I just finished The Hundred Lies of Lizzie Lovett by Chelsea Sedoti and I must say it was quite a whirlwind. I feel like this book had lots of highs and lows and to be honest it isn't going down as one of my favorites but it was a decent read. I'm glad I read it though. I feel like it was missing something and up until we learn about what happened with Lizzie Lovett, it was actually dragging a bit. I did enjoy the main character alot though!

For starters, Hawthorne Creely(whose first name is incredible if I may add), is a down to earth and relateable character. I really felt it when Hawthorne was sad and when she was happy. I feel like she is like a lot of girls in high school. Not everyone is a cheerleader or even has a niche they fit into. For all those girls, there is Hawthorne. She is sometimes irrational and jumps to conclusions..but shes so darn loveable. And she kept me going while I waded through the river that was this book. And let me tell you, the current was strong at times.

The basic premise of this story is that a girl named Lizzie Lovett who used to attend Hawthorne's school has gone missing. Lizzie was a cheerleader and basically the opposite of Hawthorne. She was THAT girl in high school...but after high school we'll just say she didn't continue to impress. She became a waitress in a neighboring town before going misisng. Hawthorne decides to trace Lizzie's steps in life so to speak in an attempt to figure out what went wrong. However, a few romps in the wood with Lizzie's ex did not turn up anything and the book begins to get stale. Somehow I am still attached to finding out what happened to Lizzie and follow Hawthorne's journey on what I believe will be one of self exploration. It does get quite a bit better when we find out what happens with Lizzie and while I still was ready to be done, I did enjoy the plotline that explained Lizzie's fate. I liked alot of the other characters well enough but I couldn't deal with the monotony of the story however, Hawthorne is so likeable that I had to see how it ended. Each chapter leads us one step closer to learning more about Lizzie and Hawthorne and the last 20-30 percent of the book was great. I also really liked the beginning of the book. The middle was the meh part for me.

All in all, I would recommend this book but if you go in with high expectations, you may be let down. I was. I would give this book a 3.5/5 and I will end with saying what I've said already...Hawthorne is a great character and I feel like Sedoti really nailed it when she created her.

I had a hard time rating this book. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't good either, so it was just ok. But I feel 2 stars don't amount to much, whereas 3 stars and an "I liked it" feels to strong. So 2.5/3?

The book is about a girl named Hawthorne/Thorny, who is a bit of an outcast. She lives in a small town where there isn't much to do and being different is pretty much a no-no. I liked the basis of the book and I could identify with Hawthorne's character. I was definitely a little unique in high school, I didn't party or drink. I wouldn't say I was an outcast, I was social and had my friends but I kinda did my own thing sometimes. She has an older brother, Rush, who was popular in high school and is now in college but lives at home. Her mom is sort of a hippie, who is pushing her veganism on the family. Her dad isn't really a strong character in the book. Hawthorne has one good friend, Emily and that is about it. But her and Emily are still quite different from one another.

The book starts with a flashback of Hawthorne going to hide out during lunch/free period something like that and runs into Lizzie Lovett in the locker room. Lizzie is the high school "it" girl. She's popular, beautiful and people are just drawn to her (boys and girls alike). Lizzie is everything Hawthorne isn't and would like to be. Hawthorne has a small interaction with Lizzie in the locker room, and blows it up in her mind to become a future friendship. When in reality, Lizzie recognized her as Rush's sister, and gave her a piece of advice. But Hawthorne envisions Lizzie taking her under her wing. But the next encounter Hawthorne has with Lizzie is anything but that, Lizzie seems to be a different person around her friends. She ignores Hawthorne and brushes her off, and Hawthorne is hurt. She hates Lizzie.

All the sudden, Lizzie goes missing without a trace. She had been camping with her boyfriend, Enzo in the woods and when her boyfriend woke up she was gone. No sign of foul play, no evidence, nothing. That is, unless Enzo did something to her. Everyone assumes something bad happened to Lizzie, but Hawthorne sees it as a ploy to get attention. Lizzie is no longer in high school and had moved to the next town. Hawthorne has nothing better to do, so she decides to find out what happened to Lizzie.

All the sudden, Hawthorne has Lizzie's old job in a cafe, and is getting friendly with her boyfriend too. From what Enzo is saying, Lizzie is not the same person Hawthorne knew. But she can't tell Enzo that, he is starting to become a friend.

