Review Detail

This story caught my interest with the premise of some NYC teens being able to read minds after having the flu shot. Unique twist on the whole super powers premise.

What worked: Hilarious with a fun voice. Think Gossip Girls get a funky flu shot that has them able to read minds! Can you even imagine what Gossip Girl would have done with this super power? I loved the one title one of the teens came up with on describing their 'super power': The Espies. Sure they might have become mutants with the ability to hear everyone's thoughts and getting purple colored eyes but think of what they could do with their new so-called powers!

And they hear EVERYTHING. Nothing is secret anymore. That includes not only the secrets of other teens in their high school, but their parents and other adults--the nurse was a stripper!

The dialogue had a great beat and I laughed out more than a few times. BJ and Tess were hilarious together. I also could relate with Olivia's fear of just about everything. And Mackenzie's self-destructive behavior on cheating on her boyfriend Cooper felt real too.

What I had issues with: There are way too many characters to keep straight. I had to stop more than a few times and go back to figure out who was who. Some of the characters were quirky enough while others felt a little one dimensional to me. Like Pi, who is only the second smartest in her school. Tess who is in love with her BFF Teddy. I almost wonder if the cast was limited to a few characters, this might have made this story even stronger.

Also the omnipresent point of view threw me at times. The author go into one character's head and then would say 'we', meaning the whole homeroom class that were affected by the flu shot. I had a hard time with this as it was jarring and took me out of an otherwise engaging story. But that's just my opinion.

This is a fun new series with teens who develop the ability to read minds. I read it in one sitting. Now curious what will happen in the sequel.