2.5 stars. Oooh, I really wanted to like this one so much more than I did. I, like many other Cannonball readers, LOVED The Hating Game a few years ago and had high expectations for 99 Percent Mine. I don’t really regret reading it because it’s at least an interesting flop, it just never gelled for me.
Darcy Barrett is a pretty great character. She’s traveled the world gathering oodles of life experience and moonlights as a biker bar bartender to earn extra money aside from her photography career that seems to have stalled. She was exceptionally close to her grandmother who has now passed and left a ramshackle cottage to her and her twin brother, Jamie. Enter Tom Valeska, longtime best friend of Jamie and longtime crush of Darcy. He’s just started his own renovation business and the cottage is his first project, as long as he can navigate the tricky relationship the twins have.
You can see why the premise was exciting and I expected so much going in. Unfortunately Darcy is the kind of character who is desperately paralyzed by indecision. Throw in Tom who knows what he wants but has been burned once before and you have the makings of a very frustrating love story. The plot and their relationship circles back around a few times and not in a pleasant way. You get the feeling that Thorne was having trouble writing her way to a conclusion. Honestly, there’s a better book in here somewhere, it just needed stronger editing. I’ll probably pick up Thorne’s next book, just with less expectations.