Chelsea Sedoti must remember her teenage years. The angst of wanting to fit in is the primary message in "The Hundred Lies of Lizzie Lovett," but the conversation gets as messed up as a teenager's room. First, misfit Hawthorn Creely doesn't have many friends, so she fixates on the seemingly perfect life of Lizzie Lovett, a recent high school graduate and former cheerleader. When Lizzie goes missing, Hawthorn is determined to find her. What sends this novel off its tracks is its unbelievability - parents who don't question where she goes; long days and nights spent in the apartment of a guy in his mid-20s; and a belief Lizzie became a werewolf. I read the novel until its end hoping that I'd gain some hidden, deep message about teenagers. I didn't.

Such a sunny cover for a book that is so raw and powerful and heartbreaking. I must admit that when I started reading this I just could not get into it. However I perservered and I am SO glad I did. This book touches on some pretty hard hitting topics, no sugar coating, no dancing around facts, just the straight up reality of the situation. Hawthorne turns out to be a pretty relatable character, who sees the world in a different view, yet struggles to come to terms with the cold hard truth even when it is right in front of her. I think all young people need to read this book, it's pretty eye opening.

I thought that this book was interesting and easy for kids to connect with the school issues and jealousy.

This is a YA as YAs should be. It's all about someone finding herself through uncovering and living the life of a mere high school acquaintance who disappears. The story does a good job of showing the facades we put on for others and how perceptions can be wrong, especially of people we barely know.

I like books about high school. Maybe because I used to counselor high school students or maybe I just find them fascinating, but in any case this book was realistic and interesting. Even though it is more of a character study, I found it difficult to put the book down, wanting to know what would happen next. I thought what happened to Lizzie was very realistic in fact something similar happened in my high school. Overall I liked this book and would recommend it.

This book reminded me of Paper Towns in a way.. Which I love that book, it's one of my favorite John Green novels. . . But here's the thing, I love all the characters in Paper Towns but I just could not stand the main character in this book. Her voice feels very young for her actual age and I just couldn't connect with her at all when it came to her thoughts and Lizzie.. I wanted to look past it all, but I couldn't keep reading in her voice. It just wasn't for me. I ended up skimming and then skipping to the end, so just going to mark this as DNF and move on.

Well, this was almost a 3 star book but it got better towards the end so 4 stars. Lizzie Lovett is the All-American, popular cheerleader type in a small town in Ohio who graduated from high school and ended up as a waitress at local diner until she went missing while camping with her boyfriend. Hawthorn, who had a brief encounter with Lizzie years before and admired how happy and perfect Lizzie seemed to be, has this crazy theory that Lizzie turned into a werewolf. She starts trying to find out more about Lizzie and ends up working at the same diner as Lizzie and befriending Lizzie's boyfriend. As days turn into months and the police investigation turns into a cold case, Hawthron is no closer to understanding who Lizzie really is since she seemed to be a different person to everyone she met. How could the perfect girl go missing? This mystery kept me reading this book especially in the first half of the book since the main character, Hawthorn, seemed very immature and over-imaginative (yes, she seemed to really believe Lizzie turned into a werewolf and no, this is not a fanasty/paranormal book) and it seemed like the typical "high school was horrible because I was different" book. The deeper conversations and maturing of Hawthron in the second half of the book made this book worth reading to me. I would encourage people to give this book a try and I think you will be glad you did in the end.

I was received a free advanced copy of this book from NetGalley for review consideration.

Hawthorn didn’t even like Lizzie Lovett, but when the girl disappears and the whole town turns upside down over it, she can’t resist getting involved. At first it’s just a pastime. But as Hawthorn’s unorthodox theory takes shape, she finds herself pulled deeper and deeper into Lizzie’s life. She gets hired at Lizzie’s old job makes friends with her understandably wrecked boyfriend, the guy half the town thinks might have killed Lizzie. As she delves deeper into the girl she never knew, Hawthorn learns how little she understands herself and her own place in the world, and understanding what happened to Lizzie becomes her own transforming journey.
Hawthorn’s voice has to be the strongest part of this story. I wasn’t immediately crazy about the voice, but the style and its consistency definitely drew me in. This is one of those stories with deeply flawed characters, and my disappointment with those that didn’t rise from the ashes of their mistakes (sorry, no spoilers) made me stop reading for a few moments to grieve. Sometimes you just want better for people—even imaginary ones!
I often struggle reading stories about really unconventional families (probably odd, since I think my family would probably fit that description to those looking in from the outside) and Hawthorn’s family was definitely a struggle. I loved her brother and his best friend.
Fans of Cori McCarthy’s You Were Here should check out The Hundred Lies of Lizzie Lovett. The emotional depth and surprising journey of grief reminded me a lot of You Were Here as did the quirkiness of the main character—though Lizzie Lovett is told only in Hawthorn’s point-of-view as opposed to the multiple perspectives in McCarthy’s novel.
Review will post 1/11/17

