This book broke me. It killed me. It shattered my soul and heart.
I cried the whole time, it was so beautifully written.
It talks about grief, about the loss of a lover at a young age and how difficult it is to get through it when the only person who could help you isn't here anymore.
I loved Julie and Sam's connection and I loved seeing Julie slowly accepting everything that happened.
This book was so good, I'm going to tell everyone to read it once it comes out!

4,5/5

(A huge thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s press for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review)

"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 tem seu futuro planejado junto de seu namorado, Sam. Mas com sua inesperada morte, tudo muda. De coração partido, Julie tenta em meio ao luto esquecê-lo, e numa última tentativa liga para o telefone dele. E ele atende.

You've Reached Sam era um livro que eu tinha certeza que iria mexer comigo, e acertei na mosca. Que montanha-russa de emoções; quantas reflexões trazidas sobre o luto e a possibilidade de se ter uma segunda chance de se despedir daqueles que amamos, mas que já partiram; quantas lágrimas derrubadas (essas eu perdi a conta). Meu coração saiu esmigalhado dessa leitura, mas inspirado a mudar um pouco o jeito que levo a vida.

Não é de hoje que escutamos que 'a gente nunca sabe o dia de amanhã', e pra Julie isso foi um baque. Ter perdido o namorado tão subitamente numa noite, carregar junto do luto (tão difícil quando se trata de alguém que a gente ama) uma pontada de sentimento de culpa, não é nada fácil. Julie fica reclusa, tentando não aceitar o fato da morte do amado. Não sai do quarto (por vezes até da cama) por nada, não comparece ao funeral de Sam, não visita os pais dele, não vai à escola. Tudo numa tentativa (frustrada) de escapar daquela realidade. E como o autor soube fazer isso construindo aos poucos a tridimensionalidade da Julie! É uma personagem repleta de camadas, que aos poucos vão sendo retiradas e mostrando a essência de quem ela é. Impressionante.

Sinto que peguei muitas das nuances e mensagens que o Dustin quis trazer nessa história, e isso foi demais. A questão das ligações, do ruído que surge às vezes, do suporte que o Sam dá à Julie nesse momento, e como tudo no fim se liga a uma mensagem de que, eventualmente, a gente precisa seguir em frente. O sentimento de luto, não só da Julie, mas de outros personagens, exala pra fora das páginas. É descrito de uma forma tão genuína, natural, que você mesmo se pega de luto pelo Sam. Tirei muitos análogos meus de formas como lidei pessoalmente o luto e o que Dustin faz aqui é poético.

Apesar de me deixar num descontrole emocional e aos prantos em alguns momentos, admito que o livro tem sim algumas falhas. Primeiro, sinto que os personagens secundários em alguns momentos demonstram alguma relevância pro enredo, mas o desenvolvimento deles foi bem raso, e em alguns momentos fiquei duvidando/questionando as motivações deles (dando 2 exemplos de personagens, Tristan e Taylor). Segundo, o autor em alguns momentos quis reforçar a importância de um fato no enredo pelos questionamentos da Julie. Mas tiveram 2 fatos em específico (que não citarei pois obviamente é um spoiler) que ele quis enfatizar por meio de repetição, e isso me irritou um pouco. Por exemplo, um mesmo fato ocorrer 3 vezes e ela fazer o mesmo questionamento 3 vezes (e até que num intervalo curto de páginas), me pareceu um pouco preguiçoso.

Sem mais a falar, apenas reforço que vocês leiam esse livro quando sair em novembro! Mas preparem os corações e deixem a caixa de lencinhos do lado.

