Micah Summers sketches boys he meets as fairy-tale characters and posts romantic fantasies about them on IG. Will the fantasy become a reality with boy No. 100?

The first half was quite fun as we follow Micah and friends in their quest to track down boy No. 100 after an encounter on a train, but when Micah tried to create a similar fairy-tale for his new best friend, Elliot, he started to get on my nerves. Would it have made any difference to the story if Micah had been a girl? Probably not. ( )

2.75 stars. While this had its cute and sweet moments, this was overall disappointing.

*Potential Spoilers*

Micah is a queer teen who is terribly shy. He has had 99 opportunities to talk to boys he was interested in but choked every time. He turned his failures into artwork and posted them to an anonymous instagram account. He made a decision that boy 100 would be the boy he finally had the courage to ask out and that it would end in a fairytale come true.
Micah meets boy 100 on the train, but they got separated by a crowd before they could even exchange names. Boy 100 left behind his jacket, which was hand-made by boy 100 himself. Micah and his friends then go on a quest to find boy 100. And when they do, it is utterly sweet and adorable.

That's where everything kind goes downhill. The characters were all annoying in some way. The romance was not romancey. Let me break it down by the three main characters.

Micah: queer, artist, shy, and famous because of his dad, which is why the art instagram was anonymous to begin with. He has a problem with saying what he wants and feels, and ultimately gets manipulated into staying in a relationship where he was basically being used for his fame.

Grant (boy 100): Seemed cool and sweet to begin with, but had some serious, unresolved trust and confidence issues from previous relationships. I think he genuinely cared for Micah, but not only clung to him due to his issues, but also began using Micah's fame to further his career as an artist.

Elliot: Was a new friend of Micah's best friend, Hannah, who eventually became great friends with Micah. He is also queer and in a dying relationship. What I hated about Elliot was that he continuously shamed Micah for his wealth (which Micah had nothing to do with) and disguised it as a joke. It was not funny to me at all.

Grant became increasingly self-involved and continued to gaslight Micah to keep in trapped. Meanwhile, Micah begins to see Elliot as his true boy 100. But why you would fall for someone who constantly made fun of you being well-off is beyond me. This wasn't cute, and it took away from the romance for me. Micah deserved better than Grant or Elliot and was too clueless or scared to see it. ( )

"A weary world deserves a little dreaming."

I would call The 99 Boyfriends of Micah Summers a modern day, queer fairytale, about a prince who realizes where his heart truly belongs. It's sweet and emotional and raw. Each character is wonderfully written. I was pulling for everyone to get their happily ever after and I feel like that's the backbone of a wonderfully crafted story, helping your readers become fully invested in each character. Bravo, Sass!

There are these adorable Instagram posts throughout the story and they make up a really fun epilogue! I think adding those touches in really made Micah and his story come to life, I loved it!

I definitely recommend you dive into Micah Summers’ quest for boy 100. You won't regret picking up this fun YA Romance!

Big thank you to PenguinTeen for the e-ARC to read, enjoy, and honestly review. ( )

The 99 Boyfriends of Micah Summers is the story of Instagram-famous anonymous influencer Micah Summers, an artist looking for his 100th fake boyfriend - except this time, he's determined for number 100 to be his first real boyfriend.

The big draw for this book is the characters. Each one is distinct, both in their flaws and their positive qualities. Elliot was by far my favorite character, but all of them - even ones who seemingly play a small role - are well thought-out and made real on the page, and they were the driving force behind what kept me engaged and reading.

I do think the main thing keeping this book from five stars is the plot. You can see it coming pretty much as soon as the characters are introduced, and while that isn't necessarily a bad thing, I have to say I was a little disappointed when my hunch was proved correct at the end. I was hoping for a little twist or something to make it feel different from other YA rom-coms, and you don't really get that. Still, it's a very well tied-together story, and I think there are readers out there who will appreciate it because of the reliability of the plot.

Overall, I'd recommend this book to die-hard YA romance fans. If you're looking for something that bucks the genre stereotypes, this isn't it, but it's a great read for those who enjoy the genre.

Thank you to Viking and NetGalley for providing a copy for review. ( )