A quick and lighthearted read. Full of nostalgia for readers of a certain era (teen in the late 80’s/early 90’s)

Five stars from a YA-loving adult. This is the best book I’ve read in a very long time. I grew up reading and loving this author’s Sloppy Firsts series, so I expected to enjoy this book in a nostalgic way. I was blown away by how gripping and relevant the story is. There are important takeaways for readers of ages.

Thanks go to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

The Mall is a story many can relate to: Who will like me for me? And who exactly am I, anyway? Throw in a mysterious treasure hunt through the mall, and you have The Mall. An enjoyable YA read about growing up in the 90s.

I am not sure if this book will appeal to readers who are removed from this era but it really rang true to me! I was younger than the characters in the book but McCafferty really captured the mood and feelings of the early '90s. The characters and their struggles seemed really real to me. I liked that it focused on friendships vs. romantic relationships.

This was a fun, quick read for sure. I laughed out loud a few times even, which is rare for a book. With that said, I probably wouldn't read this one again. Unlike the Sloppy Firsts series, there just wasn't a whole lot to remember about the book. If you were a teenager in the 90s, you'll probably enjoy this one a lot more than I did. 3 stars.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this book!

I really enjoyed this book. It's a quick, fun read that takes place in a New Jersey mall in the early 90s. It's a story of self discovery, but it's also very tongue and cheek. If you aren't of an age to remember the early 90s, it probably won't be for you, but for those of us that grew up in that time,, it's just fun!

This was a fun, quick read. I've missed Megan McCafferty's writing. THE MALL doesn't have quite the same biting wit as the Jessica Darling series, but as always McCafferty's precise skewering of social groups and her own heroine's blind spots is perfection. I think readers who were actually teens in the 80s and early 90s will love the nostalgia fest. For others, it'll be a lighthearted read perfect for the pool — or between breaks at the mall.

As I was beginning the book, I wasn't quite sure where this story would take me. The description had me intrigued. I am always a fan of books where the main character really grows and finds his or herself. While I was only a toddler during the early 90's, I really enjoy 90's television and, of course, Beverly Hills 90210. I loved that element of this book. It was quirky and fun, with a touch of mystery to keep you wanting to turn the pages. I really enjoyed it! Thank you for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this title in exchange for my honest review.

It feels like forever since I hung out in Pineville New Jersey! I was a huge fan of the Sloppy Firsts series and have probably read the set 10 times. The problem with this book was that while I liked it immensely, for it to feel nostalgic you need to be my age, 37, or even a little older to be a product of the 80's. That being said, there is no way that I am going to be able to relate to Cassie like I did Jess Darling because like I said, I am 37! When I read Sloppy Firsts I was probably in my teens? Everything felt so similar to what life was, longing for a boy, going to college, figuring out who I was. But now I am an old married lady and it just didn't strike the same cord.

Don't get me wrong. I still loved going back to the 80's. Going to the mall, mean girls, jerky boys Megan McCafferty can write a feeling and a mood. I felt like I was there listening to Nirvana and drinking an Orange Julius. I definitely think a girl in her teens or twenties would love this book and see themselves in it. I would recommend it for sure and hope that they are cool enough to crimp their hair, roll their jeans and head on down to the mall.

3 stars

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an ARC of this book.

Megan McCafferty is one of my favorite authors, so I had high hopes for this book. I didn't know anything going into it, just that it takes place in the 90s. And I feel bad saying this, but it read to me like it needs one more draft before publication, kinda.

If you've read the Jessica Darling books, The Mall takes place in the same universe and same town. There are a few connections sprinkled throughout like Easter eggs, and that was kinda fun. But there was something about this book that grated on me, even though the main character feels very similar to Jessica Darling. (Maybe it's just timing/my age--I last read the Jessica Darling books in college. Maybe I'd hate her now.)

