This was so sad. You know where things are headed and despite that it’s still so sad by the end. This book is a really interesting look at how people deal with the death of a loved one. It was painful seeing how much Julie struggled and how badly she wanted to hold on to Sam. I did enjoy the parts with all her friends, and when she got closer to Oliver and her moments with Mika. And the epilogue was the perfect conclusion.

The only thing I do want to add is that there’s this overarching theme of losing the people around you because you’re in love/you’re grieving because you’re in love. So many characters point this out to Julie about how once she and Sam fell in love, they’d hang out together all the time and sort of leave their other friends and family behind. (I mean I have zero complaints of Sam leaving his old friends behind because they’re horrible). They would make plans, just the two of them, and sometimes Mika would be included (she’s the only one who seemed to have been anyway), and then when Sam dies, Julie ignores everyone else who is also grieving, and is focused on herself. It’s understandable because she lost someone she loved, but I just found this contrast interesting. Some of the other characters claimed she took Sam away from them, and even after he died, she was still doing that in a way, as if her grief was greater than everyone else’s. She does learn that isn’t true, but I do wish we could have gotten more of a solid conclusions around this.