Based on the cover and title, I thought this was going to be a camping/tinder love story. But no, it's a modern take on The Parent Trap; a preposterous and evil story if you think about it for more than two seconds.

This didn't work for me. It was Abby lying to her friends, her parents, herself, her newly found sister, and again to her friends and family. (And I count lies of omission as lies as everyone should). The whole book is Abby lying. I wanted bad things to happen to her to make right all the lies. This might be the root of The Parent Trap story, forcing characters to lie to one another in order for this drama to work. It just didn't sit well with me.

Trying to fit The Parent Trap narrative made a few plot points feel forced, like Savy and Abby fighting at camp, or them not doing the blatantly obvious thing: ask their parents what happened! Why do they go sooooooooo long not asking the people who could easily answer the question? This isn't a spoiler if you've seen The Parent Trap, it's the crux of the story.

BUT, if you are still thinking of reading the book, just know the supporting characters are amazing and the descriptions of food will make you want to cook lasagna balls (whatever those are).

3.5 stars. High schooler Abby takes a DNA test on a whim, and is surprised to get a message from a girl that the DNA site says is her full sister. Abby and Savannah meet up and realize that their parents--birth and adoptive--have been keeping some pretty big secrets for their whole lives. The two decide to investigate and find out the truth, while also spending the summer together at camp. Coincidentally, also the camp where Abby's best friend and secret crush, Leo, will be working as a cook.

This was an interesting premise, but I definitely have some lingering questions after reading. No spoilers, but the truth turns out to be kind of far-fetched, and the behavior of all adults in this story is questionable.

The summer camp story has a nostalgic vibe, and the Seattle setting is evocative for anyone who's been there.

Thanks to Netgalley, the publisher, and the author for the ARC to review.

I absolutely adored this book. After reading Tweet Cute last year, I had to request an ARC of this and I absolutely loved it. Savvy & Abby’s relationship, Maggie & Pietra’s relationship, the Leo storyline, the heart wrenching Poppy storyline. It was amazing. Will tell everyone to read it! Thanks for the opportunity to read!!

Perfect for fans of The Parent Trap! This is my first book by Emma Lord and I am ordering Tweet Cute immediately. Abby signs up for a DNA service only to shockingly discover that she has a secret older sister. Savannah is the opposite of Abby, a control freak who must always have everything in order. Abby follows Savannah to summer camp to discover who she ended up being put up for adoption.

You Have A Match is about family, friends and romance. It’s a sweet young adult novel with a summer camp backdrop. I am a sucker for a summer camp setting so this book was perfect for me. My favorite storyline was about the sisters and the way they were able to connect over the summer. The romance took a back seat in this novel but there was a cute slow burn romance between friends. I especially loved the satisfying ending! During her time at camp, Abby establishes strong friendships and really evolves as an individual. You Have a Match was filled with all the best things about summer camp in your teen years. I couldn’t stop smiling while reading this and highly recommend to fans of Jenny Han, Sarah Dessen and Jenn Bennett.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

As soon as I saw that Emma Lord had a new release, I knew that I had to read it. As someone with a background in biology, I loved that genetic testing played a huge role in kickstarting the secret sister portion of the plot - it definitely leant a more modernized feeling to the Parent Trap parallels. And unlike The Parent Trap, the sibling plotline felt very realistic: it was messy and filled with tension, and I loved watching both Savvy and Abby's relationship and their relationships with their parents grow and change.

You Have a Match also excelled at its romantic relationships. They were slow-burn and filled with yearning, and the payoff was incredibly sweet. Finding the courage to tell any crush that you like them is tough, and doubly-so when they're your best friend; Emma Lord perfectly captured the earnestness, care, and awkwardness that comes with this.

I was lucky enough to go to summer camp as a teen, and You Have a Match made me very nostalgic for those days: the strong but seasonal friendships, adjusting from camper to counsellor, and all the pranks. It was such a fun setting, and the perfect place for a summer of discovery.

As expected, You Have a Match delivered on the tasty-sounding food front. Secret additions of cinnamon to lasagna balls and lots of Cheetos made for intriguing meals, and I wish recipes were included so that I could try them all.

Overall, You Have a Match solidified Emma Lord as an auto-buy author for me. It was so sweet, and I can't wait to reread it while consuming all the cinnamon-flavoured snacks.

This was a delightful read! I enjoyed the bit of suspense in figuring out the true story behind the separation/adoption. The relationship between Abby and Leo played out nicely over the course of the book and the addition of the supporting characters added to the story. I felt like the end of the book wrapped together nicely but did leave me hoping for a sequel to hear more!

4.5 stars. This was so cute and heartfelt. It’s so crazy to me the ways different contemporary authors utilize their ~300 pages. All the characters felt so fleshed out, and there were a lot!

