Are you looking for a book that is going to make you sad and possibly reflective for days on end? Do you want your heart wrenched out of your chest?

Well do I have the book for you! This book.

Julie's life was drastically altered when her boyfriend Sam dies. A year after her death she still seems to be frozen in time. Grief (and maybe a little denial kept her from attending his funeral. And a year later, it's the same feelings that keeps her from visiting his grave with her friend.

So when Julie impulsively phones his number just to hear his voice via his voicemail, she's shocked when he picks up. He can't tell her how it came to be or where he is (let's just call it the after life), but he desperately wanted a chance for them to say a proper goodbye. Obviously Julie isn't ready to do this so Sam tells her that they don't have to say goodbye until she's ready.

If this ever happened to me I honesty think I'd be with Julie and just start crying in a cafe too because I can only imagine how it would feel after a year of not having someone in your life, because they're dead, to be able to talk with them again. Would you say your proper goodbye there and then? I think I would. Mostly because I don't think I could handle talking to someone I know I have to let go of at some point.

Julie, however, keeps talking to him and basically tears that wound open and keeps it fresh all while debating if she should reveal her secret to other people and risk that precious connection she has with him. Though it seems to be more of a 'if you have a deep gash in your leg the doctor's keep it open in order to force the body to fill in that hole with some new tissue and not have it develop a major and dangerous blood clot' type deal for Julie. With Sam's help, she does make some progress on moving forward and opening up a little to those around her after more than a year of pretty much shutting them out and disassociating due to the trauma of losing Sam so suddenly. Disassociation is a very real thing people.

So, if you are looking for an emotional read that will exquisitely drag you down into the dumps of the feels (because let's be honest, every now and then most of us wants to read one of those books) this is probably the book for you. Just be warned that the pace is fairly slow, as it should be when reading about a young woman in the throws of grief. That ending though...maybe grab some tissues.

Some things to note as possible triggers: Grief, Death of a Loved One, Depression, Bullying

A HUGE thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and Dustin Thao for sending me an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Wow. I was immediately intrigued when I saw the cover for this book, and then after reading the synopsis I knew I had to read it. This book was right up my alley, everything I'd hoped for and then some.

This book was so heartbreakingly beautiful. This book is for anyone who's lost someone and never got their chance to say goodbye, or just anyone who's ever grieved over someone.

Julie's character was so raw and real, and I loved that Thao did such a great job touching on how everyone's grieving process is different. Everyone deals with death and loss differently, and I loved how that was shown throughout, with Julie, his friends, his family, and those whose lives Sam touched.

As someone who's lost a very close friend in a car accident, this book definitely hit home and I cried endlessly throughout this book. It hurt so good, and I will say that this book is not for the faint of heart, it's very emotional and heavy, and deals with a lot of raw emotion.

Thank you Net Galley for an ARC of You've Reached Sam. This is a young adult romance. Julie and Sam are still in Highschool when Sam suddenly dies. Julie starts communicating with him on her phone, Giving them both a chance to say goodbye. Three stars.

It's been a while since I've cried while reading a book. You've Reached Sam left me heartbroken. Dustin Thao's style in writing is articulate and the opposite of boring. He wrote words that would effectively pull the heartstrings of the readers. I love the way he wrote his characters. Sam and Julie feel like real people that you know, that you've met because of the way you feel about them. Thao didn't make them unrealistic. His portrayal of grief and vulnerability is on-point. This book would make you feel sad, heartbroken, happy, and hopeful. Hopeful, not because you'd hope that Sam would magically come back, but because you would feel that hope in you as you go down the book that Julie and Sam would get their 'closure' and would get to move forward. Also, I love that he emphasizes the misconception of moving on, that 'moving on' means 'forgetting' that person. I really applaud him on that part because moving on isn't forgetting about that person and your memories of them. Instead, moving on should be moving forward all the while still thinking about that person from time to time and remember them as they are.

