Ten Things We Did (and Probably Shouldn't Have)

by Sarah Mlynowski

• ISBN10: 0062683039
• ISBN13: 9780062683038
• Publish Date: 6 June 2017 (first published 7 June 2011)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Imprint: Collins
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 384
• Language: English

Reviews

[Nessa Luna]

Read this review, and many more on my blog October Tune!

I don’t really like chick lit’s, or books that revolve around romance, and this book reminded me why. Basically, April has been really excited, because she’s about to have sex with her boyfriend for the first time. But her dad ruins it for her, by telling her that they are moving away, to another state!

The fact that the words ‘omigod’, and ‘pretty please’ were used made me feel a bit weird, I mean which grown up says ‘pretty please’?! And what is wrong with just writing ‘oh my god’? Besides the fact that April’s dad and stepmum actually let her stay at the house of a friend, and her friend’s mum (though they NEVER even met the mum) felt a bit unrealistic, no parent would do that, honestly. I also didn’t really like the constant flashbacks, I mean I’m perfectly fine with people in books telling what happened in the past, but why not just tell it during the story, and why have all these annoying flashbacks all the time?

If I’m honest, I did like the whole ‘ten things we did, and probably shouldn’t have’, but I was just annoyed by the fact that April wanted to have sex with her boyfriend so badly. I just don’t get why teenagers feel the need to have sex as soon as possible (okay they were in a relationship for nearly two years but whatever).

I kinda figured out how the book was going to end somewhere in the middle, but there were some parts of it that I didn’t expect, and that did left me quite surprised after all. I wanted to like this book, because I liked the concept, but I ended up not liking it at all; a bit of a shame.

[Rowena]

I’ve been wanting to read this book for some time now and when I finally picked this up, I couldn’t put it down. It was funny, it was cute and some times it was dumb but through out it all, it was fun.

This book is about April and how she moves in with her friend Vi and they begin to live a life without parents. April lives with her Dad and Step-Mom, her little brother lives with her Mom in France and April hasn’t quite forgiven her mother for cheating on her father. Vi lives with her mother but her Mom is going on the road for the broadway play that she’s in so Vi’s all alone in their house. After some fancy maneuvering (and some little white lies), April moves in with Vi for the remainder of her junior year and her Dad moves to Ohio.

Some of the reasons that April didn’t want to move to Ohio were her friends, her school and her boyfriend, Noah. Noah and April have been together for years and they’re planning to finally land the deal and well, Noah is acting funny. He’s been so anxious to finally land the deal for so long that when April is finally ready, she doesn’t understand why he keeps finding other things to do than be with her.

This story was filled with awesome characters, crazy antics and just a whole lot of high school fun. The kind of fun that you think about long after you’re no longer a teenager and the kind of fun that you hope your kids don’t get into when they’re that age.

I didn’t like Noah from the beginning. Even when he was the doting boyfriend, it felt off to me and so when things go south with him, I wasn’t mad…not even a little. I was Team Hudson from the jump and his secret job? LOL, too freaking funny! I really enjoyed the relationship that blossomed between Hudson and April but also between Dean and Vi. Dean was such a fun character and his brother was such a cutie patootie. I really enjoyed getting to know the both of them over the course of this book.

This book is filled with all things teenagers. Bad decisions, immaturity, sex, lies and well, parties. But it was still a fun book to read because the characters (especially April) come into their own and by the end of the book, you feel like you’re best friends with each of them. I definitely recommend this book.

[Amber]

Full review here: http://www.booksofamber.com/2012/12/ten-things-we-did-and-probably-shouldnt.html

I think the title alone gives you an idea of how humourous this book is, doesn't it? I went in expecting a cute contemporary with some wit and some funny scenes, but instead I ended up falling in love with April and with Sarah's writing. That's not to say that Ten Things isn't funny, because it definitely is. It had me laughing out loud all the time while reading it.

I read this one overnight. I think that shows how much I enjoyed it, and how much it captivated me. I start a book before bed, and sometimes, when a book is really good, I can't put it down until I've finished it. That is what happened with Ten Things.

Like I said, I fell in love with April. She's an awesome character, and she went through so much in the short amount of time this book takes place in. She had to deal with her mother and brother living in France, and her dad and his perfect new wife moving away. No wonder she wanted to stay with her friend, right? I thought it was hilarious that she was lying to her dad, and how she and her friend set up accounts to exchange fake emails between their parents.

I was looking forward to a huge blow up reveal at the end, in which April confesses, or her dad finds out that she and her friend had been living on their own, but that never happens. That was a little disappointing.

I loved the secondary characters, especially Hudson and... I've forgotten his brother's name, but I loved him too, I promise! I think it began with a G... But anyway, these two brothers were brilliant. I just wish there had been more Hudson! He was AWESOME. And hot.

I hated April's boyfriend, Noah, though. He was a scumbag, and can go rot in a hole. Harsh? Perhaps. But I really don't like the type of person he is. Throughout the book I was praying for April to dump his ass and get together with Hudson.

The final thing I wanted to talk about was how Sarah Mlynowski dealt with teenagers having sex, and STDs. I'm struggling not to spoil you, but I just want to say that the author deserves an applause for doing this. I've never seen STDs mentioned in YA lit before. Sure, there's been pregnancy scares in the books I've read, but no diseases. Four for you, Ms. Mlynowski.