Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.
Emergency Contact  By  cover art

Emergency Contact

By: Mary H. K. Choi
Narrated by: Joy Osmanski, Jacques Roy
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $13.49

Buy for $13.49

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Publisher's summary

From debut author Mary H. K. Choi comes a compulsively listenable 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 79 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 17 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.

©2018 Mary H. K. Choi (P)2018 Simon & Schuster Audio

Critic reviews

"[Narrators] Osmanski and Roy provide excellent renditions of the characters' personalities... This audio will have the listener rooting for Penny and Sam to find their way together." (AudioFile)

What listeners say about Emergency Contact

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    163
  • 4 Stars
    87
  • 3 Stars
    47
  • 2 Stars
    23
  • 1 Stars
    8
Performance
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    145
  • 4 Stars
    78
  • 3 Stars
    41
  • 2 Stars
    13
  • 1 Stars
    8
Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    140
  • 4 Stars
    69
  • 3 Stars
    49
  • 2 Stars
    13
  • 1 Stars
    13

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Messy Book With Really Bad Narration

What a huge disappointment for a highly anticipated book for me :((
I was really ready to devour this book because the plot seemed so adorable .. but it was just a big mess and nothing really happened .. they were just whining the entire time and I couldn't get into their "deep" conversations because they sounded SO random to me.. the best character I liked was Jude and I wish if she had found some solace in the end but other than that I was really bored and I didn't like the story at all

The narration didn't help either .. the female was ok but the guy's narration made me sleep several times .. he is so monotone that I couldn't get who is talking
can't recommend this book at all

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Trigger Warning

This book is a masterpiece. If you like Rainbow Rowell, and fuzzy feelings, you will like it. However, there is a trigger warning that needs to be posted. This book talks about rape; not detailed, not gory, and not long, but its mentioned. Otherwise, this is an amazing book, and it made me miss texting new friends for the first time, and it made me miss writing. A seriously good read, or listen.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Finally YA that doesn’t make you cringe.

Mary H. K. Choi is a blessing, Emergency Contact hits all the right spots while offering an intimate account of self actualization. The intercutting of female and male perspectives gives the book a duality of narrative often missing in storytelling. The perhaps unintentionally wokest YA of the year, Choi’s new poetry constantly checks it’s position and is not fearful to talk about race, privilege and consent without coming off as staged or preachy. The story jumps as in real life between mother/daughter evolution, new friendships and first loves without the cheese. The regularly flippant references in the composition should keep readers of all ages googling the supreme drips of knowledge similarly to the pop culture embedded in the Gilmore Girls. As in the work of Amy Sherman-Palladino if you can keep up, you are in for a good ride and window into a brilliant mind. For fans of John Green, Carson McCullers, Stephen Chbosky, Haruki Murakami and Roxane Gay.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

One of my Favorites

Gosh, I freaking love this book. It reminds me of Fangirl except both MCs are neurotic and have a lot of issues, but they help each other deal and speak the same smart, quirky language. We all want a friend that gets us like this, right? I do. This is such a deep comfort read for me. Highly recommend.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Sweet but not cloying

Some reviews were critical of the male voice actor but I loved it. As an anxious Asian American, this felt very relatable. I'm hesitant to pick up YA but the dope cover art and a Tik Tok mentioning "soft tattooed baker boy romance" pulled me in. Funny in moments.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Funny, Cute, Smart

I enjoyed listening to it through car rides. Sam's narration was just a pain because of the very low tone and volume they set it to play. I always have to up the volume when it's Sam's turn. I hope that can be fixed for the next readers. Other than that, all was well.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

15% good, 85% “I’m not like other girls”

The only decent thing from this story was the Penny and Celeste interactions. The parental comments felt real. But it sucks that I had to read 300+ pages to get to decent. Everything else about these characters and story felt like quirky, hipster, “I’m different”, pick-me energy.
Penny and Sam were the same character. Same insecurities, same mommy issues, and I felt like the Mom confrontations happening back-to-back really helped solidify that this was the same person.
If you can put up with 300 pages of insufferable, judgmental people who swear they’re quirky, you could have a shot at a decently written portrayal of a mom and daughter. Is it worth it? I don’t think so.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Boring

I have DNFed this book at least 4 times. I just finished it finally and that’s all I wanted, to finish it. Not good. Not bad. Very average.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Cute story

This story was pretty cute and had all the elements to make it a success, however something didn't quite hit for me. I think I just didn't like Penny's character at all, and I didn't understand why she's being such a bitch to her mom and others. I also didn't like the tone of Penny's narrator. This was an okay read overall as a palate cleanser.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

MY FAVORITE BOOK

I loved it so much! read it in one sitting, and knew I wanted to listen to the audio book.
I am obsessed and will 100% read and listen to again. this book is so real and relatable, not word for word, but in a way that I can easily relate to feelings, and thoughts that both Penny, and Sam have. Being able to slide into their thoughts invokes something amazing.
Thank you.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!