Dustin Thao is a genius for writing this masterpiece. I anticipate to read more of his future works. :)

You’re Reached Sam- hydrate thoroughly before reading this, because you will definitely be sobbing! If you enjoyed the film Your Name then you’ll want to pick this book up. I was immediately drawn in by the gorgeous cover. Julie is a high school student abruptly heartbroken when her boyfriend Sam dies in a tragic accident. Julie wrestles with her grief and sadness, desperately missing Sam and struggling to process her feelings. When she calls Sam’s phone simply to hear his voicemail message, Sam answers. I don’t want to say too much more, I’d rather just place a copy in your hand!

You’ve Reached Sam felt so visceral and real. Sam and Julie extend a hand to everyone who has ever had a loss in their life that they felt they could never move on from. You’ve Reached Sam filled me with nostalgia, joy, and sadness. Thao imparts bittersweet, poignant lessons about grief. The prose conveys the sense of watching a vibrant movie, with sweeping emotion and crescendos. If you’re the type of reader who would like to be curled into a ball by the end of a book, sobbing, screaming “my emotions!!” then you must check this out! You’ll be very glad you did. I absolutely recommend this heartfelt and moving story about grief and love. I’m excited to see what Dustin Thao writes next! You’ve Reached Sam releases November 2, 2021. Thank you so much to Dustin Thao, Wednesday Books, and Netgalley for a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was a really beautiful story about loss, heartbreak, love, healing, friendship and moving on. I loved the aspect of Sam answering the phone and the flashbacks we got so we could see their relationship, how they met and their dreams. It was really sad and heartbreaking to read it, but the growth the character went through was realistic and it made sense. I also loved the epilogue, because it added to the story and I could imagine Julie's life after the book.

Unfortunately, I had to DNF this

I wouldn't usually rate a DNF and this one is lower than 3 stars for me but since it's not even out yet, in giving it the middle rating.

I really didn't like this. It has nothing to with the representation of grief and everything to do with the characters' personalities and more specifically Julie. It's not a matter of her dealing with her grief bc she was exactly the same in the flashbacks. If I can't connect to the character, whose story I'm reading, I just can't care about anything that's happening to them.

I'm very disappointed that I couldn't continue with this book since I really wanted to enjoy it. It's not bad, it just didn't work for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for providing me with an eARC of this book in exchange for this honest review.

4.5*

This book had me hooked from the beginning. I was a little bit confused with the time jumps but that's what kept me reading. Going into the book I knew there was a chance I would cry, and I did. A lot. It was just so emotional. I really loved Julie's character and adored Sam's character. One moment that put a massive smile on my face was when two of the characters went to the movie theatre to see a musical, "Little Shop of Horrors", which also happens to be my favourite musical. The story ended nicely and left me a blubbering mess.

What I will say though, is that some of the characters felt a bit flat, it felt like they were just there and added nothing to the story. The situation with Julie's mom was kind of addressed then forgotten about, it threw me off guard whenever it was mentioned because I kept forgetting about it. The story would have been the same if it was left out, or, maybe more interesting if it was developed a bit more. I do appreciate the authors for adding it in and can see where they might have gone with it.

To round up, this was a nice read, I read it in a couple of sittings (I probably would have read it in one sitting if I'd started it earlier in the day). It's a cute YA contemporary, I'm usually not one for contemporaries and usually find them to be sub-par but "You've Reached Sam" met or exceeded all of my expectations making me excited for more books that this author has to offer!

Oh my heart. This has to be one of the best YA books I've read in a very long time. I knew from the description that it would be heart wrenching, but getting to know the characters and exploring their relationships made it hurt so much worse than I was anticipating. The writing is tender and filled with emotion, and the way Thao captures grief is stunning. Highly recommend but go in knowing that it will be painful!

4.5 stars rounded up *may change

"In his death, Sam asked for only one thing, and that was for us to remember each other. Yet here I am trying so hard to forget."

'You've Reached Sam' is both a moving story about dealing with the worst kind of loss that gives you hope and a heartbreaking tale of grief that breaks you apart.

