while it was a great debut book I don't think this was for me, I'm always interested in books with grief, in a way it helps me deal with my own, and even though I know people go thru grief in many different ways there's still a thing that bothers me when I see representation for it and it is the time, when a character goes thru grief too quicky it doesn't feel real to me and makes me wonder if the author really knows how it is, so that made me get dettached from the story. While the idea of being able to say goodbye to a loved one who has passed away is incredibly sad and hopeful I feel this book didn't cut it for me

**Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press/Wednesday Books for the eARC in exchange for an honest review. This in no way changed my rating**

I really wanted to love this one after I kept hearing how good it was. Unfortunately, it fell just a little bit flat for me.

You've Reached Sam is about Julie Clarke, a high school senior whose boyfriend has tragically died in a car accident after they get into a fight. The book opens two weeks after his death, where we find Julie sullenly throwing away all of Sam's things. However, she later is able to reconnect with Sam through her cellphone and goes on the hard journey of having to let him go, even though she's given this second chance.

Allegedly.

To begin with, I immediately thought "Oh, this is Rainbow Rowell's Landline but for a YA audience." I will say, I liked the idea of Landline better when it was giving the protagonist some agency. Georgie, the protagonist in that story, was able to alter her choices and the phone helped her to put her current life back into perspective. It allowed her to CHANGE the trajectory of the story. This is not that. The phone calls are just prolonging Julie's denial and dependency on Sam. I never got the feeling that Julie was learning to let go or that she was going to have to continue living on without Sam or without making plans that included Sam because she's STILL DOING THAT through the second to last chapter in the book. So the ending feels INCREDIBLY abrupt like she just skipped through the other stages of grief straight to acceptance in a very short amount of time. Every time she has a moment that's supposed to signal "time to let go", she can't bring herself to do it. There are moments where she risks her connection with Sam, which I guess is supposed to be the development, but it falls very flat for me.

Additionally, the book is just capital D depressing. The entire book is depressing. I actually discussed this book with a friend who also read it (and felt similarly) and my analogy was that it was like the book starts with the reader's head underwater and doesn't ever let you breathe. There are not any real moments of levity because the times where Julie isn't talking to Sam, she's with friends and moping because she's thinking about him and can't go home to talk to him. It really could have benefitted from some moments of humor to break up the constant state of somberness for the reader.

The writing of the book was good in the sense of writing as a craft. Thao clearly is talented as a writer, which is even more frustrating to me. I feel like it's another Rory Power situation for me where I can objectively acknowledge that the author is a good writer but there is just some disconnect for me between the talent on a sentence level and the story the words are trying to tell. I just don't ever get the sense that Julie really went on a character arc even though I also think the prose Thao uses to tell her story is beautiful.

I don't really have strong feelings of "dislike" to justify a rating lower than a 3, but I also don't have strong feelings to recommend it or rate it higher. This felt like a very middle of the road, emotionally one-note story about a girl who really can't handle the feelings of grief. And once again, I'm VERY much in the minority here because so many people love this book and it's so highly anticipated as a release. I just didn't get what I thought I would out of this story, which left me a little disappointed. That said, I'd be interested in trying another of Thao's books at a later date to see if I can experience that connection between talented craft and also an amazing plot.

3/5 stars

This book is for fans of Gayle Forman’s If I stay and Rainbow Rowell’s landline.
Julie is heartbroken over the tragic death of her boyfriend. Since Sam’s death was accidental but occurred on his way to see Julie, she is shunned by her classmates as the ultimate cause for his untimely death.
Julie discovers by accident that she can contact Sam on the “other side” by calling him on his cell phone from her cell phone. There are issues of guilt and not wanting to let go of this connection which only delays her processing of the grief she has been avoiding.
The book switches from present to past to her futuristic dreaming of what life would have been like for Sam if his death had not occurred. Sometimes these areas were a little messy and I didn’t always catch which tense we were in (past, present, or future) until I read further ahead.

