When You Get the Chance by Emma Lord
Publication date: 04 Jan 2022
Emma Lord does it again! I adored Tweet Cute, so I was all in when I saw that she was putting out a new book with a gender-flipped take on one of my favorite musicals, Mamma Mia. And let me just say that this book has made all of my Broadway fangirl dreams come true. Every show reference had me grinning, right from the dedication page (“THANK YOU, PLACES!”).
The star of this show is Millie, a high school theatre nerd with big Broadway dreams and an even bigger presence. I loved seeing a YA protagonist who is not shy or anxiety-ridden but who is vibrant and ambitious and full of life. I was cheering for her along every step of her journey to find her mother, and wanted to wrap her up in a big hug when things started falling apart for her. Add in a rivals-to-friends-to-more love story and a great cast of supporting characters like best friend and geocaching nerd Teddy, and an aunt who is serious about her ice cream, and this book is a winner.
If I’m getting nit-picky, I did find some of the plot to be a little predictable, but I can forgive that because the rest of this story is so dang sweet. I also would have loved to see more of the relationship between Millie and her father, because I’m a sucker for a girl-and-her-single-dad story. And I think some great bonus content could be made by showing us ALL of Cooper’s early-2000s LiveJournal entries. I’m betting everyone my age has an old LJ account that we would never want anyone to find! 🤣
⭐⭐⭐⭐½ /5
Thank you to NetGalley and to St. Martin’s Press/Wednesday Books for providing a copy of this book for review.
DeJenerateReads 
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