While there are some moving elements, this book about tragic loss and moving on has too many plot points that make no sense, as well as inconsistent character development and unanswered questions. Sadly, it just doesn't hit the mark for me.

Rating: 4.5 Stars

What would you do if you were given a second chance to say goodbye?

My warning to anyone picking up this book is that it’s sad. This was about a young woman struggling with the untimely death of her boyfriend. One day, she was making plans with him for their future, and the next, he was gone forever. The basic story was sad enough, but the way it was written really gut punched me in my feels. I was drowning in Julie’s grief. I felt her pain and anguish in my bones.

Julie was dealing with lots of feelings, and I understood the mix of emotions she was experiencing. The guilt over the last time they spoke, the sadness of experiencing milestones Sam will never experience, and the distress of her future plans being up in the air without him. But, one of the biggest ideas explored was how to balance remembering our lost loved ones while also moving forward.

In the beginning, Julie isolated herself and tried to remove all remnants of Sam from her life. Then she slowly began to realize things, such as how other people lost Sam too. She connected with his family and friends, shared her grief, and honored Sam’s memory with them.

Though the bulk of this book was imbued with sadness, there were some bright spots. I loved the brief looks at the moments Julie and Sam shared with each other, and they had many in their three years together. I think seeing those bits also made me feel Julie’s loss even deeper, but you know the saying, ’tis better to have loved and lost than to have never loved before.

I should have been better prepared to handle the pain, but I didn’t expect this book to hurt quite this much. Julie’s journey through grief was truly heartbreaking, but under it all was a beautiful message of moving on but remembering those who left a mark on our lives. All I know is that I cried buckets.

The synopsis alone is heartbreaking: Julie's boyfriend and first love Sam dies in their senior year of high school, but when she calls his phone just to hear his voicemail, he answers. Scattered within the present day stories were memories from before Sam died, but only quick flashes that were often confusing and/or meaningless because there was no context. The book was enjoyable, but the writing could have been better and the storyline/characters more developed. You've Reached Sam will appeal to fans of John Green and Gayle Forman, but in my opinion it's not on the same level as their books. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for access to an early digital copy.

You've Reached Sam by Dustin Thao had such potential. The premise is great. Julie's boyfriend Sam was supposed to pick her up at the bus station, but he was hanging out with his friends and forgot. Julie gets mad and tells him she will walk home. Sam comes to pick her up and on the way there is in a car accident and dies. The book opens with Julie in a grief fog and missing Sam terribly. She doesn't make it to the funeral, she doesn't talk to their mutual friends, and she doesn't even talk with his family. She decides to call him and to her surprise he answers the phone.

Now, I get grief... I am 53, I have lost many people in my life and yes I have shut down, but not to the point that Julie did. But since everyone grieves differently I figured ok... Then Julie calls Sam on the phone and he answers. Anyone who has ever lost someone would kill to be able to talk to their loved one, one last time. So up to this point, this book was working for me....mostly.

But then it seemed like everyone was moving on and wanted Julie to move on too. Sam had been her boyfriend for 3 years, and they didn't understand her grief.

The whole phone call thing worked for a little bit, but drug on too long and then involved too many people. And then the book just kind of stopped flowing.

All in all this book was pretty good, just could have used a little more work. 3⭐

Thank you to Netgalley, St. Martin's Press and Dustin Thao for the eARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

Julie was supposed to move out of her small town for college with her boyfriend Sam, but he died in a car accident. Somehow, she can still reach him through her phone. As she spends all her time with him, she spends less and less with others. If she explains the connection she has with Sam, she might lose him forever, and she's not ready for that.

The concept of talking with the dead isn't a new one, but to talk with them through cell phones certainly puts a modern twist to it. Julie goes from talking to Sam on the phone for hours, missing all the things about her senior year of high school that she used to care about. She avoids friends, stays alone in her room, and the connections with friends, family, and Sam's family fray. Once she engages with the outside world, the connection with Sam starts to fray instead. This sets up the clear choice: Sam or the outside world.

This novel follows Julie through the stages of grief, using the supernatural connection through the phone as a way to give her closure. It's a heartfelt and tender story and one that will help others in their own journeys through grief.

Julie and Sam. Sam and Julie. The pair spent so much time together, their existences seemed nearly interchangeable.

But then the unthinkable happens and Sam dies. Only seventeen, Julie prematurely feels like her life is over. Overcome with grief, Julie does something a lot of us would do- she calls Sam’s phone- just to hear his voice one last time.

