When You Get the Chance by Emma Lord is a delightful new novel that will have you cheering for Millie Price, the theater kid looking for her mother, with the help of her best friend Teddy. Millie wants to go to a prestigious theater pre-college, so sneakily goes to all the auditions without her father's knowledge. When she is accepted, he is blindsided and says no, so she wishes she had a mom to convince him otherwise. Accidentally finding his LiveJournal from college, she comes across three names of women who could have potentially been her mother (who left her at his doorstep when she was an infant). She gets to know each of them...and can see the potential in each as her mother.

This book is just a ray of sunshine in our world right now. A fun read which will brighten your day and make you smile. The characters are fully fleshed out, and although everyone lives happily ever after, it's not always an easy road to get there...but Millie gets to do some fabulous things along the way! Thank you to the author, St. Martin's Press, Wednesday Books and NetGalley for an ARC of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

When you get the chance was one of my most anticipated reads and I was over the moon when I got approved for an e-arc!! So firstly, thank you so much @NetGalley @WednesdayBooks for the arc!

To say that I LOVED this book would be a huge understatement, really. I literally devoured it, it was so much fun to read!!
Who knew I would be into theatre settings THIS much?! My heart is just so full of love and happiness for this book and these characters and I have this huge smile on my face that I can’t seem to control.
I’ve very recently (just before my last read) read Emma Lord’s You have a match and I could see how much she has grown as a writer. I’m a huge fan of her debut novel, Tweet Cute and You have a match was also very enjoyable and adorable but this book is definitely my favourite of hers!

It’s going to be very hard to write a proper review where I actually mention everything I loved about this book instead of just incoherently scream excitedly and add lots of heart eyes emojis but I’m gonna try my best lol.

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If you didn’t already know, When you get the chance follows the story of Millie Price, an extroverted theatre enthusiast who has a dream of becoming a Broadway star. When she gets accepted into a Precollege she worked really hard for, Millie thinks she’s closer to her dream than she ever was. The only problem is, her introverted father is not ready to send her across the country and her aunt is not with her this time either. Then, by chance, she gets the opportunity to read her father’s LiveJournal from 2003 (the year she was born!) and Millie now has a new plan. She’ll find her mother, who would be in her corner (because she has heard that she was into theatre too) and would finally convince her father to let Millie go to Madison. With the help of her tech savvy neighbour/best friend Teddy, Millie narrows down the list of possible mom suspects to three. Steph: an actress and executive assistant/ receptionist of a famous Broadway talent agent. Beth: a social worker and mother of Chloe, another theatre lover who’s a year younger than Millie. And lastly, Farrah: a very talented dancer.
For obvious reasons, Millie wants to get to know all of them. So she joins Farrah’s dance classes, goes to Beth’s musical theatre enthusiasts’ meetup (where she ends up befriending her daughter Chloe) and visiting Steph’s office which ends up getting her an internship there. But guess who she’s competing against for that internship? Yes, her archenemies and drama club rival Oliver Yang (who might actually be a total sweetheart).

But instead of finding out who her mom is, Millie ends up getting to know more of herself and discovering who she is.

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Emma Lord’s fun writing style and easy to get into stories are what draws me to her books and this one was no different! I was invested from page one!

Millie Price was this loud, funny, self confident, energetic, extroverted and expressive person (the exact opposite of me lol) that to no one’s surprise I was rooting for her from the beginning! I know the qualities like loud and self confident don’t usually make you like a person in books but Millie KNOWS what she’d doing and you’ll see what I mean when you meet her! Her character growth was so beautiful to watch especially because I loved her from the beginning and came out the other side loving her even more. She’s truly a force to be reckoned with!

Millie’s aunt and The Milkshake Club owner, Heather was one of my favourite parental figures I’ve read about. Same goes for Millie’s dad Cooper Price. His calm, steady presence was so nice to witness and the fact that he was a total nerd plus an introvert made things so much fun!!

Oliver Yang was incredibly nice and everything I could’ve wanted from the main love interest and more! He was thoughtful, protective, nice, HANDSOME and all around just the best!!
One of my favourite rivals/enemies to lovers I’ve read about! Their story felt so natural and the romance wasn’t at all rushed. Another thing I loved about their relationship was how they weren’t secretly already in love with each other because as much as I love that trope in books, it has gotten kind of overrated in enemies to lovers.
Also, Oliver was Chinese and I love casually diverse cast of characters!!

Millie’s best friend, Teddy was such a dweeb and another total nerd, I loved him so much! The way he was so into geocaching was so cute!

