Is this book the most original thing? No, it’s not. But it is, nevertheless, positively delightful. It had me grinning and laughing all throughout.

A tale of family, friendship, romance, and self-discovery.

Our lead, Millie, is 100% a drama queen in both the best and worst ways. Once she sets her mind on something she is determined to achieve it. Which we all have a front-row seat to throughout the book. Problem is, as with all choices, her actions come with unexpected consequences. But along the way, Millie makes some truly life-changing connections, forcing her to evaluate both her new and old relationships. She is a teen on a journey of self-discovery that is both funny and heartfelt, with a good old dash of Mamma Mia-esque hijinks.

I wished I’d have read it sooner and gotten my review out into the world before its release date. That’s a personal goal of mine this year. Be better about reading my ARC in a timely manner and getting back into the habit of writing reviews for the things I read.

Millie Price has never known her mom. She left Millie with her dad when Millie was a baby. Millie has never really felt a gap, since she's had the support of her introverted dad and her aunt, Heather. But when Millie decides she wants to go to a super-competitive arts college for her last semester of high school--against her dad's wishes--it inspires her to search for her mom. With the help of some angsty entries from her Dad's Livejournal, circa 2003, she narrows her search down to three women: Beth, Farrah, and Steph. While tracking down Steph, she stumbles into an internship possibility that pits her against her arch-nemesis from high school, Oliver. He tends to bring out the "Millie Moods," the periods of intense emotion that she can't help but wonder come from her mother. As Millie fights with Oliver and tries to find her mom, it feels like life may be getting out of control.

This book was an awesome way to start the year! I LOVED this sweet, charming cross of Mamma Mia and Definitely Maybe.

Amanda Seyfried walked so Millie Price could run.

CHANCE is witty, romantic, and delightful. Millie is utterly bewitching--an amazing character that you cannot help but love. She needs people to like her, a desire that often rules her life, along with her strong moods. She has a deep and lasting best friend in Teddy, the boy across the hall. The theme of friendship runs strong in this book, and Teddy and Millie's friendship is wonderful, formed on geocaching, food, and loyalty. It's so nice to have a strong friend relationship along with a romance.

As Millie searches for her mom, she meets Steph, who works at a talent agency, where she battles with Oliver, her enemy from high school. Oliver, a straitlaced stage manager, is the opposite of Millie and they have a history of fighting and battling over school performances. I loved this "enemies to more" romance--it was witty and cute, filled with humor and great banter and serious moments. I was grinning dumbly at half the things they said.

The best thing about this book is that it's so much more than Millie and Oliver's romance--there's the quest to find Millie's mom, Millie forming relationships with a variety of the mom contenders and related side characters, her friendship with Teddy, Millie's gay aunt (who is awesome), and more. There's wonderful 90 musical references, odes to theater and musical theater, and Livejournal mentions (oh the time I spent on LJ)!

This is a delightful book--such a beautiful ode to family and theater. I loved it! 4.5 stars.

This book filled me with so much joy! I loved the theater references and seeing Millie grow through this story. Her character development was so well done through her relationship with her dad, her desire to find her mom and her friendships and how they grow and change. Lord did a great job of packing in emotional content without it causing me as the reader to be emotional. It definitely has some deep waters content while still being lighthearted. As a fan of Broadway and musical theater, I really appreciated the behind the scenes and fan moments Millie had but I don't think it was inaccessible for those who don't have knowledge of this world. I found myself cheering on Millie to not only accomplish her dreams but to grow emotionally and have mature conversations with the adults in her life and I think Lord delivered on that. I could not put it down at the end. Emma Lord has yet to disappoint me, she is absolutely an auto-buy author at this point. Recommend for fans of Morgan Matson.

While nothing will ever quite make my heart sing like Tweet Cute, Emma Lord's third novel, When You Get the Chance, is a love letter to theater and a fun twist on the classic Mamma Mia! story that made me laugh and eagerly wait to see who her mother would be. Though the story has a family angle, it mostly focuses on Millie trying to escape her own shadow and ideas of herself to unravel what she wants in the summer before senior year and who she most wants to become. There is, of course, a swoony enemies to lovers romance in the midst! I definitely wish we'd gotten a little more Oliver, because the two of them had sparks flying throughout! Even so, I thoroughly enjoyed reading Millie's story and encountering all the new people in her life who help make it - and her - so much better.

