Reading an Emma Lord book means slipping into a world where everybody is hot, quick witted, and unbelievably wholesome. The world’s whimsy dial has been cranked all the way up, and around every corner is some inventive bakery with desserts that transcend normal human understanding. Her books are warm, predictable, and a soft place to land when life feels a little hard.

The Getaway List is another prime example of everything I just described. The book centers on 18-year-old Riley and her desire to take some control over her life. She spontaneously goes to visit her somewhat estranged best friend, Tom, in NYC on the day of her high school graduation. What follows is a real slow burn romance, peppered with the found family trope along the way.

I’ve read quite a few Emma Lord books, and this basically met my expectations…BUT there were a few things I found less successful than in her previous books.

First, the parents in this book are kind of awful yet things magically resolve at the end. Sometimes it feels like Lord wants to build conflict, but is too afraid to actually let her characters suffer a little. Riley’s mom in particular really bothered me, and I feel like her behavior was excused entirely too easily.

Second, Tom - the main male character - did not make a ton of sense to me. He also did some things involving Riley that I didn’t really like, yet we’re treated almost as nice things. I wanted his background to make a bit more sense.

And lastly, sometimes there is a level of TOO much wholesomeness. Riley’s found family is a ragtag group of seemingly asexual, perfectly well-behaved teenagers living entirely unsupervised in NYC. As someone who has worked with teens for the past 10 years, even the BEST kids are likely to do normal teenage risk taking if the situation allows for it. I just found the wholesomeness of the entire group a little too unbelievable.

Those gripes were not enough to make me unhappy with the book, though! I love Emma Lord’s style of writing and enjoy picking up her books when I need a lighter read. If you enjoy YA romance & found family, this should be a win for you!

3.5⭐️

Riley and Tom were best friends until his mother moved them to New York. Ever since then, Riley and Tom’s relationship has been strained.

Riley has just graduated high school with no college prospects and has no idea what to do with her life so she decides to go see Tom in New York.

While she’s in New York they decide to go on adventures from their “Getaway List”. So they along with a few of their friends start to check off items and in the process they start to learn a lot about themselves and each other.

This was a sweet coming of age type story. I loved the banter between Riley and Tom. It was a good book but didn’t hit the wow factor that I normally get from Emma Lord.

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book and share my thoughts.

Big fan of Emma Lord but this was not my favorite of her books. The protagonist didn't sit well with me but I did finish and ended satisfied with what I read. Thank you netgalley for this arc in exchange for my honest opinion.

I’m glad I stuck with this story as I initially found the protagonist, Riley, to be extremely immature and annoying. However, the character arc Lord wrote for Riley was both beautiful and realistic. People, especially young adults, are not perfect and this title is a reflection of that. Outside of the character development, I found the plot to be implausible at some points which contributed to my eventual rating of this novel.

This was not my favorite book by this author. It wasn't holding my interest and took me awhile to get through it. I felt like there was more language in this book than her others.

As soon as I saw a new Emma Lord YA romance was coming out, I knew I had to read it as soon as possible! I love these books, they're the perfect balance of coming of age stories and sweet romances. This book was no different. Not sure what to do after her high school graduation, Riley escapes to New York City for the summer for a long awaited reunion with her best friend Tom. What follows is a summer of adventures as Riley, Tom, and their new friend group explore New York and figure out what they want from their futures. First of all, one the things I love when reading Emma Lord's books is the excellent use of the found family trope. I love that the characters have a a group of friends that fully understand them and always have their backs. Reading about this group of friends completing "The Getaway List" was so fun and it literally made me want to spend a summer in NYC.

I loved both Riley and Tom as the main characters. Their character development happens naturally as they learn what they want to do after summer is over. I liked how they aren't perfect people and that they learned from their mistakes and really grew as people throughout. I also like how they both learned how to communicate with their respective mothers and with each other as well. The romance was sweet and I thought it was adorable that they had crushes on each other. Overall, this was another great Emma Lord book and I really loved reading it. It was a fun, quick read and I can't wait to read more from Emma Lord in the future! I would definitely recommend this to YA and romcom fans alike!

This was a cute rom-com where much of the story focuses on the characters and their futures and the two longtime best friends who’ve recently been disconnected discover they love each other. Very sweet and a fun beach read for sure.