I love books about family, and about found family, and this book is about both PLUS a found family who is actually family. I like how the author made this book equally about romance and about family - it didn’t feel like either side of the story was skimped on to make it work.

This is just a story about a messy girl who has a messy summer and makes great friends and gets to know her sister and herself. There’s great open communication, even if it was long overdue, between Abby and her parents. Abby’s best friend, who isn’t even at the summer camp the story takes place at, is still a fleshed-out character. I think there’s a lot of authenticity in this story and it makes it really fun.

I wish this story was more racially diverse. Not quite everyone was white, but nearly everyone was (I honestly could have missed it in people’s descriptions though - that’s one of my weak spots.) There was wlw representation, though, and a *possibly* asexual character.

My other gripe is HARRY POTTER REFERENCES IN MODERN YA. Please, for the love of god. There are other books that exist. There were Shakespeare references in here that were WAY more fun than the old Harry Potter ones. I’ve seen Gen Z ruthlessly mock millennials on tiktok for obsessing over Harry Potter and we still can’t go 300 pages in a book FOR THEM without mentioning it?

Culmination of my constantly mounting Harry Potter disdain aside, I really enjoyed this story and the main character’s growth and development over her summer at camp, and I’m already looking forward to the next Emma Lord story.

Abby Day, along with her two best friends, Leo and Connie, take a DNA test so adopted Leo can learn more about his past. When the results come back, Abby learns she has a sister who is about a year and a half older than her. Abby and her newfound sister, Savvy, have lots of questions, so they decide to meet up at a summer camp to figure things out.

Hijinks ensue at camp as Abby and Savvy are polar opposites. And when it turns out that Abby’s best friend and secret crush, Leo, is as the same summer camp, Abby’s feelings for Leo only grow more.

I really, really enjoyed this book. Emma Lord writes characters that are well developed and realistic. For instance, Savvy is Instagram famous and has a huge following, and she is constantly taking photos and staging things for the ‘gram.
I hate when I read books with teenagers who are never on their phone - that’s not true to real life!

I was so excited to receive this ARC, and it was a wonderful beach read. I couldn’t put it down.

*Spoiler free*

After Tweet Cute, I was ready to devour anything that Emma Lord wrote next. Tweet Cute ended up being one of my favorite contemporaries and I was eager to see what I would think of her next book. I was a bit wary going into this one, just because it didn't seem like something I would normally read. I've never been to summer camp before, I don't particularly like doing camp-like activities, and it sounded like it would have a heavier feel to it, with the secret sisters being a main plot point. But it was Emma Lord, so I wanted to give it a shot.

Tweet Cute might have been pink and all things sugary, but You Have A Match is green and the feeling of life through a camera lens. I loved it just as much as Tweet Cute.

Gosh, Emma Lord is very quickly becoming one of my favorite authors. The way she writes is just filled with everything that I love. Her writing seems downright happy. It's fluffy, but less like cheesy and more like the airiness of a well baked cake.

I love, love, loved Abby. She's so different from me. She throws herself head first into things and loves to take risks. She likes to climb up trees and up on top of roofs to try and get the best angle for a picture, while I like to stay firmly on the ground. But, she also likes to avoid things. She doesn't like confrontation and she buries her emotions down because they're big and scary to feel. And gosh, I get that. I've done that. I understood her fears and her worries and her emotions just felt so real.

I also loved every single other character. Leo, and how he tries to put everybody else's feelings first and tries to make everybody else feel comfortable, was someone I connected to. Finn was hilarious. Mickey was brilliant. And I totally got Savvy's uptightness and need for everything to be in the correct place. Plus, the members of Phoenix Cabin were delightful and so funny.

The secret sister plot went a lot differently than I thought. It wasn't so heavy, but it was messy. Though, it was messy in all the best ways. I was wondering how this plot would play out. I didn't really think it could do so in a way that felt realistic. But it did! It didn't feel out of this world or completely ridiculous. It felt like complicated relationships and unique dynamics. I also really, really liked seeing how Abby and Savvy's relationship grew.

Though, I do feel like there were two main plots battling for attention. There was the one with the secret sister and then there was the romantic one with Abby. I felt like the romantic one should have been tapered off to become something more in the background. It wasn't overwhelming, but it did feel like there was a bit of a battle for attention.

That being said, Lord knows how to write yearning with the best of them. THE YEARNING, THE PINING. Wow, this book has some of the best mutual pining. Ugh, I love when two dorks need to talk to each other but keep talking around each other.

