After reading Tweet Cute by Emma Lord earlier this year, I jumped at the chance to review her newest work You Have a Match. Lord writes YA in a way that feels authentic to the age group and doesn't come across as cheesy or more like adults having conversations. She includes enough detail about the worries and anxieties of teenages in their last years of high school without coming across as condescending, especially since both these books have a large social media aspect.

Lord's latest work centers around clumsy, photographer Abby as she takes a DNA test in solidarity with her two best friends with little more interest than proving her percentage of Irish ancestry is higher than Connie's. She's in for a huge surprise; however, when she gets the results back and realizes she has a sister. A full-blooded sister named Savannah. Needless to say the shock of such information sends Abby on quite an adventure by agreeing to go to a camp with Savannah, instead of signing up for summer school, in the hopes of solving the mystery that involves both of their parents.

While there is a romance element, the plot centers more a Abby finding herself and how she fits into life than it does her love interests, which I very much appreciated. It was nice to see a female friendship formed that didn't center around a guy. I also enjoyed how Abby and Savannah were characterized as teenages with significant worries that weren't trivialized. As hard as it can be to understand the influence of social media on younger generations, I appreciated that Lord made it seem significant without being dramatic and over the top in a condescending way. Overall, I highly recommend You Have A Match to fans of contemporary YA.

You Have a Match is such a cute rom-com! I could totally see Emma Lord's book being made into a movie. Great beach read!

"You Have a Match" is like The Parent Trap meets Gossip Girl. I'm serious. The drama, the suspense, the angst, the love, the warmth, the nature, and the heartbreak. It was light but serious at times and had some wildly entertaining.

Took me a little while to get into this one, even with the shocking discovery at the beginning of the novel. The will they/won’t they romance really drove me nuts. But I loved all the family relationship stuff, about Abby and Savannah’s shared history and how their families handled their future when it all came down to it. The little Parent Trap touches were very enjoyable too.

There are so many things to love about this story. For starters, Abby loves photography, especially scenic shots. The way she describes capturing a memory and the power of pictures had me completely engaged with her character. It has rekindled my love of photography.
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My next FAVOURITE thing is the nostalgic feels I had while reading this because it reminds me so much of the classic Parent Trap. That movie is still one of my all time faves, and I love the way some of the elements are weaved into this plot.
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There are also a ton of references to Instagram, crushes, heartbreak, family drama ... All things that secure this novel as YA, but still make it enjoyable for adults. This is a definite 5-star recommendation for me, for teens and adults alike.

THIS BOOK. Ok, so I had very high hopes for You Have a Match after reading and loving Emma Lord’s other book, Tweet Cute, but my expectations were blown out of the water by this story. I love that Lord creates such a supportive cast of friends in her work and makes each character feel so real with genuine emotions and thoughts. The plot of ‘my long lost secret sister’ could have definitely gotten cheesy, but it was written and worked through in a very thoughtful way. That was also not the only point of conflict in the story and the other plot points added dimension to the story. I will be recommending this book to everyone I know because it is so heartwarming and enjoyable.

Synopsis from Goodreads:

"When Abby signs up for a DNA service, it’s mainly to give her friend and secret love interest, Leo, a nudge. After all, she knows who she is already: Avid photographer. Injury-prone tree climber. Best friend to Leo and Connie…although ever since the B.E.I. (Big Embarrassing Incident) with Leo, things have been awkward on that front."

I received a free Advanced Copy in exchange for an honest review. It was a heartwarming Young Adult novel about family secrets and how the people involved dealt with the surprises. I got the "Parent Trap" vibes from this story, though it was in some ways different. Abby learns that her older sister was given up for adoption before she was born. There is a lot of discussion about Instagram in this story. This is fitting for the Young Adults generation because many of them would be familiar with Instagram.

After reading Tweet Cute last year, I knew I needed to read You Have a Match - and it did not disappoint. Emma now has set herself up as the author to incorporate social media sites into her novels, and she does it so. well. You Have a Match uses Instagram to help tell the story of Abby and Savannah, secret sisters who find each other through a DNA app. There's a story here, and the two try to navigate their parent's lies while also getting to know each other. On top of that, there's a subtle romance aspect and a summer camp plot line.