Actual rating: 4.5 stars

A huge thank you to Wednesday Books for giving me a free digital ADC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Y’all, I loved this so much! Lord is up there as a favorite YA contemporary author! I really enjoyed Tweet Cute, but had some reservations about You Have a Match, so to say I went into WYGtC with some hesitation... Well, you wouldn't be wrong. But this gal took a deep dive into the world of musical theater during the pandemic (a huge win, in my book), so this book was so fun to read because while I didn't catch all the musical references, I did catch some. This book is also just so funny in general that I found myself laughing out loud and chuckling at some parts.

And gosh darn, there's just something about Mille Price, her best friend Teddy, her maybe crush Oliver, along with Millie's dad and aunt that rounds this book out in the best way. Millie is so full of life--she jumps out of the page at you. She's spunky and has such a "go-getter" attitude, you can't help but love her and follow her antics because boy, if this sure didn't bring back some memories for myself. And wow, did this book make me realize I am...old. Because I had a LiveJournal, and it's just so strange to see these things come around in the weirdest of ways.

However, I did have my suspicions about who Millie's mom really was toward the last 1/3 of the book. Did it surprise me? Oh yeah, because all the time I kind of had the same question as Millie, "Why did her mom 'abandon' her?" I won't pretend to understand why this happens in real life, so for the author to bring that on the page and provide Millie with valid thoughts and then give her mother valid reasoning... I mean, I don't think you can blame Millie's mom for doing what she did. At least, I'm not blaming her at all. I did, however, wish we got a little more here. I wanted a bit more of a deeper dive on the page, but I'm content thinking that Millie received more answers from her mom after I read the final page of the book.

Overall, this was just a super fun read. It's about remaking yourself until you find yourself, about believing in who you are but listening to those who care about you, and I think it's quite a love letter to New York and musical theater. If you love those things, you won't be disappointed.

I love how charming Emma Lord's previous books are and that's the main reason why I read her works. This one misses out a bit on the charm because I honestly had a hard time liking Millie. She is such a strong personality (kudos to Lord for getting that across so perfectly) that I sometimes didn't like her. She does grow on you as the story progresses and you learn more about her and the characters around her, so it's not a lost cause. Plus she's surrounded by such great characters that it's almost more interesting to see her interacting with others than it is when she's being introspective.
There is so much positivity in the story that I walked away really happy to have read it. Millie faces some tough choices and she has some very important questions she needs answered, but it's obvious that she's loved and most of her drama is just teenagehood at its finest as experienced through a theater kid. I had fun reading about the antics of a normal (-ish) kid taking on the world and growing as a person.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for the fun read.

Young Adult meets Broadway.

I love Emma Lord’s books. They’re heartwarming with a bit of self-discovery. Okay, a LOT of self-discovery. But also usually a lesson that rushing life doesn’t work out the way you might hope it will.

In “When You Get the Chance”, Millie Price is Broadway bound. It’s her dream – and she’s good enough to make it. In the meantime, she battles her high school arch nemesis, enjoys life with her best friend, and decides to set her mind to searching for her mother, whom she’s never met, all in hopes of finding someone to be on her side for a unique educational opportunity that would supposedly help prepare her for Broadway sooner rather than later.

Practically reenacting Mamma Mia with three potential mothers, Millie finds herself hoping it’s all of them, but also possibly none of them. She couldn’t predict what would happen, but that doesn’t mean it’s a bad thing either.

As I said, I love everything Emma Lord writes, but I’m not sure this was my FAVORITE of all of them. I love Broadway, so the references to shows were great. I loved most of the characters and the relationships Millie has with all of them. I love Millie’s passion, drive, and caring nature. But Millie herself was a bit all over the place – more so than the typical teenager, even if you add in the theater component on a stereotypical level. She was both happy with herself and not. She both knew who she was and didn’t. She bothers filled with pride, and hated the fame she had already earned. For a character I think I was supposed to love, I just didn’t fall for Millie. That being said, I LOVED Millie and Oliver – but I think I loved Oliver more.

