Hello, this book brought me lots of pain and now I get to share that with you via this review. You've Reached Sam is a tear-inducing story that had so much of Twitter sobbing when it released and because of that, I've avoided this book for a couple months. Now that the pain has numbed itself down to a small ache, it's time to tell you why this story wrecked my soul.

You've Reached Sam is a story that follows grief and the stages of healing that comes after losing someone you love. After her boyfriend Sam was killed in a tragic car accident, Julie didn't think there was hope or purpose for a future. One day, she decides to call his number just to hear his voicemail but he picks up. What follows is a heartbreakingly beautiful journey down memory lane as Sam reminds Julie of their shared experiences and also gives her hope to make new ones with those still around her. The way that grief was portrayed within just the first few chapters was enough for me to feel incredibly connected to both characters and want to cry with them. As this follows Julie's healing after a traumatic loss, it's not the easiest story to read and there sometimes felt like an imbalance of emotional pull throughout. The beginning and the end completely broke my heart whereas I felt pretty mellow during the middle portion, a small detail that didn't detract from my reading experience overall but just a point to note.

I appreciated how Dustin Thao allowed for grief to be portrayed in different ways so that even if I couldn't resonate with Jenny and her decisions, I could understand her pain through the other characters. This story truly is sentimental and a beautiful second chance at closure and letting go.

You’ve Reached Sam is a story of grief and friendship and coming to terms with hard set plans not working out sometimes, but still coming out on top regardless. I loved the musical aspects and Julie’s determination to give Sam a last word, as well as the descriptive language about their town.

Julie was annoying and self centered sometimes, putting herself first, even after making promise after promise to be there for her friends. She does come around and is kinder to her supportive friends but it’s annoying to see that she doesn’t notice how mean she was, even when her friends were also grieving. Even so, I feel this is an accurate depiction of grief, especially with the added supernatural element. Being able to talk to Sam in the afterlife lets Julie cling unhealthily to his memory, tipping the scales in the opposite direction of what we initially see, when she throws out all his stuff. Once she speaks to Sam again, she latches onto anything she can of his, especially his voice, going so far as to break into his house and steal from his bedroom because she made the mistake of throwing out their shared memories.

Love, love, love this book! I’m not even an emotional person, nor do I enjoy romance, but I HAD to read this! I am so glad I did! I loved all the characters, the plot was unique and heart wrenching. Would absolutely recommend!!

You’ve Reached Sam was one of my most anticipated releases of 2021. I was absolutely in love with the cover, and it was pitched as a really powerful, emotional and heartbreaking read, and I was *ready* to be devastated. I’m not someone who reads summaries often – because I really don’t like being spoiled even if it’s a small thing sometimes – so I went into this book completely blind with high expectations and just a very fervent desire to love it. Unfortunately, this might have been my mistake because I found myself oddly disappointed.

The premise of this book is definitely captivating! The protagonist is a young girl called Julie who is in her senior year of highschool, and just a week after the tragic death of her boyfriend, Sam, she calls his number, and he picks up. He tells her that he’ll be around for as long as she needs him to be, but she’s going to have to let him go eventually. We follow Julie as she processes this all-consuming grief of losing someone you love – someone who’s so close to you and such a big part of who you are, and who you’re becoming – and eventually musters enough courage to say goodbye.

The thing with books that deal with grief is that it’s a really hard thing to portray. A lot of what grief is is absence, and writing absence is not an easy thing. Over the past year, I’ve engaged with a lot of media that centers grief in its narrative, and even though it’s never been associated with loss of this kind, I’ve experienced grief laterally in a way that comes close. Hell, at this point in our existence, I think we all have, in some way. And while it hasn’t always been a perfect thing, I feel like I’ve understood and engaged with portrayals of grief enough at this point to know what does and doesn’t work for me on a personal level. And this book just did not work for me, which was so goddamn disappointing.

This is not to say that I don’t see value in it, or that I think it might not work for someone else. But for me, personally, it just fell short when it came to the central conflict. I found myself getting a little tired of reading it, and eventually could only muster up a passing appreciation for what it tried to do, but didn’t feel that odd displacement that only ever comes from really impactful stories.

