ARC Review: 99 Days by Katie Cotugno

Publisher: Balzer & Bray
Publishing Date: April 21st, 2015
Genre: YA Contemporary
Pages: 384 pgs
ISBN: 9780062216380
Source: Received from Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review



Summary from Goodreads:

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 Review:

This book begins after something major has happened in Molly's life. She was dating Patrick and she cheated on him with his brother Gabe. This has made her a social pariah and Molly, returning to her hometown, is trying to get by until she leaves for college. She only has to make it through 99 days before she can reinvent herself somewhere new.

The cheating storyline can be quite polarizing. Many people have a difficult time relating to a cheater and if you have ever been cheated on then it could make you really dislike the main character of this story. I will admit something that I am not proud of. I have been on both sides of cheating. It is not something I'm happy to admit and it's not something I admit to many people. That being said, I woudln't consider myself an immoral person. I care deeply about the people in my life but I am also human and I make mistakes. I think for this reason I could relate to Molly in a way but I could also relate to Patrick and Gabe at the same time. I really liked watching  Molly come to terms with what she did and the aftermath of it. She seemed somewhat stoic about that whole thing. She knew what she did wasn't great and in the beginning she wasn't trying to push it.

**** SPOILER ALERT*****

I have to admit that the back and forth between Patrick and Gabe later on became slightly frustrating. She was making the same mistakes over again. You can tell that she was trying to figure out which brother was meant for her but I think that she needed to be upfront with both of them. At times I felt like she was leading them on.

*****END SPOILER*****

Overall, I really liked this book. I think that it shows us that cheating is not just black or white. If you are one those people who can't read a book because there is cheating in it then I encourage you to try this book and read it with an open mind. The writing is good and the story is thought provoking. I will be reading the next Cotugno book for sure.