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?

 

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TBR Pile: Canadian Style

Looking for suggestions of books that are written by Canadian authors? Need help trying to decide which book by a Canadian author you should read? I've compiled lists of some of the books I've read and want to read by Canadian authors. Hopefully these will give you some ideas!

These are the books written by Canadian authors I've read and reviewed since starting Ramblings of a Daydreamer:

Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery {Review || GoodReads}

Wondrous Strange by Lesley Livingston {Review || GoodReads}

Darklight by Lesley Livingston {Review || GoodReads}

The Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsley {Review || GoodReads}

The Firebird by Susanna Kearsley {Review || GoodReads}

Unraveling Isobel by Eileen Cook {Review || GoodReads}

The Awakening by Kelley Armstrong {Review || GoodReads}

The Reckoning by Kelley Armstrong {Review || GoodReads}

The Gathering by Kelley Armstrong {Review || GoodReads}

Hearts at Stake by Alyxandra Harvey {Review || GoodReads}

Blood Feud by Alyxandra Harvey {Review || GoodReads}

Stolen Away by Alyxandra Harvey {Review || GoodReads} 

Hemlock by Kathleen Peacock {Review || GoodReads}

Ten Things We Did (And Probably Shouldn’t Have) by Sarah Mlynowski {Review || GoodReads}

Gimme a Call by Sarah Mlynowski {Review || GoodReads}

This is Not a Test by Courtney Summers {Review || GoodReads}

Ultraviolet by RJ Anderson {Review || GoodReads}

Quicksilver by RJ Anderson {Review || GoodReads}

Virtuosity by Jessica Martinez {Review || GoodReads}

Flame of Surrender by Rhiannon Paille {Review || GoodReads}

Within by Clare Marshall {Review || GoodReads}

The Lighter Side of Life and Death by C.K. Kelly Martin {Review || GoodReads}

Spirits Rising by Krista D. Ball {Review || GoodReads}

Scorpio Rising by Monique Domovitch {Review || GoodReads}

These are books I've read that weren't written by Canadian authors but that were set (fully and partly, respectively) in Canada:

Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake {Review || GoodReads}

The Single Girl’s To-Do List by Lindsey Kelk {Review || GoodReads}

These are some of the top books on my TBR that are written by Canadian authors:

Namesake by Sue MacLeod {GoodReads}

On Every Street by Karina Halle  {GoodReads}

The Almost Truth by Eileen Cook  {GoodReads}

Tempestuous by Lesley Livingston  {GoodReads}

This Dark Endeavor by Kenneth Oppel {GoodReads}

Anne of Avonlea by Lucy Maud Montgomery  {GoodReads}

The Calling by Kelley Armstrong {GoodReads}

Ten Tiny Breaths by KA Tucker {GoodReads}

Out for Blood by Alyxandra Harvey {GoodReads}

Plain Kate by Erin Bow {GoodReads} 

The Witches of Willowmere by Alison Baird {GoodReads}

How I Lost You by Janet Gurtler {GoodReads}

Arranged by Catherine McKenzie {GoodReads}

A Stiff Kiss by Avery Olive {GoodReads}

Dark Kiss by Michelle Rowen {GoodReads}

Falling Kingdoms by Morgan Rhodes {GoodReads}

Build a Man by Talli Roland {GoodReads}

What Kills Me by Wynne Channing {GoodReads}

It's not too late to join the 2013 Canadian Reading Challenge. All you have to do is read and review at least one book either written by a Canadian or set in Canada.

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Canadian Spotlight Month: Sarah Mlynowski + a Giveaway!

Today I'm shining the spotlight on Sarah Mlynowski, one of my favourite Canadian YA authors. If you know me at all, you'll know that I love contemporary young adult, and Sarah has written two of my favourites - Ten Things We Did (and Probably Shouldn't Have), and Gimme a Call.

About Sarah:

Sarah was born in Montreal, Canada. After graduating with an honors degree in English literature from McGill University, she moved to Toronto to work for Harlequin Enterprises. While she never met Fabio, she used her romance publishing experiences to fuel her first novel MILKRUN.

