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You've Reached Sam (You've Reached Sam, #1)

Dustin Thao

Start date: June 1, 2022

Finish date: June 30, 2022

Discussion: BOTMs

Why we're reading this: Choice Read BOTM for June 2022
[close] Choice Read BOTM for June 2022

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BOTMs

* November 2022 BOTM | Nominations
By Asia | Advent… , Creator, Head Mod, Book Nerd #1 · 4 posts · 27 views

last updated Aug 19, 2022 01:35PM

* July/August 2022 BOTM | Fable
By Asia | Advent… , Creator, Head Mod, Book Nerd #1 · 7 posts · 27 views

last updated Nov 17, 2022 09:25PM

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What Members Thought

Apr 18, 2022 Avery rated it it was amazing

Shelves: beautiful-covers, made-me-cry, young-adult, booktok-made-me-do-it

“We are two parts of a song. He is the music. I am the words.”

Oh boy, this book was..... I don't even know. It was beautifully written, and literally had me tearing up after almost every chapter. I cried about mid-way through, and THAT ENDING made me cry almost as much as I did while reading the epilogue in Clockwork Princess, which is saying something, because I was sobbing after the epilogue in that book. *shudders* the memories are resurfacing

Julie annoyed me at times, but I get it, becau ...more

50 likes · Like · see review

May 03, 2022 Toast rated it it was amazing

This book was amazing! I cried way too many times during this. The way Julie was going through all these different stages of grief was really interesting but so sad at the same time. I will definitely re read this book in the near future.

<3 5 stars for sure

32 likes · Like · see review

Jul 31, 2022 nina rated it did not like it

Originally, I had a longer review planned that I wanted to write. Sort of forgot about it and honestly those initial thoughts are all I really have.

Overall… eh.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Great lines, choppy writing; sad premise, mediocre execution.

Rtc.

11 likes · Like · see review

Jan 06, 2022 elea ☆ rated it liked it

The book broke me, it was amazing.

9 likes · Like · see review

Jan 10, 2022 lavendareyes ♡ rated it liked it

Shelves: 3-star-rated, genre-romance, reviewed-books, reads-2022

Not exactly sure where to begin with this review. I’ve read so many good reviews for this book, and although my own isn’t necessarily a bad one, this book personally failed to meet the hype that I was expecting based on the reviews and the premise for me. It didn’t touch me deeply, and unfortunately failed to melt my icy heart. I was expecting to go through an emotional turmoil, but I ended up getting bored throughout a decent chunk of this book.

I firstly want to start by saying that I liked an Not exactly sure where to begin with this review. I’ve read so many good reviews for this book, and although my own isn’t necessarily a bad one, this book personally failed to meet the hype that I was expecting based on the reviews and the premise for me. It didn’t touch me deeply, and unfortunately failed to melt my icy heart. I was expecting to go through an emotional turmoil, but I ended up getting bored throughout a decent chunk of this book.

I firstly want to start by saying that I liked and appreciated that this book really explored its depth through Julie, the protagonist and her grief towards her boyfriend, Sam and how she dealt with his death. The story was exactly what it offered in the premise, and no more. There wasn’t much else to latch on to. The story was quite repetitive in some ways, and would drone on about how Julie would push away her friends and family throughout her mourning, and the chapters were also rather long, so this felt like a century to go through, as grief sometimes does feel. The book itself, although failed to make me well up with tears did an astounding job of just, well, being sad. Really sad. It got really dark for a long time listening to how Julie felt about Sam’s death, even when she was able to contact him through the phone. There were points I did feel bad for her, but I didn’t personally connect with it.

Since the novel fixated so much on Sam and Julie’s arc, and their relationship, I didn’t really get to understand the rest of the book and the potential it could have explored too. Such as what Oliver and Sam’s relationship could’ve been and what was like, the other characters and how they grieved over Sam, and more. This was a very sad book, but personally not tear inducing for me. Julie also came across as selfish in parts of the book, and I wished she would’ve just moved on from Sam half of the time, since he felt flat-lined and uninterested any longer. Everyone was waiting for her to move on.

The writing on the other hand, it was spectacular and this author really had a way with words if you’re an emotional person. The chapters alternated from the past to present, and were quite long. The dream/memory sequences were a neat idea, and even the flashbacks at times were enough to lighten the mood. I know this book would resonate with a lot of people, but it just didn’t do it for me. Reading the last chapter was the best part for me, because it felt the most emotional, and it was just simply a satisfying ending. I just felt that the plot stretched too far in some parts, and that perhaps the story could have been shorter.

This was a solid book, but I can’t give it more than 3 stars, mainly due to personal enjoyment, but also the reasons stated above. I also read this via an audiobook, and I’m thankful I did or I would have DNF’d it and never got to see the satisfying ending — the woman reading did a wonderful job at showing the extent of emotion for the grief and pain the characters, and Julie were feeling through her voice, though it did take me a long while to finish due to boredom. Good book nontheless. ...more

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