99 Percent Mine
By: Sally Thorne
Published Year: 2019
Publisher: William Morrow
Pages: 368
Summary (Provided by Goodreads): Crush: a strong and often short-lived infatuation, particularly for someone beyond your reach…
Darcy Barrett has undertaken a global survey of men. She’s travelled the world, and can categorically say that no one measures up to Tom Valeska, whose only flaw is that Darcy’s twin brother Jamie saw him first and claimed him forever as his best friend. Despite Darcy’s best efforts, Tom’s off limits and loyal to her brother, 99%. That’s the problem with finding her dream man at age eight and peaking in her photography career at age twenty—ever since, she’s had to learn to settle for good enough.
When Darcy and Jamie inherit a tumble-down cottage from their grandmother, they’re left with strict instructions to bring it back to its former glory and sell the property. Darcy plans to be in an aisle seat halfway across the ocean as soon as the renovations start, but before she can cut and run, she finds a familiar face on her porch: house-flipper extraordinaire Tom’s arrived, he’s bearing power tools, and he’s single for the first time in almost a decade.
Suddenly Darcy’s considering sticking around to make sure her twin doesn’t ruin the cottage’s inherent magic with his penchant for grey and chrome. She’s definitely not staying because of her new business partner’s tight t-shirts, or that perfect face that's inspiring her to pick up her camera again. Soon sparks are flying—and it’s not the faulty wiring. It turns out one percent of Tom’s heart might not be enough for Darcy anymore. This time around, she’s switching things up. She’s going to make Tom Valeska 99 percent hers.
First Impressions
When Thorne came out with her first book, The Hating Game, it seemed to take the world by storm. I enjoyed it but I didn’t seem to like it as much as everyone else did. However, I did enjoy it enough that I got excited to see Thorne came out with another book. The cover is so bright and cheerful and by now you all should know I’m a sucker for cartoony covers, so I was in.
What I thought
I really enjoyed this book. I flew through it and enjoyed every moment.
Darcy has spent her life running away from everyone by traveling the world. As a result, she doesn’t have many people in her life nor does she have a place to call home. When her grandmother dies, she leaves her home to Darcy and her twin brother, Jamie. However, they have to fix it up and sell it to get their in heritance. Tom, Darcy and Jamie’s lifelong best friend, is also in charge of the renovation. He is also the object of Darcy’s affection, except he’s engaged.
Darcy took me a little while to get into, but I loved Tom immediately. She is a bit rough around the edges, so I needed to see some of her softer side before I connected with her. Luckily, the person that she is with Tom is very enjoyable which helps to move the story along. I liked seeing their banter and the fact that you could tell they immediately cared for each other was great.
This isn’t a hate-to-love trope which tends to be my favorite, but there is some of that sassiness between the two characters. I also appreciated that there wasn’t truly a big argument or misunderstanding that happens so often in romance novels. There is, of course, a bit of a conflict in the second half of the book, but it’s handled reasonably and quickly.
I really enjoyed Jamie too and almost wish he had made more of an appearance. I do want a book just on him with appearances from Darcy and Tom. Besides the fact that this book didn’t 100% follow the romance formula, which I appreciated, it isn’t the uniqueness of the story that makes this book enjoyable. It’s the characters and the writing. It’s such a refreshing book and one of the few in a while that I was choosing over watching TV.
With the weather warming up, I find myself needing these lighter happier reads. 99 Percent Mine is a great book if you want something feel-good or if you feel like you’ve been in a bit of a reading slump. The characters are delightful and the story moves quickly. I couldn’t ask for any more from this book. I definitely enjoyed it more than The Hating Game and will be recommending this a lot! I look forward to more books by Thorne in the future and really really hope the next one follows Jamie.