I really wanted to like this, I’ve heard nothing but good things about Choi’s works, but the writing just felt like it was trying way too hard.

I guess I'm just not young enough to enjoy young adult books. This one really wasn't for me, although I can see why it resonated for so many others. I just felt like it lacked something, a certain depth which would have taken this to the next level.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC without obligation.

Mary H. K. Choi is a wonderful author

After a year of college, Pablo is working at his local twenty-four-hour deli, selling overpriced snacks to brownstone yuppies. He’s dodging calls from the student loan office and he has no idea what his next move is.

Leanna Smart’s life so far has been nothing but success. Age eight: Disney Mouseketeer; Age fifteen: first #1 single on the US pop chart; Age seventeen, *tenth* #1 single; and now, at Age nineteen…life is a queasy blur of private planes, weird hotel rooms, and strangers asking for selfies on the street.

When Leanna and Pab randomly meet at 4:00 a.m. in the middle of a snowstorm in Brooklyn, they both know they can’t be together forever. So, they keep things on the down-low and off Instagram for as long as they can. But it takes about three seconds before the world finds out

Story of relationships - when you meet randomly but somehow it works, how you can both impact each other and will it work out

I really tried to read this book as everyone was raving about it. I also loved Emergency Contact by the same author. However, I found the characters to be really irritating and I could not connect to the story. I got 45% through before I gave up. This is definitely a case of it not being the right book for me, as so many others love this book.

I went into this with high hopes after loving Mary's previous book Emergency Contact.

However, it wasn't meant to be. This book started slow for me. And one of the main characters, Pablo was an absolute nightmare, I couldn't get on with his character at all.

Overall, I still love Mary's writing style and I will pick up more from her in the future. However, this one just didn't work for me.

Mary H. K. Choi did it again for me. I loved her first book Emergency Contact so much and connected to it so much. So I had high hopes for this one too. I'm so happy it didn't disappoint. I will write a longer review for my blog soon but this book was captivating, lovely and such an involving love story. I will say love story even though [spoilers] the ending does let you know that just the timing was never right. But sometimes that's what happens, you might be great for each other, but not great for the time when it was. Pablo's decisions, his inner commentary was so relatable at times and Leanna, even though we didn't see all her motives or why, was such an engaging character. I really was just clutching my tablet hoping for more. I can't wait to see what this author will come up with next.

Permanent Record is a book which I related to (and not because I’ve had a secret relationship with a Disney star!).

Pablo Neruda ‘Pab’ Rind doesn’t know what he’s doing with his life. An ill ventured attempt at attending NYU has left him with thousands of dollars worth of debt, made all the worse by the fact that his mother warned him against attending in the first place because of the high price tag. Working at the local bodega – sorry, health food store – Pab is stuck in a rut. Until he meets Leanna Smart.


Leanna Smart is the new Miley Cyrus/Demi Lovato/Selena Gomez. Guys want her, girls want to be her, she’s a household name across the globe… And for some reason she’s in Pab’s bodega in the middle of the night on Valentine’s Day.

The interesting thing about how much I loved Permanent Record is how little I cared about Pab and Leanna’s relationship. Having read Mary H.K. Choi’s debut, Emergency Contact, I was expecting this to be a dual perspective narrative, but without seeing inside Leanna’s head it’s hard to get a read on her. She’s driven and ambitious, with some insecurities, but she spends more time globetrotting than we spend getting to know her. If we had seen things from Leanna’s side I would have rated this even higher (which is impressive, considering I gave Permanent Record five stars even without it).

As it was, I found the scenes focused on Pab’s relationships with his family and flatmates to be far more compelling than any he shared with Leanna.

The reason I loved this book so much was because I read it at exactly the right time in my life.

‘I care about everything equally until I care about so many things I get overwhelmed and care about nothing at all.’

I don’t think I’ve ever found a quote which describes me so perfectly. It’s the reason I decided not to go to university in the first place; I had a notebook filled with huge lists of courses that I was interested in, and it was impossible to narrow it down so I… didn’t.

When you’re surrounded by YA books filled with characters who know what they want to study and how to get there, it’s refreshing to meet a character like Pab who does not have his shit together in the slightest. It’s inspiring, and it gave me a boost I didn’t even know I needed. It’s reminded me that you can’t rest on your laurels in life. It’s better to pick one thing, regret it and need to try something different later in life rather than do nothing.

Permanent Record isn’t perfect, but I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and it will stay with me. It deserves five stars for that if nothing else. I’m so glad I picked it out of the TBR jar this month, and I can’t wait to pick up more of Choi’s work in the future.

Dnfed--unfortunately the book was archived before I was able to read it. However, I will be back with a review if I am able to read the book in the future!

I liked this! Incredibly fresh and modern language - you can tell that the author really knows her internet and pop culture, the whole book is dripping in modern, ironic, net-speak.

