Book Review – Ninety-Eight by Shannon Mayer

Ninety-Eight (Contemporary Romance) - Now called —-> Of The Heart (Contemporary Romance)
I saw this one when I was searching for some “new-to-me” e-books for my bargain list, but the synopsis left me so baffled that I… couldn’t get a handle on what I was in for, let alone… get that *jolt* I look for when reading a book’s “blurb”.

The very emotional and vulnerable looking cover was certainly calling to me. But in this instance, the blurb wasn’t helping me and I wasn’t sure (even at this awesome price) if I was willing to… “judge a book by it’s cover” and just jump in. Intriguing mysterious blurbs often get me good, but this one made me go, “whaaaaaa?“. But then, one fellow reader happened upon it, and recommended it in a recent comment, and another fellow reader jumped in. And THEIR reactions are what had me scrambling back to it.  I’m good with going “into a book blind” (especially when a reader’s innately honest reaction has me already feeling it, through them), so I read it!

Jeanie V: OMG… You guys, you guys!!! I’m only in Chapter 18 but I have to share! I feel like I found a treasure of a book last night!!! The summary is super vague which had me intrigued. I downloaded the sample & found it interesting enough – but I had to know what “the emotional rollercoaster” was about in the amazon ratings. This book…sigh… I was NOT expecting the things that happened. It’s called Ninety-Eight by Shannon Mayer. Soooo good but my poor heart!!! Heart!!!

Lindsay: Jeanie V, Thanks for the recommendation. Ninety-eight is phenomenal! I’m just on Chapter 16, and at first it seemed very predictable but the author keeps surprising me with new unexpected twists! I love it! Wow…Where did this book come from? Totally unexpected! I’m not getting any sleep tonight. Must. Finish.it. This is exactly what I look for in a book. Phew! Back to reading.

Jeanie V: Lindsay, right? Right!!! Truly… I kept thinking OMG! The synopsis reveals nothing (not really) – I was so pleasantly surprised!!! I’m so glad you’re enjoying it.

Lindsay: Jeanie V, I loved it! Although I must admit, I wanted to stop reading it after a certain scene that made my stomach drop. I honestly did not know how the rest of the book would recover, but it was just nothing but FEELS after that. I was so very happy to have read this book! And a great big shout out for recommending it

Eeeeeep!!!!, right?? Oh and I get where they are coming from. The angst and melodrama in this is plentiful!!! I can’t even tell you what books (there are a few) I am wanting to compare it to for fear you’ll “get ideas” or preconceived notions (whether they be correct or incorrect). But this book certainly has a “feel” that is similar to some of our past melodramatic over-the-top favorites in our reading group. Some reveals made me gasp (in gleeful chagrin ’cause I knew it would get very… difficult). And some of the reveals left me reeling. Horrified. Angry. I felt like yelling at somebody. Like… maybe the author. And maybe “Jeanie V” and “Lindsay”, too.

Hehe.

Did I love it? Well, see… I’m going to rate this like I rated three other books in our past that SO MANY LOVED like crazy, but that left me struggling over a few parts. I can’t tell you what those are, but if you choose to read this, you’ll eventually probably know which (and then you can check out my reviews of those, and you’ll see).

All of these books had me gasping, crying, and left me at times exhilarated, but mostly… exhausted. I totally got where y’all were coming from with the extreme love for ‘em. And yet, my rational side  couldn’t give them my 5 (or even 4-star) rating. You guys, I truly believe I have an “over the top angst fuse” that eventually blows out while reading some of these. And I just… lose it. I lose my connection, because my anger or irritation or eye-rolling overtakes me (and my reading pleasure).

Like… I mean, these kinds of books have stuff that I could totally see happening. Stuff that makes sense, even in their craziness (after all, we like our fiction “realistic” in an angsty way). I love to be furious, surprised, worried and cry. And this one did that to me. After all, bad stuff  and bad people happen in “book-real-life” too and that’s often what attracts me to these angsty reads. But sometimes, they’re just… too much. And in this one, the hits and the mistakes (the selfishness and the self-sacrificing) just got to the point where I was all… “Okay! That’s it. I can’t take anymore!”

