Even If These Tears Disappear Tonight

by Misaki Ichijo, Winifred Bird (Translation)

College student Tooru Naruse falls in love with his upperclassmen Izumi Wataya, and she accepts his confession on the condition that he cannot fall in love with her. Their fake relationship begins, but Tooru soon discovers that Izumi cannot forget her love from high school. Hoping to learn who that person was, he seeks out her best friend, Maori Hino. Follow characters from Even If this Love Disappears Tonight in this sequel about another heart wrenching tale of first love.  

Genres: Romance, Novels, Drama, Asian Literature, Young Adult, Light Novel, Fiction

208 pages, Hardcover

First published June 24, 2022

Reviews

[Eloise · Rating 5 out of 5]

Even If These Tears Disappear Tonight is a powerful and touching masterpiece. The storytelling style is absolutely mesmerizing and takes you on a journey filled with love, loss, and resilience. The author has this incredible way of making you feel everything through the characters. You can't help but get attached to them and root for their happiness. The writing is so beautifully done, it really pulls at your heartstrings and makes you feel all sorts of emotions. What I love about this book is how it explores the power of human connections and relationships. It really shows how love, friendship, and support can make such a difference in our lives, especially during tough times.

[Bryn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked it! It did get confusing from time to time. I liked the story but some of it just didn’t make sense.

[traceyxon · Rating 3 out of 5]

첫번째 책을 2번 읽은 사람으로서 별 흥미는 없어 실망한 책이다.
대학 캠퍼스, 그냥 그런 러브스토리이다.
읽을만하고 한번쯤 읽을만하다.
첫번째와 같은 느낌을 기대 하지 않고 읽는 걸 추천.

[Alexandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5

[Thamy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I won't call it a book that didn't need to be written because in general that doesn't exist. But it's a book the more I read the more I thought I didn't need it. The author says she had it planned as she did the first one, and it does make sense. A lot of the scenes seemed like they were cut from it, which made the story highly dependent and at the same time highly repetitive. It took very long for it to have its own glow.

2.5 because the last quarter was a little better. Just watch out for a lot of spoilers of the first book if you'll read this one. I don't think you should even read this one, if you haven't the first. It's the definition of a companion book, expanding its universe.

I did like the ending though. I like how Izumi develops. Her journey was a quiet one if compared to those we see in the first book or even to the Naruse's, the other main character in this. But it was very much like her. I also love how well Tooru's big sister fit in this plot. However, that's all just me finding something to like.

What I hated the most is that not only I felt this wasn't a story I needed, but now it made me feel bad for Maori all over again. I prefer things how they ended before. It's nothing too bad, but it was a step back from the feeling the first book left us with.

[Mik · Rating 3 out of 5]

Me gustó más el primer libro, pero este también tuvo sus cositas, sobre todo la historia de Izumi, creo que está muy bien representado su duelo y la verdad es que es tremendo como Ichijo Misaki pudo plasmarlo en estas páginas.

Nuevamente me terminó gustando el estilo de escritura, además de que soy fan de la importancia que tiene la escritura y la literatura, tanto en la historia de este libro como en la del libro anterior.

[D. Dorka · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ha lehet, ez még jobban tetszett. Az elején nem értettem, hogy mire jó megint végigmenni az első kötet cselekményén, és örültem, hogy a kettő között más könyveket is olvastam, így felelevenítésnek működött. De aztán ahogy haladtunk előre, rájöttem, hogy igenis szükség van rá, és többletet ad. Nem tudom, Ichijo tudta-e az első kötet megírása közben, hogy így fogja kitölteni a hézagokat vagy utólagos ötlet, de nálam nagyon jól működött. Még úgy is, hogy az első kötet legvégi történés itt a 40%-nál történet meg. Allergiás vagyok az önismétlésekre, úgyhogy ez egy kisebb csoda, hogy egy 1,5 történetből két könyvet kitevő sztorit ennyire szerettem.

Valahogy a japán slice-of-life típusú történetektől nagyon be tudok lassulni (jó értelemben) és egy egészen más érzelmi mélységet elérni.