Now here is where the book gets a little weird...Hawthorne decides to come up with different theories of what happened to Lizzie. One of them is that she turned into a werewolf. Lizzie apparently had a fascination with wolves and even wore a necklace (I think with a wolf tooth?) All the sudden she finds herself hanging out with Enzo almost daily. They spend half their time trying to find Lizzie in the woods and the other half getting to know one another. Even weirder, Enzo is like...25? Hawthorne is 16? It's just kinda strange. People don't trust Enzo and think he's too old for Hawthorne (...he is!). But Hawthorne sees an ally in Enzo. He seems just as strange as she is, and he's not exactly mature for a 25 year old.

Enzo and Hawthorne's relationship is not only strange because of how they met but because of the age difference. I read "All the Ugly and Wonderful Things" which has a similar age difference with an underage girl and felt conflicted with that book also. After finishing both, I feel more conflicted with this one. On the surface, both relationships seem similar. Older man, younger girl and forbidden/illegal feelings and relationships but the nature of the relationships could not be more different. The storylines could not be more different.

So without giving any spoilers of what happens, I felt just kinda meh when the book ended. It tied up loose ends and wasn't a bad book by any means. It isn't a book I feel compelled to read again or recommend to a friend. It was just kinda there.

Thank you to NetGalley/Sourcebooks for my free copy in exchange for a honest review.

As fetching as Hawthorn Creely is, even she couldn't save this read for me. The focus was on this self-imposed obsession to find out what happened to a missing "friend" - Lizzie Lovett, by walking in her shoes. She follows these theories that were off the wall and that, for me, built a discrepancy between the way she behaved and her age. There were other elements that felt out of place, such as the supernatural notions Hawthorn had. There was another friend of Hawthorn that I actually liked, a character by the name of Emily and sadly, there wasn't enough of her. This is supposed to be a mystery, but given the direction the story took, it didn't seem like a mystery in the strict sense of the word. The Hundred Lies of Lizzie Lovett had an interesting premise, but a failed delivery. However, Sedoti has a really easy writing hand; making this a smooth and fast read. This is marketed as YA fiction and I would add to that - probably the 15 year old teens with a parent's permission.

I love mysteries, and I'm generally a fan of books where an amateur detective tries to help find a missing person. Like Last Seen Leaving, this seemed to me to be part coming-of-age story and part mystery. When a popular fellow student named Lizzie disappears, Hawthorn (child of hippie parents and sibling to a popular older brother) becomes fascinated with the case. But then things got weirder. Hawthorn spends a lot of time wondering if Lizzie disappeared because she was a werewolf. (Um.... huh? For a while I wondered if this was going to turn into a paranormal book. Not really.) Then Hawthorn takes over Lizzie's old waitress job and takes up with Lizzie's boyfriend. And not because she thinks it will help her crack the case.

On the positive side, I liked the writing a lot and will definitely try future books by this author. On the negative, I found the main character hard to understand or connect with. I love quirky characters and am even fine with unlikeable. For me, Hawthorn took quirky and unlikeable and narcissistic a little too far. Her desire to take Lizzie's place started to seem weird and distasteful.

The mystery is eventually solved (not by Hawthorn) and I did think the ending fit the story.But that didn't outweigh my feeling that I wanted more mystery solving, less werewolf rumination, and a main character that I enjoyed spending a few hundred pages with.

Strange little YA book, about a girl growing up (slowly in some ways, faster in others) who worries where a girl from her school has gone to. One of the school's seemingly most popular girls, Lizzie Lovett, goes missing at the beginning and whislt you do find out what happened to her by the end, our main character Hawthorn, doesn't try too hard to find her, getting caught up investigating Lizzie's old job and Lizzie's old boyfriend. Really, having being through adolescence, it's a depressing reminder of how mean, deluded and selfish people can be growing up. I found it quite generic, with the bad experience of her virginity, the terrible job, the hating of school, the hint of happiness with the boy next door, and I had guessed what had really happened to Lizzie long before were told - and how Hawthorn kept along with the werewolf thing at 17 years old for so long, I have no idea. That didn't work too well for me. The whole book felt quite confused..

