[ 2,5/5 stars ]

The premise intrigued me however unfortunately this book didn't live up to my expectations.

It story is mainly about Julie's journey of moving on from (her boyfriend) Sam's death. The main issue for me was the uneven pacing -nothing happened until the last 15% when the plot becomes more meaningful and we get to see her growth as a character.
I wasn't invested in the story nor the characters up to the ending when there are some emotional moments that I would like to share, besides the theme of grief is explored in a balanced way. I think this story needed a better editing.

This book was so sad I can't belive i finished it 😢 😔, and the fact this was the authors debut novel which is so shocking, I live this book so much

When I got an ARC of “You’ve Reached Sam” I had a lot of mixed feelings. On the one hand I was looking forward to read this book because I was very intrigued by the concept and the idea of being able to talk to your loved one even if the person is already dead, but on the other hand I was also worried because I was pretty certain this would hit close to home. I won’t go into detail here but suffice it to say Julie and I have way more in common than I’d like to admit.

This said “You’ve Reached Sam” had the potential to be a great book and in some ways it was, but in others it unfortunately didn’t live up to my expectations. There were a lot of things I liked about this book, like for instance the realistic portrayal of the different ways to grieve. Everyone is different and therefore everyone grieves differently. There’s not just one way to grieve, there are about a million. Some people might throw away the things of their loved ones because they can’t stand to look at them, others might collect every little item that had to do with them and cherish it for the rest of their lives. Some might withdraw from the world and others will decide to live life to its fullest. Everyone is affected differently and every person tries to cope as best as they can. There’s no right way to grieve and I loved that Thao gave us multiple reps and ensured that this was addressed. It was a very realistic approach and I’m thankful for it!

Another thing I liked was that we had an Asian rep in here and that it was done nicely. It’s rare to come across Asian reps in books but Thao provided us with a couple of Asian characters and I’ll always be happy about that! =) The portrayal of the character cast’s healing process was great as well and I loved some of the metaphors that were hidden throughout the book. In many ways this was an easily readable book that kept my attention until the end.

Still, there were some things that didn’t work for me, one of them the simple fact that the storyline began one week after Sam’s death. For me this was way too early and yes, you can criticize me for this statement all you want, but I think it made the entire story less believable. A lot of the characters were already at a point you only reach after a couple of weeks or months have passed, so for me this resulted in the fact that the timing was totally off. There are seven stages of grief and Julie was already at 3 and 4 when the book began. Mind you, we’re talking one week after Sam’s death. Some people might take that at face value and it’s okay if they do, but as a person who basically went through the same thing Julie did, this felt wrong to me. A week after almost everyone is still at stage 1 and to be honest some remain at that stage for a couple of weeks or even longer. (I’m no psychiatrist, I only speak from personal experience here.)

So for me, personally, the timing was off. There were a lot of things about Julie’s behaviour I couldn’t relate to and I’m sure if some time would have passed between Sam’s death and her actions everything would have been more realistic. Maybe due to that the story didn’t hit me as hard as I thought it would. This had all the makings to cause me to cry into my tissues but instead of crying my eyes out I found myself kind of emotionally detached. I had the feeling the entire story was just touched at the surface; that we got to see the tip of the iceberg but that we never got deeper than that. Of course this could also be an “it’s me not the book thing” but I guess we’ll never know.

All told, “You’ve Reached Sam” is still a great book with a diverse character cast and a lot of different and well done grief representations. This book might not have had the impact I expected it to have, but that doesn’t mean that it wasn’t good. Thao’s writing style isn’t only effortless but also easy to read and I’m definitely looking forward to read his next book. For a debut novel this was actually pretty good.

This book is about Julie, the main character, going on a journey of grieving and accepting Sam's death and arguably most importantly, learning how to let go.
What drew me into this book first was the stunning cover design, which I fell in love with instantly and right from the start, this promised to be a good book.
I can say I was not disappointed. The rhythm and feel of the story overall is just so beautiful and bittersweet as you are given pieces of flashbacks to moments Julie and Sam had together when he was alive, which in contrast to the present, where Sam no longer is alive, provides that extra piece of pain to an already poignant storyline.
I think what I loved most about this book was the realness of it all and how we got to see a variety of characters and how they coped with Sam's death.
Personally the only gripe I really have with this book is that the ending felt a little rushed.
But overall, I definitely would recommend this book to someone looking for a quick, but beautifully sad read.

You’ve Reach Sam was a debut that packs quite an emotional punch. Unfortunately, despite its potential it just doesn’t captivate me emotionally or plot-wise.

I’m not going to lie, I am pretty disappointed that I didn’t like it as much as I thought I would. The blurb sounds like such a fantastic book and I have actually been enjoying (if you can enjoy a book about grief, ha) books that center around grief as I deal with my own. My biggest issue for this one lies with the characters.

