I’ve realized I’m really good at reading books and sometimes just forgetting to review. That is what happened with You’ve Reached Sam. I had an e-arc and read it in April 2021. When I did this I figured I’d review around release day, but that totally slipped my mind. So today I’m finally here to tell you about this book and what I thought!
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.
Review
When I first saw You’ve Reached Sam it was being pitched for fans of Your Name. I saw that movie with my boyfriend a while back and it such an emotional, but beautiful story. With that recommendation and the synopsis I knew I had to read this book. You’ve Reached Sam was a book I couldn’t put down once I started. This book was definitely an emotional roller coaster.
Our main character Julie loses the love of her life Sam in a tragic accident. They had their whole future planned out and then it’s just all gone. She shuts herself off from the world, doesn’t go to his funeral, throws out his stuff and hopes by doing this that the pain will go away. When things get bad she decides to call him one last time to hear his voice on his voicemail. She never expects him to pick up. Afraid of losing him again if she tells anyone about these phone calls she keeps it to herself.
When Julie talks to Sam their conversations bring Julie to different places and has her do different things. There were many emotional moments that definitely had me in tears. I can’t imagine losing the love of my life and hope to never experience it. Especially not in such a tragic way. The moments between them are beautiful, but also sad.
You’ve Reached Sam didn’t get a full five stars from me, because there were a certain things that just didn’t work for me. While I loved the whole journey of Sam talking to Julie the ending of the book seemed to go a bit fast for me. Julie shuts herself off from the world and also the others who loved Sam. Some of this gets resolved before the end of the book, but I felt this was also kind of rushed through. I know the story is more Julie and Sam, but I think in the matter of losing someone and grieving that I needed to see more of the people in her life.
All in all You’ve Reached Sam is a story about love, grief, moving on, and learning how to do that. It’s not something that just goes away and we all do this in our own way. This story definitely tugged on my heartstrings.
You’ve Reached Sam is definitely an emotional read and I can’t wait to see what this author gives us next! What was the last emotional book you read? I’m always looking for books that hit me in all the feels, so let me know in the comments!
I really enjoyed this book too! Definitely an interesting read. I never thought about it as a pitch for Your Name fans 🤔 I can kinda see the enticement