99 Days by Katie Cotugno

    I have so much respect for Cotugno as a writer. She delves into the topics that no one really wants to talk about. That writers will shy away from because most people will look down on their characters. But after reading How to Love and now 99 Days by her, These topics are what sets her apart from all other authors and just makes me want to read everything she writes.

“A trio of Julia’s cheerleading friends are perched on the leather sofa all in a row like birds on a wire, three identical French braids draped over their skinny shoulders.'”
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     Before she last left, Molly did something unforgivable, But now she’s back and ready to face the music. She only has to survive 99 Days before she makes her move to somewhere that no one knows what she did. But day by day this proves to be easier said than done. Everyone still hates her and no one has forgotten what she did.

“EASY DOES IT.”
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     It took me a minute to come up with a review for this. Mainly because I went back and forth trying to decide on a rating and a sensible argument defending my rating. But finally when I got in the rhythm, the words just kept flowing. And the first thing I wanted to talk about was Molly. I hated her character. But not for reasons one might think. I hated her because she was a doormat. I hated that she let all of them heckle and laugh at her so much. She just sat there and took it the entire time. My thinking is this… You made your bed, so now own up to it. At least lie in it. She wasn’t even doing that. She just kept running away. And the choices she made didn’t make the situation any better. She didn’t learn a thing from not one of those messed up situations she was always in. It seemed like no matter what happened after her last bad decision she found a way to make an even worse one. She just seemed to have absolutely no character arc at all because she made no change. There was a small something that happened at the end, but by then in my eyes it was much too late.

“It occurs to me, not for the first time, that you can never really know what anybody’s got hidden in the back of her secret heart.”
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     Another thing I wasn’t a fan of was the actual cheating thing. I wouldn’t have minded reading anything about just a cheater because let’s face it. It happens. Granted its by selfish people, but it happens. But the fact that I didn’t like was who it was with. Even if the shoe was on the other foot and it was two sisters and a boy, I’d still be upset by it, but the fact is, I wasn’t impressed with the back and forth. They were brothers for Pete’s sake.You would think one of them would say I’m out lol

“I used to be able to give you guys Band-Aids and Popsicles… That used to be all it took.”
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     But what I did like was regardless of how risque the topic was, the topic still flowed. Like a day time soap opera. I found myself entranced in the story and wanting to know what Molly would do next. If she would finally find out that she could still be an amazing young girl without both of them. I just kept turning page after page no matter how many times I got second hand embarrassment or got angry at Molly for making another crazy decision.

“But some things can’t be repaired.”
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     This topic wasn’t a light one to read about, so I can only imagine how it was for Cotugno to write it. I’m sure she felt so much pain for Molly and even was upset with her just as much as I was. Cotugno has proved to write about those topics that not everyone wants to read or write, but she does it so well. I will continue to read any topic she chooses to write next.