I never thought I would be into camp. For me, it's just so many things that are hard for me. So, I thought I would of just view it as the backdrop of this book and that would be that. But Emma made me like New York. New York, a place that gives me tremendous anxiety. So, of course she made me look at summer camp in a different way. Honestly, I have to give her props for making like places I never thought I would like. Anyway, I loved the little bits of camp that were in there. Little bits, because there's a lot of drama taking up the rest of the space haha. The friends being made, the swimming, the kayaking, the s'mores, and so many other things.

Also, I loved Abby's photography. This is going to sound really weird, but I felt like I could see her photos. I could feel her passion for her cameras and for her pictures so clearly. It was such an amazing aspect to the book.

Tweet Cute focused on Twitter and this book focused on Instagram. I am very excited to see what social media platform is next! All in all, You Have A Match is an incredible book. It has messy emotions, yearning, sisters, and summer camp. It's so, so good.

This book was a fun summer read! I enjoyed the witty banter and the plot. This book was a romance book as well as had some mystery around the sisters' backgrounds. I really enjoyed the tie in to both of these plots!

Thanks to St. Martin's Press & NetGalley for a copy in exchange of an honest review.

I honestly cannot emphasize how much I love Emma Lord as an author. I loved TWEET CUTE and I loved YOU HAVE A MATCH possibly even more. The setting was magical, the humor relatable, the plot the perfect combination of exciting and heartwarming, and the characters were real, full of heart, and I wish I could hug them all. Genuinely thank you to everyone involved for this book.

Emma Lord’s ‘You Have a Match’ is a sweet, funny, coming-of-age story with a unique plot and diverse characters.

When Abby Day agrees to do a DNA test, it’s mainly to support her best friend (and secret crush) Leo in his quest to find out more about his birth parents. The last thing she expects is to discover that she has an older sister named Savannah. They meet up, and Savannah persuades Abby to come to summer camp, so they can get to the bottom of why Abby’s parents placed Savannah for adoption. An unexpected curveball? Leo’s going to be at camp too. The bottom line? It’s going to be a summer that none of them forget.

‘You Have a Match’ is such a delightful, witty read. Lord’s sophomore novel proves that she’s a force to be reckoned with in the YA world. The way that Lord interweaves multiple stories and experiences into her work is heartfelt and authentic. Abby is a wonderfully flawed protagonist whose character growth is immensely satisfying to read. The love stories (yes, that plural is intentional) unfold in a way that is as wonderful as they are unexpected. And the exploration of familial and fraternal bonds is done masterfully. On it’s face, it’s a fun read, but it is so richly layered, you’ll be thinking about it long after you finish.

This is, by far, one of my favorite YA reads of the year. Add it to your TBR pile immediately, and thank me later!

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Abby Day is perfectly happy with her life as it is. She only signs up for a DNA service to win a bet against her best friend Connie and because her other best friend and longtime crush Leo asks her to. But what Abby isn’t expecting is to discover that she has a secret sister who is only a year-and-a-half older than her. Instagram-famous and rigid rule-follower Savannah Tully couldn’t be more different than avid photographer and injury-prone Abby, so the girls decide to do what anybody would: go to the same summer camp and try to figure out why Savvy was given up for adoption. Everything becomes complicated when Abby finds out that Leo is the camp’s co-chef—making it impossible for Abby to ignore her growing feelings—and Savvy’s love life starts to unravel as well. With everything in Abby’s life changing, only one thing is certain: this will be a summer that she’ll never forget.

Reminiscent of The Parent Trap (but with romance!), this book is so much fun! This is the story about sisters and summer camp and love that you never knew you needed. Abby’s reactions to her world changing are very relatable for readers, and all of the characters are so developed that it feels as if they could walk right off the page. The story is equal parts hilarious and heart-warming, plus the relationship between Abby and Leo is just so gosh darn cute! As an extra bonus, there are even a couple of Easter eggs from Lord’s debut novel, Tweet Cute, for fans to find! With surprise twists and characters that are easy to fall in love with, this book is perfect for those who enjoy fun and fulfilling teen romances.

(Pine Reads Review would like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for providing us with an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Any quotes are taken from an advanced copy and may be subject to change upon final publication.)

📚Review: You Have a Match by Emma Lord

Thank you @netgalley for the opportunity to read this ARC!

The Parent Trap meets 2020 with a side of teenage romance and a whole basket of pop culture references — that’s You Have a Match by Emma Lord.

Abby Day is reckless, not doing illegal stuff reckless, but scars to prove it reckless. Her plan is to have no plan and her parents are ruining that by scheduling every moment of her life with tutoring and SAT prep in an attempt to get her back on the “right track.” All Abby wants to do is take beautiful photos and show them to exactly — no one, well, except her two best friends. Enter Connie and Leo — Connie has every moment of her life planned out, failure is not an option, and Leo is an aspiring chef who had a major “glo-up” last summer at camp that leaves Abby feeling some kind of way.