4.5/5 — when i say i cried the whole book, i’m not even exaggerating. i’m the type to steer away from books with death tropes and goodbyes because i’m not the type of person who can brave through those moments/scenes (that’s on trauma) but this book made the exemption, and i’m glad i read it. the transitions from scene to scene and the world was just so vivid in my head that i could see everything so clearly. there were plot holes and things that didn’t make sense to me by the end of the book that i wish were addressed — like how they were able to stay connected through the phone and the things sam had to go through to be able to stay and talk with julie — but even so, how it ended and the message of it all was really beautiful.

people deal with death so differently, but the way julie dealt with sam’s hit so close to home. i guess if someone hasn’t experienced the earth-shattering feeling of losing someone so important to you so suddenly, and hasn’t gone through the same destructive behaviour to cope like with julie, they would find themselves not liking her character at first but that really is the thing with grief, isn’t it? it can turn people into selfish beings and sometimes, it’s hard to get back from it because it means letting go when you don’t want to.

you’ve reached sam is a beautiful debut from dustin thao and i can’t wait to see all the other stories he has to share with us (and get a physical copy of this book).

thank you to netgalley for the arc.

I ABSOLUTELY POSITIVELY LOVED THIS BOOK. I wasn't quite sure what to expect in the beginning and it was somewhat hard to follow at certain points. But I felt every emotion possible while reading this. And I would highly recommend this book to everyone!

You've Reached Sam is such a beautiful (and sad) book. I cried throughout the entire book and it is now one of my favorites. I was instantly drawn to the characters, Thao did a great job in bringing the characters to life. This is the first book that I've read that deals with the characters grieving and how they process it. I think the author did a really good job at showing how Julie and Mika are grieving and how it affects them.
I think this book will be a good addition to my classroom library this fall.

loss is hard enough ready, but losing the one person whom you expected to spend the entirety of your life with only makes it a thousand times worse.

the writing of this novel was absolutely stunning. every time a memory or a daydream of sam and julie was brought up, i felt a pang in my heart that continued to grow and grow until sam left his voicemail, and my heart exploded. many years were shed.

this novel made me realize i need to make more memories with those i’ve loved, and that i need to cherish them more.

the only reason i’m giving this novel 3 stars is because of how repetitive a lot of the conversations julie had with others were. everytime it happened, my feelings towards this book disappeared and i could only focus on the negative.

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Trigger warnings: death, grief

Seventeen-year-old Julie has her future all planned out—move out of her small town with her boyfriend Sam, attend college in the city, spend a summer in Japan. But then Sam dies. And everything changes. Heartbroken, Julie skips his funeral, throws out his things, and tries everything to forget him and the tragic way he died. But a message Sam left behind in her yearbook forces back memories. Desperate to hear his voice one more time, Julie calls Sam’s cellphone just to listen to his voicemail.
And Sam picks up the phone.
In a miraculous turn of events, Julie’s been given a second chance at goodbye. The connection is temporary. But hearing Sam’s voice makes her fall for him all over again, and with each call it becomes harder to let him go. However, keeping her otherworldly calls with Sam a secret isn’t easy, especially when Julie witnesses the suffering Sam’s family is going through. Unable to stand by the sidelines and watch their shared loved ones in pain, Julie is torn between spilling the truth about her calls with Sam and risking their connection and losing him forever.

Julie’s grief is palpable and relatable on many levels. As a teenager planning out her future, it’s already a stressful time. Have her love die suddenly and have the future they planned together ripped away ... life will seem almost impossible. I really appreciated that we saw Julie on her ups and downs. Grief, sadness, affects everyone differently and it isn’t something that’s constantly there. There’s always the possibility of a smile, of a laugh or that moment of forgetting what’s happened. Then it hits again, knocking you back. For Julie, talking to Sam was that lifeline in a storm and it was almost difficult to read because it felt so real.

I’m not ashamed to admit that this book made me VERY emotional throughout. I was already crying at the end of chapter one which proves what an emotive book this is. And oh lordy did I bawl like a baby at that ending - ugly snotty tears. Thao’s writing at times felt a little simple but it made sense - in times of grief, our thoughts are stilted, they don’t flow in the normal ways. I’ve personally never experienced a loss that I remember but I do remember how I felt when I almost lost my baby sister when she had brain surgery. I can remember the feeling of hopelessness and emptiness when I found out she was in the ICU hundreds of miles away because she stopped breathing again. Events like that stay with you, they leave an impression - just like the impact death has. The idea of Julie being able to talk to Sam on the phone after his death is something many have contemplated. What would you say to someone who’s passed? What do you wish you could’ve told them before they went? Thao certainly knocked it out the park with this one. I feel I have very few words to describe just how brilliant, engaging and utterly emotional this book is.

