Review: Ten Things We Did and Probably Shouldn’t Have by Sarah Mlynowski

Rowena’s review of Ten Things We Did (and Probably Shouldn’t Have) by Sarah Mlynowski.

Main Character: April
Love Interest: Hudson (Highlight to see for sure)
Series: None
Author: Facebook|Twitter|Goodreads

2 girls + 3 guys + 1 house – parents = 10 things April and her friends did that they (definitely, maybe, probably) shouldn’t have.

If given the opportunity, what sixteen-year-old wouldn’t jump at the chance to move in with a friend and live parent-free? Although maybe “opportunity” isn’t the right word, since April had to tell her dad a tiny little untruth to make it happen (see #1: “Lied to Our Parents”). But she and her housemate Vi are totally responsible and able to take care of themselves. How they ended up “Skipping School” (#3), “Throwing a Crazy Party” (#8), “Buying a Hot Tub” (#4), and, um, “Harboring a Fugitive” (#7) at all is kind of a mystery to them.

In this hilarious and bittersweet tale, Sarah Mlynowski mines the heart and mind of a girl on her own for the first time. To get through the year, April will have to juggle a love triangle, learn to do her own laundry, and accept that her carefully constructed world just might be falling apart . . . one thing-she-shouldn’t-have-done at a time.

I’ve been wanting to read this book for some time now and when I finally picked this up, I couldn’t put it down.  It was funny, it was cute and some times it was dumb but through out it all, it was fun.

This book is about April and how she moves in with her friend Vi and they begin to live a life without parents.  April lives with her Dad and Step-Mom, her little brother lives with her Mom in France and April hasn’t quite forgiven her mother for cheating on her father.  Vi lives with her mother but her Mom is going on the road for the broadway play that she’s in so Vi’s all alone in their house.  After some fancy maneuvering (and some little white lies), April moves in with Vi for the remainder of her junior year and her Dad moves to Ohio.

Some of the reasons that April didn’t want to move to Ohio were her friends, her school and her boyfriend, Noah.  Noah and April have been together for years and they’re planning to finally land the deal and well, Noah is acting funny.  He’s been so anxious to finally land the deal for so long that when April is finally ready, she doesn’t understand why he keeps finding other things to do than be with her.

This story was filled with awesome characters, crazy antics and just a whole lot of high school fun.  The kind of fun that you think about long after you’re no longer a teenager and the kind of fun that you hope your kids don’t get into when they’re that age.

I didn’t like Noah from the beginning.  Even when he was the doting boyfriend, it felt off to me and so when things go south with him, I wasn’t mad…not even a little.  I was Team Hudson from the jump and his secret job? LOL, too freaking funny!  I really enjoyed the relationship that blossomed between Hudson and April but also between Dean and Vi.  Dean was such a fun character and his brother was such a cutie patootie.  I really enjoyed getting to know the both of them over the course of this book.

This book is filled with all things teenagers.  Bad decisions, immaturity, sex, lies and well, parties.  But it was still a fun book to read because the characters (especially April) come into their own and by the end of the book, you feel like you’re best friends with each of them.  I definitely recommend this book.

…and that’s your scoop!

This book is available from Harper Teen. This book was purchased by the reviewer and these are her honest thoughts on the book.
Buy the book: B&N|Amazon|Book Depository
Book cover and blurb credit: http://barnesandnoble.com

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