Overall, I found this story to be super cute. Each character had specific personality traits, and the secret sister storyline was VERY compelling. Since the boom of DNA testing, you've heard stories in the media of people finding family members they didn't know existed and familial secrets that wouldn't have been discovered otherwise. I enjoy that Emma Lord incorporated this story line. Instagram is used by both sisters for different purposes, but it isn't as much of the storyline as Twitter is in Tweet Cute. Emma Lord's writing is very good and her pacing is always on point. I never felt unfocused while reading it or that it was too long or wordy.

I didn't prefer the romance portion as much as I wanted to. I actually wanted Abby to end up with a background character, I just felt like he was a better fit for her. But, I recognize why the romance happened the way it did, I just also wish it was resolved sooner than it was. Also, there was a character in Abby's friend group that just didn't have as much page time as she deserved. As a "best friend" you'd think she'd have more of story - but she seemed to only serve to move a minor plot line forward. I wanted more for Connie.

The ending was very heartwarming, and you love to see it. I do highly recommend this story, especially if you read and loved Tweet Cute like I did.

**Thank you to Wednesday Books and Netgalley for an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review**

I loved every second of reading this book, honestly couldn't put it down. This was just the kind of entertaining read I needed.

I LOVED Tweet Cute. This is pretty different. Lots of different problems going on all at once: feelings on inadequacy, yearning for your best friend, and a sister you never knew you had. Felt very Parent Trap at times. I like Emma's pacing, a good balance between narration of action and narration of feelings. Very satisfying ending.

I loved the family drama between Abby, Savvy, and their respective parents, as well as Abby and Savvy's attempts to become closer. So much so, in fact, that I was annoyed every time the obligatory romance angles came into play. This is one of those novels that might have worked better without the love interests.

Ok, to be quite honest, I wasn't sure if I wanted to read this book at first because I thought the author's first book, Tweet Cute, was just alright and not totally my type of read. But, now I can't imagine not having read You Have a Match, and in a way, it's made me feel closer to my grandfather, who's my own Poppy character. And after every single page, it's clear this book rightfully deserves these five stars and a coveted place on my must-buy TBR list once it is published. Here, we follow 16-year-old Abby, who in a bet with best friend Connie, takes a DNA test to find out her ancestries along with their other best pal, Leo. This book brings an engaging point of view that feels both authentic and current for a teen girl. The language is really fun and relatable, that it had me in stitches the entire first half. So, the test revealed that Abby has a secret full sister, Savannah, who's an 18-year-old Instagram star. The two are polar opposites to their cores, but want to get to know each other. There's a big bombshell coming because it turns out their folks used to know each other, and I sense a story there, and I can't wait to read all the juicy tea. To figure things out and get to know each other, Savvy invites her new sister to attend the camp where she'll be a junior counselor. It's seriously like a modern-day version of The Parent Trap, and I'm here for it. To start, if it's a book set at camp, then you already have my attention because once a camp girl, always a camp girl..

Then, there's also a cute slow-burn romance type story between Abby and her best friend and neighbor, Leo. At the opening of the book, she's still mortified about her almost kiss with him months ago because it turned out, he didn't feel the same and she was legit crushed. Like seriously, I felt so much secondhand embarrassment on her behalf, like eesh. It was hard for her to be business as usual and resume their friendship. Then, it turns out, he's working in the kitchen at the same camp and seems very excited they'll be spending the time together, like in a certain eyes twinkling, heart fluttering way?? But, because boys are stupid, Leo makes my head spin because it's evident he does like her, but is pretending or hiding really well, and gah I don't know what's going on here. Boys! Then, at camp, we meet Finn, the bad-boy camper her age with the Hot Boy Name, so love triangle, here we go. Also, there are diverse lead characters which is great, but they are treated just like regular characters because they are. They aren't stereotyped and have full thoughts and feelings, which is one of the reasons I love [contemporary] YA so fiercely.