Julie is dealing with the loss of her boyfriend and it’s been rough when you blame yourself and seclude away from the outside world. I understand the guilt of feeling like something could have been different. I’ve been there numerous times. I understand her grief and wanting to be able to say one last goodbye and hear their voice once again. The problem is I couldn’t connect with her beyond that and felt she was a bit selfish when it came to her friends. I also didn’t totally feel for her story either. It’s easy to understand her actions but it wasn’t easy to feel the emotions I know I should have when it comes to a story about grief. I honestly don’t even know if this is making sense, heh.

The other characters were fine but again, there was just no emotional connection. There was nothing that left me wanting to continuously read.

Overall, it was okay/ fine. It’s another case of “it’s me, not you”. It’s written nicely and I know others will connect with it better than me. So maybe this will be an unpopular opinion.

Rating: 2.5

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book in exchange of a honest review!

"You've reached Sam" presents a raw and heart-clenching look at the depths of grief, and the different forms one can manifest it. Julie is struggling to deal with the loss of her boyfriend, Sam, and the consequential loss of a whole future they'd planned together. While I understand why many readers disliked Julie's behaviour during most of the book, for it was selfish and repetitive, I felt like the author did an excellent job in showing how grief can quicky turn into a vicious cycle that knock us down and doesn't let us get up. And how we can find support in the most obvious places, and the most unusual ones. This book is sweet, and sad, yet beautiful, and got me crying for a long time after I finished it.

The only "problem" I had with it was misplaced expectation. I don't know if it was the synopsis or the pitch (comparing it to Your Name), but contemporaries aren't my favorite, and I thought this book would have more science fiction elements than what I was given. Of course, this doesn't take away the glow of the book: like I said, it is a character-centered story about grief, and everything else is secondary.

Nonetheless, I very much recommend "You've reached Sam" for those who yearn for a sad and beautiful story about love and loss, intertwined. I am so happy it will be translated to my language this year, so I can make my friends read it and cry with me!

This was a very sweet novel about grief and learning to move on with life when everything falls apart. I liked the parallels that Thao created with Julie's connection to Sam and her missing connections to the rest of the world. Unfortunately, I personally felt a lack of connection to any of the characters and none of them were particularly sympathetic to me. At the beginning, Julie's character is not very likeable and in the end she becomes just tolerable. The emotional aspects of the plot was nicely developed for Julie as a protagonist. But it felt a bit like the Asian characters were just there to further her growth.

The idea of this book is such a cute one! But it ended up falling a bit short of the mark for me.

Maybe its because I lost my mom when I was in high school, but I really wanted a bit more. I totally connected with Julie at the start of the book. Her grief was very natural and similar to how I handled my own. However, I do not feel like the story showed her growth and how she dealt with her grief. The entire time period was too short. And really, it was all about prolonging her connection to Sam.

A lot of the moments at the end of the book are TELL and not SHOW and I think these are the scenes the book should have focused on. Her reconnecting with her mom, going with her friends to Seattle, graduation, maybe visiting Japan. Living life but still keeping Sam alive in her memories. We needed to see her do these things instead of telling us... and showing us how she is still holding on to Sam.

Also, some things didn't make sense to me (and not the idea of the phone calls, that is obvious) or didn't add to the story... such as how Sam's phone didn't need to be charged at the end after being in a box for weeks.

But, for someone who hasn't experienced loss, this is a good story to give an idea of how grief can affect someone. It just didn't focus on the aspects I was hoping it would.

First, thank you so much to Netgalley, Wednesday Books, and St. Martins for providing me a review copy in exchange for an honest review! There may be some minor spoilers below but nothing drastic!

Unfortunately, this fell completely flat for me- which was incredibly disappointing. You've Reached Sam was one of my most anticipated reads of 2021. While the premise was very promising, the execution didn't make it too far and left me completely unsatisfied and frankly, angry. The story follows a young woman named Julie who lost her boyfriend in a car accident and in one last moment of grief decides to call his cell phone number, and is shocked when he actually picks up the phone.

My problem mostly lied with the main character, Julie. I found pretty quickly that I REALLY disliked her and felt that a majority of her actions were selfish, unrealistic, and annoying. Regardless of the circumstances of the death of someone close to her, I don't feel like it's an excuse to act this way and felt really put off. She has these "daydreams" that seem bent in reality, but unfortunately make her look psychotic instead. There were also many interactions between characters that I felt were awkward and ridiculous and would literally never happen. Case in point: Julie has a sudden epiphany sometime in the book and just grabs her moms keys out of her hand says "make dad come and get you!" and just like peels out in her moms car going literally nowhere in particular? Finally, much of the dialogue was just... awkward, particularly towards the end of the novel. The novel was not tied up well, and left me extremely frustrated. There were no explanations, there were a lot of questions unanswered, and had probably one of the most unsatisfying endings I've ever read.

