✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✧
4/5 Stars

Synopsis: After Julie’s boyfriend Sam dies, she struggles to move on and shuts down. Deciding she wants to hear Sam’s voice one last time, she calls his phone and expects to get his voicemail. But instead he answers the phone. We follow Julie trying to figure out how to deal with the fact that she can now talk to him, if she should tell others, and the frightening thought that she will have to say goodbye again.

I heard this was a very sad book and trust me it did not disappoint. It didn’t necessarily break my heart like others had said but I can see how it would. It took me a while to understand the beginning but after that it was amazing.

The small one liners that are throughout this book killed me. I never thought five words could make me cry so much. The author, Dustin Thao’s transition between the scenes were so cool, and it was such an imaginative way of letting us see Julie’s memories. The author also does an amazing job of getting the readers to care about the side characters as well. I was so invested in the main characters plot lines, of course but I loved Oliver, Jay, Mika, and Tristan’s stories and loved hearing about them. The underlying part of why Julie’s mother lost her job was the only part of the book that I felt was “unsolved”. The only reason this book is not five stars is because the middle seemed very slow to me and anticlimactic. But the end really cleared up all the questions I had.


Favorite Quotes:
1. “I feel like my life didn’t start until I met you, Julie. You’re the best thing to happen to this small town. To me.”
2. “He won’t be there when I open my acceptance letter. He’ll never know if I get in.”
3. “Beneath each of our gowns is something that belongs to Sam, in memory of him.”

There were things I like and didn't like about this book, but overall it was a good read. I struggled with how I compared it to If I stay in my mind and that is what held me back from being crazy about it. I do think my students will really enjoy this story and find it enjoyable though because it touches on so many things that they love in a YA novel.

I want to thank St. Martin’s Press for providing me with an E-Arc of “You’ve Reached Sam” by Dustin Thao in exchange for an honest review. Before reading further I want to warn you that my review can contain spoilers for the book.

You’ve Reached Sam is a Young Adult Contemporary novel by debut author Dustin Thao. I fell in love with the cover and it’s so fitting with the story. Since I didn’t read the summary I first thought it would be a book about a couple who fell in love but were miles away from each other and would communicate through their phones, but getting into the book I noticed immediately that my expectations were wrong. You’ve reached Sam is not your regular feel-good contemporary novel; it’s a heartbreaking novel that deals with subjects like love, grief and acceptance.

Julie is heartbroken and lost after her boyfriend, Sam, suddenly dies in a car accident and Julie didn’t get the chance to say goodbye. She is detaching herself from everyone and doesn’t even go to Sam´s funeral, because she can’t accept that Sam isn’t there anymore. Lonely and sad and wanting to hear his voice one more time she calls Sam’s phone to hear his voice when his phone goes to voicemail. But then something unexpected happens, Sam actually picks up the phone. Julie has been given a chance to say goodbye, but what if she isn’t ready to say goodbye just yet?

This book literally broke my heart. Although I didn’t know what to expect I immediately knew from page one that it was going to be heart wrenching and I was in no way prepared for this emotional rollercoaster. Having lost people dear to me I know how Julie was feeling about losing someone you love and the way her emotions were written were so real and I wished I was able to give her a hug. Further into the book we learn the reason why Julie is detaching herself from the people around her. She blames herself for Sam’s death and reading how it happened I knew I would also blame myself if I was her. She isn’t happy with what her last words were towards Sam and it made me realize why my boyfriend keeps reminding me to always solve a fight, how small it might be. You don’t want a fight to be the last thing between you and the one you love.

The love Julie has for Sam and the memories make you fall in love with Sam. And when you get to learn more about him in his phone conversations with Julie you even fall more in love with him. He is a great character and beautifully portrayed.

The writing style is amazing. Thao just knows how to capture so many emotions in small, little sentences and has an eye for detail. It was fitting for the themes of the book and turned the story into a heartbreaking beautiful story and this book is the most beautiful story I have read so far.

Thank you to NetGalley and [insert publisher] for giving me access to an early copy in exchange for an honest review.

This review contains spoilers for the following books: The Fault in Our Stars by John Green.