This book is just so much fun and I actually cannot put it down, staying up way too late in two nights just to finish it. And within less than one hundred pages, I'm already way more invested in this than in Tweet Cute. It has to be a five-star read, y'all because, I'M OBSESSED! Then, we get so much juicy drama and a big family secret that overshadows romance for a bit, and things escalate that make me actually want to ship Abby and Leo, to screaming and squealing levels, because that definitely happened. I'm so invested in these kids, and just so obsessed that I can't stop reading. Then, things get super heartwrenching,and gut-punchingly emotional that I'm legitimately in tears. All their grandfather did for the girls is making me well up because Poppy really resonates with me to my core about my grandfather, so I need to buy this book just to continue to feel his presence. I just want to say that books typically do not make me cry, but this 100 percent did, because of Poppy and my own life.
But enough about me, back to this read. That ending was absolutely precious and so damn cute, that my cheeks still hurt from smiling so much. Like, Leo's big monologue at the end had me literally squealing at 2 in the morning over its adorableness! I wasn't sure about Leo as a love interest to start, but by the end, we got to see inside his heart and he won me over and proved to be good enough for Abby.

I'm not quite sure how to put this book into words. It's more than a teen romance, more than a summer camp adventure, more than a familial drama, more than a story of friendship and sisterhood, more than a comedy, and more than a deep emotional novel. It's a book in a class all its own and had me captivated until I read that very last word. Seriously, it's totally worth those five stars because now I have to buy and i just can't imagine a world where I haven't read this. Wow, just wow.

I loved this book. It seemed a little bit like The Parent Trap (which I really love). The writing, character development, and emotional range were on point. If there was one blip it was the reason behind the parents falling out. It just seemed unbelievable and made the story unravel a bit for me. I would get it if the girls were young but they were old enough to make their own choices. Maybe if the parents tried to stay apart because they were uncomfortable with their past actions so they were conspiring together would have worked better. IDK.
BUT I would highly recommend this author and book and will read whatever else she writes.

I loved this book so, so much! It was such a refreshing read that focused on discovering family and all the intricacies that go along with it, rather than just focusing on the romance aspect alone. If you like wholesome reads, then this is for you! It's the Parent Trap - adoption version.

I thought that Emma Lord did an amazing job at really bringing depth to these characters and the trials and tribulations that the main characters experienced (such as first love, grief, anxiety). This book touched on so many important coming of age topics but yet it's cheery at times to not keep the book too heavy and dragged down - which is refreshing in this day and age (looking at you, 2020).

I loved everything about this book and highly, highly recommend adding it to your TBR!

**Thank you NetGalley for the advanced copy!**

I loved Emma Lord's debut novel, Tweet Cute, so much. It was filled with fun banter, ambitious girls, romance, and, of course, lots and lots of tweeting. This left me excited for Lord's sophomore novel, which also delves into how teens interact with social media—except this time, it's Instagram, not Twitter. However, so much of the book fell flat for me, and I can chalk it up to mostly Lord trying to do too much at once, and therefore not giving enough breadth to everything. The central romance of the book (Abby and a childhood friend of hers) lacked tension and came to what felt like a far-too-easy romance; Lord seemed to try to create tension with an almost-maybe-love triangle, with the addition of another camper having eyes on Abby, but his presence in the book just felt random. (I sense that Lord was trying to build him up as a nuanced and fully-fleshed character with his sad backstory, but he still felt random.) The secondary romance of the book, between Abby's sister Savvy and, again, a childhood friend, was plagued with the same problems—lack of tension. They were both will-they-won't-they relationships that too-obviously were going to end in a "they will," and I just got frustrated over everyone's lack of communication with each other.

