This is a heartbreaking novel that follows 17-year-old Julie, whose life is turned upside down after her boyfriend Sam dies. Desperate to hear his voice one more time, Julie calls Sam's phone just to listen to his voicemail... and Sam picks up.

I'm not surprised by the buzz surrounding this debut release because just look at the premise and synopsis! The story was straightforward and easy to get into. I loved following Julie's and Sam's relationship (the flashbacks were some of my favourite scenes).

One of the book's biggest strengths is its realistic and heart-wrenching portrayal of grief and loss, as well as Julie's struggle to let go of Sam. The last 2 chapters.... WOW. So beautifully written and I was in tears.

However, I would have loved to hear more from the other characters such as Julie's peers and mother. I felt like they existed just to advance the plot and we don't hear much from them, especially at the end. In fact, this was a surprisingly quick read and I felt like a lot of things could have been fleshed out more.

Overall, this is a beautiful debut by Dustin Thao and I will definitely be checking out his future works.

A huge thank you to Wednesday Books and NetGalley for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review!

4⭐️ 1🌶

This is by far one of the most heartbreaking books I read this year. From the synopsis alone, I already knew how much this book was gonna wreck as do all books that deal with grief but it was those little moments in between that had me crying the hardest.

I don’t usually enjoy YA contemporary that much these days but Julie’s narrative was both heartbreaking and healing that it was hard not to be curious as to what happens to her next. I especially loved that this focused on Julie’s journey towards acceptance and closure in regards to Sam’s death. Her growing out of that attachment she had with the future she planned for them was hard to watch but so inspiring. Alongside these, I enjoyed reminiscing the past she had with Sam and just how perfect they were for each other. It was obvious just how big of an impact they had to each other and to the people around them.

I also liked how this emphasized on the roles Julie played in helping others’ and vice versa. It was extra emotional for me when she learned to put others before her in times of need.

The magic system surrounding Julie being able to talk to Sam after death was so interesting! I appreciated that it had its limits which added that thrill of “running out of time” to their remaining time together

But all in all, I personally found the plot as a whole to be a bit choppy. There was too much back and forth between getting better and going back to square one but I just really enjoyed seeing Julie grow as an individual person so I didn’t mind as much.

Also, I didn’t realize that people made comparisons between this book and the anime movie Your Name/Kimi no Nawa until I’ve finished this book. I think people might be disappointed if they went into this expecting “Your Name” level of sadness or magic or even plot. I personally didn’t even think of “Your Name” going into this so I had no expectations and just enjoyed it for itself.

Overall, this was both a heartbreaking and heartwarming story about grief, love, self-discovery and friendship with memorable characters! I highly recommend this if you’re in the mood for a good, cry-worthy romance!

Beautifully written, flashbacks felt a little disjointed; it's a solid book, but overall the book was not for me. It's a book about grief, and grieving. I just couldn't connect with that, because I haven't lost anyone close to me. And I have no connection to the anime that is referenced by the title (I don't even know if it's important, or just something only insiders would know)

Also, was not quite a fan of Julie, there wasn't anything wrong with her character, I just thought she was a bit on the selfish side, she was so deep in her grief, she didn't see that others were grieving Sam's death also.

I do like that towards the end, Julie did see that everyone else that had been close to Sam was also grieving. That they also needed some closure to help them let go of Sam, and she let them soak to Sam on her phone. However, by the time she realized, and started to help others, the book was nearly at the end.

Again, I think overall it's a solid debut, and I'll read more from the author.Thank you to Wednesday Books for the eARC in exchange for a review.

Gosh this story broke my heart. I am still crying. ⁣
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Sam dies his senior year of high school and his girlfriend Julie is struggling with her grief. My heart continuously broke for her. She so beautifully and naturally went through all of the stages of the pain of losing Sam, which leads to her calling his phone and somehow Sam picks up. ⁣
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Julie struggles to let him go and lives in her head and on the phone with him avoiding her life to hold on to him a little longer, shattering your heart.⁣
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She forgets that his family and best friend are grieving too; and slowly works through her pain to help his friends and family through theirs.⁣
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This was so well done, so genuine and you truly felt their loss and grief, you just wanted to hug everyone. My heart still aches. ⁣
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⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⁣
Thank you @wednesdaybooks for an ARC for my honest review.

True story, I started crying during the first chapter, and did not stop until the last page. Maybe I have a problem, who knows, but yeah, this book wrung me out. In a mostly good way, mind. But yeah, to call it a tearjearker is an understatement. From the moment we meet Julie, and begin to realize how awesome Sam was, it becomes hard to not be devastated.

