Win a Copy of Mary H.K. Choi’s Emergency Contact + a Prize Pack!
Illustration by Ohgigue Books Features Mary H.K. Choi
It’s pure magic when a debut novel introduces characters you’ll adore for the rest of your life, and Mary H.K. Choi’s book does just that. Titled Emergency Contact, the story follows two young adults awkwardly figuring out life and love.
If you enjoyed Jenny Han’s To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before or Rainbow Rowell’s Eleanor & Park, this is the book for you. Rowell even has a quote on Emergency Contact’s cover, saying the characters are “so real and vulnerable, you want to send them care packages.” When you read the description, you’ll understand why:
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.
In anticipation of Emergency Contact’s release on March 27th, we’ve partnered with Simon Teen for a giveaway! One winner will receive a hardcover copy of the book, a branded pop socket and a $50 Visa gift card (for meet-ups with the emergency contact in their life).
To enter the giveaway, follow @PasteBooks on Twitter and retweet this tweet by 5 p.m. EST on Monday, March 26th. You must have a U.S. address to enter.
We’ll announce the winner on Monday evening; good luck!