alexperc_92's review against another edition
4.0
Review can be found on *Milky Way of Books*
The new contemporary novel by Mary Choi was a very nice surprise! It is filled with a nostalgia for human contact which had become more and more less due to technology. Yet both Penny and Sam who both have more problems that they can count and no adult to depend on to, find solace in each other and from their tentative friendship, love blossoms.
It's a heartfelt and very realistic story for anyone who struggles and wants to find that particular emergency contact they carve to have.
The new contemporary novel by Mary Choi was a very nice surprise! It is filled with a nostalgia for human contact which had become more and more less due to technology. Yet both Penny and Sam who both have more problems that they can count and no adult to depend on to, find solace in each other and from their tentative friendship, love blossoms.
It's a heartfelt and very realistic story for anyone who struggles and wants to find that particular emergency contact they carve to have.
sweetpotatocat's review against another edition
emotional
funny
reflective
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
5.0
zealouszulu's review against another edition
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
kblincoln's review against another edition
5.0
Riding my own wave of glee for Asian-American protags after seeing Crazy Rich Asians and To All the Boys I've Loved Before I picked up Choi's Emergency Contact not expecting much.
Choi takes a Korean-American writer-wannabee with a MILF mom starting her first year of college in Austin, Texas, gives her a meet-cute with a coffee house baker with an alcoholic mom trying to raise himself out of debt and poverty...and gets me to snort out loud in the first 5 pages.
In thinking about a queen bee at high school who harassed her Penny thinks "In four days Penny would be off to college and the opinions of these micro-regionally famous people would no longer matter." I mean, "micro-regionally famous" just slew me.
Penny is introverted, thoughtful, imaginative, prepared, and while she suffers a bit from "why me" lack of confidence in terms of her relationships with her two friends (not caricatures, by the way. One is a super rich bossy abrasive girl and another is a too-sweet-to-be-true room mate, but somehow they outgrow those cardboard cutouts by the end of the book) and her texts with Sam.
Penny and Sam go instantly intimate with their texts, but the fun parts are as things grow more and more closer to real life. There's phone calls, and then dropping by Sam's coffee house. Meanwhile the both are dealing with mini-melt downs in terms of their loved ones.
I also loved how Penny saw Sam. He remembers being called AIDs because he was so chronically undernourished and skinny but she finds him beautiful in a totally believable way.
This is a YA/NA romance I would totally give my teenage daughters, despite the reference near the end to some sexual trauma. The story-within-a-story that Penny is writing for her class sometimes made me skim, but I could appreciate the meta artistry of it.
Terrific. People who like Rainbow Rowell and John Green will also love Choi.
Choi takes a Korean-American writer-wannabee with a MILF mom starting her first year of college in Austin, Texas, gives her a meet-cute with a coffee house baker with an alcoholic mom trying to raise himself out of debt and poverty...and gets me to snort out loud in the first 5 pages.
In thinking about a queen bee at high school who harassed her Penny thinks "In four days Penny would be off to college and the opinions of these micro-regionally famous people would no longer matter." I mean, "micro-regionally famous" just slew me.
Penny is introverted, thoughtful, imaginative, prepared, and while she suffers a bit from "why me" lack of confidence in terms of her relationships with her two friends (not caricatures, by the way. One is a super rich bossy abrasive girl and another is a too-sweet-to-be-true room mate, but somehow they outgrow those cardboard cutouts by the end of the book) and her texts with Sam.
Penny and Sam go instantly intimate with their texts, but the fun parts are as things grow more and more closer to real life. There's phone calls, and then dropping by Sam's coffee house. Meanwhile the both are dealing with mini-melt downs in terms of their loved ones.
I also loved how Penny saw Sam. He remembers being called AIDs because he was so chronically undernourished and skinny but she finds him beautiful in a totally believable way.
This is a YA/NA romance I would totally give my teenage daughters, despite the reference near the end to some sexual trauma. The story-within-a-story that Penny is writing for her class sometimes made me skim, but I could appreciate the meta artistry of it.
Terrific. People who like Rainbow Rowell and John Green will also love Choi.
smontgomery's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
I love it when my YA books challenge me or bring up tough topics. Dealing with an unsatisfactory relationship with a mother is super interesting and I enjoyed it. However, there were parts of this boon that sort of automatically earned this books a quick thumbs down from me. For one, a baby who dies as a literal plot device in the book-within-a-book was not great. Especially when it was talked about over and over! Was not a fan of reading about parental neglect, even if it was to work through some issues with a mother character. I also did not appreciate a casual swastika reference/joke. I also thought that the concept of
Spoiler
chemical pregnancies and the timeline of a miscarriage was not accurate, in my experience. Obviously, mensuration and fertility have a wide range of normal, but if someone is 5 weeks late in their period, they’re 7 weeks pregnant, and a chemical pregnancy happens in the first 5 weeks of pregnancy!Spoiler
I did really appreciate the author’s treatment of sexual assault and consent.notlikethebeer's review against another edition
3.0
CN r*pe
I really don't know how I feel about this? It was super interesting and original in lots of ways, particularly the way the friendship evolved over text. It also provides a sensitive and well-handled look at r*pe in a way that doesn't always get looked at- it highlights and examines the idea of a 'conventional r*pist' at least a bit. Lastly it had some fab descriptions of anxiety!
That being said it felt really confusing at times, I often felt kind of lost without really knowing how or why. At times I could understand how/why Penny felt about her mum, at other times I really couldn't! There were also a couple of cases of sexism that felt a bit off.
So yeah... some strong points, some weaker ones!
I really don't know how I feel about this? It was super interesting and original in lots of ways, particularly the way the friendship evolved over text. It also provides a sensitive and well-handled look at r*pe in a way that doesn't always get looked at- it highlights and examines the idea of a 'conventional r*pist' at least a bit. Lastly it had some fab descriptions of anxiety!
That being said it felt really confusing at times, I often felt kind of lost without really knowing how or why. At times I could understand how/why Penny felt about her mum, at other times I really couldn't! There were also a couple of cases of sexism that felt a bit off.
So yeah... some strong points, some weaker ones!
astro1626's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
starness's review against another edition
3.0
A fresh contemporary romantic story that’s probably better relatable for those in the 18-25 age range
coffeebooksdogs's review against another edition
3.0
Super cute story but just landed kinda middle of the road for me. There were times it felt repetitive and boring, but also times that I was really into it!