This book hit in my weak spot for grief and it hit HARD. While I felt like there were certain elements of the story that were underdeveloped (especially understanding how on Earth Sam was able to take calls from Julie), I enjoyed this book from start to finish. So in terms of writing it’s more of a 3-star book but the vibes/experience was 5 stars so I settled on a 4-star rating overall.

The characters felt kind of flat and I felt like there was supposed to be some sort of plot twist coming that never came but the way Thao wrote Sam and Julie’s love story had me SWOONING. It had a certain movie magic feel to it. The before parts of the story were where I felt Thao really hit his stride along with the grief that Julie felt as the present-day part of the story was occurring.

It physically pained me to see her going through this grief and trying to navigate how to hold onto Sam while figuring out how to let go and refocus how she thinks her future is going to pan out. Thao really nailed the way that people grieve in different ways and have to find their way back to themselves as they try to piece their lives together in order to move forward. One of my favorite parts of the story was when Mika acknowledged that Julie is probably never going to let go of Sam, but she has to find her own balance between allowing herself to remember the past while actively participating in the present part of her life.

The stream of conscious feel to the story was something that I enjoyed, but there were times where I was getting confused as Julie was slipping into a dreamland state.

Thank you to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for providing me with access to an advanced reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

DNF @ 20%

Even though this book has such a gorgeous writing style, I couldn't bring myself to continue reading this book. I'm just not in the right mindset right now to read this book. So, if you lost someone close to you, and that wound is very much still raw, I wouldn't recommend reading this book. But if not, then please read it because this book was so well written.

Since I didn't DNF this book because I didn't like it, but because I couldn't finish it for personal reasons, I'm giving this book four stars here, but I won't rate it on Goodreads.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

3 stars

This is a challenging read for anyone, but I expect it will be a much more difficult experience for those who have faced loss. As the world continues to burn around us, who can say - at this point - that they haven't?

Julie, the main character, is a high school senior who has arrived at that age appropriate cusp: where a major part of her life is ending and a whole new phase is about to begin. While she's looking forward to starting this new chapter with her partner, Sam, that dream cannot become a reality when Sam, who is the same age, dies in a car accident.

This book is devastating and in some ways torturous to read. For me, it sort of read like gratuitous emotional poking. I may return to this one in a few months and see if I have a similar sentiment or if this reaction is (as I largely expect) somewhat situational in this moment.

What readers will get is a lot of processing of grief, and they'll see this in various shades. Julie's experience is unique because there is a supernatural (or perhaps imagined) element included. Other characters all have their own methods of processing. The opportunity to see many different reactions to grief could be helpful to the audience.

No one should come to this book looking for a light YA read. Readers dwell in a space of despair from cover to cover, and while that isn't quite what I needed to read in this moment, it might be just the cup of bummer tea you've been seeking. I'll be looking forward to Thao's future work on a lighter topic (or at least approaching future work with a lighter mind).

❝ Julie . . .” Raindrops patter against my ear. I become aware of the sound of my own heart beating against the earth. I turn my face up slightly toward the sky and keep listening. “. . . Are you there?” That voice. Faint and raspy like the murmur of the ocean in a seashell. I know it. I’ve listened to it a thousand times before to where it’s become as familiar as my own. That voice. But it couldn’t be. ❞



It genuinely breaks my heart to give this book such a low rating but I can't help it.
This book jumped at the top of my TBR from the minute I read the synopsis and then the beautiful cover. It sounded amazing and felt like it was going to be a heart wrenching ugly cry. Unfortunately, it wasn't.

Was this is a sad book? Yes, but I was hoping more of a rip-your-heart-out-at-three-in-the-morning and I ended up with "well, that was sad" and went on my merry way to read the story.



❝ Letting go isn’t about forgetting. It’s balancing moving forward with life, and looking back from time to time, remembering the people in it. ❞


Julie was an interesting character for me. Usually, whenever I have picked a book that revolved around the theme of grief, I've always had the characters crying, thrashing, screaming or just becoming a ball of overwhelming emotions. Julie was lost and like a pendulum, her thoughts, beliefs and actions moved back and forth.