I also appreciated that the story wasn't what I expected - this kind of story is usually the other way round - so it was nice to be from a boy's perspective of a whirlwind romance with an uber-rich woman is like.

Recommend for people who like Love, Girls or any other trendy modern New York TV show - it really felt like the city from that kind of programme.

LOVED THIS! Absolutely brilliant and incisive; slightly sad at times but in a very realistic way. Would definitely recommend.

A bit stereotypical, in the sense that it has loads of clichés about Gen z's, however I really did enjoy this book and definitely will be reading more Mary H.K. Choi in the future!

Completely and utterly not my style. I see why people enjoyed this book, it's true and relevant to an age that is so often dismissed. That age between young adult and adulthood however, sadly it just wasn't a compelling enough story for me to finish reading - more so my taste than anything else.

An interesting premise which really does justice to the characters who are both complicated and flawed in their own ways.
What I particularly enjoyed about this story was the ending and how it reflected the reality of what happens in life and the author didn't succumb to the usual cookie-cutter ending for novels like this.

Temporarily diverting teen discourse on social relationships. I didn’t hate it, surprisingly. An insight into the digitalised personae of contemporary culture.

I am really ambivalent. On the one hand, I really liked the concept of the story, but reading it was just frustrating at times. The pacing felt off and Pablo went from being relatable to being annoying in almost every single chapter, it felt a bit like whiplash. I also didn't find myself rooting for him and Leanna but can't really pinpoint if it was the writing or the nonexistent chemistry between the characters that made it seem like it didn't need to happen by the end of the book.
Perhaps I'll fare better with Choi's other novel Emergency Contact.

Not for me, unfortunately. I couldn't get on with this, mostly as I couldn't bear Pablo's character and the troubles he got himself into (mostly regarding college debt) while making poor excuses and digging himself deeper. It made for extremely frustrating reading!

Having loved Emergency Contact, I was happy to get straight into this second YA book from Mary HK Choi, hoping to be similarly entertained.

Mary HK Choi again takes an everyday character, this time focusing the narrative on a singular person, Pablo, rather than the dual narrative of Emergency Contact. His character development is excellent throughout as you really get to know him as a fully-realised person. Pablo doesn’t have a lot going for him at first, apart from a seemingly dead-end late night job in a convenience store in NYC. Much of the early narrative takes place here, including the pivotal meeting with pop sensation Leanna Smart.

What follows is both a whirlwind for Pablo, but also a hard reality check for him. The reality of having to grow up and have ambition is almost crushing him. At first glance, his roommates and friends don’t seem to have a lot going for them either. But they’re all at least striving for more. Pablo is burying his head in the sand with no apparent goal in mind.

His meeting Leanna leads him to a glimpse into a luxurious life, but a ruthless business too, as he sees the insides of legal wranglings and the pressure of being a popstar all mount up on Leanna.

Like Emergency Contact, this book leans in to the omnipotence of social media. Characters have great conversations about the effects of social media and lament that it’s such an integral part of their lives. YA fiction seems to be coming to terms with the idea that social media might have its ups and downs, but it’s here now and it has to have its place in contemporary fiction. The kids in this book don’t try to get away from it – resistance is futile. They accept it as part of their lives.

Pablo manages to keep the various facets of his life separate for the vast proportion of the narrative and it works well for the reader at least. We get to see him struggle with how to get on with his family: his divorced parents and his younger tween brother, Rain. He struggles with his identity as the child of a Korean mother and an Indian father. His financial woes become a major thread. It’s a painfully real story of a young man living in America.

Then there’s the sweetest scenes, those involving Pablo and Leanna. There’s an instant, well-written chemistry between the two. It’s also well aware of the cliché of the star-crossed lovers, but the author finds a way to make it work in those scenes where all the noise fades away and it is just Pablo and Leanna. It’s also nice the pining after the other half feels coming from the male perspective. He has the same paranoia created by the brain in the aftermath of firsts: first date, first kiss, meeting her friends. Does she like me? Do her friends like me? What’s going on with that other guy? etc.

Overall, the arc of Pablo is satisfying as we enter the final parts of the novel. It doesn’t tie up neatly, as I wouldn’t expect a contemporary novel to in this day and age. Another fine book, reflective of the late-teen reality facing young adults.

I haven't read Emergency Contact, the author's debut novel, but I really enjoyed this! The romance and the difference in backgrounds between both main character's was very well done. It was fantastic to see their relationship develop and blossom, despite obstacles. it was funny, cute, heart-breaking and I loved the writing!!

I found this a slow start and one that necessarily did not get better as it continued. The idea for this was interesting and it could have been handled well but the writing let it down a great deal. I found the tone of the writing stodgy and difficult to get through. The characters were okay but they both felt a little bit 2d at times.