There’s nothing that’s wrong with this book, exactly. It all just feels a tad bit off, is the thing. The writing is good, but just feels a little too-contemporary romance for a book that’s not exactly that. The style does not carry the emotional weight of the story well in a lot of places, and it’s easy to forget that sadness and pain are a central part of it. And not in a deliberate “grief-comes-and-goes-even-when-its-always-there” way.

It’s also really hard to connect with the character of Sam, and invest in his relationship with Julie. We get told that they’re in a relationship from the get-go, and that immediately creates a framework for the author and reader to work off of, for sure, but it’s really hard to go all-in with them as the story progresses. For the majority of the book, we see alternating chapters of the past and the present – the past where we see how Julie and Sam's relationship develops, and the present where Julie and Sam have these conversations over the phone. Like, even though I could totally understand what the author was trying to do here, I just felt like something should’ve been done differently with the way we got to know Sam and Julie together. The phone calls, for instance – they did not pack the punch that they could have. There’s a lot of telling and not showing when it comes to those calls, and they sometimes only get a mention in the middle chapters. I’d have liked to see the way the conversations’ tone changed instead. I think that could’ve made the story more impactful! But, yeah.

Basically, I couldn’t see Sam beyond his attraction and love for Julie. And I couldn’t see Julie beyond her longing for Sam. I think what made it so hard to fall completely in love with this book is just that. Everything felt so skin-deep. I wanted to feel like I was sharing Julie’s bones and holding her heart in my hand. Instead, I was just. Sort of there. Hanging out nearby, watching the shit go down.

Side note: I felt more connected to the story of Oliver and Sam than I did to the one of Sam and Julie. I know a part of it is because I’m a sucker for any and all queer romance, so I could invest more in that possible ship, but more than anything, I think with Oliver, the author managed the absence so well! We’re not in his head 24x7, so we’re able to observe the way Sam doesn’t exist in his space while also seeing the way he exists without Sam. I definitely think this story would’ve maybe benefited from a perspective change like that, perhaps. And the tenses should’ve been different for the scenes set in the past, because it was always so jarring to come back to the present from them!

I know I’ve complained a lot about this book, but despite my problems with it, I really do think that it is worth reading! I know for sure there’s going to be readers who relate to these characters, and can get something out of it. And while I did find myself distracted because of the central conflict’s depiction a lot, I also really enjoyed the friend group in this book, and also the relationship Julie has with her mom! I liked how there was a realism to how these kids came together in the face of something so tragic, and I loved that despite all the mistakes Julie makes, she also gets a chance to redeem herself to these people. At the end of the day, they’re all just a big, complicated family that’s lost someone so very dear, but there’s still so much love and hope in there, and that’s beautiful.

There are also so many feelings inducing quotes in the book! I read this three months ago, and I went back to a few highlights, and the ending before I wrote this review, and I found myself tearing up! And this is what I mean!! Like this book is so rife with the potential to be absolutely devastating, but it just does not realize it fully! I’m going to stop ranting and getting carried away now! But, yeah, definitely do recommend it if you're looking for a fairly light exploration of grief. I also sincerely hope you get more out of it than I did!

I’ve been in a state of mourning for months since I read this book. It is just so beautifully written and put together. The character development and writing in this book is absolutely insane. I highly recommend this to anyone who is looking for a book that will tear them apart then put them back together.

I think I was more invested in the beginning and then slowly lost interest near the end. I liked the characters, but I think the book could have been shorter or focused more on Julie's relationships with the other characters instead of mostly just Sam.

3.5 stars

Well this was as sweet and heartbreaking as it was slooooow and angsty.

If you like Asian culture, character driven, young adult, contemporary romance, grief/afterlife/ghost/paranormal stories, and VERY SAD stories like The Astonishing Color of After you'd probably enjoy this book.