I am so used to reading about the emotional outbursts of grief, I was genuinely stumped by the way Julie acted. I, for a fleeting moment, had the thought of "Is she even grieving?". A very stupid thought, I know. Julie comes across as a somewhat flat character and as I mentioned before, her emotions were like a pendulum and the back and forth of her actions did leave me confused.

However, the way Thao showcased Julie's grief and the way she was dealing with it and then juxtaposing is it the way the others were dealing with the same thing, it was nothing short of beautiful.

One thing I wasn't a huge fan of was how she dealt with Mika, Sam's cousin and one of her closest friends. She had completely shut herself off, so while it is understandable, there was a small part of me that wasn't really happy with it. Julie may come off as "annoying", "unlikeable" and "insensitive" to some readers but it was the perfect example of how grieving works differently for everyone and the way they deal with it.


Sam is a flat character. I think a lot of it had to do with him being dead, and we only got to interact with him when he was speaking to Julie. Even the flashbacks didn't add much to his character depth. He was more like an omnipresent figure rather than a full-fledged character.

Moreover, the romance wasn't all that it was made out to be. The idea of Julie and Sam's romance was this huge once-in-a-lifetime kind of thing when the reality of that relationship wasn't all it was made out to be. To be honest, the romance was barely there. Again, this is also understandable since the main themes are the loss of a loved one and how you deal with it, rather than a budding teen romance.



❝ I love you more than you can ever know, Julie. I’ll never forget the time we had together. So please don’t forget me, okay? Try to think of me from time to time. Even if it’s only for a second. It would mean so much. You have no idea. ❞


Every reader read the same book differently and that is exactly the case ofYou've Reached Sam, but it is also a book that will speak to each of us. This story is beautiful in its portrayal of grief and moving on.


You've Reached Sam is the kind of book that will either hit you right in the feels or just go right past you. For me, it was the latter. The entire time I was reading there was always this want for more — more emotions, more depth, more heartbreak, just more.


While the book as a whole didn't work for the best for me, there were some things that helped me with my grief. I lost my mother 3 months ago and while I have been out of the grief period for some time, losing a parent, as we all know, is not easy. Thao with his words, affirmations and advice brought me comfort in a silent way. The epilogue especially spoke to me in such a personal way and for that, I am so so so thankful.




3 Stars!

You've Reached Sam by Dustin Thao is a real tear jerker, I have a lot of mixed feelings about this book. On the one hand I appreciate the realistic portrayal of the different ways to grieve. On the other hand, the story begins one week after Sams passing so to me it felt like the timing was off.
Over all this is still a good book with diverse character cast and grief representation.

This is the first book this author has written and let me tell you, he hit it out of the ball park!!!!!!! It was a home run & an absolute 5 star. This beautiful story between Julie and Sam made me sob uncontrollably.. Although the story is written in present day, we do get to see glimpses of the relationship between Julie & Sam prior to his death. As Julie mourns the loss of Sam she decides to call his cellphone, just to hear his voice one last time but is shocked when he actually answer his cellphone. Julie & Sam quickly fall back into their routine of talking every day. At some point in time they both realize that this could not continue to go on forever & that it needed to end so they could both move on in life & in death. It was extremely difficult for me to see them make that final decision. Thank you NetGalley & Wednesday Books for giving me an eARC. I 100% recommend this book.

I adored this beautifully poignant story. The author is exceptional good at tugging at the heartstrings. The strong connection between Julie and Sam is felt throughout the novel. This story will linger with me.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of You’ve Reached Sam in exchange for an honest review.

I was so excited to receive an early copy of this book! I’ve been looking forward to it for months and I’m extremely happy I was given the opportunity to read it. I knew this book was going to leave me in tears, and it most certainly did. The last chapter had me bawling. My heart hurts so bad.

I really liked the characters in this book. Julie’s friends really come together to support her and help her realize she doesn’t have to grieve on her own, as she has them to lean on. I also liked the diversity of the characters.

One thing that was hard for me to understand was Julie trying to get over Sam so fast, pushing away her friends and family in the process. I understand having to grieve for someone you’ve just lost, but getting rid of their things right away and trying to move on just seems a bit sudden. It was a bit frustrating as well when Julie was missing calls/texts from her friends and missing important events to commemorate Sam because of her phone not working properly due to her connection with Sam.