Even still, it’s a cute and quick read and anyone who enjoys Broadway will likely love it!

Another funny, cute book from Emma Lord! This one is all about musicals and the Mama Mia references were the best. Millie is a brash, strong headed teen who decides to find the mother she's never known. She and her best friend come up with three possibilities and Millie starts inserting herself into their lives. There's also a high school rival that she might actually like, a dream internship, and a potential half sister. This was so much fun and the emotional moments packed a punch. I'm already salivating for the next book!

I voluntarily read and reviewed this book and all opinions are my own. Thank you to Wednesday Books and NetGalley for the copy

"𝘔𝘢𝘺𝘣𝘦 𝘸𝘦'𝘷𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘰𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘴, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘸𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘸𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘺𝘦𝘵."

Oh, how my Broadway-loving heart swooned for 𝗪𝗛𝗘𝗡 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗚𝗘𝗧 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗡𝗖𝗘!

Millie Price is the dramatic, talented, destined-to-be-a-famous-stage-diva that I wish I could have been at her age and the references to some of my favorite shows throughout this book put a huge smile on my face. But even if musicals aren't your thing, there's so much to enjoy in this YA coming-of-age story:

👨‍👧The sweetest father/daughter relationship
👩‍👧A just-as-wonderful aunt/niece relationship
💕Some enemy-to-lovers romance
🤔A 𝘔𝘢𝘮𝘮𝘢 𝘔𝘪𝘢-esque quest to uncover Millie's long-lost mother
💬Top-notch banter
🗺️A fabulous geocaching bestie
🚕Great NYC moments
👍🏽Lots of excellent representation

This book is a funny and moving delight. I've already handed my copy off to my daughter who's loving it as much as I did. 4.75 stars.

Thank to Wednesday Books & NetGalley for the copy to review.

This blew me away! I was almost surprised at how much I was enjoying myself reading about Millie and her *Mama Mia* journey, but I’ve experienced this joy before from Emma Lord when I read *Tweet Cute* so i wasn't too surprised. As someone who has read a bunch of YA contemporaries and tends to prefer space operas and adventurous fantasies, there really is something incredibly fun and heartwarming about the books that Emma writes. She hits on the food, rivals-to-lovers, and the intricacy and care that exists between people, all of which are, as Millie would say, a “triple-threat” but they’re really a triple-threat to me specifically.

This is doubtless going to be a hit with people who love *Mama Mia* (of course), not only because that’s kind of the whole plot but so many of those emotional beats are in *When You Get the Chance* as well. On the journey to find a true part of you, it is so often the things you know you have but haven’t recently appreciated, that you find stand out more importantly. The people that are there for you and *have been* there for you, loving you the whole time.

It was a romp to follow Millie through NYC, meeting new people, and getting to better know the old in her life (and shoutout to the Pepper and Jack cameo lol). I was a theatre tech kid in high school so I was really rooting for my new best friend Oliver and his talk about how he loves seeing a show come together and watching from the wings made me yearn for theatre in a way I’ve been kind of squashing down for a few years now.

As messy and horrible as the theatre industry can be, there are good parts to it too, and it was really sweet to see it brought to life this way. Look out, here comes Millie, now!

Such a cute book! Stories about theater kids will always be dear to my heart, since I was in theater myself in high school. I really enjoyed Millie’s character as well as her evolving understanding of herself and the people she is closest to. The whole MAMMA MIA spin was absolutely inspired, I think. I laughed out loud about her finding her dad’s LiveJournal account. Wow.

I feel like there are a lot of little pieces of the book that I enjoyed, too. The internship. The dance classes. The Milkshake Club! The geocaching app that Millie’s best friend is obsessed with. The behind-the-scenes ways people turn out to be connected. The brothers and their band. So many bits of story that all came together in a magical way to create a whole that is so much more than the sum of its parts. This book made me laugh and long to see shows on stage or at least blast a musical soundtrack at top volume and dance like nobody is watching.

