The Hundred Lies of Lizzie Lovett

by Chelsea Sedoti

Hawthorn wasn't trying to insert herself into a missing person's investigation. Or maybe she was. But that's only because Lizzie Lovett's disappearance is the one fascinating mystery their sleepy town has ever had. Bad things don't happen to popular girls like Lizzie Lovett, and Hawthorn is convinced she'll turn up at any moment-which means the time for speculation is now.

So Hawthorn comes up with her own theory for Lizzie's disappearance. A theory way too absurd to take seriously...at first. The more Hawthorn talks, the more she believes. And what better way to collect evidence than to immerse herself in Lizzie's life? Like getting a job at the diner where Lizzie worked and hanging out with Lizzie's boyfriend. After all, it's not as if he killed her-or did he?

Told with a unique voice that is both hilarious and heart-wrenching, Hawthorn's quest for proof may uncover the greatest truth is within herself.
"

Genres: Young Adult, Mystery, Contemporary, Fiction, Audiobook, Realistic Fiction, Romance

387 pages, Hardcover

First published January 3, 2017

About the author

Chelsea Sedoti fell in love with writing at a young age after discovering that making up stories was more fun than doing her school work (her teachers didn’t always appreciate this.) In an effort to avoid getting a “real” job, Chelsea explored careers as a balloon twister, filmmaker, and paranormal investigator. Eventually she realized that her true passion is writing about flawed teenagers who are also afraid of growing up. When she’s not at the computer, Chelsea spends her time exploring abandoned buildings, eating junk food at roadside diners, and trying to befriend every animal in the world. She lives in Las Vegas, Nevada where she avoids casinos, but loves roaming the Mojave Desert.

Reviews

[Jesse (JesseTheReader) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have lots of things to say about this one so expect a video review real soon!

[Miranda Reads · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

Lizzie Lovett was the IT girl of Hawthorne Creely's high school. Emphasis on was .

“Lizzie and her boyfriend were camping, and this morning, he woke up, and she was gone.”

Silence descended on the kitchen. I decided to say what all of us were certainly thinking. “Probably the most incredible part of the story is that Lizzie Lovett went camping.”

Hawthorne is the "weird kid" in high school. She's constantly saying or doing the wrong thing - often with hilarious results.

...Lizzie Lovett disappeared, and everyone was all, “How can someone like Lizzie be missing?” and I was like, “Who cares?”

A few days later...it was still kinda boring, but not totally boring, because I’d never known a dead person before.

She's hated and admired Lizzie from afar ever since freshman year. Now that Hawthorne's a senior (and Lizzie long since graduated), Hawthorne thought she was free. That is, until the girl went missing.

The woods had swallowed Lizzie's secrets. She had lived, and she had died, and now, there was no trace of her.

The prevailing theory is that Lizzie died (somehow) in the woods, but without a body or even a trace, no one can know for sure what happened.

Hawthorne, having spent the last four years hating Lizzie, decides to figure out what happened on her own. After all, Lizzie dazzled just about everyone and this mystery is probably the most interesting thing that ever happened.

Don't confuse being popular with being interesting

Soon, Hawthorne finds herself neck-deep in the mystery with little hope of breaking free.

But I always wondered, if she could turn her feelings off like a switch, how much was she hiding from us?

This one was a pendulum swing for me. I loved it, I hated it, I loved it again.... back and forth constantly.

I loved Hawthorne's inane chatter (like the first quote in this review) - I found her to be hilarious, fresh and undoubtedly unique. She's a shining beacon of light in a swarm of emo-angst protagonist smog.

BUT (and this is a big BUT) she went too far too often - so what would've been hilarious morphed into a giant cringe-fest. Like when Hawthorne picks up the idea that Lizzie is a werewolf.

I hoped we’d find something telling. Maybe an essay titled “Where I’d Go if I Ever Turned into a Werewolf.”

As an errant thought - this is hilarious. As the focus for the latter half of the book - not so much.

I lived in a world with practical people...Where were the other people like me? Locked up probably. Getting called crazy...

I think if Hawthorne was younger (i.e. freshman or eighth grade) then some of her more off-the-wall behavior wouldn't have seemed so out of place.

At that age, you're transitioning between childhood and adulthood so I think that it makes more sense for the behavior to blur the lines.

Other than the cringy moments, I really enjoyed this one.

Though, I do have to admit the title and description felt a little misleading.

Lizzie wasn't as much of a liar as I thought she was and the description makes it sound like Hawthorne is working with the police or gets herself involved in some other professional matter. Instead, Lizzie lies only sometimes and Hawthorne just hangs out at the fringes of the investigation.

Maybe that's where I went wrong before. Some riddles weren't meant to be solved.

Audiobook Comments
Read by Jessica Almasy. She was an absolutely fabulous reader - she breathed life into such a quirky character. Loved it!

YouTube | Blog | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | Snapchat @miranda_reads

[Deanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

My reviews can also be seen at: https://deesradreadsandreviews.wordpr...


When she first hears the news that local girl, Lizzie Lovett is missing, Seventeen-year-old Hawthorn (Thorny) Creely doesn't really pay it much attention. To be honest she doesn't really care. She's not trying to be cold, she's just pretty sure it isn't true. Hawthorn is positive that bad things don’t happen to girls like Lizzie Lovett.

But she's wrong...

When she realizes that Lizzie is in fact missing, something changes in Hawthorn. She goes from not caring and ends up becoming obsessed with uncovering the truth behind Lizzie's disappearance. She immerses herself in everything Lizzie. She gets a job at the restaurant Lizzie worked at and even starts hanging out with Lizzie's boyfriend. No one understands why she's doing this, and I don't think she's really sure herself. But something about Lizzie's disappearance becomes personal for her.

Hawthorn doesn't have a lot of friends and has dubbed herself unlovable. Her older brother, Rush had a lot of friends and loved high school. Hawthorn prefers to be by herself a lot of the time....at least that's what she says. She does have one close friend in Emily. Although even Emily seems to have a hard time with Hawthorne's personality sometimes.

There are many theories going around about Lizzie’s disappearance. Hawthorn has some of her own VERY bizarre theories. She even manages to get Lizzie’s boyfriend, twenty-five year old, Enzo Calvetti to help her with her searches. But should she be hanging around Enzo? (I was a bit surprised that her parents were okay with her hanging out with him. Because of the age difference and the fact that he was the last person to see Lizzie alive).

Hawthorn is a very unique character. She can be annoying but she's also witty with a wild imagination and some of the best one-liners ever. She speaks her mind, often without thinking it through. "The words had come out of my mouth without getting permission from my brain". Her inner dialogue was hilarious. When someone upsets her she remembers what her mother told her about not wishing for things that you really didn't want to happen (like wishing someone dead). So her "curses" were never horrible but they were ALWAYS hilarious!

"I wished someone would replace Mychelle's fancy shampoo with a drugstore brand. I wished she would suddenly forget the name of her five favorite songs. I wished every time she microwaved a frozen burrito, the center would stay cold. I wished her mascara would dry out after she'd only done one eye".

I enjoyed many of the supporting characters too. Sundog with his caravan that lived in tents on the front lawn along with their dog, Timothy Leary. I loved her brother, Rush and his best friend, Connor.

"So why are you sitting here like the rest of The Breakfast Club went out partying and forgot to take you along?"

