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. 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.
What would you do if you had a second chance at goodbye?
I remember seeing Dustin talkin about this book ages go on Twitter, and I knew straight away it was something I would love to read. So when it came available on Netgalley I jumped at the chance of requesting it, and was very happy to be approved.
You’ve Reached Sam is a lovely story about grief, losing someone you love, and coming to terms with moving on.
It’s something we’ve all wanted isn’t it, one last phonecall or conversation with someone we’ve loved and lost. That’s what made this book sound so interesting. I know I would jump at the chance to talk to my Grandma again, and yet it was something similar to Julie that helped me come to terms with her death quite a while later. No I didn’t talk to her on the phone, but Julie has dreams which she doesn’t realise are actually her way of making sense of things. I had a dream like that and without sounding all cliche about it, I honestly woke up and felt so much lighter.
If you love sad stories with uplifting ends then this is one for you, it had me cry a few times, and smile a lot. We watch through their lives before Sam died, and Julie’s life after. The grief is real, we see her struggle to even talk to other people, let alone be around others much. But we see a beautiful love story in the background, their day trips, the things they do to see the other one smile.
The book reminded me somewhat of The Phonebox at the Edge of The World by Laura Imai Messina, which is another amazing story about talking to loved ones after their passing. Definitely give it a go.
Thanks again to the publisher Wednesday Books, and Negalley for my advanced ebook.
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