99 Days Review

Title: 99 Days

Author: Katie Cotugno

Number of Pages: 384

Date Published: April 21st 2015

Publishing Company: Balzer+Bray

Summary: 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.

This book is honestly so cover lovely it just lures you in. I have to quickly get that out of the way. The cover has a bit of a Polaroid feeling and then the inside has various snippets of images. I love it! Let’s start the actual review now.

99 Days follows the story of Molly who has to go back to school for 99 days (I see what the author did there 😉 ) before college. Seems simple except when the whole population sees her as the girl who cheated on her boyfriend with his brother. Which means… so it’s simple turns into, oh dear god, it’s not simple at all. Not only that, but her mother is horrible. She turns Molly’s story into this book that becomes a bestseller! The book pretty much follows the story line with a lot of double standards, slut-shaming, and romance where Molly decides if she loves Gabe or Patrick.

I first reaction to the book was why is the rating so low? So many people seem to hate this book, but overall is wasn’t bad. I wouldn’t reread it again or anything but it was enjoyable and I finished it in one sitting. What I loved about this book was the writing. I am sold to a book if the writing has a flow and a specific style. This was what Ms. Katie did. She has such a talent for writing!

“I imagine him grown up and finished with med school, patients lying on the operating table—reaching inside people’s rib cages, fixing their broken hearts.”

How can you read that and not feel so complete? Her writing has such a nice flow I just want to keep on reading. It’s so hard to explain but I can only refer to the fact that it is quite similar to We Were Liars (which I reviewed if you want to check that out). All the chapters are short, the writing is impeccable and eloquent and a short read. Some chapters in this book were less than a page. You guys know how I love short chapters. Literally no matter how long a book is, if the chapters are brief, I’m happy with it.

Another part I enjoyed was how 99 Days dealt with double standards. Gabe who did exactly what Molly did while she was with Patrick gets no “shame on you”. Nobody cares that he basically chose a girl over his brother, but every single person hates on Molly for hooking up with Gabe. People call her a slut and make her feel worse than she should feel about it. If you’re going to say that was a wrong thing to do, you might as well tell that to Gabe. It’s not like it was a one man’s job for God’s sake! It take 2 people to cheat!

What I didn’t like so much… includes the fact that Molly never develops or learns from her lessons. She constantly goes between the two brothers and secretly kisses both of them. What is the point? She comes back and Gabe is nice to her so they’re sort of together now. But oh, so Patrick invites you on a run and you go to kiss him? It’s very frustrating and a cycle or uselessness. The worse part, Patrick has a girlfriend now and she’s actually nice to Molly! How is Molly ever going to be a good person when she spends her last year before college messing with everybody’s emotions?

If you were trying to annoy me, WELL DONE!

Another part I quite disliked was the ending. It was pointless and after all that plot and time I took to read it, the ending took everything away from me. Literally, you’re building a plot and then… you knock it all down. It made you go back to square one and think wow did I just read a book for nothing?

I thought the ending could have been executed very well, so it was really a disappointment. It had potential such as the fact that Ms. Katie tried to show independence of a women in the 21st century. I think she was aiming for, a girl doesn’t need a guy to live and be happy. However, if that was the message the book was aiming for, it should have been developed sooner. It should have been a gradual process where the character changes and becomes a better person. It’s hard to believe when the whole book is Molly trying to be happy with 2 different guys!

So this book was pretty decent and if you want a book to breeze through with great writing this is it! If you want a plot, good characters and emotional attachments to the characters I would not recommend this book at all! I have read Ms. Katie’s other books which had similar issues. I read them to enjoy the writing style she possesses but never for a plot that I would like. So in conclusion, it just depends on what you’re looking for, but you should give this book a chance anyways.

2 .5 Out of 5 Cups of Tea: