The Mall is a young adult contemporary standalone by Megan McCafferty. The Mall is set in a New Jersey Mall in 1991. It takes place over the summer of our main characters senior year, and I knew this would be a nostalgic blast. And I was right. The Mall was so much fun to read! I loved taking a trip down memory lane of a world before smart phones and social media. Plus, all of the 90s pop culture references were fantastic to read.

In The Mall, we meet our main character Cassie who goes to work on her first day at her summer job to get dumped by her boyfriend. Cassie starts out the book having quarantined (ha! who can relate) for 6 weeks because she had mono, and she reemerges to find her whole world has changed while she was away. Determined to not let this ruin her summer, Cassie sets out to find a new job and still have a fun summer. The Mall was a ton of fun to read. It brought back all kinds of nostalgic feelings, and summer teenage angst vibes. I loved that this was part 90s pop culture reference and part coming of age story and one great big trip down memory lane.

I enjoyed getting to know Cassie on her quest to learn about herself, find some new friends (& maybe even a love interest!) and have her coveted great summer. There were times throughout the book that the overall plot progression felt a bit weak, but all in all this book was a blast to read, even if not a whole lot happened at times. This book felt like bottled good ole teenage fun and I enjoyed reading The Mall. It was cheesy and dramatic in the ways I wanted it to be. Overall, this book was a lot of fun!