It’s time for my very first Bookanistas Review!!!!
I’ve picked a book and author that I adore…
WHEN YOU WERE HERE by Daisy Whitney.
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (June 4th)
Preorder Here:
GOODREADS SUMMARY
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 Harijuku 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
I loved this novel!!!!
This is a book that checks all the boxes. It’s funny AND heart wrenching. It’s familiar AND different. It’s smart AND relatable. It’s literary AND commercial. Then to top it all off, this novel has voice. It’s not just the MC Danny–but all of the characters, they are real, believable, flawed and likable. Additionally, I was mesmerized by the contrasting settings of California and Japan–unique and fascinating. When I closed the cover on WHEN YOU WERE HERE, I felt like I’d really been in the lives of these characters. They will be sticking with me for a long time. My favorite Daisy Whitney book to date.
ABOUT DAISY WHITNEY
By day, Daisy Whitney is a reporter and ghostwriter. At night, she writes novels for teens and is the author of THE MOCKINGBIRDS and its sequel THE RIVALS (Little, Brown). Her third novel WHEN YOU WERE HERE releases in June 2013 (Little, Brown), and her fourth novel STARRY NIGHTS (Bloomsbury) hits shelves in September 2013. When Daisy’s not inventing fictional high school worlds, she can be found somewhere north of San Francisco walking her adorable dog, watching online TV with her fabulous husband or playing with her fantastic kids.
A graduate of Brown University, she believes in shoes, chocolate chip cookies and karma. You can follow her writing blog and new media adventures at DaisyWhitney.com.
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Immediately added to my Goodreads shelf!
You’ll love it!!!!
Great review! And of course it’s good–would our agent rep anything less? 🙂
That is the truth!!!! (((((hugs)))))