ARC Review: 9 Days & 9 Nights by Katie Cotugno (May 2018)

I’m a damage doer, no matter how hard I try not to be. Maybe everybody is, in some way.

My synopsis: After some regretful occurrences from the previous summer, Molly Barlow has moved on, or at least, it seemed so. In Boston, Molly is not who she once was that summer. In Boston, she met Ian. Ian is the perfect balm to her healing heart and with Ian, Molly is a better version of herself – or so she thinks. During a European tour with Ian, Molly’s new life starts to lose its balance – Gabe is there with his new girlfriend, Sadie – and they all somehow got into a very awkward and complicated situation. Can Molly keep being the “new Molly” or is she bound to fall back to old habits?

Genre: YA Contemporary, YA Romance, Social Themes, Dating & Sex, Travel & Transportation

Themes: moving on, regret, abortion, choices, decisions, changing for the better, taking responsibility, future, dating, romance, past, love, friendship, finding yourself, learning from mistakes, travel, Europe,

To be published May 1, 2018 by Balzer + Bray

eARC provided by HarperCollins through Edelweiss, in exchange for an honest review

NOTE: quotations made from an unproofed copy

Series: 99 Days #2 (click HERE for my review of Book 1)

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Living in total opposition to something is just a different way of not getting over it.

Even after not really liking 99 Days, I’m really glad I gave book 2 a chance. At this point, Molly Barlow’s character completed the arc, and I’m really happy with the outcome. In this sequel, Molly is much more likable not because she’s perfect or not just because she’s changed, but because here, she’s making the effort and she’s making such conscious decisions.

Besides the improved romantic aspects of 9 Days & 9 Nights, I enjoyed the travel elements that made it just a little bit more fun to read. I also really liked that it explored Molly’s relationships with her mom and Imogen.

Imogen is no longer just Molly’s best friend. She’s also this great person and artist who’s a little bit of a feminist/idealist/romantic.

Ian and Sadie were new characters – but I loved the complexity of their characters! Ian is this sweet and handsome bookworm who’s pretty much a perfect boyfriend but it turns out he has some unexpected vulnerabilities. Sadie is confident and active and she can come off as judgmental but really, she’s very easygoing and just tries to avoid drama.

And this time around, the ending didn’t matter. Overall, I think that 9 Days & 9 Nights was a surprisingly pleasant and improved sequel! I don’t remember having read any series where I liked book 2 after not liking book 1 at all so this must be a first for me.

I really do think you can read this as a standalone!

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