Emergency Contact

By: Mary H. K. Choi

Narrated by: Joy Osmanski, Jacques Roy

Length: 9 hrs and 7 mins

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)

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Alright

It's an engaging story, real characters with their flaws others not as realistic.

Overall good.

Not a fan

Sorry but this was not a favorite… I think it was one of those BOGO deals so I’m not mad about it but it was hard to stay with the story. I was dying for it to end.

mh...

The narration is really well done, for me however the book was flat and a bit undimensional. I wish there was more; more fleshing out of character, and situations, more gravitas to high emotion moments.