A rövid leírásba azt tudnám tenni, hogy „még depibb, de egyben reménykeltő, továbbra is szép”, és a váltott szemszög is maradt.

[Amadeo Torrero · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had no idea the author wrote a follow up to her first book until I walked into B&N and found it on the shelf. What a nice sequel to a very sad and beautiful story. We get more background from the first book as well as some much needed closure for the characters.

[Tiyanie N · Rating 4 out of 5]

It still hurts but it did help to recover from the first book. Such a bittersweet book.

[Piper · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really good follow-up to Even if this Love Disappears Tonight. A quick easy read.

[Pal. · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's a sad book. Beautiful. Needed. Thank you so much again. I hope i can continue reading more novels from you in the future 💖

[purplegrape · Rating 2 out of 5]

There are no words to express how much I regret reading this. I had no idea what to expect going into it. If I had known I likely wouldn't have picked it up. I absolutely despise love "triangles", and this novel did not change my opinion on the matter. If anything it made it worse.

I'll start with the one redeeming factor: this author has a way with words when it comes to describing creative hobbies (cinematography, photography, art, writing, etc). I have an independent interest in photography, so listening to this only furthered my desire to own a camera. 

I had a sinking feeling as soon as I realized what this novel would be about. I absolutely adored the best friend character in the film outside of the instance in which she confesses her love. I was adamant that it did not happen in the novel. Reading this, what happened was worse.

I want to forget everything about this novel. I want to experience the first novel free of the film and this sequel. Her other novel made me want to live. This novel made me numb. I don't know what reason she had to write this, but I wish it was not available at the library.

On its own, the premise is already lackluster. The fact that it overwrites my memory of the first book is unforgivable. Until I forget this novel I will never be able to view the characters the same. To think I looked forward to reading this.

[Brian McCullar · Rating 4 out of 5]

I purchased this book before I even finished reading it's predecessor, Even If This Love Disappears Tonight, because that book had me so engrossed and emotionally encapsulated, that I felt the need for more before even being close to reading its final pages.

Let me get this clear, this IS a sequel book, however, it didn't follow the events of the first entry in the way that I had expected. As with most Japanese light novels, I can't say much for fear of giving away the plot, but, this book actually focuses 75% of its attention on Izumi, rather than Maori as I expected it to, and I'm honestly not upset with this change. Izumi was a wonderful character in the first book, I definitely lamented that we didn't get to spend much time looking at the story through her eyes in Even If This Love Disappears Tonight, and I already felt like there was more to her character than the book had let on. Well, it turns out, there definitely is.

Much like the first book, this is a romance novel, and a light novel at that, which are outside of my usual wheelhouse, so my review may be awkward, but it's important to remember when reading light novels that the prose is intentionally kept simple, straight forward and easy to understand, for the sake of easy consumption by readers of all ages and attention spans. So, if you're a prose snob, this may not be your cup' o' tea. It does however make the reading experience quite fast, which is good for people without a ton of time, or who are in need of a desperate palate cleanser between longer, heavier books.

Even If These Tears Disappear Tonight and Even If This Love Disappears Tonight both share tonal similarities, stories of love, loss, acceptance, growth, coming of age and struggling with one's own feeling in the midst of complicated situations, but I find they went about it in very different ways. While Even If This Love Disappears Tonight was direct about the struggle that Maori dealt with, and how Kamiya Tooru worked hard to make sure every single day was good for her, only for him to be tragically taken from her and having his existence, as far as Maori is concerned, wiped away in an instant, Even If These Tears Disappear Tonight focuses on Izumi's inability to forget Kamiya, and how she struggles with that daily, acting as a sharp contrast that's almost polar opposite to the book it's following, while also still following the same characters, grief and pain, which is beautiful in its own way.

I have to admit, this book didn't have me in an emotional chokehold like the first one did, where that book made me smile, cry, laugh and wonder, this one only managed to bring a handful of chuckles, and about two moments where I was momentarily emotional, so I can't say it delivers as well as its predecessor on that level, but the fact that it moved me at all is enough for me to praise it.

Naruse is honestly a much less interesting character than Kamiya, but that's also intentional on the author's part, for reasons you'll come to understand at the end.

