Review: Going Vintage by Lindsey Leavitt

Title: Going Vintage
Author: Lindsey Leavitt
Published: March 28, 2013
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Source: Publisher via Netgalley
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

When Mallory’s boyfriend, Jeremy, cheats on her with an online girlfriend, Mallory decides the best way to de-Jeremy her life is to de-modernize things too. Inspired by a list of goals her grandmother made in 1962, Mallory swears off technology and returns to a simpler time (when boyfriends couldn’t cheat with computer avatars). The List:

1. Run for pep club secretary
2. Host a fancy dinner party/soiree
3. Sew a dress for Homecoming
4. Find a steady
5. Do something dangerous

But simple proves to be crazy-complicated, and the details of the past begin to change Mallory’s present. Add in a too-busy grandmother, a sassy sister, and the cute pep-club president–who just happens to be her ex’s cousin–and soon Mallory begins to wonder if going vintage is going too far

When Mallory finds out her boyfriend is cyber cheating on her with his computer game wife, BubbleYum, Mallory feels completely betrayed.  She doesn't blame her cheating boyfriend, Jeremy, entirely for this.  She also faults technology in general.  She finds a list of her grandmother's from a simpler time (i.e. the 1960's) when technology didn't get in the way of high school fun-ness.  She vows to cut all technology out of her life, fulfill everything on this list, and do it all while "going vintage".

The characters in this story were fun.  Mallory was snarky, yet sweet, and completely naive when it comes to boyfriend issues.  Jeremy's cousin, Oliver was fantastic, and someone I could totally see myself being friends with in high school.  Ginnie, Mallory's sister, was a character I wasn't very found of simply because she was a freshman in high school, yet acted and spoke like an adult.  I often forgot that she was Mallory's younger sister, assuming she was more of an older sister in college or even an mother or aunt.  She spoke and acted much too mature for her 14-year-old self, which got on my nerves a bit.

Can we just take a minute to talk about this cover?  I absolutely adore it!!  It's seriously perfect.  I'm not sure why I'm so in love with it... but I was drawn to it the first time I saw it.  I definitely have an obsession with covers.  Once I'm drawn in, there's no going back!

This story was overall very cute and fun.  And I loved the lists!!  As a person that thrives on lists, that addition to the story really pulled me right in.  I would recommend this to someone looking for a nice, sweet, quick YA contemporary story.  This would be a great summer read.  Gotta love Going Vintage!

"On Saturday, I hiberated until eleven, happily wrapped in a dream involving Jeremy's computer, a hammer, and a Smurf.  The Smurf was the one with the hammer.  It made sense in the dream."

"Oliver leans against the locker.  His hands are shoved into his pockets, and his right bicep flexes.  I never thought of Oliver having biceps, but yep.  He does.  Nice ones, if you care about that stuff.  Which I don't, because muscles are just a bunch of mass and... sinews under his skin.  And I'm not thinking about his skin or sinews, or any guy's skin and sinews for a very long time, because I'm still trying to get over Jeremy's... sinews.  That's an awful word, isn't it?"