Don't Even Think About It by Sarah Mlynowski

Don't Even Think About It

by Sarah Mlynowski

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.

Reviewed by Joséphine on

3 of 5 stars

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Audiobook rating: 3 stars
Book rating: 2.5 stars

Initial thoughts: The premise of Don't Even Think About It sounds intriguing — practically an entire class gains ESP abilities due to a tainted batch of flue shots. There's so much that can be done with that idea! Sadly, that potential wasn't entirely realized. At the baseline, I liked the narrative style. The point(s)-of-view was an amalgamation of a collective "we", sort of like an omniscient plural first person. I say "sort of" because occasionally the point-of-view represented that of one person in the group but for the most part it could've been anyone. Many people might find this confusing but I liked it because for all intents and purposes, that could all read each other's minds which means their thoughts overlapped in a way that mimicked inner dialogues.

Beyond the mind reading, the potentials and repercussions though, there wasn't all that much substance to Don't Even Think About It. Most of it boiled down to romance — who cheated on who, manipulating a love interest by reading their thoughts, figuring out if someone liked them back, etc. That plot got tiring to keep up because there was no parallel arch about other ways to take advantage of their newfound ESP.

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 27 September, 2015: Finished reading
  • 27 September, 2015: Reviewed