THE HUNDRED LIES OF LIZZIE LOVETT is one of those rare gems you find and can't stop reading until the very last page. At the end, all you want to do is savor it and share with a friend.

Hawthorn has had an interesting upbringing, what with her formerly hippie mom and lost in history professor father heading up the family. And while I think this works well as a piece about how it's ok to be yourself and have your own dreams. I didn't think it was as successful because of how we got there. Hawthorn becomes obsessed with the disappearance of Lizzie, a girl she barely knew, who graduated from high school a few years ahead of her with her older brother's class. Naturally, Lizzie's life looked picture perfect--cheering--boyfriends--looks--etc. But what Hawthorn discovers is that all may have been just what Lizzie wanted them all to see. Having Lizzie disappear while camping with her boyfriend was a great plot device, since naturally everyone would suspect him. But when Hawthorn shows up at the diner where Lizzie worked and applies for her job, this is where things got muddied for me. It was weird having her insert herself into that life, on many levels.

This book was not at all what i thought it was going to be. Thats not bad in any way. I dont want to ruin the book but let me just tell you, read it till the end. It's a different look and approach on something that happens to people everyday. I can say I enjoyed it, was freaked out by it, and cried, was on the edge of my seat and more. I would say this is a yound adult or teen book not really a middle grade book. Just read it, you wont be dissapointed.

Review also posted at: http://underthebookcover.blogspot.com/2017/01/book-review-hundred-lies-of-lizzie.html

3.5/5

Thank you to Sourcebooks and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for review!

I'm very torn on how to feel about this book. On one hand, I loved the writing and the unreliable narrator. On the other, I couldn't stand the main character and thought the whole thing was just meh. I hate that I'm unsure on how to feel, because this was a book that I was really looking forward to reading, and it's left me with a rather indifferent feeling overall.

Lizzie Lovett has gone missing. One night she's camping with her boyfriend, and the next she's just gone. Hawthorn Creely has a theory, but it's a pretty crazy one. In order to try and prove her crazy theory, she decides to insert herself into Lizzie's life to try and get to know her better. She gets a job at the diner where Lizzie worked, and even starts hanging out with Lizzie's boyfriend, Lorenzo. But by trying to learn more about Lizzie and prove she's right, Hawthorn starts to understand that things aren't always what they seem, and neither are the people you think you know.

Plot:
I think the concept of this book was fairly solid. Girl goes missing, no one knows why, misfit outsider decides to solve the mystery, ends up learning about herself and her place in the world. That's about as bare bones as I can break down the plot, and it sounds like it could be a good one. One thing that I feel I should mention is that Hawthorn doesn't literally insert herself into Lizzie's life. She doesn't start living at her house, or using her name, or crazy things like that. Hawthorn does get a job at the diner that Lizzie worked at, and she does end up spending an uncomfortable amount of time with Enzo, Lizzie's boyfriend. The way that the synopsis was written gave me the impression that Hawthorn would literally try to become Lizzie, but that's not how things ended up. Although, Hawthorn was uncomfortably obsessed with Lizzie, to the point that it kind of bugged me. She knows absolutely nothing about this girl, but basically makes it her mission to uncover the truth about what happened to her, and she becomes absolutely obsessed with her. At several points, Hawthorn is refusing to get out of bed, or eat, and her life basically stops all because this girl she doesn't know is missing. It was really hard to accept, because I knew that Hawthorn didn't personally know Lizzie, only knew of her, and I didn't really understand why she was so affected by her disappearance. I suppose it was because she lived in a small town and almost idolized Lizzie, who she thought nothing bad would ever happen to, and she was shocked that she was missing? I'm not sure, but the obsession (I know I've used that word a lot but it really is uncomfortably obsessive) just rubbed me the wrong way. Also, I just couldn't get behind her crazy theory about what really happened to Lizzie, whether she really thought it was true or not. I understood that she was out there, and eccentric, but the theory was way out there and I just couldn't really allow myself to believe it. I did, however, enjoy the almost coming-of-age story that was woven in to the disappearance of Lizzie Lovett. Hawthorn spends a lot of time obsessing over this girl that she doesn't even know but that she thinks she knows from merely observing her in school. She thinks that Lizzie had the perfect life, and that she's just an outsider who no one understands and who will never have as good of a life as Lizzie does. But slowly, she learns more about herself and starts to accept that her life isn't all that bad, and that she doesn't have to have everything figured out right this second. The ending of this book was probably what I enjoyed the most, because you get closure on the Lizzie situation, and you see Hawthorn moving on from it and trying to live her own life. No matter how crazy things got, Hawthorn was able to grow and learn from it, and find her spot in the world.

