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2.95 AVERAGE
2.95 AVERAGE
I received a copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This review is honest and contains spoilers. Mostly because some of the plotting bothered me a lot.
I think the marketing for this book is all wrong. The title is all wrong. The description is all wrong. Either that, or the focus of the book is all wrong.
What I thought would be realistic young adult fiction searching for answers about a teen who vanished (a la Thirteen Reasons Why) was actually far more akin to Twilight. There is very little focus on Lizzie the person. Early on, Hawthorn the protagonist decides that Lizzie must have turned into a werewolf. I kid you not. She spends a whole chapter convincing herself her reasoning is plausible. If the author needs to have a character thinking out loud for that long to get you to follow the train of thought, it is going in completely the wrong direction for the reader. It doesn't work. But the main chunk of the book becomes a hunt for a werewolf.
Focusing on Hawthorn's desire to slip into elements of Lizzie's life and the obsession surrounding it would have been enough without making her completely unrealistic. Hawthorn has some clear mental health issues but they aren't really ever addressed. OCD Love Story pulls off this concept much better.
Throw in a scene of statutory rape (a 25 year old and an underage teen have sex and everybody thinks it is okay) and you have a recipe for book disaster.
What could have been so good was just wasted with terrible plotting. Take out the werewolf parts, keep some of the rest, focus more on the aftermath. Or fix the marketing. We find out nothing about Lizzie. She doesn't have 100 lies. She barely even has 5. This book is all about Hawthorn and I was not happy to be on this ride. I am disappointed and annoyed.
This review is honest and contains spoilers. Mostly because some of the plotting bothered me a lot.
I think the marketing for this book is all wrong. The title is all wrong. The description is all wrong. Either that, or the focus of the book is all wrong.
What I thought would be realistic young adult fiction searching for answers about a teen who vanished (a la Thirteen Reasons Why) was actually far more akin to Twilight. There is very little focus on Lizzie the person. Early on, Hawthorn the protagonist decides that Lizzie must have turned into a werewolf. I kid you not. She spends a whole chapter convincing herself her reasoning is plausible. If the author needs to have a character thinking out loud for that long to get you to follow the train of thought, it is going in completely the wrong direction for the reader. It doesn't work. But the main chunk of the book becomes a hunt for a werewolf.
Focusing on Hawthorn's desire to slip into elements of Lizzie's life and the obsession surrounding it would have been enough without making her completely unrealistic. Hawthorn has some clear mental health issues but they aren't really ever addressed. OCD Love Story pulls off this concept much better.
Throw in a scene of statutory rape (a 25 year old and an underage teen have sex and everybody thinks it is okay) and you have a recipe for book disaster.
What could have been so good was just wasted with terrible plotting. Take out the werewolf parts, keep some of the rest, focus more on the aftermath. Or fix the marketing. We find out nothing about Lizzie. She doesn't have 100 lies. She barely even has 5. This book is all about Hawthorn and I was not happy to be on this ride. I am disappointed and annoyed.
This book was nothing like what I expected, but I enjoyed it anyway. The main character is very flawed, but also very interesting. I loved the way she "wished" for things when people hurt her. It was very clever. And when she finally shared her reason for what she wished on people, it made so much sense.
This book wasn't lacking in interesting characters though, in addition to Hawthorn, SunDog, Enzo, and even Vernon were all very interesting characters and they blended to make this story intriguing and feel more real.
High School is hard, I don't think any of us who have gone through it, or are going through it can argue that. People are mean, and I don't think any of us show all the parts of ourselves to anyone in High School. Some of us might not ever show all the parts of ourselves to anyone. The biggest lesson to learn from this story (besides the obvious) is that we don't ever truly know what's going on in someone's head, or in their personal life. People who seem to be all put together and happy and perfect are often the people who are barely holding things together, or falling apart inside. I think it's the job of every one of us to just be a decent human to others.
I love the ending...I love the possibilities and the fact that my suspicions about Connor were right.
This book wasn't lacking in interesting characters though, in addition to Hawthorn, SunDog, Enzo, and even Vernon were all very interesting characters and they blended to make this story intriguing and feel more real.
High School is hard, I don't think any of us who have gone through it, or are going through it can argue that. People are mean, and I don't think any of us show all the parts of ourselves to anyone in High School. Some of us might not ever show all the parts of ourselves to anyone. The biggest lesson to learn from this story (besides the obvious) is that we don't ever truly know what's going on in someone's head, or in their personal life. People who seem to be all put together and happy and perfect are often the people who are barely holding things together, or falling apart inside. I think it's the job of every one of us to just be a decent human to others.
I love the ending...I love the possibilities and the fact that my suspicions about Connor were right.