This book is nothing that I could have anticipated. The premise of talking to one's dead boyfriend seemed sad on its own, but the reality of it—along with watching a grief-stricken person ruin their own life through an unhealthy coping mechanism while you know it cannot possibly last—is so much worse. You're left to witness the memories of what life once was, the visions of what it could have been, and the stark reality of what it is. There's no breathing room. This book chokes the air out of your lungs through every character interaction and every phone call you're forced to observe and it is wonderful.

I consider myself someone who cries easily, but I did not expect the first quarter of this book alone to make me sob twice. I did not expect that the ending would leave me with a wet t-shirt and red eyes as I struggled to breathe in deeply. I did not expect I would begin to cry while writing this review. Every moment is an agonizing second you spend waiting for it to end. Waiting for Julie to find her peace. Waiting with questions about how this is possible. But none of those questions really matter.

Julie's conversations with Sam are shockingly awful to sit through. I expected that they might be a bit therapeutic. Talking to a loved one again after their death sounds to me like something that one would cherish—something that would bring them more joy and reconciliation. Instead, their conversations were agonizingly painful. Their words bit and gnawed at me, propelling the story in such a way that only made everything else infinitely worse. The last part of this book...ah, well, that was a whole cruelty onto itself. This book somehow took its enticing premise and made it seem like both the best and worst gift in this world. To get a second chance with someone, a chance in which you can part ways, is such a cruel thing to receive.

This book is everything. It is pain, it is healing, it is grief, it is tragedy, it is condolences, it is remembrance, it is forgetting, it is death, and it is life. Such a beautifully awful story.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an advanced reader's copy.

It's incredibly tragic of course, the unfairness of it all is a kick to the gut but I personally feel like with how tragic it was, you'd expect me to have connected to the characters more which wasn't the case. I feel like the premise won over the execution of this one.

tw : grief, death, depression

This book was really good. It was really emotional and made me feel so much pain, but in a good way. Julie was a really good character and the author writing was really good, we really were immersed in Julie’s grief and how she recovered from it. It paints a realistic view on how grief affects people and that everyone reacts differently to it. This book is really character-driven, they aren’t a lot of things happening, but the writing keeps you interested and you just want to continue to read. It was a really good book and I think it could help people that are experiencing grief and think that they never will get over it.

*Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for supplying me with an Arc of this book *

The premise of this book is that Julie has just lost her boyfriend, Sam. Heartbroken that she has lost him, she doesn't go to his funeral, throws away all his things, and tries to forget about him. After wanting to hear his voice again, she calls his phone just to listen to his voicemail. But Sam picks up.

I thought that this book had a very interesting concept,and a different look at how someone might deal with grief of losing someone. It has always been a fear of mine to lose my partner, and this just brought it to life.
I really enjoyed reading this book, I never wanted to put it down once I started. However, I thought that towards the last chapter, in the process of wrapping everything up, I thought it seemed just a little bit rushed.

“We just quietly live in this imaginary world where everything I wish for is still a beautiful possibility”

Wow. Just Wow. I know this is the kind of story where you know how it’s going to end, but I still hoped it would end differently. Julie is a heartbreaking example of someone struggling to cope with grief and moving forward in life. Sam is the past, a wonderful past, but still the past. The writing was beautiful— the subtle character growth in Julie kept me invested. This broke my heart but I would read it over and over just to feel those emotions again.

A heartbreaking story of loss and grief while also struggling to carry on and hold on to dreams and hopes that might not seem so important anymore. The emotional impact was so strong in the happiness of seeing someone have this second chance to say the words that weren't able to be said but also in the tensity of feeling for Julie while knowing that at some point we all have to say goodbye, as difficult as that can be. The side characters and their own grief processes were well portrayed and how they at times created conflict with Julie and others helped her find her way through loss seemed realistic and tear jerking.

Perfect for readers who enjoy the heart gripping writing of Kelly Loy Gilbert and Adam Silvera's History Is All You Left Me.

the idea of this novel was so intriguing and the cover was so beautiful. i definitely enjoyed the novel. i loved the characters, though i wish that there was more. it felt a little incomplete and i really couldn’t connect to anyone. overall, it’s a great exploration of grief and emotion.

