3.5 ⭐️

“How do you move forward when everything you love is on the line?”

From the moment I saw the cover and synopsis of this book I was hooked. I knew it would be a story that would make me suffer because Sam was dead and Julie was going through her grief in a way that although I don't like I can't judge, everyone grieves in different ways.

I can't lie and say that the way Julie behaves after losing Sam I liked or understood but as I read I could see through her eyes the relationship and plans she had with Sam. Julie goes from trying to get rid of Sam's personal thinghs to clinging to those calls that only tie her closer to him and keep her from moving on.

“I don't care how any of this is possible. I have Sam back. I don't want to let him go.”

I think this has been a story that even knowing that it was very sad I wished that for some strange reason or magic at the end it would have a miraculous or magical ending, it is obvious that it could not be and on the contrary we will find at the end accepting the loss of the loved one and letting go in order to move on, not only to those of us who stay here but also to those people who cling to us and do not want to let go.

The ending has made me shed some tears, but I understood that you can't stay stuck in pain and that life goes on and we go with it.

I think the author has reflected very well the way people carry their grief for the same person, parents, siblings, friends or girlfriend, because not all of us react to grief and loss in the same way, and that doesn't mean that your grief is less than anyone else's, it's just different and very much your own.

This was my debut with this author and it won't be the last I read from him.

And this is a great debut for this author, I can only wish him the best on his next releases.

Many thanks to Netgalley and St Martin's Press for the ARC, this is my freely given opinion.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley and am voluntarily posting a review. All opinions are my own.

I don’t often seek out books like this, but something about the premise of You’ve Reached Sam appealed to me. This book takes an interesting approach to processing grief and loss, that even though I knew it would likely break me, I was compelled to read it.

Julie is immensely relatable, and I imagine she would be for anyone who has dealt with the loss of a loved one. I could totally understand what she was going through with not wanting to let Sam go, and struggling to reckon with the loss, while also having to deal with the possibility of changes in her own life. I really appreciated that she got time to process all her feelings, even if there was an element of magical intervention.

I did sometimes wish that Sam as a person and his relationship had been more fleshed out, as the narrative is very skewed toward what Julie sees, and it doesn’t really allow the reader to feel for him for his own sake, but mostly in how it affects Julie (and maybe his sister, who Julie shares some moments with on-page). But at the same time, I can also see that the point is to demonstrate his value to Julie, with who he is as a person coming secondary to that.

This is a deeply moving book that will resonate with a lot of people. If you like hard-hitting contemporaries, I recommend this one.

Thanks to Wednesday Books for the free book.
This book packed a punch. Julie and Sam were high school seniors who had started planning their life together when the unthinkable happens - Sam dies. As you can imagine, this book deals with grief. I had so much empathy for Julie because she didn't grieve in the ways expected of her, and it caused lots of problems in the relationships around her. I think the themes of loss, letting go, and regret are explored so well in this book. I also liked the aspect of Sam and Julie being able to talk after he's dead because it was unique and helped further the grieving process.
There are parts of the book that felt really disjointed to me. I was confused in the before chapters. I wish the transitions were a bit clearer, or there was a bit more explanation to what was going on in the beginning. It took me a while to follow these parts.
However, the last two chapters had me in tears. The author adds in so much emotion that it's hard to put down until you figure out how it's going to end.

Julie has the perfect life planned for herself but then her perfect boyfriend dies. Her whole world seems to stop and she can't seem to dig her way out of her grief. On a whim she calls Sam's phone to hear his voice again, and he answers.

You've Reached Sam got me from the beginning. Not even halfway through I had teared up many times and felt so much. This book will definitely make you feel something. You feel for Julie but at the same time you can see that talking to Sam is making her inevitable grief worse. I loved the way Sam was trying to help her through his death. There were times when I wanted Julie to realize that she was getting worse. The story was told so beautifully that you feel as if you're part of their world. I think a lot of people wish they could say one more thing to their loved one and this sort of gave closure to that. For me, this was a 4.5/5.

If you like connections that surpass death, want to cry your eyes out, or wish you could have the perfect goodbye, this is for you.

