Disclaimer: This opinion contains spoilers. This opinion is not meant to criticize the author, only the novel itself.
99 Days was one of the reasons I started I Rant About Books. Since I only had this book on the Snow Day of February 28, I forced myself into reading it. And, I did not enjoy it. I searched online for reviews, and most of them were positive, which confused me a lot. This book was so bad on so many levels! So, I came up with the idea to start a blog where I would share my opinions about books, starting with 99 Days.
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.
Without further ado, here is my honest opinion.
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.
Patrick is a horrible boyfriend to Tess. Tess is flawed too, but not as flawed as he is when he cheats on her.
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. 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.)
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.
Thank you for reading my honest opinion of 99 Days by Katie Cotugno. Feel free to send me messages @lara_murakami on Instagram or in person.
All of your feedback and positive comments are genuinely appreciated!
Love, Lara
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