Following cousins on a road trip to Pride as they dive into family secrets and friendships, When You Get the Chance is a contemporary YA novel, perfect for fans of David Levithan and Becky Albertalli, and for readers looking for a story of friendship and family.
As kids, Mark and his cousin Talia spent many happy summers together at the family cottage in Ontario, but a fight between their parents put an end to the annual event. Living on opposite coasts–Mark in Halifax and Talia in Victoria–they haven’t seen each other in years. When their grandfather dies unexpectedly, Mark and Talia find themselves reunited at the cottage once again, cleaning it out while the family decides what to do with it.
Mark and Talia are both queer, but they soon realize that’s about all they have in common, other than the fact that they’d both prefer to be in Toronto. Talia is desperate to see her high school sweetheart Erin, who’s barely been in touch since leaving to spend the summer working at a coffee shop in the gay village. Mark, on the other hand, is just looking for some fun, and Toronto Pride seems like the perfect place to find it.
When a series of complications throws everything up in the air, Mark and Talia–with Mark’s little sister Paige in tow–decide to hit the road for Toronto. With a bit of luck, and some help from a series of unexpected new friends, they might just make it to the big city and find what they’re looking for. That is, if they can figure out how to start seeing things through each other’s eyes.
Reviews
“Readers will appreciate the tender depiction of growing apart and breakups, and the concept of nonmonogamous relationships is also explored without stigma…. A solidly entertaining trip through Canada’s queer history, and one family’s difficult secrets. Recommended for fans of lightly adventurous realistic fiction.”
— School Library Journal
“The honesty about privilege! The snappy dialogue! The multi-generational queerness and recognition of queer history and culture! The rainbows! I love this Canadian Pride road trip!”
— Alex Gino, award winning author of GEORGE
“A heart-warming story about love and friendship and family. I love this book!”
— Mason Deaver, author of I WISH YOU ALL THE BEST
“A lovely and thoughtful story about family, community, and what comes next in a young person’s life. A wonderful addition to young adult literature.”
— Sara Farizan, author of HERE TO STAY
“A stunning duet about the messiness, history and beauty of both family and queerness.”
— L.C. Rosen, author of JACK OF HEARTS (AND OTHER PARTS)