I will say, the beginning of the book was much more intriguing and more well-written. If the author had put the same effort into the ending I think I would be less upset. Unfortunately, I will not be recommending this novel or buying one for my classroom.

What a truly stunning novel. This is a wonderful debut novel that explores the depths of grief in a way that I had read before. The way the flashbacks into our main characters relationship with Sam was seamlessly woven into the current time line was brilliant. Can’t wait to pick up a final copy when this comes out!

Following a teenage girl who lost her boyfriend to a car accident and magically gained a final opportunity to speak to him through phone calls, the haunting premise of You’ve Reached Sam promised an emotionally devastating study of grief, loss, and letting go. While I appreciated its depiction of the different ways people grieve and cope, never shying away from what might not be the cleanest, most acceptable forms of grief, I unfortunately didn’t feel very connected to the story or emotionally affected by it. There is poignant, heartbreaking beauty to be found in this book, certainly, but this is a story that you feel all or nothing for—and unfortunately, it was erring on the side of nothing for me.

Julie was an interesting character to follow, and though I didn’t quite love her specifically, I did love what Thao explored with her. To me, it was not an issue that she was “unlikeable” or “annoying” as other readers might call her, because her story was about working through her grief in whatever forms it might have been, whether or not it was kind to herself or others. I thought her arc was a beautiful examination of learning how to hold on to people after they’ve gone, without holding them or herself back. The fact that Julie becomes a bit insensitive and prickly is a testament to the exceptional ways a loss of a loved one can affect people, especially when juxtaposed with how others grieve for Sam.

Sam, on the other hand, completely lacked dimension until the ending, perhaps because we only see him through the lens of Julie and her grief, so he was less of an actual, rounded person and more of a figure. Because Sam was not well-fleshed out, his relationship with Julie fell flat for me. I mostly didn’t feel that they truly loved each other to the extent that Julie was making it out to be, and sometimes I even thought that Julie had approached their relationship in an unhealthy way (before Sam’s death). And since their romance is the focal point of the story yet I felt no emotional connection to it, the entire book failed to make an impact on me. Most of the sadness I felt over You’ve Reached Sam was a result of the general concepts of death and grief being tragic, rather than Julie and Sam’s specific story being particularly sad to me. A loved one dying at such a young age is surely horrifying, but the specificities of Julie and Sam’s relationship didn’t make it any more emotionally devastating.

In fact, if you’re not emotionally invested in this book, you probably will not enjoy it, because the plot is a bit repetitive (and the beginning is particularly stagnant). Though Thao explores the relationships Julie has with other people, mainly those also affected by Sam’s death, this is more the story of Julie’s personal growth in relation to grief and letting go. And since I lacked a strong connection to the story most of the time, the book felt dragged out even though I knew the character development that was taking place. There really isn’t much else to latch on to as an uninvested reader—the writing leaves much to be desired with its clunkiness and lack of emotion at times, and though the other side characters are interesting, they aren’t given a lot of pagetime because of the focus on Julie’s arc.

You’ve Reached Sam is truly a book I feel will be either a complete hit or miss, depending on the extent of its emotional influence on you. Though I do love how it portrayed how many shapes someone’s grief can take, and I was touched by some heartbreaking scenes (especially the end), those were pretty much the only highlights for me and they were not enough to make up for the considerable indifference I felt over the majority of the book. I wouldn’t particularly encourage nor discourage reading this book, since I genuinely feel that it will be different for each person. But I think if you intimately know the impossible struggles of having to move on from and let go of a loved one, this might be a book you find a deep connection with. I, unfortunately, was unable to find that.

3.75, rounded up. I loved every bit of this except the fact that they talk on the phone after his death. I just can’t see students taking that seriously during book talks. However, I loved their love story and didn’t want it to end.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

You've Reached Sam is about young love, grieving, loss, a second chance goodbye, and learning to move forward. The story is from Julie's POV of the loss of her boyfriend and her process of grieving. Through her grieving, she decides to move on by throwing out all of Sam's things and her last thing to do was to give him a call not expecting him to answer of course but he does!

Dustin's debut novel is very well written and structured well. His flashbacks of Julie's time with Sam are beautiful and that is where he is at his best writing.

All the characters are a bit one-dimensional and Julie (main character) doesn't seem to have much character growth. For example, she notices some relationships with the important people in her life she should work on since she has neglected them, ghosted them, or being selfish for her own reasons. It seems hard to not judge Julie because everyone grieves in their own way but to repetitively acknowledge your own mistakes/shortcomings over and over again gets annoying hence her lack of character growth. Julie is an aspiring writer and for someone who is an amazing writer (according to Sam), she is terrible at communicating to the people that matter.

Out of all the characters I really enjoyed Mika and Sam the most. Mika for her insights on the Asian customs/culture on honoring and keeping your promises to people especially those who have passed and she's insightful for Julie. Sam for being so sweet and being patience with Julie in the first place.

