It took me a while to get through this book. The premise was really interesting but the execution fell flat. It felt like more of an outline than a fleshed out story with developed characters. Forgettable and disappointing.

I really tried to like "The Mall" but I think my age prevented me from fully enjoying it. YA fiction can be a fun escapism from time to time, but now that I'm getting older, I'm finding it harder to relate or connect to this genre lately. I do want to praise the cover art at least. WOW! I absolutely love the neon design. Totally captures the early '90s. I also appreciated the nostalgic feels this novel gave me. I was a preteen/teen during this decade and all the throwbacks to fashion, movies, music, and the numerous pop culture references had me smiling from ear to ear. The main problem I had was with the writing. Very juvenile and cliché-ridden. The whole treasure hunt subplot started off strong but ultimately didn't keep my full attention in the end. Cassie was an interesting protagonist. She is ambitious and smart but she came off a little immature and aggravating at times. I think younger readers will truly enjoy this novel but I don't think I'm the right demographic honestly. I want to thank St. Martin's Press for the digital copy.

Release date: June 9, 2020

When I stumbled across this one in the netgalley catalog, I immediately requested it without reading the synopsis. I just couldn’t resist the fun, neon appeal of that cover! When I decided to start this one after midnight, I still didn’t feel compelled to read the synopsis, which is so unlike me. However, I can happily report that this one didn’t disappoint!

The Mall is an upcoming young adult novel that is set in the early 1990’s. Cassie, a recent high-school graduate, believes her life is all mapped out for when she heads to college in the next few months. Her and her boyfriend are set to attend colleges nearby in the same state and in the meantime, have summer jobs at the same food court within their town’s mall. Life doesn’t seem to be any better than it is right now.

But when Cassie’s boyfriend unexpectedly breaks up with her and she loses her job, that picture perfect mindset goes out the window. Despite the heartbreak, she manages to land another mall job working as a book-keeper in a boutique and forms an unlikely friendship with the shop owner’s daughter.

The shop owner’s daughter wrangles Cassie into a Cabbage Patch Kids treasure hunt that turns her summer into one that she’ll never forget.

While reading this one, I kept finding similarities its storyline shared with the latest season of Stranger Things. If you’re a fan of the show, I believe you’d enjoy this one too!

I thought this book was perfect for me, I absolutely love 90’s culture but unfortunately I found this book read far too juvenile for me to get into :(

What a fun read! Set during the summer in a mall in New Jersey in the early 90s, McCafferty brings her usual wit to all of her characters. She's a must read for me and I wasn't disappointed.

"The chlorinated waters of the Wishing Well run black with mascara today."

One line that seems up the nostalgia of my Mallrat tween years. I could taste the French fries and ketchup. I was awash in the smells of skunk weed, spray tans, and Drakkor Noir. I completely forgot that I was reading a book about strangers. I was Cassie and my friends names filled the screen as we spent our summer in the mall.

The characters were easy to hate and harder to love but each character give life to the story. As Cassie goes about her last summer, well laid plans give way to a plot full of love stories, best friends, and treasure hunts that are held tightly together by flannel and scrunchies. I found Cassie to be relatable as a teen in the 90's and today....same basic worries of college, plans, and struggling through life. The notably difference was the edition of so many 90's trend that I actually wished for my teen years back. Starting with a nasty case of mono, her summer begins to plummet. She picks herself up along the way with some expected and unexpected characters interspersed with a killer soundtrack.

This is the YA book you didn't know you needed in your life. The story was well written and the language both understandable and relatable. Megan McCafferty has a way with words and storytelling that is a blessing to those of us in the other side. The Mall is a masterpiece of hairspray, bronzer, and Morrissey. I would recommend this to my friends and to their teenage daughters (or sons). Simply put, The Mall was a masterpiece.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press Wednesday Books for the chance to review.

If you love the 90s then you are going to love this book.

Although I was a smidge young for some of the reference, I still adored then. From Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch to 90210 and everything in between, this book took me right back to my teenage days, loving the mall and everything it has to offer.

In this novel Cassie gets thrown for a loop when her boyfriend, who she has developed The Plan with, breaks up with her for a less than worthy opponent. Knowing she can't work with him for the entire summer, Cassie needs a backup plan. And fast.

This book was FUN. Scavenger hunts, 90s throwbacks, makeover scenes galore and some really fun characters that I loved to read about, I definitely loved getting to sneak into Cassie's world.

Its been awhile since I've read a YA novel and I was starting to worry that maybe the genre was done for me, so it was a nice surprise to pick up The Mall and find that as long as the writer is on point I am still all in.

If you're looking for a fun, fast read and you find yourself stuck in the 90s then this is totally the book for you. It's definitely a Dylan McKay.

I loved this book! It was the perfect blend of 90's nostalgia mixed with a scavenger hunt mystery taking place in a mall with a side of feminism. This is going to be the perfect summer read. It has Megan McCafferty's unique style of writing that is so easy to get lost in.