Which totally makes it a triumph, if you ask me. I think fans of Lord’s other books will not be disappointed in this one, and readers who delight in romcom will find lots to love about WHEN YOU GET THE CHANCE.

“𝐀𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐚 𝐒𝐞𝐲𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐚𝐥𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐨 𝐌𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐞 𝐏𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐫𝐮𝐧.”

𝗪𝐘𝐆𝐓𝐂 is a Broadway-infused YA contemporary that centers on Millie Price, a "16 going on 17" 😉 year old, on the hunt for her missing mom. A die-hard theater dweeb, Millie finds herself in a real-life "𝘔𝘢𝘮𝘮𝘢 𝘔𝘪𝘢" dilemma when she stumbles upon her dad's dormant LiveJournal page and discovers she has three possible moms! With the help of her geocaching bestie and a fake name to boot, Millie locates and inserts herself into these women's lives in hopes of finally discovering her long-lost mother. But as KChen put it in 𝘞𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘥: "getting your dreams, it's strange, but it seems a little, well, complicated." And when Millie's alternate identities start colliding she finds herself in a tangled web that Tom Holland, himself, couldn't save her from.

Add in a foes-to-friends subplot, themes of identity & the struggles of growing up, a loveable supporting cast of characters, and enough theater references to make any fangirl smirk, and you'll see why this title has become my new favorite from Lord.

Because as many of y'all know, I, too, am a devoted Broadway nerd. And this novel truly is a love letter to not only theater, but also to the memories & life-long friendships formed on the stage and in the wings. It's a nod of acknowledgement to those of us that belted karaoke in the car long before Corden took the wheel. To those of us who rocked remnant stage makeup at the only late-night restaurant in town with our favorite castmates after an evening performance. To those of us that have teared up and embarrassingly rambled to our favorite actors while stage dooring in NYC.

At the end of the day, whether you're a theater geek or not, I think this book is worth your time...when you get the chance.

While this book took a couple of chapters to really pull me in, I was so engrossed once I got into it that I read it in the waiting room and in between parts of a doctor's appointment. Ha!

There is something about a story where all of the characters are interconnected that REALLY appeals to me, it just gets right to my heart or something.

I will read every single thing Emma Lord writes.

Thanks you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

I was so looking forward to When You Get the Chance because A. The synopsis sounds fun as heck and B. I loved Tweet Cute so much and really enjoyed You Have a Match as well and C. I love musicals.

Well, the stars were aligned and I really adored this book! Our characters were awesome and Emma’s writing is always so much fun to read. I will definitely be letting my fellow theater fans know about this book.

I also just saw that Emma has another (!!!) book set to come out next January and you can bet your bottom dollar I will be running to pick that up as well. She has a lifelong fan in me. Bravo, Emma!

Emma Lord does it again with this YA book! I flew through this one and loved every minute of the story. She is an auto-read author for me and I recommend to all my friends. Great plot, great character development, cute story!

I love everything Emma Lord writes, and this one was no exception. Millie might be my favorite main character from any of her books. I loved that she used the concept from Mamma Mia to find her mother through Millie Mia. All of the other characters were great too, and I loved how much this book revolved around musical theater. It was just a fantastic read all around.

When You Get the Chance by Emma Lord. This utterly charming book is a gender-reversed Mamma Mia story. Instead of trying to find out which one of three different men is her father, Mia is trying to figure out which one of three different women is her mom. She has been raised by her Dad and her aunt but when her dad won't let her go to the prestigious drama school she secretly applied to, she decides to seek out her mom hoping her mom will be on her side. She is determined to figure out who her mother is even if it means part of her plan puts her in constant contact with her high school drama club nemesis, Oliver.

Mia is a really relatable character. She can be hotheaded and stubborn, but she is dedicated and fiercely loyal. Her sudden unstoppable bursts of emotion where the rational side of her brain just shuts off (which she calls her Millie moods) is something that almost anyone can relate to. It is so sweet the way her relationship with Oliver evolves and develops. In fact, all of the relationships in this book are really touching and sweet, and there a quite a few romantic relationships that do develop in this book so if you are a fan of romance you will really enjoy it. If you are a theater nerd, you will really enjoy all the theater references and the fact that a large part of the plot does, in fact, revolve around the theater. On the whole, it is just a delightfully engaging read.

