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2.95 AVERAGE
2.95 AVERAGE
I received a copy of this via NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion.
I really enjoyed this book as not only is it an interesting read, with the main character trying to find out what has happened to the girl who used to be the most popular girl in school, it also shows how different some people can be from their public selves.
There are many interesting characters in the story, especially Hawthorn, the main character, and Lizzie, the missing girl.
I would highly recommend this to teens as it shows that popularity in high school does not make your life perfect, and that those who look like they have everything often don't.
I really enjoyed this book as not only is it an interesting read, with the main character trying to find out what has happened to the girl who used to be the most popular girl in school, it also shows how different some people can be from their public selves.
There are many interesting characters in the story, especially Hawthorn, the main character, and Lizzie, the missing girl.
I would highly recommend this to teens as it shows that popularity in high school does not make your life perfect, and that those who look like they have everything often don't.
This was the Big Library Read for October, and I’m really glad I read it (though I didn’t get my act together and actually join in on the discussion, oh well). I thought it had a lot of ‘humor and heart’ (as much as that phrase is a cliche), and the idea of belief and idealising people was explored very well.
So Hawthorn, the narrator of this novel has a hilarious voice. She’s always a little defensive, like she doesn’t want to care...but she does. She has issues, and maybe they’re not big issues, but she’s struggling to acknowledge them, and that’s what makes it so real. I think Chelsea Sedoti did an amazing job creating Hawthorn, and she holds the novel together in a lot of ways. I loved how the writing style evolved as Hawthorn changed; it was subtle, but done very well. Hawthorn tries so hard to seem uninterested, but she cares a lot, and learning to acknowledge that is hard. She throws herself into the mystery because she wants to be the sort of person who solves mysteries, but she decides on something totally insane ngl, the werewolf angle t o t a l l y confused me because I was like whut???? And then it all came together because she doesn’t want to understand reality. And as she copes with that, and comes to terms with that, with the fact that she has idealised both Lizzie Lovett and herself, the story becomes more than the fluffy thriller that the cover and title indicates, and something rawer, more organic.
100 Lies is about deceit. The deceit that people practice when forming their personas for public presentation; an inevitable sort of deceit, a continuous one. The fact that Hawthorn’s voice is used to show us her persona is masterful on Sedoti’s part. She also debunks this idea of the perfect person, or even a cool person; emphasises that this is different for everyone. I also loved how Lizzie’s boyfriend revealed Lizzie and Hawthorn’s vulnerabilities to Hawthorn and the reader; it creates a beautiful parallel.
All that said, as a narrative and character arc, this holds together very well, and Sedoti’s writing, pitched exactly right, certainly helps with that. However, this narrative also feels like something I’ve seen before--in Stargirl, for one, and Our Chemical Hearts for another. It isn’t entirely new--and, of course, that’s inevitable, we are all made of much-recycled stardust etc. etc.--but there are a lot of small town girls learning about themselves in small towns in YA novels, so in some ways this was just another one.
All together, this is a very well done maniac pixie dream girl debunk, and it might even be more than that. But it’s not much more, and perhaps that’s a problem.
So Hawthorn, the narrator of this novel has a hilarious voice. She’s always a little defensive, like she doesn’t want to care...but she does. She has issues, and maybe they’re not big issues, but she’s struggling to acknowledge them, and that’s what makes it so real. I think Chelsea Sedoti did an amazing job creating Hawthorn, and she holds the novel together in a lot of ways. I loved how the writing style evolved as Hawthorn changed; it was subtle, but done very well. Hawthorn tries so hard to seem uninterested, but she cares a lot, and learning to acknowledge that is hard. She throws herself into the mystery because she wants to be the sort of person who solves mysteries, but she decides on something totally insane
100 Lies is about deceit. The deceit that people practice when forming their personas for public presentation; an inevitable sort of deceit, a continuous one. The fact that Hawthorn’s voice is used to show us her persona is masterful on Sedoti’s part. She also debunks this idea of the perfect person, or even a cool person; emphasises that this is different for everyone. I also loved how Lizzie’s boyfriend revealed Lizzie and Hawthorn’s vulnerabilities to Hawthorn and the reader; it creates a beautiful parallel.
All that said, as a narrative and character arc, this holds together very well, and Sedoti’s writing, pitched exactly right, certainly helps with that. However, this narrative also feels like something I’ve seen before--in Stargirl, for one, and Our Chemical Hearts for another. It isn’t entirely new--and, of course, that’s inevitable, we are all made of much-recycled stardust etc. etc.--but there are a lot of small town girls learning about themselves in small towns in YA novels, so in some ways this was just another one.
All together, this is a very well done maniac pixie dream girl debunk, and it might even be more than that. But it’s not much more, and perhaps that’s a problem.
