A huge thank you to Simon & Schuster Canada; via Netgalley for allowing me to read Emergency Contact by Mary H.K. Choi in exchange for an honest review.
Trigger Warning:
- Alcoholic Parent
- Rape/Sexual Assault
- Panic Attacks
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 café 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.
This review contains spoilers.
Emergency Contact by Mary H.K. Choi is a book that has two points of view. The first point of view is from Penny, who is just starting her college life. The second point of view that we read from is from Sam, who is struggling to get himself through school.
I didn’t have any problem’s with this book at all. In fact, Emergency Contact is now one of my favourite books. And the cover is absolutely gorgeous.
Things that I love about Emergency Contact: the flow of the story is A+. The friendship 
turned to lovers trope is fantastic. I appreciate the fact that Sam talked about his relationship with his ex, and how toxic that relationship actually was. I love that the two of them are awkward, ’cause hello! So am I, haha.
I love the story that is told within Emergency Contact. I love the characters. Even the side characters! — Which is saying something, since most of the time I find that side characters can be dull.
I love that Penny, more than anything, made friends. And I like that Penny did right by herself. I appreciate that Penny worked things out with her mom as well. I love the fact that Penny is a writer, and is going to school to further her writing career.
Sam is a great guy who had a bad upbringing. This has affected his adult life, but, through his anxiety and in his own ways, he works through quite a bit. A lot actually happens with Sam in this novel, which I will avoid speaking about because I feel there are already enough spoilers in this review!
I love these Penny and Sam separately but together they just work so well.
What I like about Penny and Sam is that they’re both so different. Yet they fit together in such a way that I haven’t seen in quite a while. I’m glad that the two of them were friends first, and in their own way, they got to know each other uncensored. Which I honestly believe is one of the most important things to have in a relationship. Romantic or otherwise.
What I like most about is that Penny and Sam is that they are there for the other when they’re needed. When Penny needed someone, Sam was there for her, and vice versa. They also give the other the time and space they need to work things out in their life. Which I hugely appreciated. I loved that the two of them end up in a relationship though. And it’s not because the guy falls for the girl first. It’s because both Sam and Penny have been present in their awkward friendship, turned into romantic relationship.
Another thing that I really liked about Emergency Contact was that is had been so long since I’ve read a book where the guy falls for the girl first. I’m not going to deny that Penny felt attraction towards Sam —- even Penny said that she was attracted to Sam. I just have a fondness for stories where the guy confesses his feelings first.
After finishing Emergency Contact and letting the story sink into my bones (for Emergency Contact will remain in my being) I found that this book is all about relationship’s. — The relationship between mothers and their child(ren). Emergency Contact is about moving on and away from, toxic relationships. Emergency Contact is about dealing with one’s anxiety, and as well as breaking the toxic masculinity that so many people face. Emergency Contact is about finding your person.
Of course, I’m a huge, HUGE fan of the slow burn romance, and the secret socks! I also genuinely enjoyed the fact that there was some of the lingo that we use in today’s society that’s in this book, which makes the story feel even more realistic.
Emergency Contact is a adorably charismatic book that had me delighted from the moment I opened the first page.
I give Emergency Contact 5 stars.
Happy Reading!
— Adele
Adele Is Reading 
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