Hello everyone!
I am back with another book review, today it is Emergency Contact by Mary H.K. Choi. Thanks so much to NetGalley for providing me with an eARC for an honest review, as always, all opinions are my own.
This story follows Penny as she starts her first year of college. Her high school career had been uneventful and she is ready to make a new name for herself outside of her association with her mother. Sam is stuck. He's got no money, no future, and he lives above the cafe he works at. Caught up in a toxic relationship, a friendship with Penny was the last thing he was expecting. But when she is assigned to be his sort-of niece's roommate, their paths collide. After swapping numbers, they become inseparable - on the phone - daily texts about everything from favourite baked good to mom issues to panic attacks.
Ok, so first of all, I thought this book had a really unique premise and one that really should be used more in YA - getting to know people online. In this day and age, you're more likely to make awkward conversation online than you are in real life, that's just how teens are these days. (oh boy, that makes me sound old! "Those teens these days!" *shakes stick*) Anyway, I really enjoyed that their relationship was set in a believable and unique 'location,' if you will.
I also loved the characters on their own, and then (of course) together. I really related a lot to Penny (I'm the grandma of the group and am always prepared!) and loved her insights into writing. Sam was great too, he had a lot on his plate and even when times were desperate, he persevered. They had a lot of chemistry between them, something else I've been noticing lately in YA - you can't just stick two people in a story and assume the reader is going to be fine with their relationship, regardless of chemistry - and I think Choi did a really good job of recognizing that.
This book was super cute at times, but also really deep and emotional. There are some more serious issues that both characters have to deal with. I won't get into spoilers, but I appreciated that (for the most part), these issues were well integrated into the story. There were a couple where they felt a little bit like they were thrown in last minute but, for the most part, Choi made them a part of the character.
The diversity in this book is also something I'm noticing as a big selling feature for a lot of people, and I think Choi does a great job of addressing that in the book itself. Penny is in a writing class at college and they have a very interesting, frank discussion on voices in literature and diversity. It was really great to see the concerns of POC echoed in the novel, one of the things Penny mentions is that she wants to be a writer, but doesn't know of many Korean writers like herself, and when she pictures the character a story, she automatically pictures white characters. I know this is something that a lot of people have mentioned more recently in regards to reading more diversely, and it was really interesting to see it reflected in a fictional character.
Overall, there were a few very minor issues I had with this book, but otherwise, I thought it was adorable and thought-provoking. I would highly recommend!