Title: Going Vintage
by Lindsey LeavittPublishing Info: March 26, 2013 by Bloomsbury Publishing
Source: Netgalley, Received from the publisher for review purposes
Genres: Contemporary, Young Adult
Find it on the web: Buy from Amazon // GoodreadsDate Completed: March 2, 2013
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When Mallory discovers that her boyfriend, Jeremy, is cheating on her with an online girlfriend, she swears off boys. She also swears off modern technology. Inspired by a list of goals her grandmother made in 1962, Mallory decides to “go vintage” and return to a simpler time (when boyfriends couldn’t cheat on you online). She sets out to complete grandma’s list: run for pep club secretary, host a dinner party, sew a homecoming dress, find a steady, do something dangerous. But the list is trickier than it looks. And obviously finding a steady is out... no matter how good Oliver (Jeremy’s cousin) smells. But with the help of her sister, she’ll get it done. Somehow.
This book was so stinkin’ cute!!! I honestly didn’t expect to have so much fun reading it, but it was light, funny, and just really easy to read. I simply adored the concept of Mallory’s idea to “go vintage”, mostly because of the rough break-up after finding out about her boyfriend and his “online wife”. I was a little unsure about the idea of going vintage at first because I was hesitant about throwing it back to the sixties… But so was Mallory, even though it was her idea. I really have to commend her character – Although she had a really valid reason to avoid technology, turns out it’s a lot harder than she thought! I TRY not to be glued to my phone & computer, but let’s face it. It’s kind of hard to avoid much less cut out completely! The idea made for some really cute moments in the book too with her sister “helping” her (aka hiding her stuff), talking on the home phone with a boy (it was so much more exciting that way! I mean, they had to call your HOUSE), and all the little silly ways it made her life a little more work!
I want to say THANK YOU to Lindsey Leavitt for NOT forcing us to like Jeremy, even a little bit – Here’s my story. I get mad when the boyfriend of the story does something bad and then our heroine spends so much time legitimizing what they’ve done or contemplating going back to him. We had a clear winner and loser in GOING VINTAGE and Jeremy stayed the loser so thank you!!
Now let’s talk about the winner. [Dreamy sigh] I loved Oliver!!!! It was ALL THE LITTLE THINGS that made him such a great love interest. He was “hipster” but really, he was just true to himself and owned it in a way that people didn’t question him. He knew he liked Mallory and despite the fact that he’s Jeremy’s cousin and she’s his ex-girlfriend, you can see that they’ve got a little something going on and you KNOW Oliver is going to make it work! It was all the little ways he listened to Mallory, made her feel comfortable, helped her… All of the little things added up into one awesome guy! Loved him as the love interest here!!!
I really think the concept was great, but Lindsey Leavitt has some truly great characters in this book. You already know my love for Oliver, but the supporting characters were some of my favorites too. In a way, I felt like I was a lot like Mallory, but a lot in the fact that although we’re perfectly fun girls, there’s nothing too… “notable”. Mallory’s support system was really what caught my attention: Ginny. Grandma. Of course Oliver. They really stole the show for me! I loved Mallory’s relationship with her little sister because my sister and I have always gotten along, but now that we’re adults, we really are like best friends! She truly is the one person who understands (and appreciates) all of my jokes and Friends quotes and movie references. Oh, and all those stupid made-up things from our childhood! I loved seeing that relationship. I also saw the dedication in the beginning of the book using the song lyrics from “Sisters” from White Christmas, which my sister and I used to sing ALL the time and that’s one of my mom’s favorite movies ever so SCORE for a personal note there!!!
Okay. Sorry for being long winded, so let’s sum up: Super cute. Loved it all. Oliver had me at hello. Not quite a favorite, but pretty close!
Mallory: Mallory felt like ME. Of course, I was never internetally (yep, I’m going with it) wronged like she was, but I felt like I probably would have handled the situation pretty close to the same way (minus vintage clothes because I couldn’t pull it off). I really felt a kinship to her and although she wasn’t the character to stand out the most to me, I really got along with her well in this book!
Ginny: Ginny was definitely my favorite character. I loved the sisterly relationship she & Mallory had and she really made a name for herself in this book! Definitely spunky and so much fun.
