You've Reached Sam

Product Information

Sam suggests the connection is simply an emotional force that “gives them a chance to say goodbye.” Goodbye isn’t something, though, that Julie can easily say. She stretches the string of calls out as long as possible.

The “Before” chapters are so unique in the way they’re written. In the memoirs, you see a visual of it playing in your head as if it were a movie. You can’t help but fall in love with the way it’s written and the seamless transition from one memory to the next. 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 but maybe not enough. You know it's sad but you move on very easily from it like "yeah that was sad" and read on. Which I feel like should not be the goal? xD About this one… I understand that teenagers can sometimes be extremely mean. Hell, most of the time I’m scared of them myself. That said, we have got to stop portraying people from this age group as these heartless, stupid, unbelievable beings. If anything, I would have thought that having Julie experience survivor’s guilt would have been a hell of a lot more believable than having other people randomly tell her that she killed her boyfriend. But I digress, maybe some teenagers are actually like that and I’ve just never met them?😅A dark book, a beautiful book, Young Death, Grief, Car Accident, Racism, Violence, Sexual Harassment, Music ( The lyrics Julie wrote were so beautiful), strong character development, Toxic Friendship, Queer Representation, Bad mental health, Beautiful connections, trauma, books and film talks, Accepting and growing, Keep you tissues because lots of tears. I don't know if my heart can take the sadness of the actual story, but we're going to read it anyway. November TBR population: 1 I also really liked Julie! 😃 Her grief felt very real and genuine and my heart really went out to her. She was so well-developed she honestly felt like a real person!! I know a lot of people don't like her, but I don't get it. Yes, she may make some questionable choices and not be fully considerate of others, but she was dealing with a lot and didn't know how to cope, so it's understandable. Real people make mistakes like that, so I really connected to her 💗 A story about dealing with grief and how people will often try to support you during such a hard time.

If I Stay meets Your Name in Dustin Thao's You've Reached Sam, a heartfelt novel about love and loss and what it means to say goodbye. The relationship sometimes seemed a bit too good to be true and granted, we only see Sam through Julie’s memories so he doesn’t really get fleshed out as a full character.okay. here's the thing. i was promised a romantic magical realism tearjerker that would turn me into a puddle of sobs, and that's what i got. it made me tear up right off the bat, and the emotional ending made me weep. if this book is on your list, my advice would be to read it, but lower your expectations first. i think thao has a lot of potential, and i hope his next book will have stronger execution!!