For someone who grew up in NJ in the 90s, this definitely had a lot of appeal. Plus, it had a good main character who was finding herself after a nasty bout of mono that changed everything in her life. There was a crazy ridiculous treasure hunt, but even that was fun. There was a whole love interest plot with a guy who worked at Sam Goody whose name we did not know--that cracked me up, but I also spent my teen years shopping at Sam Goody so that might have helped. I do wonder what today's teens will take away from this one. Hopefully, they take away that teens pretty much always have the same problems no matter the year.

I was going to wait until closer to the published date to post my feedback on The Mall but I think by then I will have forgotten even more of the book. Ironic, since it is a book about the past. 😅

We are currently in the age of Nostalgia™. Everyone wants their childhood happiness and/or simplicity back. Looking at the current news all around the World, it's a no-brainer as to why. Nostalgia and memories are a trick our minds play on us. Things aren't always as great as we may have thought they were. 
I recently tried to reread The Baby-Sitters Club series because they were my absolute favorite and what got me into reading as a child. Oh. My. Goodness. They are pretty bad. And my heart is broken to learn that many of the books had ghost writers. I feel betrayed. But, I'm getting off topic. Kind of. 
The Mall is a book looking to play into the Nostalgic magic . (Think... Fuller House) The Mall is set in the 1990s (early 90s) when malls and such were in their prime. I had the discussion with my dad recently about how malls used to be an 'event'. You would go spend hours there shopping, meeting friends, eating, playing at the arcade, or seeing a movie. The Mall has bits and pieces of that. It is a fun read but a bit cliche at times. I never really connected to the characters and I don't feel like it really reflected my 90s. My predominant memories are of the later 90s, which might be part of it. I do think it will resonate with many, though. I don't know how today's teens will react to it as they may or may not get certain references. 

#NotMy90s #StopTryingToMakeFetchHappen

The Mall will be a perfect Summer and beach read and I look forward to seeing the response to it. 

***An arc was provided by St. Martin's Press/Wednesday Books and Netgalley.***

The Mall is a super fun throwback to working in the mall in the 80's. Remember Chess King, Orange Julius, Sam Goody's, and B.Dalton? Turn on some Marky Mark tunes and fall into memories about the months between graduating high school and starting college. Cassie's life turns upside down as everything she thought about life, "the plan", gets disrupted. Treasure hunts, secret parties, and fountain brawls are just the start of the hilarious escapades that happen as Cassie tries to figure it all out. This book is about, "family and friendship and love and loyalty and betrayal and sisterhood, "you know, all the most important shit in life". Easy read - would make a great beach book.

This is SUCH a fun YA coming of age, romance, and friendship story. McCafferty flawlessly transports readers to the 90s setting with so much attention to detail. I was super excited when I heard about this book and it surpassed expectations. This will be a fun pick for teens and adults alike and I look forward to recommending it.

The Mall is a likable book, that is hindered by its flat characters and barely-there plot. I'm not sure the 90's references will be appreciated by teens, so I'm not quite sure of the audience for this book.

While I was born in the early 90s, I still had nostalgic memories from this book. This is definitely one of my favorite YA novels to date, and not just because it's set in and heavily influenced by the 90s.

This is a cute book. It starts with Cassie on her way to work with her boyfriend Troy. Both are very smart and she plans to enjoy their graduation summer. Cassie also feels she has some time to make up because she has missed prom and graduation due to mono. However once she gets to work her whole life seems to shift. Troy breaks up with her for some bimbo at Bath And Body Works, she loses her job and has to find a new now asap. She does not want or need her parents to know what a mess her life has become. Then BAM her parents split up too!

I enjoyed hearing music from the late 80's early 90's (as it is 1991). I loved how the author talked about the stores that were in the Mall back in that time period. It was an all and all fun read. But to see how Cassie turns things around well you will just have to read the book!

Fun, and a great flashback to the very early 90s, THE MALL introduces readers to Cassie, a recent high school grad on the verge of a new life but still stuck in her old one. After a break up with her boyfriend, Cassie needs a new job and new outlook, and in finding both (at the mall, of course), she reignites a long-lost friendship.

This book has a lot of great things: a mystery, humor, and of course all of the 90's-era trappings which are so fun to remember. Unfortunately, I didn't find many of the characters compelling, though I did enjoy following the ups and downs of the friendship of Cassie and Drea.

Straddling the line between YA and NA, this book will be a fun summer read when it comes out.