Overall, You’ve Reached Sam is a beautiful and heartbreaking story that reminds you to live every day to the fullest.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Thank you again to NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for an advanced copy of this book. Review will be live on my blog on release day - can be changed if asked.

You've Reached Sam is a story about grief, loss and prolonging to say goodbye to a loved one. It has been way too long since I read a book that has impacted me so much emotionally that it made me cry so hard. It really is such a beautiful story but so painful at the same time and this book deserves all the hype.

Everything about this book is utterly beautiful and heartbreaking. I think pretty much everyone can predict what will happen at the end yet somehow I was still caught off guard. It was the at the last chapter when something unexpectedly happen that I was just begging everything to burst free. I didn't expect the tears to flow so freely which is so unlike me. I mean, I was warned but I wanted to experience myself first but they were right after all. It totally made my heart break into a million pieces.

There's just something about the author's writing style that I find so remarkable. The plot is not something new and not that out of the ordinary yet it is such an amazing read. I would totally want to experience it firsthand all over again where I didn't know what awaits ahead of me.

I wouldn't want anything changed at all with this book. It is absolutely perfect as it is and I read an advanced and unfinalised copy. I am definitely going to read it again once it comes out in November and see if anything changed but I really hope it will remain as it is.

I am undoubtedly going to be screaming this book to everyone and shove this book in everyone's faces. I cannot recommend this book enough and make sure to prepare yourselves with tissues because it is a hundred percent will make you cry.

I haven't read a book that devastated me like this for so long. I don't know how Dustin Thao did it but he just wrecked me with this book. A more coherent book review will be updated soon!

4.5 stars.

Full disclosure; I'm still crying as I write this so I'm just going to have to hope for the best when it comes to typos and general coherency.
First up, what drew me to this book was the mindblowingly beautiful cover - I mean do you see that?? Gorgeous. When I downloaded the ARC yesterday I ran to show my Mum and gush about the cover to her. I am ridiculously relieved that I enjoyed it so much because that means I can buy a physical copy in November and then I'll be able to look at it in my hands whenever I want. This is very good.
Anyway, I should probably move on to the actual book content now.
I have to say, I found the opening of this book kind of jarring to read. It was switching through Julie's memories with Sam and I became quite confused as I did not really know what was going on. This did not last long as I adjusted to the writing and I had no problems later in the book when Julie cycled through her memories.
To be honest, this is not generally a book I would pick up. I tend to like happy books, and while I have read books I know will be sad and I have enjoyed them, it is not something I really look for when deciding what to read. But honestly I am starting to think I need to reevaluate my wariness towards sad books. You've Reached Sam is a book primarily about grief, and there is something really wonderful about reading a book about grief and being able to see the protagonist healing from that grief. Julie's whole life is turned around when her boyfriend, Sam, dies and suddenly the future she had been planning goes up in smoke. Watching Julie come to terms with Sam's death was difficult, but also, by the end of the story, really kind of uplifting. And Sam. Sam. Oh my god. I just wanted to wrap him up in a blanket and give him some hot chocolate. He is one of the sweetest characters ever, which only made the book that much more heartbreaking to read.
I also loved the friendships in this book and I would very gladly read another book about Mika or Oliver or Yuki or Jay or Tristan or really just anyone. And there was something about the writing that made it so easy for me to vividly imagine all of the characters and the settings more so than normal. Plus, I really liked the whole magical realism aspect with the phone calls between Sam and Julie and wow that voicemail at the end completely wrecked me. I am going to be reeling from this book for days.
Even if you don't generally go for sad books, please read You've Reached Sam - this recommendation coming from someone who doesn't generally read sad books because she knows she'll cry her eyes out. It was worth it.

"You've Reached Sam" is a sweet, emotional story about Julie, a girl whose boyfriend with whom she'd made plans for the future with just died, and her dealings with the grief she's left with afterward. On a particularly hard night, she calls him, and he answers. They create routine phone calls and Julie continues to distance herself from others without realizing it. Throughout the book she slowly eases back into real life and gets thrown a lot of realistic curveballs, while never really letting Sam go.