If I go into all the side characters, this review would turn into a whole novella so I’ll spare you all that and just mention that I enjoyed reading about Chloe, Beth, Steph, Georgie and Farrah so much! They were all so unique and had such different personalities. Oh and Oliver’s band the Four Suns! I loved all these little additions to the story!! The found family was so heartwarming and beautiful to witness, my heart hurt from the amount of love I was feeling for these characters!!

The theatre elements have to be my favourites! The way we could feel the love Millie has for theatre just by the way she talked, her efforts to improve her skills and her on stage action!!
That one song from Mamma Mia! that Millie performed on stage (Lay all your love on me) made me so excited and I was totally singing along and imagining them performing it!!

This book is gender reversed Mamma Mia retelling so I would definitely recommend watching the movie before reading this book so your experience is even better (like mine)!

Of course, I highly, HIGHLY recommend adding this book to your tbr and preordering it especially if you’re a nerdy theatre enthusiast and into musicals and love a good rivals to lovers plus THE best found family trope! This book was all shades of cute and endearing!

When I saw this book was similar to Mamma Mia, I immediately knew it was a must read. Boy does Emma Lord not disappoint. I love how she writes and following Millie through her story. I found myself rooting for all of the characters and enjoyed the plot. I love how close Millie is to her dad, despite a set back you can just feel the love the two characters have for one another as well as her aunt Heather. I loved their dynamic. Overall some of the plot twists were a bit predictable but the book itself is so great I didn’t mind. I give this book 5 out of 5 stars! Thank you netgalley and publisher for the advanced read. Go get your copy today!

Super cute story for our young adults. My daughter (17) and I both read and loved this heartwarming story! The characters, the setting and the storyline will grab you from the start until the end.
Thank you to netgalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

4.5 / 5 stars

Mamma Mia is my favorite musical of all time, so it was a delight to read this YA romance based off of the musical. It was so fun to follow Millie on her adventure around New York, trying to find her mom. In the end, she found so much more family than she ever could have imagined.

Emma Lord is really great at writing sibling / friend relationships, and this book was no exception. I loved watching her get to know her three potential moms and the way these three women ended up in her life all together at the end. There were no loose ends in this HEA.

The only thing that threw me a little was the romance bit. It felt awkward and unexpected—almost like it was an afterthought. I didn't mind it, but the book would have been wonderful without this aspect as well. Regardless, Emma Lord is now on my list of authors that I will buy and read anything they publish!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

⭐⭐⭐ 5 Stars
When I saw ~ for readers who loved the musical Mamma Mia ~ I knew this would be a fun read.
Awww ABBA ~ “Dancing Queen”!

In “Mamma Mia” Sophia the main character is getting married on a romantic Greek island. She has secretly invited three men who dated her mother and one she is sure is her dad and wants him to walk her down the aisle.
Yes! I can still remember ~ Dot Dot Dot aka …
Here is a link to the video trailer ~
https://www.imdb.com/video/vi3165782297?playlistId=tt0795421&ref_=tt_ov_vi

This story is it the opposite in that Millie Price is trying to find her long lost mom and has narrowed it down to three women.

It was a fun read. After viewing the trailer I found myself singing “Dancing Queen” and the other songs throughout this story.
Yep there is still some ABBA in me!

I always enjoy reading the ‘Author Notes’ as well as their acknowledgements.
In this case, Emma Lord’s ‘Acknowledgements’ is a bit of a story!

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press ~ Wednesday Books for this eGalley. This file has been made available to me before publication in an early form for an honest professional review.
Publishing Release Date scheduled for January 4, 2022

Thank you Net Galley for offering me this ARC.

I really enjoyed this and breezed right through this book. What a fun read this was! As an adoptee myself meeting biological family and reading about these instances can be overwhelming. However, Emma Lord wrote this so well. If you love all things musical, and fun love this is your book!

How do I start this because I honestly don't know. Well, let's just take a moment to praise Emma Lord because here she is, doing it again. Anyone who's met me knows that I very rarely give four stars to contemporary books, I rate them on almost a completely different brain scale than others. But, here we are with the second book by Emma Lord, up at four stars (and she's only published three), like she really takes the cake as my favorite contemporary author at this point. Go read Tweet Cute. Now.