I will criticize it somewhat for about 5-10% of the text in this book, being lifted from the first book (always in the form of flashbacks or references to be fair), but contextually it makes sense.

All in all, I still enjoyed my time with this one, and I think I'm gonna give it 4 out of 5 stars, it's not as good as the first book but, if you loved Even If This Love Disappears Tonight, then pick this one up, and give it a read, it's worth your time :).

See my review of the first book below:

Even if This Love Disappears Tonight: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Billy Ibarra · Rating 3 out of 5]

"𝘐 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘧𝘶𝘭𝘭 𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘦𝘯𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘯 𝘮�� 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵. 𝘉𝘶𝘵, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘢𝘺𝘣𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘰𝘣𝘷𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴, 𝘪𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺'𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦, 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳. 𝘐𝘵'𝘴 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘫𝘰𝘺𝘧𝘶𝘭. 𝘚𝘰 𝘐'𝘮 𝘣𝘦𝘨𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘺𝘰𝘶. 𝘗𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘥𝘪𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘦. 𝘓𝘦𝘵 𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨, 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦."

𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘐𝘧 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘛𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴 𝘋𝘪𝘴𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘛𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 by Misaki Ichijo was a spinoff of her first novel, 𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘧 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘓𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘋𝘪𝘴𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴 𝘛𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵. It told a heartbreaking story about love and loss. The narrative followed Tooru Naruse, a quiet university student, who entered into an unusual relationship with Izumi Wataya. She agreed to date him, but only on the condition that he promised not to fall in love with her.

As their time together progressed, Naruse slowly realized that Izumi was still deeply connected to someone from her past—someone she couldn’t let go of, no matter how hard she tried. Naruse wanted to help Izumi and understand the sadness that weighed on her. He reached out to her high school best friend, Maori Hino, to uncover the truth about her past. What he discovered was painful: Izumi’s heart still belonged to someone she had lost.

Even though Naruse fell for her, he knew he could never fill the space that person had left in her life. Their moments together were bittersweet, filled with warmth but also an aching sadness as Naruse struggled with feelings he could never truly share.

Naruse loved Izumi deeply, even though he knew she might never fully love him in return. His quiet strength and selflessness made his pain even more touching. Misaki Ichijo’s writing captured the profound sadness of loving someone who could not move forward from their past. The story left a heavy ache, a reminder that some people stayed in our lives only briefly, but they left a mark that lasted forever.

Despite this, it was also a story of starting over—of facing the truth that there were things that could never be brought back.

[Lavinia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cineva trebuie să traducă aceste cărți (aceasta și Even if this love disappears tonight) în limba română, neapărat.
Sunt absolut superbe. E atât de cozy, stilul atât de liniștitor. Exact ce ai vrea să citești într-o zi ploioasă de primăvară.
Pe finalul acestui volum, a existat o pagină (p 184, în ediția mea) în care la începutul paginii zâmbeam, la mijloc îmi dădeau lacrimile, iar la final râdeam de-a binelea.
Faptul că între primul volum și acesta am citit alte câteva cărți, a ajutat, pentru că nici nu am avut timp să uit din intensitatea emoțiilor pe care le-am avut citind primul volum, dar nici nu m-a plictisit să citesc lucruri care se reaminteau.
Deși nu am un nivel care să de-a pe afară în ceea ce privește limba engleză, nici nu am simțit că citesc într-o altă limbă decât română. S-a citit fără probleme, așa că până o traduce cineva și la noi, căutați-o pe librăriile online care vând în limba engleză (din păcate nu am văzut-o prin librăriile fizice de la noi), și citiți-o că MERITĂ!!

