The Getaway List by Emma Lord was a cute and light YA read but this one just didn’t do it for me, didn’t love the characters as much as in her previous novels. Thank you NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

At high school graduation, Riley Larson only knows one thing for sure: she doesn’t know what to do with her life. All 10 colleges she applied to rejected her, and she doesn’t want to work at her mom’s coffee shop. She’s also bummed that her best friend, Tom, couldn’t make it from New York City for graduation, but he watched it online.

Riley still wishes Tom could have been there. She’s missed him a lot lately; his warmth and their childhood bond over their favorite book series. More than anything, Riley wants what Tom seems to have: direction. Tom is headed to Columbia University to study psychology. Riley’s biggest accomplishment is gluing their Getaway List to her graduation cap.

The Getaway List is their collective bucket list, but they haven’t done anything on it and Riley wants to change that by visiting Tom. Despite her mother’s disapproval and their heated exchange, Riley hops on a bus to New York.

She learns quickly that everything is different. Tom is happy to see her, but he’s no longer the person who makes friends everywhere. Also, he’s decided to defer Columbia for a year. And every time Riley looks at him, she feels a flutter. What is that all about?

There are some good things for Tom in NYC. He’s working as a bike messenger for Dear, Love, a cool app that allows people to send gifts to one another anonymously. He does have one new friend, Mariella. And he’s definitely on board with completing the Getaway List. Mariella wants to join them, and before Riley knows it they’ve made a gaggle of friends who want in too.

The weekend visit turns into a summer stay, and Riley starts falling in love with New York and all its possibilities. She’s also returned to her writing. Best of all, she and Tom are finding their way again…and maybe falling a little in love with each other too.

Author Emma Lord’s ability to channel the voices of teens is in fine form once again in her latest book. Riley’s confusion over her future while wanting to assert some control will sound familiar to adult readers. The book’s biggest issue is its lack of strong conflict. From the moment Tom opens the apartment door to Riley, there’s no doubt about their relationship’s endpoint. The entrances and exits of various friends provide minor subplots without enough strength to last the entire book. Many miscommunications, too, feel contrived for the plot’s convenience.

Watching the unfolding romance between Tom and Riley may sustain some readers in the target audience; others might wish there was more than just general “growing up” propelling the book forward.

At high school graduation, Riley Larson only knows one thing for sure: she doesn’t know what to do with her life. All 10 colleges she applied to rejected her, and she doesn’t want to work at her mom’s coffee shop. She’s also bummed that her best friend, Tom, couldn’t make it from New York City for graduation, but he watched it online.

Riley still wishes Tom could have been there. She’s missed him a lot lately; his warmth and their childhood bond over their favorite book series. More than anything, Riley wants what Tom seems to have: direction. Tom is headed to Columbia University to study psychology. Riley’s biggest accomplishment is gluing their Getaway List to her graduation cap.

The Getaway List is their collective bucket list, but they haven’t done anything on it and Riley wants to change that by visiting Tom. Despite her mother’s disapproval and their heated exchange, Riley hops on a bus to New York.

She learns quickly that everything is different. Tom is happy to see her, but he’s no longer the person who makes friends everywhere. Also, he’s decided to defer Columbia for a year. And every time Riley looks at him, she feels a flutter. What is that all about?

There are some good things for Tom in NYC. He’s working as a bike messenger for Dear, Love, a cool app that allows people to send gifts to one another anonymously. He does have one new friend, Mariella. And he’s definitely on board with completing the Getaway List. Mariella wants to join them, and before Riley knows it they’ve made a gaggle of friends who want in too.

The weekend visit turns into a summer stay, and Riley starts falling in love with New York and all its possibilities. She’s also returned to her writing. Best of all, she and Tom are finding their way again…and maybe falling a little in love with each other too.

Author Emma Lord’s ability to channel the voices of teens is in fine form once again in her latest book. Riley’s confusion over her future while wanting to assert some control will sound familiar to adult readers. The book’s biggest issue is its lack of strong conflict. From the moment Tom opens the apartment door to Riley, there’s no doubt about their relationship’s endpoint. The entrances and exits of various friends provide minor subplots without enough strength to last the entire book. Many miscommunications, too, feel contrived for the plot’s convenience.

Watching the unfolding romance between Tom and Riley may sustain some readers in the target audience; others might wish there was more than just general “growing up” propelling the book forward.

In this love letter to New York, two childhood best friends find their way back to each other and themselves. Riley and Tom were attached at the hip until Tom had to move away, and, years later, with no plan for what to do after high school ends, Riley impulsively moves to New York for the summer to complete their Getaway List (aka a bucket list).

I have conflicting feelings about this book. It started off rough — I found Riley to be extremely selfish and rude to her mother, and her entitled and frankly stupid decision to run away annoyed me. Plus, her “tragic backstory” of being forced into different activities to the point where she ~doesn’t know who she is anymore~ felt strained, and I was honestly siding with her mother. But Riley grew over the course of the novel, and I really did appreciate how Emma Lord stuck to the message of putting yourself and your happiness first, even if it meant having to let someone go.

While I wasn’t the biggest fan of Riley, I did really love Tom and the friends she made in New York. Lord is an expert at crafting adorable friend-groups, and I really enjoyed all the shenanigans they got up to. The side-romances were also very cute!! Some of the ~drama~ and ~secrecy~ felt a bit overblown at times, but that may just be YA. It was an ok book.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

The Getaway List features Riley, freshly graduated from high school but rejected from every school she had applied for. Her solution? Go to New York to see Tom. Her best friend growing up who had moved away to New York a few years ago. He's been distant lately, slow to respond to texts and not being himself. Now suddenly he says he's taking a gap year. They bring out the adventurous side of each other and decide to do items form their "Getaway List" that they created when they were younger based on their favourite book series.

This was a fun YA book full of adventure and showing both Riley and Tom coming into adulthood, figuring out what they need. Recommended!

Emma Lord is definitely a gifted author, her writing is skilled, well paced, and her characters and topics feel authentic and relatable. Her books tend to land in that in between stage of YA and NA Contemporary and she is one of the few that I continue to read and have as an auto buy in this genre. I’m always eager to see what she has coming next.

Her newest book, The Getaway List, was not my favorite of her books. Still well written and had the aspects I’ve come to love and expect in an Emma Lord book, but it didn’t grab me in particular as some of the others have. That being said, the writing is still great and the book still features many enjoyable bits.

I as always love to see a story with some good character soul searching and growth. I loved the found family aspect and really liked the bio family dynamics that were delved into as well. The secondary cast was great and I enjoyed watching their adventures/ interactions together.

Some parts felt slower to me in how it came together - with Riley’s inner experience feeling a bit repetitive at times. However, that’s also pretty authentic and part of me thinks that were I reading this as the intended audience age it might resonate with me more and not have felt that way.

It requires a bit of suspension of reality for a few bits for sure - my logical brain couldn’t figure out the numbers in some of it 😅

However overall, I think it was a cute, fun contemporary read that will likely resonate with those around the age of our protagonists. Also served as a sweet love note to nyc, and will definitely be for fans / admirers of the city and city life.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read an early copy! All thoughts and opinions are my own and freely offered.

3.5 ⭐️

I really liked a lot of this book! The story’s messages were something any young adult can relate to, especially the theme of struggling with change and self identity as we age and our dreams change. This book had a great balance of cute, fun adventures, and heavier feelings. I personally found myself flying through to read about the group's adventures and absolutely adored the main characters.

2.5 stars!

This was my third book my Emma Lord and I'm so underwhelmed! The first novel I read of hers- You Have A Match- was so wholesome and the story is still stuck in my head.

I never really got attached to either of the MCs and dislike their names so much. Tom is a pretty bland name according to me, and Riley just wasn't it. There were a couple of emotional scenes thrown in between with the MCs feeling vulnerable which I liked and even reread those bits. But on the whole, I couldn't wait for the book to get over coz it felt so long and slow-paced.

Conflict and secrets are pretty much central in this novel, and it added zero value to the story, with the sub-plots just dragging on in the pages. There's a whole wild goose chase with anonymous presents and what Riley's mother will think of her decisions, and these 'mysteries' were so clear to me from the start. Every misunderstanding could be cleared with a single call. There are some good themes in book about friendship and self-discovery, but I don't really understand why it was turned into a boring, pointless story.

Friendships in the story actually stood out to me, even more than the flimsy romance itself. As a writer, I loved that Luca and Riley were able to bond so deeply over writing and their hundreds of story ideas. Honestly, I didn't feel much for Tom and Riley except wanting for their friendship to survive. I'm hoping for so much more from this author coz You've Had A Match is still one of my faves.

Thank you to St Martin's Press and NetGalley for the complimentary e-ARC. All opinions in this review are solely mine.

“Friends. It used to be a simple word, but time sure has a way of complicating it.”

This book is a fantastic YA contemporary coming of age story. It centers around Riley, a chaotic 18 year old and her best friend Tom, who moved away from their hometown in high school. The two created a “Getaway List” of things to accomplish when they finally get to see each other again, and they tick things off the list while finding their way back to each other and trying to find their own selves again.

I instantly liked Riley, her attitude towards the world, and her witty narration.

