9 Days & 9 Nights
By: Katie Cotugno
Published Year: 2018
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Pages: 272
Summary (Provided by Goodreads): The irresistible sequel to the bestselling 99 Days.
Molly Barlow isn’t that girl anymore. A business major at her college in Boston, she’s reinvented herself after everything that went down a year ago . . . after all the people she hurt and the family she tore apart.
Slowly, life is getting back to normal. Molly has just said “I love you” to her new boyfriend, Ian, and they are off on a romantic European vacation together, starting with scenic London. But there on a Tube platform, the past catches up to her in the form of Gabe, her ex, traveling on his own parallel vacation with new girlfriend Sadie.
After comparing itineraries, Ian ends up extending an invite for Gabe and Sadie to join them on the next leg of their trip, to Ireland. Sadie, who’s dying to go there, jumps at the prospect. And Molly and Gabe can’t bring themselves to tell the truth about who they once were to each other to their new significant others.
Now Molly has to spend nine days and nine nights with the boy she once loved, the boy whose heart she shredded, without Ian knowing. Will she make it through as new, improved Molly, or will everything that happened between her and Gabe come rushing back?
First Impressions
This is the sequel to 99 Days that I read a few years ago. I didn’t know that there was going to be a sequel, so I was excited when I found out about it. Honestly, I didn’t remember much about 99 days. I remembered that I liked it and that was it. But, I was excited because I remembered enjoying the first book and I have read other books by Cotugno since that I have enjoyed.
What I thought
Ugh.
This story takes place the summer after Molly’s freshman year of college. She and her boyfriend Ian are taking a trip through Europe together. When on their first stop in London, they run into Gabe, Molly’s ex, and his new girlfriend. Ian, not knowing anything about Molly’s past, invites Gabe and his new girlfriend to come join them in Ireland on the next leg of their trip. When they agree, Gabe and Molly don’t know how to deal with each other and Molly starts to question everything that she has done for the past year.
Ok, so here was my issue with this book. Molly and Gabe. And unfortunately, I find that when I’m not behind the romance and that is the focus of the story, it’s just not enjoyable to me. I liked Ian, so it was hard for me to understand why Molly had some issues with him. In addition to that, I don’t understand what she sees in Gabe. I don’t remember having any issues with him in the first book, but oh man. I did not find anything about him appealing in this one.
I would have much preferred if this book focused on Molly and Ian on their trip, with her meeting up with her friends and growing as a person. I wouldn’t have minded if there was a bit of Gabe stuff in there. There are some issues that I think they needed to work out and I get that. But the fact that it focuses on them so much is just such an issue for me.
Disclaimer- I originally rated this book 3 stars on Goodreads because I enjoyed it, it was a quick read, and it was never something I dreaded picking up. However, when I was talking about it with some friends, I realized just how much I disliked the story itself. In doing so, I realized I would not recommend reading this book, so I didn’t feel ok giving it a Borrow rating on here. Unfortunately, it’s one of those sequels that the world would have been better off without. If you feel like you absolutely need a sequel to 99 days, it’s not a horrible story. Truly, I’m probably making it sound worse than it actually is. But I just don’t think the tory that it told is necessary.