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

Don't Even Think About It by Sarah Mlynowski
Series: None
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Paranormal
Rating: ♚♚
Pages: 336
Published by Delacorte Press on March 11, 2014
Amazon | B&N

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.

NOTE: I received this review from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book was pointless. I'm sorry, Mlynowski, but it was. I was really excited to read Don't Even Think About It when I got an email from NetGalley saying that I was pre-approved for this title, but once I started reading it, I wasn't so sure anymore. This was definitely a fast read regardless of it lacking plot, and I appreciated that, hence the two stars/crowns. I felt that its pace needed to be recognized. And the writing was good, which also deserved a star/crown. The lack of the other three stars is the characterization, world-building, and my emotions throughout the novel.

For one, I felt no attachment toward the characters by the end of Don't Even Think About It, and I wasn't okay with that. There were two characters that I liked: Tess and BJ--BJ more than Tess. I just didn't agree with the way that Tess thought/did things. She mind slut-shamed Sadie, which was not okay, and she was always talking about how she wanted to lose weight so badly...and then she'd eat cheeseburgers, a milkshake, and fries. BJ was hilarious. Besides the fact that his name is BJ for the stupidest reason (because he thought it was funny), I liked him as a character. He was nice to Tess.

Two characters I couldn't stand at all would be Mackenzie and Pi. I just couldn't with those two. Mackenzie was pompous, and she thought everyone lived to serve her. Same thing with Pi. And that ending? What the heck, Pi? She ruined the ending for me. (Actually, they all did.) I just couldn't stand her character or her. She admonished the others for cheating on tests and then she goes and cheats, using her powers to read the smartest kid in school's (the one she envies) mind during a test. Hypocrite much? It's not his fault you didn't study!

There was practically no world-building. All the kids know is that their powers came from a batch of flu shots. By the end of the book, all the kids know is that their powers came from a batch of flu shots. Can you see the problem here? Literally nothing is explained by the end, and I wasn't okay with this just like I wasn't okay with the characters.

This ties in with my lack of feelings for the characters, but I could've cared less about these kids. The entire novel was a drama-infested high school, and it made me want to hurl, maybe even rip my hair out. It was annoying, and it irritated me to listen to their thoughts. They had nothing interesting to say. Ahem, I mean, think. I was excited to read about super powers, but this book lacked in that department too. And everyone was trying to be funny, but they just weren't. A character would say something "funny" and another character would laugh. But me? I didn't. I didn't laugh.

In all, I didn't dislike this book so much that I'm never going to read another Mlynowski book. I haven't completely written her off. I still enjoyed her other novel, Ten Things We Did. I'm sad to say that I wouldn't recommend this book for anybody unless they're looking for a drama-driven novel.