High School Best Friends Connie, Leo and Abby all get DNA tests together since Leo is adopted and is trying to connect with any biological family he might find. While Leo doesn’t get any hits, Abby ends up with a message from this girl named Savvy Tully who turns out to be her older sister that she didn’t know anything about. Savvy is a year ½ older than Abby and Instagram famous with a ton of followers. They meet up secretly the first time to just talk and get to know one another and realize after Savvy shows her a picture of her parents that Abby recognizes Savvy’s Mom from her parents wedding picture as a guest. They agree to meet up at Camp Reynolds over the summer so they can get to the bottom of why her parents never mentioned they had another kid and how they knew Savvy’s parents and what happened between them.

I really loved this book and it was a real fast great read. I really loved Tweet Cute and was so excited to request this book. I really loved how the different relationships were fleshed out at the camp and how much Leo/Abby were at odds with the misunderstanding they both were under about how much they actually liked each other. How much Savvy needed to let go and be more herself and less an Instagram robot and start actually engaging with her friends instead of being concentrating on Instagram building her “brand”. Abby finally realizing how much her photography means to her and showing her parents how serious she is about it and it wasn’t just something she did with her grandfather as a hobby. All in all, just a really great story and I really enjoyed reading it.

Thanks to St. Martins Press and Netgalley for the complimentary copy of this book in e-book form. All opinions in this review are my own.

3 stars

_Tweet Cute_ is #socute, so I was thrilled to be approved for Lord's second book, _You Have a Match_. I expected to like this one even more since - along with the YA romance component - there's the addition of a fascinating sibling storyline. That is my jam.

The central situation here is that the main character - in support of a friend/potential love interest - connects with a DNA service. She finds out that she has a sister, and this comes as a *huge* surprise for a number of reasons.

The setup seems awesome: DNA service, surprise sister, potential love interest, summer camp and outdoor fun, and an author I already know I like. BUT, I found this so slow. Also, the sister plot is so much more interesting than the love story. I felt like my attention was unfortunately divided rather than that the ideas were complementary.

I will be really excited to read so much more from Emma Lord, but this one did not do it for me.

You Have a Match by Emma Lord is a surprising twist of events for two teenagers. Abby goes for a DNA test because her best friend and crush wants to see if he can find his biological parents. Only it has disastrous results. Abby finds out she has a biological sister she never heard of and her crush finds he has no matches in the DNA system. Both are bummed with the news. However, Abby's world at home is turning inside out and upside down and it's about to get a lot worse. I enjoy the quirky characters. They pop off the pages. Then, there's the humor. It's everywhere in this book which I like. Last, there a lot of action-pack scenes to keep my full attention. This YA novel by Emma Lord is my first book I read by her. I am impressed. There are some topics I don't like to explore but they were not overbearing and it worked out fine. Other than that, You Have a Match was a good read.

There are some nice surprises in this rom-com, beginning with the title. No, it’s not online dating, but the results of a DNA test that set the plot in motion. High school best friends Abby, Leo, and Cassie all get DNA tests together. Adopted from the Philippines, Leo is hoping the test might connect him with some biological family, but it is Abby who gets the real surprise. She has a full sister that her parents have never mentioned to her.

Sister Savvy is just a little older than Abby and lives nearby. Their secret first meeting leaves Abby feeling confused, inadequate, and full of questions. Savvy shows Abby a photo of her adoptive mother and Abby recognizes her from photos at a guest at her parents’ wedding. In order to get to know each other better, Abby manages to get her parents to send her to the academic prep summer camp where Savvy is a junior counselor.

Abby has been crushing on Leo but Connie has told her that Leo doesn’t feel the same way, so it’s a blessing and a curse to find him working at the camp - there was a camp name change so Abby didn’t realize they’d be together for the summer.

A main character who struggles with academics is an unusual twist; Savvy’s high achievement and confidence make it hard for the sisters to bond, and Abby continues to run hot and cold with Leo, but she becomes braver about sharing her beloved photographs and works with Savvy to bring family secrets to light. A satisfying romance.

A broken friendship, sisters separated.

A tight threesome childhood friendship gets messed up when Abby shows her feelings for one of them, a moment that instantly turns awkward. In an effort to return to the easy friendship they all shared, Abby makes every effort to pretend that nothing happened. That it's over and forgotten. Between that incident, normal high school drama, educational & parental pressures, Abby suddenly discovers that she has an older sister. When her sister contacts her through the DNA site, they decide to work together to find out what made their biological parents give up Savvy for adoption.