I enjoyed the storyline, but I wish we got to find out how everything worked. The ending offered some resolution emotionally, but left me wanting a little more explanation. Throughout the book we are left to just trust Sam in that phone calls might be affected by telling others or other outside events. I liked that there were scenes from before Sam's death to give us a better sense of their relationship and who he was, and the character development was good with Julie and many of the other characters. 3.5 stars rounded up.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley and Wednesday Books for providing me with an e-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I’m not a religious person, but Holy Mother of God. Jesus f*cking Christ. This book...it hurt in all the best possible ways. I realized quickly that it was a big mistake to read it in public, as I was already choking back tears during chapter one.

You’ve Reached Sam by Dustin Thao is unlike any other contemporary romance I’ve read before. It’s new, it’s original, it’s absolutely devastating. Thao utilizes and weaponizes emotion so effectively that even now, as I write this, I’m still crying. It’s wonderful.

The main characters, Julie and Sam, were fleshed out and captivating, and the story was deliciously heartbreaking. Every phone call between Julie and Sam, who had died in a car crash a week before chapter one, felt like a knife had been stabbed into my chest, ruthlessly twisting as to inflict maximum amounts of pain.

And don’t get me started on the imagery. The book is brought to life by images of cherry blossom petals and fields of barley, the sounds of soft rock music and quiet laughter echoing in childhood bedrooms. It’s breathtaking.

You’ve Reached Sam is a story about love and loss and grief and acceptance. It’s romantic, but terribly morose, an unfortunate ending to a beautiful first love.

If you want to hear more book reviews by me, check out my YouTube channel, Lipstick & Literature!

It’s been two months since I finished You’ve Reached Sam, and it’s a book that has stayed with me since. I think about this book almost every other day. You’ve Reached Sam is a story that confronts grief in its most intense and most painful and yet, though I was a sobbing, snotty mess by the end of the book, its tender and genuine portrayal of love in its most pure form was also unexpectedly healing.

You’ve Reached Sam follows Julie, a white teen who endures the unthinkable: her love of her life, Sam, a Japanese-American teen, dies unexpectedly and suddenly in a car accident. Heartbroken, Julie struggles to accept his death and her grief. But when she calls his voicemail one day, just to hear his voice one more time, the unthinkable happens again: he picks up. Now connected to Sam in mysterious ways, she is able to talk to him, confide in him like she used to. However, the connection is temporary, and Julie will have to find a way to move on and say goodbye.

One of my greatest and most intense fears is losing someone that I love. You’ve Reached Sam is that fear in book form. For this reason, You’ve Reached Sam reads very personally to me; I felt, through the storytelling and the emotions conveyed by Julie, that this book genuinely understood that fear and confronts it unflinchingly, unafraid to show the unfiltered grief and devastation that follows. The story also depicts the moments of happiness and joy that Sam and Julie shared, making the story all the more painful and heart-aching. (Thanks, Dustin.) It portrays the insurmountable task of moving on from a love so great and so pure that you know, deep in your bones, that you will never find something close to it ever again. If given the chance to speak to someone you love and who you could, in reality, ever speak to again, would you take that chance? (Personally, I would, without hesitation.)

Unsurprisingly, You’ve Reached Sam is a poignant and heartbreaking portrayal and exploration of the throes of grief. It is not a how-to or a rulebook of how to overcome grief. Grief in this book isn’t like the arbitrary and flawed five-stages of grief model that follows a methodological lock-step way. Grief in You’ve Reached Sam is messy; it is cruel and unforgiving and painful. Julie, the protagonist of this story, is not a protagonist that people who enjoy neat and ‘logical’ characters will like. I enjoyed You’ve Reached Sam because Julie was the opposite of that; she was a character whose grieving I related to – pain upon pain upon pain, in constant flux, a refusal to let go or to face grief. Because the truth is, grieving is confusing and painful and desperate and non-linear. I liked that You’ve Reached Sam depicts this fraught process, even if it is uncomfortable and frustrating.
In tandem to its portrayal of grief, You’ve Reached Sam is about how we find a way to move on. At the beginning of the book – and after Julie makes a connection with Sam – moving on feels impossible. How can you move on from the person who love, when he is gone but isn’t really quite gone yet? What You’ve Reached Sam and the story slowly shows is that the impossible task of moving on is ultimately possible – it is taking things day by day, finding your feet, and sharing the burden of grief with others. I liked that the story shows how grief makes everything feel tenuous and shaky, and how it can also affect the relationships that we have with others – for good or bad. I really loved how the story explored this; that connections are never really broken, that fractured connections can be made anew and made stronger.

