Before I start, I would like to thank NetGalley and Macmillan for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. You can add it to your Goodreads here!
From the beloved author of Tweet Cute comes Emma Lord’s You Have a Match, a YA novel of family, friendship, romance and sisterhood…
When Abby signs up for a DNA service, it’s mainly to give her friend and secret love interest, Leo, a nudge. After all, she knows who she is already: Avid photographer. Injury-prone tree climber. Best friend to Leo and Connie…although ever since the B.E.I. (Big Embarrassing Incident) with Leo, things have been awkward on that front.
But she didn’t know she’s a younger sister.
When the DNA service reveals Abby has a secret sister, shimmery-haired Instagram star Savannah Tully, it’s hard to believe they’re from the same planet, never mind the same parents—especially considering Savannah, queen of green smoothies, is only a year and a half older than Abby herself.
The logical course of action? Meet up at summer camp (obviously) and figure out why Abby’s parents gave Savvy up for adoption. But there are complications: Savvy is a rigid rule-follower and total narc. Leo is the camp’s co-chef, putting Abby’s growing feelings for him on blast. And her parents have a secret that threatens to unravel everything.
But part of life is showing up, leaning in, and learning to fit all your awkward pieces together. Because sometimes, the hardest things can also be the best ones.
Title: You Have a Match
Author: Emma Lord
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Genre: YA, Contemporary
Representation: Filipino love interest, lesbian main character, Asian side characters, bisexual side character & minor character
Trigger Warnings: Grief, anxiety, injury (mild), death of a family member, adoption/transracial adoption, parental conflict
Final Rating: 4.5 stars!!
What I liked
The strong friendships. I feel like reading about strong friendships are always so much fun, and they just serve as a reminder to be thankful for my own. The relationships in You Have A Match were to die for, and they just felt so authentic and genuine, something I feel isn’t present in so many YA novels!! I also loved how even though there was such an adorable romance, it didn’t take up the whole plot! It stayed at the side during the whole novel, while the sibling relationships, and strong friendships mostly stayed as the main focus.
All the amazing tropes. There were SO. MANY. of my favourite tropes in this book!! There was found family (quite literally in this case) and HUGE parent trap vibes!! There were also sibling relationships, strong friendships and friends-to-lovers which I adored!! There was also SO 👏🏼 MUCH 👏🏼 BANTER 👏🏼 I know that so many other readers also love banter, and this book was full of it!! Some other things that were present in this book include pranks, as well as tons of family drama and sisterly love!! Read my post about tropes here.
The characters. All the characters were well developed, and all of them had distinct personalities and traits. I also felt that each of them felt authentic, and I think I mentioned this before, but all the relationships were so so genuine and didn’t make me cringe while reading through the book!! I feel like so many YA books aren’t able to portray teenagers realistically, and there’s always a lot of stereotyping, leading a ton of teen readers to cringe while reading the books. Each of the characters were cinnamon rolls extremely lovable and I found myself rooting for each and every one of them, and not just Abby, the main character.
What wasn’t my cup of tea
The unrealistic events. I feel like a lot of events in You Have A Match were really unrealistic, and a bit too coincidental. What I mean by this is that a lot of these events would probably not have been able to happen in real life, and felt straight out of a Disney movie. Like Marie also said in her review, a lot of events felt a bit over the top and exaggerated, and that was completely unnecessary!!
Overall!
I’ve given ‘You Have A Match’ a rating of 4.5 stars (as you can see above), because it’s a fun, light, fluffy, contemporary read full of diverse characters, and a super fun plot!! (we need more books like these)!! It was easy to go through, and the pacing was just right!! Honestly, I would go ahead and recommend this to anyone because I’ve seen very few negative reviews for it, and I know it was a delight to read!! However, these are just my opinions, and everyone is entitled to their own, so you may, or may not like it as much!! I do hope you get a chance to pick it up when it’s released!!
Others reviews I enjoyed reading:
- Caitlyn @ Tea Time Lit had similar thoughts as mine!
- Breanna @ Paws & Paperbacks wrote a review with her quick thoughts on the book
- Marie @ Drizzle & Hurricane Books wrote a really detailed review on what she thought about ‘You Have A Match’
Yes! I can’t wait to read this one!! I love Parent Trap, so this sounds great!!
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i hope you enjoy it!! 🤍
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This book sounds very interesting, so I’m glad to find your review of it! The representation looks incredible, big thumbs up there!! I’m so happy to see that the characters were loveable, I agree, sometimes the characters in YA books are so unrealistic in the way they talk and think. (And we are so here for the cinnamon rolls, righttt?) Ooh it’s so cool that this has ‘Parent Trap vibes’ lol I wonder how that will play out! I’m trying to build my MG and YA contemporary lists hehe, and I think I’ll add this one to the TBR (even though I don’t really like cheesy scenes, I suppose if everything else is all right, I can still enjoy it 😁) Lovely review, Ahaana!!
