Reviews

Emergency Contact by Mary H.K. Choi

lostgirlmegan's review against another edition

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3.0

This book was a little more disappointing than I was expecting. Overall, I loved the writing and the story itself was really cute. However, it DIDN’T GO ANYWHERE. There wasn’t a lot happening until the last 40 pages, and then it was like we were trying to tie up a bunch of loose ends as fast as possible. And the ending? It felt so anticlimactic. It seemed to tie up everything in a nice little… boring bow. It was cute, but I needed more!

gabbylc2002's review against another edition

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2.0

I honestly did not like this book. It moved very slow, the romance was dry, and the main characters did not necessarily seem like they had any romantic interest in each other by the end. I would not recommend or read again...it was difficult for me to even finish this book.

snickerbuster's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted reflective fast-paced

4.5

tdxxn's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

thepaige_turner's review against another edition

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5.0

Really, really, really, really loved this.

kai_mele's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted relaxing medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

ladytiara's review against another edition

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4.0

I'll admit that I was first drawn to Emergency Contact by the beautiful cover, but the description also sounded intriguing. I enjoy books about the first year of college, as I think it can be an interesting setting for a coming of age tale.

I really enjoyed this book. The two main characters, Penny and Sam, are both a little broken. Penny is anxious, and she's trying to figure things out at college and how to separate from her well-meaning, but very clueless mother, Celeste. (Celeste is very sweet, but she's young and has no boundaries and wears crop tops. She's the kind of mom that would make an 18-year-old cringe.)

Sam is 21. He's just gotten out of a toxic relationship, and his ex doesn't want to be with him but doesn't want to let him go either. He's broke and he lives in a room above the coffeeshop where he works. His laptop is dying, he can barely afford a community college class, and he worries that he'll never be able to achieve his dream of making films.

Sam and Penny meet through her roommate Jude, who was briefly Sam's step-niece (his mother was married to Jude's grandfather) and then they run into each other on the street while Sam is having a panic attack. Penny is no stranger to panic, and she helps him out. They exchange numbers, and they begin a tentative texting relationship, becoming each other's sounding boards.

Sam and Penny are both the kind of characters you want to be happy (I wanted to hug both of them, but Penny would probably not be down with that). I loved reading about them finding a connection. Yes, there's a bit of romance, but it's really about the kind of deep connection people can find. Much of the book is their text chains, and there's also a lot of being inside their heads (the point of view switches between them in each chapter).

Emergency Contact reminded me a little bit of Fangirl, in that it features a prickly college freshman who wants to be a writer and a slightly older guy. But these are minor similarities, and Emergency Contact stands on its own. Like I said, I like books about the first year of college. This is a quiet sort of book.

I received an ARC from Amazon Vine.

caitlynrenee78's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted relaxing medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.5

papertraildiary's review against another edition

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4.0

I must have read the description for Emergency Contact a handful of times and it never stuck. So how did it become one of my favourite books of the year so far? This was a good recurring lesson of ‘don’t always judge a book by its description’ (though as someone who writes book descriptions as part of her job it still nags me). Then I get into the black hole of ‘what if all the bad description books are actually amazing?’ And things go all haywire. Anyways. A combo of things happened to get me to pick it up and buy it: blogger friends reading and saying they’re loving it, seeing it everywhere, and feeling a need for a new kind of book and being in the bookstore at the right place and right time. The power of marketing! And I’m so glad all of those things came into play, because Emergency Contact was exactly what I needed and then some.

Emergency Contact falls into New Adult genre but definitely has YA crossover, as the main character Penny has just started university. I really liked that it took place in her first year at university, because a) it showed how Penny grows once she’s taken out of her comfort zone and dropped in the real world and b) it includes her pursuing her passion/career. But the story is mainly an adorable love story, and I’m a sucker for a good one, no matter how much I push against the concept.

The story is told by two characters: Penny, an awkward and uncomfortable aspiring writer, and Sam, a self-aware lost pup/barista/documentary filmmaker. Now reading that might make some people chuckle, but just go with it. Penny first meets Sam when she goes to his cafe with her roommate Jude, who is Sam’s former step-niece. Jude makes Penny agree she won’t fall for Sam, but obviously that won’t stop someone. Penny meets Sam a second time when she sees him fall over at a park while he’s having a panic attack. She becomes his emergency contact as she’s driving him to the hospital, and away we go on a cute but forbidden texting relationship, as these two awkward ducks find comfort in their new confidants. It starts as a simple friendship, and builds into something even more. While both going through their own very real stuffs, they need to figure out what exactly they’re doing, and what their feelings are trying to tell them. Both are in desperate need of having someone who understands them in their life, and they run with it.

What made this story set itself apart from the description and the somewhat simple idea was Mary’s writing. She’s got a dry humour that will come out of nowhere and tap you on the forehead. It’s real, weird, and silly. It had me laughing out loud on multiple occasions. Mary throws herself into Penny’s and Sam’s voices, giving them exactly what they need to be damaged but pure, adorable yet cringe-inducing, into each other but still focused on their lives, etc etc. Occasionally the writing would feel a little disjointed, but it was rare and not a big deal, so I’d say this was fantastic for a fiction debut from a journalist (not knocking, I used to be one – it’s very different writing styles). I very much look forward to future books by Mary.

Emergency Contact faced my challenges and still became one of my new favourite books. If you’re looking for a fresh voice with a slightly more grown-up angle from YA while still getting an adorable fix, I’d highly recommend picking this up.

(Originally posted on papertraildiary.com)