Book review - 100 Days

Title: 100 Days
Author: Nicole McInnes
Genre: realistic fiction
Similar books: Painless by S.A. Harazin
                     Anthem for Jackson Dawes by Celia Bryce
Rating:

Not as good as I'd hoped

Summary(provided by publisher): Agnes doesn't know it, but she only has one hundred days left to live. When she was just a baby, she was diagnosed with Progeria, a rare disease that causes her body to age at roughly ten times the normal rate. Now nearly sixteen years old, Agnes has already exceeded her life expectancy.
Moira has been Agnes’s best friend and protector since they were in elementary school. Due to her disorder, Agnes is still physically small, but Moira is big. Too big for her own liking. So big that people call her names. With her goth makeup and all-black clothes, Moira acts like she doesn’t care. But she does.
Boone was friends with both girls in the past, but that was a long time ago—before he did the thing that turned Agnes and Moira against him, before his dad died, before his mom got too sad to leave the house.
An unexpected event brings Agnes and Moira back together with Boone, but when romantic feelings start to develop, the trio’s friendship is put to the test.

My opinion: This is probably the first book I've ever heard of that had a character with progeria, so I had high hopes. I was disappointed. Agnes is too well adjusted. She talks about wanting to have a normal teen experience but she's very accepting of her limits. She never gets frustrated, never wishes for more. Her disease seems to be the entire definition of her character. Mostly she serves as a foil for Moira and Boone. Her presence forces them to face their personality flaws and fears. They grow as people - Agnes doesn't. She doesn't even get a satisfying ending, a final arc. She just ends. The characters skew a little young and the plot lacks the depth and emotional complexity I've come to expect from teen novels. With the simple plot and lack of character development I'd have an easier time accepting it if it were aimed at a middle grade audience rather than teens.

More Information: 100 Days releases August 23.
Advance Reader Copy provided by NetGalley.