Book Review: Don't Even Think About It by Sarah Mlynowski

(This book was provided to me by NetGalley and Random House Children's for review purposes).

Description from Goodreads
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 Review
I thought this book was going to be a little more science fiction and a lot less teen angst, but I have to say- I still really liked it!
This book revolves around over 22 different characters, so be prepared! 22 of 24 students in the same home room class get the flu vaccine and all of them end up with a pretty interesting side effect- they develop ESP. They can not only hear each other's thoughts, but the thoughts of other students, teachers, their parents... anyone they are around. 

Now when I originally read the synopsis, I thought there would be a little teen angst and maybe a little more "how did this really happen". But how it happened was pretty much wrapped up in 10 pages or less (and at the end of the book). It didn't stop me from really enjoying the story otherwise. I felt like a majority of the "main" characters were very fleshed out and different from each other, so it didn't get confusing. And they all had their own goals, and problems to sort out once everyone could hear everything inside of their heads.

I have to say, I don't know if I would like this power very much! It seems like it would be really noisy (all of the characters had headaches a lot of the time), and I don't think I really want to know everything that everyone could be thinking all the time. I mean, it seems pretty cool in theory, but would you really want to know how much you're aggravating something? Or if you think you look amazing in something and then you hear someone say that you look like crap? Yeah... I'd rather not.


Overall, as I said, I really liked this book. It was very well written, and the idea was pretty well explored. And in re-reading the description, it was definitely my mistake (hope?) that it was more Science Fiction based, but the description doesn't seem to indicate that at all. 
And I loved the way it ended. Can we get more stories about these teens??



I gave this book 4 stars on Goodreads.
You can purchase a copy of this book in hardcover here, and for Kindle here.


FTC: I received a copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher for review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
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