Only Sam picks up.

Unsure what to make of this unheard of connection, both Sam and Julie cling to this second chance, knowing its time is fleeting. In the real world however, Julie is forced to keep their communication a secret or risk others think she’s losing her mind- or worse- her losing this unique reconnection with Sam, forever.

You’ve Reached Sam is a tear jerker of a book with a unique premise. So many of us wish we could talk to a loved one just one more time. In this story, Julie gets that chance tenfold. However, the reader quickly realizes just like in actual long distance relationships, nothing can replace the real thing.

This book also served as a reminder that everyone grieves differently. It was hard to read this and not get angry with Julie and her actions, even knowing what was really going on. Over and over Julie pushes aside people in the living world to make time for Sam who has passed. One could argue this is how she was dealing with his death, but the reader knows this isn’t totally the truth. It made me feel a little conflicted that she wasn’t there for others. In a way this book addresses the issue, but it made some of Julie’s decisions hard for me to reconcile.

All in all, You’ve Reached Sam is a promising, debut. It answers the call for young adult readers searching for books with a magical ring to them.

It is always difficult to read about grief when still grieving for someone you have lost, but I connected with this book. It's hard to not want some kind of magic to be able to talk to your loved one again, so the concept of this book was both interesting and heartbreaking. I think this book can be a good cathartic read for someone that is struggling to say goodbye to someone that they love.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, Wednesday Books, Macmillan Audio, Dustin Thao, and Soneela Nankani (narrator) for the opportunity to read You've Reached Sam in exhcange for an honest review.

Julie is a senior in high school. She has a boyfriend she loves and plans for the perfect college to study creative writing. But ldespite tedious planning, life never quite follows that plan. In this case, Sam, Julie's boyfriend, dies in a car accident after going to pick ehr up. Julie struggles with the guilt, feeling like it is her fault that he died. She can't bear to go to his funeral or visit his family.

When Julie tries to call Sam's phone, she is surprised when he picks up. How can someone who is dad be able to talk on the phone? He tells her that their phones are connected, though this can't last forever. Julie even thinks these conversations might all be in her head. But maybe they aren't? Sam tells her not to tell anyone because it might ruin their connection.

Julie find excitement in her phone calls with Sam, and while others are struggling with the loss, the fact that he is still there for Julie, in a way, make it seem as if he is still there. This will bring Julie's struggle with the loss to become even harder when the time comes she can no longer speak with him.

This is by no means the tear-jerker I expected, but still an excellent story dealing with the loss of a loved one, especially someone young who had a whole future before him. Part of the take-away is that accidents happen, and loss is going to be something hard to deal with, no matter who you are or who you have lost. This story is very generic when it comes to the high school genre, but the phone calls from a dead boyfriend are an interesting aspect. There is not a lot of development with it, but it's the one aspect of the story that makes it more unique.

This is a quick read, though may not be the best for those more sensitive about car accidents and loss. It's not necessarily an easy book, but at the same time, it is easy, because the fact that Julie can talk to Sam over the phone makes the loss more bearable, but it's not something people will actually get to experience. Then again, supernatural things can happen. Either way, a good book.

You’ve Reached Sam is basically about the question “what if you get a chance to talk to someone who has already passed?”.

Like a lot of other reviewers, I'm sad to say that I was also disappointed as didn’t really live up to my expectations. It made me wish that they didn’t compare it to Kimi no Nawa because I think it ended up hurting this book more.

First things first, I’ve been seeing some reviewers label this as Ownvoices when it isn’t (which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it’s just mislabeled). If I’m analyzing it correctly, Obayashi (Sam’s last name) is a Japanese name, even their other friend Yuki sounds Japanese and the author is Vietnamese. Based on other aspects of the story (cherry blossoms, anime, lanterns, the fact that he visited his grandparents in Japan, etc.) it was obvious to me that the author wanted to point out the Japanese inspirations in the story. Let’s not equate Ownvoices as something that a book needs to be in order to be considered good nor should it be used just because both the author and the character is Asian.

The best part about this book is Julie’s character arc over losing and moving on from her first love. In my opinion, it was one of the best written character storylines revolving around grief that I have read in a while. With that said, it’s definitely a heavy read, especially in the beginning and you really feel the anguish and frustration that Julie is going through. My emotions were in sync with Julie’s, in a way.