Thanks to NetGalley for a free ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Arc provided by Netgalley in return for an honesty review.

The story follows a girl named Cassandra who is dating Troy but after she gets sick and can’t attend their prom he ends up finding a new girlfriend. While Cassandra gets hired at the mall, she is helping Drea (a co worker) look for a hidden treasure.

This book had me laughing and it’s a fun read. It releases June 9, 2020 and its perfect to read during the summer.

Why should you read this book?
1. The cover is amazingly beautiful!
2. There is a scavenger hunt!
3. It’s a cute, funny, and hooks you from the beginning!

Thank you Netgalley for the advanced copy. I truly enjoyed this story!

As a child of the 90's, the setting, pop-culture references, and atmosphere of this book was 5 stars! It was easy to overlook things I liked less about the book because this aspect was so much fun. The problem I had with this book is I had a difficult time connecting to the characters or any of their personal strifes. I felt like a lot of the characters were flat, and despite this delightful setting (a mall in the 90's!) I had a hard time staying invested in this novel. Megan McCafferty always holds a soft spot in my heart though.

I would like to recommend this book for my class, but I think a lot of the references and a general understanding of the meaning of the mall during the early 90s would be lost on them. However, this was an incredibly fun read for someone who grew up in that time frame (OK, maybe a little after). It combined the feelings and themes of YA lit with the glory of mall culture and that fuzzy transition period from 80s to 90s. For older people who are young at heart, and whose literature tastes often reflect that, this is an easy buy.

I loved this book so much. It was relatable, quirky, intriguing, and easy to read. I loved the main character, she felt so real! I loved that even though its YA, it was still an awesome read for me, a 30-something. Definitely will be recommending to friends!

The Mall is a super fun, light read that transported you back to the height of the 80s. Think big hair, shoulder pads, and 90210 mania. At its heart, the story is one about breaking bonds and becoming your truest self. The MC starts her summer before college after a bout of mono caused her to be quarantined for weeks. Always the girl with a plan, she returns to the world to find her boyfriend stolen by a psycho and her summer job no longer available. She ends up working at a high end dress boutique that is totally not her style, with a former bff that ditched her for boys in middle school.. The estranged friends soon become allies in solving a mall mystery that many think is only urban legend. The hope is that treasure awaits. Bonding and hijinks ensue in a most enjoyable way!

I was so excited for this ARC and I have been looking forward to reading this book for a couple weeks now! I really loved the 90s vibe, and the adorable characters! It is such a fun read, with fun topics introduced but the author doesn't dive into the serious topics too much, making this a fun and light hearted read. I think this book will appeal to it's intended audience with the style of the writing and the pop culture references. The entire book was such a fun throwback and this made me enjoy it even more! People who are looking for a light hearted and quick read should definitely pick this book up! I am going to be promoting this book to everyone, as this is a book I feel so many of my followers would enjoy and blow through!

A fun look back at the epicenter of teen life in the 90s - THE MALL. While I personally came of age around 2000, I still delighted in all the callback references - B Dalton, Sam Goody, etc. I loved both Cassie's overachiever self and Drea, the fashion-forward former best friend. The treasure hunt sub-plot was silly, but overall I enjoyed this quick read!

I was a huge fan of Megan McCafferty's Jessica Darling series, and I couldn't wait to get the galley of this one (thank you, NetGalley! And the publisher, and the author!) There is a clear audience for this book - I'm not sure how it would be received by an older or younger group, but for those of us in the Oregon Trail generation, this book hits the sweet spot. Cassie Worthy has just completed high school. She's a nerd, but she's got a plan. She and her boyfriend, Troy, will be attending universities across the street from each other in New York City, planning to immerse themselves in the World of Knowledge while also having fun. Until Cassie gets sprayed by a rogue mister from Bath and Body Works - and it turns out the girl has been sneaking around with Troy. Cassie is suddenly unmoored, but over the course of the summer, she finds her way into all sorts of new adventures, learning about herself and who she is in the process. A confection that mall-lovers will adore, complete with a fun treasure-hunt subplot and several unlikely friendships.

This was a really fun read! The book has some really fun parts, and really good dialogue! I haven't read anything by this author besides this book but will definitely be looking up her other series! Very cute book, and I would definitely recommend!

I received this ARC from Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for my honest review

I had such high hopes for this book, as I loved her Jessica Darling series, I read through it multiple times. This was completely forgettable. The plot was lacking, the characters were unappealing. The only reason I'm giving 3 stars is because I only got about 60% of the way through before shutting down. Maybe the ending redeems it some.

