Thank you to Netgalley, St. Martin's Press and Macmillan Audio for the ARC and audio ARC of this. I switched back and forth between the ebook and the audiobook while reading it.

This was the exact story I have come to expect from this author - cute, family drama, a little bit of a side romance, and lots of feels. I absolutely loved Millie's Dad and I wish he had been on page more, because I'm a sucker for good parent relationships in YA - and I think her Dad was a good one even if there was more he could've been up front about as far as Millie's Mom (but then where would our Millie Mia plot be?), but she had what seemed like a decent support system in her Dad and Aunt. I loved how all the hijinks to meet up with potential Mom's got so complicated and how they all shook out, and I loved the side characters and the romance plot a lot. Overall, I really enjoyed it and recommend it if you've loved books by this author before, if you loved theater, family drama, or if you just need a fun contemporary with everything that's going on.

I have really enjoyed other books by Emma Lord and requested this ARC months ago. I started reading it the moment I was granted access and unfortunately I struggled. I put it down, read some other books, and over Thanksgiving break, I decided to give it another shot. Ultimately, this book just wasn't my favorite of hers. I was a musical gal all through high school and I sang opera for years so plot wise, I was in from the jump. The romance is cute, the family dynamics are there, and the humor is there in Millie's narration. It's good and I would recommend it to lovers of YA and Emma Lord. It just didn't have the punch that both Tweet Cute and You Have a Match had for me.

Thank you so much to St. Martin's Press and Wednesday books for the advance digital review copy of When You Get the Chance in exchange for an honest review. When You Get the Chance comes out this Tuesday, January 4, 2022!

It's the end of Millie's junior year of high school, and she is thrilled to know that she won't be returning to her Musical Theatre program, and will instead be going to a pre-College program on the west coast. Millie's dad is not on board for her to attend the program, and goes on his annual business trip leaving the situation unfinished. Enter Millie's need to find her mother, who she ahs never met, before her dad comes home so they can team up to convince him to let her go.

This is the second YA romcom I read in 2021 that followed musical theatre / drama teens and I cannot get enough of it. The references to countless Broadway plays really made the book for me. Millie's spends a lot of time getting to know the three women she has shortlisted as candidates as her mother, and its clear she has things in common with all three of them, and they could all be a positive influence on her life long term.

There were times when I wanted to step in and help Millie deal with some of the conflicts she faces, and to me that's one of the best things to have in a YA novel. The characters are just getting to know themselves, and working through who they want to be in the world.

I also loved reading about Millie's relationship with her dad, and seeing how aunt Heather fit into their family dynamic. It was great seeing both of these adults start into their own relationships while Millie worked through hers.

This is the first book I've read by Emma Lord, and I will be looking out for her backlist this year (luckily I have one waiting on my shelf already!). The writing quickly drew me in and I flew through the book in a few days.

Theatre fans and YA lovers should check out When You Get the Chance after it releases on Tuesday!

When You Get the Chance by Emma Lord is a delightful YA novel about Millie Price and her dream to be a Broadway star. She loves her dad, but she has always wondered who her mom is. So, when she and her best friend Teddy find her dad's old online journal, they search his writings for who her mom could be. This story was very charming, and reading about how Millie learned more about herself through this search for her mom was very heart-warming. I would highly recommend this uplifting story. Thanks to NetGalley for the free digital review copy. All opinions are my own.

When You Get the Chance was adorably cheesy in the very best way. A gender swapped spin on Mamma Mia has theater nerd Millie searching for the mother who abandoned her as a baby. I loved the father daughter relationship, the friendship with Teddy, the enemies to lovers romance, and all of the musical theater references. I highly recommend this one if you want something lighthearted and sweet! Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for access to an early digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book is a DREAM for any person who loves theater and happiness and wants to simultaneously be reminded how old they are since we're talking about stalking someone's old LiveJournal (I don't wanna talk about it). The Broadway references, the Abba/Mamma Mia nonsense, the absolutely sparkly personality of our sweet heroine Millie; all of it added up to be one special little book that touched me way down deep in my soul, and I absolutely adored it (especially the Newsies references and the nod to sweet sweet teenage Christian Bale). At points, it felt like Lord was reaching into my brain and digging up everything I love and hold precious in this world, and I had such a fun time taking a chance on this book.

I do wish we had explored Millie and Cooper a little bit more, their relationship was absolutely tender and wonderful and it made me kind of bummed it didn't get much deeper? Their father/daughter moments weren't as plentiful as I would have loved (same I guess could be said for the moments we didn't get between Heather and Millie) but I understand there's only so much space in a book. Cooper was such a wonderful rock for Millie that I just wish we had gotten a bit more on how deep their bond really was.

I adored Oliver, Chloe had way too much energy but I loved it, and the rest of the cast was wonderful, but we all know Teddy was the true star of this show. He was everything I wanted for Millie's best friend and I wanted to scoop him up and take him home with me and feed him Reese's Puffs and make playlists. Absolutely adorable, that child, honestly. And I realize my love for him sounds creepy but it's not, I promise, he's just kind of perfectly quirky and lazy and has the same food palate as me.

