So this book has been super popular, did it live up to the popular. You’ve Reached Sam was a great book about grief and letting go and finding something beyond your grief, I can see why it had the hype, and I think it was well deserved. I don’t normally like romances, but this one wasn’t obnoxious and the protagonist, Julie spends time doing things other than talking to her boyfriend the whole time.

Summary

Seventeen-year-old Julie Clarke 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 belongings, and tries everything to forget him. But a message Sam left behind in her yearbook forces memories to return. Desperate to hear him one more time, Julie calls Sam’s cell phone just to listen to his voice mail recording. And Sam picks up the phone.

The connection is temporary. But hearing Sam’s voice makes Julie fall for him all over again and with each call, it becomes harder to let him go.

What would you do if you had a second chance at goodbye?

Review You’ve Reached Sam

This concept has been explored in various media in different ways. Phones being able to reach each other through time and place isn’t a new concept, you’ve probably seen it before in at least one other movie or book. So what made You’ve Sam so buzz worthy, just because the concept has been done before doesn’t mean it doesn’t need a new twist. The connection between Julie and Sam is the heart of the book, it’s what makes it buzz worthy and the rest of the cast also rounds out the book perfectly. I love when Julie and Sam’s best friend Oliver become friends.

Oliver was secretly in love with Sam, Julie acknowledges this and the two become close because of it, Julie eventually giving Oliver one of Sam’s jackets so he’ll have something of his. I also like how and who Julie risks the connection for, they make perfect sense. Sam pushing her also makes sense but you can see even with the phone calls the Julie is growing through her grief with the help of Sam’s family and friends and new friends she makes. The final call is really a tear jerker, I didn’t cry because I’ve got a steel heart and it’s really tough to make me cry but I imagine make me cry. But I imagine people would tear up at the scene.

Overall it’s a great book worthy of the hype and that does an old trope well. Also it’s great to see more Asian writers and characters so there is always that as a bonus too.

Amazon: You’ve Reached Sam