I think everyone wants to escape 2020 right now. Travel back in time 1991 and check out The Mall by Megan McCafferty. I loved this book, I could actually smell the Parkway Center Mall and relished riding the wave of 90s nostalgia all throughout the novel. Despite being set in a simpler time, the themes of finding yourself and learning who your true friends are is timeless. While Cassie is the star of this novel, I thought it was her friend Drea who really shined the most here and I would love, love, love if McCafferty gives us a follow-up novel starring Drea.

THE MALL is an ode to the early 1990s and the heyday of the suburban mall when your parents would drop you off and let you wander for hours with your best friend while you snacked on Cinnabon and ate mall chinese food. This book is pure nostalgic fun and the exact type of escapist read many of us are looking for right now. I loved it so much.

I loved this trip to my past. It has it all. The excitement of the future in front of you and how life teaches you that we everything can and will change in an instant. Full of laugh out loud moments you are in for a treat with this gem of a book. Happy reading!

This is a good book for those that like and appreciate pop culture references throughout a story. There are lots of 90s references in this book, from working at the mall, to television, fashion, and slang.

The story started out well enough, with the main character excited to start her job at the mall with her boyfriend, but that quickly fell into just trying to find a new job and working at the mall. I was overwhelmed by the intense 1990s references and this distracted me from the rest of the story.

3.5*


The Mall was an entertaining and enjoyable look back at the 90s. It’s a fairly quick, easy read - good for a little escapism, which I’m sure we could all use a bit of lately. I enjoyed the pop culture references and reliving the time when the mall was the place to be. The scavenger hunt was a fun addition to the story, making for some good bonding time between Cassie and her old best friend Drea.
Cassie was an interesting character. There were times I felt bad for her, and other times I didn’t really like her. While I could empathize with her about some of the things she was going through, quite often she didn’t come off as a nice person, which was a shame. I’d say for a soon-to-be college freshman she had a lot of growing up to do, but who of us didn’t at that age. And by the end of the book she did kind of redeem herself after having a bit of a “lightbulb” moment.

Overall though, this was a fun read. The Mall is definitely a homage to the late 80s/early 90s, and for someone who graduated college in ‘91 it brought back feelings of nostalgia. While I do think many of the references might be lost on teens today, I’d say this would be a good read for just about any age.

Thank you NetGally and Wednesday Books for giving me a free arc in exchange for an honest review. Release date July 28th, 2020.
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While I appreciate 90’s nostalgia that this book brought to the table, the story as a whole didn’t work for me. Which is unfortunate, because I really wanted to love this book. I ended up DNFing at 120 pages. This just wasn’t my jam. Wasn’t my vibe. Wasn’t fresh, you know.
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I can definitely see others enjoying this book. If contemporary is your genre of choice - give this book a shot.
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Now please excuse me, I’ve been marathoning cheesy 90’s movies with all my teen heartthrobs... Heath Ledger’s ‘10 Things I Hate About You’ is next 😍😘
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“I’ve got those good vibrations...” Marky Marky is stuck in my head after reading this one!

Happy Pub Day to The Mall by Megan McCafferty! Thank you @netgalley and @wednesdaybooks for this advanced digital copy, in exchange for an honest review!

The Mall gave me allllll those nostalgic 90s feels. I was in middle school in the mid 90s so this brought me back. I would often hang out at the mall (with @groove789 😉) buying unnecessary key chains for a car I couldn’t drive, mushroom shaped candles that I never burned and fluttery butterfly hair clips that often broke. My favorite store was Sam Goody where I bought CD singles from Hanson, Brandy and Donna Lewis. I wore oversized flannel and shiny Airwalks, my hair was long and parted down the middle- flyaways flattened with lots of hairspray.

Anywho, this story was just what I needed. I didn’t connect to the ACTUAL storyline on a deep level but I enjoyed it none the less. It was about 17 year old Cassie- recently dumped, fired and generally unhappy. This story is about mall shenanigans, rekindling an old friendship, gaining self confidence and becoming the best version of yourself!

