Don't Even Think About It
By Sarah Mlynowski
Published on March 11, 2014
Published by Delacorte Press
Source:Publisher for Review
Published by Delacorte Press
Source:Publisher for Review
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.
Don't
Even Think About It starts out one morning at a high school. The school
is giving out flu shots to each Homeroom class. Everyone in Homeroom
10B gets the shot this particular morning, except for two kids. Renee,
who believes flu shots actually make you sick, and another kid who is
out sick that day like he is most of the time. Everything is fine until
the next morning, when all of a
sudden, the kids who got the shot start hearing people's thoughts. And
boy, do we have some major freak out moments. Olivia's ESP kicks in
while she is standing in the front of a classroom, about to give an oral
report. Several of the kids get their ESP at home, with their parents
and siblings. Some get it at the school, during random times of the day.
With some of them, like Cooper, they don't get it for a few days, and
everyone starts to think they are immune. But alas, no one is immune.
Once
it becomes clear to the kids from 10B what is going on, their classmate
Pi, the second smartest kid in school, decides to call a group meeting.
They argue about whether to tell
someone or not, and finally decide to just wait and see what happens.
They start calling themselves Espies. And then..... well, they start
using the ESP to their advantage, and it seems like, for the most part,
everyone is enjoying their new found power. They learn how to close it
off for a while, they learn how to use it to their advantage. And then
the story becomes basically a contemporary high school story, with ESP
as the backdrop.
There is Olivia, the hypochondriac, anxiety-ridden, never-been-kissed
girl who is so incredibly self-conscious she passes out before an oral
exam. We have Pi, the self-appointed
leader of the Espies, who is generally a big old know it all, pain in
the butt. There's MacKenzie, who is the class beauty/mean-girl, and her
boyfriend Cooper, who is the bubbly, fun-loving guy that everyone loves,
and who sings all of the time. And there is Mac/Coop drama, of course!
Tess, Mac's BFF, who is weight-conscious and always thinking about the
extra 7-10 pounds she needs to lose. It doesn't help that her mother and
her best friend are constantly thinking about it as well. And Teddy,
Tess's Guy BFF, who she is secretly in love with, and whom she hopes
loves her too. Lets see, who else.... Ah yes, BJ the pervert, who
actually turns out to be a decent human being. There are quite a few
more characters that come into play, but these are the main ones in the
story.
Don't
Even Think About It is told in the perspective of a "we", instead of an
"I". It is actually a pretty neat format, and had the story held more
interest for me, it could have made for a really great read. But (yes,
there is a but), this book just didn't work for me. It focuses so much
on the teenage drama's, the romances and the fights between girls over
guys, and guys over girls, that the cool part, the ESP, kind of loses
out. It had so much potential with the perspective, and the idea, but it
got bogged down with being a story about teenagers and their drama. The
two story lines that I think hit the nail on the head were Cooper's and
Olivia's. Cooper learns awful things about his home life, and it really
affects him. And Olivia's issues were real issues that were incredibly
difficult for her to live with daily, but she showed growth. It was
very real life, and I appreciated it, and their reactions. As much as I
liked the "we", I think this story could have gained some serious
ratings increase if it had alternated POV's between these two.
All
in all, Don't Even Think About It is a fun, cute story that I think
may have been a little too young for me. In a crowd of 13 and 14 year
old's, I think it could be a hit. The writing was really, really good.
The characterization was pretty spot on. It is a fast, un-putdownable
read. I think it will have a lot of fans. I just wanted a
little more than what I got. That's all! I would definitely say to
anyone, give it a chance. It is not a bad book in the least, and maybe,
just maybe, you might end up falling in love with "we"!
~Jaime