Characters:
Let's start with our main character, Hawthorn. She's a completely unreliable narrator with a knack for saying the first thing that comes to her mind. She has absolutely no filter when it comes to other people and their feelings, and the things she says have a tendency to hurt feelings or offend, even when that's not her intention. I thought her Lizzie disappearance theory was absolutely insane, and the fact that she believed it was even more insane. There were times throughout the book that I found myself going, "Really, Hawthorn, really?" simply because I just couldn't believe some of the things that she was saying or doing. Her relationship with Lorenzo was incredibly awkward and uncomfortable, and her decision to try and peruse something with him was honestly unbelievable. I cringed when she would bring up Lizzie in almost every conversation that they had and it really felt that she was just using him to try and get closer to Lizzie in some messed up obsessive way. But despite all of that, I liked her. She was quirky, sarcastic and really just a girl who felt out of place. I know that's something that a lot of readers will be able to relate to, Unfortunately you don't really get to learn anything about Lizzie. A lot of the book is based on what Hawthorn thinks Lizzie is because all she knows about her is what she's seen from afar. I did like that there was an element of mystery to Lizzie, because you really don't know anything about her, and everything that Hawthorn thinks she knows is pretty much wrong. There was a quote from a character in the book that I think sums up Lizzie and really this entire book perfectly: "You only know part of the story people want you to see." Basically, Hawthorn only saw what Lizzie wanted her to see, and never got to know the real Lizzie. As the reader, you can make up all kinds of stories and go along with what Hawthorn says about her, but even then, you'll never know the truth. The other side characters, such as Enzo, Emily, and the band of hippies that shows up were pretty well written. Although I was not a fan of Enzo and Hawthorn's relationship, and Emily didn't seem like much of a best friend, I can appreciate the way that the author approached them and while I didn't like them, I did. Does that make sense? I do think that Hawthorn's brother, Rush, was fantastic. Their relationship as brother and sister did feel strained at times, mostly due to Hawthorn obsessing over Lizzie and Rush moving on from her disappearance, but when it really mattered, Rush was right there taking care of Hawthorn. Also, I really liked Connor so much more than I liked Enzo!

Writing:
I cannot deny that this book had some beautiful and effortless writing. The dialogue between characters felt so natural, and Hawthorn's voice was so authentic for someone her age. Everything flowed so well and I really enjoyed how there was never a dull moment or a lull in the story, although Hawthorn was too loud and opinionated to really allow for a lull! I really did feel like I could relate to the feelings that Hawthorn had when it came to her feeling different and like an outsider. I feel like every teenager can relate to those feelings, whether they admit it out loud or keep it to themselves. While I may not have been the biggest fan about how the story went, I did enjoy how easy it was for me to fall into the story and read about half of the book in a short amount of time. The writing overall was definitely the high point of this book for me, and I'm definitely interested in reading Chelsea Sedoti's future books!

While my overall feelings about this book were kind of half and half, I do think The Hundred Lies of Lizzie Lovett would be perfect for fans of YA mystery novels with unreliable, sassy narrators and incredibly elegant writing that is easy to get lost in.

Lizzie Lovett is missing. The word spreads around town like a wildfire out of control. The former cheerleader and all-American girl from Griffin Mills went camping with her boyfriend and *poof!* Search parties yield nothing. Tears and please from her mother lead nowhere.

Hawthorn Creely is immune to ensuing drama. Or so she would have you think. She doesn't miss Lizzie Lovett one bit. Everything that Lizzie seemed to be, Hawthorn isn't. And she really doesn't care a bit about what happened to Lizzie.

Except she starts to. Because maybe Lizzie didn't disappear, exactly. Maybe she just changed, sort of. And slowly, Hawthorn finds herself drawn to all things Lizzie. She doesn't mean to, exactly. But she ends up taking Lizzie's old job. She befriends Lizzie's boyfriend - and maybe there's something more there between them.