Audio. Sadly, NO. I've skimmed the reviews and can't find another one that was as disturbed as I was at parts of this book. Am I the only one who wondered WTF about glorifying smoking?? Seriously, in this day and age? It added nothing to the story to have Enzo constantly rolling his own and Hawthorn feeling 'free' smoking her first cig and being proud of not coughing and loving the burn. For what?? I could have even handled the 17f/25m sex if Hawthorn was the slightest bit mature. Her voice was more thirteen than seventeen, which made the whole thing even creepier. All the making up stuff? Too much. I would NOT recommend this book to the YAs in my life. The serious issue was handled better than other YA books but it was buried in the immaturity of the main character. The 2 stars are for the actual writing and the narrator.
This was not at all what I expected. Hawthorn's crazy theory explaining Lizzie Lovett's disappearance really threw me. I thought it was a joke at first, but she really latched onto it and it was a little much. I have no problem with fantasy books or legends, but the setup wasn't the right feel for that type of story. Definitely NOT a mystery novel. More of a finding-yourself type of story but with a bit too many quirky twists.
This is a book that I rented from Overdrive, and I am so glad that I didn't waste my own money on it.
The protagonist, Hawthorn, acted like a twelve-year-old for the entirety of the novel. It was very stand-offish to read a YA book that had somebody who acted like a middle schooler as the main character. She was never focused on anything, except obsessing over Lizzie Lovett. She was rude, inconsiderate, childish and didn't take anything seriously. She was vengeful and misunderstanding. Frankly, she treated the characters around her like trash and they didn't deserve to be treated that way. She was self-obsessed and self-absorbed and the only thing that stopped her from thinking about herself was her ridiculous fantasies.
Furthermore, all of the characters were flat. The was no development beyond 'mean popular girl' or 'outcast best friend' or 'professor dad' and 'hippie mom'. The only interactions between Hawthorn and her father felt forced. It was as though the dad existed to fill a role, not to be a character.
The title for this work should have been "Probably Maybe" because it was written more times than the words "Lizzie Lovett".
To be honest, I'm not sure how this work was published, let alone how it has a 3.25 overall Goodreads rating.
The protagonist, Hawthorn, acted like a twelve-year-old for the entirety of the novel. It was very stand-offish to read a YA book that had somebody who acted like a middle schooler as the main character. She was never focused on anything, except obsessing over Lizzie Lovett. She was rude, inconsiderate, childish and didn't take anything seriously. She was vengeful and misunderstanding. Frankly, she treated the characters around her like trash and they didn't deserve to be treated that way. She was self-obsessed and self-absorbed and the only thing that stopped her from thinking about herself was her ridiculous fantasies.
Furthermore, all of the characters were flat. The was no development beyond 'mean popular girl' or 'outcast best friend' or 'professor dad' and 'hippie mom'. The only interactions between Hawthorn and her father felt forced. It was as though the dad existed to fill a role, not to be a character.
The title for this work should have been "Probably Maybe" because it was written more times than the words "Lizzie Lovett".
To be honest, I'm not sure how this work was published, let alone how it has a 3.25 overall Goodreads rating.
medium-paced
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Grief
A fun read! Lizzie Lovett disappears while on a camping trip with her boyfriend and Hawthorn ( a social outcast) finds herself spending time with Lizzie's boyfriend while trying to figure out what happened to Lizzie. Hawthorn is convinced she turned into a werewolf and is trying to convince him. One bad thing I predicted DID happen and one did NOT.
I received an e-ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Overall, I enjoyed this book. I'd give it 3.5 stars. The voice of the narrator was fantastic, and it carried me through some of the more annoying and unbelievable parts of the plot. Chelsea Sedoti really got inside the mind of a teenage girl. I liked that Hawthorn wasn't always likeable, but I was still rooting for her to get some sort of happy ending. I'd recommend it if you're looking for a fun, quick read.
**Thanks to the publishers for letting me read an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review**
Sigh. This book has so many positive reviews that I was optimistic. But I was not very interested in this story at all. The premise sounds interesting, a girl inserts herself into a missing girls life to try and figure out what happened to her? Sign me up. Hawthorne just didn't capture me like she did for a lot of other readers. I never felt like I cared about Lizzie all that much. The most likable character to me was Connor, and he was barely even in the book.
Overall, I found the story forgettable. I wanted it to be so much more, but the idea oversold the book as an exciting mystery, which it wasn't. It was mostly about a confused girl who doesn't know who she is and is scared of her future. Oh and she believes in werewolves.
Give it a go if you're looking for a character-based story driven by interactions and the narrator's voice. If you're looking for an exciting mystery, then this might not be the book for you.
Sigh. This book has so many positive reviews that I was optimistic. But I was not very interested in this story at all. The premise sounds interesting, a girl inserts herself into a missing girls life to try and figure out what happened to her? Sign me up. Hawthorne just didn't capture me like she did for a lot of other readers. I never felt like I cared about Lizzie all that much. The most likable character to me was Connor, and he was barely even in the book.
Overall, I found the story forgettable. I wanted it to be so much more, but the idea oversold the book as an exciting mystery, which it wasn't. It was mostly about a confused girl who doesn't know who she is and is scared of her future. Oh and she believes in werewolves.
Give it a go if you're looking for a character-based story driven by interactions and the narrator's voice. If you're looking for an exciting mystery, then this might not be the book for you.