Since then Sarah has written four additional novels for adults: FISHBOWL, AS SEEN ON TV, MONKEY BUSINESS and ME VS. ME, and the teen novels BRAS & BROOMSTICKS, FROGS & FRENCH KISSES, SPELLS & SLEEPING BAGS and PARTIES & POTIONS—all in the ‘Magic in Manhattan’ series, as well as GIMME A CALL and TEN THINGS WE DID (AND PROBABLY SHOULDN'T HAVE). She is also the author of FAIREST OF ALL and IF THE SHOE FITS (JAN 2013), the first two books in the Whatever After series for ages 8-12.

Along with Lauren Myracle and E. Lockhart, Sarah also wrote HOW TO BE BAD, and along with Farrin Jacobs, she wrote a guide to writing called SEE JANE WRITE. Sarah also co-edited two bestselling charity collections (GIRLS' NIGHT IN and GIRLS' NIGHT OUT), and contributed to various anthologies (AMERICAN GIRLS ABOUT TOWN, SIXTEEN: STORIES ABOUT THAT SWEET AND BITTER BIRTHDAY, 21 PROMS, FIRST KISS (THEN TELL), FIREWORKS and VACATIONS FROM HELL).

Sarah's books have been translated into twenty-one languages and optioned by Hollywood. She now lives in New York City with her husband and daughter.

Find Sarah Online:

{Website || Twitter || GoodReads}

Read my review of Ten Things We Did (and Probably Shouldn't Have)

Read my review of Gimme a Call

Sarah has very generously donated one signed copy of Ten Things We Did (and Probably Shouldn't Have) as part of Canadian Spotlight Month. How awesome is she? I have to admit I'm pretty jealous of whoever wins this because even though I've read the book, it was a library loan, and I'd love to own a copy, especially a signed one! But it also makes me excited that some lucky person is going to get to read one of my favourite books. Isn't that what we all want as book bloggers - to share the love?

2 girls + 3 guys + 1 house - parents = 10 things April and her friends did that they (definitely, maybe, probably) shouldn't have.
If given the opportunity, what sixteen-year-old wouldn't jump at the chance to move in with a friend and live parent-free? Although maybe "opportunity" isn't the right word, since April had to tell her dad a tiny little untruth to make it happen (see #1: "Lied to Our Parents"). But she and her housemate Vi are totally responsible and able to take care of themselves. How they ended up "Skipping School" (#3), "Throwing a Crazy Party" (#8), "Buying a Hot Tub" (#4), and, um, "Harboring a Fugitive" (#7) at all is kind of a mystery to them.
In this hilarious and bittersweet tale, Sarah Mlynowski mines the heart and mind of a girl on her own for the first time. To get through the year, April will have to juggle a love triangle, learn to do her own laundry, and accept that her carefully constructed world just might be falling apart . . . one thing-she-shouldn't-have-done at a time.

Giveaway Guidelines:

*Simply fill out the Rafflecopter form below. There’s one free entry where all you have to do is click Enter - the rest are optional and get you extra entries.
*This giveaway will end July 31st at 11:59 PM. Winner will be contacted and will have 48 hours to respond before I pick another winner.

*OPEN TO CANADIAN & US RESIDENTS ONLY

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

 

This post has been part of the Canadian Spotlight Month. Click the graphic below to check out the schedule and all things Canadian here at Ramblings of a Daydreamer. 

Canadian Spotlight Month: Review - Gimme a Call by Sarah Mlynowski

Gimme a Call by Sarah Mlynowski

Series: Standalone

Published: April 27th, 2010

Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers

301 pages (hardcover)

Genre: Contemporary young adult with a twist

Acquired this book: From the library

Warning: may contain spoilers

Read my review of Ten Things We Did (And Probably Shouldn't Have) by Sarah Mlynowski

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Summary: Devi's life isn't turning out at all like she wanted. She wasted the past three years going out with Bryan—cute, adorable, break-your-heart Bryan. Devi let her friendships fade, blew off studying, didn't join any clubs . . . and now that Bryan has broken up with her, she has nothing left.

Not even her stupid cell phone—she dropped it in the mall fountain. Now it only calls one number . . . hers. At age fourteen, three years ago!

Once Devi gets over the shock—and convinces her younger self that she isn't some wacko—she realizes that she's been given an awesome gift. She can tell herself all the right things to do . . . because she's already done all the wrong ones! Who better to take advice from than your future self?

Except . . .what if getting what you think you want changes everything?

I loved Sarah Mlynowski’s Ten Things We Did (And Probably Shouldn’t Have), and after reading Gimme a Call, I feel I can officially call myself a fan of her books.

