.webp)
Grab your tissues and some ice cream and prepare for heartache, bookworms. Dustin Thao’s debut novel You’ve Reached Sam was published back in 2021 by Wednesday Books and those who like a good old young adult, sentimental coming-of-age romance fell instantly in love—including us!
.jpg)
What would you do if your boyfriend who was dead for weeks picked up when you called? Let’s see how Julie and her dead boyfriend, Sam, are given a second chance at goodbye.
If you love contemporary romance as much as we do and need to pick your next read, check out our Ali Hazelwood tribute with Not in Love and Love on the Brain summaries. Maybe Abby Himenez’s Just for the Summer summary will inspire you, or perhaps our summary of Emily Henry’s Funny Story, the Goodreads Best Romance award winner, will do the trick!
Buckle up and let’s dive in! As always, there will be spoilers ahead!
Sam is dead, and Julie cannot seem to move on from that. In an effort to get over Sam’s death, she decides to get rid of anything that reminds her of him. After not leaving the house for almost two weeks, Julie meets Mika, Sam’s cousin, for coffee. Mika has been worried about Julie, considering she did not show up to any of the events the Obayashi family planned in Sam’s memory. Mika is understanding, yet wishes Julie could be there for her as well. Despite Mika having the best intentions, the meeting soon turns into a screaming match, with Julie admitting she wants to forget Sam altogether. Driving Mika away, Julie is more alone than ever.
Lost in a haze, her steps take her to Ellensburg’s memorial hill, attempting to find Sam’s grave, but her body refuses to go on. She is desperate to hold on to Sam, and seeing his grave will crush her. Desperate and soaked by the heavy rain, she calls Sam’s number, and everything changes when he unexpectedly picks up—yup, it’s really him. Sam knows he is dead and though he doesn’t know how this works, he is happy to have a chance to say goodbye to her.
On the night that Sam died, he was supposed to pick up Julie from the station but forgot. He was in a bonfire with all his friends and rushed off to pick her up an hour later, but died in a tragic car accident. His friends blame it on her, which makes Julie even more reluctant to go back to her life. When she gets home, she asks Sam if he blames her for his death. Sam, being the sweetheart that he is, knows it was not her fault and still loves her.
With her cellphone connecting her to Sam, Julie finds the energy to go back to school. High school is not easy, especially when everyone is against you! Julie learns that Mika has not been to school lately, but thankfully the exchange students from Japan, who were good friends with Sam, welcome Julie back. With Jay, Rachel, and Yuki by her side, breathing becomes a little easier. Surprisingly, Sam’s best friend Oliver also approaches her. Despite not having liked her much when Sam was alive, he seems eager to be friends with her now.
College is looming around, and Julie must write her sample for the writing program she is aiming for. Having Sam back in her life, even through the phone calls, makes her feel like her life is back on track and the life they planned together is not lost. Julie even goes back to work, in Mr. Lee’s bookshop. It’s like she has a second chance at everything, but reality soon catches up.
It seems that her connection with Sam has warped her phone, and she does not receive any other calls or texts except for Sam’s. This will result in another big fight with Mika, and Julie feels awful, but she cannot fathom letting go of Sam yet. Despite her loved ones being there for her, Julie is anchored by Sam’s presence. Through many flashbacks, she revisits her memory with Sam, and we get to know him through her eyes—and love him as much as she does!
When Mika cannot seem to find the strength to move on from her cousin’s death, Julie decides to share her secret. She lets Mika talk with Sam one time. As Sam expected, this jeopardizes their connection, and now their calls are brief and spaced apart, but he is still there. Sam also reveals that he can call her as well, but if she doesn’t pick up, their connection will be broken for good.
It is not until Sam himself tells Julie she must move on from him that Julie realizes their time is coming to an end. However, she is not ready to say goodbye just yet. As time passes, she and Oliver grow closer, Mika is doing better, and they all go on a trip to Seattle. And when James, Sam’s brother, runs away from home thinking Sam hated him, Julie does not hesitate to make her connection even thinner by giving James the chance to talk to his brother one last time.
Now weeks later, Julie has not spoken to Sam for a while and knows their last phone call is coming. On the night of the graduation, Julie is ready to say goodbye. Sam has warned her not to be late, as he might not have much time. But her phone breaks. She desperately tries to fix it, but to no avail. As she frantically searches for Sam in the fields he showed her, she remembers that their phones are the only ones connected. Sneaking into Sam’s family’s house, she finds his phone.
She dials his number for the last time, and Sam picks up. Their call lasts for barely some seconds, but Julie must say goodbye, both for her sake and Sam’s. Thanking him for being in her life, she vows to never forget him. She promises one last thing as well; not to pick up the phone when Sam calls back so their connection can be over.
