I grabbed Emergency Contact by Mary H. K. Choi book ages ago, and I’m seriously bummed it took me this long to read it! But I finally picked it up at the start of August, and I’m so glad I did.
Penny is a freshman in college. She likes to keep to herself, enjoys reading and writing, and is a regular homebody. She doesn’t have the greatest relationship with her mom, so going away to school (even though it’s only an hour away) is supposed to be a welcome change.
Sam is almost homeless. He works at a coffee shop, where he bakes incredible treats. The owner pays him, but also lets him live above the shop. He’s Penny’s roommate’s ex-uncle (what a thread).
Penny and Sam meet when her roommate drags her to the coffee shop on move-in day. A couple days later, when Penny is on her own downtown, she sees someone fall over. She realizes it’s Sam, who thinks he’s dying. She figures out that it’s a panic attack, and tells him that he needs to text her if he starts to feel that way again, and she becomes Emergency Penny in his phone.
Their friendship blooms, to say the least. They’re texting constantly, and it isn’t just “Hey, how’s it going?” They’re learning about each other in such an incredible and random way. But they both have things going on in their lives that make everything difficult. Luckily, they have each other for emergencies.
I fell in love with this book. Once I started reading it, that was all I wanted to do! It was beautifully written, and I felt like Choi really understood how young adults speak; something I’ve realized is not as common as it should be. It was also neat to read a book that was about texting and relationships, because that’s how things tend to go now.
Overall, I loved Emergency Contact, and I can’t wait to read more of Choi’s work! You can grab yourself a copy at Target, Barnes and Noble, or Amazon!
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