3.5 stars - While I was expecting slightly more of a romance, this was still a really enjoyable YA novel. This might just potentially be the most YA novel I’ve ever read, not in terms of writing style, but in regards to the actual content of the story. The main character (and all her friends) are 18, freshly graduated from high school and trying to figure out their next moves. There was some very sweet romance, but it didn’t exactly feel like the main focus of the book. I think this book might appeal to a wide variety of people, but especially people around the same age, at the same point in their life.
Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing me access to this eARC for my honest opinion!

I discovered Emma Lord during the early days of the pandemic with her debut, Tweet Cute, which ended up being one of my favorite reads of 2020, and since then I would read anything she writes.
Sadly, I will be withholding my review of this book until the end of the boycott.

I have enjoyed all of the books I have read by Emma Lord and The Getaway List is no exception. It isn't my favorite book by her, but I still enjoyed it. It felt a bit long to me for some reason.

If Emma Lord has 10,000 fans, I am one of them. If Emma Lord has one fan, it is me. If Emma Lord has no fans, I am dead.

This was so cute! It honestly might have won the title of my favorite Emma Lord book (an honor previously shared between You Have a Match and Begin Again.

This follows our main character, Riley, who moves to NYC the summer after she graduates high school to reunite with her long-distance best friend and complete a bucket list they had had running for years. When she gets there, to nobody's surprise, her best friend, Tom, has gotten very attractive, and soon they're both in denial of their feelings in order to protect their friendship. With a wondrously dynamic main couple, compelling side characters, and absurdly fun New York adventures, there is so much to love about The Getaway List.

I didn't love Riley the first few chapters, but she grew on me and now I absolutely love her and her character development throughout this. It's all about her learning to have the courage to control her own life and the confidence to make her own decisions—the character development is so well done, and it's a truly well-written coming-of-age story.

Tom is a great secondary protagonist and love interest, and he honestly is such a breath of fresh air from the snarky, bad-boy love interests of most books these days. His dynamic with Riley is absolutely perfect—the friends-to-lovers trope is there, but it's also complicated by the fact that they haven't seen each other in person in four years and are relearning how to be in-person best friends even as they have to confront their romantic feelings for each other. You truly can't help but ship them, but their friendship is even more important than the ship and I love that about this book.

Speaking of friendship, the secondary characters are all so wonderful and compelling. Riley and Tom amass this friend group of young adults all trying to figure out what their next steps are with all of the possibilities of New York at their feet, and I love how Riley's coming-of-age arc is complemented by all of the secondary characters' stories. Each of these characters has a different path from the others, but they all work together so well.

The entire friend group gets up to some wild adventures while completing Riley and Tom's bucket list, and the story truly is just a chaotic romp through New York in a way that underscores the character development happening without overpowering it. It's fun and hilarious and you really can't help but smile while reading it. There were, perhaps, a few too many pop culture references, but I can forgive it since most of them were vaguer references to TikTok and AO3. I think it was a better choice than creating fake stand-in names for social media and fanfiction platforms.

Overall, I highly recommend The Getaway List if you're in the market for a well-written coming-of-age YA story. The romance, friendship, and character development aspects of the book are all amazing, and I truly can't talk about this wild ride of a book enough. 5/5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an eARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Thank you to Wednesday Books for this ARC. This is my first Emma Lord and this book just felt stuffed to me. Too many references and interests and characters and who knows but it felt a little like Gilmore Girls goes to NYC and takes steroids. That said, I really loved Riley and Tom and was invested emotionally. 3.5/5

In Emma Lord’s The Getaway List, Riley moves to New York to spend the summer with her childhood best friend Tom after graduating high school, hoping to rediscover her adventurous self, find out who she is now, and plan the future she chooses for herself.

Lord’s vivid description using all the senses and detailed explorations of the characters’ emotions pulls you into each moment with her complex, relatable, likable, and fallible characters. She skillfully develops her characters through funny, emotional, sweet, intimate, and intense interactions. I love her creative and multilayered stories that never fail to capture your imagination and touch your heart, leaving you laughing and crying—sometimes both within moments of each other. Her dialogue is colorful and natural-sounding, suitable for her characters, setting, story, and themes.

