E-ARC Review + IF I HAVE TELEPATHIC POWERS + Giveaway: Don't Even Think About It by Sarah Mlynowski
Author: Sarah Mlynowski
Release date: March 11th 2014
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Series: N/A
Age Group: Young Adult
Genre: Fantasy Romance
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes and Noble | The Book Depository
Add to your library: Goodreads
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. (via Goodreads)
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. (via Goodreads)
I received an e-copy of this from Random House Children's through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This however did not influence my opinion of the book or of the author in any way.
Reading someone else's mind? Sure, interesting. Though will it be okay with you if that person can read yours too? What happens when a group of people can read one another's minds? I guess it's cute when it's only one way. But when it becomes a give-and-take kind of thing, chaos is sure to come.
At first, I was dead confused as to whose POV I was reading from. He/she didn't introduce him/herself. He/she kept on introducing the others. How did it happen to them not how did it happen to him/her. Then the bomb took off with the POV coming from a 'we.' The idea of having a 1st-person POV not from one but from a group of people was knew to me. Confusing, yes. It was like I was lost in their consciousness and I can also read their minds. It wasn't really even hard to read it anyway. I was able to see the story from them as a group. It was confusing at first yet refreshing at the same time. Honestly, I liked it. Period.
Since they were a group of people, no one was really the center of the story. I can pretty much say that it was Mackenzie, Tess, Olivia and Cooper who took up most of the pages. They were the four people who have the most use of the power. With Mackenzie cheating on her boyfriend, how can she keep it from the others? If she didn't have the power, would she even tell her boyfriend? With Tess seriously liking her best friend, how can she accept that he likes someone else? If she didn't have the power, will she even know that she doesn't stand a chance with him? With Olivia doing everything her date wants, how can she still be genuine to him? If she didn't have the power, will she ever learn self-confidence? With Cooper not knowing everything that is happening around him, how will he cope with the truth? If he didn't have the power, will he know as much truth as there will ever be? As much as I don't want the people involved to know it through the stream of their conscious minds, I can't do anything since it was rather automatic. It was both funny and disheartening to read about them knowing something through someone's minds.
Knowing something from someone can either make or break you. But knowing it directly from that person's thoughts is just utterly weakening. And you know they can't be lying because it's coming right from their minds. You can never go wrong when the unconscious mind is involved. The power ultimately spiraled things out for them. Good or bad. Though I can say mostly bad. However in the end, some have fortunately found some hope and light.
My favorite thing about their power was the fact that they can tell the people who also have the power things they cannot put into words. You know how it's easy to just say it in our minds and not out loud in front of someone? I totally liked that.
The root of their power wasn't that appealing to me. It was based scientifically yet it was weak if I think about it. I don't know. It seems so unlikely to happen. I know this is fictional but science was involved so I guess it should have been more thought through. How can the authority let that happen and even with the ending? But I don't care how they got it. I enjoyed it as much as they did.
I guess I was just tipped off by the way it ended. I was hoping that everything will be fine and all. Now I have to think about what will happen to them in the long run.
Don't Even Think About It is a funny light read to think about what you shouldn't think about. It's a nice way to make you be thankful that you're not able to read someone else's mind and hopefully, someone else cannot read yours.
At first, I was dead confused as to whose POV I was reading from. He/she didn't introduce him/herself. He/she kept on introducing the others. How did it happen to them not how did it happen to him/her. Then the bomb took off with the POV coming from a 'we.' The idea of having a 1st-person POV not from one but from a group of people was knew to me. Confusing, yes. It was like I was lost in their consciousness and I can also read their minds. It wasn't really even hard to read it anyway. I was able to see the story from them as a group. It was confusing at first yet refreshing at the same time. Honestly, I liked it. Period.
