Chockfull of musical theatre references, pep, and found family, When You Get the Chance by Emma Lord is absolutely delightful. I maintain that she is the queen of the modern rom-com novel, and this new installment does not disappoint.

Lord takes on a Mamma Mia (or Millie Mia!) retelling in this new story featuring a young actress looking to dig up the past and find her mom in the hopes of clarifying the best path forward for her future. The only thing Millie has are a handful of names from her dad’s LiveJournal and the knowledge that her mom is just as interested in theatre as she is. I loved this plotline because it showcases all of the women in Millie’s life, and how they add to her understanding of what it means to love musical theatre. This story is about finding blood family, but it’s also about discovering new friendships and staying open-minded. Millie is very set in her ways and firm about the path she would like to take, so watching her form new bonds with the women she’s “mom-testing” is extremely heartwarming to say the least.

For the romance lovers, as the blurb hints, there is an enemies-to-lovers slow burn relationship developing between Millie and Oliver, her stage manager and new coworker. They challenge each other, collaborate—knowingly and unknowingly—and argue. Lord’s banter is some of my favorite dialogue in today’s YA scene. She keeps it witty and fresh, but there’s always a sweet backstory to provide substance under all of the fluff.

I won’t share too much about the sub-plots, since I think they’re best discovered on their own, but this book managed to perfectly balance interesting character developments for both main and side characters the whole way through. I am usually a main character girlie, but I found myself invested in the stories about Teddy (Millie’s best friend), Cooper (her dad), and Heather (her aunt). The whole novel keeps the pace spinning and the plot never dragged, which pleased me.

I adored this novel, as I do with everything Emma Lord writes, so it’ll be no surprise that When You Get the Chance earned 5/5 stars from me!

Emma Lord does a Mamma Mia retelling? YESSSSS! I pretty much love all of Emma’s books but I loved this one so much. It was the gender bent retelling I never knew I needed.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

5/5 stars

I enjoyed this love letter to theater nerds and Broadway lovers so much! I believe it's this author's best story yet. Millie was such a happy, vibrant character that she basically hopped off the page and into your heart. I really loved all of Millie and Oliver's interactions together. Oliver was such a serious, sometimes grumpy character and Millie was so upbeat that they reminded me of a sunshine grumpy romance. I really enjoyed Millie's journey to find her family and background while meeting new friends along the way. This was such a good coming of age while finding family and yourself story. If you need a YA romance pick me up, I highly recommend this one!

Everything that Emma Lord writes is gold and this is no exception. I love the ways he mixes love and fun and creates a story that takes you by the hand and guides you to the end.

Love a "finding a parent" book and Lord always delivers with voice, smarts, and feels! A must-read for any YA contemporary fan.

This novel was a bit too juvenile for me, and I felt like I have read it before. I liked the evolution of the main character and her best friends. I just don’t think YA is for me.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me a free advanced copy of this book to read and review.

Let me just say that Emma Lord is fantastic. As a former high school teacher and librarian, I think she truly captured the "drama kid." I would recommend this to anyone who has big dreams that they hope come true, but also might be looking for their person in the wrong places. It is also a great book for New Yorkers, or anyone dreaming of New York.

I am confident that this book is wonderful. I am also confident after starting it twice that this is just not the book for me. I love Mamma Mia, but somehow I never felt like Mamma Mia was an invasion of privacy (probably because we zoom right past that in the movie/play) and in book format I absolutely could not get past that. And, in all fairness, this was less invasive than actually reading a parent's diary... The hypocrisy in me is definitely a thing. But anyway, this just didn't work for me. I was way too concerned about her dad's feelings because parenting seems really freaking hard and he was trying so hard to look out for his daughter and she was being impetuous.

In other words, I would have loved this book as a teenager. You know, the audience this book is intended for. But for me? A 31 year old lady? Nope. Not for me. Highly recommend for y'all though!

