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3.64 AVERAGE
3.64 AVERAGE
First of all, thank you to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for giving me an ARC of this novel, in exchange for my honest review.
"My life is basically a CW drama right now, is all."
This quote could basically be the entire review, and if you have watched the CW recently, you'd need nothing else. For the purpose of being thorough, I'll keep going.
Every book tends to begin as a question in an author's mind, a "what if..." YOU HAVE A MATCH clearly began as "what if I tried to somewhat recreate The Parent Trap, summer camp included, but gave it more teen drama?" Because anyone who's watched The Parent Trap wanted more teen drama, right?
Abby Day wasn't looking for family when she signed up for a DNA test, but she finds her older sister, Savannah (annoyingly called Savvy about 576 times throughout the book). They meet, because they live like 10 minutes away from each other. It's very anticlimactic and super early in the book, and Savannah (I refuse to call her Savvy) basically forces Abby to sign up for a summer camp where she'll be a counselor so they can work out how it is that Abby's parents gave Savannah up for adoption. Because that's logical, you'll get so much more done at camp than, I don't know, at home asking your parents directly, right?
It so happens that Abby's male best friend, Leo, who she likes and who clearly likes her back but they don't tell each other this because reasons is also in that camp. Coinkidink again!
Shenanigans ensue, Abby plays pranks on Savannah and for two weeks the sisters don't even talk to each other, so the camp thing is totally moot and then the parents arrive and it's dramatic, and then they explain what happened and I don't want to have to tag the whole review for for spoilers, but, it requires even more suspension of disbelief. By this point, I couldn't believe anything anymore.
So, here's what kept me reading: I wanted to know why a set of parents who are NOT teen parents, gave up a baby for a super closed adoption and one and a half years later had another baby. Well, as we learn in a super dramatic but emotionally empty parking lot shouting match:
So, with the mystery that drove me to keep reading explained, I'm left with the bits and bobs I enjoyed and the list of things I did not.
Enjoyable Bits and Bobs:
- Voice. Emma Lord has a distinct voice. It's very quirky and pop-y and definitely not for everyone, but it's well crafted and consistent both within this book and compared to her previous novel, TWEET CUTE.
- Summer camp. The camp pranks, shenanigans, and environment were fun.
- The side characters. I really liked Mickey, Finn, Connie, even Savannah. They weren't fully fleshed out, and Savannah should have been, but at least they were distinguishable.
List of What I Did Not Enjoy:
- All the puns. It's part of the voice, maybe, but at one point I felt like if there was one more pun, I'd scream. They stopped being funny and started taking me out of the narrative.
- Conclusion that did not feel earned. After all that drama and emotional toxicity, all the lies from everyone because, my Lord (ha, I can do puns, too), do these people lie, suddenly it's all okay. 18 years of hurt and pain and anger brushed away over some Thai food, like it's nothing.
- The Love Triangle. There was no need for there to be one. It was obviously lopsided, at no point was Finn ever a real contender, but also, at no point was it explained why Leo and Abby liked each other. We were told repeatedly, we were explained obliquely and straightly how there had been a BEI, an uncomfortable incident last Thanksgiving. But other than that, Leo felt very much like a friend except we kept being told they wanted to kiss.
- Like I said, suspension of disbelief. There was no space for reality in this book. Not for how the whole sister drama was done, not for how these people all knew each other but didn't know each other. We're told Savannah and Abby look the same, at one point it's described as running towards a mirror. But somehow, Leo, who is an old friend of Savannah, and Abby's best friend, doesn't realize his two friends are spitting images? The whole ending up all at the same camp, is also silly. How Abby herself manages to get herself there is too much, as well. Between the coincidences and the plain "this would not happen in real life" it was too much.
- The plot itself. It meandered a lot, dragged at many points, decided to slow down at parts where it didn't make sense to slow down.