I thought I was going to DNF this book many times because:
1- There is very little story or character arc. Just a little bit of mystery, since, well, Julie is actually talking to her DEAD boyfriend
2- This whole premise seemed a little morbid.
3- The audiobook did not help. The ENTIRE story is narrated in first person from Julie's POV with an angsty tone that I did not enjoy at all.

BUT I kept reading because:
1- ALL THE FEELINGS. it is a beautiful grief story, that's for sure. There is A LOT of feelings and sadness. A LOT. An emotionally charged story since all characters are grieving Sam (Julie and Sam's friends)
2- The writing is very good and the characters are very sweet and realistic
3- I NEEDED to know where this was going. I really wanted to see some character arcs. I wanted to see Julie and everyone else overcome this immense sadness and come to terms with Sam’s death.
4- I very much enjoyed the Asian cultural elements.
5- I heard the ending was something!

I really liked the story in the book, although I didn't particularly find most of the characters very interesting. Our main character is rather predictable throughout the book, and some of the side characters play very minor roles for plot development and have nothing interesting beneath the surface themselves. I did really like Sam, and found him to be a great character that was well developed. The idea of being connected through the phone after someone dies is quite unique, although I wish there's some kind of explanation rather than it just randomly happened- I think it would make the story more believable. I feel that if this was a middle grade book it would've been a better fit, as a YA book it seems to be a little lacking.

This was a read that had such potential for me, however, I could not fully immerse myself in this book. I felt disconnect slightly, and this could just be my reading!

Spoilers:


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You’ve Reached Sam was a great book by the end but it at times became a chore to get through for me. I never really connected with the main character and wish we would have seen more of the attachment from Sam’s side in the present instead of leaving the gut punch for the end. All in all, it was a good story, just didn’t captivate me.

A beautiful and painful book that really analyzes the process of grief, especially when it happens when you're young. This book is like a love letter to grief and all its ugliness. I cried a lot but I think I was happy about it?

i think my biggest issue with this book was the characters. like, i think that a lot of them were just so surface level, which i didn't really like. and i mean, i think with so many of them i really connect with on a deep level. like, the only thing i really felt for them was that i was sorry, like i felt bad that they went through all of this and that it sucks to go threw it. like, i don't think that they were bad characters, but i feel like that it was just a lot.

with that, i feel like that i think that there was just so much grief and so much trauma between them, that a lot of other things about them just feel short. like, there was just so much going on in their life, that you didn't really get to much of their personalities and things that they liked. which, in a story like this, i don't necessarily think is important, but i wish we just got a little insight on the two of them and that we got to see a glimpse of them inside of all the grief that they are going through.

but, i also think that so much of this book is that thao is trying to make us upset that sam died, and that we were supposed to feel this great amount of pain for him. where like yeah i was sad that this kid died, but we didn't have any happy moments or anything to make us sad that he died. like, we were just sad because we were told to feel sad and more sad for julie. so, i honestly wished that we got to see some flashbacks, like every couple of chapters is a flashback for their relationship, since most of this book was just a dead guy talking to her.

with the phone calls though, i did like it. like i think that it did get the right message across with like, what if you could call your dead loved one and what would you say to them kinda vibe. but, i feel like was it was nice to read, it literally didn't make sense on how this could happen. like, yeah i know its a book and that you are going to have to suspend your belief for this. but, i feel like they should have had sam explain on how he can call and talk to julie whenever she calls him, since they never really explained it, which was annoying. and i wish they just went into more detail with that.

again with the whole phone call, it honestly annoyed the hell out of me that sam would say "i'm giving you closure" but than throughout this he was not giving her any closure, since she could just call him whenever she wanted to, or i guess within reason for the end of the book. and i honestly wish that they worked it out a little bit more, since i think what they were trying to do just had the opposite effect through some of it.

but, with the actual plot of this book, i honestly really liked the plot. like, i do think that it was really good and i really loved seeing the plot unfold and to see it all happen. but, i do feel like that there was some issues here and there, but it was honestly still really good. and i mean, it still was super cool to kind of see this, even if the call system was a tad confusing. but, i mean, the whole plot was honestly really well done, and it was super good.