Dnf by chapter 17
Lizzie Lovett lizzie Lovett Lizzie Lovett lizzie Lovett Lizzie Lovett lizzie Lovett good lord I've had enough of her name already.
The main character was annoying and whiny. I skipped to the end to see what happened.
Lizzie Lovett lizzie Lovett Lizzie Lovett lizzie Lovett Lizzie Lovett lizzie Lovett good lord I've had enough of her name already.
The main character was annoying and whiny. I skipped to the end to see what happened.
This was... Interesting.
Let me explain - the premise was brilliant, I adored the characters, but the sudden leap to a missing girl being a werewolf was incredibly far fetched and had little to no context. I didn't understand in the slightest, I will be honest. But it was easy to read, with a really nice writing style, the kind of thing I really enjoy reading.
Enzo... Oh, Enzo. He's your typical 'messy hair don't care' character, lax and rebellious and playful. Everyone tells Hawthorn not to trust him, which I completely get, but why does everyone seem to dislike him in this book? We are given literally no reason, other than the fact that his girlfriend is missing.
The ending surprised me and bored me, at the same time. I guessed the twist from the start, it wasn't hard to spot coming, but I did enjoy Hawthorn's emotional growth throughout the novel, along with her acceptance of both her name and her mother's beliefs and background. That was, in a way, very inspirational, and I loved the message of that.
So, in all, I liked the book, but the plot wasn't particularly inspired or new, as the summary made out. But I definitely enjoyed this book.
Let me explain - the premise was brilliant, I adored the characters, but the sudden leap to a missing girl being a werewolf was incredibly far fetched and had little to no context. I didn't understand in the slightest, I will be honest. But it was easy to read, with a really nice writing style, the kind of thing I really enjoy reading.
Enzo... Oh, Enzo. He's your typical 'messy hair don't care' character, lax and rebellious and playful. Everyone tells Hawthorn not to trust him, which I completely get, but why does everyone seem to dislike him in this book? We are given literally no reason, other than the fact that his girlfriend is missing.
The ending surprised me and bored me, at the same time. I guessed the twist from the start, it wasn't hard to spot coming, but I did enjoy Hawthorn's emotional growth throughout the novel, along with her acceptance of both her name and her mother's beliefs and background. That was, in a way, very inspirational, and I loved the message of that.
So, in all, I liked the book, but the plot wasn't particularly inspired or new, as the summary made out. But I definitely enjoyed this book.
There really was no point to this book, it just wasn’t at all what I wanted or expected it to be. When I finished it, I really questioned myself as to why I read 400 pages where the plot went absolutely nowhere and had a romance that was ridiculously weird. I do appreciate the author trying to describe what it’s like to be in high school and feel like an outcast, but this book was just not it. Also, sorry if this sounds mean, I was really just trying to be honest!
Ho. Ly. Sh*t. A large group of friends and I bonded over the awfulness of this book. From the illegal (and potentially pedophiliac) age differences in the relationships (17&25; YIKES!) to the corny cliches, we think this is an absolute disaster. Heck, we even did dramatic readings from it at a talent show. This is nothing like what high school and the life of a teenager is like; it does bear a faint resemblance to a 3rd grader's dream of high school but even more distorted. We have come to the conclusion that the only people who would like this are 6th graders and pedophiliac really old men.
DNF @ 20% | Blog | Twitter | Instagram
I AM SO SAD ABOUT THIS. No joke, I've moved to DNF it multiple times in the last year and a half or so. And then moved it back to the, "Oh, no. I'm giving it another go." pile again. This time, I have to say I think it is time to call it a day on The Hundred Lies of Lizzie Lovett and say it wasn't for me. This time, I got 1% further in my stopping point but that isn't really great.
This cover is so dang cheerful. I feel like it was like, hey, Jessica! Love me! And then I was all like, "Hey! Leave a message after the beep! I am disconnecting from everything about it FOR NO GOOD REASON!" Like, I just could NOT get into it and there's nothing more to say than it just wasn't my cup of tea. And I'm super bummed about it.
Look, I'm not going to say that this was a bad book. I'm not going to say anything mean against it or the author. It wasn't for me and that's fine. Taste is subjective and, as always, don't take it as the gospel.
I AM SO SAD ABOUT THIS. No joke, I've moved to DNF it multiple times in the last year and a half or so. And then moved it back to the, "Oh, no. I'm giving it another go." pile again. This time, I have to say I think it is time to call it a day on The Hundred Lies of Lizzie Lovett and say it wasn't for me. This time, I got 1% further in my stopping point but that isn't really great.