As Hawthorn continues her search for the truth about what happened to Lizzie, she may end up finding her own truth as well....

There are quite a few themes covered in this book, mental health issues, bullying, loneliness, self-esteem, obsession, relationships, among others.

The Hundred Lies of Lizzie Lovett was a quick and easy YA read. The characters were unique and original and they all added something to the story. I did find it was quite different from what I expected after reading the book blurb. There were also a few parts of the plot that seemed to come out of left field. But while it wasn't quite what I was expecting I still found it entertaining.

I enjoyed this book and I look forward to reading more from Chelsea Sedoti.

Thank you NetGalley, Sourcebooks Fire, and Chelsea Sedoti for providing an advanced copy of this book for me to read in exchange for my honest review.

[Kaylin (The Re-Read Queen) · Rating 2 out of 5]

2 Stars

Overview:



This book is marketed as a young-adult mystery, and the blurb claims Hawthorn Creely “inserts herself into the investigation of missing person, Lizzie Lovett.” I think this is misleading, as that’s not the direction the book goes in.

Instead of trying to find Lizzie or doing any investigating whatsoever, Hawthorn (who is an imaginative sort of person) spends her time coming up with fantastical ideas about what might have happened to Lizzie. And she does so while growing closer to the missing Lizzie Lovett’s much older boyfriend.

I received an ARC of this through Netgalley, thanks to the publisher for the opportunity!

Pros:

Hawthorn’s best friend, Emily, was one of my favorite characters. I could have read a whole book about Emily. She was talented and smart, while still being somewhat shy. Even though she was quieter, she wasn’t afraid to speak up for herself—even to her best friend. She pointed out when a relationship had become unhealthy for her, without bullying or belittling the other party. She was an extremely strong character and I would have loved to see more of her.

Though I had problems with her character, Hawthorn had a very unique voice. I think she really came into her own about half-way through the novel, and I wish her characterization had been that strong from the beginning. While she seems very all-over-the-place in the first few chapters, she slowly reveals herself to be an imaginative and outspoken force of nature. I can't say I've ever read a book narrated by a character like her.

Cons

By far my biggest problem was this couldn’t seem to establish a tone. Hawthorn would be cynical and mean, but also romanticize everything. It wanted to be mysterious and hint at how ‘unreliable’ the narration was, but then also be whimsical and playful. It would go from the main character believing in werewolves and discussing “cognitive enlightenment” with a man named Sundog, to a supposed-to-be-thrilling chase scene in a creepy abandoned house.

I think the story would have worked if it was simply a quirky girl who gets caught up in the fantastic nature of a missing persons case or a lonely girl who immerses herself completely in the life of a girl who’s gone missing. It was two completely different stories with completely different tones, and the text spent so much time arguing with itself.

SO HAWTHORN WAS INSUFFERABLE. As I said, she had a very unique voice, and I did come to feel for her. But she was incredibly self-absorbed. She spent all her time waxing poetic about how misunderstood she was and how she had no friends when she was downright mean and seems to only consider herself. For example:

- She’s late to class for no reason and when her teacher questions her, she tells him, “Yeah, there’s a reason. Lizzie Lovett disappeared this morning and my brother is totally freaked out about it, so I was trying to comfort him.” Not only is this incredibly calloused towards the people in the classroom who knew Lizzie, but Hawthorn had just been MAKING FUN of her brother

- Tells all of Lizzie’s distraught friends and family that they shouldn’t worry, because Lizzie has just BECOME A WEREWOLF. This is played off as cute and silly, but it was just incredibly insensitive.

- “Wow, I’m being called sloppy by a girl who’s gotten wasted at parties and spread her legs for half the football team since eight grade.” NO. NO. NO. Don’t whine about how awful people treat you and then turn around be a slut-shaming, vindictive bully yourself!

- “These dances exist just to torture me” *rolls eyes* Yes, Hawthorne. Because it’s all about you.

- Is upset when her best-friend asks for some space, because the relationship isn’t healthy any more. Hawthorn never apologizes and instead just whines about how now she has no friends.

- “I’m not like most people."






If I had to read the words ‘Lizzie Lovett’ one more time… I understood her name was being used almost as a title, but every time they spoke of the girl they used her first and last name. It was used a little too frequently and just got repetitive.

There was a somewhat random addition of a caravan of stereotypical hippies halfway through this book. Yes. Really.

(Slight spoilers) If you’re going to mention suicide halfway through your book, without prompting or warning, maaaaybe discuss it in nuanced or somewhat respectful way. Instead of using it as a plot point to try to make the MC more likeable.

In Conclusion

This had a lot of potential, but the main character was very difficult—despite the unique voice. The tone of the book kept shifting, and it’s overall very different than advertised.

[Keira Drake · Rating 5 out of 5]

SPOILER-FREE REVIEW!

Okay. I had to take a few days before I reviewed this one, because it sort of destroyed me emotionally. This is one of the best YA novels I have ever read. Seriously. The writing is effortless, the dialogue completely natural. It is an exploration of what it is like to be the sort of person who doesn't fit in. Someone who is creative, imaginative, someone who wants to see magic in the world, someone who yearns for belonging, someone who can never quite be "normal."

I'm not gonna lie...this book reminded me of THE CATCHER IN THE RYE, in **all** the best ways. In fact, I would go so far as to call it a modern, **even more honest** CATCHER. The world seems split on Holden Caulfield--a lot of people hate his ever-bitching, ever-judging view of the world (I personally love Holden). But Hawthorn Creely is not Holden Caulfield. While she has a keen, observant, sensitive view of the world that allows her to see the flaws, bullshit, and imperfections that many choose to ignore, she admits that she wants to belong. And that is EVERYTHING. Because don't we all?

Hawthorn is impulsive, imaginative, reckless. She wonders what it is like to be Lizzie Lovett...she fixates...she tries to reconcile the image Lizzie projects with the person she begins to learn about once Lizzie has gone missing. And that's the heart of this story: it's not a big mystery where clues lead a teenage detective toward solving a missing persons case--although you WILL want to keep reading in hopes of finding out WHAT HAPPENED TO LIZZIE? This story is about Hawthorn. It is about our perceptions of others. It is about what it means to fit in, and what it means when you don't, and what it means to search for meaning, and it is BEAUTIFUL.

I will read every word Chelsea Sedoti ever writes. She reached into my soul where there were hurts long forgotten, questions long unanswered, and helped me to find a tiny bit of peace I didn't even know I needed. Hawthorn broke my heart and put it right back together--without smoothing out all the painful memories that come along with self-discovery.

This book is beautiful. Read it. Read all of it. I don't think you will be disappointed.

[Anna Priemaza · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book. THIS BOOK. I love it so much I want to eat it.

At this moment, having just finished it, I feel like I have never before loved a book as much as I love this book.

Hawthorn Creely is this obnoxious, endearing, brilliantly voicey teen who wants there to be more to the world than what she sees every day. Because the world she sees is hard. And lonely.

Chelsea doesn't hit you over the head with Hawthorn's I-so-desperately-want-to-hug-her loneliness, though. Instead, she delivers it subtly in these sock-you-in-the-gut lines. Like:

"But really, I was most afraid of turning my phone back on and finding out no one had even tried to get ahold of me."
or
"A burrito tastes good even if you're eating alone."

