Emma Lord’s YA Books Ranked

Emma Lord has become a household name when it comes to YA contemporary books ever since her debut novel released in 2020. Since then, she’s released a book every January. We’ve been lucky to receive ARCs of all of her books, which are always fun and adorable.

So just in time for Valentine’s Day, we thought we’d share our ranking of Lord’s books with all of you, since her books always feature cute romance.

This post is all about Emma Lord’s best books and will be updated every year. We can’t wait what she has in store for us in 2024.

1. Begin Again

We love reading YA books set in college and Begin Again did not disappoint.

Andie Rose is ecstatic to transfer to Blue Ridge State. But when Andie arrives at college, nothing goes as planned for her. Her boyfriend Connor transferred to her former community college and the course work is much harder than she anticipated.

At least she made some new friends, including Shay, her roommate, Milo, her RA and Valeria, her tutor. All of Andie’s new friends agree — Andie is too focused on fixing other people’s problems and she needs to start living her own life. Through all the excitement and challenges from college, Andie starts discover that maybe her previous plans are holding her back.

Begin Again is such a great YA contemporary and the setting gave us major UVA and Charlottesville, Virginia vibes. Lord did a great job of capturing the feeling of leaving home for the first time. Everything is new, exciting and a tad terrifying.

Begin Again is our favorite from Lord so far because everything about this story was great, from the setting, to the plot, to the characters. Do yourself a favor and go pick up a copy right away.

2. When You get the Chance

Mamma Mia meets Manhattan in When You Get the Chance. Millie Price’s goal this summer is to convince her dad to let her go to a prestigious theatre school in the fall. Along the way, Millie discovers his journal from the year she was born, which is her ticket to finding who her mom is.

The Mamma Mia similarities were interesting. We found ourselves constantly guessing who Millie’s mom was…and got it wrong. It was an interesting twist and it connects well to Millie’s Broadway goals because her quest to learn about her mom lands her an internship in the industry.

If you’re interested in a cute romance with a cozy mystery, than we recommended picking up When You Get the Chance. It’s even more fun to read if enjoy theatre.

3. You Have a Match

Abby Day only signed up for the DNA service to support her friend Leo, who has always wondered about his birth parents. Little did she expect that her results would be more shocking than his. 

Seriously, how could she have a secret sister out there? Savannah “Savvy” Tully messages Abby about the fact that they are full siblings. Savvy always knew she was adopted, but her parents never told her about her birth parents.

The girls devise a plan: spend the summer together and find out the truth. This means Abby has to go away to the summer camp that Savvy works at. But things aren’t so simple and Abby and Savvy have a lot of differences. 

You Have a Match is a great read for anyone who has ever went to summer camp. While most of us don’t have a secret sister, the setting and camp actives are a great throwback. This story is all about the summer vibes. Check out this story which is full of camp antics, friendship, romance and family drama.

4. Tweet Cute

Jack and Pepper’s families are at war over a grilled cheese recipe. Pepper’s family runs a large chain of fast food restaurants called Big league Burger, while Jack’s family runs a deli in the East Village. The deli claims that Big League Burger stole the recipe, which leads to a contentious Twitter war between jack and Pepper, who also happen to be classmates.

When the people on the internet find out who the two people behind the accounts are, it seems the whole country starts shipping Jack and Pepper. Will these two be able to start a real relationship or will the conflict between their parents over business and a Twitter war cause an irrevocable rift?

Tweet Cute is a very popular YA contemporary and started Lord’s career. However, it wasn’t for us. It’s not a bad book by any means, we just found it to bee too cheesy and predictable.

There also wasn’t a ton of character development. We didn’t feel like we got a sense of who Pepper was. However, we did like Jack’s character a lot and his point of view was preferable to read.

Overall, Tweet Cute was a decent and lighthearted story, but don’t expect any swoonworthy chemistry.