However, I was disappointed by the Your Name/Kimi no Nawa comp because the only thing they had in common was that they both have a magical realism aspect (that wasn’t even similar in their mechanisms). I loved Your Name for the intensity and mystery of the fantasy that was given a clear explanation by the end, which we didn’t really get here.

“If the ending is this painful, I don’t know if this was worth it all.”


I think what made the romance so effective in Your Name was that we were able to slowly watch the connection build up between the characters before the heart-wrenching part happens (if you watched it, you know what i mean). Here it was kind of done the other way around and while I think the premise was really promising and interesting, I had a hard time feeling a connection to Sam and Julie like I did with the main characters in it’s anime comp.

Don’t get me wrong, I did end up crying in two distinct parts so I’m not saying that this made me feel like I had a heart of stone. It’s definitely still capable of bringing out feelings of sadness if that’s what you’re looking for.

There were, however, more than a few parts that annoyed me. Given this is young adult, the immature scenarios and personalities are slightly understandable but i don’t think the “mean kids” and other “mean people” were flushed out or written very well. It honestly felt like they were just there to provide additional conflict when I think the book could have done without them or if their personalities were more subtle/nuanced/implied. It felt very “in your face” and I didn’t enjoy that. Especially since I don’t think that part of the plot was given proper closure either. There were certain plot decisions that i wasn’t happy about because they felt like cop outs. It added an aspect that did not match the atmosphere I was hoping for.

I did really love the development of Julie's friendship with the other characters. It was heart-warming to watch. Though I think too much was going on and a storyline such as this would have benefitted with less issues but were delved in more deeply.

I’m going to once again bring up Your Name since it’s everywhere in the promotion of this book and it’s hard not to compare it when they do that… but in that movie the characters are mostly fighting against this natural phenomenon and that’s really where the main conflict was. The problem that I feel like this book had was that the conflict was coming from too many different areas that the story had a hard time pulling that together at the end. And although multiple conflicts isn’t necessarily a bad thing either, it needs to form a cohesive storyline that comes full circle in the end…. which was what Your Name was able to do successfully but this particular plot failed to see through, in my opinion.

Additionally, part of what made Kimi no Nawa so successful is how unflinchingly Japanese it was and how it connected multiple factors of the story to Japanese culture. From the fantastical aspect, to behavioral patterns, setting, and character dynamics. Which was another aspect that this book lacked since the most we got was Sam going to Japan a few times, mention of cherry blossoms, an Asian Film Club, and some lanterns… all of which didn’t really play that big of a part in the plot though it did somewhat do things for character development.

“Now I can’t wait to move on and make new memories with you. Just don’t forget the ones we made here.”


I’m being nitpicky here but I just naturally become one when I’m sent ARCs. There was a line that implied that songs about love weren’t good and it was never directly taken back by the character who sent it even though it was sort of implied in a separate scene. Based on the message of the story, I don’t think that’s what the author meant to do but I hope they fix that in edits. I don’t know if I’m just a little more sensitive to the musical aspect because I’m a musician but that just left a bad taste in my mouth.

In a writing style standpoint, this had the magical fantastical but realistic aspect that Your Name has but as a reader, it lacked the connection and heart-fulfilling moments that I feel every time I watch Kimi no Nawa.

↣ Again, this is a heavy book that brings that mood with it a big part of the way through. So I suggest not reading this until you are in the mood for something more heavy-hearted. I do think this is the kind of book that can affect someone’s life if read at the right time and in the right circumstances. ↢

*Thank you to the publisher -Wednesday Books- and the author -Dustin Thao- for sending me the ARC to review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.*

— 3.5 —
⇢ content warnings// Grief, Death, Physical Harassment

3.5 ⭐️

“How do you move forward when everything you love is on the line?”

From the moment I saw the cover and synopsis of this book I was hooked. I knew it would be a story that would make me suffer because Sam was dead and Julie was going through her grief in a way that although I don't like I can't judge, everyone grieves in different ways.

I can't lie and say that the way Julie behaves after losing Sam I liked or understood but as I read I could see through her eyes the relationship and plans she had with Sam. Julie goes from trying to get rid of Sam's personal thinghs to clinging to those calls that only tie her closer to him and keep her from moving on.

“I don't care how any of this is possible. I have Sam back. I don't want to let him go.”