Since they were a group of people, no one was really the center of the story. I can pretty much say that it was Mackenzie, Tess, Olivia and Cooper who took up most of the pages. They were the four people who have the most use of the power. With Mackenzie cheating on her boyfriend, how can she keep it from the others? If she didn't have the power, would she even tell her boyfriend? With Tess seriously liking her best friend, how can she accept that he likes someone else? If she didn't have the power, will she even know that she doesn't stand a chance with him? With Olivia doing everything her date wants, how can she still be genuine to him? If she didn't have the power, will she ever learn self-confidence? With Cooper not knowing everything that is happening around him, how will he cope with the truth? If he didn't have the power, will he know as much truth as there will ever be? As much as I don't want the people involved to know it through the stream of their conscious minds, I can't do anything since it was rather automatic. It was both funny and disheartening to read about them knowing something through someone's minds.
Knowing something from someone can either make or break you. But knowing it directly from that person's thoughts is just utterly weakening. And you know they can't be lying because it's coming right from their minds. You can never go wrong when the unconscious mind is involved. The power ultimately spiraled things out for them. Good or bad. Though I can say mostly bad. However in the end, some have fortunately found some hope and light.
My favorite thing about their power was the fact that they can tell the people who also have the power things they cannot put into words. You know how it's easy to just say it in our minds and not out loud in front of someone? I totally liked that.
The root of their power wasn't that appealing to me. It was based scientifically yet it was weak if I think about it. I don't know. It seems so unlikely to happen. I know this is fictional but science was involved so I guess it should have been more thought through. How can the authority let that happen and even with the ending? But I don't care how they got it. I enjoyed it as much as they did.
I guess I was just tipped off by the way it ended. I was hoping that everything will be fine and all. Now I have to think about what will happen to them in the long run.
Don't Even Think About It is a funny light read to think about what you shouldn't think about. It's a nice way to make you be thankful that you're not able to read someone else's mind and hopefully, someone else cannot read yours.
IF I HAVE TELEPATHIC POWERS...
First off, thank you to Deb of Deb Shapiro and Company for inviting me to join other bloggers in this Q&A. So now for the question. What would I do if I have telepathic powers?
A: I honestly don't know. There are lots of things I can do. For instance, I can probably use it during classes to copy. Yes, that tempting. But no, I probably wouldn't do that. I'd forever be guilty if I do that anyway. Or I can actually know what a guy thinks of me, right? But no too. I'd either get hurt or get my hopes up so no thank you. Or I can actually play nice to a not-so-friend so I'd know what he/she doesn't like about me. Yet again, I'd probably get hurt or get annoyed. I'd probably just use it during arguments. You know, before the other person can even say what he/she wants, I already have an answer. That way, I'd always have the upper hand. I know it sounds bad though upper hand in a way that I'd be able to lighten up the argument and probably stop it as fast as I can.
So what about you? What would you do if you have telepathic powers? Tell me below.
So what about you? What would you do if you have telepathic powers? Tell me below.
About the Author
Sarah was born in Montreal, Canada. After graduating with an honors degree in English literature from McGill University, she moved to Toronto to work for Harlequin Enterprises. While she never met Fabio, she used her romance publishing experiences to fuel her first novel MILKRUN.Since then Sarah has written four additional novels for adults: FISHBOWL, AS SEEN ON TV, MONKEY BUSINESS and ME VS. ME, and the teen novels BRAS & BROOMSTICKS, FROGS & FRENCH KISSES, SPELLS & SLEEPING BAGS and PARTIES & POTIONS—all in the ‘Magic in Manhattan’ series, as well as GIMME A CALL and TEN THINGS WE DID (AND PROBABLY SHOULDN'T HAVE). She is also the author of FAIREST OF ALL and IF THE SHOE FITS (JAN 2013), the first two books in the Whatever After series for ages 8-12.
Along with Lauren Myracle and E. Lockhart, Sarah also wrote HOW TO BE BAD, and along with Farrin Jacobs, she wrote a guide to writing called SEE JANE WRITE. Sarah also co-edited two bestselling charity collections (GIRLS' NIGHT IN and GIRLS' NIGHT OUT), and contributed to various anthologies (AMERICAN GIRLS ABOUT TOWN, SIXTEEN: STORIES ABOUT THAT SWEET AND BITTER BIRTHDAY, 21 PROMS, FIRST KISS (THEN TELL), FIREWORKS and VACATIONS FROM HELL). Sarah's books have been translated into twenty-one languages and optioned by Hollywood. She now lives in New York City with her husband and daughter.
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