When You Were Here by Daisy Whitney
Publisher: Little Brown, 2013
Source: Purchased through Amazon
Genre:Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance, Death, New Adult
Synopsis (from Goodreads):
Filled with humor, raw emotion, a strong voice, and a brilliant dog named Sandy Koufax, When You Were Here explores the two most powerful forces known to man-death and love. Daisy Whitney brings her characters to life with a deft touch and resonating authenticity.
Danny's mother lost her five-year battle with cancer three weeks before his graduation-the one day that she was hanging on to see.
Now Danny is left alone, with only his memories, his dog, and his heart-breaking ex-girlfriend for company. He doesn't know how to figure out what to do with her estate, what to say for his Valedictorian speech, let alone how to live or be happy anymore.
When he gets a letter from his mom's property manager in Tokyo, where she had been going for treatment, it shows a side of his mother he never knew. So, with no other sense of direction, Danny travels to Tokyo to connect with his mother's memory and make sense of her final months, which seemed filled with more joy than Danny ever knew. There, among the cherry blossoms, temples, and crowds, and with the help of an almost-but-definitely-not Harajuku girl, he begins to see how it may not have been ancient magic or mystical treatment that kept his mother going. Perhaps, the secret of how to live lies in how she died
Danny's mother lost her five-year battle with cancer three weeks before his graduation-the one day that she was hanging on to see.
Now Danny is left alone, with only his memories, his dog, and his heart-breaking ex-girlfriend for company. He doesn't know how to figure out what to do with her estate, what to say for his Valedictorian speech, let alone how to live or be happy anymore.
When he gets a letter from his mom's property manager in Tokyo, where she had been going for treatment, it shows a side of his mother he never knew. So, with no other sense of direction, Danny travels to Tokyo to connect with his mother's memory and make sense of her final months, which seemed filled with more joy than Danny ever knew. There, among the cherry blossoms, temples, and crowds, and with the help of an almost-but-definitely-not Harajuku girl, he begins to see how it may not have been ancient magic or mystical treatment that kept his mother going. Perhaps, the secret of how to live lies in how she died
My Review:
This book starts out on the day of Danny’s graduation, his mother dies 2 months earlier after losing her five year battle with cancer. Graduation was the one day his mum wanted to see. Un fortunately things didn’t work out for Danny and his mum. This book was about love, pain, grief, happiness and also forgiveness.
Then Danny gets a letter from Kana talking about possessions left in Japan. Danny decides to buy a one way ticket to Japan and to go find out more about his mum, I loved how realistic the characters were, Daniel he was a very realistic male character. He felt lost and did not know how to make sense of his own life after his mother past away, I especialy loved the character Kana, she was very energetic, lively and not afraid to be herself. I absolutely loved her relationship with Daniel throughout the novel, she helped Daniel to find out the key moments about his mum life
Secrets and lies were another key aspect the book, Danny’s mum kept many secrets in Japan and it was Daniel’s job to uncover them, Daniel finds out from Kana more about his adopted sister Laini. Laini was adopted from china and left the family in her college years to live in china. Daniel hasn’t heard from her, but he did find out secrets about her while he is staying in Japan, he also finds out more about his ex-girlfriend Holland too. Holland was his mum’s best friend’s daughter when Daniel and Holland went away to college. This was the most intense part of the book. It had me ignoring my bed time to try and read farther and figure out what the hell was going to happen. I really enjoyed reading this novel and I recommend you give it a read.
Then Danny gets a letter from Kana talking about possessions left in Japan. Danny decides to buy a one way ticket to Japan and to go find out more about his mum, I loved how realistic the characters were, Daniel he was a very realistic male character. He felt lost and did not know how to make sense of his own life after his mother past away, I especialy loved the character Kana, she was very energetic, lively and not afraid to be herself. I absolutely loved her relationship with Daniel throughout the novel, she helped Daniel to find out the key moments about his mum life
Secrets and lies were another key aspect the book, Danny’s mum kept many secrets in Japan and it was Daniel’s job to uncover them, Daniel finds out from Kana more about his adopted sister Laini. Laini was adopted from china and left the family in her college years to live in china. Daniel hasn’t heard from her, but he did find out secrets about her while he is staying in Japan, he also finds out more about his ex-girlfriend Holland too. Holland was his mum’s best friend’s daughter when Daniel and Holland went away to college. This was the most intense part of the book. It had me ignoring my bed time to try and read farther and figure out what the hell was going to happen. I really enjoyed reading this novel and I recommend you give it a read.
My Rating:
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