Hawthorn is a high school student that wants nothing more than to make it through a day unscathed. When she learns that the "it" girl Lizzie Lovett has gone missing, she becomes obsessed with finding her and figuring out why the girl that had it all would disappear. I wanted to like this one a lot, but at times I was so annoyed with Hawthorn that I wanted to scream. I get where the author was going with the obsessive attitude of Hawthorn, but it went a bit too far for me and became annoying and made the book not as enjoyable. 3 stars for this one. Thank you, NetGalley for the eARC of this one.

I DNF-ed, and while I was not personally able to get all the way through, I do see an audience for this book.

I thought this book was just ok. I did appreciate Hawthorne's slight growth from the beginning of the story to the end, but I still found her a super annoying character. She was very selfish, self-absorbed, and her desire to be "normal" while still being unique was very eye-rolly for me. The whole book was Hawthorne's obsession with finding out more about Lizzie's disappearance (a girl she didn't even really know) and it got really old. I didn't like the fact that the love interest was 25 and he dated 2 high school girls. Cringy! This book was about 300 pages, but it felt much longer. This is not a book I would recommend.

I'd suggest you to read this book if you like some of the YA contemporary authors such as John Green or Rainbow Rowell. Was it just me who felt that kind of vibe here? I ended up reading this book from a sale and I didn't realize until much later it's the same book. This book isn't for everyone I suppose but is worth a try.

I picked this one up and put it back down several years- it wasn’t bad writing, just not enough to keep me focused and intrigued. Didn’t fall for any of the characters and had a hard time connecting.

Not quite the "mystery" it was billed as, this book was still an interesting look in how we live our lives and what we let others see of ourselves. It's a great book for anyone who has ever felt like they didn't fit in and wants to see that experience mirrored in the pages.

This book was not what I expected. I thought it was going to be about a teen obsession in helping find a missing girl and that it would involved twists and turns surrounding her disappearance but it was not at all what I expected.

The main character, Hawthorn, was quite annoying with her obsession over Lizzie's disappearance. And while I could relate to some of the thoughts in her mind from the perspective of a teenager, there were other times where she went too far to the point that it had me wondering "what the @!*&?!" and I almost stopped reading!

However! Despite all of that, I couldn't stop myself from reading it all the way through if only to find out what did in fact happen to Lizzie Lovett.

I enjoyed this book more than I expected. I liked the intrigue and mystery surrounding Lizzie and loved Hawthorne's voice. The MC's voice was very realistic and believable but all in all the story fell flat for me.

I swapped my kindle back in 2018 and am unable to recover this title. I appreciate the opportunity that was given for review but sadly can't complete it for this title. However, based on the other works I know by this author I am awarding 3Stars.
Many thanks.

Another case of better marketing than the book. The blurb of this book was misleading and better than the book itself. Hawthorn was the worst! tt was hard getting a sense of who Hawthorn was because she literally spent most of her time thinking about Lizzie Lovett. Not the mystery/thriller it was hyped up to be.

It was a fast read.
1. The language COULD be thoughtful, humorous or reflective.
2. I hated the main character so didn't care about her motivation or what she was talking about. I did however finish the book...
3. I did skim/skipped some wolf parts.

The good: Great language. Snapshots of high school experiences for better or worse. Quirky characters.

The bad: bait and switched with selling a mystery but it was uncomfortable romance and sadness. Hawthorn was whiny and could grate on my nerves, I could have finished faster, but had to keep walking away so I wouldn't hate her when it got too self centered. After about 1/3 I didn't care about her, nor could I root for her and I actually kind of wanted her best friend to not talk to her for a month or two, or her ice cream to fall on the hot concrete...

The UGLY: I hated the maturity level of anyone over the age of 20, except sundog and Conner. Enzo was a horrible idea. He had so much potential, but he could have been 20 or 21. why 25? That didn't add anything to the story, but it did COMPLETELY TURN ME OFF to it. While things like this might happen, normalizing it in a book like this feels irresponsible.

I really enjoyed this book! I received an arc copy from netgalley back when it was first published and never read it until now. I’m not sure what took me this long to read it because this book will tug at your heartstrings all the way around. It’s an emotional rollercoaster but one of my favorite books of the year! You follow the main character Hawthorne and her friends when something mysterious happens in the community. The plot line was amazing and I didn’t want it to end.

I requested this one back in the day as I had every intention of reading it. However, its been years and I still haven't gotten around to it and while I feel guilty at not reviewing a book I think that I need to admit to myself that I won't be reading this one anytime soon....if at all.

A great mystery about a missing teen, and the girl who searches for her. I love the spin on this with the MC being almost "stalkerish" in her attempts as she holds the missing girl on a pedestal. In her search she finds out more about herself, which is a great take on any coming of age story.

This book is fantastic! Its illuminating, delicate and quite haunting. I was impressed by this story about an alienated teenager who hates her small town life with its mean and mediocre inhabitants. Hawthorn Creely, a cleverly memorable name, sees the world differently believing in the extraordinary and the unbelievable. She has such a strong voice with a mix of angst, sorrow and dry humour, it immediately hooked me from the first few sentences. The extreme loneliness she feels, as she tries to reconnect with her former football star brother and battle the high school beauty queens who bully her relentlessly, effectively consumes the reader.