Bonus: I basically read this whole book on a 4 hour car ride. It reads SO quickly. The chapters are short with lots of dialogue. I love that. Perfect for a vacation or beachside when you need something light. 😆

Those of you who are old like me, what do you miss from the 1990s?! I miss alternative rock in its prime and making hemp necklaces. Oh, and my lava lamp. Oh! And my general frivolity and not having too many responsibilities. 💁🏼‍♀️

This book brought so many great memories for me. If you love the 90s and the movie Mallrats - this is the book for you. The adventures that Cassie goes through with people that she works with and the employees of the mall makes this so entertaining. This such a fun YA book about friendship, love and finding yourself. Thank you to @netgalley and @wedendaybooks for the ebook. ⁣

I adored this book! This book centers around Cassie Worth who is working in a New Jersey mall (what makes it better than any other mall? it's Jersey, duh) for her last Summer before college who, for the last 2 years has lived her life by "the plan" but as all good plans go, it kinda fell apart. This book explores young love, friendships and family and figuring out who you really are. I loved all the nostalgic feels as this book is set in the early 90's and has all the awesomeness that belongs there - such as 90210 (the original), blue eyeshadow and shoulder pads! I really enjoyed the story, the character development and the realistic ending, I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who needs a reminder to stop following a plan and just be yourself.

Who knew an entire book based on the mall could be good? I wasn't sure what to expect, but it didn't take long to be sucked in to this riveting story. The Mall struck every nostalgia cord, even though the time frame is a little out of my reach, and offered a thrilling scavenger hunt. What more could you want form a book?

I adored this book! The 90s tween me was morphed straight back to pre Social Media when a day at the mall with (in person tangible) friends was the normal way to pass Summer days! Sam Goody and Ghost Girl had my heart from the start but the whole cast truly made this book special. Aquanet, denim jackets, a Back to School Fashion Show, a 90210 grading scale, Cucumber Melon, the arcade, ABC 🍪 and Cabbage Patch dolls was the perfect scenery for a warm nostalgic hug from a simpler time. If you are between 38-48 you’ll love this one! Anyone outside of those ages won’t feel it on a deep level but will get a glimpse into a fantastic era of life as a teen!!

Thank you Wednesday Books and NetGalley for including me in the ARC blog tour.

Pick this one up tomorrow 7/28 and thank me later!

Cassie Worthy has her senior year/summer before leaving for college perfectly planned. She will enjoy prom with her longtime perfect boyfriend, Troy, graduate with the highest honors, and then work at America’s Best Cookie in the food court at the mall before finally embarking on a new college adventure in New York City. That is, until she comes down with a wicked case of mono and misses out on all of her end-of-year senior festivities that she had perfectly planned with Troy. As she finally is released to start work at America’s Best Cookie with Troy, she is accosted physically and emotionally with news that totally upsets all of the rest of her perfect plans.
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Although there are definitely some outdated concepts explored in the book (I assume that is kind of the point with the 90s teenage setting), I really enjoyed taking a step back into the era I grew up in. A time before cell phones and easy internet research, where malls were the thriving meccas that we all just assumed they would always be. I loved the treasure hunt journey in the mall (it totally gave me slight Goonies and even bigger Stranger Things season 3 vibes) and I loved what the journey ultimately turned into.
If you loved the cultural phenomenon that was the 90s, pick this up because it easily delivered on all of the nostalgia from a time idolized by many.

The year is 1991, Cassie Worthy is headed back to her job at the mall at a cookie shop when she is dumped by her boyfriend (and coworker). After bumping into her old friend Drea, she takes a job at Drea’s family’s boutique doing the accounting. Drea convinces Cassie to go on a scavenger hunt located in the mall. The treasure is rumored to be hidden in the mall by an eccentric man who used to own a shop a long time ago. While Cassie helps Drea search for clues, she also unexpectedly finds herself, renews a friendship, and has a summer fling.
I love that Cassie gets “revenge” on her ex, just by moving on and becoming her true self. And that her summer fling isn’t serious and she can still have fun. I just really liked how this book captured the stage between high school and going to college. Cassie still shows childish, high school attributes, especially when it comes to her parents. But she is also learning and growing into an adult who is ready to make her own choices.
The Mall gets a 4/5 star rating. I love the character development, even the supporting characters grow on you. The premise is original and nostalgic and who doesn’t love flannel, 90’s grunge, a mystery to solve and angsty teen romance triangles?!

“The Parkway Center Mall was home to 105 specialty shops, three department stores, and two movie screens. This 900,000 square foot monument to consumerism was Pineville, New Jersey’s de facto downtown. Never referred to by its full name—always and only the mall—this capitalist mecca wasn’t the biggest or the best or the newest our state had to offer, but it was the closest. For that reason alone, the mall was the center of the universe for bored hordes of suburban teens with limited spending money and infinite time to waste.”