and with this book, i feel like a lot of this book had so much emotion in here. like, i think it was so good and i honestly really loved it. like, i think with the writing style and with it all, they had so much feelings and emotions in here. which, was something i really loved and i really liked seeing this all happen was just so heartbreaking and i think that the author did such a good job with adding all this emotion into it all. which, i do think was so good and i think it just added a whole other layer to this all.

kind of going back to my issue with julie, was that i feel like she was just kind of annoying. like, i think so much of this book was just julie running all over people, and being an absolute asshole to everyone else in her life. like, i guess that so much of this book was just her being selfish and being rude to everyone. and i think the part that annoyed me the most was how she was just so rude to people that were trying to help her and help her get through the grief and trauma, and just trying to make her left better, she was still such a dick to everyone.

and i think another thing that really annoyed me with the characters, was that literally everyone moved on so quick. like sam died about a week ago, and people were already telling her to move on and that she needs to go back to school cause she was taking to much time off. and also like a week after sam died she just like threw everything out, and then acted like it was fine and normal, and he's barely been dead, yet she's moving on so quick. especially when it came to getting another boyfriend, it was a matter of weeks and they just did it and didn't even bat an eye.

From the moment I first read the synopsis of You’ve Reached Sam, I knew we were meant to be. But as I journeyed through the pages with Julie, Sam, Mika, Oliver, and the rest of the characters, I found so much more in the book than I’d expected. Sam’s love of music, Julie’s love of writing, their shared desire to escape small town Washington; it felt like Dustin Thao had reached inside me and stolen my soul to write this book. A friend who read it before me said that the book reminded her of me and, aside from that being the best compliment I could ask for, I think it reflects the level of connection I felt with the book. In many ways, it’s what I wish I’d had at the end of 2020; a book to say it’s going to be okay, even if the world feels like it’s falling apart right now.

As far as characters go, to me Julie isn’t that likeable, but she is relatable. One of the reasons I think my initial instinct was to dislike her is because her approach to grief was the polar opposite of what mine would’ve been. That in itself though is one of the things I appreciated the most about this book; the showcasing of different versions of coping and the nonlinearity of it all. The real strength arose from character dynamics and their fluctuating relationships. They were messy and complicated in a beautiful way, and they brought so much to the table, whether it was Julie/Mika, Julie/Oliver, or any of the characters’ relationships with Sam (and their own grief).

My favorite part of the book was easily the montages, they were a wonderful piece of cinematic magic woven into the prose. While overall there was a slight feeling of something missing from the story, the flashback scenes captured the full potential of the book. In the second half I felt that the story ended fairly abruptly, and more time could’ve been spent developing some of the characters which only appeared later, for example Sam’s family.

Another thing I really appreciated was Dustin Thao’s depiction of the small town setting. Watching Julie try and navigate her way forward in life in the aftermath of her loss, balancing her desire to get out with the fear of leaving Sam behind resonated deeply with me. It’s easy to hate small town life and want to leave as soon as possible, but when you actually get to that stage it’s hard not to feel like you’re leaving people behind, and that’s when it’s easiest to think that wanting something different for yourself is a bad thing. These are the sorts of feelings that were a big part of last year for me, and I’m happy that Julie manages to stop feeling stuck in the past and forge a path forward.

You’ve Reached Sam is a poignant exploration of what it means to lose someone and have all of your plans shredded into pieces. As Julie sorts through her past in the present, she’s faced with the grief of others Sam was connected with, forced to decide whether she should risk losing her connection with Sam forever to offer them some comfort. I loved the unique concept of the book, but ultimately felt a little let down.

This book was really good, the concept felt very fresh and new and I didn't know what to expect at the end.

Heartbroken. If one word could describe this book, it would be heartbroken because I am so saddened by Julie’s journey throughout this entire book. The author was able to spin such a tragedy into beautiful and meaningful art for the readers. I also admired the side characters, such as Mika.