- This might be just a pet peeve, but the many cutesy names were grating to read. According to the Acknowledgements, at one point, Emma Lord changed the names halfway through because she hated them all. And she settled on these ones: Savvy, Jemmy, Izzy, Abby, Mickey, Connie, Maggie. See a trend? Savvy was said ad nauseam and Jemmy less so but if they were close on the page, it sounded highly annoying.
I'll end with a phrase at the beginning of the novel that raised my hopes that I'd like this book. Sadly, I didn't, but I still really like the quote:
"If you learn to capture a feeling, it'll always be louder than words"
Sorry the feelings captured by this review aren't the ones we'd all hoped for.
"My life is basically a CW drama right now, is all."
This quote could basically be the entire review, and if you have watched the CW recently, you'd need nothing else. For the purpose of being thorough, I'll keep going.
Every book tends to begin as a question in an author's mind, a "what if..." YOU HAVE A MATCH clearly began as "what if I tried to somewhat recreate The Parent Trap, summer camp included, but gave it more teen drama?" Because anyone who's watched The Parent Trap wanted more teen drama, right?
Abby Day wasn't looking for family when she signed up for a DNA test, but she finds her older sister, Savannah (annoyingly called Savvy about 576 times throughout the book). They meet, because they live like 10 minutes away from each other. It's very anticlimactic and super early in the book, and Savannah (I refuse to call her Savvy) basically forces Abby to sign up for a summer camp where she'll be a counselor so they can work out how it is that Abby's parents gave Savannah up for adoption. Because that's logical, you'll get so much more done at camp than, I don't know, at home asking your parents directly, right?
It so happens that Abby's male best friend, Leo, who she likes and who clearly likes her back but they don't tell each other this because reasons is also in that camp. Coinkidink again!
Shenanigans ensue, Abby plays pranks on Savannah and for two weeks the sisters don't even talk to each other, so the camp thing is totally moot and then the parents arrive and it's dramatic, and then they explain what happened and I don't want to have to tag the whole review for for spoilers, but, it requires even more suspension of disbelief. By this point, I couldn't believe anything anymore.
So, here's what kept me reading: I wanted to know why a set of parents who are NOT teen parents, gave up a baby for a super closed adoption and one and a half years later had another baby. Well, as we learn in a super dramatic but emotionally empty parking lot shouting match:
Spoiler
Abby's parents weren't in the right space for having a baby because her dad had pneumonia and also some heart defect (yes, it's that poorly explained in the book too) and so they gave up their firstborn to their best friends, but then Abby's mother tried to steal the baby back, TWICE. Until the adoptive parents/former best friends got lawyers involved. And after all of this, neither of these couples moved away from where the whole mess went down. This isn't normal, right? If you have to bring in lawyers so that the bio parents legally can't have any contact with your child, you don't stay in a town 10 minutes from them? This was the mystery that kept me reading and boy was I disappointed. Again, reality, what even are you?So, with the mystery that drove me to keep reading explained, I'm left with the bits and bobs I enjoyed and the list of things I did not.
Enjoyable Bits and Bobs:
- Voice. Emma Lord has a distinct voice. It's very quirky and pop-y and definitely not for everyone, but it's well crafted and consistent both within this book and compared to her previous novel, TWEET CUTE.
- Summer camp. The camp pranks, shenanigans, and environment were fun.
- The side characters. I really liked Mickey, Finn, Connie, even Savannah. They weren't fully fleshed out, and Savannah should have been, but at least they were distinguishable.
List of What I Did Not Enjoy:
- All the puns. It's part of the voice, maybe, but at one point I felt like if there was one more pun, I'd scream. They stopped being funny and started taking me out of the narrative.
- Conclusion that did not feel earned. After all that drama and emotional toxicity, all the lies from everyone because, my Lord (ha, I can do puns, too), do these people lie, suddenly it's all okay. 18 years of hurt and pain and anger brushed away over some Thai food, like it's nothing.
