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Permanent Record

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About The Book

A New York Times bestseller!
“Smart and funny…warm and rewarding.” —Booklist (starred review)
“A compelling and quirky tale of love and negotiating early adulthood in New York City.” —School Library Journal

From the New York Times bestselling author of Emergency Contact, which Rainbow Rowell called “smart and funny,” comes a “captivating” (The New York Times) romance about how social media influences relationships every day.

On paper, college dropout Pablo Rind doesn’t have a whole lot going for him. His graveyard shift at a twenty-four-hour deli in Brooklyn is a struggle. Plus, he’s up to his eyeballs in credit card debt. Never mind the state of his student loans.

Pop juggernaut Leanna Smart has enough social media followers to populate whole continents. The brand is unstoppable. She graduated from child stardom to become an international icon, and her adult life is a queasy blur of private planes, step-and-repeats, aspirational hotel rooms, and strangers screaming for her just to notice them.

When Leanna and Pablo meet at 5:00 a.m. at the bodega in the dead of winter it’s absurd to think they’d be A Thing. But as they discover who they are, who they want to be, and how to defy the deafening expectations of everyone else, Lee and Pab turn to each other. Which, of course, is when things get properly complicated.

About The Author

Photograph (c) Aaron Richter

Mary H.K. Choi is the New York Times bestselling author of Emergency Contact, Permanent Record, and Yolk. She is the host of, Hey, Cool Job!, a podcast about jobs and Hey, Cool Life!, a micro-pod about mental health and creativity. Her writing has been featured in The Atlantic, The New York Times,and GQ. She lives in Brooklyn, New York. Follow her on Twitter @ChoitotheWorld.

Product Details

  • Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers (September 3, 2019)
  • Length: 432 pages
  • ISBN13: 9781534445994
  • Grades: 9 and up
  • Ages: 14 - 99
  • Lexile ® HL720L The Lexile reading levels have been certified by the Lexile developer, MetaMetrics®

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Raves and Reviews

“Choi has a real gift for creating a character so real and complex that she can crack his psyche open like a melon and pick through all the gnarly seeds.”

– NPR

“Captivating, with quotable one-liners pinging on every page.”

– The New York Times

"Choi has penned a smart and funny read that is as much about finding your path as it is about falling in love...Choi’s specificity, realistic dialogue, and humor ensure that the personal and romantic journeys feel warm and rewarding, but never saccharine."

– Booklist, starred review

"Choi has penned a smart and funny read that is as much about finding your path as it is about falling in love...Choi’s specificity, realistic dialogue, and humor ensure that the personal and romantic journeys feel warm and rewarding, but never saccharine."

– Booklist, starred review

"Choi provides a lively cast of characters...[and] the rising action—filled with conflict, captivating events, and authentic-sounding, often humorous dialogue—will win readers, and teens like Pablo, who are unsure who they want to be, will relate to his dilemmas."

– Publishers Weekly

"Choi pulls from themes in her previous book, Emergency Contact, and has created a compelling and quirky tale of love and negotiating early adulthood in New York City."

– School Library Journal

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More books from this author: Mary H. K. Choi