You've Reached Sam reminds me so much of If I Stay and will (and has, as it's already a bestseller!) find a huge audience of both teen and adult readers looking for a thoughtful look at the pain of losing someone and trying to find a way through. Absolutely angsty in the very best and compellingly readable way!

As a huge fan of "Your Name" I was really excited about this book and already hat my tissue box ready for the ugly cries.
Unfortunately I was very underwhelmed and ended up not really feeling much over anything. I was prepared for a sentimental story about coping with loss and grief, but I wasn't invested at all and the entire premise of what was happening didn't even make any sense to me.
The characters were kind of shallow and I felt no connection. I don't know what to take away from the entire story, except for that people cope in different ways, which really isn't big news to me.
I was also really annoyed by the way how everything was watered down through teenie high school drama with people acting irrationally over the top antagonizing just to jerk some extra tears for the main character.

Personal Ratings : 3.5🌟

A book about grieving, losing someone you love, and lastly, being okay again. Its a book that caught your heart the first time but at the same time just was so painful to read, especially for someone who has gone through the same thing.

For me, this was not bad book at most. In fact, the concept of the book, the journey of Julie trying to move on as well as reliving back her regrets with Sam and finally finding herself again. The setting was good. The fact that they met at a bookstore? A literal dream. However, there were a few things that made me just felt the whole book to feel "meh".

- Short Summary -
Julie was in a loss when her boyfriend Sam died suddenly. One day, whilst in grieving, she picked up a phone call from Sam's phone and there was Sam, in the phone, somehow, alive. Its a book about second chances, getting yourself again and handling grief in general.

- Personal Thoughts -
Whilst I cried just a bit at the first half of the book, there were things that made me just felt irked reading it. I would say mostly came from the writing style which I think may not suit for me, so yes, again, its a preference thing . I would say that I liked how the author had shown that handling grief can be in any forms. I liked how the author had portrayed the environment as well as the situation when a death takes place. Someone will always find a person to blame, to shift the pain to someone else, and most will assume things , which what had happened to Julie. I liked that the author had shown that grief is a personal journey. One might seem to not cry and choose to be angry, but that is how their body can cope with the pain of losing someone.

I think one of my biggest irk was the unexplained element of the whole book. I liked how Julie took her own time to heal, I like that she was given that space to move on, But until the end, I still felt like its a bit of a missed potential that can be developed more. Nonetheless, I would still recommend this book if you're new to the reading scene or just need something to relate to especially if you're in the process of grieving.

Thank you so much to Netgalley and the publisher for providing the e-ARC of the book!

I put off reading this book because I had a feeling it was going to be a tear jerker. Once I finally read it, I couldn't help but feeling a little underwhelmed.

First, the good.

The book starts off sad right away when we learn of the death of Julie's boyfriend, Sam. The flashbacks were helpful in getting to know Sam as a person rather than just through Julie's eyes after his death. It was a good exploration of grief and love and definitely had me thinking. Note that I say "exploration" of grief that was good, not the "depiction" of grief.

Now, the bad.

I can't help but get annoyed every time, in pop culture in general, that a character refuses to go to their significant other's funeral. I don't think it is a realistic depiction of grief and only serves to add drama to a plot. And I guess this is what started my dislike of Julie, her behavior was frustrating, and it made the book unenjoyable to read at times. I understand she is grieving, but it doesn't give her an excuse to treat everyone like crap. There was also just a lot of unclear stuff going on, I don't always need to know the ins and outs of how things work, but it would have been nice to at least get a little explanation of how what is happening is happening with the phone calls.

Overall, I unfortunately wouldn't recommend this book.

This book.... I really have no words for how much I loved it. It made me cry (or feel like crying) in so many places. The way Thao handles grief in all its nuanced forms was spectacular. I really enjoyed the characters - Julie especially. She didn't always deal with her grief in a 'pretty' way, which I thought was refreshing. She was allowed to feel all the depths of her own emotions and handle them in ways we don't often see in YA (or media in particular).

Thank you to Netgalley for the advanced copy, and Dustin Thao for the wonderful (if emotional) read!