Don't Even Think About It - Sarah Mlynowski

"This is the story of how we became freaks."

Summary from Goodreads: 

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.

When I saw the email from Netgalley inviting people to come read this book, I thought "Oh cool, maybe this will get me out of my reading slump!" But Don't Even Think About It just ended up being pretty blah. I was expecting an LOL story. The concept of the story was cool - I mean who wouldn't want to hear what people were thinking about? I just didn't think it was executed very well. The writing was choppy and I needed more...words(?)...I don't know. I just needed more writing. I found it very difficult trying to keep track of everyone's thoughts. I'm glad I didn't DNF the book even though I was about to at about page 80. Once I got past page 100, the book picked up for me and I actually started enjoying it and even laughed once or twice. The main thing that bothered me about this book (even though it's just a fluffy read) was the message. I personally took away the message that we choose to live our lives how we want to (which is how I live my life as much as possible!) but I was hoping the characters would learn that you don't need to change for anyone. By constantly hearing what people think about you, your self-esteem lowers and you start to change the things you like and dress a certain way just to please someone else. I'm probably reading too much into the book but still it bothered me.

Rating: 4/10

Categories: book review, teen fiction, ya, young adult