Okay, so When You Get the Chance is about Millie Price, a high-school actor who has big dreams for broadway. Once her dad tells her she can't go to precollege in LA (they reside in NYC), Millie makes it her mission to find her mother (who left her when she was a baby at her dad's doorstep) because she knows that her missing mom was also a broadway girl like her and would most likely side with her over her dad. This obviously lends way to a Mamma Mia! inspired plot point in which she attempts to find her mom (unlike Sophie who is finding her dad). Also unlike Mamma Mia!, she does find out who her mother is at the and so if you're like me and thought at the end of Mamma Mia! that is was crazy that Sophie didn't just take a DNA test and find out if Sam was actually her dad (because we were all rooting for Sam, you know it), this book is more for you than any other.

Honestly, I have nothing to say other than I loved it? It could have been a five star read, the only reason it wasn't is because it was just very predictable. All the twists were fairly obvious, and we enjoy them, don't get me wrong, but still. Also, I'll be honest, the romance also fell flat. Yes, enemies-to-lovers, blah blah blah. But, while it was important (kind of) to the plot (KIND of), it wasn't highlighted. Which I am not against, romance is not my favorite thing to read, but I do read it a lot (specifically contemporary romance) which is really weird, but also it's more like I like fluff and I don't like details…Like make me squeal but I don't care about your problems, I guess? This is going into rant territory, back to the book. Oliver and Millie are very cute, and of course, I ship them like crazy, and like I said I don't love romance too much, but I kind of wish there was more? There were moments where I was like, "If Oliver shows up right now, I think I would die from emotions" kinda think, ya know?

Anyway, this was the most confusing review, I literally just wrote words down and didn't proofread it whatsoever…But, eyes peeled for When You Get the Chance, for all my contemporary and Mamma Mia! lovers, this one's for you.

Thank you Wednesday Books and Netgalley for providing me an eARC of 'When You Get the Chance' in exchange for my honest review.

OMG! This was absolutely fantabulous! Just a blast to read--especially as a once high school theatre kid myself (though I was never nearly on the level of our obsessively-determined-and-dedicated protagonist Millie). Emma Lord returns us to New York City with this one and even includes a mini-easter-egg shout-out to her debut 'Tweet Cute' at one point; she still switches it up though as this novel not only focuses on the Arts (rather than a business rivalry), but takes place during summer break! So as much as school is discussed and future educational decisions are key to the plot...we never actually see the inside of a classroom or even a hallway.

So to break it down: Millie is determined to see her name in lights--on Broadway specifically. And she is accepted to this super-competitive precollege of her dreams in California. The Catch? Her super-nerdy-but-adorable-and-single dad is not so happy about the potential move. Being the stubborn and single-minded diva that she is, Millie decides the best way of resolving this impasse? Find her long-lost mom (who essentially left her on her dad's doorstep as an infant). This whole debacle even has a title: the 'Millie Mia'! Inspired by the oh-so-true-to-life plot of 'Mamma Mia' of course.

This book is oh-so-hilarious yet oh-so-sweet and heart-warming all at the same time (a lot like the musical it mimicks actually). I had such a ball reading it the first time and would read it again without question. I also loved and have to shout-out the ensemble supporting cast! While Millie is absolutely front-and-centre throughout, it is her relationships--those already existing and those she builds over the course of the summer--that keep her from becoming a one-note caricature of a character: her dad, her aunt, her best friend/surrogate brother, her three potential 'moms', her potentiall l'il sis, her boss, her rival/love interest......

And can I just say--Emma Lord's 'Enemies-to-Lovers' game is on point! She nailed this trope with 'Tweet Cute' too and I am living for the competitive-yet-somehow-supportive (???) rivalry between Millie and Oliver in 'When You Get the Chance'. These two make me laugh out loud and sigh all at the same time.

Altogether, this is a completely over-the-top-in-all-the-right-ways read for me and I 100% recommend! 5 STARS!

YES PLEASE!! Emma Lord does it again with When You Get the Chance. This was a sweet retelling of the "Mama Mia" story told for a teen audience with the mother character in question. I enjoyed the boisterous, over the top characters. This was a sweet, light romance that was great for a summer beach read for teens/tweens.

Much like a broadway show, make sure you have a box of tissues handy as Emma Lord will have you feeling ALL the feels. This ticks all the boxes: Broadway references, unexpected romances, and figuring out who you are in relationship to the people around you. Fully bingeable, you'll want to set aside a long evening to enjoy "When You Get the Chance" in one sitting.

I adore dad/daughter relationships in YA novels. To me, it's the least written about family dynamic and I wish that would change.