A teenage loner in small-town Pennsylvania tries to solve the mystery of the death of the local prom queen type in what luckily only bears superficial resemblance, mostly in the intro, to Twin Peaks.
There’s actually very little about the mystery; it’s mostly about the protagonist, who has a unique way of seeing the world. A lot of meandering, especially in her mind, but I suppose that’s a teen’s life. There’s a good meditation on being out of control and the unfairness of life, “do everything right and still get killed by a drunk driver” kinda thing. The only time the character really annoyed me was when she thought, “Even if the monster killed me, at least I would die having the best day of my life.” The fact that being scared was the one thing that made her feel so alive. . . I’d liked her up to then, but that just made me feel sorry for her.
Likeable despite her quirks, and the same can be said for this book.
3.5 pushed up to 4/5

Navigating between mystery, family relationships, school, the author brings an extraordinary narrative to the main character; the outcast high school: Hawthorne who creates a fantasy life out of a missing girl.
You can't help but feel fascinated, intrigued and annoyed with this oh so insecure detective but you tag along until you reach a satisfactory ending, which answers many questions in your mind.
Great read.

I received an advanced copy of this title from Netgalley for review. The official release date of the book was January 3, 2017. This is a YA contemporary novel about a teenage girl Hawthorn who becomes obsessed with Lizzie Lovett when the latter disappears in the woods. Lizzie is three years older than Hawthorn and they never really knew each other. But Lizzie was the homecoming queen, the most popular girl in high school, the captain of the cheer-leading squad, the one everyone loved and secretly envied. So Hawthorn felt like she really knew Lizzie.

I have mixed feelings about this book: there were some things that I really liked and some that I did not care for. For one, Hawthorn was a bit too self-absorbed for my taste and I also did not understand why she kept thinking of herself as weird and loser. It's like she had this distorted view of reality: there was "them - the popular kids who go to parties and have friends" and then there is her - the loser, the weirdo, the only person who never goes to parties. Contrary to her worldview, we learn that she does in fact have a close friend Emily, a loving brother and parents, and throughout the book, she also demonstrates that she is quite capable of making other friends. So you can't even say that she has no social skills It is as if she is determined to be miserable and hate the high school experience no matter what. I thought the romance in the book was on the creepy side, and her entire theory of how Lizzie disappeared was extremely far-fetched, juvenile, and frankly cringe-worthy at times.

What I did like about the book is how intense Hawthorn is. She, as her brother puts it, "takes everything too far." She gets completely obsessed with Lizzie's life to the point of getting her job and becoming friends with her boyfriend (the creepy side of her obsession). But she also feels and grieves so intensely, I am not sure I am able to ever be this passionate about anything in life. So even though I could not relate to her obsessive thoughts, I thought the author was able to do a good job showing to us the main character's internal world. I also liked that Hawthorn learned from these experience and realized that everyone has difficulties. No one's life is perfect or as glamorous as it might seem from the outside. All of us are unique and weird, and sometimes we feel like losers and sometimes we are intensely happy. I also appreciated the dynamic with her brother. I thought it was well and realistically written.

So overall, I rated the book at 3 out of 5 stars. I liked the fact that Hawthorn grew and learned as a result of this experience, but I could not get on board with some of the creepier and far-fetched portions of the plot.

Every high school has a Lizzie Lovett: blonde, beautiful, cheerleader and homecoming queen, whose life seems perfect and effortless. No one resents her more than Hawthorn Creely, the oddest of odd ducks in Griffin Mills, Ohio, a suburban Rust Belt town 45 minutes from Pittsburgh.

When Lizzie Lovett vanishes without a trace during a camping trip, her disappearance makes quite a stir at Griffin Mills High School, even though Lizzie graduated three years ago and moved to a nearby town. Hawthorn at first thinks Lizzie will turn up immediately. “Whatever happened, I’m sure she’s fine,” says Hawthorn. “This is Lizzie Lovett we’re talking about… Nothing bad will ever happen to a girl like Lizzie. The world doesn’t work that way. The biggest problem she’ll ever have is, I don’t know, whether to match her shoes to her eyeshadow.”