Hmmm… When somebody told me, why don’t we take an exciting tour to travel around 90’s memory lane so you got the references easily from your childhood and some part of teenage era: I answered myself ( yes, I don’t have an intellectual imaginary friend and I’m not drunk enough so I offered myself a tour and I took it): “Why not!”

Results: Going back to time, Matthew Broderick is still young and dated Jennifer Grey who was playing his sister on the movie: Yes you got it right: Ferris Bueller days or day off. (Later it turned into a show with new cast members and it sucked!) 90210 was still good, the characters were still young, annoying but relatable, they didn’t fire Shannen Doherty yet and we’re still listening mixtapes, singing Madonna’s songs, doing loco-motions with Kylie, watching bad romance between Maddie and David on Moonlighting (Yes, Bruce Willis had hair once upon a time and he was not a jerk, okay, he was still jerk with adorable lopsided smile) and Marky Mark is still a bad boy/worst rapper who hasn’t made disastrous Transformer movie yet.

So yes, book’s time frame is right. The characters seemed interesting. Some dialogues were smart, snappy. But… yes here comes the irritating BUT part: I felt like watching a movie I gave 5 point at IMDB and wasted my time.

The plot intrigued my attention: taking place in a mall, living inside Cassie Worthy’s head, seeing her making new friends, finding new job, interested in treasure hunt after surviving from a severe disease, living in quarantine, finding her boyfriend cheating on her when she was sick, getting fired from her job and of course let’s add some romantic vibes into this story.

So I impressed with the start but as I resume my reading, I started to get bored with the dialogues trying so hard to be catchy but the words turns into full of clichés, illogical jargons, not so funny phrases. And of course I really wondered why Cassie had to repeat her inner screams, making “arrghhkk” sounds so much. Did she have a problem with her vocal cords or didn’t she have any idea have to express her feelings?

And the characters, well, without enough back stories, it was so hard to relate with them. Maybe this story is not for me and it addresses younger generations ( at least younger than 18) but mostly I found it boring, shallow, flat and a little raw. I think the story needed more work because I felt like I ate tasteless, uncooked meal. It needed more development, work and back stories, not to be released before any rewritings or editing.
I think I was expecting more from this author.

So I gave 2.5 stars and for the love of 90’s soul, I rounded up to 3. But that’s it. I love some parts and I only loved the heroine but I have to say this is not my cup of happy hour drink!

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

So, I was born in 1997. I was alive for the end of the 90's, but I don't recall any of it. Therefore, I know very little about 90's culture in general, much less 1991, the year this novel is set it. However, I was excited by the prospect of a book set entirely in a mall, which were a staple of my childhood, and to learn a little about the early 90's!

And I have to say, I was not let down. This book is a treasure.

Let's get into it!

CHARACTERS
The Mall has a moderate cast of characters, told in the first-person perspective of Cassie Worthy, recent high school graduate and only child of two dentists. She suffered from a case of mono in her final month of high school, but she's set to work at America's Best Cookie in the local mall with her boyfriend Troy all summer, before both of them go to New York for college. Cassie is a full, rounded character from the start. She has snappy narration that's both easy to read and sounds like (what I imagine) an actual teenager in the early 90's would sound like. She's booksmart, but not people-smart, and goes through real growth over the course of the novel.

Then there's the secondary characters: Troy, her boyfriend, her coworker Drea (and Drea's mom), Cassie's parent's, and a plethora of other mall employees and shoppers. Nearly all of the named secondary characters feel just as real as Cassie, especially Drea and Cassie's mom. They have hopes, dreams, and likes, and all in all are very well written! I think Cassie herself was my favorite character, though.

PLOT
So, the plot's easy: Cassie works in a mall, is planning for college, and there's a treasure hunt running throughout the middle. Yep, a treasure hunt in a mall. I don't want to reveal too much of the plot here, as it's best experienced first-hand, but I will say that all aspects of the plot - as well as the subplots of Drea's college dreams and Cassie's parents' relationship issues - work very well together. Nothing feels thrown in randomly.

WRITING
In my opinion, The Mall is very well-written. Cassie sounds like her age, and McCafferty has found a balance between description and action that works well. The novel reads very easily, and it's easy to read quickly.

RATING
I give The Mall five stars! It's awesome

RECOMMENDATION
If you remember the 90's, like the 90's, or really enjoy malls (or just YA books in general), I totally recommend this book! It comes out June 9th, 2020.