This book had me smiling from ear to ear, probably from the start through to the very end, and while there were some moments in which the pacing felt a tad off, none of it really detracted from how much fun I was having. This book was an absolute glitter bomb of a novel, and everything I wanted it to be.

Also, Emma, don't think I missed the little mention of our girl, Pepper. I miss PepperJack immensely and was so happy to notice that little moment.

If you love fun, Abba, musicals, and loud teenagers who have no idea what they're doing with their life, pick up When You Get the Chance. I promise you'll have a lot of fun.


[Many thanks to Wednesday Books and Netgalley for my review copy!]

Two of my great loves are books and Broadway. When You Get The Chance had both and I’m officially obsessed. Emma Lord has done it again with this ray of sunshine novel, filled to the brim with theater references, romance, and an homage to MAMMA MIA (my other great love!!!) Basically I went in thinking it was my dream book, and it still managed to exceed my expectations.

Millie Price, future Broadway extraordinaire, is on a mission to find her birth mom after discovering her dad’s LiveJournal on the Internet. As if that isn’t enough to manage, she’s also competing against her theater nemesis Oliver for an internship with a Broadway agent. I had so much fun reading this book! It was pure musical theater joy, and I highly recommend checking it out. When You Get The Chance comes out on 1/4. Thank you to Wednesday Books for my early copy!

Another cute and funny book by Emma Lord!

Great characters. I especially liked our sassy, funny leading lady, Millie. She had me grinning while I was turning pages.
The synopsis was fun. Millie is a theater geek who gets the opportunity of a lifetime to go to a special school for performing arts her senior year of high school. Something her dad isn't on board with. Millie gets the great idea to try to find her mother (who abandoned her as a baby) so she can have a parent sign off on her switching school. Her and her best friend discover three possible leads on who her mom could be (think Mamma Mia but with moms instead of dads).

The storyline was a little predictable but still a joyride to be on. It has an enemies to lovers trope but honestly this story is mostly about Millie finding herself and the people in her life. While there is a romance aspects its not the leading story.

***Advanced copy obtained from St. Martin's Press/Wednesday books via Netgalley***

I think I’ve outgrown YA… I did not like this book. The MC wasn’t likeable and I found her pretty obnoxious throughout the entire book.
Also, it’s “theatre kids”, which I don’t really get. I know that’s a me problem, but it just didn’t help things or make them any better for me.
So, basically, the book is about Millie, who is a self-absorbed theatre kid who is obsessed with becoming an actor. The start of the book has her trying to convince her single-parent father to let her move across the country to attend an acting school that is like a combo of grade 12 and first year college/uni. She has already applied in secret and then is outraged that her father won’t let her go. Really?
Then she decides that she has find her mother (who abandoned her as an infant), so that she can sign off on the paperwork to allow her to go to this acting school. She manages to narrow it down to 3 women, who she begins to kind of stalk. Oh yeah, she’s also obsessed with Mamma Mia. Do you see what’s happening here? Yeah…
Overall it was pretty weak, I figured out the big *AHA!* mom reveal quite early on.
Also, the love interest seems to be a somewhat sweet guy that she has treated like shit for the first 3 years of high school, and then she tries to steal a paid internship from him, just so she can stalk one of the possible moms…
I’ve enjoyed Emma Lord’s other books, especially Tweet Cute, but this just wasn’t good.

This book has it all. Dramatic and emotional. Funny and engaging. Emma Lord's writing voice is phenomenal and if you pass this up you'll be very disappointed. A big winner in my book. Happy reading!

I scored an arc of Lord’s “When You Get A Chance,” a few months ago from Netgalley. Kicking myself for not reading it until now, I finished it in a day. Lord’s approach to YA fiction is top-tier. “When You Get A Chance,” is a modern take on Mamma Mia.

Millie Price is left on her father’s doorstep as a baby and grows up without knowing her mother’s identity. As a dramatic, seriously- she’s training to be on Broadway drama student, teenager hoping to change her dad‘s mind about her senior year plans she embarks on the search for her birth mother. She narrows down the search to three possible women of her dad’s past. With the help Teddy, her best friend and Oliver, her archenemy, she comically finds ways to meet all of them. As any Mamma Mia fan fan can tell you, the best part of the story is the journey that leads up to the reveal. I’m so grateful to my friends, Jeannie and Jill, who introduced me to Mamma Mia- the play and the movie last fall, my love for the story and the characters of this book were immensely intensified from the start. Follow Millie-Mia along on her journey to find her birth mother on Tuesday, January 4th the release date of “When You Get A Chance.”

Thank you to the publisher and netgalley!!! What a way to kick off 2022 with this adorable mamma Mia esque story!!! The MC, Millie has to get her dad’s approval to move to the west coast to live her college dream. When her father doesn’t give his approval, Millie's begins the journey to find her mother who left her when she was young and get her permission . HOWEVER, Millie has no idea who her mother is and there's three possible people: Steph, Farrah, and Beth based off her dad’s old journal. This was such a fun read and will be recommending!!!