I received a digital copy of this book free from NetGalley and St. Martin's Press in exchange for an honest review.

**I received a copy of this book in exchange of an honest review. Thank you to NetGalley.

You've Reached Sam is a heartbreaking story of how grief impacts us and leaves a mark in our lives.

Julie has her life planned. She's going to leave the town of Ellensburg, go to the school her mom attended, and become a writer. All of this is planned with her boyfriend Sam. However, Sam's life is cut short only months before all of this can take place. Thrown into grief, Julie misses his funeral, multiple memorial services, and won't answer calls or text from her friends. She feels as if her life is shattered. Suddenly, she gets the urge to call Sam when she's thrown into memories. Sam answers Julie's call to her surprise and continues to answer when he needs her. But this connection is temporary and Julie must decide between living her life the way it could be and continuing living in the past with Sam's calls.

It's rare that I find myself lost in a book. This one gave me that release. Thao has a way with words that can only be described as mesmerizing. The heartbreak that Julie feels is completely raw and honest on the pages. Julie is someone many can relate to. Someone who isn't sure of their future because of heartbreak or set back. She fears who she is now that she's experienced loss. Her friends and family feel like fully fleshed out characters in their own rights who struggle with Sam's loss, but also constantly reach out to Julie as heartbroken and raw as Julie herself.

What also strikes me about You've Reached Sam is the way it brings you into the story through flashbacks to truly understand the relationship between Julie and Sam. How they connected is truly shown and gives readers full showings of the way that Sam brought Julie out of her shell, but also how she impacted his life greatly as well. This book is for readers who love being lost in a moment, have felt the power of loss and grief, or who just need a story that will stick with them long after the final page,

You’ve Reached Sam by Dustin Thao is a heartbreaking story about learning to let go. Following a girl who is given the opportunity to communicate with her dead boyfriend through phone calls, this one promises plenty of tears. The concept is original, but I was a little underwhelmed by the underdeveloped characters and repetitive writing style. While the book is missing the emotional punch I was expecting, I still found the philosophical implications interesting and would recommend it to those looking for a unique story about grief.

Julie and her boyfriend Sam have big plans for the future, but when Sam dies, Julie doesn’t know how to carry on. However, one day she decides to call Sam’s number, and he picks up. Julie is overjoyed at the opportunity to communicate with Sam again, but their connection comes with conditions. She can’t tell anyone about her ability to communicate with Sam, and the connection is only temporary. Now torn between sharing her secret with Sam’s family and risking losing Sam forever, Julie must confront the reality of the phone calls: that she is only prolonging saying goodbye.

❀ MISSING AN EMOTIONAL PUNCH

I appreciated the exploration of grief through Julie’s character, but I found myself wishing that both she and Sam were more developed. Julie’s emotional struggles and the tension between her both wanting to keep talking to Sam and wanting to ease his family’s pain is powerful, and her journey as she learns to let go is well written. However, as a character, I had some difficulties connecting with her. Sam also felt flat to me, and because of this, the story was missing the emotional punch I was expecting.

❀ INTERESTING CONCEPT

Philosophically, I think the concept of being able to communicate with a lost loved one is interesting, but the execution could have been stronger. I’m willing to overlook some of the plot holes and unanswered questions regarding the logistics of the calls since this is probably meant to represent the idea that we don’t know what comes after death, but I had some issues with the repetitive writing style. The story seems to follow the same structure of flashbacks and phone calls, and after a while, I felt as though there wasn’t much going on in terms of plot. I was still interested in what the story has to say about grief, but I found myself wishing for the final phone call sooner.

❀ WILL RESONATE WITH MANY READERS

You’ve Reached Sam by Dustin Thao is an emotional story about grief and learning to let go. The concept of communicating with a loved one after death is unique, but I had some issues with the flat characterization and repetitive writing style. While I was a little underwhelmed by this book, I’m sure it is still one that will resonate with many readers.