Instead of facing that hard world, Hawthorn obsesses about the disappearance of Lizzie Lovett, losing herself in a ridiculous theory that she may or may not actually believe. And is brilliant and heart-breaking and hilarious while doing so. (Examples: "Didn't your parents ever tell you opinions should be left to people with brains?" and "I wanted his ice cream to fall off the cone and onto the pavement on a really hot day. I wanted him to read a really great mystery, only to find someone had ripped out the end pages where it was solved.")

The book positively sings with narrative voice, and is full of so many gorgeous lines, and I can't recommend it enough. Read this book. Just read this book.

[Nikita · Rating 1 out of 5]

There was NO POINT TO THIS BOOK!!!

[Lala BooksandLala · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Hundred Lies of Lizzie Lovett centers around Hawthorne, a teen girl who becomes obsessed with solving the mystery of fellow missing teen - Lizzie Lovett.

Our protagonist's voice felt very authentic, but the storyline was just lacking for me. It was very slow and one note; there's not much going on besides this girl trying to follow non existent clues to solve the disappearance of a girl she didn't even know. I never cared about Lizzie and couldn't get on board with Hawthorne either; she was bratty, her romance was cringy and the supernatural element of this was so unexpected and a waste of time.

Honestly, I can't even write a longer review because the second I put it down I forgot almost all character names and plot points. This was just not at all what I was expecting it to be.
*This copy was provided by the publisher*

[Cheri · Rating 4 out of 5]

!! NOW AVAILABLE !!

In this YA Novel, there's a little bit of mystery, a bit of teen angst, and more.

Hawthorn Creely, daughter of Sparrow, sister to Rush, and whose best friend is Emily. In truth, Emily is her best friend, although I’m not sure the same could be said about Hawthorn being a true best friend to Emily. Hawthorn is a girl who believes that she is unlovable. She’s lonely, she feels alone most of all at school where the pretty girls reign and the boys follow the pretty girls. The popular girls, the popular boys. She’s seventeen, and life can be difficult and confusing during those years, especially for those who feel invisible most of the time, or that they are on the fringe. Hawthorn may not always be likeable, but she is relatable.

She would never admit that she wants to go to school dances, to parties, to be seen. She can’t even admit that to herself. Everything seems to come so easily to girls like Lizzie Lovett, everyone loves her, even Rush dated Lizzie Lovett for a while. For a time, Hawthorn allowed herself to want to be like Lizzie, but those days are gone.

One morning Rush comes downstairs with the news that Lizzie Lovett is missing, it’s on the news and he’s beside himself. Missing this girl he once dreamed about, missing that life he once had, those days. Hawthorn only had minutes with Lizzie once, had dreamed of Lizzie taking her under her wing, even. But when Lizzie pretended not to know her, those dreams were crushed.

There are people that come and go, adding colour, adding smaller story lines, with so many theories about Lizzie Lovett’s disappearance on top of that all, yet the story never gets confusing. The main story still belongs to Hawthorn. Her struggle to be recognized, and ultimately to recognize herself, and her true feelings.


Pub Date: 01 Jan 2017

Many thanks to Sourcebooks Fire, NetGalley and to author Chelsea Sedoti providing this ARC

[Lori · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed it more than I expected. Lots of awkward teenage angst and insecurity, but that sort of thing never really goes away. Your circumstances change.

I read it because it was a Big Library Read (BLR) selection. I am grateful that I don't need to choose a book for everyone.

[Kelly (and the Book Boar) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Find all of my reviews at: http://52bookminimum.blogspot.com/

To be 100% honest, there’s probably very little chance I would have ever read The Hundred Lies of Lizzie Lovett if it weren’t for it being THE BIG LIBRARY READ. These events pop up quite frequently when I log into my favorite addiction, but I’ve never participated. Mainly because I’ve generally already read the books – like with Exhibit A that is going on through the other (*cough porny cough*) library system . . . .



I’m also aware that I did this wrong and I was supposed to join in on discussions somewhere and interact with everyone else reading this book, but let’s get real . . . .



You can mark my friends list here as Exhibit B if you need proof that even my interwebbing is pretty introverted.

All that aside, Lizzie Lovett ended up being a fairly decent read and I’m glad I “participated” (if you can even call it that – maybe “read along” is a better option). I’m clearly not the target demographic for this one, but that didn’t lessen my enjoyment much at all.

The story here is about Lizzie Lovett (duh), the “it girl” in high school when Hawthorne Creely was a Freshman. Fastforward to Hawthorne’s Senior year where she has just heard that Lizzie went missing while camping with her boyfriend. Things haven’t changed much for Hawthorne in four years. She’s still a “misfit” in the high school hierarchy who spends all of her time with her one friend. The same can’t be said for Lizzie, however. It seems she has reinvented herself every year or so since graduating. And this time? If Hawthorne’s theory is correct, it may be the biggest change yet . . .



Be forewarned that Hawthorne might drive you a little batshit. She can be exhausting. On the other hand, she's kind of hilariously tiring . . . .

"I've spend most of my life being forced to participate in schemes I don't want any part of."

"Like what?"

"Like when you thought the world was going to end and wanted me to steal supplies from my parents' store."

"Oh yeah."

"Or when you were convinced that there was a serpent monster in Tappan Lake."

"I was a little kid."

"You were twelve."

3 Stars . . . . .

[Sandysbookaday · Rating 4 out of 5]

EXCERPT: The first thing that happened was Lizzie Lovett disappeared, and everyone was all, “How can someone like Lizzie be missing?” and I was like, “Who cares?” A few days later, there was talk about Lizzie maybe being dead, and it was still kinda boring, but not totally boring, because I’d never known a dead person before.

After that, I started to get fascinated by the whole situation, mostly because I noticed a bunch of weird stuff. Which was how I figured out Lizzie Lovett’s secret. But I’m probably doing that thing again where I get ahead of myself and skip all over the place, which I’m trying to stop.

So the beginning, or the beginning for me at least, was when I found out Lizzie Lovett was missing. It happened like this: It was Monday morning, and I needed an excuse to stay home. I was dreading school even more than usual, because the Welcome Back dance had been on Saturday, and I was probably the only senior at Griffin Mills High School who didn’t go, and everyone would be talking about it while I sat there thinking, Wow, I’m a loser.

THE BLURB: A teenage misfit named Hawthorn Creely inserts herself in the investigation of missing person Lizzie Lovett, who disappeared mysteriously while camping with her boyfriend. Hawthorn doesn't mean to interfere, but she has a pretty crazy theory about what happened to Lizzie. In order to prove it, she decides to immerse herself in Lizzie's life. That includes taking her job... and her boyfriend. It's a huge risk — but it's just what Hawthorn needs to find her own place in the world.

MY THOUGHTS: Oh, the memories, not all of them great, that The Hundred Lies of Lizzie Lovett by Chelsea Sedoti brought back. In the words of Charles Dickens, 'It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.'

It is so easy to forget how self centred we are at seventeen. But don't worry, Hawthorn Creely and her classmates will remind you. I defy you to read this book and not be reminded of your own teenage years. Of course you might not have had a band of hippies come live in your backyard, but no doubt your parents found other ways to embarrass you in front of your peers.

