Review: Don't Even Think About It

Title:      Don't Even Think About It

Author:  Sarah Mlynowski
Rating:   ★★★★★
Availability: Random House | National Bookstore | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iBookstore
Note: ARC from Random House Kids received via Netgalley for an honest review.

Excellent. Just excellent. I've always wanted to have a power, especially the ability to fly, or at least teleport, and Sarah Mlynowski's Don't Even Think About It was like a presentation of the two sides of the coin of what happens if you do develop powers. I loved it!

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.

Sarah Mlnowski's Don't Even Think About It was great. In just over 300 pages, I went through amazement to thinking Go Pi! Woman power! to oh my god no way, to lulz, to awww shit... then to that damn greedy bitch... I think (hope?) other readers would feel the same way!

What's surprising is that even though there are a LOT, and I mean a LOT of characters (imagine, almost your whole homeroom class?) speaking, I was still able to discern their individual personalities (not all of them, but the notable ones who kept speaking up). At first, Brian disgusted me; I have met far too many 'Brians' and I've had enough of them. But Tess said something that kind of changed my mind: He was a little creepy but at least he was honest about it. Whereas others are creeps but they just don't state it. When I say creepy, I mean he kept thinking about girls and sex and kissing a lot -- which is not uncommon to boys (of almost any age) anyway. And for one story, several characters' arc showed progression. Bravo, Mlynowski!

The cover was a little bit misleading; I thought this was a Mean Girls type of high school story, but it wasn't. That being said, I don't mind that the story was different, and it was better than my imagined plot. Hurrah! Thank you, Mlynowski, for surprising me. I feel like this sets Don't Even Think About It apart from the other teen books who are about bullying the wallflower or standing up to queen bee bullies. With that many people in your head, it's easy to snipe at each other and even quarrel, but instead, with having these many people to talk to and your thoughts almost there for everyone to see, you can't help but grow and fight back and become more interesting as people get to know you.

The reason for the students' development of telepathy is not so out of this world. In fact, it's pretty believable. Who can say that telepathy is not an advancement of the neurological workings of our brain? But then again I'm not good with science so maybe it's not hehe. I'm not sure though if the resolution that was proposed to 'cure' them is legitimate or legal, but medicine's problematic side effect are actually not uncommon (if you research them and read certain books) but we don't hear about them too much so I don't know what happens. However, knowing about a medicine's side effect might cause unnecessary widespread panic, as stated in the book, especially since people tend to blow things out of proportion.

As I mentioned at the start, I've always wanted to have a power, but Sarah Mlynowski presented the other side of the coin. What if you do get powers...but other people also do? You won't have much privacy around other people with telepathy, other people won't have privacy, and you'll know a lot more than you probably bargained for (i.e. hearing your parents having sex omg haha). After reading this, I had to stop and think for a while if I wanted this power and I realized I didn't. I'd like my parents, sisters, (future) boyfriend/hubby to have their thoughts to themselves. I don't want to know what they're thinking of every minute. I'd probably be confused or depressed or disgusted a lot of times if I hear how other people actually think. And I'd end up being jaded if I see that a lot of people are actually lying to my face. Sure, I'd like honesty, but too much knowledge can also be a bad thing. But it was so fun reading and exploring this train of thought.

I haven't read any of Mlynowski's work since 2012 (after her Magic in Manhattan series), but Don't Even Think About It just reminded me of how much I enjoyed reading her books. Thank you, Random House Kids for the ARC. Netgalley's regional restrictions bummed me out because I have more readers from the US and the Russia (yes, I don't know why) than I do from the Philippines and I also have from the UK, but now I can't easily request the books because of the restriction. I still try though, you know, just in case :p

If you're in need of a little something different YA story, I really recommend Don't Even Think About It.

How about you, lovely reader, do you want any power in mind? Would you want to have the power of telepathy?

Have a happy week ahead! :)