"Waiting on Wednesday" is a weekly event hosted by Jill from Breaking the Spine, that spotlight upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating. This week's pre-publication "can't-wait-to-read" is...
Title: When You Were Here
Author: Daisy Whitney
Publisher: Little, Brown
Expected Publication: June 2013
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 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.
A male lead and a Tokyo setting?! Give me this book! This sounds like an emotional read yet a fun one too. I haven't read that much contemporary narrated in a guy's pov so after seeing this and then learning that the setting will be in Tokyo, which is one of my most favorite cities in the world, I realized I need to have this book. Hopefully this will be a really good one.
'A male lead and a Tokyo setting?! Give me this book!'
ReplyDeleteYou said it for me. Fab pick this week, E! :)
Ooh this sounds really intriguing. I love finding a good ya fiction with a male narrator. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteHere's mine
~Danica Page
Taking it One Page at a Time
Oh I've been meaning to pick up a book by Daisy Whitney, she's known for really gritty reads right? I like the sounds of this book too Eunice, I'm enjoying books from male povs too, so you can count me in for this one! :)
ReplyDeletei looove tokyo and im so excited for this book as well! its actually one of the covers in our 'Which cover is calling for you?" this week! hahaha! Great pick dear, and ofc i love the cover!
ReplyDelete- Farah @ MajiBookshelf
This one definitely sounds so awesome! I haven't read anything by Whitney yet, but this premise sounds too great to pass up. Fantastic pick this week, Eunice!
ReplyDeleteI really like YA contemporary books from male POVs, and you don't come across such often so it's refreshing to see. :) I really like the sound of this one, Eunice! Sounds heart wrenching, but very interesting too. :) Great pick!
ReplyDeleteOooo this sounds great Eunice! I haven't read anything set in Tokyo, so that alone has sold me on this book, but then there's a male POV as well and I just can't pass that up:) Thanks for putting this one on my radar!
ReplyDeleteOh wow! A contemporary from a guy's POV? Gimme ;) And I adore emotional reads! Ohmigosh, TOKYO!!!! Love that city so much <3
ReplyDeleteThanks for bringing this to my attention, Eunice - what a fabulous pick :D
I'm totally up for this one! I don't read enough male POVs. Come to think of it, there aren't that many written... Regardless! This one sounds so good. And I LOVE how the cover is similar to other YA covers, but different because it's a boy. And JUST a boy. I don't see too many of those! Thanks for sharing, Eunice. :)
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