I really enjoyed this!! The beginning of the book I wasn’t sure if I was going to end up liking Riley. She seemed very much like a spoiled kid rebelling against her mom, who really was just doing her best to try and give Riley a good start at life. I might feel that way because I’m a mom and can relate to that side of it more, where if I would have read this when I was 19 or 20, I might have related to Riley’s plight a little more. I also had an issue with how she ran away to New York, and basically fell into a happy life there without much effort. She instantly had a really great friend group and support system, which didn’t really seem like that could happen in the span of a few weeks. I did enjoy how much Riley grew through the book, and how her relationship with her mom changed and became more mature, and the side characters were a lot of fun. Tom was a great character, and I felt for him in so many different ways! I also really loved how invested all of the friends got in completing the getaway list, it was awesome to see how the different things on this list got checked off, and reading about the antics involved was a lot of fun! Overall the second half of this made this be a 4 star read for me!

Thank you to Netgalley and St Martin’s Press- Wednesday Books for the eARC of this book in exchange for my honest review!

I've been drawn to YA lately... there's something about reading about being at the precipice of major life changes when you're in your 40's and every day is virtually the same (hey, life's good here, too)... and that's just where Riley is. She's just graduated from high school and she's ready to get out from under the strict life her mom has built for her. So she heads to New York City to visit her long distance best friend, Tom to work on their Getaway List... but things aren't as expected when she arrives. And to top it off, her mom is NOT happy Riley has left home in the first place. Overprotective mom to say the least!

The NYC backdrop is great. The premise is fun. The characters are all sweet. It's a likeable story, if not predictable.

As always, Emma delivers a cute, adventurous, and heartwarming novel. This is the perfect coming-of-age and finding-yourself YA book. I loved the friend group and of course all the Taylor Swift references!

Thank-you to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and Emma Lord for the eARC.

I've been a big Emma Lord fan right from her debut, and this book immediately shot itself to the number one spot. It's impossible to describe the many ways this book made me feel, but just know I will be HEAVILY recommending it at work.

Thank you Wednesday Books and NetGalley for the eARC of The Getaway List! All opinions in this review are my own.

I read Emma Lord's Tweet Cute and loved it so I was excited to read The Getaway List. While I liked the premise of it, I felt like the focus wasn't necessarily on the list itself. This didn't end up being a detriment because the characters were lovable and I could see this being a hit with a teen looking for an adventure. Overall, it wasn't what I expected it to be and I liked Tweet Cute more, but The Getaway List is a fun summer adventure read!

This was good in a coming-of-age, summer after high school graduation, kind of way. I wasn't blown away by it but it has some good parts and the story flowed well.

This cute YA tells the story of two recent high school graduates, life long friends who have been separated for several years, coming back together in NYC to check things off their bucket list. This is my first Emma Lord book and I wasn't sure what to expect other than I had seen her name on other YAs as being "if you like Emma Lord, you'll like..." The premise of this one was fun and the characters were interesting and likeable. I did find it a little slow going and found the first things on their bucketlist kind of dull, but it picked up and I enjoyed the story. It's a nice YA and one that I think others who enjoy this genre will like. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me the chance to read and review this book!

Riley graduates from high school without much of a plan for her future. She runs off with her childhood friend Tom in NYC to accomplish parts of their getaway list that they created. A fairly average coming of age book. This isn’t Emma Lord’s best imo.

The Getaway List
[First, I’d like to say, thank you to the author, publisher and Netgalley for allowing me to review this ARC with honesty.]

This isn’t the first time I read from the author and probably won’t be my last. While there were times in this that it felt extremely cheesy, I also knew this was a YA romance albeit maybe more so a coming of age subplot, so I expected it at least a little. Having read another of the author’s works, I had a good time with this and found it a lighthearted story about a girl slowly walking away from the life she knew, safe and sheltered by her mother.

My Rating: 3.5 Stars rounded up*

I wanted to give this book a chance, but I think either I'm too old or this book is too young for me. Riley, the main character, came off as spoiled and just rubbed me the wrong way throughout a lot of it. The premise was fun and I liked how what was supposed to be a short trip turned into a grand adventure, but just couldn't get past my dislike for Riley unfortunately. Hopefully others will not be as turned off as I was.

Still not entirely sure what a "The Getaway List is," I just know that I want one for myself, please and thanks.

Emma Lord can do no wrong. I absolutely adore her books both as an adult reader and as a teacher. Her books are easy to recommend to all readers, as they're what I can "Easy to read, low stress books". They're fun, they're relatable, and they're going to have a happy ending.

I thought the character matured a lot as the book moved along, and I thought it was something that all YA readers would enjoy.

A very sweet book about two kids, and their friendship, and what happened as they got older.. After graduating. Riley went to visit her best friend Tom in New York. The weekend visit turned into a stay for the summer. Riley was able to see what she felt was missing in her life and reconnect with her best friend who also felt like something was missing in his life. They make new friends, go on adventures, and finish the list of the created when they are an elementary school.