The book follows recent Pineville High grad Cassie Worthy during the summer before she leaves for Barnard in NYC. She's just come off of a 6-week bout of mono and finds out she's been fired from her food court job at the mall before she could even start (probably because of the mono, is that legal?), and oh yeah, her only-other-intelligent-and-driven-person-at-their-school boyfriend of 2 years has been cheating on her while she's been sick. Cassie bounces back when she gets a job at a fashion boutique with her ex-best friend Drea, who turns her on to a literal treasure hunt at the mall.

There were weird things about this book that I couldn't get past, so I have to mention them: it's never addressed, but Cassie calls both of parents by their first names, and it's extremely strange. Just one line about that quirk would have helped, because not addressing it was weird. Similarly, Cassie and her new love interest don't know each other's names for almost the entire book, and that's only addressed in her head like once or twice. They call each other "Sam Goody" and "Bellarosa," the names of the stores they work in. Is it supposed to be cute? It felt weird because it went on for the whole freaking book.

Also, the narration felt weird to me. It's first person past tense, but phrases like "back in the summer of 91" or references to "years afterward" the current events of the book made me think that maybe there'd be an epilogue from the future at the end or something. (Spoiler alert, there wasn't.) I guess movie and TV voiceovers do this a lot, but it threw me off seeing it in a book. Maybe I just don't read enough books that do this, I don't know.

Anyway, the treasure hunt "clues" were a letdown, I actually started to feel claustrophobic that the book only takes place in the mall or in cars, and there were parts of the book that didn't feel fully fleshed out, like the middle. And did I mention that Drea's the best and Cassie's the worst? I'd read a Drea spinoff in a heartbeat.

Kinda disappointed but it was a quick read, at least.

I enjoyed this book and devoured it in one sitting. I loved the setting and had forgotten about some of the stores that McCafferty included in the story. I thought the added adventure within the rest of the story was well done but slightly anticlimactic. The love interest also left some things to be desired. I still enjoyed the book and will absolutely be recommending it to patrons at the library.

I don’t remember the early 90s, but I was a mall person in the late 90s, so the nostalgia pulled me in. But the references seemed a little forced, and as a YA novel, didn’t always make sense. I did enjoy the plot though... some mystery, part coming of age, part revenge - it was a fun read.

This book was so much fun and took me right back to my middle/high school years! I loved the mall setting and related to everything! Even Seaside Heights where I lived for a few years! I laughed and cried throughout this book. Thanks to Netgalley for my advanced ebook copy!

FULL REVIEW COMING TO MY BLOG CLOSER TO PUBLICATION

If you didn’t spend your free time listlessly pacing the mall - having your shoes stuck to a dirty movie theater floor, trying on clothes your parents would never allow you to wear, spying on your crush - are you even a millennial?

As a former mall rat and forever 90’s child, I knew I had to read “The Mall” by Megan McCafferty. A coming of age story set in 1991 (the year I was born!) New Jersey. Nostalgia is like, so trendy right now. And “The Mall” fits perfectly into this craze for relics from the past.

McCafferty effortlessly called upon long-forgotten memories and elicited more than a few chuckles from me. The setting and details were perfect. The characters were mostly believable and perfectly stereotypical, in true 90’s entertainment fashion.

If you look a little closer, this book is making some important points about consumerism and how that has affected our country. It also speaks to the changes and divides between generations. Our main character, Cassie, is about to go off to college and in the summer before she leaves she starts to understand her own values and how those differentiate between her parents or even her peers. It calls upon that time we have all experienced in our lives in some way or another.

BUT NOT TO WORRY, this isn’t one big existential pining for the good ole days. It’s about friendship, values, family, change, and of course a bit of sex and romance. It also contains a very entertaining Easter egg filled scavenger hunt set in a mall. It’s very light-hearted and fun, and you can dig as deep as you want. For me, it invoked a lot of introspection, especially as it’s the end of the year and the end of another decade.

“The Mall” in a nutshell? Clever, nostalgic, and fun. Let me know in the comments if you plan on reading it - and what your favorite store at the mall was growing up!

Release date: June 9, 2020 (seriously a perfect summer read!)

