Inspired by Mamma Mia!, When You Get the Chance by Emma Lord is a soothing coming-of-age tale that transcends the iconic ABBA jukebox romance into a passionate love letter for musical theatre fans.

The melodic novel follows Millie Price, a Broadway-star hopeful, who is determined to find her birth mother after a spat with her father leaves the teen earning to meet the woman that shares her love for the stage. With her search narrowed to three candidates based in New York, Millie infiltrates their lives to uncover the truth — and unknowingly finds herself in the process.

The author infuses the iconic paternal mystery with a fresh new protagonist that is unflinchingly brave and driven by earnest mood swings. Millie’s over-the-top outlook on the world has meaningful depth thanks to a scrambling internal monologue and mental health struggle that anchors her quest to find her mother in something a little more tangible than this cheery premise would suggest. Packed with so many rewarding threads to follow, the mystery of Millie’s mother has the opportunity to sneak up on readers.

And the romance, oh boy! An enemies-to-lovers trope with meaningful self-reflection and one hectic summer internship rounds out this super fun read. The chemistry between Millie and her high-school rival echoes a development that feels organic for two people forced to transcend petty comebacks for the first time in their teenage existence. There’s an authentic maturing to their young love that does not lend negatively to the oversaturation of this trope.

This sweet jaunt through the streets of New York City bottles the highs of chasing one’s dreams and the passion for performing arts to create a whimsical whirlwind read that thrives entirely on its adorableness.

Even so, Lord’s reads never seem to sacrifice sweet for insufferable storytelling. This book may inhabit a perfect version of the big city where everyone is sickeningly upbeat vessels of friendship and soulmates are just falling from the sky, but the story is hardly candy-coated fluff. Instead, the author grounds Millie’s perfect world in an integrated family dynamic between father-daughter and the found family she encounters throughout her search.

The plot of Lord’s books is always precise, taking the reader from point A to point B with a full-circle journey for the protagonist, a fulfilling ending, and the expert tying of loose ends. It makes the fluffiest of her teen romps a rich and rewarding experience for anyone looking for a light read that delivers dimension. The atmosphere of Millie’s story is no different, pumping readers with a fuzzy warm feeling of whimsey thanks to its adorable cast of angsty teens and smorgasbord of Broadway references.

If you, like me, struggle to embrace theater, the author’s passion for the subject will still pull you in. And if you love Broadway, Mamma Mia! references, and the glam of show business, then you will thrive within the pages of this tale. When You Get the Chance offers quick and effortless escapism with no strings attached. It’s arguably the perfect book to cleanse your palate of the bitter aftertaste that was 2021.

When you get the chance to read this one, definitely do it. You won’t be disappointed to start your year off on such a wholesome note.

And if you yearn for even more teenage shenanigans and light romps through New York City, put Emma Lord on your instant-read list. Tweet Cute stands as one of my favorite reads in recent memory with its mouthwatering dive into the fast-food industry through the messy beef of Twitter feuds. Then there’s You Have a Match, a fun reimagining of The Parent Trap. Lord certainly knows how to craft a good teen trope, and she is very open about her passion for Spider-Man memes and writing fanfiction.

So if you’re looking for a new author obsession this year, look no further.

The best characters that came out of this book are Teddy and Oliver. Those two can read Millie and her Millie Moods like a book, and because of that, those characters deserve the most respect in Millie's story. Millie is a strong and talented actress who is not afraid to achieve her goals and dreams in life. She will make it to broadway, and nothing will stop her. The first thing she has to do is attend Maddison College. The only struggle is that her father and Aunt Heather wants her to finish senior year at her current school. So what does Millie do? She decides to find her birth mother. CUE THE CHAOS. After scoring an internship to get close to the boss (potential mom #1), Millie also gets forced to spend her summer alongside the intern nemesis, Oliver. Oliver and Millie have been budding heads in the drama department since freshman year, with Oliver being apart of tech crew and wanting to do things one way, while Millie has views that clash with Oliver's choices. However, this may be the summer where Millie realizes that Oliver is actually the most understanding and caring person she'll ever meet. CUTEST BOOK EVER!

Thank you to Wednesday Books and Netgalley for the ARC of this book. All opinions are my own.

Emma Lord has another hit on her hands! From the description I knew I'd love Millie, and the book proved I was right. Her theater loving, always up to get stuff done, and her need to break into song is beyond relatable and I loved every single page of this! What a sweet and heartwarming novel that made my heart sing in tune with Millie's show tunes!