Julie is trying to forget her boyfriend Sam and the tragic way he died by not going to the funeral, getting rid of his things, stuff like that. Then a message of his in the yearbook makes her regret her actions. Missing him terribly, she calls his number to hear his voice mail and he answers! These unexplainable calls are her wonderful secret to keep or should she share them with his loved ones and risk losing him forever?

This heart-squeezing story begins with a beautiful exchange between memories of the relationship like a movie montage, and you're hooked to the story, wrapped in a sweet melancholy. Invested in this narrative with the almost lyrical figurative speech that puts you on the emotional rollercoaster of the protagonist. A narrative that is quite forceful in its quiet power.

The author successfully makes this otherworldy occurrence grounded and not gimmicky. You are so pleased for them you almost forget you want to know how it's happening and enjoy their interactions. Almost. It does show other aspects of Julie's life, other characters and their reactions to Sam's death and grief. Some of those characters you will really like. There is such truth in the protagonist's POV, in the meaningful dialogue.

It is often really difficult to review without spoiling, but let's just say that the journey matters more than the how and the why. You either agree or you don't. This is a beautiful journey nonetheless, during which you want to smile, then cry, sometimes both at once.

Some scenes you wish were not so rushed, others not so long. The truth is I wanted a little more 'oomph' from some scenes which would have made them brilliant.

This book emphasizes how we need to appreciate what we have even more, and how stronger we are than we think. This is a testament to moving on. Moving on is not forgetting or not caring.

"But what is grief if not love persevering" says Vision in Wandavision, and this book is exactly that, love persevering.

Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC of this in exchange for my honest review.

This was fantastic, exactly the kind of magical realism or fantasy light that I like in my contemporaries - think Landline by Rainbow Rowell, In a Holidaze by Christina Lauren, where the story feels mostly like a contemporary with one fantastical magical phone twist. How is it happening? We don’t really need to know - there’s no complicated plot centering around that, just a sweet story of letting go and moving on after a devastating loss.

I have seen early reviews for this saying it broke them, that it was heart-wrenching, and that they sobbed multiple times reading this. Now, I've yet to cry while reading any book, so, naturally, I was intrigued. Unfortunately, even after reading this, I've yet to cry while reading any book.

I think my biggest issue with the book is our main character, Julie. She's just lost her boyfriend to a car accident, and, when she calls his number just to hear his voicemail, is shocked when he actually picks up. Now, I understand that Julie is grieving and that everyone does that differently, but the way that she treated those around her just made me uncomfortable. The way she treated others just was not cool at times.

I did enjoy how the magical realism was done, though! It's such a fun genre to read, and I think Thao really pulled it off well. I also thought the dream sequences were well done - I could see them playing out in my head like a movie! The side characters also were really sweet, and I grew to love a couple of them.

Overall, this was just okay. Not the tear-inducing read I was anticipating, but certainly not bad, either.

I was granted eARC and audio ARC access to You’ve Reached Sam by Dustin Thao through the publisher via NetGalley. Thank you to whoever decided to approve my request! My thoughts are my own and my review is honest. For simplicity, I will be writing a single review and I will contain my comments pertaining to the audiobook to its own single paragraph.

You’ve Reached Sam is the story of Washington state teenager Julie and the remainder of her senior year of high school after the unexpected death of her boyfriend Sam. Through some unknown magic, her phone and his have been connected beyond the veil and they’re able to talk after his death, but the connection is growing weaker, the calls shorter and farther apart, and Julie is learning what it means to move on.

This book is both heartbreaking and uplifting, and I truly think it will be very helpful and healing to readers young and old who are struggling through Julie’s situation. Julie is slowly reconnecting with the people she and Sam shared, finding new connections, and learning to put the pieces of her future back together without Sam in it. It’s so difficult, she faulters a lot, and she’s unintentionally hurting the living people who still care for her when she lets her grief and the connection with Sam she’s not wiling to give up get in the way, but eventually she’ll learn to carry Sam with her in a healthy, less interfering way and live the life he’d want her to have.

