Ten Things We Did (and Probably Shouldn't Have) stands as yet another success story in my quest for "Perfect Summer Reads." Although the premise sounds a tad outlandish and over the top (two teenage girls successfully lie to their parents and live alone for half of a year), Mlynowski was able to execute it in a believable fashion. More often than not, I feel as though I need to suspend reality when reading contemporary YA - either the parents are just too absent or the characters get into incredibly ridiculous shenanigans - but I didn't have to for this one. I just kind of nodded my head, said "Okay," and went with it.
(Seriously, though - if you are an author and want to write stories about young adults with zero chaperons... just set your story in college... you heard it here first!)
That being said, this book was light and fun with just a sprinkle of serious development put into the mix. April has a lot of fun in her few months parent free and a lot of times, I was laughing out loud. There were also moments of seriousness in which the girls were forced to accept that they were probably too young to be living on their own without hands on help from a parental figure. Oh, and the boy drama... Oh, the boy drama. This is the key ingredient to making a perfect summer read for me... you have to have good romantic drama and Ten Things delivered.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book. It was written in a series of flashbacks mixed with the present to give well rounded view of April and the situations that she was dealing with. Mlynowski teetered on the edge of the plot being just too ridiculous for a couple of teens but actually was able to make it believable. All in all, if you're looking for a read similar to The DUFF by Kody Keplinger, definitely give Ten Things We Did (and Probably Shouldn't Have) a read - I adored it!
This review was originally posted on http://acreads.blogspot.com.