I loved how Lord set this up. I love reading about high school kids who are in a single parent home. I went through that and it's relatable. But, to see a young girl have such a fantastic relationship with her dad in YA is such a treat! This was so well done. I loved that even when they were upset with each other, they always tried to work it out. It was a relationship both coveted. Even when Millie wanted to know about her mother, she still valued her dad and made sure he knew. It was so fantastic.

This book warmed me, my heart and left me smiling with happy tears. An enemies to lovers mix with found family, solid friendships and such a beautiful prose- it was hard not to absolutely adore this whole book! If you need to get a heart hug from a book, pick this up!

Sometimes you feel like reading a light breezy romance. When You Get the Chance is that type of book.

Millie is a drama kid in a NYC high school. But she wants more. Her goal this summer is to get parental permission to go to a prestigious drama school in California. She has secretly passed all the school’s auditions, and even won a partial scholarship. But her dad, a single parent since Millie’s birth, won’t sign the paperwork. So, Millie decides to look for her mother, the mother whose name has never been spoken.

Millie and her best friend, Teddy, investigate her father’s old social media accounts and find three mother candidates. It’s Millie’s turn to decide which one is her real mom—and convince her to sign the school’s permission slip. There is only one hiccup in Millie’s plan, Oliver, her drama class nemesis, is mom-blocking her chances of working with Mom #3.

While reading When You Get the Chance, I saw every twist coming. But that was fine because I was enjoying hanging out with all of these wonderful characters. This is the perfect book to forget your problems and remember how stressful high school and early adulthood was. At least all that is over! 5 stars!

Thanks to Wednesday Books and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for my honest review.

Love all of Emma Lord’s books, but really enjoyed this one. I loved that the focus was more on what family means, and was not necessarily all about the romance of the main character. I think that it painted a fairly realistic picture of how messy life can get, and how that messiness doesn’t have to be a bad thing.
Can’t wait for the next book!

This cute young adult contemporary novel is told from the perspective of Millie, a 16 year old living in NYC being raised by her single dad and aunt, who dreams of Broadway stardom. She does not know and has never cared who her mother is, but when her dad denies her permission to go to a prestigious pre-college acting program, and she happens on her dad’s ancient Livejournal which gives her clues as to three women who might be her mother, she embarks on a search for them, not unlike the Broadway/movie musical Mama Mia. Bit of course the journey is more important than the destination as along the way she not only meets new people but learns more about herself as well, as well as has adventures with her best friend, and discovers a new side to her archnemesis as well.

A really cute, light, quick read which I read in the span of 24 hours, with great characters and a nice balance of family, friends, and romance - plus lots of great Broadway references. This is the first book I have read by Emma Lord but I will definitely be checking out her previous two books as well.

Leave it to Emma Lord to write another hit! Generally I shy away from YA, it normally isn’t a hit for me but Emma Lord is always a must read. She does such an incredible job of bringing characters to life making you care and reminding you of the very real straddle teens do between childhood and adulthood. I love the way she brings both small and large obstacles into the story and gives the MC the opportunity to take the adult route or childish route and learn from it.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the arc of When You Get the Chance by Emma Lord.

Millie Price knows what she wants in life, she wants to be a Broadway Star and she wants to find out who her mother is. While she is searching for a job to impress her father and show him that she can be responsible enough and afford the precollege on the west coast that she wants to attend for her senior year she and her best friend, Teddy, stumble upon her father's old LiveJournal and thus begins the Millie Mia of finding her mother and trying to attend this prestigious school all while her father is out of town for his annual two week work conference.

I thought that this book had some great dynamics and it was great to see Millie, despite being self-centered, was actually very kind and thoughtful overall. Obviously there is some drama that happens when the adults in the book discover that Millie is trying to find her mother and she does blow up all the relationships that she has but overall that is such a small part of the book that I didn't feel like it really took away from the overall plot.

This book was fun, and warm, and showed the importance of working together. It was a quick read that wasn't too heavy. I didn't want to put this book down and thoroughly enjoyed it from start to finish.

I adored Emma Lord’s previous novel You Have a Match, so I was excited to read her new release When You Get a Chance. Even though both books are YA, I feel like Lord has the ability with her writing for me to read with a sense of nostalgia. Her books always seem to transport me back and remind me of my teenage years in some way.

