When You Get the Chance

by Robin Stevenson and Tom Ryan

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 sudden complications throw 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 others eyes.

• ISBN10: 0762495006
• ISBN13: 9780762495009
• Publish Date: 6 May 2021
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Running Press,U.S.
• Imprint: Running Press Kids
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 272
• Language: English

Reviews

[Liam]

[The ARC of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.]

What I liked:
• The cover is really cute (and queer)!
• I loved that the story was about family and friendships, and not so much about romance.
• The characters were so diverse – there were queer characters of color, trans and nonbinary characters, older queer characters, polyam characters… That was great!
• I also liked that the story was set in Canada.
• The side characters were all really great and interesting! Paige was very funny, and I loved Shirley and Derek.

What I didn’t like:
• I wish asexuality and aromanticism had at least been mentioned… In such a diverse story it would not have been difficult to include an a-spec character.
• I really didn’t like the main characters. Mark was just an asshole, especially at the beginning. He’s a selfish, privileged white allo cis gay guy, and he literally tells Talia: “You don’t seem happy unless you have some social justice warrior shit to keep you busy.” because she educates him about some queer topics. And the worst thing is: he never apologizes for it, and at the end, Talia even seems to agree with him!
• The plot was kind of boring… There was no real common thread, little to no character development and the ending seemed a little forced.

[Sam@WLABB]

The death of their grandfather forces a rather uncomfortable family reunion between Mark and Talia's families, but results in renewed and new found friendships, as well as some exploration and discoveries about themselves.

Mark and Talia were like night and day, so different from each other, but they both were part of the LGBTQ community, and both desperately wanted to attend Pride in Toronto. Mark wanted to go, meet boys, and have a good time. While Talia needed to find out where she stood with her partner. Though their objectives were quite different, this trip was an instrumental part of them learning more about themselves and who they were.

Identity is discussed throughout the book, and I thought many of the discussions about sexual and gender identity were integrated well into the story. I especially appreciated how the authors presented the various points of view. Some of the best dialogues were prompted by the break-out star of this book, Paige. Paige was Mark's 10-year old sister, and her youthful, untainted, and precious this-is-how-I-see-it takes on identity were so wonderful. There were also points of view from people outside the community, as well as, older members of the community, which added even more depth to the discussions.

Overall: I had a wonderful time meeting Paige, Mark, and Talia, and enjoyed being part of their personal journeys.

*ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.

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