99 Days – Katie Cotugno – Balzer + Bray – Published 21 April 2014
♥♥♥
Synopsis
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.
My thoughts
99 Days hooked me from the very first chapter. It promised an interesting story, with just enough hints initially to make it very intriguing.
Molly is back in town for her last summer before college after running to boarding school at the end of last year when her mother published a bestseller detailing all the secrets of Molly’s life and what happened between her and Gabe and Patrick Donnelly. Now a target for town gossip and displeasure, Molly is planning to hide out and simply survive the 99 days she has left before she escapes Star Lake once and for all. But Molly wasn’t expecting Gabe to reach out to her or for Patrick to be unexpectedly back in town.
Katie Cotugno’s writing style sucks you in and kept me turning pages, which was surprising given the main themes – a love triangle and cheating. I should have picked up on the line in the summary – history repeating itself, but once I had started I couldn’t stop. And while I didn’t love the overarching themes, nor Molly’s actions, I couldn’t help but keep reading. There were some lovely moments that I enjoyed in this book and then there were times when I wondered where was the common decency, the self-control, and mostly, what was the purpose of it all? Did I like it? I’m not sure. I didn’t love it. But it’s all too easy to sit back in my little life and judge, so maybe that’s the point. Read it. Try it for yourself.
More information
Age Guide: Young Adult Fiction: ages 13 and up.
Themes: Love and romance. Dating and friendship.
Genre: Young Adult Contemporary
Author Website: Katie Cotugno
The publishers provided a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
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