Millie Price would be sooo excited to know she has become my favorite Emma Lord character to date. This character was written perfectly....without a doubt. The author painted a picture of Millie with so many colors and huge quantities of glitter that I couldn't help but envision this lively and confident actress striving to one day be a Broadway triple threat. I could see and hear Millie because of how well fleshed out this character was....and as the story progresses, I hurt right along with Millie as she muddles her way through some "Millie sized disasters."

This book is also my favorite to date by Emma Lord. I've enjoyed everything I've read by her up to now, but this one really sucked me in. It had a unique and welcome twist on Mama Mia that I was drawn to. But in addition to that, I loved how connected I felt to each of the other characters in the book as well. For me, this book was a fresh ray of much-needed sunshine.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC. I voluntarily chose to review it and the opinions contained within are my own.

4.5 - this was so cute!!! I have grown very out of Ya contemporary but I always pick it up when there's something specific that appeals to me, in this case it's MAMMA MIA!! I would die for Mamma Mia and this plot is basically a retelling with so many fun references thrown in.

Aside from that there was some good mental health stuff and some very sweet relationships that I was really rooting for.

Quick and enjoyable!

This is a solid YA story I'm sure to be recommending this year. We have a strong, vibrant female protagonist with a megawatt personality and a passion for broadway. Millie is fun and full of fight and emotion. She has a unique and bold fashion sense that just adds to her show business bravado. Millie is working hard for her big chance to boost her future broadway career, battling her enemy at school and in the show world, and is on a search for her birth mom. If you enjoy YA reads and have a love for broadway, I certainly recommend When You Get the Chance!

I'm a huge fan of Emma Lord and was very excited for this book. This book was a fun, fast read. This is perfect for a music, theater loving young adult or adult. The twists and turns in this book were unpredictable, all while having a great time reading. The characters were fun, just the right amount of development. I'll definitely continue dropping everything to read Emma Lord's books!

The musical theater aspects of When You Get The Chance first drew me in, and the storyline was so cute! I loved Emma Lord's take on Mamma Mia, and really enjoyed this fun read over holiday break.

When You Get the Chance was a delightful surprise for me. I expected to enjoy this book, but I have to say, I connected with it, and the characters, a lot more than I thought I would especially since I've not had any of the experiences any of them have.

Millie dreams of being a Broadway star and she has her sights set on it, but the other thing that takes center stage in her life are questions about her Mom, who left her with her Dad shortly after birth. She doesn't know anything about her, so she takes it upon herself to do some digging and ends up going on quite the journey. She ends up finding things she never would have imagined and ended up finding out a lot about herself in the process.

The other characters in this story were as interesting as Millie to me. Millie's Dad, her Aunt Heather, Steph, Beth, Chloe, Farrah, Teddy and without a doubt Oliver. They all added different layers to the story and made it that much more enjoyable. Every person played a pivotal role in helping Millie through her journey.

This is one of those books that I started with few expectations and I came out of it enjoying it so much. It goes to show that you never know who you need in your life and who will enter it at the right time to give you the knowledge or encouragement you need.

I'd definitely recommend picking this one up!

**I voluntarily read an early copy of this title courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for a honest review**

This one took me by surprise! I really wasn't expecting to (slight spoiler -->) find out who Millie's mother was since there isn't exactly one dad in Mama Mia! My favorite aspect of this book was the father-daughter relationship—it was super sweet and made me teary during one scene. Super sweet and quintessentially YA.

Unfortunately, this book ended up being one of those books where I liked the concept more than the actual finished material.

My biggest hangup with this book is my lack of emotion toward Millie. I never truly felt strongly about her and I did oscillate between liking her and finding her annoying. I'd say that overall I did root for Millie and liked her positivity and determination. Her ability to make friends with others and her passion was admirable. All that being said, I didn't love some of her impulsivity and how naive she could come across as sometimes. I surprisingly didn't love the romance in this book, either. It didn't really spark a whole lot for me. I did like that the author gave Millie and Oliver a good backstory with slow development and lots of cute moments. In theory this is a great romance but for some reason I wasn't really feeling it. I did however absolutely love the relationships Millie had with her father, her aunt, and her best friend. It's a bit of an unconventional family and that's part of the reason I loved it. Millie had a strong network in her family and I really enjoyed all the support they gave her throughout the book. The Mamma Mia aspects were great, obviously! I liked all the women who were possible Millie Mothers and thought it was an interesting twist on the original Mamma Mia production. The LGBTQ+ rep was nice to see and the author seemed to touch on mental health a bit with the inclusion of Millie Moods.

Honestly, I just don't think that this book was the right fit for me. Most people seem to have loved the book but I feel like it was very average. I would still recommend this book to people because I do think a lot of people will enjoy this read! It just wasn't for me, and I think I have to take a break from Emma Lord books for a little while.