Permanent Record by Mary H. K. Choi
Rating: 4.5 stars
To be released: September 3rd 2019
Goodreads Synopsis:
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…
Mary H. K. Choi does it again with Permanent Record! I absolutely adored her debut, Emergency Contact, because relatable college situation/anxiety is relatable, but there are honestly very few YA authors that present contemporary in the college setting. Plus this takes place in NYC and speaks so strongly to the quintessential New Yorker experience.
Pablo is an NYC dropout who works at a bodega (read 'health food store') during the night shift in Brooklyn, trying to figure out what he wants to do with his life. Leanna Smart, nicknamed Lee, a famous social media personality, comes into his store at 5 AM one winter evening, and the two hit it off immediately, starting a secretive, fast-paced romance that's doomed to failure.
