ARC Book Review | 99 Days by Katie Cotugno

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.