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thank you so much!! the representation is great and theres a lot of bipoc rep!! i feel like this book was actually quite good at portraying teens, and they all felt realistic, and all their relationships felt authentic and genuine!! (haha, lets be real we’re only here for the cinnamon rolls ;)) without spoiling anything this book has MAJOR parent trap vibes!! its a super fun read and i hope you enjoy it!! 🤍
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Very nice review! I’ll have to check this one out!
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thank you so much!! i hope you enjoy it! x
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lovely review as always, ahaana!! I’m so waiting for this book although the ‘unrealistic’ bit made me wonder if I should pick up the book (sure, love at first sight could be quite cheesy but so many coincidences? Nope, not going there). But I WILL DEFINITELY READ THIS BOOK
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ahh becky!! thank you so much!! i feel like the good parts of the book definitely more than make up for the unrealistic events!! this book actually isn’t love at first sight, and the romance is just at the side, though there are quite a few coincidences!! i hope you love it! ❤
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Huh. I don’t usually read contemporary and like when there’s romance in it but this actually doesn’t sound bad! I may have to pick it up at one point! (adds to evergrowing TBR)
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hahaha i hope you like it when you read it!! *takes a look at her own tbr and faints*
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Ha ha thank you!
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lovely review as always, ahaana! i loved you have a match too, and we had really similar opinions!
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thank you so much!! i’m so glad you enjoyed it ❤
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I am so excited to read this one! It’s been in my shopping basket for a week but I keep holding myself back because I already have such a big TBR.
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thank you so much!! ahh, i can’t wait for you to read it!! i hope you enjoy it when you get a chance to!!
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Ahaana, I absolutely love your reviews aah!! This one sounds amazing, I really need to read something by Emma Lord!!
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alissa!! thank you so much 🥺💖!! i loved this book, and i’m really looking forward to reading more of her novels sometime soon!! ❤
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So glad you enjoyed it!! I loved Tweet Cute last year and have been looking forward to this one!!
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i haven’t read tweet cute, but i’ve heard really great things about it!! after loving this one, i’m definitely going to check it out! 💙
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i can not wait to read this book!!!! ahhhhh parent trap vibes, yes! love the parent trap. it was great to hear your thoughts! lovely review!
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i hope you like it!!! it has MAJOR parent trap vibes, so i can’t wait to see what you think!! thank you so much, april!! 💖💖
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Great review! I have an ARC of this too, but am waiting to read it until the publication date. Have you read Tweet Cute yet?
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i hope you like it!! i haven’t read tweet cute yet, but i am wanting to!!
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amazing review! I just started this one today and now I can’t wait to get more into it!! ♥
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thank you so much!! i hope you’re enjoying it so far!! 💖
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ahaana, you have convinced me!! i’m SO happy to hear about strong friendships in this novel, indeed YA has a lack of friendships that take the centre stage as they are usually overlooked for romance, which makes books like you have a match seem even more precious!! the tropes! found family? okay yes, to tbr!! lovely review ahaana!
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thank you so much, cherelle🥺💖!! there are so many strong bonds and friendships in this book, and if you like that you should definitely read it!! i hope you enjoy it when you get yourself a copy!! 💗
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This sounds so good! I will definitely be reading it 😁
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i hope you enjoy when you get a chance to!! 💖
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Yeah me too!
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[…] You Have A Match: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ [4.5/5 stars, review here!] […]
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so glad that you enjoyed it! thank you so much for mentioning my review!
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thank you so much!! i loved reading your review and the book!! 💖
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[…] at Windows to Worlds gave this 4.5 […]
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[…] which is written by Emma Lord, author of Tweet Cute. I came across this lovely review by Ahaana @Windows To Worlds, which will give you all the information you need to add this book to your TBR. You Have a Match is […]
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I’m so glad you enjoyed this one. I’d heard a lot of good things about Lord’s first book Tweet Cute and I’m glad this one seems to have been received just as well !! It definitely sounds like it has so many good qualities from the tropes (!!) and the fun plot. Plus, it is always great to see that teen characters are written well !! also did you say cinnamon rolls?? one of the best characters types ever !! GREAT REVIEW !! 💕
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thank you so much!! i haven’t read tweet cute yet, but after reading (and loving) this one, i can’t wait to try tweet cute out!! there are so many amazing tropes, and you have a match is SO. FLUFFY. the characters are also the sweetest (definitely cinnamon rolls)!! i hope you enjoy it if you get a chance to read it!! ❤️
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Omg Ahaana you have just made me SO EXCITED to read this. I’ve seen some fairly mixed reviews, but I absolutely adore Tweet Cute so have to read it asap. I’ve just been nervous. But ah sibling relationships and friends to lovers are also some of my faves so even more hyped now!! Love this review <3<3
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ahhh i hope you love it!! i can get why some people may not like it, but it was exactly my type of book, and SO FLUFFY!! the friends to lovers is so cute, and the sibling relationships are to die for!! thank you so much, ruby!! 💖
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[…] I loved Ahaana’s review of Emma Lord’s You Have a Match! […]
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