Don't Even Think About It, Sarah Mlynowski

Pages: 338

Publisher: Orchard

Release Date: 1^st May 2014

Edition: e-proof/UK paperback, review copy/won

Other Titles by this Author: Magic in Manhattan series, Whatever After series, How toBe Bad, Gimme a Call, Ten Things We Shouldn't Have Done

Imagine if EVERYONE could hear your thoughts: your best friend, your worst enemy, your secret crush...

This is the story of how we became freaks. It’s how a group of I’s became a we.

When Class 10B got their flu shots, they expected some side effects. Maybe a sore arm. Maybe a headache. They definitely didn’t expect to get telepathy. But suddenly they could hear what everyone was thinking. Their friends. Their teachers. Their parents. Now they all know that Tess has a crush on her best friend, Teddy. That Mackenzie cheated on Cooper. That Nurse Carmichael used to be a stripper. Some of them will thrive. Some of them will break. None of them will ever be the same.

A smart and funny story about friendship, first love and surviving high school from the bestselling author of Ten Things We Shouldn’t Have Done.

Don’t Even Think About It is fresh, funny, unique and utterly readable. I loved it.

I’ve never read a book written in the perspective that this book is, and I thought it was brilliant. After 10B got their shots and developed telepathy, they became a ‘we’ and it was this ‘we’ that told the story. Every character was focused on and had secrets and complexities that added to the dynamic of the group. It’s a really interesting way to read, especially when that ‘we’ is directly telling you a story and referencing what they found out later and things that they didn’t. It shouldn’t work, but it really, really does.

The idea of mind reading is one that thoroughly creeps me out. I sometimes despair at what I’m thinking, I’d hate for someone else, especially a classmate, to hear too. I love how much was going on under the surface of everyone in 10B, whether it be realising your parents’ marriage is falling apart, hiding cheating on your boyfriend, the madness of the mind of someone in unrequited love; it’s all so real and relatable and scary thinking that people could be privy to all that. The level of intimate knowledge you suddenly have of someone can make or break a relationship as lots of the Espies discovered. If you can withstand someone’s most private, innermost thoughts and still think they’re awesome then that’s a pretty good sign. On the other hand, those bad apples come to light a lot quicker than normal... No one really is as they seem.

I was overjoyed to discover that Don’t Even Think About It is the first book in a new series – I can’t wait to read more about the Espies!

Thanks for the review copy NetGalley and Orchard!

Sophie