I didn't really understand the other conflicts of the book either—I understood why Savvy's parents were overprotective of her when it came to her health (there was a possibility of her having heart problems when she was born), but I didn't understand why Abby's parents were so strict about her grades, and I honestly didn't see that presented much as a problem in her life anyway. They weren't actually that strict, and beyond them sending her to a test-prep camp, I didn't see how they were on her case all that much—or how they were doing it in ways that were unwarranted. She did fail a class, after all. And the conflict between Savvy's and Abby's parents were basically explained in one sentence, and then were resolved pretty easily. There was a nice twist in Tweet Cute concerning the two main characters' parents, and that had a satisfying resolution, but I didn't see that in You Have a Match. All these conflicts just felt not big enough (there was also a thread where Savvy has a problem with being too concerned over Instagram, but that really only presents itself once and, again, it has an easy solution).

Overall, this book felt like it lacked cohesion—in the romance, in the emotional arcs, in the plot (at one point, I felt like the book was heading into prank wars territory and I got excited, but that petered out), and in the setting (I was excited for a summer camp setting, and it was interesting to me that this was a camp for test prep, but beyond the characters tromping around the woods every so often, the setting was wrought out in ways that felt specific or atmospheric enough). It was still an enjoyable quick read, and given that I very much loved Lord's debut, my lukewarm feelings on her sophomore novel won't stop me from looking forward to all her future books.

I absolutely loved this book! Such a sweet story about a teenage girl who sends her DNA for testing, similar to 23 and me, and discovers she has a sister close to her age! Her and her sister end up at the same summer camp, along with her long-time friend and crush, and she has a summer full of rule-breaking, questions, confusion, and ultimately love. Great characters and a great story. Highly recommend this one!

Thank you to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for the ARC!

This is my first Emma Lord book, and I really enjoyed it! You Have A Match is The Parent Trap (high school version) meets unexpected DNA tests and a friends to lovers romance. So much going on!

Abby Day takes DNA test when one of her best friends, Leo, decides to do one to find out more about his biological family. While Leo's test comes back without much information, Abby discovers she has a full-blooded sister somewhere out in the world.

Abby and Savannah, aka Savvy, her newfound sister, meet up and find out they're going to the same camp over the summer. They decide to find out more about their respective parents and try to uncover why Savannah was given up for adoption. However, their personalities clash at first, and Abby and Savvy end up uncovering much more than they ever expected. And all of this is going on while Abby is grappling with the fact that she has feelings for Leo (and thinks he doesn't like her back), trying to come to terms with her grandfather's death, and finding the courage to finally share her photography with people.

I really liked the characters in this book, and the use of a DNA test as the main point of conflict. Very 2020 :D It was a fun contemporary YA novel, and I now want to read Emma Lord's other book, which I have heard lots of good things about as well.

For a second book from an author's whose first book completely swept me off my feet and made me fall in love, this was... not my favorite. I could not get on board with Abby and her insanity. The whole thing with the sister and camp and just... everything, was a mess. I didn't really care for her relationships with her sister, her love interest, or her friends. It was hard to feel engaged with any of them. This was just not a fun or deep story to me, and the only thing that grasped any amount of real interest from me was Abby's parents' explanation for why the gave up their first daughter, and even that didn't feel all that well done, considering that was the big mystery of the story.

This book is a great summer read. Very instagrammable. This book is about a girl Abbey who takes DNA heritage test and finds out she has a sister she never knew about Savanah. To try and unravel the mystery of their separation and obliviousness of each other’s existence they go summer camp! I really appreciated how this book was sweet in places without being cutesy. There’s some crushing amongst friends that ran throughout the story, but it always felt sincere. All the characters were distinct and had their own unique struggles and qualities. Like Tweet Cute there are moments that require you to suspend your disbelief but not enough to detract from the story.
Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for giving me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book was given to me for advanced reading via the publisher and netgalley. All opinions are my own.

I finished Tweet Cute and immediately went in search of more books by Emma Lord. I was very excited to read another book of hers and will read anything she writes in the future. This book, like her first ,gave me nostalgic and warm feelings. I loved the characters, the story and how it all played out. It felt like a new version of " Parent Trap" As someone who loves Seattle all the little places being name dropped was a bonus and made me miss my time there too.