But, when the disappearance drags on, Lizzie begins to probe. She gets Lizzie’s old waitressing job at the Sunshine Café in Layton. And she begins to hang out with Lizzie’s boyfriend, Enzo Calvetti — handsome in a Johnny Depp kind of way, but completely unlike the golden boy jocks Lizzie had dated in high school. Who was Lizzie Lovett really? Hawthorn’s persistent enough to find out.

Chelsea Sedoti’s debut novel captures the angst of being a 17-year-old original in a conformist world and wanting so, so desperately to be someone else, someone prettier, popular, poised. Sure, teens will love this novel, but adults who haven’t grown amnesiac over their own high-school experiences will see at least part of themselves in Hawthorn Creely. I found the novel so gripping that I read much too late into the night to finish it. There’s no higher praise than that.

In the interest of full disclosure, I received this book from NetGalley and Sourcebooks in exchange for an honest review

***NOTE: I received a copy of this book from the publishers for an unbiased review.

Don't judge a book by its cover. The cover of this book is great, but the content is close to trash. As a disclaimer, I would like to say that I am not the biggest fan of young adult contemporary. This book further solidifies that dislike. I just had so many problems with this book that I don't even know where to start.

--This book was just flat out cringe-worthy. Ugh. The protagonist is an extremely unlikable girl who is basically the same horrible person from beginning to end. Personally, I like to read for a big "so what" statement that shows personal growth. But this book had nothing, except it was a huge waste of time.
--What is this whole "werewolf" bull? Okay, I would understand Hawthorne's crazy theories if she was seven, not seventeen. Like really? Wouldn't a typical seventeen-year-old girl be worried about their college applications or their new budding romance instead of going around in the woods to chase the supernatural?
--Hawthorne is OBSESSED about Lizzie for no good reason. At first, I thought the book would reveal that Hawthorne and Lizzie used to be really good friends and so she was concerned, but there was no real reason she should have even been even interested in Lizzie's disappearance.
--Hawthorne's relationship with Enzo is terrible. I was actually asking myself "what the **** is going on?" The fact that the relationship wasn't even legal is really disturbing to me.
--Hawthorne's parents and friends further encouraged her theories and suspicions. Her parents' actions would not fly with me. I think the only sane person in that entire house was her older brother Rush.
These are just some of the major points that I can currently list off the top of my head. I'm sure there are others that I can't think of right now.

In essence, this was definitely one of the WORST books I've read this year. I wouldn't force this on anyone let alone read it. Don't bother to waste your money on this book.

Lizzie Lovett was the “it” girl in high school who everyone loved and obsessed over. Hawthorn had one moment with her freshman year and never got over it. Now Lizzie is missing and Hawthorn is obsessed with finding out what happened to her. Hawthorn is a lonely teenage girl who doesn’t fit in and can’t admit to herself or to others that she really does want to be part of the crowd. She wants to go to dances and parties and have friends even though she makes fun of all of those things. Her hunt for the truth about Lizzie leads her to Lizzie’s job and Lizzie’s boyfriend. She concocts a crazy theory about Lizzie becoming a werewolf, but really all she wants to know is how it could go so wrong for someone who seemed to have it all.

Hawthorn’s voice is extremely realistic for an angsty teen girl. She is mean and selfish and bratty and a bit weird, but she is also just trying to figure out her place in the world and how everything fits together. Her romance with Enzo is a bit weird but pretty realistic all things considered. The book is a bit slow in places since it is really an exploration of Hawthorn more than a mystery of what happened to Lizzie Lovett. However, you do want to know what happened to Lizzie and are just as unsatisfied as Hawthorn when you find out the truth. It was an interesting story.

I received this book from Netgalley.

Thank you so very much for the chance to read this, but I can't quite get into the story and the characters.

Once you start reading you wont want to put it down. Everyone wants to know what happened to Lizzie Lovett and why she walked into the woods and never came out. Hawthorn is on a mission to find out and what she discovers is herself and all things can be beautiful.

I feel like there should be a add for teen suicide prevention at the beginning of this book!!

My thanks to NetGalley, the author and publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book did some things right but it was just awkward to read. Hawthorn and Enzo was weird and quite creepy.

Thank you so much to Raincoast Books for sending me an ARC/NetGalley for providing me with an eARC of this book for an honest review. As always, all opinions are my own.

