2013 book 322

Daisy Whitney's When You Were Here
This book (one of two Whitney put out in 2013, I think) made a few best of the year lists, and I remembered liking her book The Mockingbirds, so I figured I'd check it out. And it's really moving--about a boy, just graduated from high school, whose mother has recently died of cancer. And he decides to go to Tokyo for the summer, where she spent some of her last days. There's also a whole thing with an ex-girlfriend he's still in love with, though romance isn't really the focus here--it's more about friendship, and family, and all kinds of love. The description might make it seem like a weepy kind of book, and I did tear up a little, but not for the reasons I was expecting. Really engaging, if mildly unrealistic. A-.