Actual rating 4.75

High school is a tough gig. After an event that makes Luna's life even tougher, she enters a competition that could potentially save her family's movie theatre in the form of a hefty amount of money. All she has to do is live without modern technology for a year, easy, right? But when her friends start to disappear, she fears that there's something deeper going on. With no telling who's next, it's a race for Luna and the friends she has left to uncover what's really going on, before they too disappear.

I'm not sure what made me request this book. The cover caught my eye, for sure, but something about the blurb just spoke to me and it turned out to be speaking the truth! I thoroughly enjoyed this read and it kept me guessing at all times. I think I know what made me request it, in a world where the next generation have never lived without the kind of technology that we have today, I was curious to read a story about present day teenagers willingly giving up technology and how that would go down. I knew there was going to be a hit of mystery involved, it says as much in the blurb itself, but this story ended up being a deeper exploration of the current social climate than what I expected it to be and I sincerely hope that more people read this story, well, more YOUNGER people read this story and get an idea of what it is that they're missing out on.

When a shopping trip goes sideways, Luna discovers that one of her friends, is not a real friend. Letting Luna take the fall for something that she had nothing to do with ends up with Luna feeling quite disheartened and angry. After which, she posts something to social media that results in her friend ending up in a hospital. I loved that straight off the bat, this story illustrates how damaging social media can be. Just straight up across the board, how bad it can be and how it can negatively affect everybody. There is so many young people who take their own lives, and a lot of that is due to bullying. I hear a lot of people from older generations scoff at how silly it is, not that someone has lost their life of course, but that the younger people seem unable to switch off. Even when I was at school, there was no such thing as social media, and no one at school age had mobile phones. These days, I think a lot of people miss the fact that kids can't just switch off. Not because they physically can't of course, but because their brain doesn't know a life or a world without some form of technology, whether that be a phone, a tablet, a laptop, whatever. Their brains are incapable of fathoming life NOT being connected. Therefore, the bullying doesn't stop at school, or in the playground or wherever else kids are, yes, as an adult, the answer is simple - block them and move on with your day. But as a kid? I feel like it's not that simple, I think that the addiction to technology, or even just the inability to live without being connected 24/7 is a much deeper conundrum than a lot of adults can even comprehend or try to start processing. My generation was the generation where the times were beginning to change. I had dial up internet, AOL and MSN messenger chat...Myspace! I've lived in both worlds, I grew up in both worlds, I can think on both sides of the coin, and I'm terrified of how dependant kids are these days on their devices and their technology. I love that this book really showed the struggles that kids and teens of today would have if they had to give up being connected all the time. One of the scenes that really sticks in my head from this book is at the beginning of the challenge where all the participants are to drop their phones into a receptacle that will mean they can't access it for twelve months. One student has SO much trouble letting go, well, a couple do, but I feel like the authors of this story really captured that dependence on devices, so well!

I loved the cast of characters. It was so diverse, and I absolutely loved the found family vibe that we get from Luna and Co. I loved that we see the TikTok sensations (thought it's not called TikTok in the story) in the popular kids, and how one of them, during the competition, speaks about how hard it is to maintain a social media presence as large as theirs. How most of the time, yes there's a group, but generally there's one in the group who is the point for the whole groups' individual success on the app itself. We see the people affected by something negative going viral, and those responsible for pushing it to go viral. We see the impact that this has on not just the person itself, but on those around them, those that shared it, those that posted it in the first place. I absolutely adored the metal head who didn't need any friends and how he ended up a part of this found family of mismatched personalities. I loved how diverse the personalities were and I felt that they really shone through, making the characters so real and so raw and so believable. I feel that this also made the situations and events they were going through so much more real as well. I loved how the participants in the challenge really embraced the 'old skool' way of life, they went all out and embraced the 80s as much as they could, and I just loved it.

I also really enjoyed the mystery that was twined throughout this coming-of-age story of a different kind. It was definitely a twisty one and I didn't have any idea on what was happening or why people were disappearing. Especially when they had no intention of giving up or leaving the challenge the last time Luna had seen or spoken with them. It kept me guessing the whole time, and I'll admit, the reveal is possibly where my star rating dropped that tiny bit. The ending at the headquarters, when the main cast were there before the stampede, I dunno, it just didn't hit as on point as what I was hoping. It was still clever, and it was still not a bad thing, but it just didn't hit quite how I wanted it to. I will admit though, after that stampede, while all hell was breaking loose, I did get the good feel goosebumps. It was kinda nice to see all the different cliques coming together to make a point.

All in all, this was a much deeper and more emotional read than I was expecting, it hit harder, and it really made me wish that my nephews could experience a life without their devices and technology, just for a little bit. It makes me wish that they could see how big this world really is and that there is so much happening around them on the daily. I was so glad that I got to read this story because it really does have an important message weaved throughout it and I feel that it's one that teenagers and kids of today really need to learn and hold on to.

DNF at 36%.

Retro is a young adult novel and both authors do a great job of conveying this teen voice. I do wish younger me had a copy of this book because I know she would’ve devoured this writing and the storyline.

If you are someone who feels as if you could not live without modern technology and enjoy a good YA thriller, I would give this a go. The direction the story was taking was very promising and I loved the narrators voice and the way the story was being told. The plot however just took quite some time to progress and I simply lost interest (note: I have been trying to get out of a reading slump, so I may revisit this novel at a future date, as this could just be a case of ‘right book, wrong time’).

My thanks go out to Netgalley and the publisher for the complimentary e-arc in exchange for an honest review. All opinions in this review are my own.