GIFTED / Today I am bringing you my review for a book I read several weeks ago. I was happy to see it was READ NOW on Netgalley.
You’ve reached Sam comes out tomorrow, on November 2nd and it has 304 pages. Thank you Wednesday Books for giving me an opportunity to read and review it.
About the book:
FROM GOODREADS /
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.
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 Sam’s cellphone just to listen to his voicemail.
And Sam picks up the phone.
In a miraculous turn of events, Julie’s been given a second chance at goodbye. The connection is temporary. But hearing Sam’s 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 isn’t easy, especially when Julie witnesses the suffering Sam’s 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.
Review:
When I picked You’ve Reached Sam I was ready to be emotionally wracked. Just reading the premise I expected to be at least touched with the story, if not literally crying (because I don’t do that often).
Instead, most of the time, this book made me feel… confused.
It had original part: the phone calls between late boyfriend and alive girlfriend, and I do appreciate it’s uniqueness, but if I am being completely honest, after a while I just didn’t see the point.
I blame the execution for that part. The idea was good.
I also blame the main character who seriously lacked manners and empathy.
I also didn’t understand how she, and people around her, acted as if everyone should move on so quickly. She getting rid of all of her stuff, her mother advising her and people in school in general. One would say it’s been 6 months since Sam’s accident, not a week.
The book was written in first person, following Julie’s POV.
The author’s voice was good and I believe with time it will improve with time.
In my opinion this was a solid ya book with magical elements that made it unique, and it was good for entertainment purpose.
Book Dust Magic 