Review: When You Get the Chance by Emma Lord

*We received this book in exchange for an honest review.*

Millie Price wants nothing more than to be a Broadway Star. She loves living in NYC and can’t imagine spending her life anywhere else. But when she gets into a prestigious theatre program in Los Angeles for her senior year, Millie jumps at the chance to further her career.

Too bad he dad says no. Millie’s determined to convince him over the summer. Along the way though, she gets distracted when she finds her dad’s LiveJournal from the year before she was born. He talks about three women who could potentially be Millie’s mom. There’s Steph, an aspiring actress/talent agency receptionist, Farrah, the dance teacher and Beth, the theatre enthusiast.

Feeling like Sophie in Mamma Mia, Millie finds a way to spend time with each women to get the truth about her birth. Only, things keep getting more complicated as Millie accidently lands an internship with her nemesis Oliver. Not even Millie’s best friend Teddy can keep her calm through this chaotic summer.

We were pumped when we saw the description for When You Get the Chance. Since Christy participated in theatre and high school, she always loves when characters make theatre their passion. We’ve also read Lord’s other YA books. While we weren’t the biggest fans of Tweet Cute, we liked You Have a Match, which made us excited for her latest.

We have to say that When You Get the Chance is her best yet in our opinion. We found it charming, funny and difficult to put down.

First of all, Millie is spunky and bold. We love that she’s willing to throw herself into any social situation without a second thought. We related to her passion and her desire to be the best she can be at everything she tries.

The Mamma Mia similarities were interesting. We found ourselves constantly guessing who Millie’s mom was…and got it wrong. Lord shocked us when she did the big reveal. We felt bad for Millie that everyone kept in the dark and it’s ridiculous that her dad never told her before Millie made it happen on her own. But the cool aspect was that Millie met so many amazing people because of it.

Now, to the romance. Oliver and Millie had great chemistry in their hate to love trope. While the romance didn’t take center stage, we still found the side plot super cute. But what we liked even more was the focus on friendship. It’s hard to find a YA book with a super strong friendship between a guy and girl, without any romantic feelings involved. Teddy always had Millie’s back and seemed like the perfect person to explore Manhattan with.

Overall, Lord’s latest YA book was the perfect way to start the new year. It released on January 4th, so go pick up a copy ASAP.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐/⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