The 99 Boyfriends of Micah Summers

• Author: Adam Sass
• Genre: YA Romance
• Publication Date: September 20, 2022
• Publisher: Viking Books for Young Readers

Thank you to YA Books Central and Viking Books for Young Readers for sending me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. You can find my YA Books Central review here.

Will Boy 100 be the one?

Micah is rich, dreamy, and charming. As the “Prince of Chicago”—the son of a local celebrity sports radio host known as the King of Chicago—he has everything going for him. Unfortunately, he’s also the prince of imaginary meet-cutes, since he’s too nervous to actually ask boys out.

Instead, Micah sketches each crush to share on Instagram with a post about their imaginary dates. Ninety-nine “boyfriends” later, his account is hugely popular, and everyone is eagerly awaiting Boy 100. So is Micah. He’s determined that Boy 100 will be different. This time, Micah will sweep the boy off his feet, for real!

So when Micah flirts with a hot boy on the L who’s wearing a vegan leather jacket and lugging a ton of library books, he is sure this is Boy 100. But right before he can make his move and ask for the boy’s number, the guy rushes off the train, leaving behind his pumpkin-embroidered jacket. The jacket holds clues to the boy’s identity, so Micah and his friends set off on a quest to return it. Along the way, Micah will discover that the best relationships aren’t fair tales. In fact, the perfect fit—and true love—might be closer than he thinks.

I’ve heard a bit of chatter about this book, and was intrigued by the premise, so I obviously couldn’t pass up an opportunity to read this one when it came my way. The cover is beautiful, and it’s a fun and light read reminiscent of a modern-day fairy tale.

Micah is easy to fall in love with. He’s the “Prince of Chicago,” but he’s relatively down to earth, with the same issues as everyone else. He’s super shy, and since he struggles to talk to his crushes, he creates these sketches of them complete with elaborate fairy tale descriptions of them and posts them to an anonymous Instagram account that he created. But he decides that things are going to change and Boy 100 is going to be real.

The people who surround Micah are a diverse and offbeat group. His sister and her Korean-American girlfriend have a penchant for wearing matching clothing printed with food items on them, his best friend is Black and rigidly organized with wardrobe and makeup skills that are incredible, and Elliot is a “thicc” and joyful barista with aspirations towards being a vet. I seriously loved all of the side characters, who had complete personalities of their own, and all played a role in helping Micah complete his quests in search of his happily ever after. 

In this story, there’s a clear overlay of the bones of fairy tales on modern life. While Micah is facing his usual daily stressors, he enlists a squire, helper mice, and even a fairy godmother to complete quests to find the prince, in one of the best Cinderella reworks that I’ve ever seen. The fact that it’s a very queer story made this even sweeter for some reason, and despite seeing the ending coming a mile away, I loved watching everything fall into place, even through the struggle to get there. Micah grows a lot in this story, and I think that was the most meaningful part. I love seeing a character make positive changes in their life, and this book absolutely exceeded any expectations that I had in that department. 

As a living bundle of energy, Micah has a fun stream of thoughts and a quirky and interesting group of people around him. He’s immersed in queer friends, supportive family, and I loved that I found a book with literally no trigger warnings. It’s almost like if a queer romance and Disney movies had a love child, it would be this book. This is a fast-paced, quick read, and I loved how warm and fluffy it was. Even the conflict wasn’t overwhelmingly angsty, although it did have just the right amount of angst, and it was full of grand, romantic gestures that bordered on over-the-top, with a lighthearted tone to everything.