The Hundred Lies of Lizzie Lovett deals with a lot of issues teenagers face; low self esteem, depression, suicide and bullying, both face to face and on social media. There are many good life lessons in this book.

"There's no such thing as a normal high school experience, Thorny. You assume everyone else is happy all he time and living an ideal life. You don't get that other people are pretending too.”

“Don't confuse being popular with being interesting”

“Sometimes, there are things that are really hard to do, and it sucks the whole time you’re doing them. But you also know it’s the right thing, and you might be making a huge difference for someone else.”

This was a touching book. It is a book that has a place in every high school library. It is a book that every parent of teenagers should read, so that we can remember what high school was really like.

I listened to this book on audio via Overdrive, very well narrated by Jessica Almasy. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own. Please refer to my Goodreads.com profile page or the 'about' page on sandysbookaday.wordpress.com for an explanation of my rating system. This review and others are also published on my blog sandysbookaday.wordpress.com
https://wordpress.com/post/sandysbook...

[Stacee · Rating 1 out of 5]

1.5 stars?

I'm all for a quirky and maybe not-so-reliable narrator, but throw in a mystery and I was completely interested in this book. Sadly, I was making a WITAF face at my kindle pretty early into starting it.

Hawthorn is weird. She seems really smart, but she's bored and doesn't do anything about it. The entire book is literally about her believing Lizzie is a werewolf and how she's going to be the one who finds her. And no, I'm not making that up.

Along the way, she takes Lizzie's job and gets involved with Lizzie's boyfriend {who is 25 to her 17}. She basically ditches her BFF and is horrible to her family because no one believes her BS theory. Did I mention that Hawthorn hates Lizzie? Yeah, she spends a good portion of the book berating her brother for being upset about Lizzie's disappearance because they were friends years ago.

Honestly, I don't know why I kept reading. I saw the high reviews and everyone gushing, so I guess maybe I was hoping for something or some scene to turn everything around. Obviously I'm in the minority.

**Huge thanks to Sourcebooks Fire and NetGalley for providing the arc free of charge**

[Vanessa · Rating 2 out of 5]

It probably pays to read the blurb before picking up a book. So when I started this audiobook and realised it was YA I nearly set it aside but having limited library audio options I stuck with it and gave it a chance. It started bad but then I warmed up to it, if it hadn’t been for the werewolf plot line I would have given this an extra star as that part was way too cheesy and silly. Besides that it was an ok read for this genre and some parts were actually quite enjoyable with an interesting set of characters. Even the annoying Hawthorn became tolerable by the ending.

[fatima · Rating 1 out of 5]

Rating this so low hurts me because I was really looking forward to reading this - it was one of my most anticipated releases of 2017, and this was just... not good. The blurb of this novel really sold me and I initially thought that this novel would be more mystery and finding clues and cool theories, but it wasn't any of that.

Our protagonist, a self-proclaimed "teenage misfit" named Hawthorn becomes full on obsessed when Lizzie Lovett, this older, popular, all around good girl goes missing. At first I thought the idea of Hawthorn putting herself in Lizzie's shoes was a really interesting way to find out what really happened to her, but her obsession was borderline disturbing. Hawthorn is, to be frank, a total brat and has zero common sense. She was insulting towards the people affected by Lizzie's disappearance, including her own brother, and she thought so highly of herself just because she had this ridiculous theory of what happened to Lizzie.

This girl was following nonexistent clues to figure out what happened to this girl that she didn't even know. I just thought it was so ridiculous and so unrealistic of Hawthorn to throw all caution into the wind to track down Lizzie's every single move before she went missing, just because Hawthorn was basically jealous of the life that Lizzie seemed to have. AND THEN, when we figured out what really happened to Lizzie (per the investigation of the actual police and search parties, not from the dumb theories of our oh so reliable protagonist), I thought it was so selfish and rude and straight up ignorant of Hawthorn to feel directly affected by it - like, I get feeling bad about it, but the fact that she was breaking down as if she knew Lizzie when she was just coming up with all of these crazy theories in hopes that this poor girl had been somehow killed through the ridiculous supernatural element of the story was SO irritating.

The storyline was lacking and I don't think I've ever disliked a main character as much as I dislike Hawthorn. The romance felt sleazy and wrong, and the spin on the plot with the supernatural theories made the plot a lot duller. This was not at all what I was expecting from this book, and this novel is, without a doubt, one of the biggest disappointments that I've read.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC!

[Brian Yahn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thematically, The Hundred Lies of Lizzie Lovett was everything I needed during the time I read it. I try to keep reviews about the subject, keep myself out of it, but with this one, it's impossible.

The story starts off with the disappearance of Lizzie Lovett and the main character, Hawthorne, immediately falling in love with the prime suspect -- Lizzie Lovett's boyfriend. Falling in love can always feel dangerous, especially the first time. To me, it was refreshing and intriguing AF how Chelsea Sedoti captured this by having Hawthrone falling in love with someone who might literally be an ax murderer.

From there, the plot sort of evolves into a paranormal thriller, where Hawthorne investigates the possibilities of Lizzie Lovett actually being a werewolf instead of dead. You think she might be grasping at straws to cope with who she's falling in love with, which could've been an interesting angle, but not where the book went.

Without spoiling too much of the plot, I'll say the paranormal stuff didn't do much for me, but it really wasn't important to the story, and I LOVED the beginning and the end. The relationship between Lizzie Lovett, her boyfriend, and Hawthorne was incredibly unique for me, and it kept me begging for more. How the relationships all came together and the significance, personally, I found it to be insightful in a way that's VERY RARE in Young Adult books.

The fact that it was set in my obscure hometown, it just felt like this book was speaking to me in a way I haven't experienced since reading The Alchemist.

[Jilly Gagnon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I LOVED Lizzie Lovett! Hawthorn is so achingly real, and flawed, and funny; the story pulls you along; and Sedoti's voice is so fresh and vibrant--I was sad to reach the end!

Perfect for anyone who felt like an outsider looking in when they were young (or still)--with this as her debut, I'm v v eager to see what Sedoti writes next!

[Shannon (It Starts At Midnight) · Rating 1 out of 5]

You can find the full review and all the fancy and/or randomness that accompanies it at It Starts at Midnight
1.5*
This... did not work for me. I wanted it to, and I tried for it to, even after I knew I should probably just give up. But I am bad at giving up, so I persevered. Mistake? Probably, but I can live with it. It wasn't all bad or anything, but... I was hard pressed to find things I enjoyed.

Things I Enjoyed:

I did really want to know what happened to Lizzie Lovett. I knew that Hawthorn's theories were ridiculous, but I still needed to know where Lizzie ended up, what went on in her life, etc.

Hawthorn did end up having a bit of character growth, so that was a plus. Hawthorn also was written in a fun way so that her thoughts were humorous, when they didn't annoy me. Oh, and there are some people who come to her house, they are also big wins. They might have been the reason I kept reading? I do think that the author has a ton of potential, as I did enjoy the writing- just not the story.

What Went Wrong:

Hawthorn is... I don't even know where to begin with this girl. She's supposed to be 17, but she's acting 7, at best sometimes. She's got this fixation with Lizzie, who she spoke to once for like 33 seconds. I get being curious and such, but Hawthorn is straight up obsessed. I mean, just in the synopsis it tells you that she basically takes over Lizzie's life, and that is not normal. And she thinks her really out-there theory about Lizzie is legit. She's not just like "oh, haha, I think X happened" as a joke... she is for real thinking things that even my five year old would roll her eyes at. If you must know, spoiler tags. She thinks Lizzie has turned into a werewolf. An actual werewolf. Again, not a joke, she's actually scouting places in full moons for were-people.

Seriously, why is everyone so obsessed with Lizzie Lovett? It doesn't make any sense, and no one gives me any evidence to suggest why. She's spoken to no one in their town for eons, and sure I can understand searching for her and such, obviously she is a human being who is missing, but the strange obsession, especially on Hawthorn's part baffled me.

Hawthorn's family wasn't great to her. Granted, she's tough to take, but man, they let her run about doing all kinds of things that my parents would probably not let me do still, and I am twice her age. I liked that eventually her relationship with her brother is explored a bit more but... her parents need to step it up.

The ship was... creepy. Look, there are times when an age difference is not a big deal. For example, if I date someone eight years older or younger than me, no one cares, and you know why? We'd all be consenting adults. Spoiler! Hawthorn is not a consenting adult, and yet she's scampering around town with Lizzie's 25 year old boyfriend. Again, can someone please page mom and dad? I could not get on board with this, even though Enzo was every damn bit as immature as Hawthorn, he was still 25 and his girlfriend went missing in the woods. While he was alone with her. Red flags much? I felt like I needed to call CPS on some fictional characters.

I was bored. Honestly, I started not to care what happened to Lizzie Lovett, and was kind of tempted a few times to just jump to the end to see what happened and be done with it.

 

Bottom Line: I really wanted to love this one, but I am afraid I did not. Between Hawthorn's unlikability, and some of the really outlandish plot points, I just couldn't get into it.

*Copy provided for review

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Hundred Lies of Lizzie Lovett by Chelsea Sedoti
The writing and prose flow naturally and without effort. The dialogue throughout this book really made the best part of the story. The main character is Hawthorn Creely who can at times be loveable and other times test your patience. She is a lonely teenager who is seventeen years old. She wants to fit in with the other people her age. This is a story about a typical high school girl who feels left out a lot of the time. Hawthorn was named after the hawthorn tree where her parents made love to each other.

Hawthorn wants to be asked to go to the dances at high school. She feels like she is the only one who doesn't attend them. She has a best friend named Emily and a brother named Rush. For any body that ever felt excluded from the mainstream of every day life in highschool can relate to Hawthorn.

Lizzie Lovett goes camping with her boyfriend who is twenty-five years old and disappeared. Hawthorn becomes obsessed with Lizzie Lovett's disappearance. The most frustrating part of the story for me was Hawthorn didn't know Lizzie Lovett before she disappeared. I suppose the author is clearly making a point of what it means to be adrift and feel like you don't belong so that could be the reason Hawthorn is so obsessed with Lizzie Lovett. Clearly this is a young adult novel. A girl that Hawthorn goes to school with really gives her a hard time. She must have been jealous of Hawthorn with all the mean spirited things she does.

It looks like Hawthorn is trying to take Lizzie Lovett's identity. On closer inspection Hawthorn doesn't' feel good about herself. Hawthorn tries to find out everything she can about Lizzie. She gets different opinions from everyone else. She thinks Lizzie's life was perfect.

One Monday morning Hawthorn is having breakfast with her family and she finds out from her brother Rush that Lizzie and her boyfriend Enzo went camping and in the morning when Enzo woke up Lizzie was gone. Hawthorn reminded me of a loveable misunderstood young girl who is creative but also highly imaginative. She gets a job at the Sunshine cafe taking Lizzie's place as a waitress.

Christa trains Hawthorn and tells her that Lizzie mostly kept to herself. Lorenzo Calvetti was Lizzie's boyfriend and he still comes in to the Sunshine cafe for coffee and Hawthorn is all too ready to serve him. Hawthorn becomes friends with Enzo. They start visiting the campground where Lizzie was last seen. Here is where you suspend your beliefs because Hawthorn puts the idea into Enzo's head that since Lizzie loved wolves that she turned into a werewolf. This is the part of the story that I have a problem with. The two of them form a friendship based on exploring the woods around the campground where Lizzie was last seen. They actually look for signs of werewolves. It is pretty predictable that Hawthorn and Enzo end up sleeping together. Hawthorn tries to get Enzo to be her boyfriend.
This is a good place for me to leave the rest of the story for you to discover by reading it.

I liked the storytelling for the most part. I loved the cover. It is my favorite book cover.

Thank you to Net Galley, Chelsea Sedoti and Source books publisher for providing me with my advanced readers copy for a fair and honest review of this book.

[Amanda Searcy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book will knock your socks off! The voice is simply stunning. The author captures Hawthorn’s need to find Lizzie so beautifully and believably that you will feel the same need as the book goes on. The characters were so well-drawn that they became more like friends and neighbors than fictional people. The ending left me absolutely gutted (but in the best of ways) because I was feeling everything that Hawthorn was. Brilliant.

[Cale Dietrich · Rating 5 out of 5]

THIS BOOK!!!

I’m actually struggling to write this review, because this book was so incredible and made me FEEL SO MANY THINGS and I’m really worried about spoiling the experience for anyone. But I’ll try. The Hundred Lies of Lizzie Lovett is a twisty, complicated and compulsively-readable book that features one of the most complex and fascinating characters in any book I’ve ever read.

That character is Hawthorn Creely. HAWTHORN CREELY. I am in awe of her, and of Chelsea Sedoti, for creating a character that contains so many multitudes. She’s tough but also extremely vulnerable, hurt by what other people say but still capable of absolutely DESTROYING her enemies (I would seriously read a whole book of her brutal comebacks). Hawthorn is funny/kind/hurt/blunt/lonely/private/pessimistic/hopeful. What I’m saying is that she’s completely three dimensional and totally human. Her ‘voice’ is so strong, and the book is filled with so many memorable lines and insights that once I started reading, I was well and truly hooked and I couldn’t put it down.

At its core, this book is a mystery, and it’s a great one. A popular girl named Lizzie Lovett has disappeared, and Hawthorn has a theory about what happened, so she decides to investigate. I thought this was GREAT. I was constantly guessing and trying to figure out what happened to Lizzie, and I found the twists and turns really rewarding. Also, the resolution was perfect and made total sense (which is important to me).

In summary, this book is incredible. It’s got one of the most memorable YA lead characters in recent memory, and she’s caught up in an incredible mystery (with a great resolution, I might add). I’m obsessed with this book, and I already know I’m going to read every single thing Chelsea Sedoti ever publishes.

[Drew · Rating 1 out of 5]

When I heard this book was about a girl disappearing and another girl getting caught up in finding her, I thought it sounded like the perfect mix of contemporary/thriller. What I didn't expect was a stalker story. The truth is, The Hundred Lies of Lizzie Lovett might as well have been called A Hundred Ways to Stalk Lizzie Lovett.

After Lizzie Lovett disappears, social outcast Hawthorn becomes obsessed with her disappearance. At first, I understood where Hawthorn was coming from. I think we've all been there before - wishing we had someone else's seemingly perfect life. But Hawthorn went to the next level. She went to the woods where Lizzie disappeared, got a job at the café where Lizzie used to work, and even hooked up with Lizzie's boyfriend. Slowly, she began stepping into Lizzie's life and it was creepy as heck.