Julie isn't handling Sam's death well, as you can imagine. She's avoided his funeral and memorials, and is staying away from pretty much everyone she knows and loves. And look, I get it! She's inconsolable, and she's not thinking clearly of course. She doesn't know how to move forward, which is legitimate. And when she starts talking to Sam again, and flashing back to their relationship, it's gutting. Perhaps too gutting? I find a good book-cry cathartic, but this nearly did me in.

I liked that there was hope though, too (though in fairness, even the hope made me cry because that is just who I am as a person). The author did a beautiful job developing the relationship, and making us understand why Julie felt this loss so sharply. The writing was lyrical and emotive, and simply lovely.

My one qualm would be that I didn't feel like I got a good idea of who Julie was outside of her relationship, and I think Julie probably needed that to move on. I did like the supporting characters too, and felt like she at least had a lot of great people waiting to help her along the way, as long as she was willing to take those steps too.

Bottom Line: Beautiful and emotional, I quite enjoyed it and also maybe flooded my house.

This was absolutely beautiful. It really takes the reader on a journey to understand loss and how to move on.

I can't put my thoughts into words right now because I am emotionally wrecked but I'll just tell you that if the synopsis catches your attention - please pick this up. It's absolutely beautiful.

Definitely a loss told in the point of view of a teenager. The book takes you through the stages of grief coupled with the fickle emotions of youth. What would you do if given the opportunity to say goodbye after suffering through an unexpected loss of a loved one? Would you be able to make your peace so that you can both move on to the next step? Would you try a stranglehold to prevent the loss? This is a very well written book about learning to accept what is out of your control ... learning that love is not wasted even if you must let it go. Julie frustrated me at so many times in this story, but most teenagers do. The story is written true to what I believe a teen would experience. A sad story, but a great story, too!

You've Reached Sam by Dustin Thao is a poignant look at a teenage death and the grief and loss experienced by everyone close to that teen, even to some extent, the teen himself. Unexpectedly, I found this to be a complex review to write and share. I finished the book days ago and have been pondering it ever since. Still, I'm struggling with a definitive list of what I enjoyed about this story.


Did the story move me?

It did. I found the tears welling up from time to time. However, I couldn't determine if it was because of my remembrances of a friend lost in high school being interjected into the story or if it was because of the story itself. Whenever a teen dies, it is a tragedy. No matter the details, all that potential life lost will always sadden me. Julie's grief in the story over Sam's accident and subsequent death is very pervasive and heartbreaking. Her reactions did not strike me in a bad way, even though they were coming from a very self-absorbed place. Denial is a huge part of the grief process, and she is in denial for most of the story. If anything, the rest of the grief process, which was basically skipped over, should have come into account. For example, she should have been angry with Sam, and it should have mixed in with the denial. If I'm being candid, I was more irritated with Julie's mother for not intervening when I could see she really needed to do so.

Did I connect with the characters?

Not really. Julie was deep inside her own feelings of denial, so I never got to see the real her. And I only experienced Sam through Julie and her remembrances of him. There seems to be an “only remembering the good things” process going on as the reader is given some huge and glaring clues that Sam was not all goodness and light. Though I would say that he did come off as generally a good person, he's still a teenager and, let's face it, no teen is perfect. That part left me with so many questions that I just wanted to ask the characters about. If I could have convinced Julie to hand me the phone to ask Sam directly, I would have. And I had a few questions for Julie too. There is so much more to the story that the reader will never get answers since it is told from Julie's grief-stricken perspective. It makes for a lot of discussion potential, but not necessarily a singly satisfying read.

Did I enjoy anything about the story without a "but" following it?

I love the premise of the story in general and how it was used. I think the phone played a pivotal role in Sam and Julie's relationship when he was alive, in even more ways than we are told. I also think the rules Sam lays out to Julie about their calls are not arbitrary or spiritually reasoned. The rules have a lot more to do with the phone's role in their relationship when he was still alive. And I enjoyed that attention to detail as I perceived it.

I also think the story is very compelling and fast-paced. I read it in record time because I just couldn't put it down. There is an urgency to the calls that pulled me through the story and made me unable to take my eyes off the page.

To Read or Not to Read

If you find the concept intriguing, then I would say definitely yes. You should read this story and enjoy how the idea plays out. But, if you are looking for relatable characters who will pull at your heartstrings just because you like them so much, this probably is not the book for you.

