Dustin Thao returns with You’ve Found Oliver, a beautifully emotional companion novel to his breakout bestseller You’ve Reached Sam. Tender, contemplative, and full of quiet magic, this story revisits themes of love, grief, and the impossibility of holding on to what has already slipped away. While connected to the world of You’ve Reached Sam, this new installment stands firmly on its own, telling a fresh and heartfelt story about finding connection in the aftermath of loss.
The Story
A year has passed since Oliver lost his best friend, Sam. Though time has moved on for everyone else, Oliver remains anchored to the past, unable to let go. He still texts Sam’s number every day messages full of longing, guilt, and the things he never got to say. He knows no one is on the other end, until one day, someone answers.
The voice belongs to Ben, an astronomy student living in Seattle. Sam’s old number has been reassigned to him, and unbeknownst to Oliver, Ben has been reading his messages for months. What begins as an awkward exchange soon turns into a deep and unexpected connection. As Oliver and Ben get to know each other, they find healing, laughter, and the possibility of new love. But when something strange threatens to pull them apart, Oliver must decide whether to keep chasing the past or finally let it go.
Love, Grief, and the Passage of Time
Thao writes with a lyrical restraint that makes the emotional weight of his story all the more affecting. Where You’ve Reached Sam dealt with the immediate ache of loss, You’ve Found Oliver explores what comes after the quieter, more complicated stage when grief becomes a part of your daily life.
Oliver is a compelling narrator: kind, self-deprecating, and deeply lost. His journey is not just about falling in love again but about relearning how to exist in a world that keeps moving forward without permission. His growing bond with Ben feels organic and tender, a relationship built not on grand gestures but on shared vulnerability. Their conversations about memory, time, and what it means to be “found” make this story resonate long after it ends.
Writing and Atmosphere
Thao’s prose is clean and melodic, the kind of writing that carries emotional honesty without slipping into melodrama. He uses small moments a text left unanswered, a stargazing scene, a conversation over the phone to explore immense ideas about love and loss. There’s a dreamlike quality to his storytelling, balancing realism with a subtle touch of the supernatural, much like You’ve Reached Sam.
Though the book begins gently, it deepens as it unfolds. The final chapters bring quiet revelations that will leave readers misty-eyed. Thao understands that grief doesn’t always roar; sometimes it hums softly in the background of life. And when Oliver finally understands what “letting go” truly means, it feels both heartbreaking and hopeful.
Final Thoughts
You’ve Found Oliver is a moving and compassionate story about love’s afterlife what happens when we start to heal, even when we don’t think we’re ready. It captures the bittersweet truth that saying goodbye doesn’t mean forgetting; it means making space for something new to grow.
Whether or not you’ve read You’ve Reached Sam, this book stands as a powerful reflection on grief, memory, and second chances. It’s a must-read for fans of emotional contemporary fiction who crave stories that linger quietly in the heart.
Get your copy of You’ve Found Oliver here: https://amzn.to/3KC6J35