Hawthorn didn't seem to have any interests besides obsessing over Lizzie. She came up with this crazy theory that Lizzie had turned into a werewolf. All she talked about was Lizzie. She would casually ask Lizzie's boyfriend things like, "How often did you and Lizzie have sex?" like she'd just asked him how the weather was. I feel like Hawthorn was supposed to be one of those "weird" girls - the cute, artsy, quirky kind. But she wasn't. She was just flat out weird.

I also got really irritated by the girl-on-girl hatred. For no reason, Hawthorn would start fights with Mychelle, a popular girl in school. She went on about how Mychelle wore too much makeup and dressed in "slutty" clothes.

“The voice belonged to Mychelle Adler, who I hated not just because of her nails-on-a-chalkboard voice, but also because she spelled her name with a y, though I guess that wasn’t really her fault.”
…
“Mychelle leaned forward as soon as I sat down. I could smell her strawberry lip gloss and expensive coconut shampoo she always bragged about. Though I had to admit, she did have absurdly glossy hair, so maybe the stupid shampoo worked.”
…
“That’s when I started to think bad thoughts. Like how I wished someone would replace Mychelle’s fancy shampoo with a drugstore brand. I wished she would suddenly forget the name of her five favorite songs. I wished every time she microwaved a frozen burrito, the center would stay cold.”

Like, what is your problem? When someone won't stop bashing somebody else for no freaking reason, you know who it really makes me dislike? The person doing the hating.

The plot was also really boring. We are pretty much subject to Hawthorn's weird, stalkerish, creepy obsession with a girl she barely even knows for 380 pages. I did understand the significance of the ending, how Hawthorn finding out the truth destroyed her image of Lizzie as a perfect, untouchable girl. But I still couldn't handle how unbelievably obnoxious Hawthorn was. This quote from Hawthorn's brother pretty much summed up my feelings for her:

“Yeah, you’re such an outcast. No one understands you. All anyone does is sit around and think about what a loser you are. Grow up, Hawthorn. No one cares.”

[K.L. Hallam · Rating 5 out of 5]

From the first page, I was intrigued by what was happening to Lizzie Lovett. I had to know, and the MC's voice impressed more urgency for me to know. The author, Chelsea Sedoti’s voice is spot on, creating much tension and curiosity.

Quirky seventeen-year-old, Hawthorne Creely has a lot of thoughts, and when she learns that perfect Miss Lizzie Lovett, whom she once had an unpleasant run-in with, during her freshman year, has disappeared, her curiosity takes over. The mystery of Lizzie’s disappearance snags Hawthorne and doesn’t let her go. She goes into full detective mode. She learns about Lizzie’s camping trip with the boyfriend many would blame. Say he killed her and hid the body. Surprised a girl like Lizzie would even go camping. Hawthorne goes on a search, and her unique view of the world helps snag the twenty-something boyfriend Lizzie Lovett left behind, convincing him that Lizzie turned into a werewolf. She did have a wolf necklace and liked wolves.

He pushes her away at first, but Hawthorne convinces him (with that ever-convincing way of hers) and he follows along. They search for Lizzie until they come closer to an answer. Confusion and more thoughts rule Lizzie’s mind. She has some pretty creative thoughts, almost like poetry on occasion. A couple of my favorites:

“I knew that even though someone seemed perfect it didn’t mean they weren’t hurting inside.”

“It was a little crazy to think about. That while you were envying other people, they could be envying you too.”

“Nothing ends; it just turns into a different story.”

Chelsea Sedoti has a great teen voice, with the added doubts and troubles, a little obnoxious, she says what’s on her mind. Often getting her in trouble (sound familiar?) There’s so much to love in this book. I was eager to know what happened to Lizzie, and by the end, I was glad to have closure. There was a good amount of suspense, and I raced through this because the voice was so intriguing. I would have followed it anywhere. Glad to have this unique book to read. Hawthorne is a great character, with feelings many of us can relate to.

[Amy · Rating 2 out of 5]

All of my reviews can be found on www.novelgossip.com

I think it’s time for me to stay away from YA mysteries. I love YA and respect it as a genre, some of my favorite books are YA novels. But I can’t think of a single YA mystery that I’ve liked, much less loved. So no matter how intriguing a blurb sounds, or how pretty and striking the cover may be, I’m going to steer clear of YA mysteries for the foreseeable future. I have way too many other fantastic books on my TBR to waste any more time on a genre that just doesn’t work for me.

I think my biggest problem with this book was that I was totally mislead by the title and blurb. I expected Hawthorne to become caught up into this crazy investigation regarding Lizzie’s disappearance. I wanted suspense, tension and of course a whole bunch of lies. What I got what something completely different and not altogether interesting. Hawthorne did develop an obsession with Lizzie, but I assumed they would have had some previous connection to each other and they didn’t whatsoever. It was more than a little bit strange that she took her disappearance so hard. The so called lies that the title spoke of? Yeah, nothing earth shattering there. Hawthorne’s absurd theory was seriously a joke. I honestly thought she was just kidding with it, but it turns out she really believes it. Eye roll. (If you want to know just ask me, I don’t want to spoil it in case anyone still wants to read this)

Even though I wasn’t all that thrilled with the plot and the direction that this book was heading, I still wanted to see how it all turned out. At least at first I did. I ended up getting really bored the more I read and I actually fell asleep twice reading it. That really never happens to me, usually I have to force myself to put a book down. Maybe it was just because I was really tired from all of the holiday celebrations, but either way I had to really power through to finish.

Hawthorne wasn’t exactly a character that I liked, she had some funny moments, especially with her eternal dialogue, but as one of the other characters tells her, she always takes things too far. She takes Lizzie’s job, then she starts a fling with her boyfriend, Enzo. Instead of coming across as creepy and interesting, it was just sad and pathetic. Enzo was also twenty five and she’s only seventeen, so that grossed me out a bit. Overall she was often rude, very immature for her age and annoying. By the time the end came and you find out what actually happened to Lizzie, I honestly didn’t care anymore. I was just happy to be finished. I actually forgot Hawthorne’s name when I started writing this, so I guess it’s pretty forgettable overall.

[Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this YA book! The characters, story and setting were excellent and all came together to make the story unusual and emotional.
Hawthorn is 17 and a bit of a loner as she is fairly weird and not at all popular at school, in fact she is teased regularly by most kids in her classes. She has precisely one friend called Emily whom she has known for a long time. Her brother Rush was very popular before he left school to go to the local Community College and for a short while used to date a popular girl called Lizzie Lovett. Hawthorn had a run-in with Lizzie while she was still at school when Lizzie is mean to her in the hallway and Hawthorn never forgets the incident. When the town hears that after going camping in the woods with her boyfriend Enzo, Lizzie disappears, the community comes together to conduct a search to try and find her. Most of the students believe that her boyfriend has murdered her when there is no sign of her at all.
When Hawthorn finds out about Lizzies disappearance, she is surprised at how much she is intrigued about her and starts to become obsessed with what has happened. Her theories become pretty wild as her obsession grows and she manages to insert herself into Lizzie's old life by taking her job at a local cafe as a waitress. One afternoon Enzo is in the cafe when Hawthorn starts her shift and she slowly manages to convince him to help her investigate the mystery.
What I loved most about Hawthorn is her enthusiasm for what she believes in and her absolute conviction in her actions. On the outside she is feisty, sarcastic and uncensored while inside she often feels vulnerable and lonely. I disliked Enzo as a character because he is very self-centred a lot of the time and even though he likes spending time with Hawthorn, you can tell he is just using her to distract himself from the guilt he feels about Lizzie. Connor is her brother's best friend and besides Hawthorn is my favourite character because he is so sweet and kind. You can see how much he cares for Thorny as he calls her but tries not to show it, even when she and Enzo become close because Connor doesn't think Enzo is anywhere near good enough for her.
When the story of Lizzie finally unfolds, you can almost feel the emotional turmoil of angst and anguish from Hawthorn seeping out of the pages, wanting so much to read on when you get to the last word. Chelsea Sedoti's writing is very refreshing, the dialogue witty and humorous and I loved this just as much as I adored Perks of Being a Wallflower, The Fault in our Stars or Eleanor and Park and I would highly recommend this to all YA readers who loved any of these books.

[Rebecca Ross · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first thing that happened was Lizzie Lovett disappeared, and everyone was all, "How can someone like Lizzie be missing?" and I was like, "Who cares?"

It's been a loooong time since I loved an unreliable yet endearing narrator such as Hawthorn. From the first page, I wasn't reading for Lizzie (as Hawthorn would no doubt, maybe, probably, think I was) but I was reading for Hawthorn, because she is kind of awesome. Yes, she's snarky and has a lot of growing up to do, but as her self-fueled investigation for the missing Lizzie begins to take off, we watch her change and begin to mature. There were a couple scenes that totally broke my heart, and scenes that made me laugh. Absolute highlights for me was seeing her relationship with Rush change over the book, in addition to her friendship with Emily.

And I really have to share some of my favorite lines, just so you can get a sense of Hawthorn's voice (from the ARC):

The voice belonged to Mychelle Adler, who I hated not just because her nails-on-a-chalkboard voice, but also because she spelled her name with a y, though I guess that wasn't really her fault.

I couldn't ignore the caravan that easily. I couldn't even eat breakfast without seeing their camp out the back window. I wished all their tents would blow away. I wished the government would place a ban on tie-dye and unwashed hair. I wished their pot would turn to oregano.

The thing about October is that it makes everyone want to believe in magic.

Enzo and I went to the thrift store, because he liked looking for messages in books. He had a collection. He looked for books that had been given as gifts. Those were the saddest, because why would someone give something like that away?

[MaryJane · Rating 1 out of 5]

"As long as something was a mystery, there was still the potential for amazement. Maybe that's where I went wrong before. Some riddles weren't meant to be solved."

This book is really something else, and I don't think I mean that as a compliment. The story has a lot of potential to go in so many different directions and ultimately I found myself underwhelmed and disappointed that there wasn't a more to this. This book also tried to deal with really serious content, but I can't help but feel that it was handled very poorly.

This book gives up all the vibes of being some thrilling tale about a missing girl, Lizzie, and instead it's about some self-centered girl, Hawthorne, who is obsessed with the Lizzie for reasons that are never really explained to the reader. Even when it is later revealed that Lizzie committed suicide the story focuses on Hawthorne who had no real connection to Lizzie at all. It just made no sense to me that even with that realization that the story still talks about Hawthorne? It felt like the author used a messy plot to have some big dramatic moment where she could talk about even the happiest people can be depressed. Or like she just wanted to end the """"investigation""" and tossed Lizzie's death in here to keep the plot moving. Either way it was handled very sloppily, and did not fit in with the tone of the rest of the story. This should be a story about Lizzie who is missing but ends up being all about Hawthorne who is rude, ridiculous, and so self absorbed that it was actually frustrating.

I keep trying to explain my issues with this book but end up going off on rants that take me back to the idea that this book had a lot of potential and focused on all of the wrong things. Basically it was a huge disappointment. The only redeeming qualities were Vernon, Sundog and Conner (who absolutely deserved better).

[Cody Roecker · Rating 5 out of 5]

FULL REVIEW: (If you'd like to see this review properly formatted... Check it out on my blog roeckerreviews.blogspot.com) Thank you NetGalley and Sourcebooks for the opportunity to read and review this beauty!

Consensus: The Hundred Lies of Lizzie Lovett is a poignant, passionate, story that is both heartbreaking and hilarious, often at the same time. The story shows Hawthorn's thirst for adventure and her quest to solve her own loneliness. There are so many layers to this book and I really cannot stress how important this book is. Please read it.

I have so many things to say about The Hundred Lies of Lizzie Lovett, and many of them are completely incoherent but I am going to try my best... (I'm starting this review with my thoughts the second time through and then delving back into the incoherent thoughts of my initial read through.)

SECOND READ:

"Cities let you blend in. There are so many people that it doesn't matter if you're weird or if no one likes you, because there's probably someone even worse off. And if you're really lucky, you might even meet people who are weird in the exact same way you are and feel like you've finally found a place where you fit in."

The second read through The Hundred Lies of Lizzie Lovett, I really paid attention to quotes, and the little things rather than the overarching story as I did the first time through... And I loved this book just as much the second time through.

Hawthorn, our main character, has such a unique and snarky voice. She is full of self-loathing and self-pity, and it can be overbearing at times. She is annoying as hell, and super selfish... throughout most of the book. But that's what makes her so great. She is real. So fucking real. I have met so many people like her... and usually the "I'm nothing special. I'm misunderstood. Nobody likes me" kind of trope is something I would make fun of... Yet for some reason, the way Hawthorn described it... I believed her. I believed in her. I believed her faults, I loved her faults, I loved the way she wished for these little inconveniences:

"I wished Mychelle and her stupid jock buddy would win the lottery and lose the ticket.
I wished they would only ever be able to take cold showers.
I wished every glass of lemonade they drank for the rest of their lives would be just a little too sour"

Hawthorn is petty af, and I adore it. I relate to this on a spiritual level. Honestly, my note while reading this part was "Petty af and I love it"

She would go from saying something super real that broke my heart like:

"What's wrong with you?" my brother asked.
"Nothing," I said, trying to calm myself with a deep breath. "Or maybe everything. It could go either way."

ME TOO HAWTHORN. ME TOO. That's why I connected so much with this book. It's not the story itself that's inherently emotional. (I mean, it is..) But it's the themes that Sedoti drives home through Hawthorn's unique narrative.

but she would go into crazy theories about werewolves, and lycanthropy and everything that really suspends this disbelief. I loved it for entirely different reasons.

There are some gem of quotes in here too:

"Confusion is like curiosity- it reminds us we're alive. To not feel confused means we no longer care. Not caring is death."

Sundog reminds me of my senior year English teacher... and I love the zen inspirational quality about his words. (Sundog is a hippie, basically)


I loved Hawthorn's character development and how she grows throughout the book. She does a lot of back and forth but still manages (in the long run) to move forward. She definitely knows who she is and I admire that.

The relationships in this book are super interesting to explore... From Emily and Hawthorn's friendship, to Hawthorn and Sundog's mentorship, to the familial dynamics of the rest of Hawthorn's family and her. They were real. The parents were present and my god do I appreciate that.

