The Hundred Lies of Lizzie Lovett
by Chelsea Sedoti
Published on January 3rd 2017
by Sourcebooks Fire
Genres: Young Adult, Contemporary, Mystery
Format: eARC
Source: Netgalley
Amazon | 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.
I received this book for free from the publisher or author in exchange for an honest review.
This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
I’m honestly not quite sure where to start with this one. I liked it. No… I more than liked it. But I also didn’t LOVE it. It’s somewhere in that icky grey area between like and love that makes books in said area really hard to rate and review. Overall I really liked it a lot. But I wanted to love it. And I just didn’t.
I really loved the writing. It pulled me in immediately and though it had potential to get boring, it never did. The voice was on point and it kept my attention throughout and made the book very hard to put down. On top of that it was also funny, mostly becuase of the MC’s personality, which I’ll get to in a bit. But I love books that can make me laugh. So points for that. I also loved the story itself and how it could be quirky and silly one second and then really heartfelt and sweet the next. There were even a few times where it just straight-up hit me in the feels, just because it was so relatable to me in that moment. And I love stories like that.
But like always, characters are the most important part of a story for me. And the characters in this book did not disappoint. I loved them all because they were real and flawed and they made mistakes and they weren’t perfect and none of them were stereotypes. I loved them all, even the ones I didn’t like at first. Like the hippies that pull up to Hawthorn’s house. (Her mom is a hippie by the way. Yeah. You probably guessed that since she named her daughter Hawthorn…) I didn’t like them at first but they grew on me like they did for Hawthorn. Especially Sundog. I also liked Hawthorn’s family, especially her brother Rushford. I loved the bond that they had. I also liked his friend Connor and I shipped him so hard with Hawthorn. But more on that later.
And of course I have to talk about our main character Hawthorn. She’s such a unique character. She’s weird and quirky and funny and relatable and I just loved her. I love that when a popular girl in her town goes missing, her first theory is that she’s a werewolf and she just sticks with it. She totally runs with it and goes to look for the girl that turned into a werewolf. Because why not? And I related to her more than I thought I would because of how she was treated at school. I really felt for her. She felt real and she’s far from perfect and she makes mistakes but she also grew so much throughout the book. And I just loved her.
But here comes the part where I tell you why I ended up liking this book a lot instead of loving it to pieces. First, I wasn’t a big fan of Hawthorn’s friend Emily. I thought she wasn’t a very good friend and honestly Hawthorn deserves better. I’m also not a big fan of Enzo, which is problematic because he’s the love interest. I just never really felt it. It didn’t feel right to me at any point. Don’t get me wrong, I liked Enzo’s friendship with Hawthorn, but I just didn’t get the romance. I really shipped her more with Connor. Right from the start. And I just wanted Hawthorn to ditch Enzo and go be adorably in love with Connor. But she did not. Which made me sad. I also kind of hoped there’d be more of a focus on the mystery aspect of the story? But there wasn’t? That’s probably just my expectations being slightly misguided though. So don’t let that stop you from reading this book at all.
Overall, THE HUNDRED LIES OF LIZZIE LOVETT was heartfelt, sweet, quirky, funny, touching and very engaging. I do recommend it for fans of YA Contemporary. Especially if you like a contemporary with a mystery aspect. Also if you’re into hippies. Then read this too. Because the flower-power is strong in this one. Now go forth and read this at your earliest convenience.
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Twitter: BrookeBanks10
There really needs to be a term for books between the like and love category that gets all those kinda feelings across without having to explain it with like two paragraphs each time. If there isn’t another language that’s solved the problem, we need to make one up lol.
Great review, I have this one to start shortly and your review gives me hope. I’ve seen others completely hate it.
Twitter: Bieke Paesen
I hope you enjoy it like I did! But I’d understand if you don’t, haha. XD
Oooh I loved the hippies! I think they may have saved the book from being a 1 star for me bwhahah. The writing was the other star 😉 I DO agree with you about Emily- and I did feel for Hawthorn, for sure. I just… the Enzo stuff REALLY did not sit well with me, nor did the way her family was so…. just not there for her at all. But hey, I am glad you liked this one! And I think that the author really has a bright future, I agree completely that the writing was great, and the humor was on point too! So glad you liked this one, great review!!
Twitter: Bieke Paesen
I totally get why you wouldn’t like it as much, haha. I hope you like this author’s next work more!
Twitter: Liza
Sounds good overall Bee. Too bad about the romance, especially in contemporary, right? I do like quirky 🙂
Twitter: Bieke Paesen
Yeah too bad! But I still enjoyed it so. 🙂
Twitter: CG Paper Fury
ooh, this will be an interesting read for me! Because I’m not always a big fan of contemporary, haha, but I AM a big fan of quirky hippy narrators (because I don’t think we get enough of those?!) So I’m actually looking forward to it! Does the missing girl turn out to be a werewolf? I HOPE SO.😂
Twitter: Bieke Paesen
AHAHAHA I hoped so too. XDD It would be the ultimate plot twist. XD
Twitter: kagunderman
Books that stay interesting and make you laugh tend to be great, especially for those days when you’re feeling a bit down! I’ve heard so many great things about this one, and really glad to hear that you enjoyed it.
Great review, really can’t wait to pick this one up!
Twitter: Bieke Paesen
Yay! Hope you enjoy it when you read it Kelly!
I totally agree with you on the “it’s been real” aspect. The characters seemed to be so relatable and real. I actually felt like this book was some sort of splash of cold water right in my face. Reality check of 2017 #1 ahah
Twitter: Bieke Paesen
Hahaha right? xD I love contemporary books that feel real. <3
Twitter: The Infinite Limits of Love
Happy new year, Bee!
I hadn’t heard of this one, but it sounds great! I especially like the sound of the characters. I’ll keep what you said in mind about you not loving the story entirely if I pick it up.
Twitter: Bieke Paesen
Happy New Year to you too! 😀 I hope you enjoy it when you pick it up!
Ah, the “icky grey area”. I know it well and dislike when a book falls into that because it IS really hard to rate and review a book then but it seems likable enough even though you didn’t love it. Great review!
Twitter: Bieke Paesen
Right? It’s so annoying. XD I spend so much time debating how to rate the book after I’ve written the review, haha. XD
“The flower-power is strong with this one” made me laugh — your review gave me much to think about — this is next on my to read list and I’ve been avoiding it for some reason, but I haven’t yet figured out why.
Twitter: Bieke Paesen
HAH. Glad you liked that. XD