You’ve Reached Sam has been notably compared to one of Dustin and I’s favourite movies in the world, Your Name (Kimi no na Wa). Though the stories are very different thematically, they do share some elements. Most distinctly, both You’ve Reached Sam and Your Name have fantastical elements; the magical connection that Julie and Sam have is similar to that we see in Your Name. I think a beautiful part of this book is that there really isn’t an explanation as to how Julie and Sam are connected; it’s not about the how, but about the why. The impossible connection blurs fantasy and real, underpinning their close and intense bond and therefore offers a great device that explores the complexities of grief and letting go.

Emotional, evocative, and a vulnerable portrayal of grief and moving on, You’ve Reached Sam will leave its mark upon hearts and tearducts everywhere. I loved this book; I felt its tenderness, its pain, and its daring hope. Do yourself a favour and pre-order this book – and maybe also buy yourself some tissues and a pillow to hug for the aftermath as well.

This book wrecked me. Like, full-on, ugly-crying, clutching-the-tissues-in-my-hand wrecked. I loved this book so much.
Julie was so real and so so human and her grief was so raw and relatable, it took everything in me not to cry every time I picked it up. I have lost close family members and can say that the grief in this book is so raw and real it made me feel like I was right back in those first few days after they died. The numbness, the anger, the regret, they were all there and so perfectly done. The calls she has with Sam, it all brought back so many painful memories which for me just added more power to the story telling.
I loved it so, so much, this was an incredibly emotional and beautiful.

ARC kindly provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I was taken away by the emotional draw to this book. It was well written and I loved the theme about speaking to the one you loved again. What would you do if you had another chance?

I love the way Thao handles the issues of grief in a way that feels real. Sometimes books that tackle difficult topics feel a little melodramatic or emotionally manipulative, but You've Reached Sam is an exploration of loss that feels genuine. It has the same vibes as Kimi no Na Wa/Your Name and PS I Love You. I really enjoyed the way the story unfolded and loved the supporting cast.

Two things that didn't work for me: I was more invested in the story than in Julie as a character, and I wish the story as a whole had more depth and the cast had been more developed. It was over too quickly, and it seemed like we were just scraping the surface of an amazing story. If it'd been developed a bit more, it would've been even more spectacular.

From chapter one, You've Reached Sam had plucked out my heart strings and played them like a violin. There's so much love, grief and relatable raw emotion poured onto these pages, blended together with seamless talent. Pacing, character development, writing style and world building were great. I was engaged and invested throughout the entire story. My heart cried, sang and melted. 4.5 stars (would have been 5 but my reason is a spoiler), and a new author to keep an eye out for. Thank you to NetGalley for providing a copy. This is my honest and heartfelt review.

This was a really beautiful, heavy, hard hitting read. The pacing and character development were engaging and kept me interested in the book the entire time.

Emotional read, be prepared with tissues when reading!! Heartbreakingly sweet and riveting. I normally don't read romance but this YA novel was a good start into the genre in my opinion. The love story felt well balanced- there were also other themes to go along. The way grief was written was so powerful. As much as it does hurt to read it as high points, such as seeing Julie find ways to cope that are healthy. The character development was wonderful!!

Overall, this is an sad romance that fans of the genre will love!!

Thank you to Netgalley for an eARC copy of You've Called Sam!

This was a beautiful, powerful, heartwrenching tale. It pulled me along with the characters ever step, their highs, their lows. So powerful. So glad I picked it up.