Friends with ARCs | When You Get A Chance

⭐⭐⭐ 3 stars |  Emma Lord’s novels never fail to engage me meaning that with her three novels (all of which I’ve read), I either liked them or really liked them and in the case of When You Get A Chance, it was the former. I liked it but the level of disbelief I needed to suspend paired with the overall outlandish-ness made it hard for me to love. That said, it was still entertaining! 

Millie Price is determined to become a Broadway star and is willing to go through some enormous hoops to get there. She’s loud and brash (the total opposite of me and admittedly hard for me to relate to) but I admired her tenacity to go after her dreams. Her introverted dad, who raised her alone, is supportive but doesn’t want her to leave home to pursue said dream. When Millie randomly discovers her dad’s LiveJournal from 2003 (this made me roll my eyes and also aged me quite a bit because now that I think about it, am I the same age as her dad?!), she decides to use his entries as clues to find her mom, who’s been AWOL for most of her life, to help support her. She narrows it down to three women and proceeds to worm her way into each of their lives to figure out who’s the one. It’s very Mamma Mia-like, which is kind of the point, and downright insane in my humble opinion. But like I said, she’s determined. And what  ended up grounding this plot point (aside from the group of level-headed people in her life, who I all adored) is that it’s not just about finding her mom to help support her Broadway dreams. It’s about finding herself and discovering her roots, and I think that’s something we all can relate to. 

What’s your favorite Broadway show? I will never forget the experience of seeing Wicked with the original cast so that’s what first comes to mind. But Moulin Rouge is a close second. 

Collaborative feature with Alexa. We read ARCs together and post our reviews on the same date.