NEED TO KNOW<\/p>\n
Dustin Thao is taking fans back to Ellensburg, Wash. with the impending release of You’ve Found Oliver<\/a> \u2014 a companion novel to his NYT bestseller You’ve Reached Sam<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n Arriving on Sept. 30, You’ve Found Oliver<\/a> centers on Sam’s best friend Oliver, a fan-favorite character from the original novel.\n<\/p>\n Set one year after Sam’s death, Oliver finds himself sending text messages to his friend’s old number. He thinks that no one is reading them and is surprised to find out that Sam’s phone number has been reassigned to Ben, who has had access to the “vulnerable texts for months,” according to a synopsis.\n<\/p>\n Ben and Oliver quickly develop a bond, which leads to more serious feelings. However, “there’s something unexplainable keeping them apart.”<\/p>\n In an exclusive statement shared with PEOPLE, Thao explains the “unusual way” that he came up with the idea for You’ve Found Oliver.\n<\/p>\n ‘You’ve Found Oliver’ book cover.<\/p>\n Dutton Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Penguin Young Readers<\/p>\n “I was sitting in a restaurant, waiting for my friends to arrive. These friends happen to be fellow authors Alex Aster<\/a> and Chloe Gong<\/a>. Alex was running late and when she finally arrived, she couldn\u2019t find our table. So I told her to meet me up front. But for some reason, I couldn\u2019t find her either. As we texted each other, we described the exact same place. It was the strangest feeling,” he recalls.\n<\/p>\n “Two people standing at the same spot, talking over the phone, but unable to see each other.\u00a0Turns out, there was a sister restaurant with the same name,” he continues. “But the feeling stayed with me when we finally sat for dinner. At the end of the night, I turned to Alex and Chloe and said,\u00a0‘I know what my next book is about.’ ”\n<\/p>\n Read on for an exclusive excerpt from You’ve Found Oliver.<\/p>\n After work, I hang in the library and start on my assignments. I have a few chapters to read for American History. I\u2019m supposed to be taking notes, but the textbook is putting me into a coma. The only thing keeping me awake are texts from Ben. He finished his lab early today. Now he\u2019s packing to go home to Bellevue for the weekend.\n<\/p>\n Oliver: How long are you going home for?\n<\/p>\n Ben: Staying until Sunday\n<\/p>\n Ben: That\u2019s the thing about living close to home. Parents expect me to visit all the time\n<\/p>\n Oliver: No need to tell me. My mom practically lives down the street\n<\/p>\n Oliver: We do Thursday night dinners. I\u2019m not allowed to miss it\n<\/p>\n Ben: That\u2019s honestly sweet\n<\/p>\n Ben: What’re your plans for the weekend?\n<\/p>\n Oliver: Still figuring them out\n<\/p>\n Ben: Should we meet up?\n<\/p>\n The question catches me by surprise. I\u2019m not sure if he\u2019s serious. We\u2019ve only been talking for a few weeks.\n<\/p>\n Oliver: As in this weekend?\n<\/p>\n Ben: Yeah\n<\/p>\n Author Dustin Thao.<\/p>\n Vivian Thao<\/p>\n Ben: Bellevue isn\u2019t too far from you right? We could meet somewhere in the middle\n<\/p>\n Ben: If you’re not busy\n<\/p>\n I can\u2019t believe he actually wants to see me. I was hoping we would meet eventually. But I wasn\u2019t expecting it to be this soon.\n<\/p>\n Oliver: That could be fun\n<\/p>\n Oliver: Where should we meet?\n<\/p>\n Ben: Have you been to North Bend?\n<\/p>\n Ben: I think it\u2019s halfway between us. I actually know a great diner there. Best smash burgers in Washington\n<\/p>\n I look it up on my phone. It\u2019s about an hour drive from Ellensburg.\n<\/p>\n Oliver: That’s not too far\n<\/p>\n Oliver: And love a smash burger. But I\u2019ll have to judge that for myself\n<\/p>\n Ben: What about tomorrow?\n<\/p>\n This is happening so fast. I only have Professor Clarke\u2019s class in the afternoon. I could hop on the bus afterwards. Ben texts me the name of the diner. I can\u2019t believe we\u2019re actually going to meet in person. The thought sends butterflies to my stomach. It\u2019s impossible to focus on anything else. But I force myself to finish the rest of the chapter before leaving the library.\n<\/p>\n I drop my things off at the dorm before heading home for dinner. We\u2019re having turkey meatloaf tonight. I help Mom bring in the groceries and start on the vegetables. I overcook the broccoli a little, but it\u2019s still good. Mom saved some galaktoboureko from her shift at the restaurant yesterday. It\u2019s this Greek dessert that\u2019s made of custard and baked in filo dough. We put on another episode of her period drama and eat in the living room. As usual, she wraps up the leftovers for me to take back.\n<\/p>\n I can barely fall asleep that night, but morning comes before I know it. I shave my face thoroughly and spend some extra time on my hair.\n<\/p>\n I can barely pay attention in Professor Clarke\u2019s class. She has us do another activity around The Poetics of Space. The quote on the board reads, \u201cWe are never real historians, but always near poets, and our emotion is perhaps nothing but an expression of a poetry that was lost.\u201d \u2014Gaston Bachelard. We spend the class drawing our interpretations of it with colored pencils. Professor Clarke walks the room and says, \u201cWhen we think of a space, we think of our experiences in it. The rooms we walk though, the lives we live there. Are those memories not woven into the walls themselves? What happens to them after we leave?\u201d\n<\/p>\n For some reason, this makes me think of the lake. The one Sam and I used to escape to all the time. I still find him there in some of my dreams. I remember the picture Sam drew of me, lying out in the grass, surrounded by flowers. For our activity, I try to recreate it with him instead.\n<\/p>\n The moment class ends, I race out the door, heading straight to the bus station. Ben sends a text to confirm the location. His parents are letting him borrow their car. I send him an ETA as soon as I step on the bus.\n<\/p>\n Ben: Text me when you’re close\n<\/p>\n Ben: I’ll see you soon\n<\/p>\n