novel that gracefully examines grief and human reactions and coping mechanisms., The idea of it was excellent and the writing was solid, I just struggled to connect with the book as a whole.

I would’ve liked to have seen more development of Haru’s personality and character as all we really know about him is that he lives in Tokyo and his family runs a stationary shop there. I can, however, understand why there isn’t as much development as I would’ve liked as Eric only spends a few hours with the real Haru so it makes sense that he won’t learn more about Haru when he is just hallucinating that Haru is spending time with him back in Chicago. Eric is somewhat an introvert so there aren’t too many other characters but these all feel a lot more fleshed out and complex than Haru was. Additionally, Eric’s character doesn’t really develop much throughout the story which I think was perfect as this is a story about dealing with the grief and the hole in your life after losing your best friend rather than a character needing to grow in some way or learning to fit in better with a group of people.

After hearing some friends’ reactions to You’ve Reached Sam, I fully expected to spend my time reading through my tears with a pint of ice cream. My reaction wasn’t quite that intense but the twist in the last few chapters especially pulled on my heartstrings and very nearly made me cry. Speaking of the ending, the big twist meant a lot more of the book suddenly made sense and it made me want to reread the entire thing just to find all the probably blatant clues that I just completely ignored.

Overall, I quite enjoyed reading this book, I was so grateful to receive an arc for it and I do look forward to reading You’ve Reached Sam some time in the near future. Thank you so much to Dustin Thao, Netgalley and Macmillan publishing for providing me with a free earc in return for an honest review. All thoughts are my own.