While the narrator was very good, the story fell apart pretty easily. I was all in for this to be a story about magic. I thought, “oh cool, a YA version of Rainbow Rowell’s Landline.” This was not that. I could not connect with Julie. The were a ton of contradictions and I felt that while everyone grieves in his or her own way, Julie was pretty terrible to Sam’s family, who are obviously also grieving

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

I really enjoyed this one. I thought the relationship between Julie and Sam was really sweet. You can really feel how much they loved each other. Throughout the story we move through the grieving process with Julie. Through thoughtful and intelligent writing we are able to fully grasp Julie's range of emotions. Thao wastes no time grabbing us by the heart and squeezing it until it almost crushes us before allowing us to slowly start healing. I went through so many emotions reading this book. It was like whatever Julie felt, I felt.

The only thing I didn't enjoy was the length. I feel like this could have been a bit shorter and been just as good. It dragged for me, not enough that I stopped caring about the characters but enough that by the time it was over I was glad to be finished it while still having enjoyed the journey.

If you're looking for a story about heartbreak and healing this could be exactly what you're looking for.

As a middle school teacher I always know how my students will love a good YA book and this book delivered. I had to preorder it so when it comes out I can stock it on my shelf. It’s a good story about second chances which I feel in that perspective all students can relate to. The plot at times was a bit overwhelming but overall a great story. I give this book 4 out of 5 stars.

While there are some moving elements, this book about tragic loss and moving on has too many plot points that make no sense, as well as inconsistent character development and unanswered questions. Sadly, it just doesn't hit the mark for me.

Rating: 4.5 Stars

What would you do if you were given a second chance to say goodbye?

My warning to anyone picking up this book is that it’s sad. This was about a young woman struggling with the untimely death of her boyfriend. One day, she was making plans with him for their future, and the next, he was gone forever. The basic story was sad enough, but the way it was written really gut punched me in my feels. I was drowning in Julie’s grief. I felt her pain and anguish in my bones.

Julie was dealing with lots of feelings, and I understood the mix of emotions she was experiencing. The guilt over the last time they spoke, the sadness of experiencing milestones Sam will never experience, and the distress of her future plans being up in the air without him. But, one of the biggest ideas explored was how to balance remembering our lost loved ones while also moving forward.

In the beginning, Julie isolated herself and tried to remove all remnants of Sam from her life. Then she slowly began to realize things, such as how other people lost Sam too. She connected with his family and friends, shared her grief, and honored Sam’s memory with them.

Though the bulk of this book was imbued with sadness, there were some bright spots. I loved the brief looks at the moments Julie and Sam shared with each other, and they had many in their three years together. I think seeing those bits also made me feel Julie’s loss even deeper, but you know the saying, ’tis better to have loved and lost than to have never loved before.

I should have been better prepared to handle the pain, but I didn’t expect this book to hurt quite this much. Julie’s journey through grief was truly heartbreaking, but under it all was a beautiful message of moving on but remembering those who left a mark on our lives. All I know is that I cried buckets.

The synopsis alone is heartbreaking: Julie's boyfriend and first love Sam dies in their senior year of high school, but when she calls his phone just to hear his voicemail, he answers. Scattered within the present day stories were memories from before Sam died, but only quick flashes that were often confusing and/or meaningless because there was no context. The book was enjoyable, but the writing could have been better and the storyline/characters more developed. You've Reached Sam will appeal to fans of John Green and Gayle Forman, but in my opinion it's not on the same level as their books. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for access to an early digital copy.

You've Reached Sam by Dustin Thao had such potential. The premise is great. Julie's boyfriend Sam was supposed to pick her up at the bus station, but he was hanging out with his friends and forgot. Julie gets mad and tells him she will walk home. Sam comes to pick her up and on the way there is in a car accident and dies. The book opens with Julie in a grief fog and missing Sam terribly. She doesn't make it to the funeral, she doesn't talk to their mutual friends, and she doesn't even talk with his family. She decides to call him and to her surprise he answers the phone.

Now, I get grief... I am 53, I have lost many people in my life and yes I have shut down, but not to the point that Julie did. But since everyone grieves differently I figured ok... Then Julie calls Sam on the phone and he answers. Anyone who has ever lost someone would kill to be able to talk to their loved one, one last time. So up to this point, this book was working for me....mostly.

But then it seemed like everyone was moving on and wanted Julie to move on too. Sam had been her boyfriend for 3 years, and they didn't understand her grief.

The whole phone call thing worked for a little bit, but drug on too long and then involved too many people. And then the book just kind of stopped flowing.