Riley realizes that she’s wasted four years being the “good kid” her mom wants, and she no longer knows who she is anymore. Furthermore, she has no idea what she wants because she’s become a different person. To rediscover herself, she packs and moves to New York for the summer, where her childhood best friend Tom, who co-created The Getaway List―a list of adventures for them to share since the move separated them. Some distance from her mom and the chance to be with her best friend again will hopefully give her time for self-discovery and to plan and lay a foundation for her future.

Since his mom, a renowned scriptwriter, moved them to New York for her career and took Tom away, he’d become increasingly more distant, neither texting Riley nor responding to her texts. Riley feared her reception. However, when Riley arrives without notice at Tom’s place, it’s like nothing has changed—their connection and friendship are still just as strong as when they were young children. However, to Riley’s surprise, her feelings for Tom have intensified and begun transitioning from friendship to something unexpected that she doesn’t yet understand. Meanwhile, Riley and Tom make new friends with whom they explore the city and tackle The Getaway List—with new adventures added for the summer. Along the way, Riley discovers that the most rewarding quest may involve her heart and not leaving home.

Friends since they were small—and nerdy book lovers—Tom and Riley were pranksters who were always getting into trouble together. Riley used to be an adventurous risk-taker, and Tom was the most responsible of the two. To keep Riley out of trouble after Tom moved, her mother pushed her to get involved in all the extracurricular activities until she became overcommitted. This left Riley feeling lost and unlike herself, just reading fantasy books and fan fic in her free time—but no longer inspired to write. It wasn’t until graduation day that she realized how boring and lost she’d become, with no idea what she wanted for her life.

Lord has a fantastic way of balancing madcap, lighthearted moments with dramatic, intensely emotional ones. Further, these tonal swings come without warning but don’t affect the novel’s excellent pacing or Lord’s thoughtful and nuanced exploration of weighty, relevant themes. The scenes with Tom, Riley, and their friends completing the Getaway List are fun. But my favorite scenes are between Tom and Riley just hanging out together eating snacks, binging their favorite show, spending time with each other again, learning the differences over time, and figuring out the new emotions, sparks, and chemistry unexpectedly changing their friendship. Those moments are filled with intimacy, peace, comfort, and happiness. I love how Lord reestablishes their friendship while transitioning it into a more mature relationship with the potential to be more.

Sweet, funny, angsty, and romantic, The Getaway List is a fast-paced, captivating friends-to-lovers YA romance that wonderfully explores first love and the transition from best friends to lovers, but more importantly, discovering who you are, who you choose to be, and the people who are vital to your life and the life you want to have. Other themes explored include following your dreams, friendship, adventures, writing, self-esteem, self-confidence, parent/child relationships, controlling parents, and absentee parents.

An advanced review copy was provided by Wednesday Books via Netgalley for review.

4.5 Stars

I’ve genuinely loved every Emma Lord book I’ve read because she captures the magic of what it’s like to truly be on the verge of becoming a new adult; that weird time between senior year and OMG I JUST GOT DROP KICKED OUT OF THE NEST. The Getaway List might be her best version of this time in a young adult’s life and reading it as a 34 year old filled me with so much nostalgia. It almost felt as if I was reading a love letter I would write for my younger self.

Riley has just graduated high school and has a plethora of college rejections and is almost gleeful about not knowing where she wants to go with her future. Her mom (almost a Lorelai Gilmore like character) has helped keep Riley on a track towards success and Riley is ready to have one last adventure before committing to any future.

Enter: The Getaway List - the list she and her somewhat estranged bff, Tom, created as a way of staying connected after a move forced them apart. After realizing she is an “adult”, Riley heads off to find Tom in NYC and fulfill the missions on their lists. As they reconnect, new friendships are formed, relationships are tested, and unsuspecting feelings emerge. And it’s all done in such a magical way as our characters traipse through NYC.