When I heard about You’ve Reached Sam, I was enthralled - could this finally be the YA novel about grief that I had been looking for? Unfortunately, that was not the case. Where I thought the book would be going into depth about grief, use the phone calls as a metaphor, and be a significant YA book for years to come, the book ended up falling flat on all accounts. I’m incredibly sorry to report that You’ve Reached Sam was an incredible disappointment. It had so much potential, but instead of offering a meaningful insight into grief, I felt that the book spent too much time on explaining to us that everyone grieves in their own way; it would have been incredible to have seen that instead of having been told it over and over again. As for the phone calls, I feel like they could have been developed more, used in a less literal way in order for the book to really punch you in the gut.

Since this is a book about grief, and more importantly, young grief, I expected it to be heartbreaking. I expected Augustus is the one who ends up dying pain. I expected maybe not to be sobbing, but to at least shed a tear towards the end. I didn’t. This may say more about me than the book - but in the end, I can only speak for my own experience, and that is, simply put, that the book was not good enough to make me feel for the characters.

I wish that You’ve Reached Sam had lived up to my expectations - or at the very least, subverted them. It’s with a lot of regret that I say that it did not. Therefore, my rating is a 1.5 / 5 stars.

I knew from chapter 1 that this book would gut me. But what an amazing ride. The highs and lows, the good days and the bad days - all the ways that you grieving losing someone you love. Julie was a great character and I'm glad she did all the things, whether they were right or wrong. There's no right way to try to find your way through losing someone you love. I also liked see the friends, family and school mates - the ripples in the ocean of grief everyone left behind felt. This book wrote it well and it broke my heart but made it whole again too. I loved it!

<i>A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.</i>

You've Reached Sam has a heartbreaking premise. Seventeen year old Julie loses her boyfriend Sam in a car accident and soon after his passing she calls his voicemail and he picks up.
While the premise of this book was so incredibly intriguing, it fell flat to me. The writing itself felt dull and lifeless (this would have worked as a technique had it been employed better). Julie's character arc was one of the highlights of this, seeing her learn how to remember Sam but also move forward in her own life. we see how different people deal with grief. Despite the flashbacks, I was not invested in Sam and Julie, I could have cared less for them as characters.

This was one of my most anticipated reads. I was so excited when was approved for the ARC, for real.
I really liked the book, is a pretty book, but for me was not an amazing book. Let's talk about it.
Julie lost her perfect boyfriend one week ago. And she is not knowing how to act and live after that. But for a miracle, something unaccountable, she calls him, and he answers the phone.
First of all, I really loved the writing, was so pretty, magic, and immersive. I could feel all the emotions the author tried to give us. The descriptions were pretty, and I could feel through the memories how much Julie loved Sam. I will definitely look for other works of the author!
The way of the description of the loss and mourning of Julie was really pretty. Everybody reacts in different ways, and saw the process that Julie goes through was very realistic for me, we could see that somedays she was fine, in other days she was devasted. And this was more important because of the moment of her life, a moment with so many asks, so many uncertainties, and during this moment she lost one of the closest persons in her life.
But... the book was not perfect for me. I felt that some of the subplots were very disconnected from the main story, and ended very fast or in an unsatisfactory way. (view spoiler)
Okay. This book was not what I was expecting, but was a good read. I need to say that if you are going to read this book because you want something to cry a lot, maybe this book is not for you. Through the book, we feel a lot of things, and the end is something that will make you cry, but the way the story is told is more nostalgic than sad. We see the good moments and the happiness more than the sadness of the loss during most parts of the book, maybe because of that the impact of the end is heavier. Is just like The one that got away from Kat Perry, the music, the pacing, make you forget that is a sad story until you stop to listen to the lyrics and notice how depressive and hopeless this really is.

This book was reallllllyyyyy good, considering all of the tears, emotions, and all of the heartbreak it brought along with it. Thanks again to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press/Wednesday Books for allowing me to read this ARC in exchange for feedback.

I knew long before I started this book that I would love it, and this was solely based off of the cover and the description of the story. You know going into this story what’s going to happen, but the journey that Julie and Sam go on throughout, trying to keep a connection before it’s gone forever - that tore me up until the very end. Julie knows that she has to move on with her life in order to enjoy the little moments with friends and family (especially the ones closest to Sam), but she has this small connection with Sam that she wants to cherish before she officially lets him go. I know this book doesn’t release for another couple of months, but I’m putting my preorder in because I know I’ll want to revisit Sam and Julie and go through it all over again ❤️📱

5 Stars!

It’s a good thing I read this on my kindle because with the number of tears I cried, I would have ruined the pages in this book. I mean I would have soaked the pages with the salty tears I shed over this story.