Seriously. Hawthorn was a terrible friend to Emily and I really enjoy how Sedoti explored their friendship and the ups and downs because it felt so, so real. I have personally had a friendship like that... and witnessed many others. It's real, and I think Sedoti did an excellent job portraying it on the page.

I really like this quote  and think it is the point of the story:

"You only know the part of the story people want you to see."

It's powerful! Way to go Sedoti! Your debut blew me away! I know this book is something that some readers will click with and others won't... but it totally clicked for me. Very happy to have read this... and I really hope I convinced you to read it as well :)


FIRST READ THROUGH THOUGHTS:

SPOILER FREE SECTION:

Hawthorn Creely is our narrator, our protagonist, our voice for this journey. The journey being the mysterious disappearance of Lizzie Lovett, glorified cheerleader, highly-praised, happy-go-luck-get-everything-she-wants-girl... and Hawthorn is borderline obsessed with her. She's obsessed with her disappearance, obsessed with things that happened before she disappeared, obsessed that she is not as good as her... It's quite annoying... yet it's all entirely understandable... if you have ever felt like Hawthorn, you understand her thought process, you understand her motivations for everything.
Hawthorn is very lonely and misunderstood, and beautiful. The loneliness really drives her. It's her motivation for just about every decision she makes. She is flawed and unreliable and she really isn't the best friend most of the time, but that's also due to the fact she doesn't always understand social cues because she has spent so much time thinking, feeling like every person is out to persecute her. Nothing is going her way. Nobody really likes her. She is having troubles with her best friend. Her family is slightly crazy.

Hawthorn puts up a façade but doesn't really do it very well. She thinks she does at time... and then quickly reverts back to complaining, and being upset. Most of the time this is justified.
And then Hawthorn starts investigating Lizzie's disappearance with none other than Lizzie's boyfriend himself. She comes up with crazy theories, and they are quite hilarious to be honest. And also really interesting. I loved them. I loved learning about her thoughts, her world. It was also great to see how Lorenzo saw her.

I disliked their friendship, but that would be my only complaint. But that was the point. I wasn't supposed to like it.

I'm trying to be vague, but I am gonna need to go to the spoilery section now

WARNING MAJOR SPOILERS STARTING NOW.

I laughed so hard at all of the crazy things that happened. The werewolf thing was insane and the fact that Enzo actually encouraged Hawthorn was insane.

I also cried my eyes out a few times. I teared up a bit when Enzo took Hawthorn's virginity. I thought it was a very fucked up thing to do. It pissed me off. I was angry. I wanted to kill him. It was just not good. It made me uncomfortable. But it was also a PHENOMENALLY written scene.

When everything is finally played out... I bawled for a good twenty minutes. I understood Hawthorn's pain. The one thing Lizzie said in the locker room Hawthorn's freshman year impacted her in the most meaningful way. I loved it. I loved how Hawthorn's pain was palpable. It killed me inside. My heart broke reading those pages.

It really put into perspective how different people cope with different things. Hawthorn talks about them hoping someone will notice. Lizzie, she... left her life behind. And my goodness did that kill me.

Hawthorn questions how somebody could possibly feel so much pain when their life is so perfect and boy did that resonate with me. I feel like my pain is unimportant sometimes, and not something that should be felt because my pain isn't enough/ as bad as somebody elses. It really feels horrible, but everyone's pain is important.

END OF SPOILERS. MORE THOUGHTS.

I also loved the familial dynamics in the book. Rush was honestly such a realistic brother. Also, the parents felt really real to me and I truly appreciate that. 

I also loved Emily and her friendship with Hawthorn. IT was all super realistic and showed the true meaning of friendship.

AND MY FAVORITE.

I loved Connor so so so much. His cute pet name for Hawthorn was Thorny and it was adorable and I really just wanted them to get together every single page they were on together. Some of my favorite scenes were with Connor and Hawthorn!

READ THIS BOOK!


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
INITIAL RHOUGHTS:
I have laughed, I have weeped. I loved this book. GET THIS ON YOUR RADAR BECAUSE IT IS SO GOOD. I EFFING LOVED IT.

full review to come way closer to release date (unless I get permission to post it earlier)

*Much thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Fire for providing me with an eARC. This in no way affected my opinion of this book.*

[zainab · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read My Review at A Bibliophile's Obsession

I received this E-ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
This book is the epitome of perfection.

Let's start with the cover!

I'm a sucker for attractive and good-looking covers and one of the reasons why I was so excited to read this book and requested it was because of this cover. It's so pretty and bright. It looks so cheerful. Praise to the cover designer!

Second, the main character - Hawthorn -has a wild imagination. She's kinda weird and a little crazy. She has only one friend and that's because she hates socializing and interacting with human species.

I can relate to her and her weirdness. Let me tell you why:

a) I have a crazy imagination like her (not as crazy as hers)
b) I have only one best friend.
c) I hate socializing.

She gets a little mean and selfish sometimes but we've all been there. She can be annoying but I liked her anyway. I also enjoyed her POV a lot. It was filled with all these whimsical imaginations like the one where she thought that maybe aliens have abducted her best friend, and the girl (her best friend) in front of her is not really her best friend but a replacement.

And the writing is flawless and unique. It honestly feels like the book is written by Hawthorn herself. I love reading all her insane thoughts and her mind drifting and roaming to all those exciting places. I felt connected to her. She feels like she's living in this boring and monotonous world where she doesn't belong and I feel you, girl, because same.

This book is going to release in January 2017 and I know for sure that it's worth the wait.

I totally recommend this book to every single person alive on this planet.

[Ivonne Rovira · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every high school has a Lizzie Lovett: blonde, beautiful, cheerleader and homecoming queen, whose life seems perfect and effortless. No one resents her more than Hawthorn Creely, the oddest of odd ducks in Griffin Mills, Ohio, a suburban Rust Belt town 45 minutes from Pittsburgh.

When Lizzie Lovett vanishes without a trace during a camping trip, her disappearance makes quite a stir at Griffin Mills High School, even though Lizzie graduated three years ago and moved to a nearby town. Hawthorn at first thinks Lizzie will turn up immediately. “Whatever happened, I’m sure she’s fine,” says Hawthorn. “This is Lizzie Lovett we’re talking about… Nothing bad will ever happen to a girl like Lizzie. The world doesn’t work that way. The biggest problem she’ll ever have is, I don’t know, whether to match her shoes to her eyeshadow.”

But, when the disappearance drags on, Lizzie begins to probe. She gets Lizzie’s old waitressing job at the Sunshine Café in Layton. And she begins to hang out with Lizzie’s boyfriend, Enzo Calvetti — handsome in a Johnny Depp kind of way, but completely unlike the golden boy jocks Lizzie had dated in high school. Who was Lizzie Lovett really? Hawthorn’s persistent enough to find out.

Chelsea Sedoti’s debut novel captures the angst of being a 17-year-old original in a conformist world and wanting so, so desperately to be someone else, someone prettier, popular, poised. Sure, teens will love this novel, but adults who haven’t grown amnesiac over their own high-school experiences will see at least part of themselves in Hawthorn Creely. I found the novel so gripping that I read much too late into the night to finish it. There’s no higher praise than that.

In the interest of full disclosure, I received this book from NetGalley and Sourcebooks in exchange for an honest review