There were scenes in this book that brought me to tears. The emotions in this book are powerful and right on the money. It’s messy, and early-grief Julie is not a person I would want to be friends with. She’s flaking out on everyone still living, she’s forgetting about all of her responsibilities, she’s ready to throw away everything that reminds her of Sam because she can’t handle the memories yet she’s always lost in them, and she’s angry at her mother for honouring her wishes and not stopping her from letting those mementoes go. But as Julie reconnects with her friends and Sam’s family, as she comes out of her shell and make new connections, both returning to the girl she once was and taking steps toward the woman she’ll become, she becomes a character I very much fell in love with and feel quite attached to.

I feel like I should mention the #OwnVoices aspect of this book, as both Sam and Dustin are Asian-American men and some touches of cultural differences around death ceremonies and grieving are present in the story. It’s not super immersive and in-your-face different from what normally gets published, but the representation is there in subtle, loving ways.

I will say sometimes the extended lost in memories scenes are a bit much, a bit too long, and I wanted them to end so the story could move forward a tad faster. I was also quite disappointed… [spoiler available under spoiler tag on the Goodreads review. This hidden comment pertains to something revealed during one of the phone calls with Sam that shifted something for me, as a reader, with what I perceived as an important grief healing metaphor.]

The audiobook narration was perfect! Soneela Nankani’s voice works so well for this story, her pacing is great, and it was very easy to keep track of who was talking, whether or not we were in reality vs a memory, etc. I would definitely look for other books with this narrator.

Overall this is a touching story of love and loss, and a fantastic debut novel. I look forward to reading more from this author and I absolutely recommend this book to fans of YA.

This was a bittersweet book about the loss of a young life and second chance goodbyes. Thao does a wonderful job at conveying the grief that comes with losing the one you love, during one of the most challenging points in your life, high school.

I enjoyed the concept of being able to speak to a loved one who had passed away, it's something I'm sure everyone would jump at the chance for. I'm just picky about contemporaries so I wasn't blown away and felt like the story dragged in some parts.

You’ve Reached Sam is a book that I have seen so much hype about online which of course means I want to give this book a read. I did go into this book with quite high hopes because of this though. Although my hopes were not quite met, I did thoroughly enjoy this book and wanted to share my thoughts.

It was the premise of this book that originally drew me in. The idea of being able to contact someone close to you, who has passed away, took my interest because I’m sure so many of us would be grateful for that opportunity. Also, the beautiful cover of this book helped peak my interest and made me want to read this book even more.

The way that this book tackles grief and the different ways it can affect people is beautiful. Please take care when reading this book as it does not tackle grief lightly. It shows the good and bad sides of losing someone close to you and does not shy away from the details. of this I feel this book really explores grief in a beautiful and important way.

I found it so interesting the idea of being able to have a second chance to say goodbye to a loved one. Julie does not get the chance to say goodbye to Sam due to the way in which he dies. Seeing Julie have that second chance was incredible insightful. I enjoyed the sections of the book where we got to see Julie and Sam talk to one another and how Sam helped Julie to deal with her grief.

I would have loved to see more about why Julie got the second chance to speak to Sam. Obviously, this is a magical realism element that is added into this book but isn’t fully explored. There are some things about Julie’s phone not working properly throughout the book that never really gets discussed or answered fully and I would have loved to see that explored. A bit more explanation around the magical realism element is something I would have appreciated.

Julie is a main character of this book, who at times I loved reading about and others I found quite uninteresting. Julie is going through a lot, having just lost her boyfriend and we see that in so many ways. I would loved to have found out just a little bit more about her though and her likes and dislikes. Her personality seems to surround Sam most of the time and we do not get the opportunity to see who she really is.

Sam seemed like such a lovely character. Obviously, we only find out about him throughout flashbacks and the phone calls with Julie. I loved those parts of the book as it is an insight into a character we would not usually have seen. I would have loved the opportunity to see more of Sam before his death and that may have helped me to love his character more. By doing this as readers we would have seen more about their relationship and why that made them who they are. As well as appreciate the relationship that him and Julie had. Also, I loved the side characters in this book, they are quite possibly my favourite part of the book. Mika and Oliver in particular are just excellent characters who I loved reading about. It was interesting to see how the grief of losing Sam affected them too.

