h o l l i s 's Reviews > You've Reached Sam
You've Reached Sam
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h o l l i s 's review
bookshelves: 2021-reads, arc, baa-baa-black-sheep, contemporary, ebook, finished-in-june-2021, grief-or-loss, hello-diversity, meh, nope, not-all-the-feels-but-some, magical-realism, romance, pull-the-lever-kronk, zzzz-snooze, ya
Jun 05, 2021
bookshelves: 2021-reads, arc, baa-baa-black-sheep, contemporary, ebook, finished-in-june-2021, grief-or-loss, hello-diversity, meh, nope, not-all-the-feels-but-some, magical-realism, romance, pull-the-lever-kronk, zzzz-snooze, ya
I am totally shocked that a book I expected to love, or at least like, barely rates the latter. Once again, the concept is better than the execution.
It's really hard to be invested in a tragedy, and in grief, when the main character is just.. unlikeable. Not because she's meant to be. But she just fails to be charming, sympathetic, consistent, or.. well.. likeable. I couldn't understand why this poor dead boy had loved her for so long or why people were so inclined to be so nice for her. I know, it sounds harsh, but I'm not being mean for fun. I'm truly baffled. I kid you not, there's a line in the book that says 'the empathy from being a writer' is what makes her connect to another person's pain. Pain she had been happy to ignore twice before; not to mention.. you don't need to be a writer to feel for other people? And she routinely would forget to do this all the time in light of her own feelings? So.. make it make sense?
Listen, everyone's grief journey is valid. I'm not saying she isn't allowed to throw away her boyfriend's things, delete any and all texts, voicemails, and photos, and literally purge his existence from her life.. all of which she does in the opening chapters. But she would also act surprised every time someone else was sad, or mentioned him, or was processing their own grief, and in between those bizarre realizations, she could be unfeeling, rude, oblivious, and just self-absorbed, all while being sad and processing her own grief. Eye twitch.
Despite this enduring connection to Sam after his death -- I mean this literally, he picks up the phone when she calls him, after he's died -- I never once understood the connection (I said it twice in one sentence on purpose because it was used something like sixty times in this book and I swear I'll see the word "connection" on the back of my eyelids when I sleep tonight). We had numerous flashbacks to their early days, some bits in the middle, and honestly they were both pretty much bland potatoes. No character, really, had much of a personality which I mean sometimes does happen with the window dressing second characters but I didn't quite expect it from the romantic force driving the book, too.
Also, can we talk about the fact that this special connection.. wasn't so special after all? Like, I don't want to say more because spoilers but that.. I mean, why? How? Why? So many little things just don't line up or seem to make sense, really.
We'll just call this what it was : a flop. Between the uninspiring writing combined with the lack of emotional resonance, this is a story that has a mishmash of the most basic YA tropes, though not even done well, with the unique hook of having a magical phone that connects to a lost loved one to reel you in. Nothing more. Would not recommend.
1.5 stars
** I received an ARC from NetGalley and the publisher (thank you!) in exchange for an honest review. **
---
This review can also be found at A Take From Two Cities.
It's really hard to be invested in a tragedy, and in grief, when the main character is just.. unlikeable. Not because she's meant to be. But she just fails to be charming, sympathetic, consistent, or.. well.. likeable. I couldn't understand why this poor dead boy had loved her for so long or why people were so inclined to be so nice for her. I know, it sounds harsh, but I'm not being mean for fun. I'm truly baffled. I kid you not, there's a line in the book that says 'the empathy from being a writer' is what makes her connect to another person's pain. Pain she had been happy to ignore twice before; not to mention.. you don't need to be a writer to feel for other people? And she routinely would forget to do this all the time in light of her own feelings? So.. make it make sense?
Listen, everyone's grief journey is valid. I'm not saying she isn't allowed to throw away her boyfriend's things, delete any and all texts, voicemails, and photos, and literally purge his existence from her life.. all of which she does in the opening chapters. But she would also act surprised every time someone else was sad, or mentioned him, or was processing their own grief, and in between those bizarre realizations, she could be unfeeling, rude, oblivious, and just self-absorbed, all while being sad and processing her own grief. Eye twitch.
Despite this enduring connection to Sam after his death -- I mean this literally, he picks up the phone when she calls him, after he's died -- I never once understood the connection (I said it twice in one sentence on purpose because it was used something like sixty times in this book and I swear I'll see the word "connection" on the back of my eyelids when I sleep tonight). We had numerous flashbacks to their early days, some bits in the middle, and honestly they were both pretty much bland potatoes. No character, really, had much of a personality which I mean sometimes does happen with the window dressing second characters but I didn't quite expect it from the romantic force driving the book, too.
Also, can we talk about the fact that this special connection.. wasn't so special after all? Like, I don't want to say more because spoilers but that.. I mean, why? How? Why? So many little things just don't line up or seem to make sense, really.
We'll just call this what it was : a flop. Between the uninspiring writing combined with the lack of emotional resonance, this is a story that has a mishmash of the most basic YA tropes, though not even done well, with the unique hook of having a magical phone that connects to a lost loved one to reel you in. Nothing more. Would not recommend.
1.5 stars
** I received an ARC from NetGalley and the publisher (thank you!) in exchange for an honest review. **
---
This review can also be found at A Take From Two Cities.
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Reading Progress
March 19, 2021
– Shelved
March 19, 2021
– Shelved as:
to-read
June 5, 2021
–
Started Reading
June 5, 2021
– Shelved as:
2021-reads
June 5, 2021
– Shelved as:
arc
June 5, 2021
– Shelved as:
baa-baa-black-sheep
June 5, 2021
– Shelved as:
contemporary
June 5, 2021
– Shelved as:
ebook
June 5, 2021
– Shelved as:
finished-in-june-2021
June 5, 2021
– Shelved as:
grief-or-loss
June 5, 2021
– Shelved as:
hello-diversity
June 5, 2021
– Shelved as:
meh
June 5, 2021
– Shelved as:
nope
June 5, 2021
– Shelved as:
not-all-the-feels-but-some
June 5, 2021
– Shelved as:
magical-realism
June 5, 2021
– Shelved as:
romance
June 5, 2021
– Shelved as:
pull-the-lever-kronk
June 5, 2021
– Shelved as:
zzzz-snooze
June 5, 2021
– Shelved as:
ya
June 5, 2021
–
Finished Reading
Comments Showing 1-18 of 18 (18 new)
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message 1:
by
Jessica
(new)
Jun 09, 2021 11:56AM
![Jessica](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1700934047p1/1923329.jpg)
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![Jessica Fuller](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1712997030p1/9820925.jpg)
![h o l l i s](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1673226218p1/16668577.jpg)
I'm sorry you've joined this bandwagon!
![h o l l i s](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1673226218p1/16668577.jpg)
honestly it totally took me aback. I was flabbergasted.
![h o l l i s](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1673226218p1/16668577.jpg)
she was so brutal. : (
![Rachel G](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1418625354p1/37951858.jpg)
![h o l l i s](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1673226218p1/16668577.jpg)
oh noOoO that's such a long time to be reading!! that stinks. sorry you had the same struggle with this.
![h o l l i s](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1673226218p1/16668577.jpg)
I'm so glad for that, Joey! but also bummed you had a rough go with this one, too.
![h o l l i s](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1673226218p1/16668577.jpg)
my.. sorta?.. pleasure haha. I wish you many much better reads!