I think this has been a story that even knowing that it was very sad I wished that for some strange reason or magic at the end it would have a miraculous or magical ending, it is obvious that it could not be and on the contrary we will find at the end accepting the loss of the loved one and letting go in order to move on, not only to those of us who stay here but also to those people who cling to us and do not want to let go.

The ending has made me shed some tears, but I understood that you can't stay stuck in pain and that life goes on and we go with it.

I think the author has reflected very well the way people carry their grief for the same person, parents, siblings, friends or girlfriend, because not all of us react to grief and loss in the same way, and that doesn't mean that your grief is less than anyone else's, it's just different and very much your own.

This was my debut with this author and it won't be the last I read from him.

And this is a great debut for this author, I can only wish him the best on his next releases.

Many thanks to Netgalley and St Martin's Press for the ARC, this is my freely given opinion.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley and am voluntarily posting a review. All opinions are my own.

I don’t often seek out books like this, but something about the premise of You’ve Reached Sam appealed to me. This book takes an interesting approach to processing grief and loss, that even though I knew it would likely break me, I was compelled to read it.

Julie is immensely relatable, and I imagine she would be for anyone who has dealt with the loss of a loved one. I could totally understand what she was going through with not wanting to let Sam go, and struggling to reckon with the loss, while also having to deal with the possibility of changes in her own life. I really appreciated that she got time to process all her feelings, even if there was an element of magical intervention.

I did sometimes wish that Sam as a person and his relationship had been more fleshed out, as the narrative is very skewed toward what Julie sees, and it doesn’t really allow the reader to feel for him for his own sake, but mostly in how it affects Julie (and maybe his sister, who Julie shares some moments with on-page). But at the same time, I can also see that the point is to demonstrate his value to Julie, with who he is as a person coming secondary to that.

This is a deeply moving book that will resonate with a lot of people. If you like hard-hitting contemporaries, I recommend this one.

Thanks to Wednesday Books for the free book.
This book packed a punch. Julie and Sam were high school seniors who had started planning their life together when the unthinkable happens - Sam dies. As you can imagine, this book deals with grief. I had so much empathy for Julie because she didn't grieve in the ways expected of her, and it caused lots of problems in the relationships around her. I think the themes of loss, letting go, and regret are explored so well in this book. I also liked the aspect of Sam and Julie being able to talk after he's dead because it was unique and helped further the grieving process.
There are parts of the book that felt really disjointed to me. I was confused in the before chapters. I wish the transitions were a bit clearer, or there was a bit more explanation to what was going on in the beginning. It took me a while to follow these parts.
However, the last two chapters had me in tears. The author adds in so much emotion that it's hard to put down until you figure out how it's going to end.

Julie has the perfect life planned for herself but then her perfect boyfriend dies. Her whole world seems to stop and she can't seem to dig her way out of her grief. On a whim she calls Sam's phone to hear his voice again, and he answers.

You've Reached Sam got me from the beginning. Not even halfway through I had teared up many times and felt so much. This book will definitely make you feel something. You feel for Julie but at the same time you can see that talking to Sam is making her inevitable grief worse. I loved the way Sam was trying to help her through his death. There were times when I wanted Julie to realize that she was getting worse. The story was told so beautifully that you feel as if you're part of their world. I think a lot of people wish they could say one more thing to their loved one and this sort of gave closure to that. For me, this was a 4.5/5.

If you like connections that surpass death, want to cry your eyes out, or wish you could have the perfect goodbye, this is for you.

I received a digital copy of this book free from NetGalley and St. Martin's Press in exchange for an honest review.

**I received a copy of this book in exchange of an honest review. Thank you to NetGalley.

You've Reached Sam is a heartbreaking story of how grief impacts us and leaves a mark in our lives.

Julie has her life planned. She's going to leave the town of Ellensburg, go to the school her mom attended, and become a writer. All of this is planned with her boyfriend Sam. However, Sam's life is cut short only months before all of this can take place. Thrown into grief, Julie misses his funeral, multiple memorial services, and won't answer calls or text from her friends. She feels as if her life is shattered. Suddenly, she gets the urge to call Sam when she's thrown into memories. Sam answers Julie's call to her surprise and continues to answer when he needs her. But this connection is temporary and Julie must decide between living her life the way it could be and continuing living in the past with Sam's calls.

It's rare that I find myself lost in a book. This one gave me that release. Thao has a way with words that can only be described as mesmerizing. The heartbreak that Julie feels is completely raw and honest on the pages. Julie is someone many can relate to. Someone who isn't sure of their future because of heartbreak or set back. She fears who she is now that she's experienced loss. Her friends and family feel like fully fleshed out characters in their own rights who struggle with Sam's loss, but also constantly reach out to Julie as heartbroken and raw as Julie herself.

