Overview
"Smart and funny, with characters so real and vulnerable, you want to send them care packages. I loved this book." --Rainbow RowellFrom debut author Mary H.K. Choi comes a compulsively readable novel that shows young love in all its awkward glory--perfect for fans of Eleanor & Park and To All the Boys I've Loved Before. For Penny Lee high school was a total nonevent. Her friends were okay, her grades were fine, and while she somehow managed to land a boyfriend, he doesn't actually know anything about her. When Penny heads to college in Austin, Texas, to learn how to become a writer, it's seventy-nine miles and a zillion light years away from everything she can't wait to leave behind. Sam's stuck. Literally, figuratively, emotionally, financially. He works at a caf and sleeps there too, on a mattress on the floor of an empty storage room upstairs. He knows that this is the god-awful chapter of his life that will serve as inspiration for when he's a famous movie director but right this second the seventeen bucks in his checking account and his dying laptop are really testing him. When Sam and Penny cross paths it's less meet-cute and more a collision of unbearable awkwardness. Still, they swap numbers and stay in touch--via text--and soon become digitally inseparable, sharing their deepest anxieties and secret dreams without the humiliating weirdness of having to see each other.
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Details
- ISBN-13: 9781534408968
- ISBN-10: 1534408967
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
- Publish Date: March 2018
- Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.9 x 1.2 inches
- Shipping Weight: 1.05 pounds
- Page Count: 400
- Reading Level: Ages 14-17
Related Categories
FaceTime is so overrated
Penny is thrilled to make the 79-mile drive to Austin, Texas, where she’s about to begin her freshman year of college—far away from everything she’s been itching to leave behind. Sam runs a coffee shop near her new campus and lives in the shop’s storage room upstairs. He has plans to become a documentary filmmaker, but first, he has to figure out how to put his past behind him.
When Penny and Sam meet, they swap numbers in case of emergency. But soon they find themselves texting nonstop, growing closer to one another than to the friends they see in real life. But will Penny and Sam’s digital-only relationship be enough to help them through some of the toughest transitions they’ve ever faced?
At first glance, Mary H.K. Choi’s first novel is a lighthearted young adult romance. But dig a little deeper, and her bubbly prose reveals a poignant slice-of-life story built around a diverse group of vulnerable characters dealing with complicated issues. Though the narrative voice feels sprawling and occasionally forced, the character voices crackle as Sam, Penny and their friends relate to each other in a sharp, witty way that readers will recognize and enjoy. Emergency Contact is a bittersweet peek into the lives of two teenagers who come together in the right moment to help each other deal with life’s curveballs.
This article was originally published in the April 2018 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.
FaceTime is so overrated
Penny is thrilled to make the 79-mile drive to Austin, Texas, where she’s about to begin her freshman year of college—far away from everything she’s been itching to leave behind. Sam runs a coffee shop near her new campus and lives in the shop’s storage room upstairs. He has plans to become a documentary filmmaker, but first, he has to figure out how to put his past behind him.
When Penny and Sam meet, they swap numbers in case of emergency. But soon they find themselves texting nonstop, growing closer to one another than to the friends they see in real life. But will Penny and Sam’s digital-only relationship be enough to help them through some of the toughest transitions they’ve ever faced?
At first glance, Mary H.K. Choi’s first novel is a lighthearted young adult romance. But dig a little deeper, and her bubbly prose reveals a poignant slice-of-life story built around a diverse group of vulnerable characters dealing with complicated issues. Though the narrative voice feels sprawling and occasionally forced, the character voices crackle as Sam, Penny and their friends relate to each other in a sharp, witty way that readers will recognize and enjoy. Emergency Contact is a bittersweet peek into the lives of two teenagers who come together in the right moment to help each other deal with life’s curveballs.
This article was originally published in the April 2018 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.