Be prepared with a mega-sized box of tissues. You will cry, and cry, and cry....
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The story opens with a dream sequence of memories: the first meeting, the shy, slow-paced courtship, first love...

If you've read the blurb, then you know: Sam is dead and Julie can't move on.

Thao's writing is mesmerizing. His lyrical style conjures enticing imagery that you lose yourself in. You can smell the aroma of coffee, the scent of the flowers in a field and feel the touch of the breeze on your skin. Thao appeals to all of your senses until, like Julie, you are lost in them. Julie has caged herself in with her memories and longing for Sam, who was the love of her life. Seems he can't let go, either, because when she dials his cell number, he actually answers the call. So, now Julie really CAN'T move on... she can find no happiness in this world and lives only for those moments with Sam.... on the phone.

Most of us have been where Julie is and know how painful it is to finally let go, so you will be able to relate to this story. But in Julie's case, you worry that she won't let go of the sorrow for fear of forgetting Sam. There were a few promising plot lines that, disappointingly, went undeveloped: Sam's songs potentially being picked up by his favourite band; Julie's stalled writing career. We would get hopeful signs that her life might move forward, but then we are plunged back into despair. At one point I felt like I was stuck in that painful emotional vortex with her.

Gosh,. that ending had me crying even harder - and I do not cry easily. Obviously, most of us do manage to move on and find happiness again. Moving on for me was a conscious choice. Sometimes you have to work very hard to find new motivation and allow your life to move in a different direction. Grief can become an addiction for some of us, I found. I try to resist addictive behaviours and thought patterns - which is why I am not overly fond of "series" novels or TV dramas. After a decent time of mourning, we need to turn the last page and find something new to explore. If you can't move on, then you need to get help, which is what Julie seriously needed to do, despite the fact that Sam's spirit really was maintaining contact with her, prolonging the inevitable...

At one point, toward the end, Julie did seem to start the journey towards closure, but - gah! that ending!
My thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.
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Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

You've Reached Sam by Dustin Thao is about Julie and her boyfriend Sam who have the most perfect relationship and are planning their future together. Suddenly Sam dies and Julie, Sam's family and their friends are experiencing this loss. Julie is devastated and did not even manage to attend Sam's funeral. One day, she then decides to pick up her phone and calls his number - to say goodbye - but something happens which seems like a miracle: Sam picks up the phone and suddenly they are connected again. Just them both through their phones. Julie does not understand how this can work but she is thankful for the opportunity to keep him in her life even if it is just via her phone. Yet, she has to face the challenge of finally saying goodbye to him, letting him go... and losing him for the second time.

I was totally prepared for this book to completely shatter my heart but it hurt even more than expected. This book felt so real. Every few pages I found myself tearing up about certain aspects or conversations. First of all, I felt completely heartbroken about Julie and her friends, as well as Sam's family, having to experience Sam's loss. No one was able to say goodbye. And when you find out how this accident happened and that he kept walking to reach Julie just shows how incredibly strong he was and how bad he wanted to live and make it to his girlfriend, his friends and family alive. This aspect completely shattered me.
I really loved how real this book felt. How the characters experienced the death of their loved one, how they experienced grief and pain. There was not a single moment where I wanted to skip pages or shook my head about something. It just felt so real.

The writing was just absolutely beautiful. Dustin Thao was able to fill it with so many emotions and just hit the nerve with every single word, yet the writing style was not complicated at all and very easy to read and follow.

The characters were absolutely authentic and I loved every single person in this book. I loved how everyone had their own little story with Sam and how everyone experienced the loss of Sam in a completely different way.

If I could wish for one thing, it would have been that Oliver would have received the chance to talk to Sam one last time. Throughout the whole book I kept thinking about this aspect and I wanted him so bad to be able to say goodbye to his best friend whom he fell in love with. Even though he was able to move on, I think it would have helped him to just talk to him one last time. Talking together. Joking. Maybe some inside jokes and laugh one last time. I would have liked that. Yet, it makes sense that he did not get this chance, because everyone who got it really needed it.

