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elliott_roi 's review for:
When Haru Was Here
by Dustin Thao
I expected for this book to make me cry a lot more than I did. I don't think I fully connected to most of the characters, although I did like Eric and Jasmine's sibling relationship (not sure if I'm spelling their names right cuz I listened to the audiobook, haha).
Some of the love interests felt a bit bland and interchangeable to me.Daniel and Haru felt like they had similar personalities in being "nice guys who Eric likes" and Christian and the rich blond guy (can't remember his name) were both "toxic guys who Eric likes (for some reason)." Actually, at one point I even thought Christian was Haru cuz I zoned out for a bit and missed his intro. They had a conversation for a few minutes before I realized, so even the nice and the toxic love interests kinda blended together at times.
I also had some questions about the Haru appearances. Were they visions? Hallucinations? Imaginings? Eric probably should have gone to a bereavement therapist, tbh. Even if he was mostly aware of Haru not being real, he was still having some intense delusions that didn't always feel like healthy ways of dealing with his grief. But I'm choosing to view Haru's appearances to be more of a narrative device than anything we should be taking seriously.
Anyways, I didn't mean for this review to be so negative, especially since I did enjoy this story a lot. It was unique and funny at times and the twist at the end did have me tearing up. If you want a quick, queer YA read, I think this is a good one to pick up.
Some of the love interests felt a bit bland and interchangeable to me.
I also had some questions about the Haru appearances. Were they visions? Hallucinations? Imaginings? Eric probably should have gone to a bereavement therapist, tbh. Even if he was mostly aware of Haru not being real, he was still having some intense delusions that didn't always feel like healthy ways of dealing with his grief. But I'm choosing to view Haru's appearances to be more of a narrative device than anything we should be taking seriously.
Anyways, I didn't mean for this review to be so negative, especially since I did enjoy this story a lot. It was unique and funny at times and the twist at the end did have me tearing up. If you want a quick, queer YA read, I think this is a good one to pick up.