A review by mirandakyes
Emergency Contact by Mary H.K. Choi

emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I really liked it while reading it, but after sitting with it for a while I realized it wasn't perfect. It reminds me of Eleanor and Park in terms of writing style and tone--kind of dark, cynical, with bits of hope thrown in. The plot wasn't super present because the book mainly focused on the developing friendship and romance between Sam and Penny, so there wasn't a big story arc and the main conflict was a little bit underwhelming. But the writing and romance definitely made up for it in my opinion.

I've heard people say they didn't like the main character and I can definitely understand that, though I did like her. She's just a bit "high maintenance" I guess? But I liked that about her because it was kind of presented through her anxiety and anti-social tendencies as opposed to her just being annoying. I liked her love interest, Sam, though his personal storylines were pretty unexpected since they were not mentioned in the description at all but played a pretty big part in the book.

All together, the main conflict was pretty avoidable and the plot was basically just the two MCs becoming friends and then getting together (with some personal storylines on both their ends that didn't exactly add up to a culmination of everything at the end, they just kind of got resolved). But I did actually like it while I was reading because I relate to the characters and enjoyed their relationship.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings