f you are looking for lovable main characters, fun adventures, reunited friendships and chasing after your dreams, look no further! This was the first book I read by Emma Lord and it will not be the last. This fun story follows the friendship of Riley and Tom and the lengths friends will go for each other. It was a easy, lightheaded read and I enjoyed every minute of it.

I listened to this one as an audiobook and must add, the narrator did a fantastic job!

*ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Getaway List was a fun, fluffy chic flick book that anyone could enjoy if looking for an easy read. I think it felt like a Hallmark movie in a book, and sometimes that is what we all need. I did like the characters, but they seemed fictional and not real. If that experience is what you are looking for, then I would recommend this book. If you looking for a realistic fiction book, this may not be for you. It brought to mind youth and the experience of having one's life in front of you and how scary/awe-inspiring that is.

This coming of age story was a nice light read, with a few heartfelt moments and lots of teenage shenanigans and drama. The main character is Riley, who graduates high school and feels like she lost herself in trying to please her mom over the past few years, so she leaves to visit her best friend, Tom, in NYC, whom she hasn’t seen in years. The majority of the story is Riley and Tom exploring NYC, meeting new friends, rekindling their own friendship, and realizing there are more feelings than what they thought (obviously). They decide to try to complete a “Getaway List” and their new and old friends join in to help, and it’s a really cute found family vibe. Some of the shenanigans feel super impossible, and the characters’ lives aren’t very relatable, like the plot of a 90s/2000s teen movie, but it’s still pretty fun and innocent. They also help each other navigate parent drama and reconcile those relationships. The audiobook narrator was fantastic, and made the experience that much better. I felt like I was listening to a movie from my teen years. Overall, it was an easy 4 star listen. Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the audio ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This book was so cute! Everything by this author makes you fall head over heels in love with the characters and the story. Highly recommend.

This book was pleasant and adequate. The narration is well done. The story didn’t have a lot of depth, just an average coming of age story. The characters are not very relatable, and I didn’t feel like they had enough chemistry.

For personal reasons i didn’t love the relationship but that is 100% my own bias playing a part because if it was a few months ago I would’ve liked this a lot more but it was a cute fun slow burn and I love the way the book incorporated found family and creating your core group

Emma Lord's The Getaway List is an absolute pleasure! Such a sweet story of new adults flexing their muscles in The Big Apple. I'm a New Yorker and I always appreciate stories which accurately represent NYC, and Lord gets high marks for truly capturing these young folk's experiences.

Emma Lord does a marvelous job exploring the emotional development of these characters, and there's some great drama between Riley and her mom, which adds nice depth to this tale.

I'm looking forward to reading this author's other novels as soon as possible, I'm glad I've discovered Emma Lord.

The audio version of The Getaway List is nicely performed by Norma Butikofer.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to listen to an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. The Getaway List by Emma Lord will be released on January 23rd, 2024.

This book is your average coming of age story. The downside is that I had no attachment to any of the characters and I caught myself zoning out during the story multiple times - I probably would not have finished the book if I was reading a physical version instead of listening to the audiobook.

Now, that is not to say the book was bad. The writing is absolutely flawless, the narration is perfect and easy to listen to, but I just couldn't get myself attached to the story. If contemporary is your genre, you will enjoy it.

Emma lord is a must- read author for me. I loved the NYC of it all and the friendship element that veered into found family (one of my favorite things in books). Thanks so much for the advanced copy!

🚲ARC Review🚲

The Getaway List
Emma Lord
Release Date: January 23, 2024

The Getaway List: list of adventures that Tom and Riley have compiled over the years but have yet to complete

Riley is graduating high school and has no idea what her next step should be. The only two constants in her life are her mom and her long time best friend Tom. Tom moved away a few years earlier and they weren’t in touch as much as Riley would like. So what does Riley do when right after she graduates? Much to her mother’s dismay she boards a bus to go surprise Tom in NYC to complete the Getaway List they made together. What she finds there is much more than just reconnecting with Tom and finishing this list. She finds the start of the life she’s been dreaming of.
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I feel like most of us can relate to Riley when she finished high school. Only a select few of us actually knew what career path we should pursue at that point of our lives and I sure was not one of them!

I really enjoyed the found family all throughout this book. The group of friends Riley finds make up such a great support system for each other. It was entertaining to listen to all the adventures they go on together.
The idea of a getaway list and living in NYC with my friends sounds like a fun idea. Not sure that at 18 I ever would have been brave enough for that though!
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Narrator: Norma Butikofer
I really enjoyed this narrator. I had no trouble listening to this audiobook on 2x speed. She did a great job narrating both female and male roles. Which is hard to do.

Thank you @netgalley and @macmillianaudio for the opportunity to read and review this book.

I had not realized how much ago a young adult book this was before reading it. It was a cute semi romance YA book. I did like the NYC background as someone who lives there. I wish there was more romance between the main characters but it was cute.

Is there anything better than reading an Emma Lord book on a school break? I don't think so. Riley and Tom are best friends who have lived states away for the past 2 years. As time has gone on Riley feels Tom is drifting away, so once Riley graduates from high school she decides she needs to go see him. Full of fun adventures throughout New York and a delightful cast of side characters this book will leave you also wanting to make a getaway list. Thank you NetGalley for the advanced preview.

“Finally the list isn’t just to get away, but to get somewhere worth going”

Another YA read here and this one also did not disappoint. I love when the main character finds themselves within the story and this book did just that. Not only did Riley find who she wants to be, but so did Tom.

Riley has spent so much of her life aiming to please her single mother and living within the lines her mother drew around her. She and her childhood best friend, Tom, created The Getaway List once upon a time and now that Emma has the opportunity to visit Tom in NYC, she is taking it with the hopes of crossing off a few things from the list. Tom and Riley have been closer that close since their mom’s joined the same playdate group when they were toddlers, but as Tom’s mom’s career forced them to move he hasn’t entirely reciprocated the friendship.

Riley shows up at Tom’s door and unknowingly starts a journey to where both she and Tom find themselves. They do things they always dreamed of, form a group of friends that turn to family, explore all the wonders of New York and in the midst of it, start to realize their feelings for one another.

This one is sweet and fast paced and so much fun! I can’t tell you how many times I found myself smiling while reading (listening) to this one. It explores so many hard topics we are all forced to cope with as we grow up; relationships with parents, friends, and ourselves. I love that this one tackles all of these topics with both Tom and Riley and each of them are able to settle into their own lives independently and together.

This was an adorable friends to lovers romance. It was more young adult or maybe new adult than I expected but the audio definitely helped when reading. I enjoyed the narrator and it was an easy listen. I loved Riley and Tom’s friendship and how they were there for each other. The way they fell quickly back instep with each other after being apart for awhile was really cute. I also loved the side characters with Luca definitely being my favorite. I also enjoyed the found family vibes. You could tell Tom struggled with some mental health issues but his friends were extremely supportive. What more could a bunch of brand new high school graduates want other than a summer free of parents, galavanting around New York City?

3.5 stars

This was a cute YA listen! The main characters were such an eclectic friend group but I really enjoyed them and their character development!

Thanks to NetGalley & MacMillan Audio for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review

Emma Lord NEVER disappoints. This book is no exception.

From the friend group, to the Taylor Swift references, to the gaining of independence, to all the New York love: I loved this book!

Riley and Tom! Totally stealing your heart and then breaking it a little. While I love that this was Riley’s adventure and self discovery trip Tom had to be set free. While crushing the soul it had to be done.

Love every moment of this adventure.

Thank you NetGalley and the publishers for a chance to read and review.

Thanks NetGalley for the ARC of this audiobook. YA is not my normal genre. I tried listening to this book with an open mind to a younger generation. I honestly didn’t love it and felt that the two main characters relationship still felt strained even at the end. The parents in this book felt far fetched and I wish there was more of an explanation. I liked the concept of the book which drew me in to reserve it. I almost felt like the adventure was 10% of the book and the rest was each character making up stories in their heads about each other verses just talking to each other.

Emma Lord is one of the few contemporary YA authors I truly enjoy and look forward to reading, she is to me almost a modern day Judy Blume, taking issues that all teens and adolescents suffer from and making them relatable and giving those readers a sense of togetherness. This new work was no different and so much fun to read.

Though Tweet Cute remains my absolute favourite I adored the emphasis on the friends in this one and the less obvious trope of the girl and guy find themselves before finding each other. Refreshing!

I think any young person can read this and relate to the feelings of uncertainty that follow graduation, while still maintaining that air of fun and fancy free. This is the kind of book I wish I had when I was a teenage girl, I know I would have ate it up and relished in sharing it with my close friends.

Emma you truly know the heart of teenagers and thank you for another book set in one of my favourite cities, New York, there is no better setting for kids on the loose, having fun, and finding themselves.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio look for this one on audio and print January 22.

SUCH a cute book!! I did not want it to end. I loved everything about this book. This is my favorite Emma Lord book I had read so far.

Emma Lord, you will always, always, always be famous for me!!

While I knew I had enjoyed every Emma Lord book I'd picked up in the past, in the back of my mind I was worried that either they may have lost their charm, or YA might just not resonate with me as much anymore (at my big and distinguished age), so I was taken aback by just how brilliant this was and how much of a punch it packed.

THE GETAWAY LIST delivers what the bright jolly cover may suggest - a summer in New York, fun shenanigans and young love (as a generally friends-to-lovers hater, I was extremely impressed by how well executed and palpable the tension between the two protagonists was, as well as by how undeniably well suited for one another they were), with the addition of a ragtag group of friends that become a found family of sorts. This was joyous and exhilarating and so, so fun, in the way a summer day that feels like another slice of life, but becomes a core memory by the end is.
THE GETAWAY LIST, however, also hides more under the surface - the book explores the desire to find an old you that you lost in order to be able to work away at creating the new you. It explores the way we lose parts of ourselves as we grow up, and we hide away the things that hurt us most to protect ourselves and those attached to our old selves from the realities they create. It is, at its core, a book about allowing yourself to choose you, put you first, and refuse to be guilted for it.
Part tender young romance, part empowering coming of age narrative, this was an absolute banger through and through.

The narration also really helped bring the story to life!