All in all this book was pretty good, just could have used a little more work. 3⭐

Thank you to Netgalley, St. Martin's Press and Dustin Thao for the eARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

Julie was supposed to move out of her small town for college with her boyfriend Sam, but he died in a car accident. Somehow, she can still reach him through her phone. As she spends all her time with him, she spends less and less with others. If she explains the connection she has with Sam, she might lose him forever, and she's not ready for that.

The concept of talking with the dead isn't a new one, but to talk with them through cell phones certainly puts a modern twist to it. Julie goes from talking to Sam on the phone for hours, missing all the things about her senior year of high school that she used to care about. She avoids friends, stays alone in her room, and the connections with friends, family, and Sam's family fray. Once she engages with the outside world, the connection with Sam starts to fray instead. This sets up the clear choice: Sam or the outside world.

This novel follows Julie through the stages of grief, using the supernatural connection through the phone as a way to give her closure. It's a heartfelt and tender story and one that will help others in their own journeys through grief.

Julie and Sam. Sam and Julie. The pair spent so much time together, their existences seemed nearly interchangeable.

But then the unthinkable happens and Sam dies. Only seventeen, Julie prematurely feels like her life is over. Overcome with grief, Julie does something a lot of us would do- she calls Sam’s phone- just to hear his voice one last time.

Only Sam picks up.

Unsure what to make of this unheard of connection, both Sam and Julie cling to this second chance, knowing its time is fleeting. In the real world however, Julie is forced to keep their communication a secret or risk others think she’s losing her mind- or worse- her losing this unique reconnection with Sam, forever.

You’ve Reached Sam is a tear jerker of a book with a unique premise. So many of us wish we could talk to a loved one just one more time. In this story, Julie gets that chance tenfold. However, the reader quickly realizes just like in actual long distance relationships, nothing can replace the real thing.

This book also served as a reminder that everyone grieves differently. It was hard to read this and not get angry with Julie and her actions, even knowing what was really going on. Over and over Julie pushes aside people in the living world to make time for Sam who has passed. One could argue this is how she was dealing with his death, but the reader knows this isn’t totally the truth. It made me feel a little conflicted that she wasn’t there for others. In a way this book addresses the issue, but it made some of Julie’s decisions hard for me to reconcile.

All in all, You’ve Reached Sam is a promising, debut. It answers the call for young adult readers searching for books with a magical ring to them.

It is always difficult to read about grief when still grieving for someone you have lost, but I connected with this book. It's hard to not want some kind of magic to be able to talk to your loved one again, so the concept of this book was both interesting and heartbreaking. I think this book can be a good cathartic read for someone that is struggling to say goodbye to someone that they love.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, Wednesday Books, Macmillan Audio, Dustin Thao, and Soneela Nankani (narrator) for the opportunity to read You've Reached Sam in exhcange for an honest review.

Julie is a senior in high school. She has a boyfriend she loves and plans for the perfect college to study creative writing. But ldespite tedious planning, life never quite follows that plan. In this case, Sam, Julie's boyfriend, dies in a car accident after going to pick ehr up. Julie struggles with the guilt, feeling like it is her fault that he died. She can't bear to go to his funeral or visit his family.

When Julie tries to call Sam's phone, she is surprised when he picks up. How can someone who is dad be able to talk on the phone? He tells her that their phones are connected, though this can't last forever. Julie even thinks these conversations might all be in her head. But maybe they aren't? Sam tells her not to tell anyone because it might ruin their connection.

Julie find excitement in her phone calls with Sam, and while others are struggling with the loss, the fact that he is still there for Julie, in a way, make it seem as if he is still there. This will bring Julie's struggle with the loss to become even harder when the time comes she can no longer speak with him.

This is by no means the tear-jerker I expected, but still an excellent story dealing with the loss of a loved one, especially someone young who had a whole future before him. Part of the take-away is that accidents happen, and loss is going to be something hard to deal with, no matter who you are or who you have lost. This story is very generic when it comes to the high school genre, but the phone calls from a dead boyfriend are an interesting aspect. There is not a lot of development with it, but it's the one aspect of the story that makes it more unique.

This is a quick read, though may not be the best for those more sensitive about car accidents and loss. It's not necessarily an easy book, but at the same time, it is easy, because the fact that Julie can talk to Sam over the phone makes the loss more bearable, but it's not something people will actually get to experience. Then again, supernatural things can happen. Either way, a good book.

You’ve Reached Sam is basically about the question “what if you get a chance to talk to someone who has already passed?”.

Like a lot of other reviewers, I'm sad to say that I was also disappointed as didn’t really live up to my expectations. It made me wish that they didn’t compare it to Kimi no Nawa because I think it ended up hurting this book more.