When You Get a Chance was chopped full of Broadway show references and theater talk. But it was also a sweet story about a high school theatre student, Millie, trying to find her way, and understand more about herself before going off to college.

After growing up with just her dad and her aunt, Millie decides to pull a ‘Millie Mia’ and search for her mom. She has the list narrowed down to three potential women from her dads past and spends the start of the summer finding ways to meet them all.

Millie learns more about herself, her family, her friends and also her frenemy Oliver, in the process. She may get the answers to the questions, but they don’t seem to be the ones she was expecting. Sometimes it takes a silly quest to realize she may have had what she needed all along.

Thank you Netgalley and Wednesday books for this eARC copy to read and review.

Thank you so much, NetGalley, St. Martin's Press and Wednesday Books, for the chance to read and review this book in exchange of an honest review.

Millie Price wants to become a Broadway star and nothing will get in her way. Not her lovable but introvert dad who raised her on his own, not her drama club rival Oliver and their romantic tension, not her moods. When she finds, by accident, her father LiveJournal from 2003, Millie decides it's time to find her mum. But who and where is she?

First of all. When you get the chance is a Mammia Mia retelling, so how I could not want to read and fall in love with it?
This book is fantastic! It's filled with theater reference, bantering, amazing characters, wonderful and captivating plot and it's so funny and brilliant I couldn't stop reading it until the end.
Millie is a great main character. She's confident, talented and it's really empowering reading about a character who knows and recognizes her own talent and strength. She's strong, stubborn and I found her looking for her mother really funny and thrilling. I appreciated how every character, not only MIllie and her father, or Oliver, were developed, well written, complex and realistic.
I enjoyed the enemies to lovers romance, musical references and how drama is balanced by supportive and great friends, humor and family relationships.
It's a novel about falling in love, family and friendships, about making a mess, growing up and letting things go. A rollercoaster of emotions and I loved everything.

I have enjoyed Emma Lord's writing style in each of her books, but THIS book, it stole my heart. Having read her other two YA titles, I knew this book was a must-read & was thrilled to be able to snag an ARC of it prior to publication day thanks to Wednesday Books.

I DEVOURED this book.

For anyone who's ever been to a Broadway show, enjoys singing, or loves Mamma Mia, this one is a MUST read. Lord somehow manages to give us a book inspired by the popular show, while giving us something completely fresh and fun that I instantly fell for and wanted to pass along to anyone I've ever known to see a show.

As someone who adores theatre, and has a soft spot for Mamma Mia, this book was just EVERYTHING. Millie is exactly what I wanted from the main character, her personality had my heart and made me want to pick up more young adult titles to connect with that give that youthful exuberance I often wish I still had. She is everything a teen adjusting to the adjustment of getting ready for life AFTER high school, while still being caught up in the moments that make being a teen so real, relatable + complicated need to read.

Amid Millie's search for her mother, we're also given an age-appropriate enemies to lovers romance that was just adorable, adding just the right amount of banter and sass to the storyline to keep it moving and giving us as readers that something extra. Their relationship was such an essential part of who Millie became in her character arc, and I feel like it made the book for me. Without Oliver, Teddy, and her friends, Millie wouldn't be the star she's clearly meant to become.

Even knowing it was inspired by Mamma Mia, I was pleasantly surprised at how well Lord wrote the women who could have been Millie's mom into her life. I was enamored with the setup of who was related to whom and how, and truly felt that the family dynamic created worked to amplify the book throughout every scene. All the warm fuzzy feelings for each of the characters who by the end felt like a family I would have loved to be a part of, I know I won't soon forget this book!

I thoroughly enjoyed Emma Lord's You Have a Match when I read it last year, so when I saw her forthcoming book on Net Galley, I jumped at the chance. Then I read that it was about a teen with a Broadway dream and knew it was meant for me.

Emma Lord writes books that make you feel good. They put a smile on your face with well developed characters and unusual situation. In When You Get the Chance, Millie Price is a high school student at a crossroads. She has gotten into a prestigious theater program, but it means moving across the country and without the support of her father. Millie is being raised by an awesome, non-theater dad and super cool aunt. Her mother gave up custody of her at birth and has never been in the picture. Millie's BFF is the boy next door who happens to be an avid geocacher. In a Mamma Mia-esque style, Millie and Teddy narrow down her birth mother possibilities to 3 and set out to determine which one it is. One candidate leads her to an internship at a casting agency along with Oliver, a classmate who has always annoyed her and vice versa.

