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.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Children’s Books for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

After the death of his best friend, Eric Ly creates imaginary scenarios in his head to deal with his grief. Until one of them becomes real when a boy he met last summer in Japan finds his way back into his life. When he least expects it, Haru Tanaka walks into the coffee shop and sits down next to him. The only thing is, nobody else can see him. In a magical turn of events, Eric suddenly has someone to connect with, making him feel less alone in the world. But as they spend more and more time together, he begins to question what is real. When he starts losing control of the very thing that is holding him together, Eric must finally confront his reality. Even if it means losing Haru forever.

Eric is an outsider and prefers to keep to himself. But he isn’t happy with that life now his best friend is gone. I think he was brilliantly written because we see so many emotions in Eric and how they influence the things he says and does. Everyone reacts differently to grief and I really appreciated getting to see such raw moments with him. The fact his subconscious is creating these scenarios to make his life a little better and manageable is so understandable and relatable. We don’t see huge differences in Eric’s character over the course of this book and that was something I think was done just right. This isn’t a book about Eric changing who he is to fit other’s views etc, it’s a story about him navigating life once more with a hole in his heart that hadn’t been there before.

Thao’s first book You’ve Reached Sam wrecked me in all the best ways. I read an early copy months before release and had no one to talk to about it and the way it hit me was so raw and unreserved that I knew I would gladly read more by this author. So, when the chance came to receive an early copy of this book, I jumped at it with open arms. The plot is pretty good, focusing brilliantly on the effects of loss and grief on the mind, and how those things change our thinking. I wouldn’t say it’s as good as Thao’s first book, but I did really like the concept of Eric yearning for that happier moment, before everything went wrong, before life became harder. We have quite a small cast of characters here but it really works for the story. Our MC is very much an introvert and that is reflected in the number of people close to him - and with how often he interacts with new people. I think they were all well fleshed out and descriptive as I could picture them quite clearly. Regarding romance, there is a lot of yearning and more off-page romance going on, not a huge amount happening there and then. But I actually liked that because it ensured the focus remained on the main thing: grief. Thao very cleverly writes characters who are grieving and whilst I knew this would very likely hit hard, I could not have prepared myself. Eric has lost people he loves suddenly, they were pulled from his world in the blink of an eye. 3 months ago, I lost my nan very traumatically and very suddenly. All I could think of whilst reading this story was her and how my emotions regarding it all are so complicated and confusing and all-compassing - just like Eric’s. Safe to say, there were quite a few years reading this, especially at the ending. The ending was a shock for me but it really made sense for the overall story. Thao did a brilliant job of bringing things to a close whilst showing that even when things seem incredibly bleak, we will always have a shining light to guide us at the right time.

Overall, When Haru Was Here is a poignant and emotional group perfectly showing the effects that grief can have.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Thank you again to NetGalley and Macmillan Children’s Books for an advanced copy of this book. Review will be live on my blog on release day.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Children's Books for the ARC

Dustin Thao really knows how to pull on your heartstrings! This book was heartwarming and heartbreaking all the same. It deals with loss and grief in a delicate matter that's sure to play on your feelings.

I just want to start off by saying that I love Dustin Thao's debut novel You've Reached Sam, therefore making me so excited for this book. However, it seemed that Thao was capitalising on his success and said let's copy and paste regarding the themes, only this time it just felt flat.

The characters had no development and had zero plot progression. I felt like I was reading a book full of repetition of how Eric was going out and just seeing Haru wherever he went. How could a book feel so rushed but at the same time nothing happen? There was a twist at the end that should've been obvious with the little hints of foreshadowing but I kinda feel like it was unnecessary. It just seemed like a last attempt to get the readers to feel something for these characters. I wished that the book had been more focused on this, rather than the Haru storyline.

Speaking of the characters, there was a huge disconnect with me feeling anything towards them. We know that Haru was a figment of Eric's imagination to help him cope with the grief but at least can he have some personality? Also surely it would've been better to have Daniel that he's imagining, rather than some guy he had known for two seconds? I feel like the book would've benefited from another chapter or so to actually explore Eric and Haru's relationship more, because how do we know what the real Haru is like when he's just been Eric's imagination throughout the book. Additionally, I know that Daniel was Eric's best friend but why he was so hung up on a guy that kissed him on a whim then Daniel becomes awkward with Eric and decides to just flaunted his relationships in front of him.

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Absoultely amazing book. It shows this aspect of dealing with grief that feels so real and raw.

