5/24/2018 Update: As promised, here's the link to my full blog review! :) https://thedeborahembury.wordpress.com/2018/05/23/emergency-contact-by-mary-h-k-...

I'll be posting a full review for this one on my blog, but I will say that I was pleasantly surprised by "Emergency Contact". After reading the first couple chapters I almost put it down because it seemed annoying and pretentious, but I gave it a chance. There are definitely a few flaws (glamorization of depression, unadressed girl-to-girl hate), plus one of the major plot points just completely vanishes?? But somehow...I liked it. I ended up liking the main characters much more than I thought I would, too. I enjoyed how they each had passions and projects they actually pursued.
I'll dig into these thoughts more in my blog review! ( )

Romance where the characters fall in love mostly via text message.

I liked it - good for reading on a hectic travel weekend when I was also running a big race.

Realized I had it in my kindle when I got a second book by this author in my subscription box. ( )

This was a pretty cute geeky gal discovering college and love story. ( )

Saw this book blurbed online and enjoyed the heck out of it. Emergency Contact is a funny, well-paced coming-of-age romance with two memorable leads - Penny, a quirky, anxious Korean-American college freshman who has trouble connecting with people, and Sam, a big-hearted, insecure baker from a working class background recovering from a toxic relationship. The two strike up a friendship via text message, becoming emotionally intimate but preferring the safety of a phone relationship to one IRL.

This book touched on so many timely themes - navigating differences of race and class, how technology connects and disconnects us, figuring out how to love after trauma. If anything, the book had so much going on that the narrative felt a bit crowded, but it was still deeply enjoyable.

Rainbow Rowell blurbs it, and it especially reminded me of Fangirl. Hurrah for college novels being published as YA! ( )

It's been a while since I shipped something so hard. ( )