Despite her heartbreaking, Julie does not pick up. When the screen goes dark, countless messages flood the phone. It’s all the messages and calls Julie has been losing while connected to Sam. Another message dings and there is a new voicemail for her—it’s Sam! And let’s just say you have to read his words and that tear-jerking epilogue to fully capture the essence of this love story.
Julie is an aspiring writer, she loves literature, and the hustle and bustle of the city. Being forced to move to Ellensburg is traumatic, but thanks to Sam, who becomes her first boyfriend, it becomes a bit easier. She is not a very well-liked heroine, but we need to remind ourselves she is just seventeen, dealing with incredible loss, barely making it out of teenage limbo. Everyone deals with loss differently, and her first instinct is to hide from those who wrongfully blamed her. She is filled with what-ifs and second thoughts, but her connection with Sam gives her the closure she needs.
Sam is a sweetheart, an aspiring musician, beloved by all. However, his life is cut too short when a truck veers in his lane and crashes into his car. The fact that he literally walked another mile after the collision just to get to Julie is proof of his love and need for her. He picks up her call, knowing this will keep her from living her life, but being unable to move on yet. He needs her just as much as she needs him, but ultimately must let her and his connection to life go.
Having grown up like siblings with Sam, Mika is devastated when he passes. But to make it worse, she is slowly losing Julie too. As we see from the flashbacks, Mika is a badass, she teaches self-defense, she is funny and plays a pivotal role in bringing Sam and Julie together. Thankfully, after making up with Julie and deciding on college, we see more of her bright personality.
Based on his dislike of Julie, Oliver is a bit suspicious at first. His sudden urge to hand and bond with Julie seems questionable. But as we get to see more of him, he is a really good guy. When he finds the strength to confess to Julie that he had romantic feelings for Sam—a burden he has been carrying for years—everything makes sense. Their bond only deepens, and we are ready to see more of him in the sequel, You’ve Found Oliver, launching later this year.
For starters, it is not common for a YA book for the main character to be dead. It is a story of loss, learning to let go, appreciating your loved ones and living every day to the fullest. The magic realism with which Thao sets the scene is bound to draw you in and keep you reading until you get closure along with Julie.
Thao’s aesthetic is also wildly inspired by Japanese lore and culture, his Vietnamese roots as well. His inspiration by anime like “Your Name” can be seen from the out of this world connection and the high school setting to the cherry blossoms raining down on Julie when she looks for Sam. The story is the perfect blend of harsh truths mixed with the beauty of life. The characters develop at their own pace, raw feelings are explored and lives are changed forever.
If you want a romance that will stick with you for a long time, You’ve Reached Sam is a good pick for you! It’s a roller coaster of emotions, and we expect a lot more from Thao in the future. If you like listening to music while reading, pair the novel with one of the countless playlists fans have made, or jump straight to the audiobook. One thing is for sure, Sam will be forever in our hearts!
Join our crewfiction and subscribe to our Tea & Cakes Newsletter for the latest bookish news, weekly book recommendations, book reviews and everything romance.
At the end of You’ve Reached Sam, Julie must say goodbye to him forever. Julie and Sam have their last call back in his room, breaking their connection forever. In the epilogue, we learn that Julie moves on to college, but still thinks of Sam every day, but she is moving on with her life.
We’d say that the main message of You’ve Reached Sam is that letting go can be harder than holding on. Adolescence is hard enough as it is, couple it with loss and grief, and you have Julie’s life. Despite life’s obstacles and losses, we must treasure our memories and our loved ones while living life to the fullest.
No, she did not. Despite wondering herself if she was hallucinating after talking to Sam for the first time after his death, her phone calls with Sam prove to be real. A breach in the veil separating our worlds, perhaps, a testament to the power of love and the need for connection that defines the human race.
Always living in her own enchanted little world, Christina discovered the magic that can be hidden within the pages of a book when one dares to take a closer look from a tender age. An avid reader, she is constantly inspired to delve into the secrets woven between the lines and challenges herself to find her own voice amidst the chaos. She is a dedicated fan of the classics, but the supernatural creatures that have tormented readers for years are her kryptonite. The mastery it takes to infuse the author's essence, molded by the era they grew up in to their innermost desires fascinates her. Undoubtedly, putting her passion and knowledge on paper has a mesmerizing allure on her, and following the steps of so many other dreamers before her she wishes to leave her mark in the literary world. Guided by T.S Eliot’s haunting words: “I will show you fear in a handful of dust” she intends to wreak havoc in the minds of her future readers.