- The Love Triangle. There was no need for there to be one. It was obviously lopsided, at no point was Finn ever a real contender, but also, at no point was it explained why Leo and Abby liked each other. We were told repeatedly, we were explained obliquely and straightly how there had been a BEI, an uncomfortable incident last Thanksgiving. But other than that, Leo felt very much like a friend except we kept being told they wanted to kiss.
- Like I said, suspension of disbelief. There was no space for reality in this book. Not for how the whole sister drama was done, not for how these people all knew each other but didn't know each other. We're told Savannah and Abby look the same, at one point it's described as running towards a mirror. But somehow, Leo, who is an old friend of Savannah, and Abby's best friend, doesn't realize his two friends are spitting images? The whole ending up all at the same camp, is also silly. How Abby herself manages to get herself there is too much, as well. Between the coincidences and the plain "this would not happen in real life" it was too much.
- The plot itself. It meandered a lot, dragged at many points, decided to slow down at parts where it didn't make sense to slow down.
- This might be just a pet peeve, but the many cutesy names were grating to read. According to the Acknowledgements, at one point, Emma Lord changed the names halfway through because she hated them all. And she settled on these ones: Savvy, Jemmy, Izzy, Abby, Mickey, Connie, Maggie. See a trend? Savvy was said ad nauseam and Jemmy less so but if they were close on the page, it sounded highly annoying.
I'll end with a phrase at the beginning of the novel that raised my hopes that I'd like this book. Sadly, I didn't, but I still really like the quote:
"If you learn to capture a feeling, it'll always be louder than words"
Sorry the feelings captured by this review aren't the ones we'd all hoped for.
This is such a cute story! I really loved this book and I’m definitely exited for her next book
Emma Lord’s writing just gets better and better. Full review to be posted on my blog.
I've put this on my LGBT shelf because while the POV character isn't queer, a couple of the other main characters are.
This was unexpectedly lovely and explored some really important topics about the meaning of family. Adoption stories, in any form, will always have a soft spot in my heart and this really was a heart-warming tale of love and friendship with some laughs along the way.
I really enjoyed the narration - particularly the way the different voices of the various characters were handled. It was totally immersive.
Note: there are quite a lot of HP references in this. I'm guessing at the time of publication, JKR hadn't quite proven to be as awful as she has in more recent times, so if any boy-wizard references are likely to cause upset, then you might want to give this book a miss.
This was unexpectedly lovely and explored some really important topics about the meaning of family. Adoption stories, in any form, will always have a soft spot in my heart and this really was a heart-warming tale of love and friendship with some laughs along the way.
I really enjoyed the narration - particularly the way the different voices of the various characters were handled. It was totally immersive.
Note: there are quite a lot of HP references in this. I'm guessing at the time of publication, JKR hadn't quite proven to be as awful as she has in more recent times, so if any boy-wizard references are likely to cause upset, then you might want to give this book a miss.
3.5 stars. While this didn't quite live up to how much I adored Tweet Cute last year, this book was still SUCH a delight. Emma Lord has such a knack for writing realistic bonds between characters (romantic OR familial), and I just adore her characters and her stories. With that being said, I did struggle a little with the way the parents existed in this one. If you weren't aware, this book is about a girl finding out that she has a biological sister that her parents put up for adoption before she was born, and something about the way that that worked out in the story felt a little weird to me and it kept me from loving this one as much as I was hoping to. With that being said, I still quite enjoyed this one and I'm looking forward to reading whatever Emma Lord puts out next!!
We join our main character at summer camp before her senior year of high school while she tries to figure out her place in the world and her family. This is a cute, warm book that feels a little bit like sun on your face in that cozy, pleasant way. Emma Lord is hilarious on Twitter plus a good writer, so I will read everything she writes.
This was a cute YA contemporary with a blend of family drama, romance and personal development. If I were a bit younger I feel like this would have been at least 4* but I found some of the teenage drama a bit tiring for my personal preference. I liked the setting of the camp it made me nostalgic for summers as a kid. There were some "It takes two" vibes for me with Abby and Savvy which I enjoyed. If you are into YA I would recommend this fun read. 3.5*