Ramblings of a Daydreamer: Review: Don’t Even Think About It by Sarah Mlynowski

Don’t Even Think About It by Sarah Mlynowski

Series: Standalone

Published: March 11th, 2014

Publisher: Delacorte Press

336 pages (eARC)

Genre: Contemporary young adult/science fiction

Acquired this book: From the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Warning: May contain spoilers

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We weren't always like this. We used to be average New York City high school sophomores. Until our homeroom went for flu shots. We were prepared for some side effects. Maybe a headache. Maybe a sore arm. We definitely didn't expect to get telepathic powers. But suddenly we could hear what everyone was thinking. Our friends. Our parents. Our crushes. Now we all know that Tess is in love with her best friend, Teddy. That Mackenzie cheated on Cooper. That, um, Nurse Carmichael used to be a stripper.

Since we've kept our freakish skill a secret, we can sit next to the class brainiac and ace our tests. We can dump our boyfriends right before they dump us. We know what our friends really think of our jeans, our breath, our new bangs. We always know what's coming. Some of us will thrive. Some of us will crack. None of us will ever be the same.
So stop obsessing about your ex. We're always listening.

Don’t Even Think About It is a hard book to rate and review. It’s completely different from anything I’ve ever read, which earns it major points, but at the same time, because of the way the story is told there’s not a lot of character development or plot, which is what you typically focus on in a review, right?

A group of high school kids get their flu shot from a batch that's infected. The side effect? Telepathy. Everyone who gets the shot from that batch can read each other’s - and everyone else’s - mind. The story is told by the group, which was really interesting and different. Because they could hear each other’s every thought and they were in on this secret together, they started considering themselves a “we”, and that’s how the story was told.

I loved getting inside the teens’ heads and hearing their thoughts. So much of what they thought felt really realistic - self-doubt, judgment, sex-filled thoughts, sarcastic/nasty remarks you usually keep to yourself, etc. A lot of it was laugh out loud funny, and I definitely related to a lot of what the girls were thinking about themselves, each other, and the boys. This story proves that no matter how well you know someone - or think you know them - you can never truly know what they’re thinking or what they might think of you…except for these kids who quickly learned what everyone thought about everything, discovered secrets, and plenty of things they never wanted to know (like hearing their parents sexy thoughts about each other - GAH!).

Don’t Even Think About It was a fun, funny, lighthearted, and quick read that would likely appeal to younger teens. It’s the type of book that would make a cute TV show. While I enjoyed it, if you haven’t read any of Mlynowski’s books, I’d recommend starting with Gimme a Call or TenThings We Did (And Probably Shouldn’t Have).

{Read my review of Gimme a Call || Read my review of Ten Things We Did (And Probably Shouldn't Have)}

Have you read Don't Even Think About It? What did you think? If you haven't read it, does it sound like something you'd be interested in? If you suddenly developed telepathy would you think it was cool or would you freak out?