Between her hippie vegan mom, her odd theories, her status as an almost-friendless high school outcast and bullying target, the barely-running old car, and even the band of hippies camping in her parents' backyard, Hawthorn is just a little bit different. Is that a good thing or not?

Sometimes I admired Hawthorn's optimism and her ability to dismiss other people's opinions. Sometimes I cringed at her flights of fancy, her crossing of boundaries, and general obliviousness to others. But maybe, just maybe, Hawthorn's search for Lizzie was really a search for herself. And maybe, just maybe, she succeeds.

What an interesting take on a girls obsession for another. One line, in particular, made the book for me "You only know the part of the story people want you to see." This I think can be seen every day with everyone not just with the obsession from Hawthrone was showing towards Lizzie.
This book made me laugh, cry, and scream and the writing was beautiful; yet kept me intrigued the whole time.
One of my favorite lines was "Confusion is like curiosity- it reminds us we're alive. To not feel confused means we no longer care. Not caring is death."

I loved this book! I loved the mystery and suspense of the book. I enjoyed the comedic parts. I actually read this book in one sitting because I couldn't put it down.

I had to DNF this book at 50% because I found myself getting frustrated with Hawthorn and the direction that the plot was going. At first I thought Hawthorn was eclectic, but as the story progressed, I found that she was immature and lacked common sense. She'd say things that were quite rude at times, or that she knew was stupid but said them anyway and then didn't understand the repercussions of her actions. I didn’t understand her obsession with Lizzie and her life, nor why she genuinely thought that Lizzie had turned into a werewolf. It was one of those things that I shrugged off as Hawthorn just being eclectic, but once I realized she was serious and this idea was carried throughout the rest of the book, I had to stop reading (plus the pacing was killing me) .
I also had a hard time connecting with any of the characters and felt like their relationships with Hawthorn needed some work. Particularly Emily, who was supposed to be Hawthorn's "closest friend,” but she was anything but a friend to Hawthorn. I did skim ahead after I decided to stop officially reading, and I’m glad that I stopped reading when I did. I don’t agree with where Hawthorn’s relationship with Enzo went (it just seemed super creepy at first, then turned slightly pathetic). Hawthorn tired to literally insert herself in Lizzie’s life and then got upset when (unsurprisingly) it turns out that didn’t work and Hawthorn didn’t magically turn into Lizzie.

Overall, I guess I just wanted something more from this book, just as Hawthorn wanted something more from the world. I was expecting a story that had more mystery and actually involved Hawthorn helping to solve Lizzie’s disappearance; instead what I got was an ‘eclectic’ character that often took things way too far and ultimately made the book unreadable for me.

I have to admit when I saw this book on Netgalley it so didn't catch my eye. Then it fastly became one of the most requested books on there. Of course now I was curious. Sounds like thriller-ish young adult. Do I like this? Not really... So I didn't asked for the galley. When I got the Spring preview for the Store, there it was again. Yellow Lizzie staring at me. And on top of it, EVERYONE seemed to talk about it on Goodreads.

Ah well, my curisouity got the better of me. I do like to know hypestuff, especially books. So I asked for it, got approved and started reading almost right away. The big surprise? I really got into that story! I was dreading a long read, with myself forcing me to read it. But as soon as I started I was hooked. The beginning already, "Lizzie was missing. Who cares?", got me! I liked Hawthorne from the start and could rely to her. I guess this could not work for everyone but she sure hit a homerun with me.

Sadly after the strong start, getting her history with Lizzie wasn't all to interesting to me, but it's a nice touch to the persona. The topic od perception and hidden deph to everyone of us was intriguing. During this read you start questioning a lot of things, mostly Hawthornes sanity in all of this. For a long time I wasn't sure, with all the hints, if it wasn't her who killed Lizzie. What really happened stay quite a mystery till the very end.
Nice development!

Looking at the cover of "The Hundred Lies of Lizzie Lovett" I'm pretty sure most readers would not be able to correctly guess the book's plot. In an ultimate test of "do not judge a book by its cover", this book most certainly does not match the bright yellow cover and flower petals it is adorned with. " The Hundred Lies of Lizzie Lovett" was absolutely not what I expected at all - in some not so great ways, but also in some awesome super surprising ways...