It’s senior year and seventeen-year-old Devi’s boyfriend Bryan just broke up with her. They’ve been inseparable for the last four years, but now that it’s time to go off to college, he feels they should part ways because he’s going to school in Montreal and Devi’s going to a local college. Because Devi’s whole life revolved around Bryan, she gave up her best friends, so when Bryan breaks up with her, she finds herself completely friendless and alone.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, she drops her cell phone into a fountain at the mall and it won’t work…except when she dials her own number and discovers the voice on the other end of the line is her 14-year-old freshman self. She quickly realizes that she basically has a chance at a do-over - she can tell her younger self not to date Bryan, and therefore not end up with a broken heart. Only it’s not quite that simple.

This book made me laugh, and to be completely honest, it made me cry, too. I’m not sure why, but I found it surprisingly emotional, especially the last few chapters. I’m a very slow reader, but I read this book in one day. I couldn’t put it down - I had to find out what was going to happen to Devi in the past and the present.

Devi was a great, relateable character. She felt like a typical teenager in a lot of ways, but not so typical in others. She let her feelings for a boy take over her whole life, and she made mistakes with her friends. Senior Devi made me so angry at times - she wanted things to change so badly that it made her a bit crazy and obsessed and selfish. She didn’t care what she put Freshman Devi through in the past, as long as she got the results she wanted in the present.

The thing is, and the thing I would have hated if it were me, was that Senior Devi couldn’t remember doing the things Freshman Devi did that ended up changing her future - she had no memory of it, and was often left confused and wondering what was going on, but she still had her original memories, which meant memories of the heartache Bryan caused. No matter what Freshman Devi did, it couldn’t erase those memories or the hurt.

Freshman Devi was so sweet I just wanted to cuddle her. She was so trusting and eager to please, and took Senior Devi at her word. She worked hard and wanted the best for everyone around her. Even though she wanted to be a normal fourteen-year-old girl and have fun and hang out with her friends and meet cute boys, she was willing to make sacrifices if it meant making her future self happy.

I also really liked the secondary characters. Devi’s friends changed so much between the past and the present because of decisions Freshman Devi made, so it really kept you on your toes wondering what was going to happen to them next. I thought Bryan was adorable, and the more Senior Devi tried to keep Freshman Devi away from him, the more I wanted them together.

The concept of this book was brilliant. Every little thing you do can affect your future, even if you don’t think it can. Every choice you make, every conversation you have, every person you meet has the potential to change your future for the better or worse, big or small. For me, it also really drove home the point that everything happens for a reason. When you’re unhappy, when you get your heart broken, when everything seems like it’s going wrong, there’s a reason for it, even if you can’t see what it is in the moment. Just like I didn’t expect for this story to make me so emotional, I also didn’t expect for it to make me think so much.

Funny and cute, with a unique storyline, well-developed characters, and a plot that keeps you wondering, Gimme a Call is the perfect book if you’re looking for a light, fun read with an unexpected twist and surprising depth. 

If you had a chance to talk to your younger self, what would you say? Would you try to fix mistakes you made, even though it could completely change your life? Would you give yourself general words of wisdom, or something specific?

Be sure to come back later this month, because I'll be spotlighting Sarah, and she's very generously donated a signed copy of Ten Things for a giveaway!

 

This post has been part of the Canadian Spotlight Month. Click the graphic below to check out the schedule and all things Canadian here at Ramblings of a Daydreamer. 

Canadian Spotlight Month: My Top 6 Favourite Canadian Authors

Throughout June, with the help of some amazing bloggers, I compiled a list of Canadian authors. I know there are probably dozens of names missing from this list, but I add to it whenever I discover a new Canadian author.

Today I thought I’d share my 6 favourite Canadian authors. If you guys aren’t already familiar with these authors, I really hope you’ll check them out!

My Top 6 Favourite Canadian Authors

*In no particular order*

1. Lucy Maud Montgomery (or LM Montgomery)

Montgomery is best known for her Anne of Green Gables and Emily of New Moon series. I read Anne of Green Gables and Anne of Avonlea as a child, and I just finished rereading AoGG last week and fell in love with it all over again (I’m posting my review along with a giveaway of the book tomorrow). I feel like I grew up with Anne and Avonlea - watching the movies, the Canadian TV series Road to Avonlea, and collecting Anne memorabilia for as long as I can remember. I even got to visit “Anne’s Land” in Prince Edward Island twice when I was little. Anne will always be a character who’s very close to my heart, and I can’t wait to continue on with the series and finally read the whole thing. 