When a former popular girl disappears in the woods, Hawthorn feels contempt for how much it affects the town. Everybody comes to a stop, becomes obsessed and begins to mourn for this beautiful girl who once made Hawthorn feel like dirt. She sees Lizzie Lovett as her complete opposite. Even their names are different, Lizzie's spells light, carefree, happy and most importantly adored. When the police struggle to find a trace, Hawthorn becomes curious, just as everybody starts to 'move on'. Through some uncontrollable urge, she takes Lizzie's old job as a waitress and becomes drawn to Enzo, Lizzie's boyfriend. Despite everybody believing him a murderer, they form a connection as outcasts. Hawthorn tries to learn as much as she can about the former queen bee, and becomes fascinated and confused about how unspectacular Lizzie's life had been before her disappearance.

Out of a jokey whim, Hawthorn wonders if Lizzie had turned into a werewolf. But the idea starts to become less impossible the more she thought about it. She manages to enlist Enzo's help and they both start looking in the woods for any traces. This idea is so messed up, but slightly wondrous, because Hawthorn truly believes in magic. Even I started to believe. Not so much the actual werewolf, but the possibility of there being more answers in the world.

Enzo, artistic, grief-stricken and broken, was not the usual love interest. He remained elusive and didn't convince me of his innocence. The dangerous path Hawthorn takes with Enzo and the mystery of Lizzie, which became stronger at each turn, truly enticed me. When we finally find out what happened, Hawthorn's world turns upside down. Everything she believes in immediately unravels. She may believe in fantasy but she was too focused on her own unhappiness and social isolation that she was blind to the experiences of those around her. The ending is uplifting as she comes to terms with this realisation.

I can see this being a movie.

Average ya book. Good writing but the plot was too hard to follow and the characters could’ve been better developed

I heard so many good things about this book. I wanted to like it. I couldn't finish it. I can enjoy an unlikable character, but Hawthorn was too much for me. What do you do with a character that seems to have zero redeeming qualities but not fun to hate?

Maybe it makes more sense as the book crosses the midway point, or maybe it just wasn't for me. I'm glad other people enjoyed it.

More coming of age story than mystery, this is a about a teenager who doesn't fit in, trying to find her place. It's poignant and sometimes frustrating, and comes to an unexpected end. I found the few sympathetic characters around her to be one of the highlights of the book.

Not a psychological thriller like I’d assumed it’d be. Instead, there was Hawthorn not being able to decide what actually happened to Lizzie—since a good portion of this book went over her personal theories and not direct involvement.

Overall: There are so many things this book gets right. The backdrop, Griffin Mills, Pennsylvania, an old and dying steel town is a unique backdrop for YA. The feeling of community and strangeness that are the hippies living in the tents in Hawthorne’s back yard. Hawthorn’s mother’s past and how it translates to her current life. Hawthorne’s outcast friendship with Emily. How normal and honestly sex is discussed.

Things take a turn from your typical contemporary YA almost immediately. Hawthorn become inexplicably wound up in the disappearance of Lizzie Lovett, a girl she only vaguely knew in high school. Her extremely active imagination sweeps her away and her relationships suffer almost immediately. Hawthorn splits into two: ordinary high school student during the day and secret unofficial private investigator at night. However, instead of this being a typical missing person’s investigation, it quickly escalates into a Persona-like obsession. This obsession sets off a trail of bad decisions that we see Hawthorn that we see through her eyes only.

Ultimately, this book wasn’t about Hawthorn’s seemingly creepy behavior. Instead, it was an exploration of motivations. Her angst and all her wrong choices are laid bare for the reader and we become judge and jury to Hawthorn, the person.

I will make a final note about: This book is marketed as YA, but I really feel that it could have been an adult novel. At the very least, YA written for adults. Is that a genre? It really should be.

Judge a Book by its Cover: Bright and sunny, this cover makes this book a natural choice for a Spring read!

Me Talk Pretty: The sole narrator of the book is Hawthorn. She is an insecure girl. She is looking for validation and is seemingly oblivious to the effects of her actions on other people. We are inside her head, for better or worse. She is a car crash and I’m the driver rubber-necking her every move. What makes Hawthorn so refreshingly human are her innumerable flaws. What makes Sedoti such a great writer is how she makes the reader care so deeply about what happens to Hawthorn despite her flaws.

Body Count: A missing girl case needs to be solved. Will there be a body, will she return or will it become a cold case?

Just. Why. I found myself scratching my head quite a bit during this book. Many of Hawthorne’s actions were morally gray, at best. Many more were beyond cringe-worthy. Despite those feelings, I still cared to find out what happened.

Bizarre Love Triangle: There is one, which developed very subtly and without too much drama. But this is YA. There is eventually SOME drama. Like so many things in this book, Hawthorn’s love life is refreshingly not the focus of her self-actualization, just one of the stepping stones along the way.

Open tab/Last call: This is Chelsea Sedoti’s first book! I’m definitely keeping the bar tab open to see what she brings next!