Initially, my biggest issue with this book was the narrator, Hawthorn. For the first half of the book she was just so incredibly immature - particularly in her thoughts about Lizzie. Lizzie Lovett is someone Hawthorne, and most of her small community, has put on a pedestal. And as such, it is hard to imagine anything bad happening to her - but I have to think that most 17-18 year old high school seniors, like Hawthorn, know that bad things happen to girls every day, even those on pedestals. Hawthorne's complete ignorance to that was just so incredibly frustrating for me as a reader.
" I was trying to explain that I wasn't trying to be a jerk. I just didn't believe anything bad could really happen to a girl like Lizzie. That's not how her life worked."
And then, Hawthorn took it to the next level. Instead of acknowledging that something real might've happened to Lizzie, for the majority of the book Hawthorn pursue's the idea that Lizzie has in fact become ... a werewolf. Yeah... I just, ugh. There were times when Hawthorn seemed so naive and easily tricked that I was genuinely worried for her wandering around in the woods.

I considered not finishing the book a couple of times throughout the weird werewolf phase... but then something magical happened, Hawthorn grew on me. She is such a confused, but lovable teenager and overtime, despite her antics I really started to enjoy her voice and story and was genuinely sad went it was over! All of this, of course, is due to the incredibly writings talents of Chelsea Sedoti. And regardless of how I feel about portions of this book I would absolutely read another book by this author.

While I wasn't always a huge fan of Hawthorne's at times, the other characters in the book were definitely compelling - particularly the assortment of hippies that live in Hawthorne's backyard. I enjoyed reading the interaction between their ragtag leader, Sundog, and Hawthorn. But really the whole cast of secondary characters are incredibly strong and keep the story grounded whilst Hawthorn is going through her werewolf conspiracy phases.

If you enjoy YA fiction and have ever felt like your imagination was under appreciated or enjoy female coming of age stories, and don't mind the occasional werewolf side story - you will enjoy reading " The Hundred Lies of Lizzie Lovett".

Everyone seems to either love or hate this book.

So yeah, its one of THOSE.

I requested this on Netgalley because 1) it sounded interesting and a I was on a contemporary binge and 2) People were raving.

I, however, didn't hate it or love, it was just alright.

Let's start with the good.

The plot is intriguing, it grabs you from the beginning. The characters are all interesting and complex. The writing was great. The voice of our main character unique.

But wow was she annoying as hell (Looks like were on the bad already).

Because yeah, Hawthorn was a complex character, with a unique and entertaining voice, but she was too old to be so stupid, and had too good a family to be so emotionally stunted. By the end of the book I was ready to strangle her.

This is very much a "life lessons, character growth" type of book. And I appreciated seeing how Hawthorne changed, and started treating people better. But the ending fell flat for me, it was too "I'm done now so all the complex mystery is this contemporary or is this thriller stuff I've been building is done now". Its abrupt, (and Enzo needed a swift punch in the face).

So yeah, it was a good book, and I liked the lessons and the character growth, but the plot was ended weakly, like the author didn't know how to end the book, which makes it just alright in my eyes.

I reccomand checking it out if you like these sorts of books. Though just a warning, there is sex in this book, non-explicits, but still. It sort of rubbed me the wrong way and made me want to stop reading (it was just so awkward).

I was really interested about getting into this book after reading the description. Murder Mystery in a sleepy town, that's always interesting. I found myself disappointed though. The main character, Hawthorn becomes obsessed with the disappearance of Lizzy Lovett, a girl who was popular in highschool, and decides to find out where she went. Right off the bat, Hawthorn runs into Lizzy's boyfriend at the dinner Lizzy used to work at and they form a friendship. I felt like that's as much investigating that happens. There is a lot of wandering around in the forest and talk about werewolves, but nothing really happens. Now if there really were werewolves in this story, then I would have been super stoked.

The writing was good and the concept was good. I felt like it was a little slow at times. All together, I think someone who exclusively reads contemporary fiction would love this. It just wasn't my cup of tea. I gave it three stars since it didn't really capture my interest but was still a good read.

This book was not what I expected. The whole werewolf theory seemed a little too crazy for me, and most of Hawthorn's choices were just not good choices. As the story went on, she continued to make bad choices instead of learning from past consequences. I can't see myself adding this book to my library or a specific teenager that I would think to recommend it to.