Review on Don't Even Think About It

Who has ever wanted to read someone's mind? I know I have! There are times when I wanted to listen in on someone to hear what they thought of me. Sometimes I wanted to know if a guy likes me. Maybe he's just too shy to ask me out. There are good things to mind reading. Like being able to cheat off tests and knowing everyone's secrets. What some people don't realize is some of the thoughts you can hear. You can hear teens thinking about sex all the time, someone thinking about suicide, or even your parents having sex.
Don't Even Think About It by Sarah Mlynowski explores the good and bad about being able to read someone's mind.



Format: Hardcover/ e-book
Pub. Date: March 11th, 2014
Summary:
Contemporary teen fiction with romance, secrets, scandals, and ESP from the author of Ten Things We Did (And Probably Shouldn't Have).

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.
My rating: 4 out of 5 flu shots!
My recommendation: Anyone who loves books about ESP!
My review:
My copy was provided by Netgalley.
One day, the homeroom of 10B all went together to get flu shots at their school. One guy was sick that day and another girl refused to get a shot. All kids get their shot and go on as normal. But there was something...off about those shots. It turns out that there was something in that shot that made everyone who got it develop ESP. They could all read each other's minds. Secrets were the thing of the past. Nobody could hide anything. They couldn't keep secret cheating on a test, a possibly pregnancy test, anything.
At first, the students loved the ESP. After learning how to take advantage of the situation, everyone loved their abilities. Now they can cheat on tests, know if a guy/girl likes them, and know every single detail about each other's lives. But knowing too much can be a bad thing. If someone had a terrible secret, they wouldn't be able to keep it no matter how hard they tried. Someone's family could fall apart from the secrets that were kept from each other.
This whole book is about whether the ability to read minds is a good thing or a terrible curse.
This book was fun and fast-paced. The narration was different than regular book. There is no specific member of the homeroom explaining the story. It's only a member of the homeroom, someone who knows what "we" do, what "we" know, all in "our" homeroom. It was definitely different and unique.
The author was excellent on describing what's on a teenager's mind. She wasn't afraid to explain some of the naughty things teenagers think about every day. She used some language that kept this book serious enough for me to enjoy it, but it was still fun for me to read.
This book combines drama, friendship, and relationships all into one. The real message in this book is about the consequences of keeping secrets. Keeping some secrets may be necessary to keep everything together, but some secrets are meant to be shared, no matter how painful they may seem.
Instead of sticking to one specific character, the author went through every person in the homeroom. She gave everyone a personality, a spark. It was very easy to me to keep track of all the characters from how the author made everyone so different and life like.
Some of the characters I could relate to and some of them I couldn't. I felt bad for Cooper and I loved Olivia. I didn't like Mackenzie and Tess made me feel sympathetic towards her. BJ was just hilarious and I like what happened to him in the end.
I feel like the ending wrapped up quite nicely, but there can definitely be a sequel that I would enjoy.
All in all, this book was fun and awesome. I love this author's style of writing and I can't wait for more!