4 Fiction Books: 2 Must-Reads, 2 To Ignore

(This post contains spoilers for 99 Days by Katie Cotugno. This book also receives a long rant.)

Usually, books are mediocre.

While that may seem like a bold statement, it rings true for me.

Even then, they might not resonate with other people. For me, the book has to have high levels of certain criteria:

1. Plot

2. Character

3. Setting

4. Writing Style

Most of the time, the books I read are around a 7 all around. It's quite rare to find a book that scores higher than 8 or lower than 5, which is why there are only 4 books in this post. The only opinion that is in depth is the one on 99 Days.

So, I decided to share my opinions about some books I have read this year, but NOT full reviews. These novels are all available in my school library, and all have ARP points. I will be including brief descriptions of the books from the internet. There might be some mild ranting, but none of it is meant to criticize the author, only the novels themselves.

Without further ado, here are 2 books that left me stunned (in a good way), and 2 books that left me snarling (in a bad way.)

Must-Reads:

1. It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover

Description Credit: https://rvalibrary.org/shelf-respect/teens/by-teens-for-teens-it-ends-with-us-by-colleen-hoover/

It Ends with Us is a book that follows a girl named Lily who has just moved and is ready to start her life after college. Lily then meets a guy named Ryle and she falls for him. As she is developing feelings for Ryle, Atlas, her first love, reappears and challenges the relationship between Lily and Ryle.

Rating: 8.5/10

ARP Points: 15

Positive:

For me, this book was a perfect example of "Don't knock it 'till you try it." Everybody I asked told me they utterly disliked this book. Naturally, I thought I would hate it as well. In the end, I picked it up not to prove everyone wrong, but because I thought the cover was pretty. And, I absolutely loved this book. I don't know exactly what it is; if it's the plot, the language, or the characters, but I could not put this book down. In short, it is about a woman named Lily who falls in love with a man named Ryle, but her past life and past love come back to haunt her.

Negative:

As I'm sure many of you have heard, this book contains MANY graphic scenes and themes. I'm not going to get into that... (Don't read it, Coke.) I also believed the romance in the book to be under-developed between Lily and Atlas, her past love.

2. Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

Description Credit: https://www.theguardian.com/childrens-books-site/2015/aug/07/fangirl-rainbow-rowell-review

Fangirl is a story of two twin sisters, Wren and Cath, who have grown up without a mother and with a very busy father. Cath is an introvert and very happy to live in her own internet and book world. She admires and loves her sister, who also plays the role of her best friend. Their life together was all rainbows and unicorns until they reluctantly have to come out of their comfort zone because they are moving to college.

Rating: 9/10

ARP Points: 15

Positive:

This novel left me thinking about life. Everyone has choices in theirs, and those choices always affect other people. The main character in Fangirl, Cath, is so human in this way. All of her actions have consequences, but, somehow, things have a way of working out. Honestly, most YA books contain this perky but also depressed?? 16 year old brunette who has 3 guys in love with her. This is not that book, which makes it so much more interesting. The highlight of Fangirl is the refreshing language and perspective.

Negative:

My only negative comment is the amount of fan-fiction I had to read in this book. Cath is obsessed with Simon Snow, a book series that got her through tough times in her life, and she enjoys writing alternate endings. Unfortunately for me, Rowell decided to include numerous excerpts of Cath's writing, which do not relate to the actual book whatsoever.

To Ignore:

1. Somewhere Only We Know by Maurene Goo

Description Credit: https://asianreviewofbooks.com/content/somewhere-only-we-know-ya-novel-by-maurene-goo/

When the story begins, Lucky has just finished a fifteen-city Asian tour. After her last show, she evades her bodyguards and escapes her luxury hotel in search of a hamburger. In the elevator, she meets Jack Lim, a Korean-American in Hong Kong on his gap year. He interns at his father’s multinational bank by day; he moonlights as a paparazzo by night. He has no clue Lucky’s an international star.

Rating: 3/10

ARP Points: 11

Positive:

The only positive thing I have to say is the novel is set in Hong Kong, which is different than most YA, which are set in the United States. This makes the book stand out in terms of setting, which is the best part of Goo's novel.

Negative:

Sooo.

The reason this book is not simply mediocre is because...

Well, how do I say this nicely?

It wasn't exactly interesting.

Aw shucks, it was BORING. The first sign it was boring was when it took me at least 4 full days to read this book, and it was only 336 pages. (Usually, I can finish in 1 to 4 days, depending on factors like length and difficulty.) This was because the characters were not really interesting, and the plot was literally Lucky and Jack touring Hong Kong. Literally, I think that's it. Like seriously, it was boring.

To expand on the characters, Lucky and Jack were not very likeable protagonists. As the story is told in alternating first person views, I was able to experience both sides of the story. I gotta say, neither of them were very iNtErEStINg. They each had 3 defining characteristics: Giggling about the attractiveness of the other person (I almost died of cringe), feeling guilty for lying to each other (Don't lie, then), and ranting about their respective hobbies (Singing and Photography.)

As for the disastrous plot, I kept waiting for something to happen. Spoiler alert: It really didn't! (I hope that alert wasn't necessary, but to each their own, right? sigh)

And, to think, if it had either decent character or decent plot, this book wouldn't be making the list at all!

2. 99 Days by Katie Cotugno

Description Credit: https://www.amazon.ca/99-Days-Katie-Cotugno/dp/0062216392

Molly Barlow is facing one long, hot summer—99 days—with the boy whose heart she broke and the boy she broke it for . . . his brother.