[megan ⁺‧₊˚ ཐི❤︎ཋྀ ˚₊‧⁺ · Rating 3 out of 5]

i absolutely adored even if this love disappears tonight, so when i saw this spin-off i was so incredibly excited to read it. when i tried to read it for the first time though, i just couldn’t seem to get invested. and when i picked it back up again this time, i still found the beginning a little difficult to get through. to be fair, even if this love disappears tonight also had a bit of a slow start, but i think it was a bit harder with this one because you spend a lot of time rehashing information from the first novel. it’s from different perspectives and with different levels of knowledge, but the new story of this novel doesn’t really get started until just before the 50% mark, and i kind of felt like i was forcing myself to get to that point.
however, once i got there, i was finally able to sink in and really enjoy myself. the story was incredibly sweet and moving, and it ended with a very warm fuzzy feeling 💖

[Rania · Rating 4 out of 5]

- Beaucoup de rappels du tome 1 ,limite lire direct le tome 2 (oui je suis une maxeuse, ce tome 2 donnait plus de profondeur aux personnages surtout celui de wataya)
- en vrai c'était une super histoire ,le coup de l'amnésie antérograde c'était pas mal mais parfois y'avais des trucs un peu invraisemblable du coup ça gâchait un peu la lecture
- la modification des souvenirs de maori ,ils ont pas dosé franchement
- tôru qui prends le nom de l'autre ?? pourquoi il a fait ça svp
- wataya d'un côté elle fait de la peine mais bon dès fois elle était méga relou mais sinon c'était cool

[Michelle Roy · Rating 3 out of 5]

take a shot every time anterograde amnesia is mentioned.
—
told from three separate points of view, even if these tears disappear tonight is at its core, sweet. it’s the story of love, loss, love that’s loss, love that’s gained, and finding yourself through all of that.

because of how the story is told, it gets a little repetitive. I listen les to the audiobook, and I think that helped it because each pov used a different voice actor.

I’ll finish this review when I log out of work lol

[kyra · Rating 3 out of 5]

it was hard for me to come to terms with the story at first, mostly because i felt like the first book was being overwritten and the main character's stories were being 'tainted'.

but its just how it is, we cannot remain in this world without wounds; and we'd have different ways of perceiving and living in this world. i just hope the new mmc will have the 100% he gives reciprocated back to him

[Pris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Separuh bukunya ngulang plot dari buku pertama, jadi lumayan bosenin. Di paruh akhir buku pertama aku memang menyayangkan karakter Izumi yang tiba-tiba 'hilang', dan itu baru dijelaskan di buku ini. However, menurutku daripada harus ngulang plot lagi di buku kedua seharusnya plot Izumi ini bisa dimasukkan aja di buku pertama. Ceritanya baru menarik menjelang akhir setelah masuk ke POV karakter baru dan akhirnya perlahan move on dari plot buku pertama.

[Tria · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had heartbreak and cried a bunch reading the previous book but still I want more so I read this sequel.
“Nice people are good people. That kind of person… dies young”
“Normally, people try to leave behind traces of themselves when they die. They have powerful desire to leave proof that they once lived”

“Could I ever take his place?”
…at least I didn’t get another heartbreak with this one.

[Jia Yee · Rating 5 out of 5]

“if we imitated love enough, it might become real”

“tears couldn’t bring any of that back. but because i was so helpless, i could only cry”

“please don’t die before me. let me treasure you for a long, long time” 🥹

[Haze Book Treasures · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a good read. I felt I didn't need this added extra but overall it was enjoyable. I like Ichijo Misaki's writing style. This one did plod along in places & wasn't as much as a page turner, but as the groundwork had made in the other novel it was engaging. Not a masterpiece, but liked it.

[Dé Kwaan Wynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's not everyday that I love a sequel as much as the first novel. Definitely a great book to cause one to think about loss and its effects on the ones who love those they lost. Wish I could read it for the first time, again.

[Sydney · Rating 2 out of 5]

read in Korean. First 200 pages were almost all recap. I got enough of “this guy died omg I’m so sad” in the first book; I didn’t need 300 more pages.

[seoyoung · Rating 3 out of 5]

뭔가.. 베프의 친구를 좋아했다는 내용을 다룬게 별로 마음에 들지않았다. 하지만 그런 와중에도 아름답고도 슬픈 이야기였다.

[ironat · Rating 2 out of 5]

So chuuni

[Autumnbabe · Rating 3 out of 5]

far from perfect but cute nonetheless (:

[JC · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this out of sequence.

[Bb5201314570 · Rating 4 out of 5]

感受現在所愛之人與過去所愛之人的溫暖

真的很有日劇感的小說，帶點感傷又很正向的