Eric doesn't know how to continue living after Daniel, but it wasn't jsut Daniel. He had all these plans of how his life was going to go but the universe derails it and he reels, because pretending that everthing is fine is always easier than accepting that its not having to learn how to pick up the broken pieces and put them togther again.

Haru becomes Eric's lifeline, whether he's real or not - he's this person who somehow exists in both of Haru's worlds but Jasmine being person who brings him back to reality is such a beautiful thing. And ahh the letters, I cannot.

The ending was beautiful and I really could not have asked for more.

Thank you to Netgalley, Macmillan Children's Books and the author for giving me the oppurtunity to read the e-arc for this in return for an honest review. I can't wait to get the physical copy in my hands when its released.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this eARC of 'When Haru Was Here' by Dustin Thao.

Coming into this book, I adored ‘You’ve Reached Sam’ and I expected my heart to be stomped on when I picked up Thao’s latest novel but sadly it didn’t do that. The concept was great but I think my heart loved Sam so much, I couldn’t connect to this new story.

Having never read 'You've Reached Sam', this was my first Dustin Thao book, and it was an easy, but beautiful read which focuses on grief and the ways one copes with the death of a loved one. This was a quick read but I really enjoyed it, though the protagonist was grating at times! If you liked They Both Die At The End, you'll also like this!

I just finished Dustin Thao's second book, "When Haru Was Here," and I've got some mixed feelings...

First off, I went into this book with sky-high expectations after falling in love with Thao's debut, "You've Reached Sam." That book was a lyrical, heart-wrenching, masterpiece of a journey through grief that left a lasting impression. "When Haru Was Here" promised to explore similar themes, but sadly, it didn't quite hit the same emotional highs for me.

In the acknowledgements, Thao mentions feeling the pressure of readers' expectations and missing deadlines repeatedly. And honestly, his disconnect with the material shows in the writing. Unlike "You've Reached Sam," where Thao wrote freely, "When Haru Was Here" feels like it’s trying too hard to replicate that magic, and it falls a bit short.

The story follows Eric, who is grieving the loss of his best friend Daniel. Eric is a likeable character, but Daniel? Not so much. I struggled to understand Eric's fixation on him, especially since Daniel wasn't particularly kind to him. They shared a kiss, but Daniel then became really awkward with Eric and flaunted other relationships in front of him, which left me questioning why Eric was so hung up on him in the first place.

Eric also came across as quite naive, constantly being taken advantage of by his so-called friends and work colleagues. They invited him to parties they weren’t actually invited to themselves, which was just sad. His relationship with Christian and his friends was another low point—Christian used Eric and discarded him with a casual racist comment about not dating Asian boys. It was a harsh reality check for Eric and added a layer of tension to the story, This was a great opportunity for Thao to have explored the issue of racism, but it was more like a throwaway comment, which wasn't really examined in the depth it could have been and the characters simply moved on from it.

Despite these issues, I couldn’t help but feel for Eric. His journey through grief, especially with his sister Jasmine’s support, was touching. But when Jasmine leaves to pursue her dreams, Eric is left more lost than ever. There’s a twist at the end that threw me for a loop, though with hindsight it should have been obvious with the subtle foreshadowing, but it made me wish the entire book had focused on that instead of the Daniel and Haru storyline.

Speaking of Haru, I’m still not sure what to make of him. He seemed to be a figment of Eric’s imagination, a coping mechanism for his grief, but then they meet again at the end? It was confusing and made it hard to connect with the characters, whose relationships felt fleeting and insubstantial.

In summary, "When Haru Was Here" has its moments, but it lacks the emotional depth and lyrical prose that made "You've Reached Sam" so special. If you’re a fan of Thao’s debut, this might be worth a read, but manage your expectations. It’s a decent book, just not the standout I hoped for. 📖💔

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Quotes:

"As far as I know, you and I are the only thing that's real."

"For a moment, I forget I'm lost."

"Maybe we're meant to take the wrong train sometimes."

"Some memories are hard to forget."


Thank you so much to the author, publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to read this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

I knew I was going to love this book after loving You've Reached Sam. This book is full of emotion and deals with someone coming to terms with their grief. I really felt for Eric in this book and haven't dealt with similar things, could 100% understand what he was going through. I would recommend this book to anyone wanting an emotional read.

A really sweet YA novel about grief - just not for me. When Haru Was Here tells the story of Eric, who's recently lost his best friend and is spiralling. With hints of magical realism, he starts seeing Haru, a boy he once met in Japan who appears on occasion.

There's a twist towards the end that was spottable from the beginning - I'd give content warnings to anyone triggered by grief, assault and alcohol consumption.