This story showed me that life is way too short and it could end any second. We should not spend our life worrying about the future, instead we should live in the moment and appreciate everything that we have. Every single moment. Every person. Every memory. I will definitely keep this in mind and be thankful for the time I have with my family and friends. You never know when you might run out of time and you cannot say goodbye.

This book was absolutely amazing and I cannot wait for more books by Dustin Thao. Well done!

3.75 ⭐️

TW/CW: grief, death, divorced parents, car crash

First off, this books starts out in a bookstore and is there a more perfect setting? I fell in love with the cover and the synopsis of this book when I first saw it and with all of my friends equally interested we had very high expectations - so maybe that was my downfall. I was so ready to just end this book full bawling like a baby drowning in feelings and jut wrecked. And while I think the writing was very easy to get into and the concept immensely interesting I just never felt like I truly fell into any of these characters.

Don't get me wrong I definitely cried and felt for all of them in their grief. My favorite part of the book is definitely all the flashbacks to when Julie and Sam were together and all the sweet moments they had. But there were a few instances in these flashbacks and in the present that made me not root for her, certain attitudes she had that just didn't feel right. <spoiler>Namely the scene where Sam gifts her the first bookend and her immediate reaction is: well isn't this supposed to be a set? I would have been so insulted to give someone a present and their immediate reaction is that somethings missing and it's not good enough.</spoiler> And I feel like even though we get sweet Sam in the flashbacks, he can get kind of aggressive and uninterested at times in the calls making me never truly get to know him and grieve him like Julie and everyone else is.

But overall a very sweet story on connecting to others through grief and processing said grief. I do feel like it could have been better developed and that there was potential to take this feeling deeper into better understanding the human condition and how things can change in a single moment. I do enjoy how Julie was able to slowly process her feelings (even though I feel like the time that passed and how the story felt like it passed didn't exactly correlate - I felt like we had like 6 months of story and development and I think it was maybe all in 2 months), and the epilogue was a great final touch to the whole story. Because when someone passes you never truly forget them, nor do you want to, a small part of them remains and they will always have a little piece of your heart.

Also you guys know I hate unexplained elements, so never getting to fully understand why this is all possible just left me empty handed in the magical realism aspect of this story.

I hope this doesn't feel like I didn't enjoy the book, because I definitely did, and I think it is a beautiful book and would still recommend it. Just keep in mind the trigger warnings and keep tissues at hand because you will definitely need them to get through the book!

I'll just leave this beautiful quote from the book that could be adapted to handling other peoples opinions on you and how you live your life:

<i><b><blockquote>"We have too many voices inside our heads. You have to pick out the ones that mean something to you."</blockquote></b></i>

A big thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read this ARC in advance. All opinions are completely my own and I am reviewing this book voluntarily.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for sending me this eARC! All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Solid solid book omg... this book took me on a whole rollercoaster even the prologue made me want to sit down and cry my eyes out. It explores such real themes of grief, friendship, love, and moving on that just felt so natural to the story. you just learn to understand the characters such a way that you just get why they do what they do.
I'll be honest, I expected to cry so many times in this book, but I'm mildly disappointed to say that I didn't cry at all...! honestly, the book fell just a bit flat for me, but it was so quick and depicted in such a real way (except the basically magical phone calls of course) that honestly, i wouldn't have wanted it any other way.
also an extra perk to anyone living in Washington, this book takes place in Ellensburg, Washington (like CWU) which I thought was super cool since I've been there so many times. I just love when books take place in cities near me (there's a part of the book in Seattle too!) + the incorporation of Japanese/some ESEA culture in this book was so heartwarming.
wishing Taylor and Liam could've finally been put in their place, like... they're so horrible everything about them angered me so much. I would have liked to see the plot point with the music manager being resolved a bit more completely at the end as well.
Overall, it was a pretty quick read and I was sad pretty much the entire time but like good-sad by the end. beautifully written book and can we just talk about how BEAUTIFUL the cover is oh my.