I would like to say to take care of yourself when you go into this book. It’s a story about grief and how everyone handles death differently, so please go slowly with this one. I would suggest going into this one when you are in the right mental and emotional space.

When You Reached Sam follows the character Julie who has unexpectedly lost her boyfriend in a car accident. She is struggling with his death and can’t even force herself to attend his funeral or say goodbye to him; until one day she gets a second chance to do just so. A week after Sam’s death, Julie wants to hear his voice one more time, so she calls his cell phone expecting to hear his voicemail message, but Sam ends up answering the call. This creates a temporary connection between Julie and Sam so they can have some extra time to say their goodbyes.

I personally think this book is incredibly important for teenagers! As a teacher who has lost a few students in car accidents, I can assure you that all students handle grief differently and some of them would have loved a book like this. Every character in this book handled Sam’s death differently and young readers need to know it’s okay if they handle death differently than their friends or parents. As someone who handles grief by avoiding people, has a hard time saying goodbye, wanting to be alone, and taking things at my own pace, this book was spot on for someone like me! Not everyone handles death and grief the same, and this book will connect to people differently. I couldn’t help but think of my student’s girlfriend and his group of friends as I read this and what they would give to have one last time to say goodbye. My students could have used a book like this once their hearts were ready for this book.

I think this book will hit people differently on the emotions scale and would be good for anyone who has lost someone they’ve loved. Just because I sobbed reading this doesn’t mean someone who reads this book and doesn’t shed a tear should be considered heartless or cold. Just like everyone handles grief differently, I think everyone will have different takeaways and different emotions by the end of this book. For me, it was 300 pages of heartache, so please tread carefully going into this one.

The writing was beautiful, and the author was able to capture the important moments perfectly. The book bounces back and forth between the present day with Julie struggling with Sam’s death and trying to plan for her future with him gone to flashbacks of how their relationship developed over three years. It was beautiful.

I would recommend this book to my students. There’s an important message of understanding that life sometimes doesn’t go the way you planned, and we won’t always get second chances to say goodbye to our loved ones. But most importantly, we all show grief differently, and that is okay.

*Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for providing me with an advanced e-arc of this book in exchange for an honestly review.

Recommended: if you think you're interested
For folks who read the premise and think they'll like it, for a very singular dive into one person and issue

Thoughts:
For such a normal-length book, this felt like it flew by. In this case... that's not exactly a good thing (or a bad thing). This book sets out to tell the story of Julie's guilt and grief over Sam's death, and that's exactly what it tells. The weird thing is that it's also the only thing that it tells. This book has a very tight focus on the issue it aims to address. While, again, that's not a bad thing, it was strange in that it ended up reading more like short story for me since there was only one thread to the plot.

I suppose I expected a little more depth of the world around them, but Julie remains very much the focus as she is drowning in her own grief and hurt. Fair, I mean, grieving and all. There was a bit with other characters who were close to Sam -- his best friend, his sister and parents, his classmates -- but the way it was presented was so topical and unimportant precisely because Julie is so wallow-deep in her own issues. It's accurate for sure, but presenting the others as second fiddle ended up being exactly how they stayed to me.

Julie is not my favorite person, so my empathy was a bit lacking for what I would expect in this subject matter. Everyone grieves differently, but even ignoring that aspect, the who that makes her up was underwhelming.

Last thing that dropped this for me: the alternating timeline between before and after Sam's death. I don't usually mind that, but here it felt like a very lazy way of establishing who he was. We can't go back in time to get him back, so I would have liked the story to reflect that in it's style by relying on characters and memory to define Sam. He's dead -- he can no longer define himself, and exists only from the people and place he's remembered in.

Even though this book flew by, it also d r a g g e d. I didn't want to finish this, and in fact stopped a few chapters in on my first attempt. This story didn't elicit emotion from me, which isn't good considering it's a sad story about death and grief and heartbreak, coupled with the fact that I am a very easy crier with my sympathetic heartstrings! This one was sadly lacking for me.

Thanks to NetGalley and Wednesday books for an free advanced copy of this title. This is my honest and voluntary review!

DNF @ 23%

I was intrigued by the premise, and I mostly liked what we see of Julie and Sam's relationship. Considering the author is Asian-American, I respect but don't love the decision to make the POV character European-American yet give her observations on other character's POC and immigrant experiences.

