Dustin Thao - You've Reached Sam

Dustin Thao - You've Reached Sam

3 ⭐

Genre: YA, Romance, Mystical Realism, Fantasy, Fiction, Contemporary Fiction 

Pages: 296

Format: Paperback

Publisher:  Macmillan 

Date Published: 26th May 2022

 

Book Blurb: 

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.

My Review: 

This book was really sweet and easy to read, but I expected so much more, as it had raving reviews on Booksta and BookTok. It had so much potential yet was really underwhelmed with the unlikable heroine. I liked the writing and really loved the premise of the book, especially the mystical realism aspect, yet I didn’t feel connected either to the characters or the plot.

This book follows Julie, who is grieving her boyfriend Sam. She also feels guilty, as the reason that Sam was in an accident in the first place, was that he was going to see her. One evening she receives a phone call and on the line is Sam. He explains that they can now have limited time to speak on the phone and say their goodbyes to each other.

I liked how this book didn’t shy away from exploring different ways in which people deal with grief and how they cope with losing a loved one. However, apart from that I didn’t feel connected to any of the characters. Julie for me felt very insensitive to others and lashed out at everyone who tried to support her. It felt like she thought her grief is the only one that was truly valid, even though other people loved Sam just as much. Julie's personal development and growth during this book also for me felt a bit flat. Additionally, Sam’s character wasn’t developed either. True, it might be because we see him through Julie and their phone calls, but I didn’t feel much chemistry and love between them both.

Overall: Sadly, for me this book wasn’t what I expected it to be, although it covers topics that I am interested to read about. It was really sweet and easy to read, but apart from the writing and exploration of grief, I didn’t find much connection with the characters, their development and the plot. Maybe I just wanted a bit more deeper emotions than this book provided me with. 

About the Author:

Dustin Thao is a Vietnamese American writer based in New York City. He graduated from Amherst College with a B.A. in Political Science, and is currently in a PhD program at Northwestern University. He writes contemporary fiction, and his debut novel You’ve Reached Sam will be published November 2021 with Wednesday Books.

https://twitter.com/Dustin_Thao