A new love, a secret sister, and a summer she’ll never forget. 

From the beloved author of Tweet Cute comes Emma Lord’s You Have a Match, a hilarious and heartfelt novel of romance, sisterhood, and friendship…

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.

This book is a little like Far From The Tree meets The Parent Trap.

You Have a Match, by Emma Lord, deals with a pair of sisters who discover they’re related after taking a DNA test. Savvy had always known she was adopted, but not much beyond that, while Abby had no idea that she had an older sister. I’m always a sucker for stories about discovering family members through DNA testing. This book had all of the interesting biological-family-learning-to-be-real-family aspects of Far From the Tree, by Robin Benway (my all-time favorite contemporary YA book). I also definitely enjoyed the vaguely Parent Trap-esque moments, though Savvy and Abby’s task was trying to find out what had led their respective parents, who had once been friends, to part and never speak to each other again.

Who doesn’t love a good summer camp story?

Personally, I never really enjoyed any of the typically outdoorsy summer camps I went to, but that doesn’t stop me from enjoying stories about them! The summer camp that serves as the setting is a traditional camp that has shifted ownership in the previous year, with the new heads creating an academic track in addition to the more traditional track. Abby’s parents sign her up for the SAT prep portion of the academic track, but (thank goodness) that isn’t a large focus of the story. The vast majority of the book is dedicated to the more outdoorsy portions of the camp, which, while I wouldn’t likely enjoy doing in real life, I still love reading about.

This is definitely a summery book, but I read it in early January and still loved it. Honestly it can be enjoyed easily at any time of the year, so definitely don’t let the setting hold you back from reading it at any time.

The characters are lovable and compelling.

Abby is the main character, and she definitely has the most depth. She is wrestling with her grandfather’s recent death throughout the book, which plays a large part in her character. He played a large part in raising her and in giving her her primary passion (photography). After his death, she had fallen apart a little bit, leading her parents to over-manage her life, so her relationship with them is very much hindered by that and her difficulty with telling them that she wants to pursue photography as a career.

Savvy is a secondary character in the book, but still almost as influential as Abby is. She runs a prominent lifestyle Instagram account with her best friend Mickey. She very much feels the need to be in control all of the time, and serves as a foil to Abby’s character in many respects. This trait serves to hinder their relationship somewhat. Savvy is also in a long distant relationship with her girlfriend, and the background love triangle between Mickey, Savvy, and her girlfriend was honestly just as compelling as the main romance of the book.

Leo is Abby’s longtime best friend and crush, though she is convinced that he doesn’t feel the same way after their other best friend, Connie, had told her so. He wants to be a chef, and himself is struggling with his own adoption and the lack of connection he feels to the Philippines, where he was adopted from, and which was the reason Abby took the fateful DNA test with him in the first place. Their relationship is one of the most compelling and frustrating friends-to-lovers ship I’ve read recently.

The background characters all feel fleshed-out and three-dimensional as well, with the minor exception of Connie, who isn’t present for much of the book anyway. The main characters’ camp friends all have distinct issues and character arcs. The relationships between the two sets of parents in the book is messy and intriguing, and makes the suspense of waiting to find out what the cause of their split was worth it.

The relationships are definitely the best part of the book.

The developing bond between Savvy and Abby is the strongest and most compelling aspect of the book by far. Their growing closeness, and realization of their similarities despite their initial beliefs that they are too different to be friends, feels natural and thoughtfully rendered. This growing sisterhood is the focal point and heart of the book, and it does not disappoint in any aspect.

Leo and Abby’s relationship is super cute. They start out as such good friends, and the chemistry between them is much more visible and intriguing than in most YA friends-to-lovers relationships, where one often can’t tell why it is that we’re supposed to ship them. They have communication issues, which last through a large portion of the book, but these setbacks don’t feel contrived, but rather feel realistic as two best friends try to determine if they can transition out of that friendship.

Overall, I absolutely adored You Have a Match!

This book is compelling and enthralling in every aspect. The characters all feel realistic, and the complex relationships at the forefront of the book are definitely its strongest points. Savvy and Abby’s growing closeness as they get to know each other and attempt to find out the truth behind their separation is tentative and natural, and Abby’s relationship with Leo is just adorable and completely shippable. The characters-finding-out-they’re-related as teenagers is a plot that I’ll never get tired of. In many ways this book feels like a mashup of The Parent Trap and Far From the Tree, but that does not mean that it feels repetitive, or anything except utterly original. I give this book an enthusiastic 5/5 stars.

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Have you read You Have a Match? If so, what were your thoughts? If not, will it be added to your TBR pile?