The story plays out with twists and unexpected turns. They name drop shows and actors that any musical theater geek would know. Millie grows through the story, even when certain things need to be pounded into her head. This is a great YA read.

I received an arc of this title from NetGalley for an honest review. Excellent book for teens and for adults. I couldn't put this book down and wanted to read late into each night, yet also not read too fast!?!?! Looking forward to her next title release.

Once again Emma Lord doesn't disappoint!
I was really looking forward to this book, and I love that it takes place in the same universe as Tweet Cute. I needed a cute YA contemporary romance, and the fact that it's lowkey Mama Mia inspired....love it. I'm such a fan and this was such a fun read. Definitely recommend picking it up!

This was such a fun book. I got total Anna and the French Kiss/Stephanie Perkins vibes from this, which is a total good thing as that's one of my favorite books.

It's so nice to see an outgoing, extrovert type of character and to see one who is figuring out how to handle the changes in her moods. As a theater nerd myself I was so excited to have a book showcasing people with these interests and not have them be the "freak" or the "weird one" or to have some character learn to understand and love the manic pixie theater dream girl/guy. Millie and her friends are just normal in their world and that's so refreshing.

Millie is such a fantastic character. It's so rewarding to watch her learn to understand herself and her abilities and really discover what she needs in life while embracing what she already has. Her family and friends, both the ones she starts the book with and those she's added in by the end, just make her story even more rewarding.

4.75/5 stars

This book was such a ride! It carried us literally all over New York City, which I adored, as well as all over emotionally. I fell in love with Millie and Oliver as well as the extended cast, and the way I adore her family, the potentials, her best friend Teddy...it's all so great!

The mystery kept me going, was very entertaining and no I did NOT see it coming at the end, but I love the way it wrapped up. The character development is super solid, too.

I really adored this book and definitely recommend it.

Thank you @wednesdaybooks @netgalley for a copy of When You Get a Chance. If you love broadway and Mama Mia, this will be for you. This was a cute coming of age story about Millie and her dream on making it on Broadway and her desire to find her mother.

Millie is interning along with her arc nemesis, Oliver, and lots of fun times ensue. Their interactions are fun with great banter.

All the supporting characters are great in the story and creates a fun read. The narration was perfect and brought Millie to life.

This is a review of the audiobook.

Growing up, I was sort of obsessed with the movie, Fame. There’s just something about trying to make your dream a reality, set against the hustle and bustle of NYC in the 80s. Unlike Fame, When You Get the Chance is set in present day. However, I still got some, “I’m gonna live forever” vibes coming off of the talented teenage, Millie Price.

Millie is a young, wanna be singer/actress who has dreamed of making it big on Broadway her whole life. Her introverted father has always supported her, even if he doesn’t understand the desire to be in the spotlight. In fact, Millie has always felt that her father never fully understood her passion, period.

Convinced her drive must come from somewhere, Millie stumbles upon information from her dad’s past that may offer up some clues. See, Millie never knew her mom. But these new tidbits might actually lead her to who her mom might be. Narrowing it down to three likely candidates, Millie sets out to find the truth. But will Millie’s casting search for her long lost mom, leave her playing the part of the fool?

This is the second book I’ve read by @dilemmalord. Last year’s You Have a Match skated similar territory in the reuniting of long last family members, a topic that is no doubt, near and dear to the author. While I enjoyed You Have a Match, I devoured When You Get the Chance. It had a great mix of characters that balanced out Millie, and the story itself had a little bit of something for everyone.

In short, if you ever should ever “get the chance” to read this delightful novel, take it!

When You Get the Chance by Emma Lord is the Mama Mia retelling I didn’t know I needed in my life. Millie is a LOT to navigate. She’s bold, loud, and overly emotional. Yet, underneath her theater kid exterior, she’s loyal and kind-hearted. While her personality was a bit much for me at first, I grew to love Millie as she chased her Broadway dreams and worked to learn who she is. Filled with musical references, details about NYC that bring the city to life, and delightful characters who I couldn't help but love, this YA novel was so much fun to read. If you’re a YA fan, you should add this one to your TBR.

*Thank you to Netgalley, the author, and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

I like music theater, but I wouldn't call myself a huge fan; however, I LOVED that music theater was such an important part of the story. YA fans will love this and theater junkies will absolutely adore it! It's a super cute book with a lot of heart. It's sweet, funny, and has an enemies-to-lovers trope that I can never resist. Throw in a competition and I was hooked.