I loved how the friendships were handled and the topic of forging one’s own path were the main focuses. The romance was there and cute, and I did find myself wanting a bit more, but I was still squealing as I watched it unfold.

This story gave me a bit of the vibes of that one Gilmore Girl episode where Rory skips school to head to NYC to see Jess and they have their magical day together and then Rory misses Lorelai’s graduation had. I definitely recommend!

Also, I listened via audio and the narrator does an incredible job and I absolutely enjoyed it and would 100% recommend that version if you enjoy listening to your books!

This is absolutely, without a doubt, my favourite Emma Lord book yet. I had such a blast reading and already find myself yearning to revisit this beautiful story!!

Another cute YA book from Lord, this time featuring friends old and new, summer in NYC, and checking items off an adventure list.

I loved the setting and wish I could travel to New York right now to check out fun locations and try some amazing food. The friend group that formed was adorable, as were the romances that popped up among them.

I did think the pacing was a bit slow and a couple of the small 'reveals' were easy to see coming. I wanted more items from the list, but it kind of fell to the background instead.

I've grown to look forward to Lord's books and am still excited to see what else she has coming!

I voluntarily read and reviewed this book. All opinions are my own. Thank you to Wednesday Books and NetGalley for the copy.

Am I a 28 year old with two children reading a YA Romance? uh yes I am! Did I love it? UH YES I DID!

This is my first Emma Lord novel and I am HOOKED. Her writing style is so good and I love how real and raw the characters are and how I can relate to them, even if I am 10 years older than them.

This book is a heartwarming and uplifting story that pulls at your heartstrings and gives you that real raw experience of self-discovery and friendship. I felt so connected to this group of friends and I really realized from this book on how one finds them true selves. While this book is a romance, I definitely felt a strong connection on the value of friendship and self-discovery.

This will fill that part of your heart that ever had you wondering what would you do if you packed everything up and left for New York City with no plan in mind, and it changed your life forever!

The Getaway List is about Riley and Tom, a pair of lifelong friends who were separated when Tom's mother moves to New York City. Now, as graduating seniors, they come together in NYC to finish up their Getaway List. Along the way, they realize they're more than friends, and Riley realizes she wants to live her life on her own terms.

All in all, I enjoyed The Getaway List. I really enjoyed the setting and the cast of characters--Riley and Tom are so endearing, and the found family team in NYC is enviable. However, I did feel that the pacing fell off a bit toward the end, so I ended up giving this one a three-star rating because I enjoyed it, but I wouldn't recommend it to a friend or read it again.

This book was SO much fun.. It was nice to see a young adult book where the characters act like young adults and not immature. This book was sweet, funny, and heartfelt. It made me want to go explore NYC. 4 stars.

Thank you @wednesdaybooks @macmillan.audio for a copy of this book. This was a sweet coming of age story about Riley who graduates from high school and takes a day trip to visit her childhood best friend Tom.

The story is set in NYC and I enjoyed seeing Riley self discovery and developing friendships. Tom and Riley were cute together but I didn't really feel their love connection. I really appreciate the side characters and how much depth they added to the story.

Norma Butikofer did a great job and sounded believable as a teenager.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an e-arc!

Riley has just graduated high school and is struggling to find herself. She misses the version of herself that she was before her best friend, Tom, moved to New York City. Most importantly, she misses her very best friend. Acting on an impulse, Riley decides to visit Tom in NYC for the weekend, despite her mom’s vehement disapproval. While her mom is worried about Riley being in the city based on her own time there, she has no clue that Riley is on a mission.

Riley and Tom created The Getaway List, a bucket list of things they planned to do together but never got around to. Now, Riley is determined to at least check off a few of these things off the list over the weekend. Only, going through the items on The Getaway List ends up being a much bigger adventure than Riley could have imagined. While Tom and Riley reconnect and see each other in different ways than the past, Riley also finds herself falling in love with the city- and all of her new friends that she quickly made. Riley also begins to feel more herself, a goal perhaps more important than achieving than The Getaway List.

