When You Get the Chance

Starred review from December 6, 2021
Brimming with energy, rapid-fire banter, and affectionate theater references, this memorable Mamma Mia! retelling by Lord (Tweet Cute) explores the meaning of family. Passionate and focused, 16-year-old New Yorker Millie Price, a presumed-white vocalist and actor, has big Broadway dreams. When her single father, who has raised her since he was a Tolkien-loving 20-year-old, pushes back on her plan to attend a competitive musical theater program in Los Angeles for senior year, despite her landing a partial scholarship, she decides it’s time to seek out her birth mother, who left when she was a baby. With the help of her father’s early aughts LiveJournal, Millie determines that her mother could be one of three women and teams up with her geocache-obsessed best friend, Teddy, who reads as white, to locate them. As she begins to acknowledge internalized insecurities about her origins, personality, and identity, including her all-consuming “Millie Moods,” she competes for a summer internship against her longtime adversary and stage manager, Chinese American Oliver Yang, kicking off an amusing enemies-to-lovers romance. Lord thoughtfully pays homage to a recognizable conceit while skillfully modernizing it for today’s readers with knowing nods to social media and the stresses of contemporary adolescence. Ages 12–up. Agent: Janna Bonikowski, the Knight Agency.

May 27, 2022

Gr 7 Up-Millie Price was born to be on stage. From the time she was young, she had a flare for the dramatic, but wasn't sure who she got that from. All Millie knows about her mother is that she left Millie with her father when Millie was just a baby, and she has some sort of connection to the musical theater world Millie so desperately wants to make her career. After her father dismisses her dreams of attending a prestigious pre-college theater program, Millie is determined to find her mother who will clearly be on her side. Using clues from her dad's old online journal and help from her best friend, Teddy, Millie is on a mission-her own Millie Mia, a nod to her favorite musical, Mamma Mia. Along the way, she lands a summer internship with her high school rival, Oliver; there is romantic tension between the two despite their constant bickering. Millie also joins a theater group and takes a dance class-all to figure out who her mother is, but along the way she learns more about herself than her mystery mother. Jesse Vilinsky's narration captures Millie's emotional voice expertly throughout. Millie is a character full of highs and lows, and the audiobook really takes the listener through her moods, animating the story through the narration. VERDICT A fun romantic comedy for teens, it's appropriate for all levels of YA readers. Fans of Lord's previous novels will feel right at home with this story.-Erica Coonelly

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