Title: The Hundred Lies of Lizzie Lovett
Author: Chelsea Sedoti
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Pub Date: January 3, 2017
Format: Kindle eBook
Pages: 398
Source: NetGalley
Genre(s): YA, Contemporary, Mystery
Rating: ★★★
Goodreads || Buy on Amazon

---

Synopsis from Goodreads:

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 review:

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I have to agree with what others have said before me. This book is fast-paced and very easy to read. There’s no doubt that the writing style is enjoyable. That being said, my concern lies with the annoying characters and the lackluster plot.

Hawthorn is aptly-named. She is like a thorn in my side. She’s morbid, sarcastic, and has a strong disdain for high school. She’s basically me, except I hope to God that I was never this annoying when I was her age. It’s normally easy for me to identify with outcasts and misfits. I’ve never quite felt like I belonged anywhere, and like Hawthorn, I’ve always felt like I see the world differently than others do. Unfortunately (or fortunately), that’s where our similarities end. I just couldn’t get behind her character. She was extremely self-involved, insensitive–and for lack of a better word–annoying.

When Hawthorn first discovers that Lizzie is missing, the way she speaks about it is really weird. I felt uncomfortable with her reactions and that discomfort never wavered until the end of the story. She went from theorizing about Lizzie, to hating her, to idolizing her, and eventually trying to find her. I mean, guys, she took Lizzie’s old job and started dating her boyfriend! Weird. Too weird. I can’t wrap my head around it. It was too much. I can’t even tell you how many times I cringed. Let’s not even talk about the fact that Hawthorn is a shitty friend, an angsty daughter, and a bratty sister. I guess she wasn’t as annoying at the end of the novel, but by that time, I was already so over the story and everyone in it. The character development didn’t even matter anymore. Except maybe Connor. Connor still mattered.

And don’t get me started on Lorenzo. Enzo. Gross. I’m not even going to elaborate on him.

On another note, the mystery wasn’t very mysterious to me. There was some supernatural talk that I hoped would be dismissed early on, but apparently the search for werewolves was a serious thing. Werewolves? Okay. Not what I expected, but okay.

The synopsis had me immediately hooked but I suppose my expectations set me up for disappointment. This wasn’t a bad book at all… it was just nothing like it expected it to be. Despite all of this, I still sped through the book at a miraculous pace. I started reading it on the bus ride home from school and I even got on the wrong train because I was so swept up in it. I could say that I finished it in “one sitting”, except that it was a sitting that took place in four different settings: two buses, a train, and a library chair, to be exact. My point is that I couldn’t put the book down, so obviously I was entertained.

I feel like this would have been a lot more enjoyable if I went into it knowing nothing about it. And maybe if someone warned me beforehand that the main character was annoying as heck! Yeah, I think that would have been a good warning. In any case, I feel like younger readers will really enjoy reading this!

*3.5 stars