What also strikes me about You've Reached Sam is the way it brings you into the story through flashbacks to truly understand the relationship between Julie and Sam. How they connected is truly shown and gives readers full showings of the way that Sam brought Julie out of her shell, but also how she impacted his life greatly as well. This book is for readers who love being lost in a moment, have felt the power of loss and grief, or who just need a story that will stick with them long after the final page,

You’ve Reached Sam by Dustin Thao is a heartbreaking story about learning to let go. Following a girl who is given the opportunity to communicate with her dead boyfriend through phone calls, this one promises plenty of tears. The concept is original, but I was a little underwhelmed by the underdeveloped characters and repetitive writing style. While the book is missing the emotional punch I was expecting, I still found the philosophical implications interesting and would recommend it to those looking for a unique story about grief.

Julie and her boyfriend Sam have big plans for the future, but when Sam dies, Julie doesn’t know how to carry on. However, one day she decides to call Sam’s number, and he picks up. Julie is overjoyed at the opportunity to communicate with Sam again, but their connection comes with conditions. She can’t tell anyone about her ability to communicate with Sam, and the connection is only temporary. Now torn between sharing her secret with Sam’s family and risking losing Sam forever, Julie must confront the reality of the phone calls: that she is only prolonging saying goodbye.

❀ MISSING AN EMOTIONAL PUNCH

I appreciated the exploration of grief through Julie’s character, but I found myself wishing that both she and Sam were more developed. Julie’s emotional struggles and the tension between her both wanting to keep talking to Sam and wanting to ease his family’s pain is powerful, and her journey as she learns to let go is well written. However, as a character, I had some difficulties connecting with her. Sam also felt flat to me, and because of this, the story was missing the emotional punch I was expecting.

❀ INTERESTING CONCEPT

Philosophically, I think the concept of being able to communicate with a lost loved one is interesting, but the execution could have been stronger. I’m willing to overlook some of the plot holes and unanswered questions regarding the logistics of the calls since this is probably meant to represent the idea that we don’t know what comes after death, but I had some issues with the repetitive writing style. The story seems to follow the same structure of flashbacks and phone calls, and after a while, I felt as though there wasn’t much going on in terms of plot. I was still interested in what the story has to say about grief, but I found myself wishing for the final phone call sooner.

❀ WILL RESONATE WITH MANY READERS

You’ve Reached Sam by Dustin Thao is an emotional story about grief and learning to let go. The concept of communicating with a loved one after death is unique, but I had some issues with the flat characterization and repetitive writing style. While I was a little underwhelmed by this book, I’m sure it is still one that will resonate with many readers.

Julie is trying to forget her boyfriend Sam and the tragic way he died by not going to the funeral, getting rid of his things, stuff like that. Then a message of his in the yearbook makes her regret her actions. Missing him terribly, she calls his number to hear his voice mail and he answers! These unexplainable calls are her wonderful secret to keep or should she share them with his loved ones and risk losing him forever?

This heart-squeezing story begins with a beautiful exchange between memories of the relationship like a movie montage, and you're hooked to the story, wrapped in a sweet melancholy. Invested in this narrative with the almost lyrical figurative speech that puts you on the emotional rollercoaster of the protagonist. A narrative that is quite forceful in its quiet power.

The author successfully makes this otherworldy occurrence grounded and not gimmicky. You are so pleased for them you almost forget you want to know how it's happening and enjoy their interactions. Almost. It does show other aspects of Julie's life, other characters and their reactions to Sam's death and grief. Some of those characters you will really like. There is such truth in the protagonist's POV, in the meaningful dialogue.

It is often really difficult to review without spoiling, but let's just say that the journey matters more than the how and the why. You either agree or you don't. This is a beautiful journey nonetheless, during which you want to smile, then cry, sometimes both at once.

Some scenes you wish were not so rushed, others not so long. The truth is I wanted a little more 'oomph' from some scenes which would have made them brilliant.

This book emphasizes how we need to appreciate what we have even more, and how stronger we are than we think. This is a testament to moving on. Moving on is not forgetting or not caring.

"But what is grief if not love persevering" says Vision in Wandavision, and this book is exactly that, love persevering.

Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC of this in exchange for my honest review.

