Title: Don't Even Think about it
Author: Sarah Mlynowski
Publication Date: March 11th 2014
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Rating: 2.5 out of 5
*ARC provided by NetGalley*
Goodreads Blurb:
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.
Don't Even Think About it presents a completely new and different premises than most of the YA books being published. Its about a classroom of teenagers who all receive mutated vaccination shots and end up developing telepathic super powers.
This book is an extremely light read, and was a bit pointless- throughout the story multiple secrets are uncovered, the characters with the telepathy all get annoyed at one another, and everyone with telepathy knows everything everyone is thinking. So there is absolutely no privacy and way to many pointless conflicts.
But I applaud the creative factor in this story and how Ms. Mlynowski introduces the telepathic powers. I also like how she collectively writes through the voices of all the characters, who are all telling the story together.
I also disliked the "teenagers" in this story and believe all the emotions weren't exactly genuine. The main conflict, teenagers vs. telepathic powers, was too stretched out and way too much insignificant information was given. But I suppose all that info was added to further the effect of confusion and disbelief so I don't really have a problem with it. What I did, however, have a problem with was connecting to the story- sure it was interesting, but I never really connected with it or felt as if I was "in" the story.