Day 1: Julia Donnelly eggs my house my first night back in Star Lake, and that’s how I know everyone still remembers everything. She has every right to hate me, of course: I broke Patrick Donnelly’s heart the night everything happened with his brother, Gabe. Now I’m serving out my summer like a jail sentence: Just ninety-nine days till I can leave for college and be done.

Rating: 1/10

ARP Points: 12

Positive:

The author, Katie Cotugno, has a great writing style. But the plot and characters in her novel made me want to become a firefighter from Farenheit 451. That is, I wanted to burn the book. If 99 Days wasn't a library book, I would have definitely given it away without a second thought. In fact, I couldn't even bring myself to thoroughly finish the book, just a glance at the last chapter and I was gone for good. And, seriously. Wait, this is the positive section, oops. Like I was saying, Cotugno's writing style is enjoyable..

Negative:

This section does contain spoilers.

So, where to begin? Maybe with the disastrous plot? Or the utterly horrid characters?

(All I know is it's 10pm on a Friday night, and I have devoted my free time after skiing to writing this section so I can move on from this tragedy of a novel.)

Why don't I divide and conquer?

Plot:

The whole plot of this novel is Molly Barlow coming back to her hometown to face the consequences of her own actions. Although it was horrible of her mother to publish her deepest secret, did she really expect it to stay a secret forever? I guess Molly really did, since the second Patrick Donnelly (who she cheated on with his brother) found out, she dashed out of there faster than I could say "Seriously?"

And, as a reader, I was hoping that Molly would learn from her mistakes of the past and not get involved with the Donnelly family when she returned. But, of course, she did. She starts dating Gabe, Patrick's brother. At first, this didn't seem too bad, as they were getting along swellingly and seemed genuinely happy together.

Then, before I knew what was happening, Molly cheats on Gabe with Patrick. Total double standard, dude. You were once so hurt by cheating, and now you're cheating on your girlfriend (Tess) and cheating on her with your brother's girlfriend too!

As I mentioned, I could not even finish 99 Days; I was so disgusted. But, I learned from reading the last few pages that it was not a "happily ever after." Molly disconnects with her friends (again.) Molly ruins things with Julia Donnelly (again.) She leaves Patrick and Gabe alone (again.) Now I'm thinking, there really wasn't that much of a plot. Below is a helpful model.

Molly sucks - Molly gets better - Molly gets worse - Molly sucks

I would continue, but I think I can cover more flaws in Character.

Characters:

Molly Barlow:

What can I say about Molly? She's inevitably flawed, but she has a good heart. Wait, scratch that. That's what I would say if I weren't being completely honest. While it's true that she is very flawed, she doesn't have a single good reason to be so awful and dishonest. The one reason some could argue is her mom's influence. Well, the only evidence we have that her mom was a bad parent was when she released the book about Molly's secret. What drove her to be with Gabe before the book was even written? I have no idea. Like, she had no childhood trauma that only affected her. She had a very fortunate life, especially by growing up alongside the 3 Donnellys.

Gabe Donnelly:

I was prepared to ship Molly and Gabe so hard. Here's why I didn't.

1. Gabe is super annoying in general. For example, the stupid game of poker at camp he couldn't let his own brother win. Then, he has the audacity to say Patrick was the one who was making a big deal out of it.

2. Gabe is super manipulative. The biggest way we see this is how he uses Molly as another way to beat his brother. (What is up with this sibling rivalry?)

3. Gabe calls Molly "Molly Barlow." This shouldn't be as much of a big deal to me as it is. Perhaps this stems from my inability of having a nickname, but aren't pet names supposed to be shorter than their first names, or, at the very least, CUTE? "Molly Barlow" isn't.

Patrick Donnelly:

He was toxic. Maybe he drove Molly to be toxic too. He doesn't deserve much writing, but here are some major points.

1. Patrick is a horrible boyfriend to Tess. Tess is flawed too, but not as flawed as he is when he cheats on her.

2. Patrick was a horrible boyfriend to Molly. What kind of boyfriend doesn't support his girlfriends dreams in the slightest? i.e. When Molly wanted to run track at the boarding school and Patrick sulked.

And that's all Patrick gets. Even his name irritates me.

Julia Donnelly:

Julia was the best Donnelly, but even she wasn't likeable. Even though she treated Molly badly, Molly definitely deserved it. Plus, she pretty much forgave Molly in the middle of the novel, even if it was only so Molly would keep her relationship a secret. There isn't much more I can say about Julia; I found her a relatively flat character.

Imogen:

Imogen is the only character I actually like. Of course, she was cold to Molly at the beginning, which, as I have stated, Molly deserved. However, Imogen's character is overused and bland. If she had a stronger personality and presence, perhaps I would have bothered to finish 99 Days.

Tess:

Tess is meh. I genuinely thought Tess was a boring and unrealistic character, from the very first interaction she had with Molly. Again, not much to say. (I feel like I got the rant out after Patrick.)

All other characters do not encite much negative emotion, so I have decided to not include them. (Mother of Donnellys, Mother of Molly, Penn)

Setting:

Nothing bad, nothing good.

Writing Style:

Although I don't like her plot or character, which are the most important aspects of a novel, Cotugno's writing style isn't terrible.

Well, I was planning on releasing this yesterday! I just had so much to say about the last book. As a refresher, none of this post is said to criticize the authors.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post, or even just for clicking the link. Every view truly means so much to me, and every positive comment online or in person means even more!

Feel free to DM me @lara_murakami, or talk to me in person if you have any comments or questions.

Love, Lara