This book is so much more than it appears. From the synopsis, one will see this as a book about a missing girl and the town that rallies to find her. And it is that book, but like the characters inside it, the book has so many more layers.

When Lizzie Lovett goes missing, the main character of the story, Hawthorn (named after the tree, not the author), doesn't really see what the big deal is. Her brother, Rush is freaking out - sure, they graduated together, but it's not like they were super close - and Hawthorn doesn't get why. To her, Lizzie is fine; she didn't run away, she wasn't kidnapped or killed, those things don't happen to people like Lizzie. Sedoti gives a unique perspective on an overdone trope of a small town missing girl. We've all read that book, where the whole town is out looking for the beautiful girl gone missing, not wanting to assume the worst. Sedoti writes Hawthorn's reaction as realistic, a little abrasive, but not necessarily negative. And I think that is more than okay. Just because someone goes missing, they don't become a saint that everyone loved. Hawthorn is the only one to grasp that at the beginning. In fact, while the town searches, Hawthorn concocts this crazy theory about what happened to her and jumps headfirst into Lizzie's world. She fills her job at the diner Lizzie worked at, she starts hanging out with Lizzie's boyfriend, Enzo, who is more deeply broken than anyone thinks.

There is, however, so much more to this book than just the mystery of Lizzie Lovett. Hawthorn struggles with her own life, facing problems at school and the impending future of college life. These elements add a dose of harsh reality that proves inescapable for both reader and character. I think this book will resonate with a lot of readers - whether they are starting college or just looking to change something in their life. Hawthorn explores this aspect of the book with very realistic commentary.

Another major element that this book speaks to is the MPDG or Manic Pixie Dream Girl trope. If you've read Looking for Alaska or Paper Towns by John Green, you will know what this is. A sort of infatuation with a person and your perceptions of who they are and not the person they really are. The whole town seems enthralled with Lizzie, Hawthorn gets to the point where she is unconsciously becoming Lizzie. But no one really knows her. Hawthorn begins to discover a girl that is very different from the peppy cheerleader she knew when she talks to Enzo, and another girl altogether when she talks to her brother's friend Connor, who was also in that circle. Lizzie is far from perfect and not at all the person Hawthorn believes her to be. I think Sedoti develops this idea and critique of the MPDG ideal very well throughout the book. She does a good job of showing what happens when we idealize an individual, and how harmful those assumed perceptions can be.

While there were many sad and bittersweet moments in this book, there were a lot of great, hilarious elements that helped to balance the sadness. I found myself heartbroken one minute and laughing out loud at Hawthorn's snarky comments the next. Her mother, called Sparrow, was part of a hippie movement when she was a teen and her old group comes to visit unannounced. These hippie elements added some much needed hilarity as well as some decent advice when Hawthorn needed it and had no one else to turn to.

I also really enjoyed the family dynamic in the story. Hawthorn's father is a university professor and is constantly on her case about applications, her mother is a Tofurky wielding vegan who is more focused on living in the now than anything else and her older brother Rush is an ex-high school football star who is stuck at home teaching football to kids and taking classes at a community college. No one in Hawthorn's family is perfect, but they were all there and they all tried - something you don't often see in YA.

Overall, I think this book is a great, unique story that will capture the hearts of many.

Hawthorn Creely is a misfit. Her dad is a History Professor and her mom is a vegan ex-hippie. Her brother, Rush, was a star of the football team when he was in high school. Lizzie Lovett was the town sweetheart. She was the most popular girls in high school and everyone loved her and wanted to be her. Lizzie goes missing while on a camping trip. Hawthorn can’t get it out of her head and starts to look into her disappearances and comes up with some wild theories of what happened. Then, she starts working at Lizzie’s workplace and hanging out with Lizzie’s boyfriend. When the truth finally comes out, will it be anything like what Hawthorn thought?

What I found most interesting about this book is that it revolves around a character that doesn’t exist. The Lizzie you come to “know” during the story is the one that Hawthorn creates. This story is really about Hawthorn and her journey in growing into herself and accepting herself for who she is. What she finds out is that the grass isn’t always greener and things are generally a lot different than what they appear on the surface.

This was a dark comedy and I found myself laughing several times. I mean, you have hippies living in a backyard, theories of werewolves, and the normal high school angst all thrown together. There is bound to be some comic relief. It wasn’t my normal type of story, but I had to keep reading because I had to know what happened. I look forward to more writings from Chelsea. I give this a four out of five.