Review: 9 Days and 9 Nights by Katie Cotugno

9 Days and 9 Nights by Katie Cotugno
pub 5/1/18 by Balzer + Bray
Young Adult - Contemporary
Received from pub via Edelweiss

9 Days and 9 Nights is classic Katie Cotugno. It reminded me of why I fell in love with her writing in the first place. (How To Love is one of my favoritest books ever.) It’s messy, complicated and filled with raw, honest moments that put an ache in my chest or one-liners I found myself nodding in agreement to. She takes these tiny moments and writes them beautifully! Plus no one writes tension-filled confrontations like she does (which are usually my favorite parts; not sure what this says about me). But I’m getting ahead of myself!

9 Days and 9 Nights is the sequel to 99 Days, and one I didn’t expect.  The latter ended somewhere in between ambiguous and final but I am so glad she returned to these characters because their story clearly wasn’t over. Molly Barlow has spent her freshmen year in Boston reinventing herself. No more messy love triangles between brothers and no more crazy, impulsive decisions. She’s a girl with a plan and right now that plan is traveling Europe with her boyfriend Ian. Until they cross paths with her ex, Gabe (1/3 of aforementioned triangle and exactly who she’s been trying to forget) and his girlfriend Sadie. By some weird and evil twist of fate, Ian invites them along for the Ireland leg of their trip since they’re headed the same way. Sadie says yes, as neither significant other knows the truth about Gabe and Molly, and as you can imagine, they aren’t dying to offer the details. As Molly is forced to spend over a week with Gabe, she has to confront who she was, is and more importantly, wants to be (and with whom!).

The main theme here isn’t the drama of a love rectangle but more about these two individuals taking an honest look at themselves. Doing so leads you down certain paths and to certain people. I loved that. And as always, there’s an element of friendship here and this is probably my favorite depiction of besties that Cotugno has done. She just tackles a lot of important topics in such an organic way. I really can’t stress enough how much I love this author.

Do I recommend? That would be a YES. Please read this book and everything else this author has written.