First things first, I’ve been seeing some reviewers label this as Ownvoices when it isn’t (which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it’s just mislabeled). If I’m analyzing it correctly, Obayashi (Sam’s last name) is a Japanese name, even their other friend Yuki sounds Japanese and the author is Vietnamese. Based on other aspects of the story (cherry blossoms, anime, lanterns, the fact that he visited his grandparents in Japan, etc.) it was obvious to me that the author wanted to point out the Japanese inspirations in the story. Let’s not equate Ownvoices as something that a book needs to be in order to be considered good nor should it be used just because both the author and the character is Asian.

The best part about this book is Julie’s character arc over losing and moving on from her first love. In my opinion, it was one of the best written character storylines revolving around grief that I have read in a while. With that said, it’s definitely a heavy read, especially in the beginning and you really feel the anguish and frustration that Julie is going through. My emotions were in sync with Julie’s, in a way.

However, I was disappointed by the Your Name/Kimi no Nawa comp because the only thing they had in common was that they both have a magical realism aspect (that wasn’t even similar in their mechanisms). I loved Your Name for the intensity and mystery of the fantasy that was given a clear explanation by the end, which we didn’t really get here.

“If the ending is this painful, I don’t know if this was worth it all.”


I think what made the romance so effective in Your Name was that we were able to slowly watch the connection build up between the characters before the heart-wrenching part happens (if you watched it, you know what i mean). Here it was kind of done the other way around and while I think the premise was really promising and interesting, I had a hard time feeling a connection to Sam and Julie like I did with the main characters in it’s anime comp.

Don’t get me wrong, I did end up crying in two distinct parts so I’m not saying that this made me feel like I had a heart of stone. It’s definitely still capable of bringing out feelings of sadness if that’s what you’re looking for.

There were, however, more than a few parts that annoyed me. Given this is young adult, the immature scenarios and personalities are slightly understandable but i don’t think the “mean kids” and other “mean people” were flushed out or written very well. It honestly felt like they were just there to provide additional conflict when I think the book could have done without them or if their personalities were more subtle/nuanced/implied. It felt very “in your face” and I didn’t enjoy that. Especially since I don’t think that part of the plot was given proper closure either. There were certain plot decisions that i wasn’t happy about because they felt like cop outs. It added an aspect that did not match the atmosphere I was hoping for.

I did really love the development of Julie's friendship with the other characters. It was heart-warming to watch. Though I think too much was going on and a storyline such as this would have benefitted with less issues but were delved in more deeply.

I’m going to once again bring up Your Name since it’s everywhere in the promotion of this book and it’s hard not to compare it when they do that… but in that movie the characters are mostly fighting against this natural phenomenon and that’s really where the main conflict was. The problem that I feel like this book had was that the conflict was coming from too many different areas that the story had a hard time pulling that together at the end. And although multiple conflicts isn’t necessarily a bad thing either, it needs to form a cohesive storyline that comes full circle in the end…. which was what Your Name was able to do successfully but this particular plot failed to see through, in my opinion.

Additionally, part of what made Kimi no Nawa so successful is how unflinchingly Japanese it was and how it connected multiple factors of the story to Japanese culture. From the fantastical aspect, to behavioral patterns, setting, and character dynamics. Which was another aspect that this book lacked since the most we got was Sam going to Japan a few times, mention of cherry blossoms, an Asian Film Club, and some lanterns… all of which didn’t really play that big of a part in the plot though it did somewhat do things for character development.

“Now I can’t wait to move on and make new memories with you. Just don’t forget the ones we made here.”


I’m being nitpicky here but I just naturally become one when I’m sent ARCs. There was a line that implied that songs about love weren’t good and it was never directly taken back by the character who sent it even though it was sort of implied in a separate scene. Based on the message of the story, I don’t think that’s what the author meant to do but I hope they fix that in edits. I don’t know if I’m just a little more sensitive to the musical aspect because I’m a musician but that just left a bad taste in my mouth.

In a writing style standpoint, this had the magical fantastical but realistic aspect that Your Name has but as a reader, it lacked the connection and heart-fulfilling moments that I feel every time I watch Kimi no Nawa.

↣ Again, this is a heavy book that brings that mood with it a big part of the way through. So I suggest not reading this until you are in the mood for something more heavy-hearted. I do think this is the kind of book that can affect someone’s life if read at the right time and in the right circumstances. ↢

*Thank you to the publisher -Wednesday Books- and the author -Dustin Thao- for sending me the ARC to review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.*

— 3.5 —
⇢ content warnings// Grief, Death, Physical Harassment