This cover is so dang cheerful. I feel like it was like, hey, Jessica! Love me! And then I was all like, "Hey! Leave a message after the beep! I am disconnecting from everything about it FOR NO GOOD REASON!" Like, I just could NOT get into it and there's nothing more to say than it just wasn't my cup of tea. And I'm super bummed about it.
Look, I'm not going to say that this was a bad book. I'm not going to say anything mean against it or the author. It wasn't for me and that's fine. Taste is subjective and, as always, don't take it as the gospel.
Honestly SO disappointing. I basically skimmed the entire book just so I could finish it. I know it’s a YA novel but sometimes the language used is just that little bit too cringeworthy - and the end... don’t even get me started about that.
There wasn't anything wrong with this structurally, the protagonist just kind of annoyed me
"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.”
Amen to that.
I'm afraid I didn't like this one much at all. Can someone please explain to me who the target audience of this book is? The blurb made this sound like a creepy mystery/thriller type novel with an unreliable protagonist and instead I got a whiny irritating main character starring in a halfhearted contemporary.
Hawthorn is seventeen and desperately trying to find some magic left in a world where everyone seems to have grown up without her when Lizzie Lovett, the popular beautiful girl Hawthorn remembered from high school, goes missing without a trace from a camping trip with her boyfriend.
On a mission to figure out what happened to her, Hawthorn begins to insert herself into Lizzie's life - taking her old job, her old friend, her old boyfriend.
My major issue with this book was Hawthorn. Hawthorn is our main character - the sympathetic point of view - but it's difficult to be sympathetic with a character so blatantly irritating. Hawthorn narrates like a pre-teen who thinks she's better than everyone else because she doesn't care about dances or makeup or boys. Newsflash - it's perfectly fine if you care about none of those things, but that doesn't make you better than the people who do.
Hawthorn comes across as rude and self-centered and any lines that are intended as humor fall flat and awkwardly in the page. Hawthorn complains multiple times about how no one understands her or will see things her way, but then turns around and mocks her brother for caring that someone he knows and was friends with has disappeared, and then turns around again and claims that Lizzie didn't disappear, she ran away into the woods to become a fucking werewolf.
Which brings me to my second biggest irritation with this book. What on earth are werewolves doing in this book? I understand the point - really, I do. I understand that Hawthorn is terrified of her future, of growing up, of becoming an adult, etc etc and she's just trying to cling to the magic in the world. I understand that.
What I don't understand is a seventeen year old girl truly believing that this missing girl has turned into a werewolf and throwing tantrums because no one will believe her.
I'm afraid this one just didn't work for me. I found Hawthorn an unlikable and annoying protagonist, I found the plot far-fetched, and I found the romance creepy.
I will say that Hawthorn did grow a bit by the end of the book, which is the sole reason I rated this two stars. Otherwise, unfortunately, not a fan.
Amen to that.
I'm afraid I didn't like this one much at all. Can someone please explain to me who the target audience of this book is? The blurb made this sound like a creepy mystery/thriller type novel with an unreliable protagonist and instead I got a whiny irritating main character starring in a halfhearted contemporary.
Hawthorn is seventeen and desperately trying to find some magic left in a world where everyone seems to have grown up without her when Lizzie Lovett, the popular beautiful girl Hawthorn remembered from high school, goes missing without a trace from a camping trip with her boyfriend.
On a mission to figure out what happened to her, Hawthorn begins to insert herself into Lizzie's life - taking her old job, her old friend, her old boyfriend.
My major issue with this book was Hawthorn. Hawthorn is our main character - the sympathetic point of view - but it's difficult to be sympathetic with a character so blatantly irritating. Hawthorn narrates like a pre-teen who thinks she's better than everyone else because she doesn't care about dances or makeup or boys. Newsflash - it's perfectly fine if you care about none of those things, but that doesn't make you better than the people who do.
Hawthorn comes across as rude and self-centered and any lines that are intended as humor fall flat and awkwardly in the page. Hawthorn complains multiple times about how no one understands her or will see things her way, but then turns around and mocks her brother for caring that someone he knows and was friends with has disappeared, and then turns around again and claims that Lizzie didn't disappear, she ran away into the woods to become a fucking werewolf.
Which brings me to my second biggest irritation with this book. What on earth are werewolves doing in this book? I understand the point - really, I do. I understand that Hawthorn is terrified of her future, of growing up, of becoming an adult, etc etc and she's just trying to cling to the magic in the world. I understand that.
What I don't understand is a seventeen year old girl truly believing that this missing girl has turned into a werewolf and throwing tantrums because no one will believe her.
I'm afraid this one just didn't work for me. I found Hawthorn an unlikable and annoying protagonist, I found the plot far-fetched, and I found the romance creepy.
I will say that Hawthorn did grow a bit by the end of the book, which is the sole reason I rated this two stars. Otherwise, unfortunately, not a fan.