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wordsofclover 's review for:
The Hundred Lies of Lizzie Lovett
by Chelsea Sedoti
1.5 stars
I received a free digital copy from the author/publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
Wow, this book was so bad. I mean, it was written well hence the .5 star instead of just one star but the story itself was awful. This story is about Hawthorn Creely, who becomes obsessed with finding out the mystery behind local woman Lizzie Lovett's disappearance. Armed with strange theories, Hawthorn steps into Lizzie's life and takes her job and her boyfriend to figure out what happened (cause, ya know...that makes sense).
Okay, yeah, this will probably be a ranty review because this book and Hawthorn just made me so mad. I could have DNF'd this at 50% through when I realised it wasn't going to redeem itself but I'll be honest, I did something I hate to do which is hate-read it just so I could fuel myself up for tidbits I could rant about in this review. And O BOY, there were some.
The first thing you need to know about this book is that Hawthorn Creely's just a terrible person. She's rude, snide, uncaring, unforgiving and basically blames the entire world for being happy and content when she's not. She has hardly any friends and it's no surprise as who would want to be friends with someone who never cares about anyone except herself and can't be happy for you when things are going well. There were certainly people in the school that were awful and bullies, but Hawthorn was a fairly toxic person to be around on account of her negativity. She wasn't nice to the one friend she had and she wasn't nice to her family. The author kept playing Hawthorn off as being quirky and cute because she always had insane ideas but no, I couldn't accept that.
Hawthorn's obsession with Lizzie Lovett was weird to begin with because she didn't even like her. And not because Lizzie ever did anything to Hawthorn, no Hawthorn hated her because Lizzie was pretty and popular and was basically everything Hawthorn wanted to be but couldn't admit to herself that she wanted. So naturally, she had a deep hatred for Lizzie? But then Hawthorn decided that Lizzie went missing because she was a werewolf. Like I;m sorry but WHAT? This made no sense whatsoever, and what was worse is that people just went along with it like Enzo. And let's get started on him...what.a.creep.
I understand Enzo feeling a bit alone and horrible after Lizzie's disappearance but the way he was okay with being so friendly with a 17-year-old girl and he was 25 was weird and creepy to me. I am 25 now and I would hate to have to be around 17 year olds. Also, where were his friends and family? Did he have no friends except Lizzie because that's what it seemed like but it was never explained.
I also felt the sex scene here was extremely problematic because it seemed like Hawthorn didn't really give proper consent and she obviously didn't know what she was doing or how she was feeling. And it made me feel icky. I'm not saying the author had to write a first time with bows and sparkles cause it's not real life, but younger readers shouldn't read this sex scene and think it's a proper first time with someone much older than you, and someone who doesn't seem to care that much. Also Enzo showed how much of a creep he was at the end when he seemed to get with the Mycelle girl who was also 17 and that was never even explained. Why did he end up being with her when he had heard how horrible she was from Hawthorn and why did he spill all of of Hawthorn's secrets. I guess we will never know
I also thought there was a problem in this book with mental health. You can't throw what was done in this book into a story and not have appropriate conversations around it ESPECIALLY when a book is aimed at a YA audience. I mean, one could argue that Lizzie's suicide showed that what you see on the outside isn't always what you get on the inside and people can be suffering internally and you wouldn't know but this was glossed over. It was like, hey she killed herself and that's sad but whatever. No deeper look into why or how she was suffering. Nothing. I just hope the finished copy of this book comes with some sort of page about hotlines to call if someone is suffering because I feel all books that touch on this subject should have this.
Overall, I'm glad this ended up being a fast read because I wouldn't have wanted to spend any more time on it. I'm happy I read this book though just so I can recommend that other people don't.
I received a free digital copy from the author/publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
Wow, this book was so bad. I mean, it was written well hence the .5 star instead of just one star but the story itself was awful. This story is about Hawthorn Creely, who becomes obsessed with finding out the mystery behind local woman Lizzie Lovett's disappearance. Armed with strange theories, Hawthorn steps into Lizzie's life and takes her job and her boyfriend to figure out what happened (cause, ya know...that makes sense).
Okay, yeah, this will probably be a ranty review because this book and Hawthorn just made me so mad. I could have DNF'd this at 50% through when I realised it wasn't going to redeem itself but I'll be honest, I did something I hate to do which is hate-read it just so I could fuel myself up for tidbits I could rant about in this review. And O BOY, there were some.
The first thing you need to know about this book is that Hawthorn Creely's just a terrible person. She's rude, snide, uncaring, unforgiving and basically blames the entire world for being happy and content when she's not. She has hardly any friends and it's no surprise as who would want to be friends with someone who never cares about anyone except herself and can't be happy for you when things are going well. There were certainly people in the school that were awful and bullies, but Hawthorn was a fairly toxic person to be around on account of her negativity. She wasn't nice to the one friend she had and she wasn't nice to her family. The author kept playing Hawthorn off as being quirky and cute because she always had insane ideas but no, I couldn't accept that.
Hawthorn's obsession with Lizzie Lovett was weird to begin with because she didn't even like her. And not because Lizzie ever did anything to Hawthorn, no Hawthorn hated her because Lizzie was pretty and popular and was basically everything Hawthorn wanted to be but couldn't admit to herself that she wanted. So naturally, she had a deep hatred for Lizzie? But then Hawthorn decided that Lizzie went missing because she was a werewolf. Like I;m sorry but WHAT? This made no sense whatsoever, and what was worse is that people just went along with it like Enzo. And let's get started on him...what.a.creep.
I understand Enzo feeling a bit alone and horrible after Lizzie's disappearance but the way he was okay with being so friendly with a 17-year-old girl and he was 25 was weird and creepy to me. I am 25 now and I would hate to have to be around 17 year olds. Also, where were his friends and family? Did he have no friends except Lizzie because that's what it seemed like but it was never explained.
I also thought there was a problem in this book with mental health. You can't throw what was done in this book into a story and not have appropriate conversations around it ESPECIALLY when a book is aimed at a YA audience.
Overall, I'm glad this ended up being a fast read because I wouldn't have wanted to spend any more time on it. I'm happy I read this book though just so I can recommend that other people don't.