Title: Ten things we did (and probably shouldn't have)Author: Sarah Mlynowski
Hardcover, 368 pages
Published June 7th 2011 by HarperTeen
This book can be pretty much sumed up in just one word: fun. There was really nothing wrong with it, it was quick and fun and cute.
As you can probably guess from the title, it is about the 10 things April and her friends did while living without parent's
supervision for a whole semester. The part about that "explains" why they're left home alone is actually quite ridiculous (yet funny) but all the things they did are totally believable, (they're teenagers I'm surprised they didn't do worse things).
The story is told in flashbacks, it wasn't confusing, but sometimes it was annoying. It could go from last night to last year to the last decade :/ The good thing about it though, is that you learned a lot about the main character April and why was she the way she was and why she did the things she did. April was an interesting girl. Sometimes I hated her, sometimes I loved her. She got me fooled quite a few times, when I thought she was gonna chose a certain jerk over the sweet, smart and cute guy. It's the first time ever something like that happens to me, I usually can tell from page 1 with whom the girl will end up with, but I was not 100% sure this time.
What I really loved is that the teenagers in this story were very believable, I love them all, and understand them all. They were the real 'light' of the story. Because even though this book had some new, original concepts; it is still a story that's been told quite a few times (movies, books, tv shows, they've all at some point have had teenagers being home alone).
A thing I reaaaaally, really liked about this book was that it talked about STDs.
[Minor SPOILER ahead]----> Not only the normal stuff like "Use protection or you'll get an STD" but someone actually gets an STD, chlamydia to be exact. And she was not a promiscous girl, she only did it unprotected a few times, and it was enough.
Because I am a med student, you don't even know how much it bothers me when people are oblivious to things as important as this! Especially when they are sexually active, if you decide to have sex, you should first learn all about STDs and protection, not only birth control. Birth control is important but being pregnant won't kill you: HIV, gonorrhea, hpv, or syphilis WOULD. So get educated.
Because I am a med student, you don't even know how much it bothers me when people are oblivious to things as important as this! Especially when they are sexually active, if you decide to have sex, you should first learn all about STDs and protection, not only birth control. Birth control is important but being pregnant won't kill you: HIV, gonorrhea, hpv, or syphilis WOULD. So get educated.
And just to be clear (because I don't feel the point is clear enough in the book) You cannot get chlamydia from the toilet seat, or from a hot tub, they NEED cells to grow in.
This review is short because I need to study (surprise). But even if this is short, it does not mean I didn't like it, it was pretty entretaining, and the brothers in this story were swoon worthy. And what the guy did to be save that cat was totally heroic, and because of that I'm in love with him <3
LIKED IT MORE THAN ENOUGH
ha! I love your rating system :).
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you liked this book. I've been thinking about buying it... and it's good to hear that it actually addresses STDs and has an explanation for why the parents are absent. I mean, granted, that is a giant part of the novel itself, but I feel like a lot of YA novels just ignore that issue, you know?
Though the flashback part sounds annoying.... but if all the characters were believable and lovable, then it should be a good read :). Thanks for the review!