Really cute book that took me a while to not want to put it down. Now I need to rewatch Mamma Mia. I figured out who the mom was halfway through the book and I also got major Devil Wears Prada vibes.

There could have been a few chapters left out because it was starting to get dragged out and the amount of times Millie looks down at "Heather's shoes" was annoying. I know who the shoes actually belong to. I didn't need to be reminded 15 million times.

I adored this book! I loved Millie, all the musical theater references, the twists, the heart...
Just a delight, and another fun read from Emma Lord.

I loved this spunky, story of self discovery; it's the type of book I wish I had had when I was 18! Emma's writing is amazing and I'm so excited to dig into what she writes next!

This book was phenomenal! A modern day Mamma Mia with a musical theatre twist, this book kept me smiling from start to finish, and I was highly invested!

This book was a fun look into the world of theater through the eyes of a teenager chasing their dream. Millie is a character - not just in this book, but her personality makes her a stand out that you want to root for. I really enjoyed all the storylines and how they wrapped up!

I've enjoyed all of Emma Lord's work since her debut novel Tweet Cute, and When You Get the Chance is certainly no exception to that! Readers make a return to New York with our titular character Millie, who is on a journey that she thinks is merely to 1. figure out who her birth mom might be and 2. get her father on board with the pre-college theater program she wants to attend that's all the way across the country. But the truth is that it's actually the story of Millie getting to a deeper understanding of herself and what she wants, as well as the people who surround her -- new and old alike. It was charming and funny and I really enjoyed this one!

I adore Mamma Mia and will read absolutely anything Emma Lord writes, so it's no surprise I loved When You Get the Chance! At its heart is an enemies-to-lovers relationship set in NYC, but theatre-kid style with *all* the Broadway references and over-the-top shenanigans. It was a heartwarming, delightful read that I can't wait to revisit!

Since Tweet Cute came out, Emma Lord has become an auto-request author for me. I’ve read every book thus far and have enjoyed them all. This one is no different.

It is charming, it is happy, it is joyful! If you love theatre and musicals and all that comes along with it, take a chance on this book. You won’t be disappointed.

Anyone who knows me know I have a very weird relationship with YA novels, but Emma Lord does not disappoint. Pick this book up if Broadway has a special place in your heart!

Millie is determined to do a lot of things- become a Broadway Star and find out who her mother is being the two most important on her list.

I enjoyed this book quite a lot. Though it wasn't astounding as a story, I think Emma Lord writes likeable characters and in a compelling manner.

This was such a cute book! I am a big fan of Emma Lord’s books and I was so excited to read her newest one. I love how this book was set around the world of musical theater. It was such a fun premise for the book. This book has it all, love, family, drama, musical theater, and so much more. I found that in some parts of the book Millie drove me crazy and other parts I loved her. But overall, I really enjoyed it, and would recommend this book!

Thank you Netgalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks so much to the author, St. Martin's Press, Wednesday Books and Netgalley for the gifted advanced e-copy of this book. And thanks as well to Macmillan Audio for the gifted advanced audio-copy. { partner } All opinions are entirely my own. All of my reviews can also be found on Instagram @Tackling_TBR and on my blog at tacklingtbr.home.blog

TW: absent parent

This book was such a delightful read! The story was sweet, the characters were enjoyable, and as a former theatre kid, the vibes were immaculate. This book felt like a warm hug after a long audition, and I didn't want to put it down.

I ended up listening to this book on audio, and I listened to it straight through because I was enjoying it so much that I didn't want to stop. The narrator did such a good job differentiating the characters - and it was a big cast, so it was quite a task! I would listen to this book all over again.

Overall I would absolutely recommend this book to my friends and to fellow readers. It is a delight of a YA romcom, and on top of that it has some truly heartfelt scenes centering around Millie's search for her mom. I think that with this book, you probably can't go wrong in format, whether you read it or listen to it, and I think the perfect way to do it just might be how I finished it - walking through downtown, past a slew of theatres, and people watching. I feel like Millie would do nothing less, if the roles were reversed!