Review: When You Were Here by: Daisy Whitney

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 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:

 ReadingNook Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

I was lucky enough to win a signed copy of When you Were Here by: Daisy Whitney and I was so happy to read something by her. I'm going to be honest and say that the whole way through the book I was thinking it was going to probably be a three star read, not because the story was bad at all by any means but because I was waiting for something to really hit home for me, and HOLY GOD the last 80 pages freaking broke my heart, that was exactly what I needed to bring it right up to a 5-star rating, and to become one of my favorite reads of the summer.

Losing a parent is always a sad and emotional subject esp. when the character losing the parent is a teenager, but I loved how real this book felt, and I loved the air of mystery it had with Danny trying to figure out his mom's other life she led in Tokoyo. I didn't know if I was going to love the setting of the story either, but I found that I loved Whitney's writing and the setting could have been anywhere and I think the story still would have packed the same punch.

I'm thankful that Daisy Whitney also sent me a signed copy of The Mockingbirds, which was just an extra gift from her (because she's awesome, not because I actually won it.) But I can't wait to read more from her!! I loved her writing, and loved how I felt one way through the whole book, and within the last 80 pages totally changed my perspective on the whole story, I don't know about ya'll, but that dosen't happen very often for me. If the Mockingbird is anything like book as far as writing style goes, i'm sure I will love it.