My Anne of Green Gables collection

2. Kelley Armstrong

I doubt there’s anyone in the blogosphere who hasn’t heard of Kelley Armstrong. Author of the Women of the Otherworld series, Darkest Powers series, and Darkness Rising series, Armstrong is the queen of amazing supernatural reads. I read Bitten and The Summoning several years ago, but unfortunately that was before I became a book blogger, so I don’t have reviews to share. I read The Gathering recently and absolutely loved it. I’ll have my review for that up later this month, along with two Kelley Armstrong giveaways.

3. OR Melling

Unfortunately, I don’t know many people who are familiar with OR Melling, and that makes me so sad. I discovered her books The Chronicles of Faerie and My Blue Country (about a Canadian girl who goes on an exchange program to Southeast Asia - I read this one a couple times) in my early teens. Now that I’m a blogger, I’d like to reread My Blue Country and write a review, and hopefully bring attention to this great Canadian author.

4. Alyxandra Harvey

Alyx writes the Drake Chronicles - stories about a family of kick-ass vampires. The books give vampires a fresh, unique spin, and are a mixture in romance, action, and suspense. So far I’ve only read Hearts at Stake and Blood Feud (review to come later this month), but I can’t wait to carry on with the series and keep up with the Drakes. I also recently read Stolen Away (review to come soon for that one, too), which is about faeries - I love anything to do with faeries.

Alyx will be in the spotlight here mid-month with a guest post, and she’s got an exciting Drake-related giveaway for us!

5. Sarah Mlynowski

Sarah writes amazing contemporary YA fiction. Ten Things We Did (And Probably Shouldn’t Have) and Gimme a Call (again, review to come later this month) have been two of my favourite books of 2012 so far. Sarah’s got a knack for writing stories that are funny, cute, believable, and surprisingly touching, plus she writes totally swoonworthy boys! And since I’ve talked about several other giveaways already, I can’t leave Sarah out - later this month, she’s giving away a copy of Ten Things, so be sure to check back for that!

6. Lesley Livingston

Faeries!! As I said, I love anything do with faeries, and Lesley has written the Wondrous Strange trilogy, all about the Fae. I’ve only read the first two books so far, but I was lucky enough to recently win book 3 from Lesley herself, so I’ll be reading that as soon as it arrives! Check out my review of Wondrous Strange; I’ll have a review for book 2, Darklight, later this month. 

 

Who are some of your favourite Canadian authors? Have you read books by my favourites?

 

This post has been part of the Canadian Spotlight Month. Click the graphic below to check out the schedule and all things Canadian here at Ramblings of a Daydreamer. 

In My Mailbox Week 20 - January 15th

In My Mailbox is weekly meme hosted by Kristi over at The Story Siren.  The idea is to share books you've acquired during the week, whether you've won them, bought them, picked them up at the library, received them for review, whatever.  It's a great way to bring attention to books and authors and share the love!

Books mentioned: 

Won:
Shut Out by Kody Keplinger {GoodReads}

Thank you very much to Kathy from I Write, I Read, I Review ♥

Library:

10 Things We Did (And Probably Shouldn't Have) by Sarah Mlynowski {GoodReads}

Withering Tights by Louise Rennison {GoodReads}
Shattered Souls by Mary Lindsey {GoodReads}

Illuminated by Erica Orloff {GoodReads}

Once Every Never by Lesley Livingston {GoodReads}

Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake {GoodReads}

Ebooks for review:

Near Death by MB Mulhall {GoodReads}

Hope's Daughter by Melanie Cusick-Jones {GoodReads}

Ebooks I bought:

The Man Code: Exposed by Rachel Thompson {GoodReads}

Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Darkside by Beth Fantaskey {GoodReads}

Hollowland by Amanda Hocking {GoodReads}

A Scottish Ferry Tale by Nancy Volkers {GoodReads}

DVDs mentioned:
U2: From the Sky Down {Amazon} ♥♥♥♥♥
Crazy Stupid Love {Amazon} 

Be sure to check out the information and prizes for the Blue Sky Days launch party!

What did you get in your mailbox this week?

~Marie