I think Millie's relationship with her dad is the best thing in this story, so it's a shame there isn't much of it. But what is shown is so heartwarming. I understand that Millie's focus is on finding her mom, but I wish there was more page time dedicated to her strengthening her bond with her dad. Her dad is just too precious, I wanted to read more about him!

But I think theatre kids will really love this story. It's BROADWAY, in all caps, with musical references on every page! It also has all of the makings of a cute YA story - funny, charming MC with an equally funny, charming best friend, high school shenanigans, rivals becoming crushes, and NYC adventures.

Overall, a great addition to EL's bibliography!

**On a side note regarding publishing/cover design, I really wish there was more of an effort made when putting the MC on the cover. The MC in this is specifically stated as being strawberry blonde and the girl on the cover is not. A very minor detail, for sure, but to me that just shows a lack of care to get the details right and that's disappointing. This isn't the first time a cover doesn't match an authors description, and sadly, it won't be the last. I just wish publishing would pay more attention. Getting the MC to be represented accurately is the least they can do.

“When You Get the Chance” is a beautiful, quirky, contemporary young adult novel about how you can find happiness in your chaotic life.

I love stories that warm your heart because of the charming characters. Most of the people in the tale are adorable, and people you wish were in your life. I adored Millie in the lead as she tries to find the identity of her mother. I loved the conversations she has with her father and the bond she shares with him. Even Teddy, Beth, Chloe, Farrah, and Heather shine in their way. The author nicely focuses on all of them, where you feel happy for even how their story turns out.

Another highlight of the story was Millie and Oliver. I thought the author wrote their friendship and chemistry flawlessly, and it is the kind of thing I love to read in a YA contemporary novel. They start as enemies, neck to neck for the internship, and realize they must work together. It was fun to see how their dynamic changed and thawed their dislike to eventually get closer to one another. I would love to read a sequel on just these two.

Moreover, I enjoyed the storyline of Millie’s mother and how the author executed it. You can see the contrasting emotions that Millie goes through from love, anger, shock, and acceptance, and the author addresses the aspect in a light-hearted, humorous manner. On a side note, I also enjoyed the backdrop of the Broadway setting where most of the story takes place, and it was interesting to see how the Broadway manager worked.

Overall, “When You Get the Chance” is a delightful story that you should read if you are in the mood for a fun Young Adult contemporary novel.

I became a fan of Emma Lord the first time I read Tweet Cute. When You Get The Chance, not only reminded me why I love Emma Lord's writing but also why I love the ya genre.

This book had the kind of effervescence that's hard to find in any genre that's not Young adult. Through all it's highs and lows, there's always an undercurrent of hope that makes books like these so good.

WYGC was an absolutely wonderful book that spoke to not just the musical theatre fan in me, but also put into words so many things I feel everyday of my life.

Millie is an amazing lead. She's bright, confident and just unapologetically her that you can't help but like her. She's got the kind of guts and passion that most people spend their whole lives searching for. And when she gets it in her head to find the mother who abandoned her as a baby, she puts everything she has into it.

This book is a spin on one of my favourite musicals, Mamma Mia. Over the course of the summer, Millie goes on an adventure to find out who her mother is after reading her father's journal and narrowing it down to three people. And while it's still got all the adventure and joy of the musical, it's also got tons of growth and self discovery that is on par with a lot of ya novels.

One thing about Millie is that she gets into these "Millie Moods" where she feels things in abundance, be it positive or negative, and they always come spilling out of her, whether she wants it to or not. And that's something I felt on a deeper level, because I sometimes feel the same way, where a split second can change my entire disposition and I just need to get away for a second and breathe. Reading that in this book just made me feel seen and gave words to things I've never been able to describe about myself.

The side characters were also quite delightful! From Millie's aunt Heather, to her best friend Teddy, they were all quirky and unique in their own ways and they all had substance which just made everything so much better. And don't even get me started on Oliver, the nemesis turned love interest. His personality is the perfect compliment to Millie's. They're super different but they come together so well! I loved the progress they made through this book and I'm totally rooting for them to go all the way!

Overall, this was a bundle of joy, filled with growth, musicals and the can-do attitude of a strong lead and everybody around her! I'd totally recommend this if you're looking for a wonderful ya romance! It's perfect for fans of Tweet Cute or authors like Morgan Matson!