As exciting as it is to find a new sister, building an ongoing relationship with someone who is simultaneously so similar and so different from oneself is a disaster. Abby and Savvy's relationship feels so real. From the first awkward moments when they originally meet to the multiple times they end up standing on each other's toes and hate each other's guts, to the times they share the same hobbies and can laugh together like real sisters, their relationship is a journey of mixed emotions and occasional fun revengeful camp pranks.

There's no immediate happy family huggy reunion. There are major issues to work out between everyone's relationships. Not just the sisters learning to work and live together, but also their secret crushes, their own respective friendships, and of course, their parents' broken relationships. The multiple relationship issues combined with normal senior year finding oneself-ness were amazingly very well written and developed.

The story is also relevant for modern teens, particularly the subtheme of learning how to balance a public life on social media with taking the time to actually live in the moment. And Abby's personal journey, learning to speak up for herself, and taking the time to consider which direction she wants her life to go after high school. All told in a very engaging read.

And yes, this book is totally for fans of The Parent Trap movie.

I received a copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was definitely a cute, light-hearted book. It leans more to young adult family drama versus YA romance in my opinion, and because of that I enjoyed her first book Tweet Cute better. It was harder for me to relate to the family drama that Abby was going through - losing her beloved grandfather, her parents becoming overbearing, and 3 crazy younger brothers, then throw into the mix finding a 100% related sister through DNA matching = lots of drama!

The writing isn't my favorite for a contemporary, but it was lighthearted. This book would make a good beach read. I would recommend.

Emma Lord is phenomenal at including current technology in the way she tells her stories. Tweet Cute highlighted Twitter, while You Have a Match takes a deep look at how teens are using Instagram, and even the affect DNA test results can have on our lives and the perception of ourselves.

You Have a Match is a great crossover between the Parent Trap and a YA summer romance! It does a wonderful job of telling Abby’s whole story by including all aspects of her life including family drama, love life, professional life, and how she perceives herself.

I am fast becoming an Emma Lord stan, and I cannot wait for more from her.

I started reading this book a little after midnight, thinking I'd get through a few chapters to help myself calm down after a long day and get some sleep. I finished this book at 4:30 AM after not being able to put it down for four and a half hours. I loved this story so much! I loved how it explored the complexity of friendship and family and the way they overlap and change over time. I loved the tension between Abby, who jumps headfirst into things in order to avoid thinking about them, and Savvy who often gets paralyzed by overthinking. I was super invested in their quest to figure out what happened between their parents, but I also loved all of the camp hijinks enough to not mind when it took a backseat for a while. This was a fun, exciting, deeply emotional story and I cannot recommend it enough.

I really loved Tweet Cute by Emma Lord, so I was really excited to read an ARC for her new novel You Have a Match.
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The content is a bit tougher than her previous novel but the characters are sweet and you’ll be waiting to find out how things will work out for them.
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Things are complicated for these teens, trying to figure out who they are and who their people are.
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Thanks @netgalley for the advanced copy of this read.

Unfortunately I had to DNF this book at 33% in. I was not invested in the main character, her story, or where it was going. Bummer because I loved Tweet Cute by the same author.

Abby and her friends sign up for a DNA service, expecting to find out more about Leo’s biological family. What Abby does not expect, is to find out she has a biological older sister her parents never mentioned. When the girls meet up and their time is cut short, Abby decides to attend the summer camp her parents were pushing, that her new sister just so happens to work at. Nothing could go wrong right?

Sometimes you just need a light fun YA novel! This one hits the spot! Think Parent Trap, the part where the girls are at camp, before they become friends. While reading that image kept coming to my mind! I absolutely loved this book. It had all the summer camp vibes, but mixed with family drama, teenage angst, and a little bit of social influence. Think friendship, love, forgiveness, family, and following your heart. This book had it all and I couldn’t help but finish the last page with all the warm fuzzy feels and a smile on my face.

Emma Lord has done it again! You Have a Match expertly pairs being a teen with the modern social media landscape. We get to see our protagonist Abby Day learn about her secret sister after a school project prompts her to take a DNA test. Navigating the fact that her family has #BIGsecrets, passing the 11th grade, and surviving your first love are the combination for an overwhelming summer. If you enjoyed Tweet Cute, this second novel from Lord will give you that same rush with an added dose of feelings.

WOW. Was this ever my match or what?!

This was such a cute read! Oh My GOSH!!! This is my first Emma Lord book and oh boy.. what a great read! This was just so heartwarming, raw and real. I totally devoured it. I loved all her characters; by the end of the book I felt like I was back at camp, reliving my youth. I became friends with every single one of them. There were parts the that surprised me and it kept me hooked the entire time. This book has everything you look for in a contemporary novel, romance, laughter, family, and friendship. It's such a hearwarming story and I could not put it down. Emma Lord has such a compelling way with words and the premise of the story was so unique! I loved every page. Highly recommend... seriously, go pick it up NOW.