I really enjoyed this read and I would recommend this to anyone looking for a light, fun book to read. The author is funny and this book had me smiling and laughing throughout, and the characters are each so unique and charming.

I wish that I had a book like this when I was a senior in high school, because I really love the messaging in this book about finding yourself, doing things on your own and going on adventures, even when they can be scary. I also thought acknowledgement that people change but friends can still grow together was important for younger readers to see, especially at an age where they may be worried about growing apart from their friends following high school.

Even for any young adult age and up, I think this would be a fun spring/summer read! especially if you’re a fan of New York City or have dreams of living there.

4.5 Stars, rounded up!

If you are looking for a sweet YA RomCom, pick up The Getaway List!
🚲 Coming of Age
🚲 Finding Yourself
🚲 Best Friend Banter
🚲 Will they or Won’t they?
🚲 Summer of Adventures
🚲 New York Setting

This book starts with Riley’s high school graduation - she’s ending one chapter, but is at a loss for what comes next. On an impulse, she jumps on a bus to visit her best friend Tom in NYC. And her summer adventure begins - reconnecting with Tom, meeting new friends, and finding who she is in this new stage of her life.

Ms. Lord creates characters that are easy to connect with from the first page. The pages flew by as Riley discovered herself in her first time away from home. And The Getaway List (a list of adventures for Tom and Riley to go on together) is the perfect background for a summer of discovery. I especially enjoyed Riley's joy in exploring NYC and I loved the banter between Riley and Tom. I laughed and smiled a lot throughout the book, it’s just a great feel-good read.

4.5 Stars

The Getaway List is a smart rom-com that focuses as much on personal growth and development as it does romance.

Riley is sort of the star of the show, but Tom is a close second. And he’s followed in quick succession by the duo’s collection of friends Jesse, Luca and Mariella. They’re all wonderfully explored with engaging and eclectic personalities that really make The Getaway List fun to read. It’s hard not to root for each and every one of them as they work through their own individual situations and developing relationships with others.

Author Emma Lord’s writing is warm and inviting. And the romance is a sweet, slow-burn that feels right for her characters. And as Lord takes readers through New York both for work and adventure, The Getaway List becomes an ode to the city.

It’s a lovely, heartfelt read that feels authentic.

As always, Emma Lord knows whats up. This was such a nice love letter to NYC bringing in elements of change in your life and accepting that maybe you might not know what you want but when you find it, you'll know. I enjoyed the characters and the banter. It was also fun seeing references to her previous books. All in all a fun little romcom with heart and friendship. Also the subtle found family *chefs kiss*.

there's so many things i love about Emma Lord's books: the unique characters, witty dialogue, and the way relationships between characters are explored so intricately.

i loved Riley and Tom in this book and the cast of characters comprising their friendship group. much of the story focused on the past between Riley and Tom (which makes sense since they have significant history together and then were forced to spend time apart) but i felt it kind of inhibited me from connecting with the story as much as i could with some of Emma Lord's other books.

it's still funny and sweet though, and i enjoyed reading this!

I have read every Emma Lord book that is out & I think I can unequivocally say that this one is my favorite.

The getaway List is a love letter to New York & to found families. Each side character in this book could be the star in their own book & I would read it so fast.

The premise of this one was really promising. A recent high school grad wants to spend some time with her best friend in New York City checking some items off their Getaway list, which is all the missed things they planned to do during visits they didn’t end up having since he moved away.

Tom is her best friend but he’s been distant lately. Riley is so used to being the good girl and following her mother’s plan she feels lost.

I love that they made sort of their own found family. They comfortably found their way back to each other and their friendship.

Tom melted my heart. While he struggled with his famous mother’s abandonment he was really there for Riley, even when it wasn’t always comfortable for him. I liked seeing Riley find herself though she wasn’t always perceptive to Tom and his needs. Overall the pacing was a bit slow in parts that made it a little less enjoyable but I did love both their journeys.

What is something that you would put on your getaway list? A place to visit or even a local event to go to?