When Haru Was Here- Dustin Thao

Hello, rats! Today, I need to relieve some deep sorrow and tell you all about the detrimental impact that Dustin Thao's [author of You've Reached Sam] latest novel When Haru Was Here has had on me.

'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.'

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.

I just KNOW you're dying for a good cry, so why don't you buy a copy ;)

-A Rat 🐀

Comments

Hello ;)

Hi! Welcome to my brain, I suppose? I'm Caitlin and this is my blog, where I intend to talk about books, my job as a bookseller and my thoughts on current affairs in the book world. I've no doubt there will also be a plethora of entirely unrelated posts about the most random of things, so I'll apologise in advance for that. ⬅️ Me My two favourite books are: -The Book Thief (Markus Zusak) -You Could Be So Pretty (Holly Bourne). I work for an indie bookstore called The Rabbit Hole, where I get to enjoy every second of existence, and I'm a full-time student (sometimes). ⬅️ The Best Place On Earth I'm really not too sure what else to say, considering I'm not the most extraordinary person alive, but I hope you'll stick around for future posts, where I'll hopefully be a little more insightful. -A Rat 🐀

Butter- Asako Yuzuki

Hello, Rats! Look at me keeping up with writing! This month's SECOND post is for Butter by Asako Yuzuki and what an exciting post to finally be writing! I picked up and put down Butter so many times, it's insane. Not because I wasn't enjoying it, but rather that I found the pace so incredibly slow at first. As I know this will put people off, I beg you to keep reading what else I have to say, because this was most certainly a five star read! Whilst, yes, I did find the first 15-20% a crawl, Butter had such incredible depth to each and every character, place, memory and taste, that it fully made up for it and I whizzed through it after that first fifth. Yuzuki's writing was so detailed, I could almost taste each recipe myself, felt butter melting in my mouth and my body being warmed from the inside. If only the book itself was as wholesome as that. This title follows Rika, a journalist, who is assigned to investigate Manako Kajii, a serial killer who lured wealthy men ...

The Lamb- Lucy Rose

Hello, rats! It's been over a year since my last post here, but I've decided it's time for me to stop neglecting it now and lock in. For an update about myself, I'm now officially out of education, working full time at the bookshop and loving life more than ever, surrounded by bookish jobs! Despite all of this happiness however, finding the time to relax with a good book just hasn't been the easiest but I'm determined to restart this blog and therefore get back to reading what I want again. So what have I read since leaving college? Honestly nowhere near as much as I thought I would have. HOWEVER everything I have read has been top tier, jaw clenching, breathtakingly good. Choosing just one title to write about this evening was actually quite a task in itself, but one book stood out in particular. The Lamb by Lucy Rose 'Margot and Mama have lived by the forest since Margot can remeber. When Margot is not at school, they spend quiet days together in their c...

Caitlin's Bookcase

Search This Blog