And so begins a perfectly 90s tale of the MALL and the center of the universe for Pineville’s youth. For Cassandra it’s just temporary though because she has a plan. Though the end of her senior year was upended by a wicked case of mononucleosis, she still has her boyfriend of two years, Troy, a job at the food court to pay for incidentals, and a freshman year to look forward to at Barnard— just across the street from Troy, set to study at Columbia. She has been waiting to get herself to New York City and it is just a couple months away now. And then in one fell swoop, she loses the job and the guy and a sense of herself. Luckily fate intervenes before she has to come clean to her parents and her plan is, mostly, back on track.

Working at the boutique she is paired up with her ex-best friend Drea, with the Fran Drescher laugh & wardrobe, who is begrudgingly spending time with Cassie at the prodding of her mother. Drea encourages Cassie to get over Troy with a two-pronged approach: have sex, and help Drea track down the infamous, illicit money stash of a toy hustler/cocaine addict hidden somewhere in the bowels of the Mall. The resulting story rings of Kate Williams’ Babysitters Coven with a hint of Maria Semple’s absurdity, a playful and snarky as hell narrator in Cassie and a hilarious, feel-good romp through retro mall culture as she rediscovers who she is, Troy be damned, because NYC, here she comes.

A huge thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with an ARC of this title in exchange for an honest review.

Wow! This book took me back to my days of teen angst. I'm a Gen Xer, so this was pure nostalgia. I felt like I was immersed in one of my favorite John Hughes movies - expecting Jake Ryan to turn the corner at any moment. It;s a story about fitting in and finding out who you are.

When Cassandra's possibility of forever boyfriend breaks up with her at the beginning of summer, and her parents start acting like weird cardboard replicas of themselves, her world quickly becomes the crappiest show on earth. She doesn't know what she wants. She doesn't know how to deal with all of the raw emotions wheeling through her. She wants to become a newer, more spectacular version of herself, but she doesn't want to lose who she is in the process. When she lands a job at the prestigious Bellarosa Boutique it seems like a dream come true.

But Cassie's quest for popularity has unexpected rewards and lessons. There are undercover makeout sessions, treasure maps, and unexpected friendships. There is a very active rumor mill, a mysterious music aficionado a la High Fidelity. There are mini-skirts, hair spray and discussions about Club MTV.

I absolutely loved it!

Synopsis: It’s 1991, Cassie has a plan and she’s sticking to it. Her boyfriend and her are headed to college and then straight to marriage. Everything is going well until she is attacked by Cucumber Melon Bath and Body Works spray and finds out her boyfriend has been cheating on her! Now she needs to find a new plan as she rediscovers herself before heading off to college.

I loved this one! It is such a cute, fun, easy read especially for 90s kids! This is filled with nostalgia and I loved all the references. I thought there was some 80s vibes in here as well so I def think 80s or 90s kids would love this one. I’m not so sure how this one would go over for a teen now, but I would love to know!

If you want to take a trip down to the days of cassette tapes, music stores, mall fashion shows, jellies, and sun in highlights I highly recommend you pick up this fun one!

Thank you @wednesdaybooks for this gifted copy and the fun mall map too!

Short and Sweet
Cassie has everything planned out, she’s going to work at Parkway Center Mall after graduation until she goes off to college in New York with her boyfriend. But sometimes plans don’t always pan out and now Cassie has to reevaluate everything.
Characters
Cassie: Cassie is our main character and she’s smart a bit of a know it all. There’s a lot going on in her life, she just recovered from mono, her boyfriend has been cheating on her, and her parents are separating. She snaps on people a lot but I just think its because of all the things she’s going through, but sometimes she did go too far. I did like Cassie as a character though she knew what she wanted and she went for it.
Drea: Drea and Cassie used to be best friends in middle school and then they had a falling out so having to work with your ex friend is awkward and tense. I loved Drea she’s your typical Jersey girl all about the fashion and big hair. Drea loves fashion and has big dreams to start her own clothing line. There’s a lot more to Drea, she has a tough exterior but she’s still sensitive. My favorite thing about Drea is her laugh I could just hear it and it was hilarious and made me smile.
Romance
Cassie and Troy: Troy and Cassie have been dating for two years. They work at America’s Best Cookie together and a few weeks will be leaving to New York to go to college. Unfortunately Troy is a piece of trash and has been cheating on Cassie while she’s been recovering from Mono! Cassie had to find out the hard way because the other girl also worked at the mall.
Cassie and Sam: Sam works at the record shop and Cassie and Sams first interaction wasn’t the best. But over time they start hanging out more. I think these two would have been better off as friends especially because Cassie is leaving soon.
My Thoughts
~ Going into this I didn’t really know what to expect because the synopsis doesn’t really offer a lot, but I was pleasantly surprised.
~ Cassie was supposed to work at America’s Best Cookie with Troy but everything changes when she finds out he’s been cheating on her so obviously working there is not an option. Cassie ends up getting a job at Bellarosa Boutique.
~ Bellarosa is owned by Gia and her daughter Drea also works there. Drea and Cassie used to be friends so this job situation is also a bit awkward. I loved the mother daughter duo of Gia and Drea I could just picture them, like I said Jersey girls!
~ Anyway there’s a bit of the mystery at the mall that involves Cabbage Patch Kids, a little weird but I liked it. The girls had to find Cabbage Patch Kids which also had maps which would eventually lead them to a treasure.
~ Cassie and Drea used to be friends, so I liked seeing them grow closer together over the course of the book.
~ I loved the setting it was so realistic and hearing about all the stores, I also liked seeing how Cassie tried to avoid certain places because of the people she didn’t want to see.
Overall
In a time where social distancing and quarantining are a thing reading a book about the mall was great. I felt like I was there even if it does take place in the 90’s. I loved hearing about all the stores and seeing the interactions Drea and Cassie had with other shop owners and customers. I loved the little mystery that’s involved too! This book is funny and cute and such a great read for the summer!