Overall, I enjoyed You’ve Reached Sam and I definitely think it’s worth the read!

3.5 stars
This book has a great message about letting go of grief while holding on to memories, and accepting that everyone grieves differently, but it took awhile to get to the point. For the first half of the book, both Sam and Julie's characters seemed to jump around a lot, and not because of their grief or anger over his death, just because of the writing style. Julie was also a little bland as a main character (again, not because of grief, I mean even in the flashbacks before Sam's death). Still, I loved Sam as a character, his romance with Julie was super cute, and I loved Julie's character arc. By the end of the book I really liked her. I really enjoyed seeing her help Sam's family say goodbye, although it did create a few minor plot holes (I won't go into detail though to avoid spoilers). Lastly, I just wish the magic system was explained a little bit more. I think I definitely did go into this with overly high expectations based off the cover and synopsis, but still, overall, this was really good story and had a great balance between happy and sad moments.

Hello, my wonderful friends! I’m so
excited to be providing a new ARC review for you today! Special thanks to
@wednesdaybooks for my egalley! This is a reminder that all opinions are my own, even if it’s been sent my way.🥰
。
You’ve Reached Sam is a young adult contemporary that centers around Julie, that is really struggling after her boyfriend Sam’s death. One day, Julie decides to call his number, only to find out that Sam answers. However, their connection can only last a short amount of time. Together they must find away to say everything they didn’t get the chance to, before their connection ends, forever.😨
。
I feel like going in pretty blind is the way to go with this one, since that was my experience, and it ended up being a super positive one. In my goodreads review, I wrote that I knew my heart was going to hurt, but I didn’t know it was going to completely shatter by the end, which is STILL exactly how I feel. The only thing I took .5 off for was that Julie definitely did a lot of things that were frustrating. Thinking back on it, I understand how grief can cause us to act out or other things we didn’t normally do, so that’s why I ended up only docking half a star instead a full one. I highly recommend this, and I can’t wait for whatever Dustin Thao puts out next.😍
。
What’s the last book that heavily damaged your heart? Let me know!💋
。
Dm me to talk about all things book or writing related! I’ll be looking forward to it! —Em😌

What would you do if you had the chance to talk to the one you love on the phone after they have passed away? What would you do if it meant sacrificing the still loving ones you love and their time/attention? Would you continue to push on with the passed one or move on?

Julie has just lost her first real love in their senior year of high school. They had plans to move on after graduation together to start their life. Now, that has all ended with Sam's unexpected death in a car crash, on that many people blame Julie for. One day Julie calls Sam and he answers. Sam is dead, but it really is him on the other line. Julie then must make choices as she struggles to move on or stay where she is.

I really liked this book. I spent the last 1o% of the book sobbing in the middle of the night because I couldn't put it down. It was a rather quick read and each character had a different personality set to add some uniqueness to the storyline. It was touching and really hit on the grief of a dying loved one, but also the grief of losing a relationship. It really hit home for me when I though about my high school boyfriend from 10 years ago and our relationship ending and that being a set of grief. It highlighted learning to let go and taking care of the lives around you and yourself.

☀︎︎A girls boyfriend dies, and a phone call allows them to connect back together in ways that shouldn’t be possible☀︎︎

Grab your tissues, because this book can get 𝑠𝑎𝑑
Though I’ve heard many say that it is, I don’t really believe this book is about overcoming grief
It’s more about 𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑔𝑛𝑖𝑧𝑖𝑛𝑔 grief.
That ache in your heart, that sorrow in your mind- the way that days blend together and nothing makes sense anymore
It’s about realizing that you are grieving and at a loss- and how sometimes this loss causes you to push away everything else in order to try and make sense of your life as you now know it.
𝑇ℎ𝑎𝑡 is what this book focuses on.
The life after death- but for the living.
It’s real and raw and may leave many of the readers heartbroken and shattered, in a way that only a hug from a loved one can fix.

