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.