This was a fail for me.... I have tried 3 times to get into this book and it just isn’t holding my attention. I don’t want to give anything away. I hated the 90s as a kid and I still hate them now. This book was a hard pass for me. I wanted to like it. I may give it some time and go back and try to read it again.

**Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press/Wednesday Books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. This in no way changed my opinion of the book**

The Mall was a cute title. I'm hesitant to call the 1990s "historical fiction", especially when the book still feels relevant to readers today. It is very firmly set in the 1990s, but I think the overall messages will still hit home with YA readers today.

Cassie Worthy has a "plan". She is going to get through the job she has with her boyfriend of two years, Troy, before they head off to NYC for college in the fall. Except the "plan" doesn't go according to plan: Troy dumps her for another girl and she's fired from her job after a bout of mono, leaving Cassie scrambling to figure out who she is and come up with a new "plan". She ends up with a job at a boutique run by the family of her ex-best friend, Drea Bellarosa, and getting sucked into a mall-wide scavenger hunt.

The beginning and parts of the ending were a little slow for me. Cassie spends many of the first few chapters crying about Troy, which rubbed me the wrong way. Anyone who would cheat on you while you have "the worst case of mono the doctor has seen in his 40 year tenure" (Cassie's words) is not worth your tears. The ending part that threw me off was that the author was introducing a new conflict with less than 20% of the book left. While I was expecting the conflict that came, it still felt kind of late to be adding additional problems for the protagonist to overcome.

Once she stopped crying over Troy, I really liked Cassie's story. Her friendship with Drea is very sweet and well written. The scavenger hunt was a fun angle. I found myself trying to figure out the clues before the characters could, so that added engagement with the book for me. The romance plot was cute and sufficiently showed Cassie's growth. Additionally, the "soundtrack" of songs mentioned are great, if you take the time to look it up. McCafferty mentions many songs of various genres, so you may just find a new favorite between these pages.

The last thing that I wanted to mention was the obvious pop culture references that come with a book set in the past. I was born in the early 90s, so some of these were familiar to me. Some of them weren't and I looked them up. While I didn't have a problem with the references since this is a book trying to evoke a certain time period, I was a little confused as to the audience McCafferty is intending to reach. Is it adults who are nostalgic for this time period? Is it teens who may be interested in the 90s the way some of us were interested in the 80s or 70s as kids? I just was unsure where this fits in with the current group of YA readers who are actually part of the YA audience since they won't be old enough to be nostalgic for the references throughout the book. She did a nice job with the references and they don't feel overwhelming the way some pop culture books can feel, but it does feel like a strange choice for readers who were born after the time period.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. It's a fun romp through the mall with lessons about friendship, love, and identity along the way. It is one I would definitely recommend picking up when it's published in June

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

The story was fun and easy to read, if however slightly younger than I was hoping for. I'd say this is on the younger end of the YA spectrum.

Thank you so much to NetGalley for the copy of this ARC! I was excited to read it the moment I saw it was set in 1991, which was my birth year. I'm a 90s baby, so of course most of my memories and formative years are set in the early 2000s, but I have a deep love for my birth decade and the music, pop culture, and fashion that came out of it. Also, I grew up in a small town (and have moved to another) where the only 'fun' thing to do for miles is to go to the mall, so I knew that no matter when I was born, I would relate to this story. I found out, though, that it was more than the setting and the time it takes place that I would find familiarity in. This novel is a coming of age story that will pull on the heartstrings of all its readers; no matter what generation they hail from.

We are thrown in the midst of Cassie's perfect life. She has started a new job with her boyfriend of two years, and the two of them are planning their life together post-high school. Summer is here, and Cassie just got over mono, which knocked her out of commission for things like prom, graduation, and the first few weeks of life at the America's Best Cookie. Our protagonist is excited to return to normalcy, but is accosted her first day back with so much change that it sends her reeling straight out of her relationship, her job, and the person she thought she was. As she picks herself back up again, she finds a safe space within the halls of the Bellarosa Boutique, surrounded by her ex-best friend from fifth grade and a treasure hunt that brings the two of them together. Through Drea's encouragement and Cassie's hard life lessons, we see this girl change before our eyes. She learns to love again, but this time-- she's loving herself.

I was overwhelmed by the consistent theme of being you, no matter what that means. For Cassie, it's a complete overhaul; she realizes she doesn't have to be the prim, proper, and perfect overachiever that her ex-boyfriend fell in love with. She starts to take risks, both mentally and physically, and is a better person through it. For Drea, it's understanding that she deserves to follow her dreams outside the mall. For Cassie's parents, it's figuring out who they are apart after years of being staplegunned to the other's side. For Cassie's maybe beau, Sam Goody, it's stepping away from a life that has made him unhappy for so long to focus on the now. There are so many characters struggling in their own way within these pages, and despite the issues that they have, they find a version of happiness that suits them. It's incredibly uplifting, and even at 28 I am still figuring out who I am, so it's heartening to see that journey from ages 17 to 40-something. You're never too old to start again.