Oliver: Oh, Oliver. He was cute and confident in a way that made me – erm, I mean, MALLORY feel confident as well. He just had that sort of personality…. You can’t be mad around him! Wow, I am honestly surprised at how much I liked him as a love interest in this book! Definitely did not see that coming!
Read it!
This book was just so much! I really had a blast reading it and I love so many things about it. It’s definitely on my list of recommendations!
BOOKS LIKE GOING VINTAGE
17 thoughts on “Going Vintage – Lindsey Leavitt”
Great review! I am going online to order a copy 🙂
I just bought Going Vintage this week and I cannot wait to start reading it after your review. We have a different cover in the UK and it’s so pretty. looking forward to adding this one to my book shelf 🙂
This sounds so cute! I love the concept, although I don’t think I could handle being without my iPhone for very long… 😉 And I LOVE what you said about Jeremy staying the loser. I HATE that in books, too, when one guy is obviously a jerk and the girl is trying to defend him or justify his actions. So yay for none of that in this book! Great review–this has moved up in my TBR list!
I’m so happy she lets Jeremy just be a jerk. I never understand when stories involve the girl excusing what the guy did or whatever because….just no. Also, we need more jerky guys in books (IMO) because sometimes I feel like so many YA guys are perfect and I’m like WHERE IS MY PERFECT GUY???? This sounds totally fun and cute and I really hope I love it.
OH MY GOODNESS YAY!! I’m so glad you loved this one, lady!! I’m so excited to read it! I don’t have any worries about not liking the “going vintage” part of this story. I kind of chuckled out loud when I saw in the summary that one of Mallory’s goals is to “find a steady” LOL! I love it! I’m surprised–and a little bummed–that “and get him to give me his letterman jacket” wasn’t tacked on to the end of that task!
Also, the fact that you shouted out Mallory’s younger sister really speaks to me, too. For the same exact reasons that it spoke to you: my younger sister is most definitely my best friend, and we have the same kind of relationship, where we have all these jokes from when we were kids, etc. So the fact that Going Vintage has sisters like that immediately throws it to the tippy top of my TBR, where it basically was already anyway.
Super review!!
I read Meant to Be which is in your recommendations and loved it, and this book sounds like something I should really read! Going to get it from the library asap, thank you!
This concept sounds so fun and different! And maybe a bit inspiring too- most of us these days are slightly addicted to electronics.
I LOVE it when YA characters have good relationships with their families rather than the scripted strained ones that everyone seems to think teenagers have. When a girl is confident enough to take control boy-wise, that might be even better. The relationships in this book sound so well done!
I’m even more excited to read this book now and get to know these characters and appreciate the ways they interact. 🙂 I’m glad you adored this one and I’m sure I will, too.
I do agree that it was nice that Mallory didn’t attempt to make excuses for Jeremy or attempt to wave away what he did. I know a lot of girls really do act like that, but in a book it tends to pull me out of the story and roll my eyes and/or throw things. I also agree that Mallory wasn’t a “notable” protagonist. She was fun and interesting, but also a bit generic, if that makes sense.
Well dang, after that review I HAVE to read this book 🙂 My sis is my best friend too for all the reasons you list – can’t wait to check this one out! Awesome.
Ohhhh I can’t wait to hear what you think!!! Hope you love it 🙂
I totally agree about YA when boys are clearly jerks but the heroine rhapsodizing over him. I’m glad it wasn’t the case here! The concept of this sounds really cute and fun. I’m glad the characters lived up to it as well! 🙂
Yes! This book! I really, really want to read this one. It looks very cute! And I’ve been in love with the cover since I first saw it. 🙂 Great review!
Ginny was my favorite character too, I loved her! 🙂 I love how you pointed out that Lindsey didn’t force us to like Jeremy! It also makes me crazy how in some books the MC spends a lot of time blaming herself and wanting to get back together with her extremely jerky ex-boyfriend! I just can’t stand to read it. So glad that didn’t happen in Going Vintage! 🙂
Alice @ Alice in Readerland
Yes! So happy you agree with that too! Jeremy wasn’t ALL bad, but he was never made to be really likable. Just enough to kiiiind of pull you in but you still know she shouldn’t be with him and she knows it too 🙂
I liked Going Vintage, but it isn’t a favorite contemporary of mine. I loved Oliver, and Mallory’s sister Ginnie! And like you, I enjoyed that Jeremy stayed the loser. Because, you know, he was one. 🙂