A fun and fizzy love letter to the late ‘80s/early ‘90s. Set in a New Jersey shopping mall in the summer of 1991, where Cassie is set to enjoy three months of working at the food court with her high school boyfriend, before they both head for college in NYC. They’ve got their whole future planned. Until he breaks up with her on her first day.

Cassie suddenly has to scramble for a new job and new friends. In the insular world of the mall, there are rumors about everything from who’s hooking up, to whispers of a treasure hidden somewhere amid the Orange Juliuses and Sam Goodys.

MacCaffery clearly has great affection and nostalgia for this time and place. The stores and pop culture references are spot-on. Cassie has a sharp wit and too-real naïveté. She feels very much like Jessica Darling of the Sloppy First series. (There’s even a cameo from Jessica’s perfect older sister, Bethany!)

Also, not related to the story at all, but I’ve had Robin Sparkles’s “Let’s Go to the Mall” stuck in my head the whole time I’ve been reading this book.

I thought this story sounded so fun! I was born in 1991 and it brought back a lot of memories from my childhood with my friends growing up! I loved it! It was so fun to read and really enticing!

Reminiscent of McCafferty's older work but distinctly it's on book. the 90s culture was so fun to read for all of us that experienced IRL. Fun story, really enjoyable.

This book is nostalgia solidified for me. Early 1990's New Jersey, during a time of big hair, the teenage idyllic obsession with 90210, and when the local mall was the epicenter of the social scene. For readers in the 30's, Cassie's story is a chapter straight out of their own lives. For young adult readers, it's a fun book that gives some incite into what childhood was like for their parents and how the things they're going through aren't too different from what kid "back in the day" experienced.

Cassie Worthy is a newly graduated senior with a big goals. She's getting ready to attend college in the Big Apple, she has a job at the cookie place in the mall where she works with her boyfriend of two years, and she has two perfect parents who have shown Cassie what the ideal relationship looks like and why she should what that kind of future for herself. Ans Cassie plans to secure that life with her boyfriend, Troy.

Until she's hit with an epic case of mono and all of her carefully laid plans begin to unravel. Cassie gets dumped, fired, and assaulted by a snaggle-toothed teenage banshee brandishing body spray like mace, all within the span of a day. Gobsmacked by this unforeseen turn of events, Cassie is unemployed and heart sore. Then she gets offered an opportunity to manage the books of Bellarosa - a chintzy boutique catering to the wealthy women of Pineville, New Jersey. The issue? It belongs to the mother of her ex-middle school best friend Drea Bellarosa, who is the polar opposite of Cassie in every way. Glamorous, chic, and always dressed to the nines, Drea puts 100% of her effort into her appearance (while slacking on all of the other aspects of her life, like maintaining a GPA over a 2.0).

With Cassie's help, Drea is bound and determined to uncover the secret hiding place of the mall's infamous treasure, with clues that lie hidden in the identities of a batch of abandoned Cabbage Patch dolls. Rekindling her friendship with Drea and working to uncover the mystery of the Cabbage Patch Dolls, Cassie begins to learn that there's more fun to be had in life when she's not stuck on a plan and she can appreciate the moment.

Jessica Darling was my jam back in middle and high school...I think I discovered "Sloppy Firsts" in 8th Grade.

While this book is marketed as YA, let's be real...this thirty year old is the target audience for Cassie Worthy's summer tales.

I loved this book. It was a quick read, and everything I enjoyed as a teenager...and now.

I was sold, 100% on the premise of this book. Honestly, the nostalgic vibe going on here? Perfection. If I rated this book only on all the ways it took me back to the angsty, teenage version of myself - it'd be an easy five stars. There is a special place in my heart for the 90s, and Ms. McCafferty captured them perfectly.

That said, the story itself fell a little flat for me. This wasn't the kind of book you lose yourself in. While I appreciated the nostalgia of it, it only touched at surface level. I didn't really connect with (or even like all that much) any of the main characters and the storyline missed it's mark for me too.

It was decent, and fun! But slightly off-mark for me.