A review by kaleyamo
The Hundred Lies of Lizzie Lovett by Chelsea Sedoti

4.0

This book was nothing like I expected. I can't decide if that's a good thing or a bad thing. But I liked the book, so I guess.... a good thing? I just expected there to be investigating a missing girl's disappearance. I didn't expect creative theories and folklore.

I liked most of the characters. Hawthorn, the main character, was a little self-centered . . . but that never bothers me, because it's a typical teen trait. Sundog, a hippie from a commune who hangs out in Hawthorn's backyard, was my favorite. I loved Connor (Hawthorn's brother Rush's best friend) as well and really wished we had seen more of him. He seemed sweet, smart, and thoughtful...but his scenes were fleeting.

I did not love Emily. She seemed pretty hypocritical to me . . . doing something or wanting something herself, and then being mad if Hawthorn did something similar.

I didn't really understand how I was supposed to feel about Enzo the whole time. It was so confusing. Because 1) he was 8 years older than her....which is a big deal if one of you is 17. It made me, at 26, think about how if that was me I'd be dating an 18-year-old and yuuuuck. But 2) Hawthorn was so into him.

But I still don't know if Hawthorn was into him because of him, or because Lizzie was and Hawthorn had a weird obsession with her.

Spoiler

And I don't really understand Hawthorn's grief at finding out Lizzie died. It was someone she barely knew and had a love/hate relationship with. And more hate than love. I know everyone deals with grief differently, but seriously! I had a love/hate relationship with someone who died...and yeah, I was sad. And yeah, I still get sad if I think about it too much. But it does not seem normal to me to grieve so deeply she hardly got out of bed, missed school for a week, saw no hope, and then tried to "see what it feels like" by reenacting how she died. Hawthorn was having some serious depression about it....and it was kind of just glazed over. It wasn't addressed. It was so strange.