Title: Ten Things We did (and Probably Shouldn’t Have)
Author: Sarah Mlynowski
Goodreads summary:
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.
Review:
I want to call this book light-hearted (which probably has a lot to do with that giry-girl cover), but whenever I think about certain aspects of the book, I can’t quite do it.
Don’t get me wrong, this book was a ton of fun. I mean, teenagers who decide they’re going to live by themselves, parents be damned? There are hijinks galore and those are absolutely laugh-out-loud funny. Oh, and there’s a swoony boy. Actually a couple of swoony boys.
I liked April and Vi a lot. I bounced back and forth on my feelings for April’s boyfriend, much like April herself.
This is the kind of book that I think would make a really great teen comedy.
I did really enjoy it, but because of slightly deeper issues that the book touches on, I’m not going to call it “light-hearted” like I’ve seen a lot of reviewers do. Because April? Girl’s got issues. Issues with Mom. Issues with Dad. Issues with her boyfriend and sometimes issues with herself.
Ten Things We Did is a book that I wouldn’t mind rereading.
Rating: 4/5. Really fun and a pretty quick read.
