Review: 99 Percent Mine by Sally Thorne
The Basics
Title: 99 Percent Mine
Author: Sally Thorne
Published: 2019
Publisher: William Morrow - HarperCollins
Pages: 349
Format: E-book
Genres: Fiction — Contemporary fiction, Romance, Contemporary romance
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Book Synopsis
Darcy Barrett has had a crush on her childhood friend, Tom Valeska, since they first met when she was eight. When Tom professes his love for her at age 18, Darcy feels unable to reciprocate the strength of his feelings, and at her grandmother’s behest, she sets off on a round-the-world trip. Upon returning from her trip, Darcy has realized her mistake and is planning to tell Tom that she loves him too, but unbeknownst to her, Tom has met someone while she was away. Flash forward nearly a decade later, and Tom is still with his girlfriend, now fiancé, Megan. She only sees Tom during the holidays when he is accompanied by Megan to her family’s holiday dinners – that is, until she arrives home one night to find him outside her house. He had been enlisted by both her and her twin brother, Jaimie, to renovate the run-down cottage that they had inherited from their grandmother. He, however, has shown up earlier than expected, and having caught Darcy off guard, his presence has reignited all of her feelings for him. But as her brother has reminded her, Tom is off limits. Or is he? And so begins Darcy’s quest to make Tom 99% hers.
My Review & Overall Thoughts
99 Percent Mine was a bit of a disappointment. I had read and enjoyed Sally Thorne’s other book, The Hating Game, so I expected to also like this one. Unfortunately, 99 Percent Mine failed to hit the mark.
I struggled to buy into the story, as the characters felt rather flat. Furthermore, the relationship between Darcy and Tom seemed to be entirely physical and lacking any deeper connection. Their interactions nearly always had a sexual undertone, and a good portion of the book consisted of Darcy’s sexual fantasies about Tom. I don’t mind sex in books so long as it does not dominate the story and become the only aspect of a relationship that is portrayed. Outlander, for instance, does a great job of including sex scenes without having them detract from the story or make the two protagonists’ relationship seem entirely physical. Darcy and Tom’s relationship also came across as a bit too possessive, with both of the characters frequently referring to the other as theirs. Personally, if a guy kept telling me that I was his, I would take that as a red flag and skedaddle.
As individual characters, Darcy and Tom were not much better. I found Darcy to be selfish and self-destructive, and her fantasy/daydream of Tom being a sled dog named Valeska was just plain odd. Her one redeeming quality was that she always seemed to have a great comeback, an ability which I’ve often wished that I possessed (I’m more of the think-of-a-comeback-20-minutes-after-the-fact person). As for Tom, I was rather apathetic, as his character was not fleshed out enough for me to form much of an opinion.
Now, I don’t want to give you the impression that this book was all bad, because it wasn’t. Sally Thorne’s writing was this book’s saving grace. She can craft some hilarious scenes, which she certainly did in this book. There were several moments in this book that actually caused me to burst out laughing (for which I earned more than one strange look from my fellow passengers on the commuter rail). Further, her fast-paced writing kept the story moving along at a good clip. Unfortunately, her writing could not make up for the mediocre plot.
Have you read 99 Percent Mine? As always, share your thoughts with me in the comments!
