You've Reached Sam

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

You forget how much time has passed until you have to sit down to write
your acknowledgments. In publishing, you learn pretty quickly that
everything happens all at once or nothing happens at all. And for most of
my life, nothing was happening. Anyway, there are a lot of people I want to
acknowledge who got me to this point in my life. The person I want to
thank first is my sister, Vivian. What a long journey, right? You were there
when this book was nothing but an idea in my head. You became my first
critique partner. You gave me some of the best and harshest feedback I’ve
ever received to this day. There are so many of your thoughts and ideas in
this book, I can hardly distinguish them from my own anymore. Most
important of all, thank you for always being the biggest fan of my stories.

Thank you to my agent, Thao Le. You don’t know how excited I was
when I got your email saying you were halfway through and loved it so far!
After our phone call, I knew you were the right person for this book. Thank
you for helping me get this book into the right shape. And thank you for all
your support and championing of me. You are truly the best in the business,
and it is wonderful to work with you. Thank you to everyone at the Sandra
Dijkstra Literary Agency for all that you do. A special shout-out to Andrea
Cavallaro for taking this book overseas. And thank you to my wonderful
film agent, Olivia Fanaro at UTA.

Thank you to my editor, Eileen Rothschild. You truly helped take this
book to levels I didn’t expect. I think that’s because you understood it in
ways no one else did. You helped bring Sam to life and I am incredibly
grateful that we got a chance to work together. Thank you to the Wednesday
Books family. Mary Moates and Alexis Neuville, you guys make things so
much better and more fun! Thank you for all you do behind the scenes.

Thank you to Kerri Resnick for your genius and kindness. Thanks for
finding Zipcy, who illustrated the best cover I could ever have asked for.
Thank you to Tiffany Shelton. And thank you to Lisa Bonvissuto. It is such
a joy to get the chance to work with you on this book!

To my friends and family. Thank you to Jolie Christine, my friend and
CP. You really helped me through my revisions. Thank you to Julian
Winters and Roshani Chokshi for your friendly support throughout the
process. Thank you to Judith Frank at Amherst. You gave me space to work
on this book when you didn’t have to. Thank you to my friend Ariella
Goldberg, who helped me with the prologue when I felt stuck. Thank you to
my brother, Alvin, for always being there, and for supporting my stories.
And thank you to my mom and dad. From the very beginning, you guys
always believed in me.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

DUSTIN THAO is a Vietnamese American writer based in Southern
California. He graduated from Amherst College with a BA in political
science, and he is currently in a Ph.D. program at Northwestern University.
He writes contemporary young adult fiction. You’ve Reached Sam is his YA
debut. You can sign up for email updates here.

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This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are
either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

First published in the United States by Wednesday Books, an imprint of St. Martin’s Publishing
Group

YOU’VE REACHED SAM. Copyright © 2021 by Dustin Thao. All rights reserved. For information,
address St. Martin’s Publishing Group, 120 Broadway, New York, NY 10271.

www.wednesdaybooks.com

Cover design by Kerri Resnick
Cover illustration by Zipcy

The Library of Congress has cataloged the print edition as follows:

Names: Thao, Dustin, author.
Title: You’ve reached Sam / Dustin Thao.
Other titles: You have reached Sam
Description: First edition. | New York: Wednesday Books, 2021. | Audience: Ages 12-18.
Identifiers: LCCN 2021017546 | ISBN 9781250762030 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781250836748 | ISBN

9781250836748 (international, sold outside the U.S., subject to rights availability) | ISBN
9781250762047 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Bereavement—Juvenile fiction. | Future life—Juvenile fiction. | Interpersonal
relations—Juvenile fiction. | Cell phones—Juvenile fiction. | Romance fiction. | CYAC: Love—
Fiction. | Grief—Fiction. | Future life—Fiction. | Cell phones—Fiction. | LCGFT: Romance
fiction.
Classification: LCC PZ7.1.T44725 Yo 2021 | DDC 813.6 [Fic]—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021017546

eISBN 9781250762047

Our ebooks may be purchased in bulk for promotional, educational, or business use. Please contact
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email at [email protected].

First Edition: 2021

CONTENTS

Title Page
Copyright Notice

Dedication

Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen

Epilogue

Acknowledgments

About the Author
Copyright