The writing style also didn't quite work for me. I think it's always tricky to write grieving characters since grief is such a messy and individualized process, so I try to give some leeway there — though I have to admit to being put off by the heavy-handed transitions into flashbacks ("Then despite myself, another memory comes ...") and the balance between said flashbacks and the present narrative. It feels like there's a lot of telling rather than showing, including an early scene where Julie philosophizes about creative vs. academic writing, and scenes where she has emotional epiphanies.

Oh gosh, my heart! I knew this would be a sad one going into it, but didn't expect it to be quite like that, wow. This is such a great book about loss and love, and also about moving on - whatever that may mean for each individual person. There was a lot of fluffy lightness in this, but also a really incredible depiction of what it's like to lose someone and deal with a huge amount of grief - seriously, so well written on these things!

I put this book down at 21%. This is partially just my mood right now, but also I read through a few reviews that say either you'll love this or hate it and I can tell which way I'm heading already. Maybe I'll give it another try later, but for now, it's not for me personally.

A beautiful book about young love and a young life lost too early. A story showing different stages of grief experience by characters close to Sam. A sweet and heartwarming story. The last call definitely bought tears to my eyes.

<strong>You've Reached Sam was a fantastic book about grief and moving on. </strong> It follows the story of Julie, who just lost her boyfriend to a tragic accident and never got the chance to say Goodbye. She's in a low place mentally, avoiding everything connected to Sam and feeling isolated and blamed by her peers. <strong>Then Julie gets the chance to talk to Sam again when she calls his phone</strong>. I'm usually cautious about magical twists, but this was well-executed, giving us some information about what made it work. It still stayed vague when it came to specifics, though this is inherent to the trope and I'd recommend the book if you can suspend belief about these types of plot twists. Personally, <strong>I think the fact that Julie could talk to Sam again after parting in a fight was a great way to shape her journey of grieving him</strong>. No one else knows that she can talk to him again and Julie struggles with this dichotomy in how she and Sam's friends approach losing him. Sam soon becomes her lifeline and gives her hope, but Julie is also holding back on truly embracing her grief as long as she still has this connection. The book did a great job showing the fine line between trying to move on by forgetting who you lost and clinging to them without being able to move on yourself. A big theme is <strong>how to let&nbsp;someone go without forgetting them</strong> and it was beautifully shown through Julie's own Arc and grief. I also liked that the<strong> story showed how people grieve in different ways.</strong> Julie definitely could be unlikable at times, making frustrating choices, but you could tell where she is coming from and how the hurricane of her emotions made it hard to hold on to her connections with others and easier to just let herself go.

<strong>The book is slower and more character-driven, yet I flew through it.</strong> This is a more reflective, introspective book focused on Julie's relationship with Sam, her dealing with grief and life without him. <strong>We get snippets of their time together and also have a great cast of secondary characters.</strong> Julie's not the best at staying connected to her friends, but the group of exchange students she's close with really try to be there for her, even when Sam's other friends blame her for how she is grieving and acting. I especially liked seeing <strong>Julie's relationship with Sam's best friend Olive</strong>r, who she used to be rivals with but can now connect to, as he knows what she lost. Another highlight of the book was <strong>Sam's cousin Mika</strong>, who is another friend Julie struggles to stay connected to, as she hasn't been the most available and keeps pushing people away. From her high school friends to her bookstore colleague Tristan and her relationship with her Mom, the book did a great job portraying all kinds of connections, though the book focuses more on Julie's inner journey. I <strong>was fully invested in the story</strong>, as there were such high emotional stakes and you could feel the pain, longing and heartbreak Julie goes through. If you've ever lost someone and weren't able to say Goodbye this will hit extra hard 💔

<strong>IN CONCLUSION.</strong> ➽ <i>You've Reached Sam </i>was a <strong>more slow-paced character-driven story about a girl who loses her boyfriend</strong> and only stays connected to him through their phones. The story did a fantastic job <strong>discussing grief, moving on and staying connected to others</strong> even if it's hard. This story feels like it goes out to anyone who wonders what would have happened if they had one last chance to talk to the one they loved and lost.

I unfortunately was not able to finish this book. I could not get past the characters saying the same things over and over again. I did want to know how it was possible that they were speaking and how the book would end, but I couldn't get through the dialogue. It was a very unique storyline.

What would you do with a second chance at goodbye? Dustin Thao's stunning debut explores the many nuances of this question as he follows seventeen-year-old Julie whose life plans are upended when the love of her life, Sam, tragically passes away. When she calls him just to hear his voicemail, the extraordinary happens: he picks up. You've Reached Sam is devastatingly poignant masterpiece.

no words only tears.

