Buy Ten Things We Did (And Probably Shouldn’t Have)
eBook price: $10.99
Publisher: Harper Teen
Format: Hardcover
Reviewer: Melissa on July 21, 2011
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
When you’re 16, you would probably jump at the chance to live parent free, and April is no exception. In Ten Things We Did (And Probably Shouldn’t Have), Sarah Mlynowski writes an account of two teen girls and the misadventures that are sure to put a smile on your face and laughter in your belly. From lying to their parents (#1) and skipping school (#3) to throwing the party everyone will be talking about (#8) and harboring a fugitive (#7), no one said their adventures don’t get a little out of hand from time to time. But that’s just the way you’ll like it. How will April get through her last semester of junior year when there is a love triangle to unravel, laundry to do, and the looming reality that her life might be falling apart…with every single thing she (definitely, maybe, probably) shouldn’t have done.
When it comes to what appears to be light contemporary YA, I can be a little prejudiced at times. (My review of Natalie Standiford’s Confessions Of The Sullivan Sisters is a perfect example.) With Ten Things We Did, however, the buzz I heard on Twitter and within the blogging community (as well as the fact that the author is from Montreal, Canada where I live) was enough to sell me on picking it up. Mlynowski’s writing and the hilarious situations that April, and to a lesser extent Vi, got themselves into made me enjoy this novel. However, what made me love this novel is how it blends April’s poignant and serious concerns with the rest of the novel’s structure. The result? A book with characters that both adults and teens who are 14 and up alike will relate to and will find completely believable. Once you read this book you’ll have to agree that Mlynowski knows the way teens think.
I’m sure that much has been made about how funny Ten Things We Did is in the blogosphere, but there is more to it than that. It’s the kind of book where you’ll find yourself flying through each of the ten things they did (and probably shouldn’t have) in part because the chapters are longer than most. (I, for one, try to finish chapter before I stop reading, so the tendency I have is to read longer than I would normally.) Of course, there are the many humorous scenes that keep you reading and the romantic, swoon-worthy moments help. But for me, the moments where April is concerned about Vi’s working out habits and her real feeling about her parents agreeing to leave her in Westport when they move across the Atlantic and to Cleveland respectively are what made this novel rock for me. Add to that the fact that April is able to balance her romantic relationship with really strong female friendships, then you end up with a strong female role model for teen girls, even with the “mistakes” she makes.
Overall, Ten Things We Did made me a Sarah Mlynowski fan through and through. I can’t wait to get some time to curl up with her 2010 release, Gimme A Call, which is patiently waiting for me on my bookshelf. If you pick up this book, you’ll be a believer, too as long as you don’t mind the suggestion of sex scenes in your teen fiction.
Melissa has always been a voracious reader of fiction and has an M.A. in English Literature to prove it. Like many other adults, she got caught up in the young adult crossover fiction phenomenon. Now, one of her great joys comes from sharing her love of YA lit on this popular review site. Come with expectations of intellect, magic, and honest reviews, and you won’t be disappointed.
