"I think I met my ideal man when I was eight, and no one else has ever measured up." (Darcy Barrett)
I've been in the mood to read light-hearted contemporary books recently, mostly because uni has been putting me through the wringer.
Darcy Barrett, the main character, is smart, witty, sassy and spunky. I usually love badass, snarky and impulsive heroines, but Darcy is selfish and immature. She has a heart condition, but she doesn't even try to take care of herself. Her heart condition is also used as a plot device.
While the characters have unique traits, they aren't developed and I couldn't connect with them. The characters in 99 Percent Mine are nothing new.
I'm not a fan of the romance. Darcy and Tom have plenty of chemistry, but their relationship is more about lust than love. I'm also not a fan of the possessiveness and jealousy in their relationship. It felt like the only reason Darcy wanted to be with Tom was because of the competitiveness between Darcy and her twin brother, Jamie. Tom is a human being, for goodness sake.
Plot-wise, 99 Percent Mine doesn't have much substance. There's miscommunication and I really couldn't understand the reason why Tom and Darcy couldn't be with each other. I found all the will-they-won't-they annoying.
Also, there's something about the writing that bothered me. I found it extremely difficult to follow the dialogue and the scene transitions were so weird. I thought this would get better, the more I read, but it didn't.
I picked up 99 Percent Mine because I thought it would be a fun rom-com. However, I ended up reading about underdeveloped characters, a relationship that I didn't care much for, a plot that lacks substance and writing that I just couldn't get used to.
"Once someone's mine, they're gonna stay mine. One hundred percent, forever. You know what I'm like." (Darcy Barrett)