This book is 90's GENIUS.
I am so in love with this story and I never wanted it to end. I have to say that I was about the same age as Cassie at the same year in this book so it resonated so much with me.
The references used were spot on! New generations will never know what it was like when malls used to be your whole world and everything happened there instead of social media.
I wish my words could adequately describe how I feel about this book. I am overwhelmed with how witty and brilliant the whole premise behind this book was. All of the crazy, strange characters and personalities were just the type of people that you encounter at the mall and in life.
Cassie endures so many things coming at her all at once that I couldn't help but sympathize with her and how well she handled (even though she really didn't) all of the changes. And while everything spins out of control, the way it wrapped up at the end was perfection.
My heart is just bubbling as I am writing this review and I am so excited for everyone to be able to read this. YA GOLD.

This book was definitely based on nostalgia. If you were ever a mall-rat in the early 1990s, prepare for some serious flashbacks.

All the memories this book dredged up made it a delightful walk down memory lane. Adding in a little mystery to solve just gave it that much more to enjoy. The main character definitely felt relatable as a girl just finishing high school. She had a plan, but spending the spring laid up with mono had required her skipping a few memorable landmarks previously planned out with her boyfriend and partner in her long-term plan. Unfortunately, while she rested at home, he went on with life and youthful adventures. When she tried to step back in where she’d left off, a few details had changed and she was left scrambling for what to do in her last summer of childhood.

Cabbage Patch Kids? Sam Goody? Hanging at the mall? Yes, please! While it may not be as relatable as online shopping has taken over, anyone who remembers the mall—especially around 1990—will be amused by the references in this story. Overall, I’d give this book 3.5 out of 5 stars.

When I was asked to review this book as part of the blog tour (it’s going to be released TOMORROW, 7/28), I was instantly intrigued by the plot synopsis. Y’all know I have an obsession with anything and everything 80s, and as decades don’t really begin until five years in, this was perfect.

My overall impression was that I enjoyed this book. I tore through it–picked it up and didn’t put it down. I enjoyed Cassie’s character arc. She starts off the book rather self-centered, but over the course of the book, becomes a better person and forms more genuine relationships. Part of the thing that makes her kinda crummy is her boyfriend, Trent, and how she conforms to what he wants. At the start of the book, they break up, and it’s the catalyst for her transformation. However, she doesn’t transform to spite him–but ends up spiting him anyways. As she tells him, she didn’t change–she became who she always was. And while she pursues other romance in the book, it doesn’t define her–she’s her own person.

My one complaint about this book was that it was too short. While I understand that it takes place over a single summer, I felt like a few of the character arcs were a bit incomplete–the ending of her involvement with a man known as Sam Moody seemed a bit rushed, her friend Drea seemed to forgive her too quickly, I wanted the end of the treasure hunt that spans the book to pack a bit more punch. Overall, though, the arcs and plots were mostly good. I just wish it was perhaps fifty pages longer, so that things felt more complete at the end. And I mean, if all I want is more book, then things are looking pretty good!

I won’t say this book is revolutionary, per se, but I do think it’s worth reading and it is thought-provoking in its own way. It’s like a time capsule. I couldn’t put it down and the characters and setting are vibrant. Cassie’s narrative voice took a minute to get used to, but once I was a few chapters in, I enjoyed how distinctive it was. I think this would be a great book to take on vacation or gift someone–it’s enjoyable, thoughtful, and riotous fun–and also a great testament to all things 80s and early 90s.