ARC received from publisher in exchange for an honest review.

It feels like I just came off the high of reading Tweet Cute by Emma Lord, so imagine my happiness when I was approved for an ARC of You Have a Match! Emma Lord has easily slipped into being a top tier YA Contemporary author, and any worries that she may have been a one-hit wonder, died out when I was reading this book.

We follow Abby Day (many a pun are made about her last name, it’s hilarious) and Savvy, the older sister she never knew she had. After being coerced into taking a DNA test by her besties Leo and Connie, Abby and Savvy’s worlds are thrown upside down in trying to figure out exactly why Savvy was put up for adoption a year and a half before Abby was born. It’s so wonderful to read this book as it unfolds. Mostly because, even though there is some romance between Abby and a certain adorable chef-in-training, the main focus of the story is on Abby and Savvy and their budding sisterly relationship. A relationship, btw, that isn’t all sunshine and rainbows despite just finding each other. They have all out fights and bickering matches that only sisters a year and a half apart could have. (Something I’m not that familiar with since my sister is 10 years older than me, we never fight, and she’s my bestie).

I particularly loved the Parent Trap-esque feel to the family dynamics as the mystery of Savvy’s adoption came further into the light. You quickly find yourself rooting for the 2 sets of parent’s to figure their shit out so they can all be one happy family. But don’t worry, if you are in for the romance, there is plenty of that too!

This book is easily recommendable for YA Fans, especially fans of Tweet Cute. I’ve already made a mental note to send a copy of it to my sister when it releases.

A story about friendship, sisters, family, and a bit of love, You Have a Match hit me right in the heart.

I really enjoyed Tweet Cute as a sweet story, but this one put me through a deep range of emotions in a good way. I don’t want to go into any spoilers, but it was a treat to read the story from Abby’s point of view, and dive into a character’s mind that loves photography as much as I do.

Would definitely recommend!

This book was delightfully predictable, a true feel-good novel and first book I’ve read in quite a while that didn’t involve a murder or stalking. It’s always a fun surprise to realize a book is set where I live. This is definitely a good one to recommend to high school students.

Emma Lord has a way of writing that makes my heart feel warm and my smile wide. Her characters feel real and I wish I could be friends with them all in real life.

This story follows Abby, accident-prone photographer, best friend, and big sister. Abby takes a DNA test in solidarity with her best friend Leo, who is looking for family ties. She doesn't expect to be the one to find ties. Abby's whole world is turned sideways when she learns that she has a big sister who she has never met.

In the months that follow Abby learns things about her sister, her parents, her friends, and even herself that will challenge everything that has been the foundation of her life. But the best things in life always change you.

Hoo boy the emotions this book made me have. So many. Yes, this has a cute cover, yes it's YA and from the author who gave us the hilarious TWEET CUTE last year but.. this still hits and some of those hits land hard.

Yes, yes, I cry easily, it's a very poorly kept secret that isn't a secret at all but even during some of the not-as-emotional moments, Lord somehow just handled certain moments with such.. I don't want to say care but, understanding? I felt so much of everything through the author's writing. Whether it was about struggling with awkward and unrequited feelings for your best friend, feeling second best, or a failure, whether it was wanting to bury things deep within just to avoid dealing with them, with confrontation, I could go on and on. We only get one POV and yet I felt all this from our lead and felt just as much for the secondary cast.

If you've read the plot, you know there's likely to be some drama and angst an some messy family discussions on the horizon and oh boy are there ever. Things got messy but there was less of that for the sake of drama and more the feeling of actual pain, loss, heartbreak. While one character jokes their life has taken on the hue of a CW tv show, they aren't wrong, exactly. But it still feels very real.

And as for the friend dynamics? Chefs kiss. So many varieties, so many layers, all the complications that ensue as a result. But they were wonderful even when things were going awry. Like, truly, what made me cry more? The family stuff, the friend stuff? Who can say!

Anyway, this is definitely a funny (not quite chockfull out outright lolz, so maybe I mean charming?), heartwrenching, delightful, and totally compelling read. I devoured it in a few short hours because I could not tear myself away.

Emma Lord is the new MUST READ author in the world of contemporary YA. I loved her debut novel, Tweet Cute, and this second book has just as much character!

Each character in her book is realistic, genuine, not perfect by any means, but totally relatable. I loved watched Abby confront the many challenges thrown at her and also grow because of them.

If readers enjoyed Tweet Cute, then they are sure in for another wonderful story with You Have a Match!

Thank you to Netgalley for my free advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.