It’s beautifully equal parts coming of age and finding your place in the world, building loving friendships, and a soft romance. The characters are all so likeable.

3 stars! Thanks to NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Emma Lord has done it again with another sweet, endearing YA novel.

We start by meeting Riley. She’s just graduated from high school and has no real plan for what comes next.
She’s spent the last 4 years separated from her best friend Tom and micro managed by her mother and feels like she is no longer feels like herself.

(Don’t get me even started on her mother who is the most unlikeable person for most of the book)

Riley and Tom were inseparable from the time they met until he and his mom moved to New York. They created something called The Getaway List of all the things they wanted to do when they next saw each other next.

When Riley finds out that her mom intentionally kept her and Tom apart, Riley impulsively jumps on the bus to visit Tom for a few days. Friends are made and experiences are had while both Tom and Riley figure out their way back to feeling like their true selves.


Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for for my advanced copy in exchange for my honest review

Thanks net galley for the advance reader copy of this YA novel. I love this author but was a bit disappointed in this one for the zip to the romance factor.

When it comes to storytelling that is both sincere and saccharine in the best way, Emma Lord is truly the mastermind.

This was a fun, quick, and cute coming of age story. I don’t think it will be one I’ll think about a lot but I enjoyed my time reading it! I would recommend if you’re in the mood for a YA coming of age story that focuses on navigating friendships, the experience of finding yourself and what you want to do after graduating high school. The FMC is an aspiring writer and it focuses a lot on her finding her way down that career path. I would consider this a coming of age story with a tiny bit of romance in it! The New York setting was my favorite part and I enjoyed reading about all the adventures they went on in the city!

Emma Lord is carving out a space for New Adult literature as an emerging genre. I have been reading her books since Tweet Cute and loved the way she explores the growing pains we experience in our late teens and early twenties. I had fun jumping into Tom & Riley's world, exploring old memories and new cities with them. Also, Emma Lord does a great job of building strong supporting characters I can't help but become attached too. Luca, Mariella, and Jesse created such a fun dynamic. I liked the way that this book addressed child-mother relationships with both Riley and Tom. While I loved this book, I felt like I wanted more plot! Riley's time spent in New York seemed to blur together and I would have loved to see more side storylines take shape during that time. I also felt that the last 15% of the book dragged a bit. I was ready for a resolution and between Riley's reconciliation with her mother & tracking down Tom, it took a long time to get there. I am excited to see Emma Lord release another book and continue contributing to the new adult genre with thoughtfully crafted relationships & impeccable Taylor Swift references.

I didn't love this as much as the OG for me: Tweet Cute. I felt that this was difficult to get into and I just didn't relate to the characters or story as much as Emma's other books. Still good though!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this earc

This book was cute. But if you ask me, it was more about self discovery and coming of age than romance.

Don’t get me wrong. We got a few cute scenes better Riley and Tom. But most of the story really showed us Riley and her finding herself.

I like the found family Tom & Riley and their made and supported system they become for each other. How ever thought they were so different they all found one thing In common.

Overall, it was deeper and somehow less Hallmark than I thought it would be.

Emma Lord is an autobuy author for me and I always give her books five stars, but for some reason, this one just isn't hitting the mark so after reading half of it, I have to put it down. I think it's a major case of wrong time mixed with a bit of a reading slump as I know Emma's an incredible writer!

Thank you for the eArc in exchange for an honest review.

I love Emma Lord books, and while this one was not nearly as surface-sweet as Tweet Cute and Begin Again, I think I liked it more. Riley is an incredibly relatable character, and her struggle to figure out not only what she wants in life, but also who she is was really powerful to read about. It starts with her at her graduation ceremony, as one of two kids in her class that did not get accepted to go to college. The secrets that unfurl that night include the ultimate betrayal from her mother, that she has been purposely being kept away from her best friend, Tom, to keep her out of trouble.
Riley immediately rebels and runs to New York where Tom is dealing with his own issues. The story unfurls with a charming bucket list and a "will-they-wont-they" romance that makes you swoon and want to escape to the streets of New York

The Getaway List is an absolutely adorable coming-of-age and finding oneself story. With a sprinkle of romance and the signature touch of Emma Lord, reminiscent of New York and Taylor Swift vibes, it's a delightful read. I loved every bit of it – a charming journey that captures the essence of youth and self-discovery.

Thank you netgalley and the publisher for this eARC!!

This was really beautiful. A coming-of-age story to the nth degree, Riley is 18 and experiencing life (but in an innocent kind of way?). Her relationships are imperfect and beautiful and weighty enough that I got teary at times. And I think this is the best “found family” I’ve ever read about.

I received a copy of this book from Wednesday Books.