Don't Even Think About It

Release Date March 11, 2014

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.
from goodreads.com

Beth says 4 Stars...
I love the premise of this book.  Who doesn't want to know what everyone around you is really thinking?  The start of the book shows that it's not going to be your typical high school YA read.  I was thinking about what genre to put this book in and I can't quite classify it.  It has a little element of other (telepathy anyone?), but it isn't really paranormal.  Whatever it is, I had an absolute blast reading it.  At first the plot doesn't seem clear; all you know is that these teens are going to need to deal with their new ability.  There's not a ton of breakneck action, but I think it works to the book's advantage.  It focuses on interpersonal drama and all the little twisty relationships that everyone has to deal with on a daily basis.  I quite liked the way it was written from the collective consciousness of all of the kids who developed telepathy.  It makes so much sense if you think about it; when you're constantly in someone else's brain personal lines start to get a bit fuzzy.  This made the book a nice little change of pace from standard narrators.

The one problem I had with the book was I wanted more!  The cast of characters was quite large and Mlynowski didn't go into everyone's lives.  There were some people I was dying to learn more about, but alas.  The characters that did get a significant amount of page time were nicely developed.  I particularly enjoyed seeing the range of reactions to the telepathy.  Some of them flourished, some couldn't handle it, and everyone received a serious lesson in honesty.  It was a delight to see all the ways that they decided to use telepathy to their advantage. The relationship dramas were the center here and having characters you could empathize with made it that much better.  The best part was that the focus wasn't exclusively on romantic relationships, ongoing or otherwise.  There were friendships, formerly apathetic individuals, and borderline enemies.  Throw all of them together to get a perfect high school meltdown waiting to happen.

Overall, this is a great little quick read.  I finished it in one sitting and had a blast while doing so. If you're looking for something that's a bit different, but not too crazy, grab this when it comes out.  It'll be great for curling up on an afternoon when going outside seems highly inadvisable.