There are some aspects to the story where it seems a bit of filler or doesn't seem to have any significance being in the story (aka Student Asian Club). Toward the end of the story is where my heart did ache for the loss of Sam. I didn't cry as anticipated and I'm actually a bit bummed about it. I was walking into this ready to have my heart ripped out however, it didn't hit its mark. I still think this book is very good for a debut novel and I strongly feel this is just the beginning for Dustin Thao. I look forward to seeing his next work and would recommend reading this book.

I'm going to be honest--I really wanted to love this book. I was excited to read something a little different from my norm and looked forward to a good cry. Unfortunately, that was not in the cards for me in this read. I found the main character to be extremely annoying; all of her decisions were extremely selfish and even if we allow some wiggle room considering the circumstances, I still don't like her or connect to her at all. In fact, I felt that way about all of the characters. In addition, I felt the ending was a bit rushed and wasn't really buying Sam's confession at the end. From what I know of his character, he would have said what he said to make Julie feel better...not because he actually meant it. There were a lot of possibilities for this book, and I'm most disappointed that it didn't really make me feel very much at all. I felt a bit of true emotion towards the end of the story as I finally pitied Julie and the loss of the one she loved most, but then it was ruined by the hasty ending as I mentioned above. I am giving this book a 2.5/5 star rating because even though I didn't care for it I did find it a slightly compelling read.

I'm normally a mystery/thriller reader, but I have a soft spot for YA romance. This book is on the heavier side, rather than light romance, due to death. However, this story is wonderful and definitely is a book any fan of YA needs to read.

Beautifully written story of love, loss, and second chances. This novel will break your heart and move you to tears. Character driven and evenly paced.

Thank you Dustin Thao and NetGalley for letting so many people read this one.
First of all, the cover its beautiful, nice work. I was happy to read a book that talks about the representantion of asian america.
For me was a good book right from the description. I read that one really fast and I think its because of the chapters (before/after). But that just happen after the chapter 3 because the beginning was a little bit confuse for me.
I wish I could read the book in Sam's vision, because in the most time of the story I felt more curious about his life than Julie. That probably happen because i didn't like her, i get it, she's deep in her grief and a lot of times its just about that. I really would like to know more about her, about her before everything happen. Make me feel that all her life was about Sam.
3,0! Its a cute book, Dustin Thao made a great job talking about such a hard topic with a lof of respect and heart breaking!

Thank you to Wednesday Books and NetGalley for this ARC!

You've Reached Sam is a touching and heartwrenching story. Right from the description I knew I would feel the heartbreak along with our main character, Julie. And let me tell you... I did.

This is a very character driven story, which allows you to really feel what Julie is thinking and empathize with her grief. I loved the addition of the flashbacks to before Sam's death. They added a lot to the depth, and I actually wish there were more of those chapters. Sam was such a great character.

There were so many beautiful moments, as well as beautiful quotes. Dustin Thao's writing made you feel as if you could see and experience the things our protaganist does. Watching Julie change and grow over the course of the novel was great. I loved watching her develop, perservere, and mend the relationships with the people around her. The themes of grief were dealt with so incredibly well.

Unfortunately, the one critique I had with the storyline was the vauge conditions around the calls with Sam. I wish this was dived into more, but it does not take anything away from the overall message of the story.

You've Reached Sam is a great read, but be warned, you may have to reach for some tissues!

I was so, so excited for this title both because of the pitch (IF I STAY meets YOUR NAME) and because of the Asian American representation! I read the pages with bated breath because I was scared that I wouldn't like it, and... I think it wasn't the book I hoped it would be.

The prose in this story was lyrical and there was such sense of place! I really felt the small townness and rain and bone-deep dreariness of it all.

The first chapters with the montage scenes was confusing and a little disorienting. That immediately made it hard to get into the story. I understand that it kind of built this atmosphere that was mystical and magical and shrouded in fog (like Washington state), but I don't think it was done in a way that was quite necessary. It tried to imitate how a movie montage would look, but I feel like with written scenes, it just didn't seem as mystical or nostalgic. It just caused a lot of confusion and detracted from me trying to orient myself in the story.

Additionally, I think a lot of the book hinged upon whether or not Sam and Julie's romance was believable. And I... just didn't really FEEL anything for them. It's so hard to make a reader fall in love with a character who is already dead when the story starts, and I felt that with Sam. I really wanted to root for them and their romance, but I couldn't quite understand why they were together (and for so long!) in the first place.

Dustin Thao writes grief really well. In a way that made you feel the weight of it when you read the book. But I think Julie is so deep in her grief, and perpetually in her grief, it was hard to figure out who she was outside of it, which made it feel like she wasn't a fully fleshed out character, even though she's the protagonist of this story.