ARC Book Review | 99 Days by Katie Cotugno

Posted on Wednesday, April 15, 2015 12:00 AM
Format: e-ARC
Source: Publisher via Edelweiss
Publisher: Balzer & Bray
Publication Date: April 21, 2014
My Rating: 3 stars


Day 1: Julia Donnelly eggs my house my first night back in Star Lake, and that’s how I know everyone still remembers everything—how I destroyed my relationship with Patrick the night everything happened with his brother, Gabe. How I wrecked their whole family. Now I’m serving out my summer like a jail sentence: Just ninety-nine days till I can leave for college, and be done.

Day 4: A nasty note on my windshield makes it clear Julia isn’t finished. I’m expecting a fight when someone taps me on the shoulder, but it’s just Gabe, home from college and actually happy to see me. “For what it’s worth, Molly Barlow,” he says, “I’m really glad you’re back.”

Day 12: Gabe got me to come to this party, and I’m actually having fun. I think he’s about to kiss me—and that’s when I see Patrick. My Patrick, who’s supposed to be clear across the country. My Patrick, who’s never going to forgive me.


Review

I was really excited to read 99 Days, I had already been seeing tons of good reviews so I couldn't wait to read it.  However, this is one that disappointed me tremendously.  I still enjoyed it, but I felt like it could have been so much more.
 
First, I want to say that I loved the first part of this book.  When I wasn't reading it, I was constantly thinking about it and I couldn't wait to pick it back up.  I was fully expecting for it to be a 5 star read, and if I was rating on the first 40-50%, it would be.  But that 2nd half KILLED me. 
 
Let me explain.  During the first half, Molly has come home from boarding school that she ran to for her senior year after the whole cheating scandal broke.  She seems remorseful and it really seems like she's trying to get her life back together.  She reaches out to an old friend, gets a job, she starts hanging out with Gabe (Who I LOVE) and things seem to be looking a little better for her.  She knows what she did was wrong and she seems to have learned from her mistakes.  I thought this showed tremendous character growth. 
 
BUT, Patrick comes back to town and things change.  I don't want to go into too much detail because I don't want to give anything away, but lets just say that I was constantly frustrated with her and her actions.  I'm not going to sit here and say that I've never made mistakes, because I have.  I done some things when I was her age that I'm not proud of either, but the difference is, I learned from them.  But with Molly, it was like she forgot everything she had been through, not only that, she knew that what she was doing wasn't okay, but of course that didn't stop her.  That's what bothered me.  I know that this may not bother most people who read this book, but it's just a personal thing with me so it hindered my enjoyment of the book.
 
Overall, 99 Days is a book that I was expecting great things from, but in the end, frustration with the main character kept me from completely loving it.
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Christy

Christy is a 27 year old wife, mother, nursing student and self proclaimed book addict. When she's not busy spending time with her family or learning to save lives, you can find her with a book in her hands, and a smile on her face.

Comments (10)

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Urgh, I have problem with frustrating female characters so this book is probably not for me. Thanks for the review, Christy!
My recent post WAITING ON WEDNESDAY: End of Days by Susan Ee
I think a lot of us didn't care for this one, Molly was a hard person to love simply because it seemed she never learned and when she did, it took her forever to get there. ;)

Wonderful review!
You nailed it. I just reviewed this on my blog about a week ago and I felt the same exact way!! It started off great, and I really thought I was going to love it. Then Patrick came to town and it just went downhill from there until I couldn't take it. I finished it, but with a lot of disappointment and frustration. Great review.

Shannon @ The Tale Temptress
My recent post Cover Reveal: The Summer of Lost Wishes by Jessa Gabrielle
I was looking forward to this one, but then I saw your goodreads updates and was like, nope. I'd probably have the same problems as you (I did look through some of the book) and exactly, the whole point of making mistakes is to learn from them, having mistakes makes you a better person, but to do the same thing again and again? No. And I've heard a lot about her Mother, SERIOUSLY. :/ Glad you enjoyed the first half though!
My recent post Guest Review Amber: What Curiosity Kills
I hate it when a character doesn't learn from his/her mistakes, it makes you want to rip your hair out!
I really don't know whether I want to read this! I've read How to Love and didn't overly enjoy it (didn't like the characters), and it seems like this one might give me the same problem...frustrating characters are not the best.
My recent post Half Wild: Further Drowing in Further Seas of Feels
I really want to read this book and I have ever since I saw the cover and I wanted to read it even more when I read the synopsis. When characters develop in books I really like to see it because characters are such an important thing to me when reading a book but when characters become annoying and unrealistic I don't find myself disliking the book so much (unless they're REALLY bad) but don't find myself attached and I kind of drift off from the story.
My recent post Trailer Reveal: Nowhere But Here by Katie McGarry!
It sounds like a good read as I normally love books with realistic characters and character growth,but I don't think I'll go for this one if it includes cheating.I utterly despise infidelity,and it is seriously a turn off for me in books.And I don't think I'll like Molly from what I gather from your review.
Wonderful review anyway,Christy!
My recent post Rewriting the fairytale || Damsel Distressed by Kelsey Macke
Oh no! I hate when the main character frustrates me. That's ruined quite a few books for me.

I think I'm still going to read this one because I've been excited about it since forever and a day ago, but I'll definitely keep in mind that it could annoy me.
My recent post Book Review: Me and Earl and the Dying Girl
lovely blog. quite romantic book. thanks for reviewing this.

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