So what’s it about?

Oh sheesh. Now I know why the author wrote such a convoluted synopsis. Each step if the way is a “reveal”… Okay… *taps fingers to chin* How to describe… this.

Brielle lives life by her seemingly wise (and very loving) grandmother’s advice. There is no perfect man out there for you, so just be happy with a GOOD decent man, and live a good, decent life. And Brielle has found one. While there is no passion between them, and he has some very… unromantic things about him, she likes him well enough and he likes her back. Maybe even love. And it’s time to take the next step.

But one day, Brielle (a vet tech) gets kicked in the head by a spooked horse kick and is knocked out. Upon waking, she finds a gorgeous paramedic (Darwin) preparing her for her ride to the hospital, and she blurts her approval of him out loud which makes his dimple appear as he chuckles.

A smile twitched across his lips and again that one dimple appeared in his right cheek. I untangled my one hand from his and reached up, touching it. “Did you know you have a dimple?”

Darwin smiled wider, but still only one dimple appeared. Just one. He captured my roving hand and brought it back down.

“Funny enough, I had no idea.”

“Are you teasing me?”

“You are a bit out of it, and I will admit that it’s always fun to tease the patients when I know they won’t remember me the next day.”

My eyelids fluttered closed. I could just stay here, like this. This was better than good. “I won’t forget you. I promise.”

Whoa. *sparks* Even I was crushing already!

Of course, maybe she’s just a bit delirious (and obviously concussed) and maybe he’s just doing his job to keep her calm, but holding his hand makes her feel… something. And when he stays with her a little longer than that (at the hospital ’cause her man is too busy at work to come and see her)… she feels even more.

A bit “fast/typical” at first, but still interesting ’cause something VERY important is keeping these two apart.

My notes here were: “What what whaaaaaaaaaat!!???“ 

And then other things, too.

Yet, here I was, crying over the sink for a hurt that I couldn’t pinpoint the cause of. Or maybe, didn’t want to pinpoint the cause of.

Yes, that was closer to the truth.

Stupid girl.

And all the while, things just keep ramping up into super angsty (sometimes super-exhausting) land. And at some point y’all are either gonna love it, or hate it.  Maybe even hate me for tempting you unfairly like this. *grimaces* ‘Cause I really can’t tell you anything more. Heck… let’s just blame those girls, above. Tee hee!! Okay okay, in all fairness, I get it. I know why they were as enthusiastic as they were. This one certainly makes you feel. And for those of you that really loved a few very popular books from our reading past, you’ll likely love this one, too.

But for me, I’m gonna say 3 to 3.5 stars overall.

Good writing and all that, but just too over-the-top for me, and eventually, it… lost a part of me. Yes, I practically read it in one sitting, but there was just so much crazy happening, that at a certain point, even though logically I wanted “good” for all, emotionally I don’t know if I cared anymore. Too many evil characters in this one (and they’d do and say stuff that I just can’t imagine anyone doing or saying!!). If people like this exist, I’m so thankful and blessed for my entourage. In fact, I even started imagining this crazy ending that I think I would have been good with. LOL! But I didn’t guess right. Maybe I’m just grumpy. And for sure, I’m still holding a grudge for a certain… something that happened along the way.

BUT!!!  Five stars for three particularly heartrending, emotionally DEEP scenes (that follow each other consecutively) that just kept on giving. My tears, they were a-flowing! The author did NOT hold back when it truly counted and I could see it all play out like a movie. First half really good, and I appreciated the “motto” of the story as a whole. The rest though, played out more like a soap. The aftermath. At times, everyone seemed out of their minds! And yet, still had it’s “Whoa. WAY cool surprises!” there, too.

P.S. If you decide to read this, and like to listen to music while reading, find yourself a bunch of angsty, tearjerking love (or heartbreak) songs and watch what happens…

Tagged as: 3.5 stars, angst, contemporary romance, tearjerker