This was fantastic, exactly the kind of magical realism or fantasy light that I like in my contemporaries - think Landline by Rainbow Rowell, In a Holidaze by Christina Lauren, where the story feels mostly like a contemporary with one fantastical magical phone twist. How is it happening? We don’t really need to know - there’s no complicated plot centering around that, just a sweet story of letting go and moving on after a devastating loss.

I have seen early reviews for this saying it broke them, that it was heart-wrenching, and that they sobbed multiple times reading this. Now, I've yet to cry while reading any book, so, naturally, I was intrigued. Unfortunately, even after reading this, I've yet to cry while reading any book.

I think my biggest issue with the book is our main character, Julie. She's just lost her boyfriend to a car accident, and, when she calls his number just to hear his voicemail, is shocked when he actually picks up. Now, I understand that Julie is grieving and that everyone does that differently, but the way that she treated those around her just made me uncomfortable. The way she treated others just was not cool at times.

I did enjoy how the magical realism was done, though! It's such a fun genre to read, and I think Thao really pulled it off well. I also thought the dream sequences were well done - I could see them playing out in my head like a movie! The side characters also were really sweet, and I grew to love a couple of them.

Overall, this was just okay. Not the tear-inducing read I was anticipating, but certainly not bad, either.

I was granted eARC and audio ARC access to You’ve Reached Sam by Dustin Thao through the publisher via NetGalley. Thank you to whoever decided to approve my request! My thoughts are my own and my review is honest. For simplicity, I will be writing a single review and I will contain my comments pertaining to the audiobook to its own single paragraph.

You’ve Reached Sam is the story of Washington state teenager Julie and the remainder of her senior year of high school after the unexpected death of her boyfriend Sam. Through some unknown magic, her phone and his have been connected beyond the veil and they’re able to talk after his death, but the connection is growing weaker, the calls shorter and farther apart, and Julie is learning what it means to move on.

This book is both heartbreaking and uplifting, and I truly think it will be very helpful and healing to readers young and old who are struggling through Julie’s situation. Julie is slowly reconnecting with the people she and Sam shared, finding new connections, and learning to put the pieces of her future back together without Sam in it. It’s so difficult, she faulters a lot, and she’s unintentionally hurting the living people who still care for her when she lets her grief and the connection with Sam she’s not wiling to give up get in the way, but eventually she’ll learn to carry Sam with her in a healthy, less interfering way and live the life he’d want her to have.

There were scenes in this book that brought me to tears. The emotions in this book are powerful and right on the money. It’s messy, and early-grief Julie is not a person I would want to be friends with. She’s flaking out on everyone still living, she’s forgetting about all of her responsibilities, she’s ready to throw away everything that reminds her of Sam because she can’t handle the memories yet she’s always lost in them, and she’s angry at her mother for honouring her wishes and not stopping her from letting those mementoes go. But as Julie reconnects with her friends and Sam’s family, as she comes out of her shell and make new connections, both returning to the girl she once was and taking steps toward the woman she’ll become, she becomes a character I very much fell in love with and feel quite attached to.

I feel like I should mention the #OwnVoices aspect of this book, as both Sam and Dustin are Asian-American men and some touches of cultural differences around death ceremonies and grieving are present in the story. It’s not super immersive and in-your-face different from what normally gets published, but the representation is there in subtle, loving ways.

I will say sometimes the extended lost in memories scenes are a bit much, a bit too long, and I wanted them to end so the story could move forward a tad faster. I was also quite disappointed… [spoiler available under spoiler tag on the Goodreads review. This hidden comment pertains to something revealed during one of the phone calls with Sam that shifted something for me, as a reader, with what I perceived as an important grief healing metaphor.]

The audiobook narration was perfect! Soneela Nankani’s voice works so well for this story, her pacing is great, and it was very easy to keep track of who was talking, whether or not we were in reality vs a memory, etc. I would definitely look for other books with this narrator.

Overall this is a touching story of love and loss, and a fantastic debut novel. I look forward to reading more from this author and I absolutely recommend this book to fans of YA.

This was a bittersweet book about the loss of a young life and second chance goodbyes. Thao does a wonderful job at conveying the grief that comes with losing the one you love, during one of the most challenging points in your life, high school.

I enjoyed the concept of being able to speak to a loved one who had passed away, it's something I'm sure everyone would jump at the chance for. I'm just picky about contemporaries so I wasn't blown away and felt like the story dragged in some parts.