Leo thinks all three friends should take a DNA test that will help them with a school project, and maybe help him find out who his birth parents are. Abby has no interest in getting extra credit but does have an interest in Leo so she agrees. The results prove to lead her down a track she never knew existed — the one where she has a secret sister! Now there’s a mystery to be solved and that’s where Savannah, Mickey, Finn, and Camp Reynolds come in.

I had high hopes for this one. I found myself inspired by the characters, especially Finn and Mickey. I often found these secondary characters more relatable and memorable than Abby and Savvy. Abby’s headstrong and borderline whiny personality bothered me at times, but her need to find out the truth about her sister and finding out the truth within herself along the way made me keep reading.

As much as I love a little romance, paired with the mystery of the test results it was almost too much. I also think it would’ve been interesting if Lord wrote this in alternating perspectives between Abby and Savvy.

Overall, I think Emma Lord wrote a mystery that will inspire teens to keep reading as long as they can get past the slow start. Lord develops diverse characters and weaves in stunning setting descriptions too. I definitely envisioned myself in Pudget Sound more than once.

3.5⭐

I love Emma Lord’s style - You Have a Match is written with so much wit and humour as her previous book Tweet Cute.
Abby finds out that she has a secret sister living nearby. They go to the same summer camp together to solve this mystery. But there’s also Abby’s best friend Leo, so Abby has not only the mystery to solve but she also has to do something with her crush on Leo. Things as usual get complicated but with lots of wit and warmth we get to a happy ending. I really enjoyed reading this book therefore I highly recommend it for anyone who needs a book that will warm their heart.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press & NetGalley for letting me read an eBook of Emma Lord's YOU HAVE A MATCH!

I fell in love with Lord's first novel, TWEET CUTE, as it was recommended to me earlier this summer. Lord has a knack for writing teens-- and she does so with care and concern, humor and hope. So I came to her next book with high expectations. To be honest, in many ways, it met them: I laughed, I cried, I checked Instagram. YOU HAVE A MATCH has so many things going for it (so many love triangles, amazing food descriptions, heartfelt sister drama, tense friend dynamics, romance, loving lost grandparents--though it took me a WHILE to figure out who Poppy was--a cute dog, trying parental relationships)-- it reminded me of an updated PARENT TRAP (long lost sisters, camp, etc.). If there ways a critique, it was almost that there was TOO much going on. The tension at the start of the book seems to rely on the revelation of Abby's DNA test, but then the book adds more and more secrets to keep the plot moving forward. To me, it didn't have the same momentum as Lord's debut, and I found myself wondering which relationship I was turning pages for (fine, yes, them all, but I was distracted by some and wanted more of others).

Overall, an enjoyable read with a lot of feels and heart.

I loved Tweet Cute, and I was pumped to get You Have a Match early - it didn't disappoint!

I love Emma's style of storytelling and particularly the scenes with dialect. Sometimes when authors try to write in a way that sounds like how people actually speak right now, it comes out sounding stilted and not necessarily authentic. Emma's writing really feels authentic to the characters and she manages to make references and talk about our lives today (Instagram, hey!) in the way real people do.

Character development in this books was done SO well. I loved Abby's growth over the course of the month we're with her, and I LOVED that there was an epilogue to give us an update on all these characters.

Emma's quickly shooting to the list of my favorite authors - I'm excited to share this with my friends!

In fairness to Emma Lord, "Tweet Cute" was an incredible YA book that would be hard for anyone to upstage. However, "You Have a Match" lacked the spark that made Tweet Cute so memorable. The story line was fine but not particularly unique (the long lost sister is a story I've read before). Abby's relationship with Leo was a little predictable and when they ended up together I felt indifferent. Emma Lord does shine with all of the cultural and Internet reference - the book feels very modern and caters perfectly to a Gen Z crowd. Overall, an entertaining book that lacked the quirkiness and repartee I had hoped for.

I loved this book! What a great YA. it doesn’t focus as much on romance although there is romance in the book. It’s focused more on family dynamics and coming of age. It’s really well done and the writing is great. Thank you to netgalley for the arc.

Emma Lord has done it again! I loved her first book, Tweet Cute, so much and I was so excited to see news about her next novel coming out.
The author has such a talent for writing cute yet meaningful YA contemporary/romance. This story was so touching and emotional as the reader follows the main character, Abby, who discovers she has a sister she never knew about after signing up for a DNA service. The sisterly bond was amazing, the friends-to-lovers romance was so sweet and the camp setting made for the perfect summer read!
The romance was definitely slow-burn and extremely satisfying when we actually got to see it. I wish there was a bit more focus on Abby and her sister, Savannah, rather than being romance-heavy at some points. Otherwise, this book was so good!
Thank you so much to Netgalley, St. Martin's Press and the author for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!