Dustin Thao has written a stunning story that I throughly enjoyed and would highly recommend. You can tell that he has made a huge effort to explore grief, love, friendship and overcoming loss in a sensitive but effect way.

Overall, I would highly recommend giving You’ve Reached Sam for the effective way in which it explores grief, love, friendship and more. Although it did not meet all of my expectations it is a book I will be thinking about for a while and will be recommending.

I was really excited to read You've Reached Sam, but it ended up disappointing me. I went into this book thinking it was going to be more mysterious, with the boyfriend faking his death or something like that, but I was wrong. I didn't care much for any of the characters, and I found the plot repetitive. I did like the descriptions of the town, and the cover of this book is beautiful. The story, unfortunately, just wasn't for me.

Not what I expected but still good book otherwise I’m trying to write more but I honestly don’t have that much to say about this book

As expected this is a tear jerker. Of course a story about a girl who finds out she can still talk to her dead boyfriend by calling his phone would be. Julie isn't grieving well. Until she calls Sam and he actually picks up. This is a story of love, loss and letting go. If you are in the mood for a good cry, I recommend you read this book.

Although I loved the writing for this book I thought it was to far fetched and unbelievable. Also I know it’s fiction but i don’t know if this kind of book is for me.

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THIS WAS SO SAD

OMG I ALMOST CRIED

SAVE ME NOW!!!!


SERIOUSLY HIGHLY RECOMMENd THIS WAS TOO FREAKING GOOD FOR MY SOUL

GO ON, GO READ IT NOW!!!! <3

You’ve Reached Sam by Dustin Thao is exactly as promised. It’s been described as a crossover of YA novel If I Stay and Japanese animation Your Name and it’s every bit as heart wrenching as you’d expect when you hear these two titles.

Seventeen year old Julie has her life all planned out but that all changes when her boyfriend, Sam, dies. She throws out his things and tries to forget him and his tragic death. However, a yearbook message from Sam brings back memories and in a last attempt to hear his voice one last time, she calls him; expecting to reach his voicemail. By some miracle, Sam answers and is able to connect with her, however temporary. This is Julie’s chance to say goodbye. Through these phone calls, that get shorter and shorter with time, Sam is able share presents and help her to let go. However, keeping this a secret is both hard, especially when Julie sees Sam’s family struggling as hard as her. Unfortunately it’s a necessity or she’ll risk losing this connection forever.

I had some difficulty figuring out which scenes were in the present and past in the beginning, but once I found the rhythm the story flowed. We follow Julie’s journey through her heartbreak and grief, and the author wrenched emotions from my cold dead heart every step of the way with her. The catharsis that came from the end of this book was worth every tear!

(I can’t tell you how many times I cried, but likely as many times as there are chapters- possibly more.)

Highly encouraged for those who want their hearts ripped out!

🚨 Romance reader PSA 🚨 This is not a romance.

CW: Grief and death

Release: 9 November

Thank you to the publisher for the arc.


#dustinthao #youreachedsam #yacontemporary #bookmages #tearjerker #asianauthor

I loved this book so much I was so close to crying so many times, it was heart wrenching and adorable,.

Julie has lost someone she planned to spend the rest of her life with! High school was almost over and their lives were coming together when Sams life is cut short! The roller coaster of emotions Julie goes through in the beginning are hard to digest. I questioned her action and got very annoyed with her. But then I really got into the book and started to understand why she did what she did. Though I still struggled to like her because though she was grieving her actions were just not ok to me.

The story is packed with such emotion, I love books that make you feel! Put you inside the story with emotions. And that is what happened with this story, it was almost unfair that Julie got a second chance to say goodbye to Sam. It was like putting a bandaid on her wounds and leaving it on even though it was all broken up and dirty. She wasn't going to take it off no matter what. It was avoiding the inevitable.

We see the damage this causes but also see the good. And I cried, I'm a sucker for stories like this! This was a good story full of heartache, loss and coming to terms with letting go but never forgetting!