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.

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.