The references in this book were fantastic; the treasure hunt alone was littered with relics of a bygone era, lyrics from shows and bands from the decade are strewn throughout, and there is a distinct smell in the air of denim, hairspray, and the chlorine from the mall fountain. It brought back the mall I remember from my youth which has now lost its own fountain and closed up many of the shops that used to be so prevalent then. Spencer's and Bath and Body Works are still going strong, though, and the food court is still the happening place on a Friday night. It felt like home, and the hi-jinks that the varied cast of characters gets into reminded me of nights out with my best friends in high school; looking at things we didn't have the money to buy, having scavenger hunts, and just being young and alive. There is so much energy in this novel. I felt electrified as I was reading it and just was not able to stop. I recommend this to any adult trying to recapture what it felt like to be unencumbered and surrounded by seemingly endless possibilities, and to any teenager grappling with the daunting task of growing up. There's something here for everyone, just like the book's namesake.

Thank you NetGalley and St.Martin Press for allowing me to read this arc.
This is the first time I've read anything by Megan McCafferty.

Do you love the 90's .. and is YA your jam? Then grab this book and don't look back. This is a laugh out loud and make you remember how much fun The Mall was and the place to be....back in 1991! This is a coming of age story of a girl named Cassie who has a little over a month before she leaves off to collage in the Big Apple. She experiences heartache, friendship, first times.

Go ahead and pick up this book .. take a trip back in time and enjoy her story of self growth...you won't regret it!

So your boyfriend who you have been with for two years breaks up with you. Everything you have known, everything you’re planning for, gone. And him and his new girlfriend work in the mall. So what will you do? You need a job. So the job hunt begins. Old friendships are rekindled. New ones are formed. A treasure hunt is initiated. This book grabbed me by surprise and I ended up reading it all in one day. Just couldn’t put it down. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This is a nice easy read. Anyone growing up in the late 80s/early 90s will recognize many of the pop culture references. Cassie is an overachieving teenager spending her last weeks in her hometown before activating "the plan" with her long-time boyfriend to go to school in New York. After a bout with mono, she finds out he's been cheating on her and has to find another job in The Mall to avoid him. This starts Cassie's true education - one that sees her grow up and become who see wants to be.

1991. Sophomore year in high school. I was fifteen. My favorite place to trek (besides the library) was the mall.

Just the mall. Names never mattered.

In McCafferty's novel, Cassie Worthy spends her summer trying to find her worth via neon, cassingles, and Orange Julius as she deals with an ex-boyfriend, an ex-best friend's advice, and rumors.

I thought this novel was cute. It gave me a slice of nostalgia that I love and I think those living at the moment would love too. If you want a taste of the early 90s (before Nirvana hit the scene), take a gander at this book. It's the bomb! (Yeah, I showed my age!)

4/5

First of all, the cover of this book is 100% on theme with the title in neon lights. It's eye-catching with the all black background, and if you're someone that judges a book by it's cover, you'll pick it up.

This book.....y'all it was a THROWBACK. I started Kindergarten in '93, so I was too young to really experience the 90's in all their glory, but I am obsessed with 80's and early 90's teen movies (think Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Clueless, etc.). The whole time I was reading this, I kept thinking that it would definitely have been the type of movie John Hughes would have loved to direct in his heyday.

Our main character, Cassie Worthy, has just finished high school, and has her life all planned out: Work at America's Best Cookie with her long term boyfriend Troy after graduation, attend an excellent college in the same city as him, graduate in her field of choice, get married, and live happily ever after. Except after a long bout of mono, Troy dumps her, she loses her job, and The Plan goes out the window. She ends up getting a job at a boutique working with her ex-best friend, going on a treasure hunt that involves Cabbage Patch Kids, and becoming who she REALLY is, not the person Troy wanted her to be. There is drama, romance, and adventure, and I honestly couldn't put it down.

I wouldn't say that this book was one of my favorites, but it was solid and fun, with heartwarming moments and scenes that literally made me LOL. I'd definitely recommend it to anyone who wants an easy, feel good read. I can easily see this one making the rounds with my high school girls.

Special thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press/Wednesday Books to send me this ARC COPY in exchange my honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley for sending me this book.
I enjoyed this book and would reread it again but it’s not a favorite. It gave me vibez from the show 6teen.

This was a fun book to read, full of late 80s and early 90s references. The main character as relateable with her insecurities and typical angst and optimism about her future. It wasn’t an overly challenging book but it was enjoyable.

For all the 90's babes young adults. This is the book for you. The blast from the past. It's see it as a cult classic and a fun mystery. With a radical women POV. I definitely recommend this book.