I enjoy stories when archenemies become romantically involved. It causes great tension and it's so much fun them trying to hold back and then giving into each other. The story is full of love, finding true family and great friendship. The story is very uplifting. Millie has never known her mom who dropped her off at her dad's apartment when a baby. She begins to search for her mom to her back her up to go to Madison for precollege in the theater. Her best friend, Teddie finds three possible women through an old social media site that her father used in college. Meeting each one, they all seem to fit the bill.

I felt like Emma Lord wrote this book specifically for me and other former theatre kid Mamma Mia-obsessed millennials who had a Livejournal circa 2002-2008. Every single song reference from the early 2000s felt like a personal attack in the best possible way. If you like Broadway musicals have re-read the new adult Casey McQuiston's Red White & Royal Blue multiple times during the pandemic, enemies-to-lovers tropes, and reading sweet YA books with happy endings for everyone-- this is for you.

Millie's a talented theatre kid in NYC who applied and got into a prestigious theatre pre-college program on the west coast. The problem is that she needs her dad's permission. He's reluctant to say yes, Millie accidentally stumbles upon her dad's Livejournal from 2003 and is convinced that by using clues from Livejournal, she can find her mother (who abandoned her as a baby) and convince her to get his consent. There are three possible candidates: Steph, Farrah, and Beth and Millie and her best friend Teddy devise ways to get her in contact with each of them through theatre fan meetups, dance classes, and even an internship (that her very cute arch-enemy Oliver Yang, the stage manager, at her school is also vying for). In the process. This book manages to introduce an absolutely charming and realistic crew of diverse characters and they even touch upon some more serious issues without being too much.

Speaking of 'too much', Millie is a character that may come across as 'too much' (she's a confident diva but doesn't cross the line to being a jerk; she has a heart of gold and has a right to be confident in her talent) and yet she reminds me of at least four different people I know who were theatre kids when I was in school. I immediately pre-ordered this book. As mentioned before, this is definitely an 'everyone gets a happy ending' type of book which is EXACTLY what we need right now.

I love the premise of a Mamma Mia parental search and big-personality teens with a passion for theatre and an enemies-to-lovers trope. I just wish I liked the actual book as much as I'd hoped. For me, it came down to the descriptions (often too many, or too long) and the dialogue, which felt like older characters, not the words that teens would say. I would still recommend it to friends who love Broadway and theatre, but perhaps only that limited list.

I was in a major reading funk until I started this delightful book. I loved all the theater references and I especially loved the Mamma Mia spin off. What a fresh take on Mamma Mia! Watching Millie come into her own and stop trying out different roles was so refreshing. Millie and Oliver with their frenemy banter was so good. I thoroughly enjoyed all the strong friendships in this book including Coop's old friendships being revived thanks in part to the Millie Mia. This book was just what I needed.

This was a great book about love, loss, and learning to let go of the things you can't change. I really loved reading this book and it kept my attention from the very beginning.

After reading TWEET CUTE by Lord, I knew that I would KILL to get my hands on anything else that she writes. Emma Lord writes relatable stories with gorgeous & well fleshed out characters that keep you rooting for them all the way to the very last page!

WHEN YOU GET THE CHANCE was no different, my friends!
I absolutely loved the "is this a romance?" story between Millie and Oliver from their very first introduction. And while, yes, ultimately this is a novel about a young girl figuring out that she does not have to keep fitting herself into a variety of "roles" and just be herself to find the life she's always wanted to live - it is also a adorable story about finding love where you weren't looking for it.

For multiple characters!

SO, the "Millie Mia" of it all: Millie is a high school junior who has just gotten into the drama school precollege of her dreams BUT her introverted father won't allow her to go across the country to enroll. For whatever reason, Millie believes that if she finds her theatre world mother (whom she has never known & never attempted to find before this moment), that woman will convince her father to allow her to go.

In the same vein as the musical Mama Mia, Millie is able to narrow the contenders for her mom down to three women:
Beth: a musical super-fan with a teenage daughter
Steph: an aspiring actress who works as a receptionist for a talent manager
Farrah: A dance instructor at a hole-in-the-wall studio

With the help of her best friend Teddy, Millie makes plans to meet all of these women and try to figure out who is the woman who left her on her father's doorstep all those years ago. To avoid spoiling the end, I won't say any more on that front.

Some things I really loved:
- The back and forth sass between Oliver and Millie was truly entertaining.
- Millie seeing little bits of herself in each of the women that she was investigating.
- How even Lord's "background" or "side" characters are still well thought out & don't feel like a flat, two-dimensional character. Every person you're introduced to is fleshed out & you do kind of understand their motivation and past.

All in all, 10/10 would recommend!