You've Reached Sam follows Julie who recently lost her boyfriend to a car accident and has to tackle grief and longing whilst preparing for college. Heartbroken, she decides not to attend his funeral and tries to get rid of all his memories but she quite can't get herself to do so. So, she tries to call his number one last time and magically, he picks up.

-This was one beautiful book. I'm always looking for books that explore the topic of coping with death because it's one sensitive topic for me. Death is one of the few things that genuinely scares and breaks me.
-In my personal opinion, the portrayal of grief was wonderful in this one and it made me cry, though many people might not resonate with it as much.
-Overall, I would highly recommend this one everyone and especially to fans of Kimi No Nawa, one of my all time fav films as it reminded me a lot about it!

Content warnings: Death of loved one, depiction of grief, car accident.

I received an arc from macmillian via netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This did not impact my review in any way

You’ve Reached Sam

So I have only heard good things about this book already and was so excited to be able to read it early. Grief hits us in different ways, and watching Julie just try and everyone saying oh she shouldn’t do it that way was infuriating. Fell in love with book after chapter one.

I have lost two family members this year. One in January, and one just yesterday (Writing this on August 21, 2021), I understand Julie and wanting to hold on. Loosing my aunt, and my boyfriends grandpa so quickly and just out of the blue is hard. I want to be able to talk to them, because I was not able to say goodbye to either of them.

5/5 stars. Can’t wait for everyone to read this.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this advance copy in exchange for my honest review!
This review was published to GoodReads and my blog on June 2!
Synopsis:
What would you do if you had the chance to talk to someone you love one more time? Julie’s life is perfectly on track. She’s got a loving boyfriend, plans to move after high school graduation, and all of it with the end in sight. Until Sam dies. Now Julie has no idea what to do, she feels lost, blaming herself for his passing. She impulsively decides to pick up the phone to call him just to his the voice on his answering machine. Only, he picks up.
My Thoughts:
How cow, OW. I knew this book would hurt me, but wow did it HURT. The grief everyone was feeling felt so real. Even the ways the characters dealt with their grief felt believable. Sam was the golden child of his school. Everyone loved him, everyone couldn’t wait to see him succeed, and thus, everyone was upset at his passing. From his family to Julie, to his friends they all grieved differently.
The mean friends that blamed Julie felt believable to me. They’re HIGH SCHOOLERS. They’re mad and don’t know who to aim it at. His family becoming recessed felt way too real. And Julie. Oh, Julie, she made complete sense to me. I’ve seen some reviews say she was standoffish, whiny when Sam was alive, mean, couldn’t connect. But I thought it made sense. Julie just lost the person she loved most, but always felt was too good for her. So when she thinks back on things, obviously her brain is going to go to the scenes where she wasn’t the nicest or was snarky by Sam knew how to get past it. She blames herself for his death, so the amount of anger she has for herself and her memories are going to make anyone annoyed with her. But I loved it so much.
This is definitely a character-driven story, the plot is very little and slow-moving. You get a play-by-play of Julie’s day while she tries to navigate grief and being able to still talk to Sam. She tried to move on but is afraid he will hate her, and that she’s not doing him justice. This is a book I think all young adults/teenagers should read (older people too obviously, but teenagers tend to not understand grief). It will show them that there is no wrong way to grieve and that as long as you’re there for each other you’ll get through it. Even Julie had to learn that lesson through Sam, but she realized how important it was for her to be there for her friends, Mika especially. Through her friends is also how she was able to move on from Sam’s death, and try to live a happy life. It was all so good it hurt.
I think my favorite part was the ending. It felt abrupt, and at first, I tried to strong-arm it. If I didn’t accept it, it wasn’t happening. I wanted more paged that built up to the end, but then I realized again it was realistic. You don’t slowly realize you’re ready to move on. It comes abruptly one day. One day you wake up and realize it’s time, and there’s no use fighting it anymore. And that’s what this book did. The last day was fast and believable, and hard. But it happened, and everyone can still remember who Sam was while also living for him by being happy.
Would I recommend?
YES. I mentioned above I think all young adults/teenagers should read this. Grief is a hard thing to experience, and even harder to understand if you’ve never been through it. This book goes through it all and shows all the sides, while still staying hopeful. A feat that is not easily met. I could go on and on, but YES PLEASE read this!