Book Review- Ten Things We Did

by Sarah Mlynowski

Published by Harper Teen

Released Tuesday June 7th- Today

Source: ARC from Publisher

4.5 Stars- Enjoyed it a lot!!!

Synopsis (From Harper Teen): 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.

Imagine living on your own at sixteen years old with one of your best friends and no parents, yeah that would have been a dream come true for me and many others when I was a teenager, well April our main character makes it happen. After her father drops the bomb that they’re moving with his new wife to Cleveland, far away from April’s friends and long time boyfriend, she quickly comes up with a plan with her friend Vi to convince her father to let her live with Vi and her mother. The way that they plan this whole thing and actually got her father to agree to it seemed impossible but was also pretty hilarious, I was laughing out loud between the emails that April’s father and “fake Vi’s mother” kept sending back and forth.

Now that April is living with her friend who’s mom is traveling and has left them both alone for the next few months she plans to lose her virginity to her boyfriend Noah, who she’s being with for a couple of years and helped her through the depression that she went through after her parent’s divorce. She plans on it being special and she is convinced that she’s ready but something’s going on with Noah, he’s starts acting weird and doesn’t seem as excited as he was a few months ago. The reader right along with April begin to notice the changes in Noah, he starts acting distant, like he’s hiding something, it seems a little suspicious and April’s uneasy feelings about her relationship felt very vivid and true, that I started feeling the same uneasiness and angst right along with her. It was quite emotional because you know there has to be something going on but you just don’t want to admit it and you keep hoping that you‘re wrong. Since Noah has become so distant, and doesn’t spend as much time with April, she starts getting closer to Vi’s friend Hudson, she finds him easy to talk to and begins to feel attracted to him, and well who wouldn’t really? This guy was great, he was there for her every time that Noah wasn’t and he was sweet, funny, much more mature and caring, he was a good guy.

I loved that each chapter is titled with one of the ten things they did, and they are all hilarious, like paying $3000 for a cat, buying a hot tub, or harbored a fugitive. The chapters were lengthy, each had a story to tell and they included a few flashbacks of April’s life, which was helpful in connecting with her character. The writing was fun and easy flowing, you get to the end of the book in no time because it hooks you from the very beginning, and you really don‘t want to stop reading it. I thought April’s voice was pretty realistic for a teenager, I'm sure that most including me would have done those crazy things hoping not to get caught and it was fun seeing it all through April’s eyes, feeling her emotions and nervousness, anger and thrilling happiness at having this sudden freedom. There were also a few heartbreaking moments toward the end that made me so angry that I wanted to punch someone in the face. Ten Things is definitely a fun realistic read of teenage angst, letting go, falling in and out of love, broken families and lasting friendships. I loved this novel, it was such a fun ride with great likable characters that I couldn't get enough of and made it hard to put the book down.