Hey book nerds! Today I'm so happy to be talking about a book that I'm sure you must have been seeing around a lot if you're active on Bookstagram or Book Twitter. And now I too have finally jumped on the fan-wagon for this beautiful beautiful book.
MY RATING- ššššā (4.5)
I received an eARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you so much to them for this opportunity.
So many people on Book Twitter had been raving about this book, and when I saw how many of my friends were giving it high ratings, I couldn't help but pick it up.
So happy to say that I was not disappointed.
You've Reached Sam is a beautiful, heartwarming story of a young girl learning to live through her grief. It's a story of growth, and moreover of how to deal when life appends all your plans and expectations.
Goodreads description:
Seventeen-year-old Julie has her future all planned outāmove 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 Samās cellphone just to listen to his voicemail. And Sam picks up the phone. In a miraculous turn of events, Julieās been given a second chance at goodbye. The connection is temporary. But hearing Samās 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 isnāt easy, especially when Julie witnesses the suffering Samās 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
Characters- Julie, our main character, is a very realistic and flawed character. She is a complicated mess of feelings after her boyfriend, Sam's death.
And as you see her grappling with that sense of loss, you also see her struggling with all the things of everyday life, like maintaining friendships, graduation, college applications...
It just forces her to realise that the world doesn't just stop for everyone even if it feels like it has collapsed for you.
Also, I also appreciated that the side characters were really well-developed. All of Julie's friends seem like they could all have their own book.
I missed you. I missed you infinity.
Writing- The writing, and I feel so bad saying thisš , but I didn't expect it to be so good, for some reason, but the writing was wonderful!
It had this really spring-time, atmospheric feel to it. It was very vivid, and I really enjoyed it.
This book is less of a love story and more magical realism I guess if I had to classify it into a genre the fans of the bookstore nation colour of after by Emily X aap and are going to love this even though getting calls from a dead person sounds Visa at first I could understand by Julie believed it and accepted it that even though I wouldn't necessarily do the same thing I understood the frame of mind and how she must have felt at that moment.
āWho are you writing for again?ā Mr. Lee asks, arching a brow. He asked me this before. I know the answer he wants to hear. I write for myself. I'm not sure what this really means, though. I can't help caring about what people think, especially about my writing. "We have too many voices inside our heads. You have to pick out the ones that mean something to you. What story do you want to tell?ā
Pacing-
Representation- The Asian representation in this book is fantastic! Both the main characters are Asian- American, and the way their culture was incorporated is so well done.
THEMES- The author does a really good job of portraying how grief isn't a definite thing. It doesn't really come to you in those orderly stages of shock, anger or guilt. It's more of a confused muddle of emotions hitting you at different times.
I feel like this will be such a relatable rate for anyone who's going through the pain of losing a loved one or has gone through it especially in these times.
Let's Chat!
So that was it for my review for this book. I hope you liked it. Will you be picking up this book anytime soon? If you've already read it, what were some your thoughts on this? Let me know in the comments!
Until then,
Bye!
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