Hey book lovers! I'm here with a book review for When You Get The Chance by Emma Lord. After giving Tweet Cute 5 stars and You Have A Match 4 stars, I jumped at the chance to request an ARC for When You Get The Chance. I've already added her next novel to my Goodreads TBR even though I don't know the title, publication date or cover. Lord's writing is guaranteed to make me smile.

There's a chance Millie's estranged mother has seen Millie's embarrassing viral video of her playing Jo in her middle school's musical of Little Women.
There's a chance that Millie may find her biological mother.
There's a chance that Millie may find herself actually growing to like her enemy.

Millie will never know unless she takes a chance.

› Millie has been accepted into a musical theatre precollege. Her dad doesn't think it's a good idea. Millie has never met her mother, but she has discovered that her mom is involved with theatre in some way, and so Millie makes a plan to find her mother so she can help convince Millie's father to let her go to the precollege instead of staying in high school. Millie's journey to find her mother leads her to take dance lessons, join a musical theatre enthusiast meetup group, and get sucked into a competition against Oliver (her high school rival) for an internship.
› Characters: 10
I feel like I should warn you - Millie is annoying. Her decisions are impulsive, but she does learn a lot...so if you find yourself rolling your eyes at Millie's actions and words, hang in there. The relationship between Millie and her dad is the best. ♥

› Atmosphere: 9
Excellent emotion/mood/tone, however, I found it hard to picture myself in each setting (which is normally something that's easy for me, I'm a visual reader).

› Writing Style: 10
High quality, authentic dialogue, easy readability, love the writing style.

› Plot: 8
Not a page-turner for me. Great beginning, but the middle and end were a little weird for me.

› Intrigue: 10
› Logic: 10

› Enjoyment: 10

Average 9.6

1.1-2.2 = ★
2.3-4.5 = ★★
4.6-6.9 = ★★★
7-8.9 = ★★★★
9-10 = ★★★★★

My Rating ★★★★★

› Final Thoughts
• Inspired by "Mamma Mia", When You Get The Chance is a charming and heartfelt story about taking chances and getting second chances. One of my favourite books I read in 2021!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the complimentary copy in exchange for my honest review.

♥ If Tweet Cute was cheese-covered and You Have a Match was soaked in summer camp, then When You Get the Chance is DIPPED IN GLITTER and I love it so much.

♥ This is another short little sort of review because I was supposed to write my review weeks ago and like usual I DIDN’T because I am starting 2022 off by continuing on exactly as I have always done with zero improvements.

♥ But THIS BOOK IS FOR YOU IF:

You love musicals/theater and want to see the world backstage
You love enemies to lovers
You’ve enjoyed Emma Lord in the past
The concept of Mama Mia with a “find my mom instead” twist intrigues you
You were ever part of musical theater, whether on stage or crew or production, even just in high school, because there is something about about it that never leaves you and you can never forget what it feels like backstage and you bond with everyone, be that being at school until 11 pm every school night for rehearsal or early Saturday morning to build scaffolding. (Why yes I was on stage crew and I did have a headset and I did find that wildly exciting why do you ask?)
You can’t get enough of a good epilogue because Emma Lord does nothing better than give us one every time that involves every single character.
So READ UP, YA’LL! Millie is a heroine to root for and Oliver is a beautiful little cinnamon roll in a sticky bun wrapping. You can’t see it at first but once you get to the inside of him, hoooooo boy.

“Every conversation with someone who has more power than you is an audition if you squint.”

“The apartment is so quiet the next morning I feel like I’m haunting it.”

This book wasn't for me -- but I think it's my age that made this a bit of a loss.
However, the writing is fantastic, the characters are fun, the topics covered are going to be loved by many. Emma Lord is a favorite and I will continue to read her work. Again, this book is going to be a hit with some, it was just a miss for me.