ten things we did (and probably shouldn’t have)

Ten Things We Did (and probably shouldn’t have) by Sarah Mlynowski was one of the books I found on a YA you need to read list recently and honestly I’m not sure why I needed to read it. It’s not a bad book but it’s basically a teenage fairy tale in the vein of the Gossip Girl days.

April doesn’t want to move to Cleveland with her dad and stepmom so she and her friend Vi convince him to let her stay with Vi whose parental units do not even register. They do so in one of those scams that only teenagers could cook up and would only ever work in a book or on television show (oh and she gets a thousand bucks a month out of him). Once she’s in it’s time to begin the parties, sex and poor financial decision making. There’s also a misunderstood blackmailer, a misunderstood hit and run and a misunderstood hottest boy in school.

There is also a kitten and it’s adorable!

I’m torn on this one. It’s a fun, easy read and toward the end it does actually touch on some issues. Parental abandonment, anger and the consequences of unprotected sex. I also liked how they presented April and her friends despite everything as decent and caring. And the stuff with Noah? Well, April was the only one who didn’t see that one coming.

Would I recommend it? It’s a good summer read or a plane read if you’re traveling over the holidays. I do wish that it had been a little less fluffy throughout.  Sacrifice just some of the partying and the goofiness and tighten it up to the end and it would have been better book for me. As it was it’s a good book but I felt like I watched it all and read it all before!