The characters are all vastly different- each adding something to the story in the process of how life continues. Though some fall a bit flat, and parts of the characters story do not really fit in well with the rest of the book, they still add interesting bits that you may reflect on. Bits that help put the pieces of Julie and Sam’s life ‘before’ together.
With that, this is a very character driven story. The plot is slow and there’s really not much moving of it until the last 15% of the story, but it fits.
The slowness of it, the time it takes to read it, matches with how grief can feel- and I believe that Thao captured it perfectly.

𝘾𝙤𝙣𝙘𝙡𝙪𝙨𝙞𝙤𝙣: If you want to potentially cry (or just stare emotionless at the words, you do you), enjoy character driven stories, and like a slow pace- you should definitely check this out!

-big thank you to Netgalley and publisher for receiving an ARC of this book in exchange of an honest review

I have been emotionally destroyed. This book is an absolutely stunning novel about loss and moving on without forgetting. Each of these characters is so beautifully written and each go through a journey as they are dealing with the grief of losing Sam. This book displays the many different ways that people grieve which is very insightful considering that most of us just assume that everyone grieves like we grieve.

I found myself connecting with Julie a lot as we followed her dealing with her future and present falling apart. She had a plan and little did she know that that plan could be destroyed in seconds. The way she dealt with Sam's death was very similar to how I grieve. I could not help but feel like I was going through this devastating time and that I had to hold onto Sam as long as possible. By the end of the book, I was sobbing because I did not want to let any of these characters go. When I reached the final page, I immediately wanted to start from the first chapter even though I know the story wouldn't change. And I wouldn't want this masterpiece to change in the least. It was a perfect novel and I think it is officially one of my favorite books of all time.

To fully understand the impact that this novel has you have to read it for yourself. You have to grieve with these characters and follow them on this heartbreaking journey that is so beautiful that you won't want to miss it.

Can you imagine if you called a loved one who had died and they actually answer the phone? You've reached Sam, a novel by Dustin Thao, is a beautifully written young adult novel about young love, loss, and not letting the past take away the future. The way each individual handles the loss of the same loved one is as different as the characters themselves. While this is a quick, easy read, it is not a book that I will soon forget.

How do you let go of someone when you don't know how to say goodbye? Julie is a senior in high school and had just experienced the loss of her boyfriend Sam. You experience multiple flashbacks of their journey as she learns to move on but letting go is hard when you can still call each other. How do you let go of someone who doesn't feel gone?

The story didn't grab my attention and pull me in but still left me feeling vulnerable in moments. Overall a good read

“We are two parts of a song. He is the music. I am the words.”

The fact that I didn't love this book is kinda my fault. I don't like the way this was written and it's totally on me.
The way the scenes jumped in time confused me.
Otherwise I liked the characters and the story.

“You called me.” His voice is as calm as water. “And I picked up. Like I always do.”

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for the ARC of You’ve Reached Sam in exchange for an honest review.

Wow, this book absolutely broke me. I knew it would, I was preparing myself for it, but it was still painful. You’ve Reached Sam begins with Julie, who is mourning the loss of her boyfriend Sam, who tragically passes away.

She becomes isolated, and misses his funeral. She decides to call his phone number, just one last time. To her surprise, he picks up the phone.

Communicating through phone calls, Julie keeps in touch with Sam for as long as she can. She is not ready to say goodbye, just yet. But Julie has other things to worry about as well. Her future, graduating high school, where she will go to college, and trying to maintain friendships. Trying, in some capacity, to move on, or at least to be okay, somehow.

But Sam is still there, on the phone, with more things to tell her. His life was cut short, but he is there with her to pick up the pieces and to listen.

This book tackles hard topics of grief, in a way that is heart wrenching, but in such a powerful way. As someone who loves a hard hitting contemporary YA book, this is one of my favorites I have read this year.

Thao’s writing was poetic and beautiful. I highlighted so many different passages that were absolutely stunning. The magical realism was such a unique way of writing a story like this.The writing captures these feelings Julie is trying to process in such an important way. Overall, if you want a book that makes you feel something, pick this one up.