Mini Monday (2): Don't Even Think About It by Sarah Mlynowski

I'm back with another Mini Monday. I'm just so much more likely to post if I keep myself on some kind of weekly feature schedule. For my second Mini Monday while I clean out my drafts, I have a mini review of Don't Even Think About It by Sarah Mlynowski.

Goodreads Synopsis

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.

Thoughts

I thought that I was going to love this book. I was so excited to read it. So maybe this is partially my fault because I had such expectations for this book to be fun and exciting, but I feel like this story really let me down. It had such an interesting premise. What if a whole high school class could hear what others were thinking?

I think my main issue is that the idea wasn't explored deeply enough. I thought we would get more conspiracy theory-esque thoughts. However, what was mostly offered was thoughts on how to use this newfound ability to read minds to...get a boyfriend, and the whole thing was a mess with how many narrators we had going on throughout the story. 

This is VERY much a YA book. The thoughts are juvenile, because the characters are. Sometimes these thoughts were very eye-roll inducing to me. I would not recommend this book to anybody who feels like they may be beginning to age out of the YA genre.

Young Rich Widows by Kimberly Belle, Lane Fargo, Cate Holahan, Vanessa Lillie

Title: Young Rich Widows

Author: Kimberly Belle, Lane Fargo, Cate Holahan, Vanessa Lillie

Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark

Expected publication date: April 2, 2024

Intro (Goodreads)

When the four partners of a prominent law firm are killed in a mysterious plane crash, their widows must come together to uncover the truth in this explosive, edge-of-your-seat novel.

It’s 1985 in Providence, Rhode Island, and the four partners of a prominent, mafia-affiliated law firm have been killed in a private jet that went down outside New York City. Four very different women have just lost the loves of their lives: Justine, a former fashion model adjusting to suburban life; Camille, a beautiful, young second wife some suspect is a gold digger; Krystle, committed to leaving the firm to her sons after her husband worked his whole life to support them all; and Meredith, a stripper at the local club who was in a secret relationship with the firm’s sole female partner. While the crash is initially ruled a tragic accident, something’s not adding up: The team wasn’t supposed to be in New York that day, and it’s soon revealed that there was a very large sum of cash that burned up with the plane. The women find themselves thrown together in search of the truth, with new danger and threats unfolding at every turn.

Could a dissatisfied client be seeking revenge? Or were the partners involved in something bigger—something dangerous and deadly? What other secrets were the partners keeping, and how far might people go to ensure they stay hidden? The widows must find the answers in order to protect their inheritance, their families, and their lives.

My thoughts

I enjoyed this novel for what it was. It was a quick, fun read that was a great palette cleanser from some of the darker thrillers that I've been reading. I was looking for something easy to read while also being compelling and this delivered for me. It had some very campy, 80s mobster flick vibes and I loved that.

I loved the switch of POVs between all of the widows and I liked seeing the friendships develop between all the women despite all of their unfortunate circumstances.

The only small gripe I had with this novel is that it does take awhile to get going and to feel like there is actually something happening, but the humor and my general fondness for all of the widows carried me through the parts that felt slow.

I think if you're looking for a quick read and fun that doesn't take itself too seriously, I would recommend this.