As always, thanks to NetGalley and the publisher.

This book gave me chest pain, it was emotionally painful and moving, and I loved it. This is a journey of grief, depression and acceptance.

The author did an amazing job of guiding us through Eric’s journey, no one knows how grief will affect you. For Eric he sees a friend he met once called Haru who pops up at unexpected times and has Eric questioning if their meetings are real or if Eric is imagining Haru to help him through his grief. This was so beautifully done, it hurt but I couldnt put it down.

I am so thankful that I got to read an e-arc of this and it met every hope I had.
The end of this had tears streaming down my face and I will be buying a copy of this for sure.
A gorgeous magical story which had me hooked from start to finish.

when haru was here* by @thedustinthao, a review [ad, gifted/pr]🌸

*thank you to @netgalley, the publisher and the author (@thedustinthao) for an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. despite being gifted a copy for free, all reviews and opinions are my own.

when I read ‘You’ve Reached Sam’ a few years back, I completely fell in love with the novel and the authors writing style. the emotional, impactful and heartbreaking story that was that novel instantly had me excited to read the authors upcoming work🫶🏻

in ‘When Haru Was Here’, the author has that same magical, emotional and insightful storytelling voice that we saw in their previous novel. the characters grapple with such difficult and challenging emotions and we see that developed throughout this story. our main character is dealing with emotions such as grief, detachment and sadness as well as what it is like to cope with losing someone you’ve loved💔

my only negative comment about this novel is that it moved slowly at times for me and I didn’t feel as connected to the characters as I did in ‘You’ve Reached Sam’. I think this is partly because we only get to see such a small snippet of their relationship before everything changes and so I felt like I did not get enough time to root for them🍃

rating:

⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 (3.5 out of 5 stars)

If you’re looking for a slice of life, emotional and touching novel then this is for you! I think the ending made this book for me and it really did come full circle which I absolutely love! this novel is also a LGBTQIA+ romance novel which I love to see! representation is so important in fiction and this author really created some important and diverse characters💕

this book will be published on September 5th 2024 and is a great YA, LGBTQIA+, teen romance novel!✨

As someone who had dealt with grief in all different manners and forms, it manifesting in different ways each time, it was refreshing to read a portrayal of grief such as this, wanting to hold onto people and things so badly is a common thing to find after loss and Dustin Thao has written it well in the form of this quick paced and emotional book.

We see Eric go through the first year of his life after the loss of his very best friend, Daniel. We later discover he has lost more than one person in this short period of time so imagines Haru, a person he met on a trip, and his sister Jasmine, so vividly they become real to him. He imagines everything he would do with Haru, seeing the sights of Chicago to meeting him outside of work to help him deal with the loss, grief and regrets he has after losing Daniel. I loved the pace it was written at but also that the author didn’t miss a detail or a beat of handling grief.

While sad and emotional all the way through, there are themes of hope and warmth dotted in there that just make you want to keep reading. I enjoyed it but only gave its 3.5 stars as i feel the plot and message were somewhat slow in places after a strong start with nods towards the LGBTQIA+ subplot.

Griefing teen ends up with an imaginary friend to help cope. Eric is bleeding with grief. Daniel was his best friend, and his first love and there were some hard gut punches reading the flashbacks to their relationship. Eric is lost without him while everyone else has moved on. And then Haru arrives.

Haru is whatever the male equivalent to the manic pixie girl is - not the actual Haru, the imaginary one. He's fun and impulsive and wants to do wild things. Haru pushes Eric forward and gets him to start living again, also warning Eric when he starts hanging out with people who might not have his best interest at heart.

It's a beautifully written tale of grief and how to move on when you are still coming of age.

"When Haru Was Here" is Dustin Thao’s second novel. The book is a poignant coming-of-age exploration of grief, love, and healing. Eric is a sensitive teen navigating life as best he can after a series of "abandonments." It is a story about self-acceptance and discovery, with a well-crafted narrative. The prose is vivid and nicely structured, bringing Eric’s relationships into focus through flashbacks and dreams.

The novel starts strong with a very positive queer message. However, the narrative loses pacing quickly, only to regain it near the end. Character development could be better, and there aren’t many questions asked by the protagonist. As for Haru, I wasn’t convinced by their connection, and the novel could benefit from an additional paragraph exploring Eric and Haru’s relationship - they felt incredibly dull. The emotional depth is fine, even if the story can be melodramatic at times. The theme of moving forward is subtle and Eric felt too passive. One aspect I enjoyed was Eric’s heritage introduction, offering meaningful Asian representation and touching on themes like racism.

Overall, "When Haru Was Here" is a quiet read that explores themes of family, loss, and healing. It is a quick read but can feel sluggish at times. I am not sure if I would recommend this book, other than to younger audiences who enjoy a mellow-queer-positive book but don’t want to delve too deep into important questions. I thank Macmillan Children’s Books and Dustin Thao for the ARC via NetGalley. #WhenHaruWasHere #MacmillanChildrensBooks #NetGalley #queer #coming-of-age

I may have shed a tear!

Beautifully written and a good storyline. I adore Thai’s writing style. I did find it a little slow in places but still a great read especially if you liked this author’s first novel.

I dunno if it's me or Thao, but this book just was not it.

I read You've Reached Sam back in 2021 and loved it; I even admitted in that review to crying so much that it tear-stained my glasses. I know typically author's sophomore authors are kinda similar to their debut, where the book follows some themes from its predecessor. Thao stated this directly in his acknowledgements, but some part of me wonders if he dreaded this, considering the themes of grief and loss in When Haru Was Here didn't feel as authentic as it did in his debut.

The characters felt so bland and boring. Eric floundered around for the first half before taking a nose dive after getting a job as a theater attendant. He meets these shitty coworkers who take him to rich people parties to climb the social ladder, but then he just ends up getting exploited by two different men, one of whom tried to SA him twice. That section of the book was so awful to read for me. It felt like Thao was trying to manipulate the reader into feeling bad for Eric by putting him in these situations.

What I'm about to reveal is the reason why I marked this whole review as spoilers, but I just have to talk about the ending because it's what bothered me the most.

Haru isn't dead. Eric was imagining a version of him he met in Japan, but then he ends up meeting the real Haru in the epilogue. That just annoyed me so much. I was trying to figure out what was up with Haru that I missed the actual plot twist, that Eric's sister Jasmine died shortly after Daniel. The twist smacked me right in the face, and I was so confused until I realized Eric was deluding to himself so the reader wouldn't catch on so easily. There were a couple hints in hindsight (i.e., she has a chronic illness, she somehow always knew to call or show up when Eric needed her to, the constant flashbacks to their childhood showing how much they loved each other, etc.), but this still was such a bad twist. Eric was already actively grieving Daniel's death over the course of the story, and when the surprise dead sister reveal did come, it felt so cheap and disengaged me from the story entirely. I dunno, I just feel like there could have been a better way this story could have been written.

The comparison between this book and Sam is going to be inevitable, but I will dig my heels into the ground and say Sam was done so much better. Julie grieving her boyfriend and getting to talk to him is so much more personable and heartbreaking than what Eric had with Haru. Not only was this Haru an illusion Eric made up, but fake Haru has no personality outside of wanting to be with Eric and that his family owns a paper store in Osaka. There's nothing to Eric and Haru's relationship outside of artificial attraction, a rather one-sided thing considering nothing that happened between them was ever real (And the fact they really do meet again makes me was to roll my eyes down into my skull).

Overall, When Haru Was Here didn't hit like Thao's debut for me. I wish Thao allowed himself to be more ambitious rather than do what was expected from the readers who loved You've Reached Sam. Maybe he will if he decides to write another book, but I dunno.

Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan for the arc!

"You'll always be a part of my life, this story is for you"

I started this book at work this morning and have finished it this evening because like You've Reached Sam I couldn't atop thinking about it and wanted to know what was happening, what was real and what wasn't.

Again, this book follows grief and having to move on when you've lost someone. Since I read YRS, I lost someone really close to me and even now approaching the year mark, I sometimes still feel like I'm drowning, also make stuff up in my head and have conversations with them like they're still there otherwise I feel like I'll lose a part of myself.

Eric is a character I loved so much and I will think about him and carry him with me for a long time. I don't know if everyone will love him and understand this book but this was the book about grief I really needed.

It was also, Again, so beautifully written I will read anything the author ever writes. And yes, Again, I absolutely sobbed my heart out.

Overall, I really loved this book and glad I got the opportunity to read it early!

Thank you NetGalley for early access to this book. Wow, this was incredibly emotional! More so than I expected. It covers some very difficult topics that I feel were handled in a delicate way and justice was done with them. I really liked the characters, and some aspects were left to the reader to interpret for themselves (in my opinion that is). It’s very moving and emotional in many different ways. This very much lived up to the first book from Dustin Thao (which I also loved) and was it was another great read. Definitely recommend if you want a good cry.